A Cold Calculus
by Z98
Summary: The White Queen, the Iron Heart of Britannia, Euphemia the Just, many are the titles and appellations for Euphemia I, 99th Empress of the Holy Britannian Empire. Her ascension is remarkable not only for the means by which her majesty obtained the throne but also the many tragedies that marked the path.
1. Prologue

_Euphemia I's rise to power came at an especially turbulent time in the Empire's history when the bloody politics of the court well reached its peak, encouraged by her father Charles II in a brutal Darwinian process of selecting an heir. At first the Princess Euphemia showed little interest in this contest of power and many of her siblings and relatives wrote her off as harmless and ineffectual. All who knew the Empress personally however agree that the catalyst for her entry into court politics was the assassination of the Empress Marianne and the reported deaths of her siblings in the aftermath, Lelouch and Nunnally vi Britannia. This event profoundly affected the young girl, destroying the peace and security of her childhood. From this moment on, Euphemia dedicated herself to building a peace that would see no more of her siblings stolen from her. Alas that the Empress succeeded too late for several of them._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Prologue: Tertius

2009 A.T.B.

Pendragon was in an uproar. Empress Marianne, favored consort of the Emperor Charles, had been slain by an unknown assassin. Reported to have also fallen in the same attack was her youngest child, the Princess Nunnally. The politics of the court had just undergone a seismic shift, one which Euphemia could barely get a handle on at her age. From the expressions she saw on her sister Cornelia however the situation was grave.

"Sister, what is going to happen to Lelouch?" Euphie asked.

"Don't worry Euphie," Cornelia assured her with a smile. "I'll make sure nothing happens to Lelouch."

The girl nodded, believing with all her heart that if anyone could keep her beloved brother safe, it would be Cornelia. Yet a lingering doubt nagged at her, a doubt fueled by what little she understood of court politics. The Empress Marianne was well loved by not just her own immediate family but also by several of the other children, Euphie included. But that love was not universal and many were the nobles that continued to hold Marianne's commoner origins against her. Many would have only been too glad to see her fall and those same nobles would not hesitate to orchestrate the deaths of her remaining child with Marianne herself out of the way. Euphie prayed that Cornelia would be able to make good on her word. Surely, even if she could not, her brother Schneizel could? As if in answer to those prayers not an hour later Schneizel himself arrived at the place Euphie and Cornelia resided.

"Brother," Cornelia greeted cordially.

"Cornelia," Schneizel responded equally politely.

"Let's drop the pleasantries," Cornelia said as they walked to one of the many sitting rooms. "I've failed my duty as commander of Marianne's guards, but I will not fail her by allowing Lelouch to be taken as well. How do we keep him out of the line of fire?"

"That, may be somewhat difficult," Schneizel said. "At present Lelouch's grief is immense, but it is overshadowed by his rage. He seems intent on finding the perpetrators himself and exacting revenge."

"He's just a boy," Cornelia said in exasperation. "He doesn't have the authority or political backing for some kind of play like that."

"Indeed, and any attempts by us to try to remove him from danger will be seen by him as getting in the way of his desired revenge," Schneizel said, "at least initially. Still, once he calms down he will likely realize what we did was for the best. Having said that, what do you intend to do?"

"I'm going to have him moved here," Cornelia said. "I've already increased security and having him with Euphie will make it easier to protect them both in case this is part of a wider conspiracy."

"A wise precaution," Schneizel agreed. "In the meantime, I will look into determining exactly how the assassins penetrated Aries Villa's security."

Cornelia frowned.

"You object?"

"No," the woman said with a shake of her head. "I'm obviously unfit for such an inquiry since the lapse occurred on my watch. But, there's something you should know. The Empress herself requested that I shut down the Villa's security protocols on the day of her, assassination."

Schneizel raised an eyebrow. "Really."

Cornelia nodded. "I protested, but Marianne was adamant. I should have put my foot down, I don't know what Marianne was thinking."

"That, certainly complicates things," Schneizel said. "This course of action suggests she believed herself to be safe, in some way or another." The prince paused. "We need more information, but the implications of what we already know are disturbing."

"Agreed," Cornelia said. "If there's anything-"

The door burst open as Guilford burst in.

"Your highness!" he cried.

Cornelia tensed, alert for whatever might have alarmed her knight.

"The Prince has gone to the palace for an audience with His Majesty!"

It took all of a second for Cornelia and Schneizel to comprehend those words and they shot towards the door immediately. Suddenly Euphie emerged from hiding, blocking their way.

"I'm going too!"

Cornelia's eyes widened as she realized her sister had heard everything she and Schneizel had said. "Euphie, this is not something you should get involved with."

"Lelouch is my brother too!" Euphie cried, fists clenched. "I have to be there for him!"

"Euphie," Schneizel began gently, but the girl would not be interrupted.

"You're talking me with you, or I'll follow you there myself!"

Her elder siblings exchanged looks before Schneizel lowered his head ever so slightly. With a resigned sigh Cornelia too nodded but she looked at her younger sister sternly.

"Stay by Gilbert, stay quiet, and do as we say," she ordered.

Euphie nodded solemnly. She was old enough to understand at least the gravity of the current situation. The three siblings wasted little time traveling to the palace but they were already playing catchup. By the time they arrived Lelouch was already in his audience and if the yelling was any indication it was going very, very poorly.

"Then I don't want to be your heir, I renounce my claim to the throne!"

Euphie felt her stomach twist. Had that voice been Lelouch? Had he really done what she think he had?

"I'm sick of the fighting and scheming over who will succeed you Father, I've had enough!"

The three entered the throne room in time to see Charles' face contort with rage.

"You are dead. You were always been dead to me, dead from the moment you were born. Who gave you the fine clothes you wear and comfortable home? The food you eat and your very life? All of those, I have given to you, in short you are not nothing to me because you have never existed. Yet you dare to speak such foolishness to me?!" The emperor stood and Lelouch stumbled back. "Lelouch, you are dead, therefore you are not entitled to any rights. I am sending you to Japan, as a prince, you will serve well as bargaining tools."

Cornelia blanched and Euphie felt her heart seize. Schneizel frowned as he stepped next to another of their siblings.

"Odysseus."

The older prince glanced over at his younger brother. "Schneizel."

"Odysseus, why didn't you stop Lelouch!?" Cornelia hissed.

"What was I to do? Lelouch began spouting that nonsense without any warning."

The look Cornelia shot her brother made clear that was no excuse as far as she was concerned. The situation was however falling completely apart, Lelouch giving his father one last glare before storming out of the audience hall. Euphie could no longer restrain herself.

"Lelouch!" she cried out.

The boy hesitated for the barest of moments and the courts' eyes fell upon him, all wondering what the boy would do. Would he come back, bend his knees and plea for forgiveness? And then the moment passed as he passed through the threshold. Euphie felt her knees give out but Cornelia quickly caught her. The girl's eyes were already starting to cloud as tears streaked down her cheek. She did not even notice her sister cradling her and carrying her away from the room, all she could think about was the sight of her brother's back. If only she had known that was the last she would ever see of him, she might have given chase. In her darkest nightmares she would have never conceived of what came next.

Evening fell and Euphie hugging her sister and her stuffed animal, one given to her by the Empress Marianne herself. The murmurings about her were too much for the little girl and she tried to block them all out. One such hushed conversation however caught her attention for the name she picked out amongst the words. She looked up, straining to hear more.

"…the poor dear, what will we tell the princess?"

"Nothing, not until Princess Cornelia clears it."

"Is it true though? Did he really commit suicide?"

Euphie's face paled. Young as she was the girl was a diligent student and many foresaw her becoming a most erudite scholar. Thus the words that she now heard were crystal clear to her, as was their implications. Suicide. Death. Lelouch was dead? Not just her beloved Aunt Marianne and little sister Nunnally, but now her dear brother as well? Euphie remained frozen in her chair, not stirring until Cornelia returned who knew how much later. When the elder princess saw her sister, she immediately came to the girl's side.

"Euphie, are you okay?"

Euphie's mouth opened and closed wordlessly. Cornelia gently stroked the girl's head.

"Euphie?"

"You…you promised," the girl said with a husky voice.

Cornelia stiffened. Her little sister knew. Somehow, and Cornelia vowed to find out who had been insensitive enough to reveal this to her dear Euphemia, she knew.

"I'm sorry," Cornelia said softly.

Cheeks still stained by tears shed mere hours ago were now awash with them once more. Cornelia pulled the girl into a tender hug.

"You promised," Euphie repeated in between her sobs.

Cornelia tightened her grip. She needed to do something, anything, to try to soothe Euphie's pain, but the Second Princess of the Holy Britannian Empire knew that with all her power in this she was utterly powerless. Thus she simply held onto her sister, stroking her hair.

"I'm sorry," Cornelia said. "I couldn't keep this promise. I don't know if you'll ever believe my word again Euphie, but I'm sorry."

Euphie clung onto her sister, almost afraid that if she let go Cornelia would disappear too. Her world had been torn apart. That peaceful, happy world that she thought she could remain safely in forever. At the age of seven Euphie had learned a cold, hard lesson about not just life but also about family. Her father did not care about them. Her siblings were powerless in the face of his authority. A day may yet come when she herself would be caught in the crossfire of court politics. If she wanted to survive, if she wanted to learn the truth behind the events of this brutal day, she needed to come to terms with that loss of innocence. No, she needed to embrace it. Only then could she hope to survive, only then could she possibly carve out an oasis in all this madness. And maybe, just maybe, she could find some of the happiness stolen away today.

* * *

2016 A.T.B.

The dining hall was opulently appointed from the embroidered silken red curtains framing giant windows that let in the ambient evening light to the crystalline chandeliers that sparkled if one gazed upon them. Then there was the spread on the tables, dishes crafted by some of the finest chefs in the Empire that provided a fair sampling of the lands under Britannia's domain. That few of those lands were willing components was a side note, an afterthought to the men and women attending tonight. After all, the fact that they were part of the Empire now meant that they were worthy of nothing besides being subjects of Britannia.

The guests tonight were each in their own way distinguished personages of the Empire, nobles, magnates, or more often than not both considering the social hierarchy of the nation. Their presence was not only a testament of their own individual wealth and power but also a measure of the prestige of their host tonight, for few would dare scorn an invitation from the Duke of Toronto. Even ignoring the man's own considerable wealth and stature, one slighted a cousin of the Britannian Imperial family at one's own great peril. Besides, the Duke could be quite magnanimous to those of use to him.

The ring of a wineglass sounded through the hall, bringing a halt to the small talk as all turned their attentions to the duke. He smiled, lowering the silver spoon but raising the glass. The guests all reciprocated.

"A toast!" his voice boomed. "To the glory of the Empire, to the honor of the Emperor, and to the greatness of our blood!"

"Here here!"

After nearly draining his glass the duke set it aside, a servant appearing almost instantly to refill it. The duke hardly noticed, instead continuing to address his guests.

"My lords and ladies, ladies and gentlemen," he said. "I thank you all for coming to this little soiree of mine. The past year has been a most glorious one, for not just the Empire but also for my humble self."

That was quite the understatement. The Duke was not only a prominent noble, he also controlled a very lucrative arms conglomerate that served as one of the Britannian military's primary suppliers for munitions. He was a canny businessman, noting that while selling guns and cannons might seem more glamorous, what the military really consumed in prodigious amounts were the bullets and shells fired by those weapons. And with every conflict the Empire found itself embroiled in the need for those bullets and shells only increased, ultimately taking the Toronto fortune to almost unimaginable heights a mere decade after the Duke first established himself in the industry. The rapid growth of his company raised a few eyebrows and rumors continued to swirl about just how he managed to land such lucrative contracts to supply the military, but few dared to do more than whisper such possibilities, for the Duke's business prowess was easily matched by his skill with a blade and any that he deemed to have slandered him tended to meet very messy ends. After all, who dared face the social fallout of declining a challenge to a duel of honor issued by a Duke?

"I expect that the New Year will be equally rewarding, not just for myself but for all of my good friends here today," the duke continued. "I had hoped to share with you news of the dawning of a new era today, but alas it was not to be. Still, I have full confidence that within the next month we will all have further cause to celebrate."

All attending knew to what the duke referred to. The contract to supply the military was up for renewal but unlike in past terms negotiations surrounding it had dragged on for surprisingly long. Other parties were obviously making a play for the lucrative business, which was exceedingly foolish considering whom they were contending with. As such no one here doubted that the duke's proclamation would become truth in due time. For many their own fortunes were intertwined with that of the duke's after all and any alternative was beyond unthinkable. That was perhaps why no one present ever foresaw how the evening would end.

The soldiers that stormed into the hall wore the combat dress of the Britannian Army, padded head to toe in black armor with weapons raised. Cries and screams of surprise filled the hall as the guests scrambled away from this sudden intrusion. The duke looked about in confusion, seemingly unable to decide between outrage and fear.

"What is the meaning of this!?" he demanded, finally settling on outrage. After all, he was a Britannian duke. What out there did he have to fear?

The last soldier to enter wore no helmet and the insignia on his collar marked him to hold the rank of colonel. His expression was a simple sneer as his gaze fell upon the guests, contempt dripping from his eyes. Here was a man that had little use for the pomp and circumstances of blue bloods.

"You! Are you in charge of this farce!?" the duke screamed. "I will have your head for interrupting my dinner in so insolent a manner!"

The colonel gave the duke a dismissive look as an aide stepped forth with a very thick packet of paper. The colonel accepted the packet and glanced at the cover, seemingly ignoring the duke. His actions were however not nearly as benign as that.

"Duke Constantine of Toronto," the colonel said. "The Imperial Munitorum has completed an audit of the services rendered by companies under your control and the compensation provided. The conclusion of this audit, of which I hold a copy of, is that substandard products provided by Toronto Arms has been directly responsible for twelve thousand six hundred twenty-two casualties amongst the Britannian military over the past decade. The number of fatalities confirmed to have been caused by substandard munitions provided by Toronto Arms stands at three thousand nine hundred sixteen. The Munitorum further estimates that an additional thirty thousand casualties were likely caused by these same substandard munitions though there is not sufficient evidence for a definitive conclusion."

The colonel looked up from the report to meet the eyes of the quickly paling duke.

"In light of these severe transgressions, the Munitorum has ordered the immediate termination of all contracts with Toronto Arms and the seizure of assets to compensate the Empire for these grievous losses. The Duke of Toronto himself is hereby ordered to be taken into custody pending the carrying out of his sentence."

The white of shock was giving way to scarlet rage as Constantine glared at the colonel. "What insolence! How dare you slander my august person such! Who is the craven bastard that has the balls to deface me so!? I demand to know their identity so that I may have satisfaction!"

The colonel held out the packet toward the duke. "The auditor that verified the conclusions is signed on the last page of the report."

The duke snatched the papers and immediately flipped to the last page, which was merely the latest in a series of life mistakes the man had committed, for there were actually two pieces of documentation in the packet. The audit and its various numbers formed the bulk of it, but attached to the end was a simple sheet of paper authorizing the sentence for the duke's crimes. A death sentence. The man's face paled once more as his eyes fell upon the signature at the bottom. Cornelia li Britannia, marshal of the Imperial Army.

"This-this is impossible!" the duke exclaimed, the packet falling from his hands.

"Take him away," the colonel ordered.

"No! Wait! Please stop!"

His cries fell on deaf ears as two soldiers seized the duke and hauled him out. He continued screaming, pleading for his life and offering to richly reward any that came to his aid. The dozens of weapons trained upon the guests ensured all turned a deaf ear to those pleas. The colonel picked up the packet, noting with some bemusement that it had opened up to the actual last page of the audit. There at the bottom was the name that had actually consigned the duke to his fate, the auditor that meticulously tracked down and documented every bribe, pinched penny, and otherwise misdeed that had allowed the duke to remain as the heart of this rot within Britannia's military-industrial complex. A name that still seemed innocuous to the masses of the Empire. A name signed and sealed as Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Holy Britannian Empire.

End Prologue

Mandatory disclaimer, I don't own Code Geass, etc, etc.

This is, as should be pretty obvious, a what-if story. One that will have lots and lots of threads spinning off and coming back together as the story unfolds. As a character I found Euphemia interesting, though from a purely practical perspective I didn't entirely sympathize with her. Sure her intentions were good, but they also felt naïve in a lot of respects. I suppose that might have been inevitable, Code Geass' geopolitics were highly unrealistic in many places to the point of feeling sloppy at various points.

Conversely regardless of my lack of, sympathy, for Euphie, I did feel she was rather underutilized. The girl had conviction if nothing else, and I thought it might be interesting if she actually had, you know, the political capital to actually back up said conviction. Thus this little story where Euphie gets to take center stage. That said, in the Code Geass universe death tends to be rather impermanent, a truism that applies as much to my in-fic universe as it does to the canon. So unless you're shown a body, don't assume anything. Even if you're shown a body don't assume anything. Anyway, I think that about sums up what I want my readers to know about now without dropping too many spoilers. Drop me a review with what all of you think.

Sidenote: To any readers of my other fic In Tune that stumble upon this one, no, this fic should not result in significant delays to that one. That one is winding down anyway and I needed to get at least the prologue for this fic out of my head.


	2. Chapter 1

_Amongst those directly involved in the Empress Euphemia's ascension the most colorful is almost certainly Lady Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki. The daughter of a Britannian noble and a Japanese commoner, the story of how Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki began as a Japanese freedom fighter and went on to play a pivotal part to the elimination of the then-Princess Euphemia's rivals for the throne can and has by itself filled entire history texts. Much like the Empress, Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki entered the conflict fully after the death of her sibling, in her case that of her elder brother Naoto Kouzuki. Despite her young age at the time the Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki was already a superb knightmare pilot and capable warrior, talents that would play major roles in her rise. Rumors however persist to this day of her grace possessing another, almost preternatural ability to sense every detail of her surroundings. While such stories are likely exaggerations fueled by the distortions of the passage of time, it is widely accepted that her grace possessed a frighteningly canny situational awareness that served her in good stead as a knightmare pilot. It was also as a pilot that the Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki earned her many appellations such as the Crimson Lotus, the Red Knight, the Red Queen, and finally the Knight of One._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 1: Fortitudo

Euphie yawned, stretching her body to try to stave off the sleep it was craving. She would be turning in soon enough, there was just a little bit more work to be done and she was loathe to leave it until tomorrow. Whether it could be called diligence or obstinacy depended on who discovered the girl during her late night work sessions. Or rather how many times they encountered Euphie up so late. Her old governess would probably still be proud, even as she chided the girl about neglecting her beauty sleep. She was a princess of the realm after all and had to maintain an image.

"Your highness."

Euphie looked over to the figure standing on the doorway. "Ah, Dorothy, good evening."

The maid bowed. "It is nearly time for a good morning, your highness. Please, you should turn in."

Euphie smiled slightly. This maid was obviously not one of the admirers of what she politely termed the princess' dedicated drive. Not entirely surprising seeing as she was responsible for preparing Euphie for her daily routine and ensuring a good night of sleep was a prerequisite of that.

"I'm almost done Dorothy," Euphie assured her maid, not that the older woman believed her for a moment.

"Your highness, you are scheduled to breakfast with Prince Schneizel tomorrow. Or should I say today?"

Looking at the clock Euphie saw that it was indeed past midnight. Perhaps her maid had a point after all.

"Alright Dorothy, you win," Euphie said as she stood. "I'll get to bed."

The maid bowed. "I have prepared a robe and nightgown on your bed, your highness."

"Thank you," the young woman said with a nod.

A deeper bow as the maid retreated, her errand complete. As Euphie watched her leave she sighed. Perhaps she should stop staying up so late seeing as she was forcing her attendants to also pull these late night shifts. Their work could be difficult enough seeing as they had to keep this massive estate running smoothly. Either way that was a promise for another day, as were the numbers for Area 11's development budget. For now she needed sleep.

The next morning as she breakfasted with Schneizel Euphie was genuinely glad her maid had chased her off to bed.

"You have been well, Euphie?" Schneizel said with a seemingly genuine smile.

"Well enough, thank you brother," Euphie replied with one of her own. Hers looked just a bit more natural.

"I know you try to be diligent with your work but it would not do to exhaust yourself in it."

"I will be fine brother," Euphie assured her sibling. "Though if the lot of you would generate less work for me, I would not complain."

Schneizel chuckled. "Clovis being a bit too free with his money again?"

"No, well, kind of," Euphie said thoughtfully. "He's spending a lot of it, and I'm having trouble figuring out where exactly it's all ending up."

The prince raised an eyebrow. Euphie's intuitive grasp of numbers was quite the wonder by itself. When applied to something that was otherwise mundane such as accounting the young woman could discern patterns and flows that eluded even Schneizel. For that reason alone he valued his sister's input on a diverse range of topics. Conversely Euphie knew well how useful her siblings, not just Schneizel, found her and used that utility to ply certain favors from them. In Schneizel's case that favor had been a formal, albeit discrete, position of auditor in the Treasury where she examined the Empire's finances for signs of graft or waste. Not even members of the Imperial family were safe from her scrutiny, even if their positions shielded them from the more direct consequences of their extravagance. Indirect consequences were another matter entirely.

"From which budget is Clovis drawing heavily from?"

"He's, not actually," Euphie said. "It's just that there are sums unaccounted for across quite a few requisitions and funds. By themselves they're at best a few percentages but on the whole we're talking about millions of pounds, perhaps even tens of millions. In the grand scheme that isn't a lot of money, but it is still significant."

Schneizel found himself in agreement with his sister. The total gross national product of the Empire stood at nearly 17 trillion pounds and the combined budget of the government itself was approximately 3 trillion. Against such vast sums one or ten million pounds was a trifling. Yet in absolute terms ten million pounds did represent a significant amount of money, especially in an economy as depressed as that of Area 11.

"You believe he is hiding something."

Euphie nodded. "I'm pretty sure it's all benign, for all I know he's just stuffing cash for some future project, but it is nagging me a bit."

Schneizel was not sure he shared his sister's sentiment. Then again he doubted Euphie herself was actually that blasé about all the missing money. If there was one thing that kind, gentle Euphie could be said to hate, it was the abuse of power and wealth that ran rampant in the Empire. Clovis might have been a beloved brother but not even he would be immune from her wrath if she decided he really had been misappropriating money meant to improve Area 11.

"Shall I have a word with him the next time we speak?" Schneizel suggested.

"Actually I think I should be the one to talk to him about it," Euphie said. "If you asked him, he might panic and think he's in big trouble."

That last line was delivered with a perfectly disarming smile. Schneizel allowed one of his own.

"Fair enough. Then I leave the matter to your discretion."

"Thank you brother."

"You are most welcome, Euphie."

Oh yes, useful indeed. Schneizel just prayed that he never gave Euphie reason to pry into his affairs.

* * *

Euphie was not one to waste time and upon returning to her estate she arranged for a line to be established to Clovis. It was already afternoon, almost evening, in Japan so she did not have to worry too much about the inconvenience of the time. When Clovis appeared on the screen he certainly did not seem to mind the sudden call at all.

"Euphie," he greeted with a wide smile. "How are you my dear little sister?"

Euphie returned the greeting with one of her one. "Fine, dearest brother. I hope that all is going well in Area 11?"

"If only," Clovis said with an exaggerated sigh. "The Elevens are being their usual uncooperative selves, constantly seeking to undermine our efforts to restore the country into a productive land."

That did not surprise Euphie in the least though the girl kept her peace. One thing Schneizel and Cornelia had managed to teach her over the years was to pick her battles with care and to never fight on two fronts at once. Today she would deal with this little bookkeeping error. Tomorrow was another day after all.

"But I'm sure you didn't call to hear me gripe about my governorship, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Business I'm afraid," Euphie said, still smiling sweetly.

Clovis, for all his theatrical gestures, was not a fool. None of the Emperor's children were outright stupid, at least none that still retained any standing at court, and a viceroyalty over an Area required quite the standing indeed. The prince kept his composure, retaining his genial expression.

"Oh? Please, do share."

"I have been reviewing the finances for Area 11 and noticed a large number of minor discrepancies. Individually they do not amount to much but combined the sum is substantial."

Clovis pursed his lips. "That is, disturbing, Euphie."

"Indeed. After all, with all the difficulties the people of the Area have been given you, the last thing you need is for your efforts to be further undermined by graft or sloppiness of your subordinates."

Despite her wording Clovis knew fully well what his sister was getting at. Or rather at both points the young woman was trying to get across. Euphie hated waste and corruption but she did care for her brother and so she was making clear that she was assuming the best, that Clovis himself was not party to the misappropriation of funds and that she could trust him to remedy the situation. Clovis sometimes wondered just when his dear little sister started becoming so devious. Schneizel's influence no doubt. Still he forced the smile to remain on his face.

"You have my word Euphie, I will look into the matter and put an end to this shameful oversight."

"I have no doubt you will brother."

"If you could please forward the specific details to me directly? Knowing where these discrepancies are would be most helpful."

"Certainly, I'll have a secured message dispatched immediately."

"Thank you," Clovis said, his smile widening. "When events are less dramatic here in Area 11, you must come visit. You'll feel right at home in the Tokyo concession and I think you'll enjoy the garden villa here at the palace."

"Oh, I heard you modeled it after the Aries Villa," Euphie said wistfully. "That, takes me back."

"I as well," Clovis said softly before shaking himself. "Would that I could share it with them."

Euphie nodded, knowing that her brother genuinely meant this and was not trying to distract her. Amongst their siblings Clovis was likely the next closest to the children of the Empress Marianne before their, passing.

"Well, I shan't keep you from your work any longer brother, or your dinner."

"I always have time for you, Euphie," Clovis assured her, being at least mostly honest. "Till we speak again."

"Goodbye brother, and I will pray for your success in Area 11."

Euphie really meant it too. Clovis was family after all and one thing the princess had learned to cherish was family.

* * *

As the feed terminated a scowl appeared on Clovis' face. His anger was not directed towards his sister, he loved her dearly and knew that Euphie was simply trying to look out for the best interests of the Empire and its people. That she had called him directly about his concerns indicated that she did not suspect anything and if Clovis had it his way she would go right now suspecting nothing. Of his siblings Euphie's good opinion was one he was especially loathe to lose on a personal level even of losing Schneizel's confidence could be more dangerous politically.

"Get General Asprius here immediately!" Clovis snapped.

One of his attendants bowed before making a hasty departure. Clovis however was not a patient man and by the time the general arrived there was a noticeable dent on the armrest where he had been drumming.

"You called for me, your highness?" Bartley said with a bow.

With a wave of his hand Clovis dismissed the servants who were only too relieved to be out of the prince's presence. The nervous energy he had been exuding had not been good for anyone's nerves. Bartley himself was now the sole object of the prince's attention and finding said energy to be equally nerve wracking.

"General Asprius," Clovis said. "What progress on Code-R?"

"Umm, well, there have been no significant developments since my latest progress report to you last week sire," Bartley said nervously. "We are continuing to analyze the subject, but there have thus far been no anomalies from previously observed patterns."

"How long has it been since I placed you in charge of the project, general?" Clovis asked.

"Umm, six months, highness."

"And in those six months, what have we learned about the subject?"

Bradley swallowed. "We've gathered a considerable amount of raw data, sire, but much remains to be done. The subject is, unnatural in many respects and we are still determining what limits, if any, its abilities have. I apologize for the slow pace of the work, highness, but there are simply too many unknowns, unknowns that we will only be able to unravel with more time."

"More time," Clovis said bitterly. "Do you know, general, just how much your research has already cost?"

Bradley frowned. "Highness?"

"Money general, I'm talking about money," Clovis snapped.

"I'm, not sure of the exact number, sire," Bradley said nervously, "but I could conduct an audit if you-"

"Don't bother, Euphie's already done one and will be forwarding me the results."

The general frowned in confusion at first, trying to work out just how the Third Princess was involved with all this. And then he recalled certain rumors that had been floating around about the Princess Euphemia's hand in the dismantling of Toronto Arms. He blanched.

"Yes general," Clovis said as he watched the other man's reaction. "Euphie has noticed the funds being diverted to your project. In fact she called me not half an hour ago to have a little chat about them. She's giving me the benefit of the doubt by assuming that it's just some subordinates stealing from the official budgets, but if she is given cause to dig deeper she may well find where that money is going."

"But, the money was diverted in such small amounts!" Bradley protested, momentarily forgetting in whose presence he was. "How could she have found them!?"

"Euphie's always been good with numbers," Clovis said, his own agitation distracting him from the slight disrespect of the general's bluntness. "Ultimately it doesn't matter how she found out about the diversions, she knows, and if she knows, Schneizel knows. We must secure Code-R until this blows over."

"Highness?"

"You will remove Code-R to a secure and remote location," Clovis ordered. "I will provide the funds necessary from my personal accounts. Once the relocation is complete, your only responsibility will be to keep the subject locked down and prevent any attempts at escape. Until I can arrange for a new source of funding, one that will not show up in any of the official or unofficial books, you are to halt the experimentation."

"But-"

"Am I clear, general!?"

Bartley shut his mouth and reluctantly nodded. He knew that tone, when Clovis was incensed the prince's temper knew no bounds. The disruption to the project's timetable this would cause would be considerable, with significant amount of work that would need to be redone once they could resume the experiments. But the prince was right, the last thing they needed was to have other members of the Imperial family sniffing around. Better that they suffer a minor delay than to have the entire project scrapped. Bartley bowed.

"I will see to this immediately, your highness."

"Good," Clovis said and waved. "You are dismissed."

The general hurried out of the room, leaving Clovis to sulk. Bad enough that the Elevens were still causing grief for his rule now his own family was meddling in his affairs. He tried not to be too annoyed with Euphie, she really was trying to look out for the family interests. Unfortunately when a family had as many secrets as the Britannias she was almost bound to stumble upon something one of them did not want discovered. It was just Clovis' unfortunate luck that he was her first unintentional victim. The prince sighed. Things were getting complicated but the situation was still salvageable. If things worked out, maybe he would be able to make good on that invitation to his sister. How he would enjoy the uncomplicated nature of a simple family visit.

* * *

Tamaki hated being on stakeout duty. Patience was not one of his virtues, a self-admitted flaw that in theory should have seen him removed from consideration for such jobs. Unfortunately with the cell's lack of manpower everyone was pulling double duty and so Tamaki found himself loitering outside of the building they suspected of being a chemical weapons factory. Damn the Britannians, first they stomp on Japan and her people and now they were planning on gassing all of them. Well this was something they were not going to get away with. Tamaki yawned. So long as he could stay awake long enough to make sure they did not move the gas. Damn night shifts, why did he have to lose the bet?

A truck turned the corner and Tamaki quickly slid into the shadows. From there he watched as it pulled up to the main gate. Another truck appeared, then a third. The gate rose and the vehicles hurriedly drove in. Peeking out, Tamaki saw several men hop off the truck. They all looked military and interestingly were not carrying anything. Was this it? Were they preparing to move the gas? Was he finally going to get a chance to do something? Tamaki pulled out his cell. Only one way to find out.

* * *

"Are you sure?"

Kallen perked up. Ohgi's voice sounded strained and serious.

"No, I'm sure you saw what you did. What? Okay, okay. Keep an eye out, I'll get us into position if this is really it."

Ohgi closed his cell and looked up to see Kallen waiting expectantly. He grimaced.

"Tamaki says he just saw a bunch of trucks enter the building with a lot of men. This might be it."

"I'm ready," Kallen said immediately. "Let's go."

"Kallen," Ohgi began.

"I know what you're gonna say Ohgi," Kallen cut him off. "I'm coming. I'm the best pilot you've got and if you want to have any chance of pulling this off you'll need my help."

Ohgi grimaced. "I know. But when we're out there you need to follow my orders, no running off on crazy stunts. Are we clear?"

Kallen nodded stiffly. "Of course."

"Alright. Then let's get going, we're not going to have much warning if they really are moving the gas now."

Kallen dashed after Ohgi, trying to keep a lid on her own enthusiasm. Ohgi was right, this was not just a simple smash and grab, if they were careless they could end up unleashing the gas in a heavily populated area and kill countless innocents, Japanese and Britannian alike. The girl wanted to avenge her brother, yes, but she knew that she would never be able to face him if in the process she triggered a greater catastrophe. Yet her anger and passion remained hard to reign in. Kallen prayed that she did not end up doing something rash.

* * *

A new day had dawned and Tamaki was still at his spot waiting for something to happen. The only good news right now was the sun was slowly warming the air, helping him shake off the chills from the night before.

"C'mon you bastards, get a damn move on it."

The gate rose. Apparently he was about to get his wish. Tamaki readied his cell. Out from the building rolled the trucks, the one in the center slightly larger and heavier if the depression of the wheels was any indication.

"Bingo."

The man hit speed dial and waited impatiently as the phone connected. One ring and the man on the other side picked up.

"Status?"

"They're on the move," Tamaki said. "Headed towards Shinjuku."

"Alright, fall back to the rendezvous point and get armed. We'll need backup once we jack the truck."

"On my way," Tamaki said, already making a run for it.

He pocketed his phone without another word. If he hurried there might still be some leftovers when he met up with the others.

* * *

The new day started much as any other, the denizens of Tokyo rising and going about their routines. Students headed off to class while adults made their way to their respective place of work, whether it be an office, a factory, or simply their own homes. Few were expecting anything exciting to happen, the past few weeks having been relatively quiet. There was a heavier than usual presence of police and even military out and about but no one could fault Prince Clovis for his caution, what with the recent bombastic grandstanding of the terrorist elements seeking to undermine Britannian authority. Still, it was not like the terrorists actually had the power to seriously threaten the Tokyo Concession where full-fledged citizens lived so everyone went about their day as usual. And yet there was that rising billow of smoke off in the distance. Was its source a fire? Or something more ominous?

"Damn it Tamaki, why can't that guy ever follow a plan!?"

The man spun the wheel, sending the truck careening around the corner as he tried to put some distance between himself and his pursuers.

"No time for complaining now," Kallen said as she reloaded her pistol. "Keep driving!"

The girl leaned out, firing off a few shots. One actually managed to hit the window of the chasing police car but besides a brief about of swiveling the driver quickly recovered.

The radio on the dashboard crackled. "Nagata, you there?"

The driver grabbed it. "Ohgi, we've got cops on our tail and coming in hot!"

"I see you, take the next left and keep going straight for five more blocks, then a right. We've got the Glasgow set up in an alley, Kallen just needs to get to it."

"Roger!"

The truck swerved hard again, almost tipping over but landing back onto all four wheels with a thud. The moment they were level again Kallen leaned out to open fire again. A few shots actually punched through the hood of the lead car and it began to slow.

"Yes! I got the engine!"

"Great, now please do something about the other two cars back there!"

Kallen ejected the clip. "Got any more bullets?"

"How did you go through that many clips!?"

"By trying to keep us alive here!"

Nagata's response was to throw the truck into another sharp turn before slamming down n the brakes. Kallen threw her arms around her seat to avoid being bounced about and shot the man a dirty look.

"Out," Nagata shouted, "there's the Glasgow, take it and go kick some real ass!"

The girl needed no further urging, bailing and running into the alley. Ohgi waved frantically at her and Kallen wasted no time climbing into the knightmare. The cockpit closed around her and the machine hummed to life. Her comrades had already started the thing up so mere seconds passed between her strapping in and the knightmare charging forth into the street. Her timing was impeccable, the police car's less so as it slammed into her. The mech barely noticed it, the car saw its entire front end flattened. The other police car swerved, trying to get around the knightmare. Kallen raised the mech's arm and fired off its harpoon. The spear slammed into the car, skewering its engine and sending it crashing into a building. A quick jerk freed the spear from the wrecked vehicle.

"Threat neutralized," Kallen reported.

"Not just yet," Ohgi's voice said over the radio. "I'm hearing noise over the civilian channels about Britannian military units being dispatched. We need to get that gas under cover into Shinjuku now."

"Che, alright, I'll provide cover for Nagata. You guys get to Shinjuku and prepare a warm welcome for the Britannians."

The sound of a car starting up carried through over the radio. "Already on my way. Be careful out there Kallen."

The girl grinned. "You know me Ohgi."

"Yeah," a resigned tone answered. "Yeah, I do."

* * *

What had started out as a perfectly normal day was turning out to be anything but for the student council of Ashford Academy. Milly Ashford, student council president, watched the newsfeed anxiously, hoping that there would be some hint as to whether the fighting might spread in the direction of the school.

"As you can see the terrorist elements have caused only minor damage to the outer districts of the Tokyo Concession before fleeing for the safety of the Shinjuku ghetto," a Britannian police public relations officer said as images of scrapped car parts were broadcasted. "We are already moving in to lock down the district to ensure that the terrorists do not escape. Once a perimeter is established, the Britannian military will move in to sweep the district and flush these cowards out."

The girl pursed her lips. If the military was really going to put boots on the ground in Shinjuku the area would turn into a bloodbath. Britannian soldiers were not known for their moderation and they would not care if innocent civilians were caught in the crossfire, especially when said civilians were Elevens.

"This is just awful," Shirley Fenette, Milly's good friend and secretary on said student council, remarked.

"Yeah, no kidding," Rivalz Cardemonde, another friend and vice president under Milly, agreed. "What were those guys thinking, launching an attack on the Concession?"

Milly gave her junior a tolerant smile and the boy clammed his mouth shut, knowing he had put his foot in it again. Rivalz was at heart a decent young man but he had grown up in relative privilege, safe and happy while the greatest hardship of life he knew of was missing out on his favorite TV episode or not having enough money to buy the newest issue of a comic series he liked. The boy was at least honest enough with himself to know he did not understand what an Eleven went through to scrape by a living out in the ghettos but from time to time his lack of sense could make him sound overly callous.

"Are all students accounted for on campus?" Milly asked.

"Umm, I think so," the treasurer Nina Einstein said, checking her terminal. "All students that live in the dorms are listed as checked in. Of the students that commute from home, looks like everyone's here-oh wait, Kallen Stadtfeld is absent. It says here that she's sick and is resting at home."

"Oh her," Milly said thoughtfully. "She really is absent a lot, is her body that weak?"

"Well I'm sure she'll be safe at the Stadtfeld estate," Rivalz said. "It's deeper in the Concession and this mess is taking place on the outskirts."

"True enough," Milly conceded. "Still, we should leave a message with them. I don't like the thought of any of my students being at risk."

"Oh, we're your students, prez?" Rivalz said with a teasing grin.

Milly flashed her trademark smile in response. "Well of course, all of you exist to carry out my bidding and whims. Now chop chop! That message won't deliver itself! Get on the phone!"

The boy groaned as he walked right into that one. Still as far as demands went this definitely counted as one of Milly's less outrageous ones. As Rivalz reached for the phone Milly turned her attention back to the news broadcast. Details were still thin and it was obvious the authorities were keeping some details back but right so far it seemed as if this latest crisis would pass Ashford Academy by. And that was just fine with Milly. For all the girl loved attention, she knew that some forms of attention were less desirable than others. Any that risked shedding light on her little sister would find itself to be most unwelcome in Milly's domain.

* * *

"I've got it!" The sound of metal clashing with metal echoed before a distinct crumpling noise followed. "Gah!"

Another enemy knightmare went down but Kallen had little time to be enjoy her victory. More charged toward her and something told the girl her next opponent would not be so easy. Her instincts were right, the Sutherland that now faced her moving far more gracefully and with a far deadlier purpose. Its harpoon came straight at Kallen and the girl just barely managed to twist the Glasgow aside. The danger was not past however as the Sutherland jerked its arm. Something slammed into Kallen from behind, sending her Glasgow stumbling forward right into the waiting blade of the enemy knightmare.

"Ah!"

Shifting her knightmare's posture Kallen just barely avoided having her cockpit skewered. Instead the blade sliced through an arm, destroying both it and the rifle it held.

"Crap!"

The girl sent her leg flying up, nailing the Sutherland and using it to push her own knightmare back into the tunnel. She raised her remaining arm and fired, sinking the harpoon into the concrete above. With a cry Kallen sent the Glasgow into full reverse, tearing away at the ceiling. Already weakened by the fighting, the concrete cracked and gave way, filling the tunnel entrance with rubble. A few holes still let in light but none were large enough to allow a knightmare through. Letting out a sigh of relief Kallen cut the harpoon's rope, leaving the weapon buried in the rubble, before beating a hasty retreat. The Britannians would find a way into the tunnel, there was little doubt about that, and Kallen did not intend to be around when they did.

Outside Jeremiah Gottwald regarded the collapsed tunnel with a slight air of amusement. The Eleven piloting the Glasgow was not bad, especially seeing as he had defeated several of the newer Sutherlands before Jeremiah himself entered the fray. Still, this little act of desperation would not be enough.

"Sergeant, send a team into the tunnels to search for the enemy and then set demolition charges to clear the rubble," Jeremiah ordered.

"But, sir, the charges might cause further collapses," the soldier protested. "That would put our men in considerable danger."

The noble snorted. "Then send in some of your more expendable men. If we delay too long we risk losing the enemy. Prince Clovis has issued a direct order that these terrorists be apprehended and the item they stole retrieved. Do you wish to explain to the prince why we failed to achieve those two objectives?"

"No-no sir," the man stammered. "I'll get right on it sir!"

The man hurried offer, calling for several squads of infantry to assemble. Satisfied that his order would be carried out Jeremiah opened a channel to another of the knightmares.

"Villetta," he said. "Take Kewell to the tunnel entrance in sector 59 and begin a sweep there. If you hurry, you might be able to cut off the terrorists' retreat."

"By your command," Villetta replied.

As the two knightmares departed Jeremiah turned his attention back to the blocked entrance. Several soldiers were now squeezing through the few cracks. The Eleven pilot might have been good, but there was only one of him. Sooner or later he would be found, and killed.

* * *

After a few minutes of driving Kallen managed to catch up with Nagata. The man was examining the truck, seemingly at a loss. When he saw Kallen approach he began waving frantically. Kallen rolled to a stop and popped open her hatch.

"What's going on?"

"The damn engine's blown out," Nagata said. "We need to move the cargo to another truck, but there's no way I can lift that thing by myself." He regarded the beaten up Glasgow. "Not sure you can either now that I think about it."

"I'll think of something," Kallen assured the man. "Which truck should we use?"

The Japanese man pointed to a smaller freight truck. "That one, it's big enough to hold the gas and small enough that we can probably hide it. And switching vehicles is probably a good idea at this point."

"Alright, back it up to this truck and I'll handle it."

Nagata wasted no time doing just that and Kallen eased the container with the Glasgow's remaining arm out of one truck and into the other. It was slow going, at times requiring Nagata to lend a hand by providing leverage to get the heavy metal container through tight spots. Eventually however they got it transferred over, an eventually that was far too long in Kallen's opinion. An opinion that proved truth when gunshots began peppering the trucks.

"Shit!" Kallen cursed, snapping shut the cockpit.

Nagata rolled over to the other side and scrambled into the driver's seat. The sudden hissing of air however marked the puncturing of tires.

"Nagata, can you get out of here!?" Kallen called.

"Not easily, and definitely not with them putting holes in the truck!"

"I'll take care of them," Kallen said, moving to interpose the Glasgow between their attackers and the truck.

"Surrender!"

Kallen froze, not because she was seriously contemplating obeying but because the order had come in Japanese. Why would Britannians issue a demand in Japanese? Most Britannian soldiers stationed in Japan were too arrogant to even bother with that, instead taking advantage of any misunderstandings to justify massacring their enemies. Unless? Kallen's face twisted into a scowl. There had to be Honorable Britannians back there, racial traitors.

"You surrender!" Kallen yelled back.

In retrospect revealing her voice may not have been the smartest thing to do but what was done was done and Kallen readied herself for the attack to resume. Instead the standoff lingered as if the other side did not know how to respond. Kallen was starting to suspect that hearing a female voice was causing some confusion. Great, racial traitors and misogynists. Eventually however whatever was holding the enemy up seemed to clear up.

"Surrender and we will guarantee fair treatment!"

Kallen snorted. Did they think she was an idiot? No one who fell into the hands of the Britannian military got 'fair' treatment, more often than not they got a bullet to the head right then and there. If they were going to treat her like this she would return to favor.

"Walk away from this and I won't plaster the ground with your guts!"

Perhaps a bit over the top but Kallen felt satisfied that she was at least being honest with them. The resumption of rifle fire told her that the other side did not agree.

"Stop shooting you idiots!" Kallen screamed. "The thing in the truck is holding poison gas!"

The shooting stopped very promptly so either they believed her or had decided they could not risk it being a bluff.

"Nagata, can you get going?" Kallen asked.

"Maybe, but they took out both tires on that side. I'm not going to be getting far."

Kallen grimaced. "Then I better take these guys out and we can try another truck."

"Hurry, something tells me backup won't be far behind those bastards."

Kallen did not waste more time with words. She charged, plowing through the abandoned cars in her way and tossing aside the cover the soldiers were using. The shooting resumed immediately, all bets off as the soldiers fought for their lives. It was futile however. Even in her knightmare heavily damaged Kallen was more than a match for mere foot soldiers. Cries and screams filled the tunnel as she knocked bodies aside or smashed them into the ground. The girl tried not to look at the resulting gore, instead focusing on making her kills quickly and painless. No one deserved a lingering death, not even these men.

It felt like an eternity but only a minute or so passed before Kallen stood alone, triumphant amidst the bloody remains of her foes. It had not been a fair fight, far from it, but this was war and wars were not won by being fair.

"Nagata, you okay?"

Silence. Kallen directed the Glasgow back toward the truck.

"Nagata?"

A single gunshot sounded, spurring Kallen on. She rolled around the truck to find her friend clutching a wound on his side with a soldier standing over him.

"Nagata!"

"Don't move," the soldier said in Japanese. "Surrender, and we can get your friend some treatment."

"Stop trying to feed me that line," Kallen snapped. "The moment I get out you'll shoot him and then try to shoot me!"

The soldier said nothing for several seconds, gazing silently at Kallen through his helmet. Then he reached up and pulled it over to reveal his face. Just as the girl had suspected, he was Japanese. A Japanese serving in the Britannian military. Kallen felt her blood boil.

"I give you my word that I will not harm either of you," the young man said. "Please, surrender. There does not need to be any more bloodshed today."

"Don't do it," Nagata said. "Smash this brat and get out of here with the gas!"

"And what will you do then?" the boy demanded. "Even if you got away, what good would having the gas do? Are you going to use it on the Concession?"

"Who the hell do you think we are!?" Kallen exploded. "We stole the gas to keep the Britannians from unleashing it on the ghettos!"

The young man winced. "They would never do that."

"Why the hell else would they have produced it in the first place!?" Kallen yelled.

"Just take him out already!" Nagata shouted.

"Please, shut up!" the soldier snapped.

His attention shifted for a mere second but that was the only opening Kallen needed. She swung Glasgow's arm, taking care not to hit Nagata. The soldier was fast however, leaping to the side and scrambling away. Kallen did not let up, swinging again. Again the soldier dodged, further frustrating the girl's attempts to squash him.

"Stand still and die!"

The third blow came crashing down, catching the side of the truck in the process. Once again the soldier rolled out of the way, but Kallen had managed to hit something. Something that she really should not have hit. The sound of hissing gas began echoing in the tunnel.

"No!"

Kallen was unsure who exactly cried out. It might have been her, it might have been Nagata, it might have been the soldier, hell it might have been all three of them. Not that it mattered now as the seal broke and the gas container began to open. The soldier scrambled to put on his mask while Kallen popped open the hatch, hand reached out to pull Nagata in. The BC protection on the Glasgow was probably compromised at this point but it was still better than being in the open. Strangely enough the soldier did not move to shot either of them. Kallen did not think too hard about it, hauling the larger man in and hurriedly closing the cockpit once more. She was about to turn and flee when Nagata placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait. Look."

Kallen did so, looking at the now open container. At its feet, apparently having fallen out, was a heavily restrained young woman with flowing green hair. The Britannian soldier was kneeling down examining her. After a few seconds he pulled off his gasmask and sniffed. His breathing remained normal.

"What's going on?" Kallen wondered aloud. "Where's the gas?"

"I don't think there was ever any gas," Nagata said. "I think, that container was meant to hold her. Whoever, whatever she is."

Kallen held her ground, watching as the soldier continued examining the girl. He checked for a pulse and poked at the restraints, apparently as uncertain of what to do as the two resistance fighters. He then looked up at the Glasgow.

"What's going on?"

"We don't know," Kallen answered. "We thought that container had some sort of chemical weapon."

The soldier looked back down at the woman. "She doesn't look like a weapon."

Kallen snorted and was about to mark a snarky response when the knightmare shuddered.

"Ah!"

"What was that!?" Nagata cried.

"AP weapon!" Kallen shouted. "We need to-"

Another explosion rocked the Glasgow, toppling the machine.

"Crap, we need to get out of this thing!"

"That guy's still out there!"

"You still have your gun?"

Nagata shook his head.

"Okay, when I pop the hood we'll charge him. The two of us together should be able to take him down."

"Risky, but not like we have a choice. Do it."

"Three, two, one, mark!"

The cockpit popped open and despite his wound Nagata was the first one out. He plowed into the solder, knocking him down and fumbling for his sidearm. The soldier tried to fight back but Kallen was right behind her friend and delivered a solid kick to the young man's head. He slumped down, knocked out but still alive. For now at least.

"Kallen!"

Nagata tossed the gun to the girl but as he did so more rounds sliced through the air. Some finally found their mark as the man shuddered before toppling over.

"Nagata!" Kallen crouched behind the wrecked Glasgow as more shots flew over her head. "Nagata! Can you hear me!?"

Silence. Kallen bit back tears as she leaned up and returned fire. She could make out two, three soldiers, one of them carrying the rocket launcher that had trashed her knightmare. Him, he was the one that had gotten Nagata killed. Before Kallen could exact her revenge more bullets peppered her position, forcing the girl to duck.

"Damn it!"

Was she going to die here? Alone in this damn tunnel, gunned down by Britannian's thugs? No, Kallen refused to go out like this. She still needed to avenge her brother, still needed to fight for Japan and her people. She could not die like this! Kallen blinked. Her eyes met that of the green haired girl. The strange woman was awake and staring right at her. The redhead hesitated for all of a second before lunging out and pulling the woman into cover with her. Taking out her knife Kallen quickly cut the woman's restraints.

"Who the hell are you!?" Kallen demanded. "Why the hell were you in that container!? Why are the Britannians so desperate to get you back!?"

The woman regarded her coolly with her golden eyes.

"Answer me damn it!"

"Doust thee wish to live?"

Kallen blinked. "Huh?"

"Doust thee wish to live?"

"Of course I want to live!"

The woman smiled. It was not a pleasant expression.

"Then I shall grant thee thy wish."

Kallen found that she could not look away. Something, something impossibly strong, kept her eyes locked on with that of the woman. She did not know how long they stared at each other but the next thing she knew the woman was rising.

"Behold for to thou do I plight my troth."

"What?"

A round smashed into the young woman's head and she crumpled, blood oozing out from the wound. Kallen screamed, pressing against the Glasgow in horror. This was not the first death she had witnessed today, she had even visited such carnage on others. Yet to see this woman whom she barely knew be so brutally cut down was too much.

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die," the girl muttered.

Deep within her something stirred.

"I don't want to die!"

And then she saw it. She saw all of it. She saw the men closing in upon her, the vector of their approach, when they would pop around the corner to put bullets in her. Kallen's grip tightened around the pistol.

"I won't die!"

In one fluid motion the girl rose, gun aimed at exactly where the advancing soldier was without her even looking. She pulled the trigger, shifted her arm, pulled the trigger again, before stepping back behind the Glasgow just as a burst of bullets sliced through where she was a second ago. Kallen felt calm. She could hear the slow, steady beats of her heart. She counted them, one by one. On the fifth count she leaned out again and fired, just as the last Britannian soldier was peeking up from his own hiding spot. The bullet smashed through his head, turning it into bloody pulp. Silence fell upon the battlefield, the only sound the girl could hear being that of her own breathing. Slow, deep breaths. And then her strength left her as she crumbled to the ground. The gun fell from her hand, clattering as it hit the floor. Kallen barely noticed. In fact she did not notice anything. All she could see was the same thing playing over and over again in her mind, the approach of the soldiers, every footstep they took, every sweep of their guns as they advanced. And her, rising to meet them one by one, cutting them down with brutal efficiency. A chill ran through Kallen. A chill that came from the realization of the awesome power now in her possession. Unbeknownst to the girl a bird-shaped sigil burned in her left eye, a mark of that very same power, a gift and a curse.

End of Chapter 1

C.C.'s speech pattern is either going to get tiresome really quickly or provide lots of opportunity for humor. We'll see who gets sick of it first, my readers for having to parse it or me for having to figure out how to write archaic dialogue.

We are still in what is more or less the setup stage for the story. Some basic points need to be established so that people have a better understanding of how this diverges from the Code Geass canon. From there all of you can better speculate on where I intend this story to go. One major divergence has happened already. More will be coming of course. I have a pretty good idea of the direction I want the story to take and I have the plot mapped out to the equivalent of my end of season one. I also have some general ideas of what will happen in season two, but the ending itself is still somewhat amorphous. It basically comes down to who dies, why they die, if anyone dies, etc. I'm a personal fan of happy endings but the character dynamics are going to be so thoroughly tangled compared to the canon that what would constitute a 'happy' ending there does not necessarily translate over to this fic. We'll see how it goes.

One of my reviews seems to be stuck, insomuch as it isn't displaying on the site even though I have a copy of it sitting in my inbox. But anyway, two people have now raised a question about whether the vi Britannia children are really dead. I leave that up to interpretation based on the available text evidence in what I have currently published.

A couple of additional notes. I am going to attempt to craft a slightly more realistic world for Code Geass, both geopolitically as well as with terminology. Cornelia for example is not Chief General, she's a Marshal. I am something of a military history and technology enthusiast and some of the less than coherent military terminology in a lot of fiction have always felt jarring to me. That and oversimplified politics tends to rob some of the realism and believability from stories that I would otherwise enjoy immensely. So I will seek to minimize such disruptions in my own work unless it is absolutely necessary for plot advancement. Even then I'll at least try to come up with a BS in-universe rationale for it.

Finally, a bit of an advertisement but also a pointer for people reading this fic, if you want to get an idea of how I go about world building or the level of complexity that I like to inject into my fics, I would recommend checking out my EVA fic _In Tune_. It's still ongoing but is about two thirds done and has 31 chapters plus prologue out, so provides a pretty big sample of the type of writing I do nowadays. I'd like to think that it would at least give some hints at the twists and turns I like to build into my fics, which I think would be useful for, not exactly predicting, but more easily comprehending the mindscrews that I am going to be throwing into this one.

Anyway, leave me a review if you've enjoyed _A Cold Calculus_ thus far. And if you have any guesses as to what the meaning of the title is.


	3. Chapter 2

_If the reported death of her siblings was what ultimately motivated Princess Euphemia to join in the politics of court, what is now known as the Shinjuku Incident was what ultimately set her on the road to the throne. Details remain sparse to this day if only because many of the principals involved died during the incident and those that survived have refrained from discussing it. What is known is that Prince Clovis, an elder brother to the Princess, had produced a quantity of poisonous gas, the purpose of which also remains a mystery. The resistance movement Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki was part of managed to steal the gas while it was being moved, setting off a determined response by the Prince's royal guard and members of the Britannian Purist faction. The official reports at the time claimed that the gas was released and that was what ultimately caused the high number of civilian casualties, but eye witness accounts and documentation published after Empress Euphemia's ascension refute them. Regardless of what really happened, the Shinjuku Incident would set the stage for the meeting of two remarkable young women._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 2: Ulciscor

Kewell approached the carnage of the battle with a wary eye. Limbs and broken bodies littered the tunnel, the cause all too obvious with the wrecked Glasgow lying there. Before the soldiers had finally managed to take it down it had exacted a heavy toll on their numbers. In fact as far as he could tell it was a battle of mutual annihilation. All of the soldiers were dead and a lone terrorist lay in a bloody heap by the Glasgow. The container was also open, had that happened accidentally during the fight? Or had the terrorists opened it themselves to take their Britannian pursuers out with them in one last blaze of glory? Kewell checked his systems. The filters were not picking up anything so either the gas had already dispersed or it was extremely diffuse to begin with.

"I've found the terrorists' truck and the gas container," Kewell reported. "Moving in to investigate."

"Take care Sir Kewell," Villetta cautioned. "These terrorists have proven to be remarkably resourceful."

"Their resourcefulness seems to be at an end," Kewell said confidently. "I can see the wreckage of their stolen Glasgow."

As he circled around the wreck the knight found that his initial assessment of the situation was not quite accurate. There was a survivor, a female figure with red hair clutching her legs. She appeared to be sobbing. Kewell frowned, zooming his camera in to get a closer look. Her clothes were clearly disheveled and she was definitely Britannian. A bystander that had been drawn into the firefight? Though what was she doing in the ghetto? Had she been traveling to the Concession? Only way to find out. Kewell strapped on his gasmask and checked his pistol. The girl looked like a harmless civilian but one could never be too careful. At the same time if she really was a traumatized civilian trying to get answers out of her from inside a towering knightmare would not get him anywhere. The knight popped open the cockpit and climbed down. He approached the girl slowly so as not to startle her.

"Miss?"

The girl continued to sob. It looked like she really was out of it. Might it have been the gas? Kewell leaned over and reached out with a hand.

"Miss, it's alright now. On my words as a knight I will allow no harm t-"

Kewell never got to finish his sentence. The girl's hand shot up, seizing his arm in an iron grip before twisting, the grapple accompanied by a quick kick to the back of his knee. Kewell tumbled, scrambling to regain his balance even as he prepared a counterattack. His free hand swung about to bring the pistol to bear only for it to be brushed aside by the girl. Despite her delicate looking frame she was strong and Kewell cried in pain as she twisted his arm further back. Kewell was a knight however and had earned his rank. He shifted again, trying to kick out the girl's legs. Instead each kick was met by the girl's own feet, the last attempt seeing a brutal stomp of her heel against his knee. Before another cry of pain escaped his lips a sharp pain shot through his throat. The girl twisted and the knife she had hidden severed Kewell's arteries and windpipe. The knight gurgled but collapsed, clutching futilely at the wound. His last thought as he looked into the eyes of the girl was wonderment at how so very wrong he had been. This girl was not a victim, she was a hunter and killer. The coldness of her eyes made that clear enough. It was the last thing the knight saw.

Kallen panted, her breathing heavy but even as she watched the light fade from the Britannian soldier's eyes. Her hands were trembling, covered as they were in the blood of her victim. She tried to wipe them on her clothes but she could still feel the stickiness. She shuddered. This was not the first time she had killed, but this time it felt so personal. Maybe it was because she had slit her opponent's throat directly and felt his life ooze away with the blood that was spilled. Or maybe it was because she had been able to see every move the man was making or going to make. She had read him like a book, her senses so attuned that every minute twitch was a signal for what the man intended to do next. The sensation was unnerving.

Kallen looked over at the corpse of the green haired girl. "What did you do to me?"

The corpse of course remained silent, but Kallen was sure that whatever was happening to her now was the dead girl's fault. Somehow she had triggered something in Kallen, some ability or power that boosted her senses to such great heights. Yet that power had ultimately saved her life. It had allowed her to defeat the soldiers that killed Nagata and then ambush the Britannian knight that had appeared to investigate.

"You have my thanks," Kallen said softly, "whoever you are. I guess you did grant my wish. I'm sorry it cost you your life in the process."

Kallen turned but stopped mid-step. She looked over the girl at the body of the Japanese young man serving in the Britannian military. He was still breathing, she could actually see his chest rising and falling. Her grip tightened over the knife's handle. She could end his life here and now, he was a traitor to the Japanese people for selling out to their oppressors and deserved nothing less. But then she remembered his words.

"There does not need to be any more bloodshed today."

He had pleaded with them to surrender, shooting only to disable Nagata instead of killing him outright. Maybe he had really meant it when he said he would try to get aid for her comrade. Not that his efforts would have meant anything, Kallen was certain. But he seemed earnest in his efforts to keep them all alive. Her grip on the knife loosened.

"The next time we meet, you won't be so lucky," Kallen said, even though there was no way the unconscious soldier could have heard her.

Sheathing her knife, Kallen looked over at the Sutherland the Britannian soldier had ridden. Just from a cursory look she could tell that it was considerably more effective than the wrecked Glasgow. If only she could take it with her. Kallen blinked. Well, why not? What was to stop her from hijacking it? Kallen turned over to the corpse lying in a pool of its own blood. Steeling herself she flipped the body over and patted it down. There, the key for the knightmare. And fresh clips for the pistol she pried out of the man's hand. Now all that was left was the activation code. Could her new powers help her there? Only one way to find out.

Kallen climbed into the cockpit and made herself as comfortable as she could. She plugged in the key and was promptly greeted with a screen asking for the code. She looked down at the number pad. There it was, the numbers that composed the code were slightly smudged. Even more incredibly she felt a pattern emerging, the area of the smudge hinting at the order the numbers were punched in. She tried a combination. Beep. No dice. Another. Beep. A third. Beep. Kallen growled in frustration but did not give up. The potential payoff was too great here. A fourth. The machine hummed as it came to life.

"Yes!"

The cockpit closed and the knightmare rose, ready to serve its new master.

"Alright, let's see just what you can do," Kallen said.

The girl switched through the radio channels, listening to the chatter that filled them. The military was still sweeping the ghetto, searching for the gas and any resistance fighters. A few other groups were popping up, taking potshots at the foot soldiers even as they tried to avoid direct confrontation with the knightmares. Smart, that. Few resistance groups were well equipped enough to take on professional soldiers never mind the large mechs. Suddenly a clear voice sounded through Kallen's headset.

"Sir Kewell, have you found anything?"

It was a woman, Kallen could tell that much at least. And the transmission was being directed to her knightmare. Was Kewell the man she had just killed? Likely. Kallen looked around the cockpit, quickly finding the IFF and switching it off. There, off the grid for now. However she could not just sit around, she needed up to meet up with Ohgi and the others. Kallen grimaced. And tell them about Nagata. Kallen turned the knightmare about and headed deeper into the tunnel. She would need to find another exit, enemy reinforcements were undoubtedly coming from where she had originally entered.

* * *

"Still no contact from Kallen or Nagata?" Ohgi asked worriedly.

"Nothing. They got into the tunnel though and trying to punch a signal through there is tough at the best of times. If they tried to use their cells the Britannians'll triangulate on them using which base stations their phones connect to so we probably won't hear from them until they get out and can use their radios again."

The woman who answered, Naomi Inoue, knew what she was talking about. She had studied to become an engineer but with the widespread discrimination against the Japanese her opportunities for employment were severely constrained. That lack of opportunity was one reason why she fell in with Naoto's resistance group and Ohgi was glad she had stayed with them after his death.

"Damn it, those bastards are everywhere," Tamaki said as he surveyed the area with his binoculars. "They've even got knightmares in the ghetto!"

Ohgi bit back a bitter retort. It was Tamaki's showboating that had derailed the original plan but the other man knew it and had accepted the stern admonishments Ohgi had delivered earlier. His attitude might have still been aggressive but Tamaki was restraining himself and they all needed to keep a level head instead of turning on one another if they were going to live through the day. The Britannians seemed particularly determined to retrieve the gas, likely not wanting to suffer the public relations disaster that knowledge of such a weapon would cause. Not that the Britannians actually cared what the Japanese thought, but provoking the entire population too much could cause an all-out revolt that would be difficult even for them to contain. It would also get countless civilians killed, a thought Ohgi did not relish.

"Oi, we've got incoming!"

Ohgi rose. "Let me see."

Tamaki handed over the binoculars and Ohgi peered through them to catch sight of a single Sutherland approaching their position. He grimaced. Its shoulders were the maroon color of the Purist faction, an especially vile and discriminatory group of Britannian soldiers. Though that was strange, it was alone. Doctrine called for knightmares to operate at minimum in pairs so they could provide each other support. What was this one doing out here alone? Ohgi's radio crackled at that moment.

"Head, this is fang," a distinctly familiar voice said. "Do you read me?"

Ohgi immediately snatched up his radio. "Fang, this is head, keep your distance, we've got an incoming frame."

The response was a chuckle. Where did Kallen find humor in this kind of situation?

"Don't worry head, that's me. I'm the one in the red shoulders."

Ohgi's eyes widened. As he looked around he saw the others experiencing similar reactions. Kallen had managed to steal a Sutherland? One that belonged to the Purist faction? How had she managed to do that? Was this a trap? No, Kallen would never give them up, Ohgi was sure of that. He grimaced. Even if they tortured her.

"Fang, can we get confirmation of that?"

A pause. "I've stopped."

Ohgi looked through the binoculars and saw indeed the knightmare and come to a halt. He let out a sigh of relief.

"You'll have to tell us how you managed this trick," he said into the radio.

"Later," Kallen replied. "Do you guys have transportation?"

"Yeah, we've still got a pickup running."

"Alright, follow me, we're going to get out of here."

"What?"

"I'm tapped into their radio net Ohgi," Kallen explained. "I know exactly where their patrols are and I can guide us around them."

"Good going Ka-Fang!" Ohgi cheered. Then a frown crossed his face. "Fang, what about?"

A most telling pause. "He didn't make it."

The good cheer disappeared from amongst Ohgi's comrades.

"I see. I'm glad you managed to get out of there though."

"We'll avenge him," Kallen promised.

"That's for the future," Ohgi said. "For now we need to get out of here alive." Another thought occurred to him. "What about the gas?"

Again there was a pause before Kallen answered. "There wasn't any. I'll explain later."

Ohgi frowned. "Alright. We're coming out and we'll follow your lead."

"Roger, fang out."

Ohgi looked at the others. "Let's get moving, no telling how much longer before the Britannians reach this block."

Fortunately they were traveling light and not five minutes later all of them were in the pickup driving towards Kallen's Sutherland. The knightmare gave them a thumbs up and started moving again, leading them through the mostly deserted streets.

"Fang, where are we headed?" Ohgi asked, still sticking to codenames.

They had been a bit sloppy when the operation began but with the military now breathing down their necks their focus had sharpened considerably.

"We're going to need more firepower to break through the blockade," Kallen said, "and I know just where to get us some."

Ohgi frowned, exchanging looks with the others. They all shrugged, likely as unsure of the girl's intention as he. Before anyone could venture a guess the car swerved around a corner.

"Damn girl needs to remember we're not in a knightmare," Tamaki complained as he grabbed the side of the truck.

That Ohgi found himself agreeing with. Kallen was setting a fast pace, weaving through the streets with almost supernatural grace. They took another sharp turn and Ohgi just barely caught sight of a group of Britannian soldiers before they were around the corner. It almost seemed as if Kallen was leading them into the advancing sweep instead of away.

"Oi, we sure this gonna be okay?" Tamaki asked, giving voice to Ohgi's own concern.

"I hope so," Ohgi said. "Kallen's the only one who knows what's going on thanks to her radio. We just have to place some faith in her."

"If you say so man."

Not that Ohgi did not understand the other man's apprehension but he still scowled at Tamaki. This was Naoto's little sister, a girl he had watched grow up from a happy-go-lucky child into a hardened and embittered young woman. This was not the life her brother would have wanted for her but there was no way Ohgi could have kept her out of the fight after her brother's death. She deserved their trust, their unconditional trust. He would at least make sure she had his.

"We're here," Kallen said, slowing down.

Here turned out to be next to a railroad. The truck came to a halt and the others piled out, what few weapons they had at the ready.

"Hide," Kallen ordered.

Ohgi nodded to the others and led them behind a few abandoned buildings next to the tracks. It did not take long for the sound of an approaching train to reach them, one that was going slowly. Not surprising since it was traveling through the city. And then there was a screech as its brakes engaged. With a clunk the train ground to a halt and Ohgi thought he could hear a few shouts of English, likely the engineers. And then gunfire sounded, followed by screams. Ohgi immediately raced out with the others, weapons at the ready. That turned out to be unneeded, limbs and broken bodies hanging from the train where shots from the Sutherland's rifle had smashed into them. A knightmare's weapons were appropriately oversized and the high explosive rounds Kallen had used were a severe case of overkill. Ohgi felt his stomach churn at the sight but he kept its contents down. This was war and in fact it was more the casualness of Kallen's actions that disturbed him than the dead Britannians.

"Kallen, what are you doing!?" he demanded.

"Removing witnesses," Kallen said flatly, her tone making clear that she took in comfort from her actions.

Ohgi swallowed his follow up. The girl was obviously feeling a lot of pressure and piling more on top of her would only make things worse right now. But after, after they would be having a long talk.

"What next?" he said instead.

The Sutherland rolled over to the train car and smashed the locks on one. It popped open, revealing two more knightmare frames.

"Next, is our counterattack," Kallen said, her voice sounding much more assured.

Another train car popped open, then another, revealing a total of six units, seven counting Kallen's. Tamaki hooted in amazement while the others simply looked on, stunned at their sudden change in fortune.

"Hurry up!" Kallen shouted, stirring them from their shock. "Enemy reinforcements will be here shortly and we need to get moving!"

They needed no further prompting. Ohgi and the others rushed to get in the knightmares.

* * *

"Sir Kewell has been killed," Villetta reported.

Jeremiah grimaced. "Any indications how he died?"

"Someone managed to slit his throat," Villetta said. "I found his body next to the gas container and it's been opened."

"It has?"

"My filters aren't picking up anything so the gas must have dissipated already. The terrorists were definitely engaged here however, the soldiers you sent managed to catch up with them and from the looks of it disabled the Glasgow. All but one died in the end, along with one of the terrorists."

"But another survived to murder Kewell and steal his knightmare," Jeremiah said darkly.

"Indeed. I suspected something had gone wrong when Sir Kewell did not respond to my calls and backtracked. His Sutherland's IFF seems to have been deactivated, meaning we cannot track it easily."

"The terrorist will likely have fled the tunnels at this point," Jeremiah said. "Regroup with us and we will continue sweeping the ghetto. I will notify our troops to look out for a lone Sutherland in our colors not broadcasting an IFF."

"Yes my lord."

As the channel closed Jeremiah regarded the map of the district. Despite its rundown nature Shinjuku was still a large place and there were plenty of places a knightmare might hide. Still that pilot in the Glasgow had shown considerable skill. If he really had gotten his hands on a more powerful Sutherland the damage he could inflict would be greater still. Not that Jeremiah expected any great difficulty in defeating the terrorist, but the sooner they flushed him out and killed him the better. To do that however he needed more troops on the ground, scouting the city. Unfortunately Prince Clovis had been adamant that the only forces Jeremiah could call upon were his royal guards and those of the Purist faction. Considering the sensitivity of the operation that was not surprising but that did not change the fact that Jeremiah was handicapped by his lack of numbers. Then again so were the terrorists. If they could pin them down, they would be wiped out in short order.

"My lord!"

Jeremiah keyed his mic. "What is it?"

"My lord, our forces are reporting that they've come under attack by Sutherlands in sector 77!"

Jeremiah frowned. Had he heard that right, Sutherlands as in plural? Had the terrorists managed to commandeer even more knightmares? This could get messy.

"Direct our forces there, I will lead the knights myself."

"Yes sir!"

* * *

"Hah!"

The Britannian soldiers scrambled away, screaming in terror as Kallen plowed through their ranks. Another group was approaching a block away, trying to flank her to nail her with an AP rocket. That would not do. She spun about, launching her harken into the building. Using it as an anchor Kallen rounded the corner without slowing and put two explosive shells into the group of soldiers. Those that were lucky died then and there. Those that were not crawled feebly on the ground, limbs and guts spilled everywhere. Kallen did her best to ignore their cries of pain.

"Fang, we've got knightmares incoming," Ohgi said, having taken over listening to the Britannian command channels.

Kallen looked about. They had punched a hole in the Britannian perimeter and civilians had been streaming through it for the past ten minutes or so, fleeing the fighting. More and more resistance groups had popped up and the fighting was snowballing into something much more than just a simple skirmish. If they were unlucky they might end up bringing the entire Britannian army down on them and power or no power there was no way they would win that fight.

"We need to get out of here, draw their attention away from the civilians," Kallen said. "We also need to make sure they know where we're headed so they follow us."

"I agree," Ohgi said. "That's going to require we take the fight to them again though."

"No problem," Kallen said confidently.

"We need to be careful," Ohgi said sternly. "If we get too deep we might not be able to pull out ourselves."

Little chance of that happening, Kallen thought. She could see it. She could see everything, about a kilometer or so out, every man, woman, and child, civilian and soldier alike. There was no way they were getting flanked, even without access to the Britannian command net.

"We've got this Ohgi," Kallen said, letting slip his name. "Let's get a move on it, those knightmares aren't going to be far from here."

The girl sped off before Ohgi could caution her again. With a sigh he followed.

"What's with her?" Tamaki asked over a private channel. "She was always gung ho before but now it's like she's itching for a fight."

"I don't know," Ohgi replied, "but sometime tells me it has something to do with how she got that Sutherland in the first place. I just hope we can get out of this mess to ask her."

* * *

The first thing Suzaku felt was pain. A dull pain, but pain nonetheless. That told him he was still alive. The dead felt nothing after all. He opened his eyes.

"My aren't you having a bad day?" a remarkably cheerful voice said. "Looks like you missed your chance to go to heaven, Private Kururugi."

Suzaku turned his head to see a tall bespectacled man looking down on him. The smile on his face was more than a bit unnatural.

"I what?" Suzaku said in confusion. "Where am I?"

"Hmm? Ah, you're on the outskirts of the Shinjuku Ghetto."

"Specifically the operational base camp of Prince Clovis," a woman with shoulder length hair said. Her smile was a lot more reassuring. "This is probably the safest place to be at the moment so don't worry."

"I see," Suzaku said. His hand wandered over his chest. When he didn't feel it, he began to frantically pat his body.

"Oh, are you looking for this?" the woman said, pulling out a pocket watch. "We took it off you when treating you. I presume it's important?"

"Yeah," Suzaku said as he accepted it. "Thank you. Umm, what's the current situation?"

"It looks like the poison gas was released," the man said in a disinterested tone. "There are reports of massive Eleven casualties."

Suzaku frowned. "But, there wasn't any gas."

The man's eyes narrowed. His smile returned. "Is that so?"

The woman leaned over. "You might want to keep that to yourself for now, private."

Suzaku's eyes widened but he nodded. Something was obviously going on but if they were willing to overlook his remark then he would return the favor of keeping his mouth shut.

"Anyway, the military is still trying to track down the terrorists," the woman said.

"I see," Suzaku said, thinking back to the girl he had caught glimpses of when she tried to help her comrade. Was she still alive?

"Private Kururugi," the man said, interrupting Suzaku's thoughts. "How would you like to pilot a knightmare?"

Suzaku blinked. "But, I'm not eligible."

The smile widened and Suzaku felt a chill run down his spine. "Let's say the opportunity presented itself. Interested?"

Suzaku's eyes widened. Something told him this was it. This was the chance he had been waiting for since becoming an Honorary Britannian and enlisting. A chance to prove to Britannians that the Japanese could stand with them instead of beneath them. He nodded. The man's smile was now a full-fledged grin.

"Congratulations, the first knightmare of its kind awaits you! Your world will never be the same again!"

"Whether you want it or not," the woman added.

* * *

"Incoming!"

Jeremiah got his Sutherland into cover just in time as high explosive rounds detonated amidst his formation. Two knightmares went down, their cockpits ejecting as their pilots ditched to get out of the carnage. Not that Jeremiah could blame them seeing as the enemy apparently held the high ground against his troops.

"Scatter!" he ordered.

The surviving knightmares hurried to obey, trading shots with the enemy as they dispersed around the building.

"Clever dogs," Jeremiah said. "Villetta, with me, we'll flush them out."

"Yes my lord!"

The two knightmares rolled away, putting a building between them and the enemy.

"Up, we're meet them on our terms, not theirs."

Villetta fired her harkens, sinking it into the concrete. As she rose Jeremiah did likewise and followed her up. Just as she emerged on the roof however an explosion slammed into her knightmare.

"GAAAAAAHHHH!"

The cabling snapped, torn apart by the HE rounds and the Sutherland plummeted towards the ground.

"Villetta!"

Tugging his own harkeens free Jeremiah fell after her. He however still had control of his unit, firing one harkeens after her while plugging his frame's arms into the building wall. His knightmare lurched as he caught old of Villetta's mech but her fall was stopped.

"Villetta! Are you alright!?"

"Apologies my lord," Villetta said, her voice strained. "The terrorist took me by surprise."

Jeremiah grimaced. That was an incredibly well timed shot, it had to have been due to luck. No one could have predicted her reaching the roof and then timing a shot like that. Unless other terrorists were acting as spotters? He scanned the area, not seeing anything.

"Can you still fight?" Jeremiah asked as he lowered her to the ground.

The Sutherland tried to rise but another piece fell off its leg. "No my lord, at least not in this knightmare."

The margrave grunted. "Acknowledged. Withdraw for now, I will avenge both you and Kewell."

"My failure shames me, my lord."

"This is battle, and you will have only failed in battle if you die," Jeremiah said. "Go, I will end this."

Without waiting Jeremiah reached the ground himself and set off. His instincts told him that trying to climb would only see him suffer a similar fate as Villetta. He would need a different approach.

* * *

"Nice shot Kallen!" Ohgi cried, his exuberance momentarily overriding his caution.

It really was a good shot, she had managed to nail the knightmare just as it was emerging on the rooftop. It might have survived the fall but there was no way it was getting back up to fight. One more down, only another five to go.

"We need to get off this roof now," Kallen said, already moving to the north edge.

"Why?" Tamaki asked even as he followed.

Kallen fired her harkens at the building across the street and jumped, slamming into the wall before lowering herself.

"We've got two more nightmares climbing up the building north of us, from there they'll have the high ground on us instead."

Ohgi glanced up at the building in question and saw that Kallen was right, at least about the relative positions. But how did she know their enemy was scaling it? The Britannians had figured out their communications had been compromised and subunit communications were now on short range and line of sight systems that were much harder if not outright impossible to intercept. So what had given them away? There was no time to ponder the point further as Ohgi dropped down with the others. Kallen had been right about everything else so far and he had little reason to doubt her instincts now, especially when she was the reason they were still alive. If she said go, he would go. He smiled wirily to himself. And he was supposed to be their cell leader.

Up ahead Kallen was already on the move. A lone enemy knightmare was approaching their position, likely not even aware they had abandoned the rooftop. One enemy and six of them, this should be over quickly. As the enemy turned the corner Kallen brought her blade down, and hit nothing.

"Huh?"

The enemy knightmare slammed into her from below, throwing her back.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Kallen!"

The others spread out, trying to get a clear shot but the enemy stuck close to the girl. Kallen however recovered quickly, blocking a swing by the enemy's blade. It fired off its harkens, too fast to dodge and managing to tangle one of her legs. The enemy pulled, nearly throwing the Sutherland off balance again. This time however Kallen was ready, sinking her blade into the ground to give her an anchor. She shoved her rifle into the other knightmare's shoulder and fired, the AP round she had loaded easily tearing through the joint. The tension on her leg slackened and Kallen used it to plant a solid kick on the enemy's chest. Pulling free her blade, she cried a challenge and slammed into her opponent. She had him!

Without warning the enemy knightmare fired its own rifle, shattering Kallen's left leg and causing her to topple. It was only delaying the inevitable however as the others finally got a clear shot and unloaded. Before their shots impacted however the cockpit on the enemy knightmare ejected, flying away from the battle.

"Kallen!" Ohgi shouted. "Are you alright!?"

"I think so," Kallen said. "Damn, this unit's done for."

"Here, switch with me," Naomi said. "I'd feel a lot safer with you at the helm than just being in a knightmare myself."

"Got it," Kallen said, popping open her cockpit. "I think we've caused enough of a ruckus, we can probably pull out now."

"The problem is finding where to pull out," Ohgi said. "They've still got the district locked down tight. For now let's pull back and see if anything turns up."

As he spoke Naomi hopped over to his knightmare and knocked on the cockpit.

"Huh?"

"Open up, I'll ride with you," the woman said. "I don't want to get in Kallen's way and this way I can help monitor the radio channels."

"Oh, okay."

Ohgi opened up and Naomi climbed in. The man tried not to think about the close proximity they were in within the cramped compartment.

"Don't get any funny ideas," Naomi warned as the cockpit closed.

"Would never dream of it!"

* * *

Clovis' finger drummed impatiently on his armrest, the steady rhythm as nerve-wracking for the personnel present as the steady stream of casualty reports pouring in. The terrorists were putting up a hell of a fight and several knightmares were confirmed down. Another report came in.

"Margrave Gottwald has been defeated!" an incredulous voice exclaimed.

The scowl darkened on Clovis' face. "What was that man doing allowing himself to be bested by such rabble!? Send reinforcements to his last known position!"

"But sire, we've already stripped the encirclement to dangerous levels!" Bradley protested. "There are already reports of civilians managing to flee the district!"

Clovis glowered at the man. "Then find the subject and end this!"

"We need more troops sire," Bradley said. "The forces we have sent in thus far have all been routed. We have to dispatch the regular army."

"Absolutely not!" Clovis exploded. "We will keep this matter restricted to just my personal forces and the Purists! If word gets out about the subject, being disowned will be the least of my concerns!"

Before Bradley could respond a video channel opened on the main display.

"Please pardon the intrusion," a bespectacled man said, "but I couldn't help but notice your forces seem to be running into a bit of trouble in the ghetto. Might I suggest this would be an opportune moment to deploy ASEEC's new knightmare?"

Clovis glared at the man, not knowing whether to be more furious at the interruption or the presumption of the man.

"Earl Asplund, your services will be called upon at _my_ discretion," Clovis said coldly. "Until then restrict yourself to your machines and leave military matters to me."

Lloyd actually grinned. "Of course highness, but the reports that we have seen indicate that your forces are slowly being whittled down. If you do not hurry, not even the Lancelot will be able to turn the tide."

Clovis shot an angry look at Bartley and the general frantically shook his head. So the mad scientist had tapped into the communications net without permission. That might be something he could hold over the man's head in the future, if he could convince Schneizel to look the other way. But to do that convincing he needed to contain the situation and the blasted noble had a point, he was losing control and if the terrorists and the subject escaped there was no telling what the consequences might be.

"Sir, we just lost another unit two kilometers from here!" a soldier cried frantically. "They seem to be approaching our position!"

The prince ground his teeth. "Dispatch your machine, Earl."

Lloyd was all smiles as he bowed. "By your command, highness. And please, do address it by its proper name of Lancelot."

The screen blinked out, probably for the best as Clovis was seething at the impropriety of the earl. He had known that Asplund was not right in the head but this, this bordered on lèse majesté! The earl's machine had best live up to his claims, for both their sakes.

* * *

"Alright! We're almost through!"

"This is utterly insane," Tamaki whined.

"Shut it and keeping moving," Kallen snapped. "If we're going to break this blockade we need to draw their forces away from their positions and that means going after the one thing they won't abandon, the prince."

"And once we have our hole we escape, right?" Ohgi pressed.

"Of course," Kallen replied. "The point is to live to fight another day, not go out in a blaze of glory!"

The man sighed. At least the girl had her priorities straight. And if they managed to get these Sutherlands out their little cell would get quite the boost. His knightmare shook from another near miss and Naomi bumped into him again.

"Eyes on the road!" she cried.

"Yes ma'am!"

Not just Kallen but now Naomi. He was not even married yet and he already knew what it meant to be henpecked.

"We've got a new unit incoming!" Naomi shouted, listening intently to the radio. "It's, I don't recognize the callsign."

"Doesn't matter," Kallen said, already seeing the enemy as it approached. "We take it out like everyone else."

Even as she said those Kallen felt a chill run through her body. This new knightmare was different, its form more fluid and sleek than the blocky design of a Sutherland or Glasgow. A new design? And its movements were very smooth. Whoever was piloting it was obviously well practiced with the machine. Kallen tightened her grip. She had already underestimated one opponent, she was not going to do the same with this new machine. As it came into sight she opened fire immediately. She hit. Except the rounds exploded harmlessly against a green sheen.

"What the hell!?"

The strange white knightmare charged, trying to close the distance and even as it opened fire. Kallen's instincts roared at her and she shifted her knightmare, just evading the shot that blew past her. Despite the near miss her knightmare shook and warning alarms blared to indicate structural damage. Whatever that weapon was it really was dangerous and she would not survive a direct hit. Kallen threw herself out of the way, just barely avoiding another shot. She took aim and unleashed her harkens, trying to entangle the enemy much as she herself had been earlier. The enemy knightmare jumped, evading cables but running right now two well placed shots from Kallen's rifle. The first one again was absorbed by the green shield but the second rocked the mech, causing it to land clumsily as it came down. Kallen's harkens had buried themselves into a building wall and the girl swung about, trying to sweep the enemy off its feet. She caught one leg but the other rose and stepped over, the enemy somehow managing to stay upright. This guy was good, really good. But she knew she was better. She was cheating after all.

The finger on her rifle trigger started to tighten when suddenly she saw it, the gun barrel peeking out from behind the enemy knightmare pointed straight at her. She could not dodge, it was too late, there was only one way to avoid the killing blow. Kallen's fist slammed into the eject button and her cockpit module blasted out of the Sutherland. A moment later her former knightmare exploded as the enemy round slammed into it.

"Kallen!" Ohgi cried. "Damn it, unload everything we've got, keep that thing pinned down!"

The others let loose immediately but the enemy was incredibly agile. It zigzagged about, avoiding their fire and returning its own more lethal response. Tamaki's was the next to fall, the legs on his Sutherland blowing out from under him. The enemy did not follow up however and a moment later his comrade had ejected, leaving behind the wrecked frame.

"We need to pull back!" Ohgi cried. "We can't keep up with that thing!"

"What about Kallen and Tamaki?" Naomi asked from behind.

"They're clear, hopefully they'll be able to evade the patrols," Ohgi said, even though he knew it was a distant hope. "We can't help them like this though. Pull back!"

The others heeded his order, a bit reluctantly at first but another round slicing off the arm of Yoshida's Sutherland lent haste to their retreat. Damn it, things had been going so well for them. Where had the Britannians been hiding this white monster? There was no time to think, they needed to run, and maybe, just maybe draw away enough of the blockade forces to allow their comrades to escape.

Kallen pulled herself out of the cockpit and watched as the others made a run for it. It was the right decision, with her out of commission they were no match for that white knightmare. Hell even with her around they had only managed to stall it. It grated at her being defeated like this but her wounded pride could wait. Right now survival came first, something that was looking less and less likely with each passing moment. Unless? Kallen looked over at the G-1 land cruiser. They already knew the prince had diverted some of his own security detail to reinforce the encirclement and hunt them down. Had it been thinned enough for her to make it through with her power? Could she make it through, take Clovis hostage and force him to lift the siege? Kallen checked how much ammo she had for her pistol. Only way to find out. After all, sometimes a good defense is a good offense.

* * *

Suzaku sped through the streets after the two fleeing Sutherlands. Thus far the only one that had posed a serious challenge had been the one that first stepped up to challenge him. With it destroyed however the others were simply no match for a knightmare as powerful as the Lancelot. Even now he was closing the distance. One turned to take potshots at him. Bad move, the action slowed it down and simply allowed Suzaku to get that closer. He allowed the shield to absorb the shots that actually landed. Suzaku responded with his harkens, snagging one of the enemy's legs. A quick tug threw it off balance and sent the machine tumbling. Without slowing Suzaku slashed its legs with his own blade. One more down, two to go.

The Sutherlands rounded a corner and Suzaku swerved to follow. As he did however he was greeted by a hail of explosive rounds. The combined fire quickly sapped his shield but gave him enough time to aim his own weapon. He pulled the trigger and the legs of another Sutherland blew out from under it. The pilot wasted no time ejecting while his comrade turned to beat a hasty retreat.

"Not so fast!"

Suzaku fired his harkens again but this time the enemy managed, just barely, to dodge, before turning another corner. This time the Lancelot took a wider arc around to avoid getting ambushed like that again but apparently having also learned its lesson the enemy was continuing to flee. It had opened up the distance again and at this range Suzaku was not sure he could take it out without hitting the cockpit. He grimaced and gave chase once more.

* * *

"Looks like I will owe my dear brother yet another debt," Clovis said in annoyance. Still, better to be in Schneizel's debt than have his secret exposed to the world at large. "Let us finish this quickly and restore the blockade."

So focused on the battle Clovis did not notice the door to the bridge sliding open. The two guards posted there did but all they saw was another soldier entering. A somewhat short soldier at that. Before they could act on their suspicions however sharp blades were shoved into their throats. They clutched at the wounds, dropping to their knees as they struggled to breath with their windpipes severed. The soldiers manning the stations looked over, too late, some still turning when the intruder's pistol began barking. Three shots took down three operators in quick succession and a forth blew a neat hole in Bradley's head just as he reached for his own sidearm. Clovis spun about, reaching for his own gun only to feel a burning pain as a fifth shot ran out. The intruder had managed to shoot his hand, knocking away the gun. That should have been impossible, no one was that good a shot. The gun shifted to point at Clovis' head. The prince swallowed. Apparently this person was.

"Prince Clovis," a voice full of contempt said. A female voice.

"A-a woman!?" Clovis exclaimed.

The visible mouth twisted into a grimace and Clovis thought he could almost see the glare through his attacker's helmet.

"Recall your forces and lift the blockade on Shinjuku now, or I will put a bullet in your head."

Clovis' eyes widened. He did not doubt the woman would make good her threat. With his good hand he reached for the radio.

"All forces cease fire! Cease fire at once!"

The prince glanced at the mysterious woman. She nodded, apparently satisfied so far. He might just live through this.

"I Clovis, Third Prince of Britannia, do hereby order all forces to cease operations in the Shinjuku district and withdraw."

Clovis looked at the woman again.

"Order your forces to offer treatment to any and all wounded."

He keyed the mic again. "Medical treatment is to be extended to all wounded, Britannian or otherwise without prejudice. This is a direct order from I, Clovis la Britannia." Clovis put down the radio. "There, satisfied?"

The woman nodded. Her gun remained aimed at his head.

"What else do you want?" Clovis asked. "Safe passage from here for yourself?"

"No, I'll manage that myself," the woman said. "You on the other hand will not be leaving here alive."

"But I did what you wanted!" Clovis protested.

"And you think that makes up for all the abuse the Japanese people have suffered at your hand? Both today and in the years past?"

Clovis was feeling desperate now. The woman obviously intended to kill him no matter what he said or offered. If he was going to live she had to die. She might have disarmed him of his one gun but a Britannian prince always had backups. His good hand began to wander towards his other sidearm as he considered how best to stall for-

The pistol ran out again. Clovis stood there, his mind still catching up to what his body already knew. He was dead. He had been shot. As his sight faded the last thing he saw behind the shades the woman wore was a shining light in one eye. A light that chilled him beyond that of the cold embrace of death.

* * *

Euphie had gone to bed late last night again, this time due to wanting to remain up to date about the deteriorating situation in Area 11. She had no idea what had prompted the resistance movement to launch a strike now but her ignorance was irrelevant. They had managed to do enough damage to force Clovis to lock down the entire Shinjuku district and by the time she was finally chased off to bed the situation was still extremely fluid.

Exactly four hours and fifteen minutes later Euphie found herself being shaken awake.

"Your highness! Please wake up!"

The princess looked up groggily, her mind more than a tad unfocused. She was still cognizant enough however to recognize who was trying to pull her up.

"Dorothy? Why aren't you in bed?"

"Apologies your highness but something has happened." The maid sucked in a deep breath. "Prince Clovis has been murdered."

Euphie's eyes went wide. She had no trouble being alert now.

"The resistance fighters?"

"I'm sorry your highness, but I don't know," Dorothy said. "I was given the message in confidence by Prince Schneizel and told to tell only you."

"I see. Then please ready a change of clothes, Dorothy, and prepare a car. Is brother at his residence or his office?"

"He is presently at his office, highness."

"Then that is where I am headed."

"Of course your highness, I will see to it immediately."

Her maid hurried out of the room, leaving Euphie alone with her thoughts. The girl shivered and closed her eyes as she hugged herself, but not due to any lack of warmth in her room. Instead it was a coldness in her heart that chilled her so. Not again, not another sibling slain! First Nunnally, then Lelouch, and now Clovis. Where would it end? Cornelia was always out on some campaign or another and war was always a dangerous place. Clovis' position as viceroy of Area 11 was not exactly safe either considering the unrest in the country and now that same unrest had claimed his life. Nowhere in the world was safe, nowhere so long as conflict and strife remained. Euphie opened her eyes. So long as she did not do enough to make the world better. Her mind was made up. She would go to Area 11. She would see this land that had claimed her brother's life. And it was from there that she would truly begin to remake the world into a kinder, gentler place. For Clovis, for Lelouch, and for Nunnally.

End of Chapter 2

Huh. I seem to attract a rather quiet audience. Anyway, happy 4th of July with a new chapter.

We'll see if I regret killing off Kewell this early in the story or not. As should be evident certain elements of this story will be somewhat darker than what was portrayed in the canon if only because I'll be trying to make the military aspects more realistic.

I know that the summary for this fic would lead one to presume that Euphie is the main character. That is true, to an extent. It would be more accurate however to say that Euphie shares the spotlight with Kallen and those two are the dual protagonists in my story instead of it being Lelouch and Suzaku. Suzaku will obviously have a role, but what he achieves will obviously be different compared to the canon. Other divergences you all will just have to read to find out. And what doesn't diverge.


	4. Chapter 3

_Even before her arrival in Japan Princess Euphemia possessed many an ally at court. Her older sister Cornelia was an obvious patron though it could be argued that her half-brother Schneizel did more to help the Princess gain her own powerbase. The Prince was already Britannia's prime minister and the more astute observers at court were convinced that it was Schneizel, not his older brother Odysseus, whom would inherit the throne from their father. An adroit and adept politician, Schneizel cultivated many resources to solidify his grip on power. It is likely he saw his younger sister Euphemia as one such asset. While few dispute that there was some affection between the Princess and her brother, even fewer doubt that had their situations been reversed Schneizel would have held no reservations about eliminating his sister to achieve his own goals. Nevertheless at this early stage Schneizel was one of if not the most powerful of the Princess' backers and it was his influence that secured for her the viceroyalty of Japan, then known as Area 11, after the death of their mutual half-brother Clovis la Britannia. It was to be a most fateful act._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 3: Venio

Euphie entered the audience chamber and stopped the appropriate number of paces before the Emperor's desk. She waited patiently until she was acknowledged, something that took almost five minutes by her reckoning.

"Euphemia," Charles finally deigned to address her.

"Your majesty," Euphie curtsied.

"Schneizel said you have something to ask of us," Charles asked, still not looking up from his paperwork.

"I seek a boon from you, your majesty."

That finally got his attention. Charles looked up, eyebrow raised.

"Speak."

"Your majesty, your son and my brother Clovis la Britannia has been slain in his duty as viceroy of Area 11. I beg of you to appoint me in his stead."

"You believe you will succeed where Clovis has failed?"

"Yes majesty."

A slight smile crossed Charles' face as he regarded his daughter. Euphie was not a child he had paid much attention to during her childhood. In fact his most distinct memory of her was when she cried out at Lelouch after his banishment. And then she fell out of his attention for years before some of the documents Schneizel passed on to him began bearing her signature. Her chosen method of establishing herself in the court was subtle and owed much to Schneizel's patronage but the girl would have never gotten this far without some genuine intelligence and ability of her own. What might she accomplish if she were to wield more direct power?

"We grant you your requested boon," Charles said. "How long it remains yours is in your hands alone."

Euphie curtsied deeper. "My sincerest gratitude, your majesty. I shall not disappoint."

Charles looked down at his papers once more, as brusque a means of dismissing her as Euphie had expected. Her father never did seem to actually see as children as genuine people instead of mere pawns to be maneuvered in some elaborate game of chess. Yet pawns should not be underestimated, for they served as both the vanguard and under the right conditions could be turned into queens. That was a favorite strategy of Lelouch's, where he would elevate those pieces others so quickly dismissed into potent weapons. And while Euphie herself had only a passing familiarity with the game she felt no hesitation in adopting the stratagem for her own trials. Today she may be a pawn but under the right conditions she could become a queen, or even, just possibly, an empress. Euphie dipped her form once more before retreating out the door. She had what she wanted. Now it was up to her to make the most of it.

* * *

The core of Ohgi's resistance cell were clustered around the dilapidated apartment, watching the news broadcast.

"-are still searching for the terrorists who murdered Prince Clovis," the woman said. "With the passing of the Prince and the death of General Asprius, the Prince's senior military advisor, command of Britannia's military forces has fallen to Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald. The Margrave has issued the following statement."

The screen switched to a recording of Jeremiah seated at his office desk, looking commanding and imperious with his hands clasped before him.

"Loyal sons and daughters of Britannia, this day has seen a grievous wound inflicted upon our great Empire. Prince Clovis, scion of our glorious Emperor, has been slain in vile treachery. I swear on my honor as a noble of the Empire that I shall not rest until every terrorist responsible for this cowardly act is captured and made to pay for their sins. In light of the continued resistance by Elevens to the integration of this Area into the Empire proper, I am suspending the Honorary Britannian system until such time as the people of Area 11 demonstrate a genuine commitment to becoming loyal servants of the Empire. Only through vigilance and sacrifice will the Empire emerge victorious. Hail Britannia!"

The recording ended and the feed switched back to the blond reporter.

"That just now was a message the Margrave released this morning. In addition to the-"

Ohgi muted the television set and sank into his seat. "This, is what we would call an unintended consequence."

The others all looked over at Kallen and the girl flushed.

"I did what I had to do to get us out of there alive!" the girl said defensively.

"I know," Ohgi said. "And to be honest I can't think of any way you could have gotten all of us out alive, not with that new knightmare after us. Still, things have gotten a lot more complicated. Margrave Gottwald is an open bigot and racist and he and his Purist faction were just waiting for an excuse to crack down harder on us Japanese. Now they have one."

That Kallen could not argue against so she simply looked away sheepishly. Not that the girl did sheepish very well if the slight smile on Ohgi's face was any indication.

"I don't mean to be too hard on you Kallen," Ohgi said gently, "but there are times when you let your temper get the better of you. You're passionate, and that's what makes you so strong. But a passion that burns too hot can also end up burning you and those close to you. Just try to remember that, okay?"

"Okay," Kallen said with a sigh.

"Good. For the time being I think you need to go back to the Stadtfeld's."

"I knew you were going to say that," Kallen muttered under her breath.

"Things are too hot for us to try anything right now," Ohgi said. "We might have gotten that one Sutherland out, but I wouldn't say we're any stronger than we were before. Right now we need to keep our heads down and let the situation cool a bit before we plan our next move. And we also need to wait and see who ends up as Clovis' permanent replace-"

"Ohgi unmute the TV!" Naomi cried out.

The man fumbled with the remote for a second before hitting the button.

"-a breaking news item from the mainland," the reporter said. "It has been confirmed that the Emperor has appointed his daughter, Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Realm, to be the next viceroy of Area 11. The Princess has not yet issued a statement regarding her appointment but our news teams back in the homeland are on standby for when her highness releases a public statement. Again, for those of you just joining us we have confirmation that-"

"Huh," Ohgi said, lowering the volume but not completely muting it this time. "Anyone know anything about this Princess Euphemia?"

Shrugs and shakes of heads answered him.

"Then we need to find out more," the man said before looking pointedly at Kallen. "And Ashford Academy is likely to be a great place to pick up some gossip about the Princess."

"Fine, fine, you've made your point," Kallen said. "I'll go back to the Stadtfeld's and live my civilian life for a bit."

Ohgi chuckled. "It's not that bad Kallen, a soft bed, good food, clean clothes. Try to enjoy it a little bit, alright? And if you feel guilty, you can always bring back some souvenirs next time you visit."

Kallen looked about the apartment. It was not quite as rundown as some other places but it was not someplace she would have wanted to call a home. But beggars could not be choosers and the others were not as lucky as she was. Kallen sighed and held up her hands in surrender.

"I already said you made your point, no need to keep pushing it."

Ohgi nodded and looked over at the others. "I think that's all we needed to talk about today. Everyone should get going, no telling if they'll start enforcing a curfew earlier than they announced."

The others stood and exchanged farewells before filing out, all but Tamaki who was staying with Ohgi since his own place was now a pile of rubble in Shinjuku. The loss of Tamaki's apartment might even have been karmic considering he was the one that had blown their cover. Once the others were gone Ohgi looked at Kallen once more.

"So, ready to talk about what happened in Shinjuku?" he asked.

Kallen shifted uneasily. "It's, hard to explain."

"Oh?"

"It'll probably be easier to show you."

The girl stood and picked up an apple, tossing it over to Tamaki. She walked over to the other side of the room and faced away from them.

"Throw the apple at me."

Tamaki exchanged a confused look with Ohgi and the other man nodded. With a shrug Tamaki lightly tossed the apple toward Kallen, mostly on target but slowly enough that the girl would not get hurt. Kallen's arm suddenly moved, reaching back and catching the apple in midair. Ohgi's jaw dropped. He was pretty sure Tamaki's did too. And then the girl tossed the apple back to Tamaki, perfectly on target with her arced throw, still without looking at them.

"Do it again, and don't be such a wuss about it."

The look Tamaki gave Ohgi this time had a dash of helplessness mixed in with his confusion. Ohgi nodded again. Kallen was trying to make a point and only after they saw this through would she explain. Sighing Tamaki wound himself up and chucked the apple at Kallen. The girl's arm flickered and again she caught the fruit without ever actually seeing it. When she turned around to face them Ohgi saw his own worry reflected back at him in Kallen's eyes.

"Kallen, how did you do that?" he asked.

"Yeah, you able to see the future now or something?" Tamaki chimed in.

"No," Kallen began, "well not exactly. It's more like, I can see everything now. Everything within a kilometer or two. I can see beyond this room, behind the walls, I can see the people out in the streets, and I can see the little details too. I can see the way a person's body winds up as he or she prepares to move and from that I can, see, where that person will go or what he or she will do."

Ohgi tried hard to put words in his mouth to describe what he thought. It was a lot harder than it looked.

"So, wait, are you saying you awakened some sort of psychic ability in Shinjuku?" he asked.

"I know it sounds crazy," Kallen said, "but I think so. And it wasn't me that awakened it, it was that girl."

Ohgi narrowed his eyes. "What girl?"

"That container that we stole, the one that we thought had poison gas in it? There was no gas. Instead it was holding this green haired girl. She was gagged and tied up in this straitjacket and after I cut her loose she asked if I wanted to live. I said yes, and then she said she would grant me my wish. The next thing I knew, I could see, well, everything."

Ohgi glanced over at Tamaki. The other man held up his hands, apparently even more lost than him. He looked back over at Kallen.

"So, where is this girl now?"

"Dead," Kallen said softly. "She stood up in the middle of a firefight and got shot in the head. No one could have survived that."

"I see," Ohgi said thoughtfully. "So this was how you were able to lead us around like that, avoiding the patrols and even predicting the movements of the units we fought. And also how you managed to breach Clovis' security."

Kallen nodded. "It was, incredible. I could see exactly where they were vulnerable, it was just a matter of hitting them at there."

"Any side effects?"

Kallen tilted her head thoughtfully. "A bit of a headache when I use the power, and my left eye aches a bit for some reason. I think it's because there's so much information to process."

"You sure that's not because you hit your head or something?" Tamaki asked.

Kallen shot the man a glare.

"Hey I'm just asking," Tamaki said quickly. "I mean, we've seen some crazy shit since the war but psychic powers? That's gotta be a record."

"Maybe so," Ohgi said, "but think of the implications."

Kallen brightened. "Yeah! It would give us a huge tactical advantage over any Britannian forces we run into!"

Ohgi smiled wirily. "Like that white knightmare?"

The girl deflated. "Yeah okay, I got cocky there."

"I admit, your skill really could help turn the tide in some ways. But we need to be careful and not get overconfident. And we especially need to find out if there are long term consequences to you using that power."

"I feel fine," Kallen insisted.

"Your headache?"

The girl bit her lip to stop from spouting out her instinctive response. Ohgi nodded in understanding.

"For now I don't think you should use that power unless it is absolutely necessary. If nothing else we should not become too reliant on it, otherwise we'd only get ourselves into trouble if you weren't around or we needed to split the cell up into teams for a run."

Kallen nodded reluctantly.

Ohgi stood. "Go get changed, I'll drop you off at the border to the Concession. It probably isn't the safest to be walking around in an Ashford uniform out here right now."

"Fine," Kallen said with a sigh and headed for the bedroom.

After the door closed the relaxed look on Ohgi's face turned back into worry.

"You think she's serious about this crazy psychic power of hers?" Tamaki asked.

"Yeah," Ohgi said. "And the crazier thing is I think I believe her."

"But, that's great, no?" Tamaki wondered aloud. "If she really can see anything coming-"

"She said she could only see out a kilometer or so," Ohgi countered. "How long does it take a knightmare to cross that distance?"

Tamaki said nothing.

"And then there're those headaches," Ohgi continued. "All power comes with a cost and I don't want to lose Kallen to it, no matter how useful it is."

"There is that," Tamaki agreed.

As brash as the man was he was still a friend of Naoto's and also took seriously a promise to look after his deceased friend's little sister.

"For now we'll wait and see," Ohgi said. "There is the new viceroy to consider after all."

"Man I hate waiting around."

Ohgi chuckled. "Probably why Naoto left me in charge."

Kallen emerged then, back in her prime and proper school uniform with her hair combed down. Ohgi had to admit, when the girl dressed up like that she really did look like a fragile doll. Little wonder she was so popular at school, half the boys must have felt an urge to shield her from harm with their own bodies. Not that Kallen needed any such protection. He shook his head.

"C'mon, let's hurry."

Kallen nodded and followed Ohgi down to his car. She might have been fine in the Concession but Ohgi still needed to get back to the ghetto before the curfew hit. The drive fortunately did not take long and after being dropped off Kallen passed through the checkpoint with little difficulty before taking a subway home. In theory she could have called for a car but the girl did not like relying on the Stadtfeld family's resources any more than she had to. As she entered the house she was reminded forcefully of just why.

"Welcome back milady."

It felt wrong, sickeningly so, that her own biological mother had to bow down to her. Kallen fought back her irritation and instead nodded politely in response. Her mother had it hard enough, putting up with the abuses of the native Britannian maids. She would not make her life even harder. Conversely she could not do much to help her mother either. That would only incite further abuse from the other servants.

Just you wait Mother, Kallen thought to herself. I'll get you out of here and into a real, proper home one day.

"Kallen."

The voice that called out her name caused the girl to bristle. She looked up to see the Lady Stadtfeld standing atop the stairs.

"Where have you been?"

"Visiting friends," Kallen answered brusquely. She started climbing the stairs, intent on getting to her room and leaving the presence of this foul woman.

Lady Stadtfeld frowned. "You were in the ghettos again."

"What of it?" Kallen snapped back, regretting it almost immediately. Antagonizing the woman never did any good, she would only take out her frustration on her real mother.

The frown turned into a scowl. "You need to learn to behave yourself, child. Were it not for your father's influence you would not get away with half of your antics."

Kallen opened her mouth to retort back, intending to throw the woman's words right back at her. Her antics? What about all the men Lady Stadtfeld invited here while her father was absent? But Kallen recalled Ohgi's words about watching her temper. And her own mother was watching. Instead she stopped at the top of the stairs and looked down at maid.

"Ms. Kouzuki, please bring my dinner to my room, I will be eating in there."

Her mother curtsied in response and hurried off to the kitchen. Kallen regarded Lady Stadtfeld, making sure the woman got the message. Kallen was watching out for her mother. Even if she could not always be there for her, she would avenge any outright insults. After exchanging glares for a few more seconds Kallen broke off and headed for her room. The past few days had been exhausting and despite it all she was looking forward to sleeping in a proper bed again. Even if the one here was too soft to truly be comfortable.

* * *

Jeremiah adjusted his collar for perhaps the hundredth time as he prepared for the conference call with the Princess Euphemia. The sudden announcement of her appointment as Clovis' replacement had come as a surprise to everyone in Area 11, not least because they knew so little about the Princess. There were rumors though, rumors that the Princess gave short shrift to graft and inefficiency and was most thorough in weeding such sins out. That almost certainly meant she would be an improvement over Clovis. While a prince the former viceroy seemed more interested in grand theatrical gestures and the arts than the nuances of governance and finance. Yes he was a noble, but there were nobles and then there were nobles. Nobles such as the deceased Empress Marianne.

The Margrave sighed as memories of his lost Empress surfaced. It was a mark of shame, his greatest failure, that the Empress should fall while he served as part of her royal guard. There had been a woman of mettle and will, someone truly worthy of the crown. True she had risen to such heights from commoner origins and then there was the fact that her branch of the family originated from French aristocrats fleeing their homeland when republicanism took hold there. And yet never before had Jeremiah seen a woman of such strength of will, little wonder she became the Emperor's favored. But Empress Marianne was dead and with the loss of her children the Lamperouge line in Britannia ended. Only some distant relatives, descendants of that stayed behind and escaped execution in France remained, and they were likely nothing more than pale shadows of the true line that Marianne had represented.

The terminal beeped, pulling Jeremiah out of his melancholy. He immediately accepted the connection. It would not do to make a member of the Imperial family wait after all. The image of Princess Euphemia appeared, a young woman with flowing pink hair dressed in a similarly colored gown.

"Your highness," Jeremiah intoned as he bowed his head.

"Margrave Gottwald," Euphie replied, her face stern and all business. "I will be arriving in Area 11 two days hence. Please ensure that all preparations necessary to receive me are complete."

"Of course highness," Jeremiah said. "I will secure the Tokyo settlement and ensure that the terrorists who murdered Prince Clovis will have no chance of-"

"Margrave," Euphie cut Jeremiah off. "I am well aware of your continued efforts to secure the Concession, but effort means little without results to show for it. I have seen the reports coming out of Area 11 and the numbers do not lie. Tell me, Margrave, do you have any idea how much the curfew enforcement has cost the Empire thus far?"

"Umm, I do not have an exact figure, your highness," Jeremiah said, trying to sound composed. This interview was not going well.

"I do," Euphie said. "As of the release of your public statement the costs stood at three million pounds and this is not including the cost in wealth _and_ blood of the initial response to the theft of the poison gas that ultimately resulted in my brother's death."

That last word sent a chill down Jeremiah's back. He never knew such a flat tone could hold such fury.

"Thus far the terrorists responsible for my brother's death have eluded your forces and the effect of the search has been to shut down much of the Tokyo settlement, disrupting services and businesses throughout both the ghettos and the concession. Would you say then that you have produced results from your effort, Margrave?"

"No, your highness," Jeremiah admitted reluctantly.

Euphie nodded, apparently pleased that the man could at least show that much honesty.

"The situation in Area 11 has been deteriorating for years now," Euphie said. "By all rights considering its prewar economy it should be well on its way to Satellite status but it remains barely at Developing. We are the stewards of the land now and it is We that hold ultimate responsibility for the lack of progress. The people may resist but again the failure to overcome that resistance rests with Us."

Jeremiah swallowed. Rarely did any member of the Imperial family save the Emperor himself use the Pluralis Majestatis. When they did it was something they were dead serious about and on a position in which they had the Emperor's backing.

"The Empire has enemies aplenty already," Euphie said. "There is no need to create more within our own borders. The Areas do not exist as a playground for the nobility. If there are those that wish to distinguish themselves in martial glory then they should enlist on proper campaigns of conquest instead of inciting unrest within the Empire itself." The girl's eyes narrowed and Jeremiah felt himself unconsciously flinch. "Or is it perhaps they know they lack the courage and skill to engage a worthy opponent."

"Of course not your highness!" Jeremiah protested reflexively.

Euphie smiled. There was no warmth in it.

"I am gladdened to here this. I have no place in my administration for cowards and glory hounds." The smile disappeared. "Continue with your duties Margrave, but do not overstep. You command Britannia's arms in Area 11 but matters of justice and administration are within my purview. Even in the martial matters my word is final. Am I understood?"

"Yes your highness."

"Good." The smile returned. "We shall speak at length upon my arrival. It has come to my attention that you once served in the Empress Marianne's personal guard."

Jeremiah froze. How had the Princess known that?

"I was quite close to my brother Lelouch and my sister Nunnally. I believe we will have much to discuss. Good day, Margrave."

Jeremiah forced himself to bow his head again. He kept it down until the connection closed and even then it took several long minutes before he could raise it again. A cold sweat had drenched the man and it was with a shaky hand that he pressed his intercom.

"Dame Villetta, come to my office at once."

By the time the woman entered Jeremiah still had not recovered his composure if her hesitant salute was any indication.

"My lord?" she said slowly.

Jeremiah took a deep breath. "Seat yourself."

"Sir." Villetta accepted the invitation and waited for Jeremiah to speak again. The Margrave did so after a few linger moments of silence.

"I have just spoken with the Princess Euphemia," he said. "She has, expressed her displeasure with the state of affairs in Area 11."

Villetta nodded. That was not surprising. Said state of affairs had seen her brother murdered after all.

"I believe the Princess intends on a series of reforms, reforms that may disturb some of the more militant elements of the Purists."

The woman frowned. "Reforms, my lord?"

"Reforms," Jeremiah repeated for the third time. "The Princess made clear that she feels the situation in Area 11 is as much the fault of the existing policies as it is that of the resisting Elevens. And while she did not come out and say it, she likely does not agree with my suspension of the Honorary Britannian system."

"She intends to restore it, sir?"

"Possibly. As I said, she did not come right out and say it. She did however give me a pointed warning about, overstepping my duties. I am after all an officer of the Britannian military, not a bureaucrat or politician of the Administratum."

"The, Princess wishes to exert civilian control over the military?" Villetta said in disbelief.

"Perhaps," Jeremiah said. "Or more specifically, her highness seems to want to make sure we are targeted more precisely. The Princess made a valid point, the Empire is not without plenty of external enemies. Expending our resources putting down rebellions and riots does not necessarily make us stronger for the inevitable war with them."

"As you say sir," Villetta said, accepting the reasoning even if she did not entirely agree with it.

Jeremiah allowed a wiry smile. "I do not believe the Princess to be an equalitarian. Her highness however seems to believe in the French concept ideal of noblesse obligé."

"With power comes duty," Villetta said with a nod. "To whom does her highness believe she has a duty to?"

"We, Dame Villetta," Jeremiah said. "It is all of us that the Princess believes has a duty, and it is to the people in our charge."

That caused the woman to frown again. "Does that also mean the Elevens, my lord?"

"To an extent," Jeremiah said. "Her highness sees us as shepherds and a good shepherd knows both when to cull a herd but also when to let it grow fat. The Princess seems to believe we have culled too much and left the herd as a whole unhealthy as a result. Perhaps she is right. And if she is, it is our duty to support her, not to obstruct her out of some petty sense of pride."

"You sound as if you approve of her, my lord," Villetta said carefully.

Did he? Jeremiah allowed himself a smile.

"It has been some time since I have seen a Princess of the Realm with such fire, not since her sister Cornelia entered the ranks of the army. The Princess Euphemia has a different fire, but it too reminds me of the Empress Marianne. I believe she will make a fine viceroy." Jeremiah met Villetta's gaze. "And I believe she will recognize genuine merit when she sees it."

Villetta's eyes widened. Her own advancement had always been a delicate matter amongst the Purists. True she was of pure Britannian stock but she entered the military as a commoner. Her rise to the rank of Knight was a remarkable achievement but the title was only a lifetime title, not a hereditary one. To achieve an actual elevation to the nobility was something Villetta long aspired to. She could have taken the easy way and married into some noble family but then she would not have truly earned it. Villetta nodded.

"If you believe the Princess to be worthy of such comparison, then I shall also lend her my strength."

"Good," Jeremiah said. "Good. Then let us not waste any time. The Princess ordered me to carry out my duty and I shall not allow myself to be found wanting."

* * *

"-been confirmed that the Emperor has appointed his daughter, Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Realm, to be the next viceroy of Area 11. The Princess has not yet issued a statement regarding her appointment but our news teams back in the homeland are on standby for when her highness releases a public statement. Again, for those of you just joining us we have confirmation that the Emperor has appointed his daughter, Third Princess Euphemia li Britannia, as the new viceroy of Area 11. The princess is expected to arrive in the Area within the next few days. Thus far-"

"Euphie," the girl Milly hugged in her arms muttered softly.

The blond haired girl smiled gently as she cradled her little sister. "It's alright Nanna."

"But she's coming to Japan!" Nunnally Ashford said. "After what happened to Clovis!"

"And I'm sure her guards will be on alert," Milly assured the girl. "And you know that Princess Cornelia will send some of her own knights to look after her. So she'll be safe, okay?"

Nunnally looked up at her sister before offering a weak smile. "Okay."

"That's a good girl," Milly said, caressing the girl's cheeks. "Now let's get freshened up, Sayako's going to be looking for us for dinner soon. It's pork roast tonight!"

Nunnally giggled. "Alright. Let me get into the chair."

Milly stood and helped the younger girl into the wheelchair. Nunnally could get around the bathroom by herself however so she waited outside in the bedroom they shared. Once alone Milly's smile disappeared and she turned back to the news broadcast. Despite her assurances there was a genuine danger to Princess Euphemia's life. Thus far no one seemed to know how the resistance fighters had managed to penetrate Prince Clovis' security and then walk out undetected after killing him. If they could do that, then what guarantee they could not do the same with whatever security was put together to protect Princess Euphemia?

Milly did not pay the Imperial family much attention beyond the usual gossip that passed through the school. Her grandfather might know a bit more about the imperial scions but she herself had only a faint memory of them from her time at court. What she did remember did not particularly endear them to her. Nunnally was different though, Nunnally and her brother Lelouch. The assassination that claimed their mother had not quite killed the little girl but it had come close. As it was Nunnally was paralyzed the hip down and required the use of a wheelchair to get around. Her survival had been kept a secret to avoid any follow-up attempts to finish the job. That same secrecy however had ended up pushing Nunnally's brother to commit suicide, convinced that there was nothing left in the world for him. The painful irony was that it was Nunnally that was left alone instead.

Well, not entirely alone. Despite their public disgrace the Ashfords had been entrusted with Nunnally, to keep her hidden and allow her to live as normal a life as possible. Milly was not entirely sure who pulled the strings to make that happen, it might have even been the Emperor himself. Whatever the circumstances Milly had found herself with a little sister, one that she treasured and would do anything to protect. One thing that had been impressed upon her was the need to keep Nunnally's circumstances as secret as possible. Despite her condition if the rest of the court found out she was still alive there was the very real risk they would try to arrange for a fatal accident. It was the sort of political bloodletting that Milly found disgusting, one reason why she kept intentionally sabotaging her family's efforts to marry her into another noble house to regain their titles. IT was also probably the same reason her grandfather let her get away with those same antics. Ruben was a kindly old man likely as tired of the politics as Milly herself had been despite the vast gulf in age. Not surprising seeing the vipers he needed to deal with during his time at court. But then not everyone at court was a monster hiding their fangs behind silk.

Euphemia li Britannia. Nunnally had often spoken fondly of her older sister and Milly had faint memories of a bright and kind pink haired girl. She might just be the one person Milly could trust with Nunnally's secret, assuming she was ever desperate enough to ask for outside help. But the Ashfords were doing fine right now despite the turmoil in Area 11 and so long as they were doing fine Nunnally was safe. So for now Milly would watch and wait to see if her and Nunnally's memory of Princess Euphemia were still representative of the young woman she had grown up into.

* * *

"What were you thinking Euphie!?" an agitated Cornelia said over the video feed.

"I was thinking it was time I started doing some real work in the Empire," Euphie replied calmly.

"There are plenty of places where you can contribute. Don't you already have a position in the treasury!?"

"The good that I can do there is limited," Euphie said. "As viceroy of Area 11 I can have a direct impact on the lives of countless people. I can make a genuine difference to not just their overall situation but to their day to day lives."

Cornelia sighed in resignation. She of all people knew that when Euphie got like this there was no talking her little sister out of her decided course of action. What was Schneizel thinking, helping Euphie gain the appointment?

"But why Area 11?" Cornelia asked. "We just lost Clovis there, this is the time for a military response to clamp down on the dissidents to make sure something like this can't happen again."

Euphie's eyes narrowed. "Sister, we both know that the security measures in Area 11 are considerably greater than any other areas at the Developing stage. Increasing those measures is at this point not cost effective."

"Cost effective?" Cornelia said, eyebrow raised.

Euphie shrugged. "The numbers do not lie. We've spent billions trying to make Area 11 secure but to this day the area seethes with unrest. Until we address the root cause of that unrest it will never end."

"You're being too soft on the issue Euphie," Cornelia said.

"The militarists have had their chance to try to turn Area 11 into a productive and stable part of the Empire," Euphie countered. "Now it's my turn."

Cornelia regarded her sister for a few moments of silence. She had a point, insomuch as the militarists had been the ones at the helm in Area 11 since the initial conquest. Yet that did not mean their strategy was doomed to long term failure. But that was not what was truly eating at Cornelia. It was Euphie putting herself into the line of fire like this. She would face not only Elevens who did not wish to integrate into the Empire, she would also face off against vested interests that profited from Area 11's current state. Could she handle both at once? That was what worried Cornelia so.

"I'm coming with you," the marshal declared.

Euphie's eyes widened. "What?"

"I said I'm coming with you," Cornelia repeated. "You might be good with shuffling numbers and have a strong grasp of abstract economics but Area 11 is still a mess when it comes to internal security. I'm not going to trust that security to anyone else, especially when it will be responsible for keeping you safe."

"But, aren't you out on campaign right now?" Euphie said. "You can't just very well abandon your post like that."

"That just means I will have to achieve victory all the more quickly," Cornelia said. "Besides, the opposing force has been bled dry. Another week or so and they will fall."

The worry did not leave Euphie's expression.

"I'll be fine," Cornelia assured her little sister. "Your field is of economics, mine is of war. You asked me to trust you with the administration of Area 11, I ask you to trust me with the conquest of Area 18."

Euphie knew that there was no arguing with her sister on this point, not with Cornelia using her arguments against her. She sighed.

"Alright, but I want you to promise me two things."

"Oh?"

"First, you will not take any unnecessary risks just to achieve a quicker victory. I am already mourning one brother, I do not wish to have to mourn you as well, sister."

Cornelia nodded solemnly. "And the other condition?"

"That you align your military policy with my domestic policy."

Cornelia raised an eyebrow, eliciting a slight smile from Euphie.

"You asked me to trust you on matters of war, dear sister. I thus ask you to trust me on matters of administration and internal cohesion."

Cornelia chuckled and nodded. "Alright Euphie, you've got me there. When I arrive I'll support your policies. But if there is a genuine military threat to your safety, I expect you to heed my advice."

Advice, not orders. Euphie could live with that.

"Of course sister."

The siblings bid each other heartfelt farewells and Euphie sunk into her chair. One more minor victory. And to be honest having Cornelia there with her would be reassuring, so long as she could keep her sister from resorting to excessive force at every provocation. But this was just one small step on her greater journey and there was still much to do before her departure.

Euphie closed down her terminal and left her office. As mundane as it relatively was she still needed to figure out what of her wardrobe to bring along. Her fancier gowns she could probably cut back on, her more severe and businesslike outfits would be more appropriate for her position as viceroy. That of course did not mean her appearance would be lacking in femininity, there was no way she could ever pull off anything but girly.

"Euphemia li Britannia."

The voice caused Euphie to start and spin around. "Who is there?"

The figure that stepped out of the shadows was that of a boy many years Euphie's junior. His stature did not quite reach Euphie's chest even if the multiple layers of coats and flowing hair made him look bigger than he really was. Euphie frowned as she recognized the figure. Her body began to assume a defensive stance.

"What do you want?"

The boy smirked, an ugly and decidedly unpleasant smirk. "My, but what a jittery child you are. And to think some of my subordinates are actually worried about you."

Euphie's eyes narrowed. The person standing before her was both an enigma and someone well known within certain select circles at court. There was however no doubt whatsoever that he was very, very dangerous.

"What do you want?" Euphie repeated.

The smirk grew wider into a wolfish grin. "I wonder what you intend to play at in Area 11. Are you trying to slip out from under our watch?"

Euphie frowned. "I have no idea what you might be insinuating."

The boy chuckled. "Of course you don't. Just like you don't have any idea of what all those audits of yours have been digging up."

The princess kept her face impassive. A part of her was seriously contemplating the possibility that her life was in mortal danger. Another part latched onto every word, every revelation this boy offered.

"What do you want," the girl repeated for the third time.

The boy took a step closer. Euphie willed herself to remain still.

"You have been an irritant," he said. "You and your siblings. I think it is about time that we put a proper leash on all of you."

Euphie blinked. "What?"

Euphie barely heard the boy. No, she did hear him, but his words did not penetrate her consciousness. Instead her mind whirled as numbers and factors combined to spit out more numbers and factors. There, the discrepancies for the tithes from Area 3, the missing money was being diverted through a variety of foreign accounts before filtering back into the country. Here, a deviation in the lifetimes of knightmare Yggdrasil Drives that suggested impure Sakuradite being substituted for the Core Luminous cube in order to inflate earnings. More and more conclusions fell into place, all of the accounts and reports Euphie had seen up to this point pooling together to create a lattice of connections and relationships. It was so clear now, so obvious, how could she not have seen it all before?

Euphie blinked. There was something else. Something hidden deep within all those numbers, all those variables. Something big, bigger than anything she would have imagined was possible to hide. But what was it? And who was responsible? Euphie fought to hold onto the impression but it was already slipping. There just was not enough data, not enough to form any concrete conclusions. The young woman pulled herself to her feet. Her head throbbed and her eye ached. Whatever had happened was passing, but she could still remember much of what was revealed to her. The corruption, the graft, the outright theft those in power committed because they thought their positions made them immune from judgment. Euphie's face hardened. But they were not immune, not by a long shot, and now that she knew where to look they would soon realize their folly.

The light in the girl's eye flickered before disappearing entirely. It would return however when Euphie had need of it once more. The girl's hunt was only beginning after all.

End of Chapter 3

The game's afoot.

I have a question to my readers that I'd appreciate a response to. In my master draft at the start of each chapter I have a snippet that's written as if it were from a history text describing the rise of Empress Euphemia. I believe the blurbs to be interesting, but they are, spoilerific to say the least. Not in terms of details, but in terms of what ultimately happens to some characters. The story summary already makes clear that Euphie becomes empress and I presume all of you are reading because you want to see how exactly she achieves this. The additional blurbs basically explain where a character ends up, like what Kallen and Suzaku and other character's positions and roles are upon Euphie's ascension to the throne. It does not of course provide much if any detail on how they ended up at that position, that is the job of the story itself. The question then is should I include the blurbs I have despite them spoiling the, endgame, so to speak, or would all of you prefer I keep them under wraps and maybe add them in as part of some sort of remastered edition?

Notes specific to this chapter. Jeremiah was portrayed I felt somewhat incoherently in the canon. He had a sort of shallow attitude to him for so long that by the time we reach the latter half of R2 and he's suddenly given an excuse, it felt tacked on and forced. I would like to handle him a bit more gracefully, not because of my own personal opinion of him as an individual but because I would like his development in my story to make sense and be believable.

If Kallen has a weakness it is most definitely her temper and her stubbornness. That's gotten her into more trouble than really anything else. If she's to be an effective opponent to Britannia, I need to work out how to, temper, her temper, at least a little bit. I mean, I think part of the reason she's so popular is because she is so passionate. And not because of her, ahem, assets.

People have been asking about Lelouch and Nunnally. I've answered the question about one of them. I leave it to all of you to draw further conclusions.

Anyway, drop a review if you've enjoyed the story thus far. Not sure whether this or _In Tune_ will get updated next, but I think I've been pretty steady with updates so far. Next week I'm traveling so expect a break there.


	5. Chapter 4

_The arrival of Princess Euphemia in Japan was met with caution by many, not least the nobles and elites that had prospered under Clovis' less than efficient governance. More than a few had heard rumors of the Princess' involvement in the dismantling of Toronto Arms, a major munitions conglomerate that had been found guilty of substandard production and overcharging of the Britannian military. The execution of Duke Constantine was fresh on the minds of many though a few took comfort in the fact that it had been the Princess Cornelia who signed the death warrant, not her younger sister Euphemia. Others held out hope that the Princess would be less capricious than her brother and would actually advance the development of Area 11 instead of letting it stagnate. For the Princess however her arrival in Japan set in motion several fateful meetings. One was with of course with the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki. Another was with the Ashford family, a disgraced noble house that would play a major role in her rise to power. The other was with Suzaku Kururugi, perhaps the greatest traitor in all of human history._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 4: Video

Field Marshal Alphonse Pierre Juin was widely considered one of the best strategists in all of Europe. For this reason he held the position of chief of the General Staff of the unified European armed forces, making him the highest ranking uniformed officer in Europe. His opinion on military matters was highly regarded and the man held equally many political opinions, a trait shared by many officers of the time. Whether opinions of either category were acted upon by those that held the reign of political power in the European Union was another matter entirely.

"-and at the rate of her advance Marshal li Britannia will defeat all standing forces large enough to threaten Britannian control in the Middle East within the week," Juin said.

The men and women seated around the council chamber responded with a sullen silence to those words. This was not the news they had wanted to hear but the politicians really only had themselves to blame. Juin had warned them, the General Staff had warned them, hells and damnation even several of the officers recalled from their field commands to offer testimony to the council had warned them, but no, the council had not listened and now their erstwhile ally in the Middle East was about to be crushed beneath the Britannian war machine.

"Is this conclusion, inevitable?" one of the councilmembers asked.

It was so hard not to roll his eyes, especially since the man asking was a fellow Frenchman.

"It is," Juin stated brusquely. "At this point nothing we can do will prevent the collapse of the Middle East Federation. They just their last major port three days ago and with it gone even if the council was willing to authorize a large enough expeditionary force to match Britannia's deployed strength we have nowhere to land them much less keep them supplied."

That was a moot point as the council would never have found the political will to commit the EU to an open war with Britannia, something everyone in this chamber knew. The resentment the military felt at being so restrained when the future of their respective nations was at risk was causing increased friction with their nominal civilian masters. Juin was not the only one inclined to sarcasm when responding to what he regarded as stupid questions, he was just one of the few officers whose reputation allowed him to get away with it.

"Three months ago such a deployment might have stemmed the tide and provided the MEF enough breathing space to allow them to survive in the long term," Juin went on. "Now however it is too late."

The chamber fell silent save for the clearing of a throat here and there. The field marshal was hardly being subtle about his disagreement with the council's chosen policy and that disagreement was not something that could easily be ignored. Juin's opinion did after all reflect the general mood within the military and no nation or group of nations could survive in this day and age without maintaining a strong level of morale in its armed forces.

"Thank you for your insights today Field Marshal," the council president said, "as always they have proven enlightening."

Juin nodded at the dismissal and rose from his seat. His cane clicked every time it touched the ground as he left the chamber. At the age of 73 by all rights he should have been long retired. The politicians were however reluctant to let a man of his experience and wisdom fade into obscurity, even if they tended to ignore said wisdom when it proved politically inconvenient. Juin was a patriot however and he would serve however long his country needed him. At least with the EU capital in Paris he did not have to commute far to work.

The Field Marshal emerged from the chambers and the two soldiers standing guard outside saluted. The Marshal returned it and made the slow walk toward the exit, his aide following a few steps behind to give the elderly man at least the illusion of independence and a bit of privacy. As they exited the elevator to the ground floor Juin came face to face with another holder of the baton.

"Ah, Erwin," Juin greeted with a warm smile.

"Field Marshal," the slightly younger man said with his usually wry smile. "The paper shufflers call you in too?"

Juin chuckled. "More or less. They wished to hear suggestions on how we might salvage the Middle East situation."

The other man snorted. "Months too late and a few thousand marks short. They never learn."

"Perhaps not, but we do our duty to the best of our ability nonetheless," Juin said. "Have you completed your own errand, Erwin?"

A nod. "Just a quick chat with the defense council, I don't quite warrant the full executive council like you sir."

"Well in a few years when you're in my shoes you might," Juin said.

The other man burst out laughing. "In a few more years I hope to be joining you in retirement. This is a young man's game and I'm not quite as spry as I used to be."

That was true enough, Juin acknowledged with a nod. Only three years Juin's junior Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was hardly in the position to take to the field himself, not that the man did not try to get out and about when the opportunity presented itself. The German was widely regarded as one of the EU's best tacticians and maneuver warfare specialists. He had distinguished himself in one of the many hotspots that sprang up in the last half century between Britannia and the EU, making his reputation in Africa by pounding flat a supposedly rogue Britannian officer on an unauthorized military adventure. No one on either side believed a word of the Empire's denial and denunciation of the officer in question but much as now back then the EU was unwilling to call Britannia's bluff. Still once the dust had settled Rommel emerged as something of an icon to the European people and quickly climbed the ranks, now serving as Juin's direct deputy. In other words he got all of the work that Juin did not want to do.

"Well now that we've both completed our respective errand, shall we return to the ministry?"

"Of course sir," Rommel agreed and fell in step next to Juin.

"So what did the defense council want with you anyway?"

"They wanted to know what the General Staff's read of the situation in Japan is," Rommel replied. "I gave them our current assessment and left it at that. They seemed a mite disappointed I did not present some sort of grand strategy to take advantage of the viceroy's death."

Juin snorted. While many people were quick to claim Rommel's ability as a strategist was on par with his tactical acumen, the man in question only rated himself as a middling practitioner. In Juin's opinion that was an accurate assessment, Rommel's decisiveness and daring were excellent qualities for a field commander but the man's impatience worked against him when he needed to deal with the larger picture. Still that Rommel was honest enough about his own limits only made Juin respect him more. And the man really was an able administrator. The General Staff would have been nowhere as efficient if he had been forced to rely on something else as his chief of staff.

"I've actually given some thought to the Japan question," Juin said as they exited the building.

"Oh? This should be interesting."

"Nothing too dramatic," Juin said. "We need to gather some more intelligence first. The Empire's reaction to Clovis' death was remarkably swift, what with the Emperor appointing his daughter to the viceroyalty so quickly. At the same time the confusion and chaos surrounding the transition might allow us to establish some channels with, say, the JLF."

Rommel raised an eyebrow. "Do you honestly believe the JLF stands a chance of evicting Britannia from Japan?"

"Anything is possible," Juin said. "The JLF is fairly well equipped and has good overall discipline. You're right, it's probably not enough to overcome the material disparity between them and Britannia, but with the right support they could tie down the Empire for years in Japan. And if they do succeed in throwing Britannia out, I'd rather they feel obligated to us than the Chinese for helping make it happen."

Rommel rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "There is that. I presume you have something specific in mind?"

"As I said, we need more intelligence before we can start laying down concrete plans. I'm thinking of sending a fact finding mission to Britannia, relatively low profile with orders to keep their heads down. If they can make contact with the JLF or other resistance movements, excellent. If not, they should at least be able to get a read on the domestic situation."

"There is the sakuradite conference coming up," Rommel noted. "We should be able to slip in some of our personnel amongst the delegation."

"My thoughts exactly," Juin said. "And I have just the person in mind."

Rommel frowned. "You can't be serious?"

"You object?"

The German scowled. "He's just a boy."

"He's 17 and of enlistment age," Juin corrected his old friend. "Besides, can you think of anyone better suited for this mission?"

"Yes," Rommel said immediately, "if only because they won't have nearly as much of a personal stake in it."

"Sometimes having a personal stake will make a person work that much harder."

Rommel sighed. "It's your decision sir, I've voiced my concerns. But if you are going to send him, might I recommend we send someone along that can rein him in if the need arises?"

"Of course," Juin agreed. "He is young, that I will not dispute, and the young can be reckless within their passions."

Rommel acknowledged the concession with a nod, catching the twinkle in Juin's eyes. The German passed it off as his old friend smiling inside. Had he given it more than a passing glance he might have noticed the unnatural red tint.

* * *

Euphie rubbed her forehead. The aspirin she had taken at the start of the flight had proven useless and while the headache of the dull and throbbing variety having to put up with it for the fourteen hour flight from Pendragon to Tokyo was not pleasant. It seemed the less she tried to focus on numerical patterns in the various reports she had brought with her the less severe the headache was but it was so tempting to dip in and see what new tantalizing tidbit might be revealed. The young woman refrained from indulging. At least long enough to let the migraine subside to a more manageable level.

One problem that continued to occupy her mind was who exactly this mysterious V.V. was. He obviously had some connection to her father but for the life of her Euphie could not conceive of what it might be. Then there was the fact that he had given her this strange power. Whoever he was he was definitely not human. Or he might have been but he certainly was not anymore. Euphie's instincts told her that this V.V. was bad news, a threat not only to her own plans but also to her family at large. But to protect herself and those she cared about she needed to know more. The timing was unfortunate as there was no way for her to delay her departure for Area 11, that would have been a monumentally bad move from a public relations perspective. But just because she was away from the homeland did not mean she could not continue investigating this V.V. And how ironic that the very power granted to her might just provide the edge she needed to dig up the boy's secrets. If she could keep the headaches from killing her of course. Power always came at a price and only fools thought otherwise.

The transport carrying her to Japan was making its final approach. The flow of people Euphie had set into motion was not inconsiderable from her own personal serving staff to the men and women of her auditing team. The latter would be especially important in the coming days as she worked out how best to reform the regulations in Area 11 to promote genuine growth in the area and cut down on the opportunistic pillaging some of the officials and nobles were obviously engaged in. True this would make her some enemies, but the ensuing prosperity would make her much more popular with the common populace and that popularity was a potent weapon if wielded properly.

The transport landed with a gentle thud and spent the next few minutes taxiing off the runway. When Euphie emerged she was greeted by a full honor guard of knightmares and soldiers lined up across the base. At the bottom of the stairs stood Margrave Gottwald and a woman, Villetta Nu if Euphie's memory served her right. Another member of the Purist faction and the Margrave's right hand woman. As Euphie approached the two bowed deeply.

"Your highness," Jeremiah greeted.

Euphie nodded solemnly in response. "Margrave, Dame Nu. Please, rise."

The two did, Villetta looking somewhat surprised at being directly acknowledged. And then she saw the charming smile Euphie was giving them both. There was no doubt about it, Euphemia was truly a Princess of the Realm. Even in her white and light blue business suit the young woman was the epitome of feminine and grace. Jeremiah and Villette stepped to opposite sides and the Margrave gestured toward the waiting vehicles.

"This way, your highness."

Euphie walked down the red carpet, Jeremiah falling in step just behind her while Villetta hung back a bit further. As they passed the soldiers presenting arms Euphie met the attentive gazes of several, offering smiles as she inspected the honor guard. By the time she reached the waiting limousine there was not one soldier present today that was not affected by the Princess' charm. It was all well and good to serve under a Prince, that promised glory of all sorts if he was adventurous after all, but serving under a Princess brought the promise of being shown genuine gratitude, or so the thinking went. Not one of them were cynical enough to consider that Euphie might be playing to their admiration for her own advantage. Whether they would have cared even if they knew was an open question.

Euphie settled comfortably into the limo's seat. Jeremiah climbed into the back with her while Villetta got into the front next to the driver. Once the door closed the vehicle rolled out, accompanied by several police cruisers and even two knightmares. After the assassination of Prince Clovis Jeremiah was taking no chances with the safety of his new viceroy.

"The advisors that served your brother Prince Clovis have assembled at the Viceroy's Palace as per your instructions," Jeremiah reported. "The reports you have requested are in the process of being collated, I am afraid that we have discovered a certain, slackness, on the part of many bureaucrats and there are gaps in some of the records. I am told that we are making progress in filling in those gaps from external sources and fortuitously overlapping records, but sorting through all of that will take time."

"I see," Euphie said. "Has a list of all bureaucrats whose paperwork is not in order been compiled?"

"Yes, highness."

The young woman nodded. "Please ensure that I receive up to date copies of it daily."

"Of course, your highness."

"Has there been any more surges of violence since Shinjuku?" Euphie asked.

"No, highness," Jeremiah answered. "The terrorists seem to have gone to ground, though there have been acts of vandalism and some minor harassment of our police forces along the Concession borders."

"And the investigation into my brother's murder?"

Jeremiah grimaced. "The Prince had detached elements of his own screen in order to maintain the blockade of Shinjuku. We believe this created holes in his security that one, no more than two or three, terrorists were able to penetrate. Several soldiers along the perimeter were found with their throats slit and the two guards watching over Clovis were similarly cut down by a knife. Whomever carried out the assassination, he or they must be highly skilled combatants. What is more, at least one of the knightmare pilots that opposed us was of prodigal levels. He managed to hold me off in a Glasgow and I am fairly certain was also responsible for murdering Sir Kewell and stealing his knightmare. Combined with his other feats once in possession of a Sutherland and I am almost inclined to believe our opponent in Shinjuku was Colonel Kyoshiro Tohdoh of the Japanese Liberation Front."

Euphie regarded Jeremiah. "But you do not believe this to be the case."

"No, your highness," Jeremiah said, shaking his head. "Our intelligence is fairly certain that the JLF was not responsible for the Shinjuku incident and what we know of Colonel Tohdoh indicates he is not one to carry out a rogue, unauthorized operation. In addition, there was a message left behind by your brother, Prince Clovis', body."

Euphie raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And why is this the first time I am hearing of it?"

"Forgive me highness, I had knowledge of it suppressed," Jeremiah said, bowing his head. "I assure you however that it was not substantive, though it does reveal an interesting insight into whomever murdered your brother."

The Princess regarded the Margrave's bowed head for a few lingering seconds. "What did the message say, Margrave?"

"It was in Japanese, highness," Jeremiah answered, head still low. "I can provide you with a photo, but it was of two characters written in blood. I have been informed that they translate to, divine punishment."

Euphie pursed her lips. "Divine punishment."

Jeremiah finally straightened. "Yes your highness. The usage of these characters suggests a, more radical group than the JLF. While the JLF would not have hesitated to attempt your brother's murder if given the opportunity, I believe their goal would have been more nuanced."

"I agree," Euphie said, slightly surprising Jeremiah. "All indications are the Japanese Liberation Front seeks to restore Area 11's sovereignty, not engage in petty terrorism and acts of wanton destruction. Has the Inquisitio any suggestions for which resistance element in the area might be responsible?"

"Not as of yet, highness," Jeremiah said. "The murder of your brother is an, escalation, far beyond anything we have seen before, and most of the cells that might have the skill and resources to be responsible for the Shinjuku incident were regarded as more, restrained than this. We may have to revisit those assessments."

"I see." Euphie took a deep breath. "Margrave. We will find those responsible for my brother's murder. I trust I will have your assistance."

Strange how the Princess could phrase that last sentence as both a statement and a request. But it hardly mattered, as a loyal son of the Empire Jeremiah could no more refuse a direct request from a member of the Imperial family than stop breathing. He nodded.

"Yes, your highness, you have my sword and my self."

Euphie nodded and gave Jeremiah a disarming smile. "Thank you."

The man felt his heart quicken. Yes, here was a Princess worthy of her heritage. It would be an honor to serve her.

The motorcade arrived without incident at the viceroy's palace, both the residence and the workplace of Area 11's ruler. Along the streets were crowds of people waving Britannian flags and media pressing against the barricades, trying to get just a bit closer without provoking the security abundant security personnel present. Euphie stepped out of the car and waved at the crowds, which only elicited even greater cheering. The Princess managed to keep a smile on her face all throughout the short walk into the palace grounds. Only once she was sure she was outside the sight of the public did her stern demeanor reassert itself. There was much work to be done and no time to waste.

* * *

The school was all abuzz with the arrival of Princess Euphemia, something Kallen actually found herself thankful for. With all the excitement her return to school went by almost unnoticed beyond the circle of girls that tended to congregate around her whenever she was actually in attendance. The girls were pleasant enough to be around, even if Kallen did not share their interest in fashion and boys. She could at least feign interest well enough however and sometimes she did pick up interesting tidbits. Who knew tricks for hiding stains on a dress could also be applied to hide smudges of blood?

Today however Kallen was after specific bits of information and fortunately that topic proved easy enough to direct the group towards. Almost everyone had seen the news broadcast of the Princess' arrival at the viceroy's palace and anyone who did see it had their take.

"-and I'm pretty sure the Princess' suit was a custom make from Burberry!"

If only they would talk about something besides the Princess' wardrobe.

"But that's expected of royalty," Sophie said. "Ah, I wish I could see the rest of her wardrobe."

Another girl snickered. "I think it's the person wearing the dresses that you want to see the rest of."

The dreamy look on Sophie's face disappeared and she stuck her tongue out as the others laughed. Eventually Sophie joined in as well. That's right, Kallen thought to herself even as she pretended to laugh with them. Sophie did lean that way.

"Has anyone actually heard anything about the Princess?" Kallen said, trying to direct the conversation onto more useful topics. "I think this is the first time I've ever seen her."

"That's true," Sophie said thoughtfully. "I think she's a year younger than us and is supposed to still be in school. I wonder why the Emperor chose her as the new viceroy? And so quickly after Prince Clovis' murder?"

"Who knows how the Imperial family thinks?" another girl said. "I mean, I know that we have a lot of children from noble houses at Ashford, and Milly herself is former nobility, but none of them can hold a candle to the Emperor and his family."

"Oh, Milly might be able to keep up," said another. "You know she'd wear them down with all of her impromptu parties and whatnot."

The girls giggled again. The granddaughter of the headmaster and current student council president was notorious for her eccentricity. Then again she tended to make sure everyone had a good time in her various schemes so that notoriety was simply another form of popularity.

"Still, if she's as young as us, do you think she'll be okay?" Kallen asked, feigning concern easily enough. "I mean, the terrorists did manage to get past Prince Clovis' security."

That seemed to put even more of a dampener on the mood and Kallen wondered if she had pushed too far.

"I'm sure the Princess will be fine," Sophie finally said. "The military's not going to let anything happen to her, especially now. And they'll definitely catch the terrorists who murdered Prince Clovis."

Kallen reminded herself once more that despite his callous treatment of the Japanese Clovis was actually very popular with the Britannian population in Japan. In fact there were even some Japanese that bought into his propaganda, considering how many were willing to walk away from their heritage and become honorary Britannians. Then again Kallen knew that reality was more complicated than that. For a lot of people swallowing their pride was a necessity if they wanted to get a decent job, have access to real healthcare, and in some cases just survive. The world was not black and white however much Kallen would have preferred it that way.

"Enough with the gloomy talk," another girl said, "let's talk about something else! Oh, Kallen, have you heard about the president's latest plan?"

"Another one?" Kallen said somewhat tiredly. "What is she going to have the students do this time?"

"It's going to be a dance!" Sophie answered excitedly.

"I was going to tell her about that," the other girl pouted.

Sophie giggled. "Sorry, I just couldn't keep it in. But you better watch out Kallen, I know half the guys in our grade will probably try to ask you out."

Erk. It looked like she would be feeling sick for quite a bit from now until after this dance.

"Excuse me, Kallen Stadtfeld?"

The girls looked up to see another fellow student with long brown hair standing over them.

"Yes, that's me," Kallen said.

"I'm Shirley Fennette," the newcomer said with a smile. "Milly asked me to fetch you, could you please come to the student council office with me?"

"Umm, sure," Kallen said, wondering what was going on as she rose.

"No fair Shirley," Sophie pouted. "You're stealing Kallen away from us just after she came back to school!"

Kallen chuckled dryly. "I'll see you all in class."

Note to self, do not allow herself to end up alone in a closed space with Sophie Wood.

Kallen followed the brunette through the school's hallway, responding to her prompts as they walked.

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, much, thank you," the girl said politely.

"That's good," Shirley flashed her an easy smile. "We've been in the same class since the beginning of the term but I think I've only seen you a few times so I never had the chance to get to know you."

Kallen forced herself to smile back. "Say, do you know what Milly wants with me?"

The girl held up a finger to her lips. "You'll find out soon enough."

That, was not reassuring from Kallen's perspective, especially considering the student council president's reputation. The rest of the walk was spent with Shirley trying to get to know her better and Kallen answering the girls with care. It would not do for her to claim that her hobby was knitting if the girl had no idea how to knit. Fortunately Kallen did know how to, a skill she picked up from her biological mother, and one of the few pastimes the girl engaged in to help relieve her stress. Most other things she did seemed to almost always increase it.

They finally arrived at student council office and Shirley knocked to announce their entry. She opened the door and held her hand out for Kallen to enter first. Kallen blinked. Was this a trick of some sort? The girl was tempted to use her new power to peek into the room but did her best to resist. There was definitely a cost to her ability and Kallen doubted it was limited solely to her headaches. Ohgi was right, she should only use it when she absolutely had to. If the student council wanted to pull a prank on her, then so be it. She stepped in. And walked right into a shower of confetti.

"Surprise!" two energetic voices and a third more subdued one shouted.

Kallen blinked, running her hand through her hair to brush off some of the paper scraps. "What?"

The blond haired girl she quickly recognized as Milly grinned as she stepped before Kallen.

"You must be the elusive Kallen Stadtfeld," she said.

"Umm, yes, that's me," Kallen said in confusion.

"Don't worry, don't worry," Milly said, "you're not in trouble or anything. But don't just stand there in the doorway, c'mon!"

The girl grabbed hold of Kallen's hand and started pulling her into the room. Kallen held her ground for one second before remembering she was supposed to pretend to be the frail sick girl at school and let the president haul her along. If Milly noticed the initial resistance she gave no indication, happily pulling Kallen to the center of the room where a large cake waited.

"What, is this?" Kallen asked.

"A cake!" Milly said merrily.

Kallen sighed. "I can see that."

The other girl chuckled. "It's a little welcome party for you."

The look of resignation turned into confusion. "For me?"

"Well I had a thought," Milly said. "You've been missing school a lot and because of that haven't been able to join any clubs. That's really a shame since club experience is such an important part of school life since it lets you meet people with similar experiences and whatnot. So, I thought, why not have you join the student council instead? You'll get to hang out with us and you'll also get to hang out with people from the clubs."

"Though they're mostly here to complain about the budget we give them," the only boy present said. "The name is Rivalz Cardemonde. I'm the student council vice-president."

The bespectacled girl with her hair tied up in a ponytail smiled at Kallen. "I'm Nina Einstein, the treasurer."

"And you already know me," Shirley said, "but let me introduce myself again. I'm Shirley Fennette, the secretary."

"A pleasure," Kallen said, still working out just what Milly was trying to do. "Umm, but is it really, alright?"

"No worries, I talked it over with grandpa," Milly said. "And don't worry about your absences, the student council's work is really irregular, sometimes we get a lot and sometimes we have nothing to do all day but drink tea."

"That's usually when the president comes up with some new plan that creates a lot of work, which stresses her out and then she comes up with an even crazier plan to-ouf."

Milly withdrew her elbow and went back to slicing up the cake with her trademark grin. Another note to self. Don't piss off the student council president.

"Milly, I brought the cups," a voice called out.

"Oh, thank you Nunnally," Milly said, setting down the knife and walking over to the latest person to enter the room.

The girl wore the uniform of Ashford Academy's middle school section but what really set her apart was the wheelchair she rolled in on. Kallen regarded the new girl curiously. She had only heard in passing that Milly had a little sister but had never seen the girl before.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," the girl said with a slight bow from her wheelchair. "My name is Nunnally Ashford."

Kallen smiled gently at the girl and bowed herself. It would have looked really stupid trying to curtsey in the relatively short skirts of the school.

"A pleasure to meet you as well, I am Kallen Stadtfeld."

"Nunnally here is an honorary member of the student council," Milly said cheerfully, "so we make sure to invite her to all the celebrations."

The girl giggled. "My sister likes parties a lot so I have plenty of chances to come and play."

Kallen continued smiling. "Is that so?"

"But anyway, now that we're all here, grab a slice!" Milly said. "Here Nunnally, a big one for you."

"Thank you," the girl said sweetly.

As Kallen bit into her own piece she realized that Milly had basically given her no chance to actually decline the invitation. The girl was good. Kallen made a third mental note. Be very careful around Milly Ashford, there was no telling what insanity the girl would end up dragging her into.

* * *

The first day had passed in a flurry of meetings and reading reports. None of the advisors Euphie had inherited from Clovis were outright incompetent but most of them tended to suffer from limited imagination or tunnel vision. That was unfortunate seeing as this would require Euphie to basically build up her administration from near scratch, a process that would take time. It was hard to accuse the young woman of impatience but Euphie did not like to dawdle. Still she at least had a basic idea of what needed to be done to improve the situation in Area 11.

Since becoming viceroy Clovis had passed a raft of regulations pertaining to businesses in the area, restricting ownership and requiring a variety of registrations and licenses, many of them redundant, overlapping, or irrelevant to what activities a business might seek to engage in. The goal was blindingly obvious, the first being to stifle commercial activity by Elevens and the second to protect the vested interests of the larger Britannian commercial entities. Euphie already had a list of regulations and licenses she would be cutting along with another list of simplified registrations businesses needed to have to operate. Cutting that much red tape along should see a percentage or so of increased economic activity for the fiscal quarter. And that was just the start of it.

That was of course only the start. The restrictions on non-Britannians working or running their own businesses was an unnecessary and even costly policy. While in theory it reduced competition for jobs and customers for Britannian businesses it also effectively cut off a very large market for those same businesses. Without money the Elevens could not afford the goods offered by those businesses after all. And restricting the access of Elevens to the formal, legal market only caused them to look to more illicit sources for their needs. Demand was not going to go away after all. This shadow economy might have been profitable for some but it exacted a large indirect cost to society as a whole. The loss of revenue from taxes was an obvious one but the abuses and crime that the shadow economy promoted had a knockoff effect. More crime required more police resources to deal with and almost invariably resulted in reduced efficiency of general services.

Of course convincing the current vested interests of this would take some doing, but Euphie's authority as viceroy could take her quite a ways. In the meantime she would need to make allies of her own and position them to displace those interests that ultimately proved uncooperative with her reform efforts. There was also of course the issue of the continuing investigation of her brother's murder.

"Your highness," one of her secretaries bowed as she entered. "Earl Asplund and the representatives from the ASEEC have arrived for their appointment."

"Send them in."

The secretary hesitated. "There is an, Eleven in the party, highness."

The secretary in question had come with Euphie from the homeland and so her reason for bringing that up was entirely different from if one of the old hands of Area 11 had done so. To her the issue was not that a Number would be entering the Princess' presence, it was simply a notification so that Euphie would not be taken by surprise. It was also a warning to the girl that others were watching and would not be so blasé about the Eleven's presence.

"Understood," Euphie said. "Please, show them in."

The secretary bowed once more before retreating. A minute or so later the door opened once more and a party of three entered, the bespectacled man in the lead obviously the Earl while a woman in shoulder length indigo hair followed right behind. Trailing the group was an Eleven likely around Euphie's own age. He looked distinctly nervous and seemed to be trying to avoid looking directly at the Princess.

"Your highness," Lloyd greeted with a bow, the others emulating him. "How may the ASEEC be of assistance to you?"

"Earl Asplund, thank you for making time in your busy schedule," Euphie said with a smile.

The Earl regarded her with a curious grin of his own. His assistant on the other hand looked somewhat irritated, though with the glare she was subtly shooting the Earl he was more likely the target of her ire, not Euphie herself.

"I requested your presence because I understand the ASEEC deployed an experimental knightmare during the Shinjuku incident."

The Earl's eyes seem to almost light up. "Yes, we did. The Lancelot. A masterpiece of a machine if I don't say so myself, it performed wonderfully during its first field run."

Euphie cocked her head. "You believe the results of that day to have been a success?"

Lloyd, as socially inept as he was, was not boneheaded enough to walk into that obvious a blunder. "Ah, I mean, that is to say-erk!"

"What the Earl means to say, your highness," the woman said as she withdrew her elbow, "is we sincerely regret our failure to defeat the terrorists before they could enact their plan. The Lancelot was able to outperform the Sutherlands that had been stolen but unfortunately no one foresaw that the attack by the enemy knightmares was only a distraction."

"And you would be?"

"Captain Cécile Croomy, your highness," the woman said with a salute. "I serve as Earl Asplund's direct assistant on the Lancelot project."

"And as his minder I see," Euphie said with a playful smile.

"Umm, sometimes, your highness," Cécile said, cracking a smile of her own.

Euphie nodded. "And what of you, sir?"

The boy stiffened at being directly addressed and snapped to attention. "Private Suzaku Kururugi your highness!"

Euphie cocked her head to the side. "Private?"

"Private Kururugi is currently serving as the test pilot for the Lancelot," Lloyd said with a grin.

Euphie raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Private Kururugi is only a test pilot your highness," Cécile interjected quickly. "He does not have formal qualifications as a Knight."

But he was still being allowed to pilot a knightmare, Euphie noted. This was not entirely unprecedented, she knew of some units that employed non-Britannians as knightmare pilots without actually granting them the title of knight. Still it was highly irregular and Euphie could name offhand a dozen or so nobles or conservatives that would be offended by the mere notion of a non-Britannian in one of the war machines. It was obvious that Cécile and, Suzaku, were worried about Euphie herself would be amongst them whereas the Earl seemed almost completely oblivious to just how much his little project was violating convention.

"Tell me Private," Euphie said. "Were you also the one that piloted the Lancelot against the commandeered Sutherlands?"

"Yes, your highness."

Euphie regarded the young man. He did not seem like much, a bit scrawny and with mussed hair that looked completely immune to attempts to comb it down. Yet appearances could be deceiving and Euphie could see a determined light in his eyes.

"According to the Margrave one of the terrorist pilots was at prodigal levels," Euphie said. "That you defeated the terrorists in knightmare combat, even if the Lancelot is supposed to outperform them, is still a notable achievement. In fact it is because you did defeat them I wished to speak with the ASEEC."

Cécile and Suzaku relaxed noticeably while Lloyd looked on eagerly for some reason.

"At present there has been very little to go on about the terrorists that murdered my brother," Euphie said, clasping her hands before her on her desk. "For that matter we do not even know if the ones the Lancelot engaged were the same ones that ultimately murdered my brother. But they are our only lead, so I ask if there is anything you might remember from the battle that might help us in tracking them down."

Suzaku took a deep breath. "From when I was piloting the Lancelot itself, I'm afraid there isn't anything else I can add your highness, except that I agree with the Margrave's assessment. The first Sutherland I engaged was definitely being piloted by an Ace. Even in the Lancelot I was barely able to beat her and only because I got a really lucky shot. And even then the pilot managed to eject just as I hit him. Whoever she is your highness, she is very, very good."

Euphie nodded. Interesting that two very different people had arrived at the same conclusion about this mysterious terrorist. Had some resistance movement been hiding this ace, biding their time until just the right moment? A possibility, though the probability of it was incredibly small. Euphie blinked. Wait, she?

"She?" Euphie said aloud.

Suzaku cleared his throat. "I, saw one of the terrorists ma'am, when pursing them on foot. It was a girl, probably around our age, except that she looked Britannian instead of Japanese. She had red hair, some of the tips spiking to the side. She was the one in the Glasgow, the same one that managed to escape the Margrave initially."

A girl their age that looked Britannian but fought with a Japanese liberation movement. Was she a half blood? Another variable to the equation.

"Thank you Private, I appreciate you telling me this."

Suzaku bowed his head. "Your highness, may I speak freely?"

"Suzaku," Cécile hissed softly.

"Please," Euphie said, cutting off any further protests by the other woman.

"Highness, I spoke very briefly with this, terrorist," Suzaku said. "I pleaded with her to surrender but she seemed convinced that the only thing that would await her was execution."

The terrorist was not wrong, Euphie thought dryly. Had Clovis still been in charge all she would have received was an execution after a very thorough and likely painful interrogation.

"I don't think she's a bad person your highness, but she seems to be embittered and lacking hope. There are a lot of Jap-Elevens, who feel that way, but it doesn't have to be that way. If they thought they had a chance, I'm sure they would lay down their arms and integrate peacefully."

Euphie regarded the young man. In some ways he was being hopelessly naïve but in others Euphie herself was counting on enough people thinking like him amongst the native population for her plan to work.

"It is true, many Japanese have lost hope," Euphie said, eliciting looks of surprise from the others at her using those people's original name instead of the number the Empire had branded them with. "I intend to try to give them back some of that hope and I myself wish for them to become productive and happy members of the Empire. I trust I will have your help in this, Private Kururugi?"

"Yes your highness!" Suzaku said enthusiastically.

Euphie offered him a smile, causing the boy to blush. Well, he was at that age, and come to think of it Euphie herself was too. But she had yet to find anyone she could consider an equal. And who knew what arrangements the politics of the court would ultimately see happen in that regard. Not that Euphie intended to allow herself to be shoehorned into just any marriage after all.

"Suzaku, try to remember your current obligations," Lloyd said in a mildly irritated tone.

"Of-of course Lloyd! I mean Earl! I'm really grateful to you and Cécile, I mean Captain Croomy, for everything you've done for me already!"

Euphie giggled. Well if nothing else young Suzaku was full of amusing antics.

"I'm sure there will be many ways for you to help without abstaining from your duties with the ASEEC," Euphie said.

"Oh I'm glad you think that your highness!" Lloyd said, his enthusiasm returning.

Euphie tilted her head to the side. "What?"

"Well one of the reasons I came here was to offer you the use of the Lancelot," Lloyd said. "It's still under development but we're at the stage where we need some hard data from field tests to really finish it, and if you're going to be hunting those terrorists then that would be a perfect opportunity for my Lancelot to shine!"

Euphie raised an eyebrow. "The battlefield is not a playground, Earl."

Lloyd's mouth opened to respond but it suddenly snapped shut. Looking down Euphie saw Cécile's foot grinding into the man's foot.

"What Earl Asplund means to say is that the Lancelot itself is ready for field deployment," Cécile said with a polite smile. "We believe that it would be a major asset to any effort in rooting out those that challenge Britannia's control of the Area."

Euphie shifted her gaze from Cécile to Suzaku. "Would you be able to fight your own countrymen, Private Kururugi?"

Suzaku nodded stiffly. "Yes, your highness. I know I just said before that I think most of them will come around when things get better, but right now every time they launch an attack they just get more innocent people killed in the crossfire. If it means stopping that from happening, then yes, I will fight, your highness."

That was a convoluted and somewhat contradictory philosophy the boy seemed to have adopted but Euphie did not point that out to him. True if the Lancelot really was as powerful as the Earl was claiming and with dangerous resistance ace out there with a modern Sutherland knightmare having it available would be not just useful but maybe even essential.

"Very well Earl Asplund," Euphie said. "I will discuss how best to employ the Lancelot with my military advisors."

Lloyd's mouth began opening again.

"And I will make clear that prejudices towards both the machine and its pilot will not be grounds for restricting its deployment," Euphie said with a smile.

Lloyd closed his mouth even as the corners twitched up into a smile. He bowed deeply.

"Thank you your highness. I look forward to a long and mutually beneficial partnership."

"As do I," Euphie said, in effect dismissing them.

While Lloyd and Cécile turned to leave Suzaku hesitated. After a moment he turned to fully face Euphie once more.

"Your highness?"

"Yes?"

"There's one more thing about the Shinjuku incident," Suzaku said.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Earl and Cécile freeze up. Interesting, they knew about it as well?

"Speak," Euphie commanded.

"The container that the terrorists stole, there wasn't any poison gas in it."

Euphie frowned. "How do you know this?"

"I was there when it got smashed open accidentally," Suzaku said. "I saw what was inside. It, was a girl with long green hair."

The frown deepened. "If you would, Private Suzaku, could you provide me with every detail you remember."

And so Suzaku did just that, explaining how his unit had caught up with the terrorists and found them trying to load the supposed gas container to a new truck. He explained how they launched an attack to try to stall them, only for the Glasgow to counterattack and kill everyone else. How he then tried to convince the pilot and her compatriot to surrender, only for the seal on the container to be smashed apart when the knightmare tried to flatten him. And how finally a girl with long green hair spilled out of the container instead of the poison gas they all thought was inside.

As Euphie listened she considered the implications piece by piece. Assuming Suzaku as telling the truth, and she could see no indications of him lying, the gas story was obviously a cover for something much, much bigger. The money she had discovered being siphoned from the official budgets was looking more and more suspicious. In fact Clovis himself was likely responsible, using that money for some sort of clandestine project involving this girl. That would explain his panicked reaction when the container was stolen but also why he had only deployed a limited number of troops to try to retrieve her. He was afraid of his secret being accidentally uncovered. But now his secret was out even if the Prince himself no longer needed to worry about the consequences.

Euphie however was still alive and something told her that uncovering just what her brother had been working on could make or break her own rule of Area 11. The only question was how to find it. The migraine in her head throbbed. The numbers began lining up once more. Yes, there it was, the patterns that she had only glimpsed at before but which were now crystal clear. Euphie steeled herself. Whatever she found the Princess just knew would be unpleasant. But she would still dig, for herself, and for her vision.

* * *

It had been a long, tiring day for Kallen. Milly's claim of the student council work being irregular might well have been true but when Kallen arrived after last period ended she found the council buried in budgetary work. The school had an absolutely ridiculous number of clubs and student organizations and all of them were clamoring for a slice of the very limited budget. It was not just enough that they go through every application but they also needed to balance the needs of each club in fair and objective ways. By the time Milly had called a break for the day Kallen was seriously thinking about faking sick for the rest of the week just to get out of having to do this again. But that was more liable to attract attention by making her seem unsocial so she would need to suck it up and bear with it. And probably punch Ohgi the next time she saw him for making her go back to school at a time like this.

About the only good news was that she managed to avoid seeing the Lady Stadtfeld upon arriving home, though she still needed to go through the experience of having her own mother greet her as a servant. Kallen was a bit more curt than usual today thanks to her general exhaustion but the girl made yet another mental note to try to make it up to her mother later in some small, discrete way. As she entered her room however that exhaustion disappeared immediately. Kallen's book bag hit the ground and toppled over at her feet. The girl herself was gaping at her bed and the person lounging about on it.

"You!" Kallen cried.

The woman rolled over and gave Kallen a playful grin.

"We meet again, thee to whom I am pledged."

It was the girl with long green hair, the same one that Kallen had seen get shot in the head. She was somehow alive and she was rolling about on Kallen's bed. The girl just barely managed to avoid a hysteric scream. Instead she slammed the door shut and advanced on the bed. The servants did their best to ignore the sounds that came out of the young lady's bedroom tonight, all save one who snuck worried looks in its direction.

End of Chapter 4

C.C. doesn't really need a reason to speak archaically, considering her personality she'd do it just for the trolling potential.

Based on the feedback a majority seem to want the history snippets while there's one against. As such I'll be adding them in though I've tweaked wording to reduce some of the, certainty, in some of them. Some of them are still pretty unambiguous but there's a degree of flexibility in interpretation that I think I've managed to achieve. Be sure to look back at the previous chapters for the added inserts. Some give away more than others.

A pretty lengthy chapter all things considered and there were even a few parts that I didn't add in. But I think I've got a decent amount of content here and so I'll be leaving it here. I'm going to hop back to _In Tune_ to work on that fic's next chapter before continuing with this one. I don't know whether I'll get another chapter out before my trip to NYC next week, but I'll try. No promises obviously.

A word on the size of roles. It's obvious that, well, the dead don't stay dead, and so there will be a lot of characters in play. The main thing however is Euphie and Kallen are the main characters. Suzaku and everyone else are definitely not intended to usurp them in that role, they exist to provide support. That is not to say they won't be seeing lots of action and whatnot but ultimately the story is about Euphie and Kallen. To be frank if I was less than impressed with Jeremiah's character development, I was even less impressed with Suzaku's in the canon. My interest or even ability to write a story where he gets to take center stage would be, limited, to say the least. But he still has a purpose to serve in this fic and he will certainly be leaving a mark in history. Kallen at least needs someone to beat up on after all.

Anyway, drop a review if you've enjoyed _A Cold Calculus_ this far. And if any of you have a guess as to what the title's meaning is.

One final note, all of the chapter titles thus far is in Latin, so Video is not, well, video. What it is I leave for you my readers to figure out.


	6. Chapter 5

_Upon her arrival in Area 11 the Princess Euphemia set about establishing alliances and recruiting competent individuals to her administration. Some would rise from the middle level bureaucracy, having demonstrated themselves as competent and industrious workers even during the reign of her brother Prince Clovis. Others came from more unexpected quarters, such as several Honorary Britannians whom held positions of respect before the invasion and their inclusion in the Princess' administration scandalized many of the nobility. This muted disapproval however did not slow the Princess and she quickly built up a cadre of loyal administrators that she could begin delegating work to. Even before the immediate furor of her appointment died down the Princess began making arrangements for the continuation of her own education. To this end she made a call upon Ashford Academy, a prestigious private school run by the former noble Ashford family. The consequences of the continued association between the Princess and the Ashfords were to prove profound for the Empire at large._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 5: Vidi

Kallen spent perhaps a full minute just pointing at the girl on her bed. When she finally recovered her senses she acted on pure instinct. She slammed the door shut and tackled the girl.

"Who the hell are you!?" Kallen demanded. "I saw you die!"

"Did thou?" the girl said with an impish grin. She reached up and stroked Kallen's left cheek. "Hast thou enjoyed the gift bestowed unto thee?"

Kallen's eyes widened. "So that was you! What did you do to me!?"

The girl's outburst only earned her a chuckle. "Tis a troth most sacred betwixt thou and I."

"Troth!? What the hell is a troth! Speak normally!"

"Tsk tsk, such an ill-mannered rantipole, this be how thou greets a guest?"

Kallen's eyebrow twitched. "You're not a guest, you're a trespasser! Now explain why you're here! How you're here!"

"The why tis simple, I come to uphold my troth. The how equally so." The girl pointed at the window. "From yander window."

Kallen fought back an urge to strangle the mysterious girl, she needed her alive to answer her questions. Then again she had seen the girl die once already only for her to show up in her bedroom so maybe strangling her would not actually achieve anything. Besides relieving her stress that is. But it was clear the mysterious girl would not be giving up her secrets easily so Kallen took a different tact.

"What is your name?" she asked.

That infuriating grin again. "C.C."

"See, too?" Kallen glared at the girl. "Is that supposed to be a joke?"

"Thou asketh for a name, thou shalt receiveth an answer."

"Alright, fine, C.C.," Kallen said. "What do you want?"

"Must I repeat myself so? To thee I have plighted my troth and thus with thee shall I remain."

That troth thing again, Kallen ground her teeth in frustration. Okay, the girl was obviously not going to explain what that meant so she needed to figure it out herself. She was speaking in archaic terms so that word was probably English but long out of use. Kallen thought back to her classical literature course, they had just done Shakespeare fortunately. Had troth been a word that playwright had used? Kallen blinked.

"Truth?"

The girl laying under Kallen rolled her eyes. "I say, what hast thy tutors read to thee?"

"And what century are you living in?" Kallen retorted.

Apparently that was not it. Did troth have a secondary meaning? Wait. What was that line?

"Virtue's office never breaks men's troth," Kallen repeated from memory. "A pledge?"

The girl smiled. "Aye."

Kallen climbed off the girl, looking at her quizzically. "You, pledged an oath to me?"

"Aye," the girl said once more. "Till our contract be concluded, a troth be betwixt thou and I."

"What contract?"

The girl stared into Kallen's eyes. No, her eye. Kallen caressed her left eye.

"Quite," the girl said in satisfaction.

"What exactly is this?" the redhead asked.

"Tis the power of kings," C.C. answered, "the Geass."

"A, geas?" Kallen said, searching her memory. That sounded Gaelic. "A gift, or a curse, that comes with an associated taboo, the violation of which will result in death or dishonor."

"My, it seems thou art learned."

Kallen frowned. "So, what's my taboo?"

C.C. regarded Kallen for a moment before turning away. "Tis late, I shalt retire for the eve."

"Hey!"

The girl ignored her and began climbing under the sheets.

"Now wait just a damn minute!" Kallen cried, throwing aside the sheets and climbing back atop C.C.

"This be the conduct of a lady or a cad?" the girl said.

"Shut it," Kallen snapped. "We're both girls so if I beat you up no one's going to care."

Well, not entirely true but in this one instance being a girl offered her a slight advantage. Which was stupid since violence visited upon defenseless individuals of either gender by either gender should have been considered abhorrent. Double standards and all that.

C.C.'s eyes narrowed as she regarded Kallen. After what seemed an eternity of her staring silently she opened her mouth.

"I have a wish I seek fulfillment thereof," the girl said. "Time shall tell if thou art capable of meeting mine wish."

"Tell me what it is now and I'll tell you right away," Kallen said.

The girl smiled. It was not a pleasant smile.

"Impatience, a virtue it be not. Can thou see thy own wish fulfilled when full of such?"

Kallen growled at the girl but once more climbed off. "Alright, but you better not take too damn long with your wish, I've got stuff to do."

"And in thy own endeavors shall I rendereth aid," C.C. said, "until our contract be fulfilled."

"And just what makes you think you'd be of any help to me?" Kallen retorted.

C.C. regarded her one eye again. Right, stupid question.

"Fine, fine, be that way."

The girl dove under the sheets again.

"But we are going to have a talk tomorrow," Kallen said.

"And a good night to tee," was the response.

Kallen grumbled. "And you will not be sleeping here every night."

In point of fact Kallen did not particularly want C.C. to be sleeping here tonight either. But she was tired, it had been a long day, and she did not have the energy to figure out where to stash the girl instead. That was a problem for another day, after a preferably full night of sleep.

* * *

The morning meeting had gone well enough, the bureaucrats accepting the changes to Area 11's regulations grudgingly but still accepting them. From all indications those subordinates that managed to find positions with direct access to her brother Clovis tended to be those that did not openly disagree with him. That sort of mentality could be very dangerous Euphie knew, which was why her own search for replacements took on a new urgency.

"Your highness, Baron Rochester has arrived."

"Please show him in."

The secretary bowed before retreating. Mere moments later the door opened once more to reveal a tall, well-built man. He bowed upon coming into the Princess' presence.

"Your highness."

"Baron Rochester," Euphie replied with a smile. "Please, have a seat."

"Thank you highness."

There was a noticeable tension leaving the Baron's face as the invitation was extended. Imperial protocol had many nuances and informal rules but the one about seats was fairly straightforward. One either was invited to sit at the start of the meeting or one stood throughout. That Rochester was granted the privilege right away indicated the Princess wished to deal with him in a cordial manner. That she herself remained seated instead of standing to greet him indicated that a distance yet remained and the Princess was not going to be going out of her way to shorten it. Equal or greater effort would be required on the Baron's part for that.

"And how may I be of assistance to you, highness?" Rochester asked once settled in. It really was a comfortable chair, which the Baron took to be a good sign.

"It is my understanding that you have acted as one of the primary liaisons between the Empire and the Numbers Administration Council."

Rochester nodded but said nothing, waiting for Euphie to ask a specific question. Good, the man was not one to waste words.

"Tell me Baron, what was the rationale for leaving the major industries, especially the sakuradite operations, in the hands of Elevens?"

The Baron raised an eyebrow but answered the question nevertheless. "They had the expertise, your highness. Bringing in our own people to take over the mines would have likely resulted in production plummeting and remaining depressed for years as we learned the ropes. Since then they have kept production efficient without any major disruptions." A frown appeared on the man's face. "I hope you are not suggesting that this arrangement be terminated, highness."

Euphie regarded the Baron quizzically. "And if I am, Baron?"

"It would be a mistake, your highness," Rochester replied immediately. "The councilmembers may not be Britannians by blood but they have thus far been very cooperative in their dealings with the Empire. Furthermore they provide a pillar of stability for the native population and an example for those same people to emulate. Removing them after they have, served, the Empire loyally for so many years would send a clear message to the general population that we Britannians lack any sense of loyalty to even those that willingly adhere to our society's laws. Such a message is almost certain to incite further unrest."

Euphie said nothing for several moments before finally cracking a smile. The Baron had spoken his mind with frankness and clarity and without any visible fear of retribution. That suggested Rochester was either confident enough in his own position to be willing to risk offending a member of the Imperial family, or more likely in the Baron's case, he held a strong conviction in himself and would not lie simply to appease his social betters.

"Your assessment has merit, Baron," Euphie said.

Once more Euphie noted a slight relaxing of the Baron's features. The man may have believed in himself but he was also smart enough to know that one did not make enemies with members of the Imperial family lightly.

"I have no objections to the current arrangement with the Council," Euphie said, "but neither do I know any of them personally. My brother seems to have kept them at arm's length, barely acknowledging their existence despite the important role they play in the social stability of Area 11. Though I loved and still love him dearly, I believe that to be a mistake."

This time it was Rochester that regarded Euphie intently. After a brief hesitation the man nodded, indicating his respectful agreement with the Princess.

"You on the other hand, Baron," Euphie continued, "have had substantial interactions with the Council and know them personally as well as professionally. That being the case, I would like your personal opinion of them, both as a collective as well as individually."

"Of course your highness." Rochester took a few moments seemingly to collect his thoughts before going on. "At present the members of the Council are all from Japanese noble families claiming to trace their lineage back centuries, to the days of the old Imperial court in Kyoto. There is considerable intermarriage between the families and all are related to each other in one way or another. Publically they adopt a collaborationist political position, which has allowed them to retain substantial amounts of their personal wealth. Privately I would not be surprised if they feel some resentment for the Empire's occupation of their homeland, but they seem pragmatic enough to understand that active resistance would be futile and would only result in their own executions and the seizure of their assets."

"And what of passive resistance?" Euphie asked.

Rochester shrugged. "I would not be surprised if they retain some contacts within the Japanese Liberation Front due to their past association with the former Japanese government, but on the whole I have seen no indication of outright defiance. The closest would perhaps be the humanitarian aid they provide to Elevens that refuse to become Honorary Britannians, but that act of magnanimity has done little to reduce the resentment the general population feels towards them and so would not be terribly useful as a vector for rallying people to them. Conversely the aid they do provide offers a small but measurable safety net that helps keep tensions from rising completely out of control and so I would advise against trying to restrict it."

"Duly noted," Euphie said. "Please, continue."

The Baron nodded. "The current leader of the Council is Taizou Kirihara, an industrialist whose wealth comes primarily from sakuradite mining. Before the war he held a great deal of behind the scenes influence in the Japanese government. Sir Kirihara was one of the first members of the former Japanese elite to offer cooperation with the occupation authorities and for this he is considered a pariah by many of his own people.

"The other councilmembers are mostly of the same vein, save for their youngest member, a girl named Kaguya Sumeragi." The Baron paused thoughtfully. "I believe she is your junior by two years, highness."

"So young?" Euphie said quizzically.

"I am not clear on the nuances of her appointment," Rochester said, "but she at least appears competent. It may well be that there are no other eligible heirs to the Sumeragi family, though that may be giving Dame Sumeragi too little credit. From what little interaction I have had with her, she has been level headed and displayed considerable knowledge about her family's business interests."

"I see," Euphie said with a nod. "Though I must note Baron, that what you have told me thus far are all simple facts." The Princess offered a sly smile. "What of your own opinion on councilmembers?"

Rochester returned a wiry smile of his own. "If the Princess believes my own personal opinion will be of assistance, then I am honored to share them." The man's face returned to a composed expression. "I believe that the councilmembers ultimately have their own self-interests at heart, but I also believe that they recognize that they only possess authority if others recognize that authority. To that end they seek to play both sides, working to maintain their historical position with the Elevens while ingratiating themselves with the true power reigning over Area 11, the Empire."

"Hence the likely contacts with the JLF," Euphie suggested.

The Baron nodded. "While I do not wish to be accused of baseless speculation, it would not surprise me if their relationship with the JLF were not deeper than simply maintaining an open channel."

In that Euphie shared similar thoughts. The Princess regarded the Baron. Rochester was obviously an intelligent man and he even possessed a bit of imagination. He also did not seem to possess the xenophobic prejudices so many other Britannian nobles had considering his ability to maintain a cordial working relationship with the Council and his willingness to support their continued stewardship of large parts of Area 11's economy. Part of that was almost certainly due to self-interest since as one of the intermediaries between the Empire and the NAC the Baron was likely able to engage in some side businesses to line his own pockets. But that was par for the course in the Empire and so long as the Baron did not abuse his position Euphie could live with a little moneymaking on the side.

At the same time the Baron was not completely blind to the realities of the Area, seeing as he suspected his erstwhile business partners' contact and perhaps even discreet support for the Japanese Liberation Front. The JLF was the most organized and well equipped of the various resistance movements and the only one that stood any chance of actually standing up to Britannia's military might. Not a good chance but still a chance. If they really were getting support from the NAC the danger they represented increased exponentially. The question was how to convince the NAC to rescind their support without having to destroy them outright. One other thing the Baron was right about, the amount of chaos that would result with the collapse of the Council would effectively gut Area 11's economy for years, something Euphie could not afford to have happen on her watch. But that was a problem for another day. Right now however Euphie beamed the Baron a wide smile.

"Congratulations Baron."

The man looked back at her in confusion.

"I have been seeking a new industry minister since my appointment," Euphie said. "Sir Friedman may be an excellent economic theorist, but I am afraid his academic leanings means he often fails to grasp the practical realities of industry. You on the other hand have been heavily involved in Area 11's industry for years now and have demonstrated a thorough and nuanced understanding of its inner workings."

Rochester blinked. It took him a few seconds to muster a response.

"I-I'm honored, your highness, truly. I-I had no idea this was some sort of interview for a position in your cabinet."

"If you had been aware it would have defeated the purpose of this meeting," Euphie said with a playful smile. "That you answered my questions frankly and openly indicates that you have a firm presence of mind and the confidence to execute any policies that my administration generates. The only remaining question is, do you accept?"

"Of course I do," Rochester said immediately. "It is an honor to be of service to you in this capacity, your highness."

"I am glad to hear it," Euphie said with a solemn nod. "Your first task will be to arrange a meeting with Sir Kirihara and Dame Sumeragi."

"Your highness?"

"As Sir Kirihara is the leader of the Council I feel it would only be appropriate as the new viceroy of Area 11 to make his acquaintance," Euphie said. "I also intend to adopt a more engaged policy with the Council for the continued development of this area's economy."

Rochester pursed his lips and Euphie watched as he struggled with himself. It was obvious he wanted to ask a question but his curiosity warred with his instinctive deference to Euphie's stature. Ultimately however his curiosity won.

"And Dame Sumeragi, your highness?"

Euphie smiled gently to let the man know she did not mind indulging his inquisitiveness. "You yourself said that she appears quite competent. If that is the case she represents the next generation of Area 11's native leadership. I would like to see and judge her character for myself." The Princess shrugged. "And besides, it should be interesting to meet someone around my own age with a similar set of expectations and responsibilities on her shoulder."

Rochester seemed to think over the response before offering his own. "I believe I understand, your highness."

"I trust you do," Euphie said with one final nod. "I thank you for your time today, Baron Rochester, and I look forward to working with you in the future."

"Thank you highness," Rochester stood and bowed at the dismissal. "I will endeavor to live up to your confidence."

There was a noticeable upbeat step to Rochester's gaunt as he left the room, Euphie noted with amusement. The Princess looked over at the display showing her schedule of appointments for the day. One down, far too many to go.

* * *

"Umm, I'm not sure this is really necessary, Cécile-san," Suzaku said halfheartedly.

"No complaints," the woman said sternly as she adjusted the boy's suit. "You're still a minor and an education is very important. If you're going to advance in life you at least need to finish your secondary schooling."

"But is it really necessary for him to be going to school?" Lloyd asked. "Couldn't we just tutor him here at Camelot and be done with it?"

"Social interactions with his peers is also important," Cécile countered. "The only way he'll get that is if he goes to a proper school instead of you trying to cram crazy ideas into his head."

"Crazy…you really are too harsh, Cécile," Lloyd protested.

The young woman ignored her nominal superior and gave Suzaku a wide smile. "I've already taken care of the paperwork and you'll start at Ashford Academy tomorrow. For today though you have an important mission."

"A mission?" Suzaku said, tilting his head to the side.

"Princess Euphemia has some business at Ashford and you will be accompanying her," Cécile said.

Suzaku's eyes went wide.

"Think of yourself as her unofficial bodyguard for this outing," the woman continued. "We're not expecting anything to happen, but better safe than sorry and with you around the Princess will have another person watching her back, albeit discreetly."

The boy nodded firmly. "Yes ma'am."

"But at the same time you are also going to get registered as a student, don't forget that."

A sigh. "Yes ma'am."

Half an hour later Suzaku found himself sitting across from the Princess in her limo. He tried his best not to fidget and keep his composure but found it impossible not to sneak peeks at her. Euphie on the other hand seemed focused on the papers in her lap, flipping through them one by one, crossing this out or jotting down a note there. The Princess never seemed to cease working. She was, in a word, incredible. The boy blushed at the thought and looked away again. When he snuck another peak the Princess thankfully seemed oblivious to his anxiety.

It was with some relief when the car came to a halt. The driver opened the door and Suzaku exited first, scanning the surroundings to make sure there were no readily apparent threats. It seemed unlikely any terrorists would be able to penetrate the campus but the boy was not taking any chances. Something told him that Princess Euphemia would be the one to restore hope to Japan and her people. He would not let her, even if he must serve as her shield. No, it would be a privilege to be her shield. The area looked clear, the only people present were the Princess' own security detail and representatives of the school. The old gentleman standing at the bottom of the steps must have been the headmaster and the students standing behind him the members of the student council. They all looked like decent people, even if they were giving him curious looks. That was not unexpected seeing as he was Japanese and wearing the Ashford uniform. Cécile had insisted on that and he had found himself unable to disobey the woman.

"Private Kururugi?" Euphie asked from inside the car. "Is something wrong?"

"Apologies your highness," Suzaku said quickly. "I just wanted to be thorough."

Euphie offered a slight smile. "Thoroughness is to be commended, but we should not keep our hosts waiting too long."

"Of course highness, my apologies once more," Suzaku said with a slight bow before stepping aside.

As the Princess stepped out of the car the elderly man came forward and bowed. The students behind him emulated the motion.

"Your highness."

"Ruben," Euphie said a smile. "Please, no need for such formality, especially from you."

The old man straightened and smiled kindly at the Princess as she walked over and embraced him.

"I am glad that you are well, your highness," Ruben said.

"And I you as well," Euphie said as the two parted. She glanced up at the students waiting up the steps. "Hello Milly."

Milly flashed her trademark smile even as she herself bowed. Not even the student council president would be able to make a curtsey look good in that skirt.

"It has been a long time, your highness," the girl said.

The Princess giggled. "Just Euphie is fine. Your grandfather I can understand, but there is no way I'd ever be used to you being so formal with me."

Suzaku regarded the Princess in surprise. She knew the Ashfords? And she was allowing them to be so familiar with her?

"Whatever you say Euphie," Milly said with a grin. "But come in, come in! I'm sure your guards will breathe much easier once you're under cover."

The Princess smiled demurely. "Yes, I suppose I should take pity upon them. The head of my security looked rather askance when I informed him of how light a detail I was restricting him to for my ride here."

"I see you haven't changed at all," Milly said cheerfully.

The smile on Euphie's face turned more forlorn. "If only that were true."

While Suzaku was not sure what the Princess meant the girl named Milly seemed to and a sorrowful look appeared on her face for a moment before the girl forced a smile to displace it. There was a shared history between the two girls, something that happened in the past that they both felt regret over. It was not something between them, but something they both experienced. But what? Suzaku had no idea, but perhaps Cécile or Lloyd might know.

As the group entered the building Suzaku made sure he was before Euphie, once again sweeping the premises. Out of the corner of his eye he noted the headmaster regarding him with amusement and, was that approval? At least someone here did understand the importance of good security. All of them eventually ended up a large conference room and Ruben pulled out the chair at the head of the table.

"Please, your highness."

"You have my thanks, Ruben," Euphie said, gracefully accepting the invitation.

The elderly man took a seat on the Princess' right while Suzaku maneuvered himself to stand slightly behind her.

"Private Kururugi, I believe for this discussion you may have a seat," Euphie half suggested and half ordered.

Reluctantly Suzaku nodded. "Yes, your highness."

Once everyone was actually seated Ruben got things rolling.

"You and Milly are already acquainted, your highness, so let us get the rest of the introductions out of the way."

The old man glanced at the other students who all shot up instinctively.

"I'm Rivalz Cardemonde," the only boy in the group said with a bow, "vice-president of the student council here at Ashford."

The girl next to him bowed next. "Shirley Fennette, I'm the secretary."

And finally the bespectacled girl. "N-Nina Einstein, I'm the treasurer. It's an honor to meet you, your highness."

Euphie regarded them all with a genuine smile. "Well, though it may be redundant allow me to introduce myself. I am Euphemia li Britannia and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintances."

She glanced over at Suzaku. The boy interpreted it as a signal for his turn. He stood and bowed.

"I am Suzaku Kururugi, I will be attending Ashford Academy starting next week. A pleasure to meet all of you."

The girl with glasses, Nina, actually seemed to flinch. Suzaku did not let it bother him. Only patience would win him acceptance.

"Suzaku is a member of the Camelot research organization," Euphie lent a hand.

Ruben nodded. "Of course. I have already received the paperwork from a Captain Croomy. All seems to be in order for you to begin attending class, Private Kururugi."

Suzaku bowed again. "Thank you headmaster."

"Shirley, Rivalz, the Private will be in your class, I trust the two of you can lend him a hand where needed?"

"Sure thing," Rivalz said.

"Of course," Shirley said with a smile.

Suzaku relaxed slightly. Those two at least did not seem to have any issues with his heritage.

"Thank you," he offered with a smile of his own, "but please, at school just call me Suzaku."

"No problem Suzaku," Rivalz said as Shirley nodded, her long hair bobbing up and down.

Ruben chuckled and regarded the Princess once more. "While I am delighted to see you again, your highness, and what a lovely young woman you have grown into, I doubt this is purely a social visit?"

Euphie giggled playfully. "No reason not to mix pleasure with business. I am here to also enroll in Ashford Academy and there was a, private matter that I wished to discuss with you."

Gasps sounded on the other side of the table though Ruben himself did not visibly react at first.

"We would of course be honored to have you as a student here, your highness, but, I presume you had a specific arrangement in mind?" he said after a few moments.

The Princess nodded. "That is correct. Due to my responsibilities as viceroy it would be physically impossible for me to actually sit classes. As such I would like to make an arrangement wherein I am provided coursework equivalent to what is done at school. Once completed I would return the coursework to Ashford for evaluation. I am of course prepared to come to Ashford to sit any tests."

"That will not be necessary," Ruben said with a smile. "I have faith in your integrity, Princess, and so long as you give me your word that any tests you sit will be with the appropriate restrictions, you may take them at the viceroy's palace."

Euphie returned the smile. "Thank you for your consideration, headmaster."

"And there's no reason you can't attend some of the school activities if you do have time," Milly chipped in. "We've got lots of festivals and fairs that I'm sure you'll have a blast at."

The Princess giggled. "I see you take after your grandfather in that respect as well, Milly."

"But of course," the girl said proudly. "It's an Ashford's duty to make sure everyone feels welcome and has a good time."

The Princess glanced ever so subtly at Milly but the other girl immediately picked up on it.

"Speaking of which, Suzaku," she said, "why don't we show you around the campus? That way you won't be completely lost on your first day here, the place is pretty big?"

"Eh? But I should stay with her-"

"I will be fine, Private Kururugi," Euphie both assured and commanded at the same time. "Go."

Reluctantly the boy stood and bowed. Still he could not help but give the Princess a parting glance as he stood at the doorway. The smile Euphie gave him only made him more anxious but he obeyed her tacit order and allowed Milly to hustle him away.

"An interesting young man," Ruben said as the door closed.

Euphie shrugged. "He is earnest, that much can be said."

The old man chuckled. Despite the Private's obvious infatuation with the Princess it did not like Euphie would be reciprocating any time soon, if ever. But to business.

"What did you wish to discuss in private, your highness?"

Euphie clasped her hands together before her. "Before that day at court, the Ashfords were an old and respected noble family."

Ruben's eyes flickered. Both of them knew which 'day' the Princess was referring to and even now it was too painful to bring up directly.

"Your family owned a successful technology company, one that promised to revolutionize the Empire's armed forces."

The revolution did indeed happen, but the Ashfords had not seen any benefit from it after the fallout of that day.

"Publicly many blame the failure of your family fortunes on your extravagance and profligacy. You and I however both know that those slanders were simply added on after the fact to try to obscure the true reasons."

One said reason being the Ashford family's support for Empress Marianne. Support that ended up causing their downfall when another faction at court decided to make a direct power play and assassinated the Empress and her only daughter. Well, officially assassinated her only daughter, Ruben thought darkly. And if he had it his way Nunnally vi Britannia would remain officially dead. If the world ever discovered the identity of the girl he considered his own granddaughter then it only became a matter of time before the bastards that attempted to take her life would try to finish the job.

"The ultimate truth however is that you are a skilled administrator, Ruben, who pays careful attention to detail and is assiduous in his work. Those are talents that I am in desperate need of, so I come before you to beseech your help."

Ruben regarded the girl. All trace of humor was gone from the Princess' face and her eyes shone with a clear determination. There was even a slight hint of desperation.

"Your highness," Ruben said slowly. "My disgrace has resulted in considerable distance between my family and the politics of the court. That distance, the relative obscurity we enjoy, offers a measure of security for us. My family, my granddaughter, is important to me, your highness. Were we to attempt to bridge that distance, I cannot but fear that what safety we presently enjoy will vanish."

"I understand completely, Ruben," Euphie said. "And I cannot even promise that what security my patronage would offer would match what security you have now by staying in the shadows. And I know that there is not much else I could offer you, your family is doing quite well after all financially."

That elicited a raised eyebrow from the old man. Euphie chuckled wirily.

"I did my homework before calling on you, Ruben," the Princess said. "You have hidden your family's assets well, but a rough estimate of the stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments your family holds puts their value at several hundred million pounds. Oh there is no need to worry, I have no intention of revealing this to anyone and I was very discreet about my own inquiries. I just want you to understand that I know I cannot bribe you with anything as mundane as wealth. I may not even be able to ever offer your family your noble status back. What I can offer is more, abstract."

"More abstract than a noble title, your highness?" Ruben said in an almost playful tone.

"Quite," Euphie said with a smile before her face hardened. "I offer change, Ruben, so that the likes of Empress Marianne's murder will never happen again."

Ruben regarded the girl levelly. The subtext of Euphie's proclamations were blindingly obvious. It was also incredibly dangerous. The girl had all but declared she intended to tear down the cutthroat political system that dominated the Imperial court, the very system that had the approval and one would even say encouragement of her father, the Emperor. The Princess was asking him to sign on to what was literally a coup in the making. Could he really put his family at risk like that? Could he risk Nunnally's safety? But the potential rewards, not just the material rewards if the Princess succeeded, but the societal ones. The upper crust of Britannian society was a snake pit, filled with self-interested nobles that were slowly tearing the Empire apart. If the EU and the Chinese Federation were ever defeated, the nobility would turn on the Empire's own people once an external enemy no longer existed. It might take a decade or a century but eventually the Empire would collapse and the people, his people, would see unfathomable suffering and destitution.

The Empire's condition reminded Ruben of a series of paintings by the artist Thomas Cole. It was in Ruben's opinion Cole's greatest series of works, though the artist himself was forced to repudiate the work after the completion of the last painting. The series was supposedly destroyed but in reality the paintings were split up and disappeared into the hands of several private collectors. Two of those paintings were in Ruben's own collection now and the Ashford patriarch was aware of the location of two others. _The Course of Empire_ captured quite accurately, in Ruben's opinion, what could happen to any nation that succumbed to decadence and vice. To arrest such decline required not only iron will but great power, power that the Princess Euphemia was obviously trying to marshal. The question before Ruben now was did the Princess actually have a great enough chance at succeeding for him to cast his lot with her? Or was it too late and the Empire's future lay only in what Destruction and _Desolation_ promised? The silence was only broken after a very long time.

* * *

Ruben watched from his office as the Princess' motorcade pulled out of the academy grounds. As its lights disappeared in the distance the door opened and his granddaughter invited herself in.

"Whew, well that was quite the roll coaster," Milly said with remarkable cheer. "I wasn't expecting Euphie to enroll herself, even if she won't actually be attending class."

Ruben's reflection nodded, the old man still staring out the window. "What do you make of the Kururugi boy."

Milly shrugged. "He's a bit passive, doesn't seem to want confrontation but isn't afraid to stick up for himself. He'll probably catch some flak from the other students but he should be okay in the short term, at least enough to graduate. If things get out of hand I'll intervene."

That was his granddaughter, direct and the take charge kind of girl. Ruben smiled proudly.

"Have you considered what you will do after you graduate?" he asked.

The girl shrugged again. "Not really. Got to parties, dodge marriage interviews. I suppose I should look into universities. Or I might just flunk my exams and get held back a grade."

That elicited a sigh from the old man. "For the good of my heart Milly, please do not do that."

Milly gave a pout before smiling again. "Alright grandpa, seeing as how you're twisting my arm like that."

Ruben chuckled. "Have you thought about a job in government?"

All humor disappeared from Milly's expression. "Did Euphie make you an offer?"

"She invited me to become her chief of staff."

Milly's eyes narrowed. "Did you accept?"

"I promised her an answer by tomorrow."

The girl let out a long sigh. "You're going to accept."

"The Ashford family is once again in the sights of the Imperial family," Ruben said. "We cannot remain hidden in the shadows anymore."

"I know," Milly said, "and if it was going to be anyone that was dragging us out into the light, I'm glad that it's Euphie doing it. But her standing at court isn't that high, she has Princess Cornelia backing her but that's about it."

"I am not so sure," Ruben said. "The hand of Prince Schneizel also seems to be involved."

"Prince Schneizel? What makes you say that?"

"The Camelot research institute is patronized by him," Ruben said.

Milly cocked her head thoughtfully. "Huh. Euphie has the Prime Minister's backing. Now that changes the dynamics."

"Indeed. For the better or worse however I cannot yet say."

"So is that why you're going to accept? To see where Euphie really stands, and to see if she has any actual influence?"

Ruben nodded again, still facing away from his granddaughter. "I would like you to accompany me."

"Hence the government job."

Her grandfather chuckled. "I am not as young as I once was, Milly. There will come a time when you must take the reins of the family. At least this way I can pass on some of my lessons in a more active environment than the school. And besides, it would also allow you to gauge your own opinion on how much the Princess has changed.

Milly hummed thoughtfully. "I still haven't graduated yet."

"There is time yet for you to make your decision," Ruben said.

The girl clasped her hands together. "I'll think about it, grandfather."

Ruben nodded and Milly made her exit. But he knew, just like Milly did, that there could only be one decision. For better or worse the Ashfords would once more become entangled in the politics of the court. Perhaps this time they would do a better job of protecting those dear to them.

* * *

Milly had canceled the student council meeting for today, something Kallen was grateful for. At present she was headed towards the border between the Concession and the ghettos with C.C. in tow, futilely trying to keep the girl on a tight leash. It was not working, but the strange girl at least had enough common sense to tone her antics down when police officers or patrols of soldiers crossed their paths. The other girl fortunately was of a similar size to Kallen and so could wear her clothes, though the redhead still felt irritated at the unnecessary comment about the looseness of the chest area. In a way that was a compliment but Kallen was in no mood for such nonsense.

Once outside the Concession they turned after the first block. Ohgi was already waiting with his car and he regarded the green haired girl warily. Not surprising seeing as Kallen had claimed to witness said girl getting shot in the head. The man said nothing however until after they were deeper into the ghetto. Even then he simply asked Kallen how she was doing. It was only after they were in the relative privacy of the apartment he was sharing with Tamaki that Ohgi addressed C.C.

"Kallen tells me you're the one who gave her that power."

"Tis so," C.C. said. "I have giveth a boon upon thy comrade. Until the time cometh for our contract to be fulfilled, I shalt render what aid she desireth."

Ohgi frowned, doing his best to parse the strange speech the girl used. Kallen let out a sigh of exasperation.

"She says she has a contract with me, one she won't explain properly, but until I can fulfill whatever my end of it is she'll hang around and help me," Kallen translated into Japanese.

"I, see," Ohgi said a bit dubiously. "But, you said she won't explain what the contract is?"

"No, beyond saying that there's some wish she wants fulfilled and that she's waiting to see if I'm capable of fulfilling it."

"And that doesn't sound the least bit suspicious to you?"

The two looked over at the girl who was poking and prodding the various things cluttering the living room.

"I don't think she's lying," Kallen said, "and we should be able to test out if she's really serious about helping us soon enough. Assuming you've found us a new target?"

Ohgi sighed. "It's still too soon, Kallen. Security's still tight within the Concession and-"

"And what about the ghettos?" Kallen cut him off. "Since the Prince's death a bunch of Britannian thugs have been crossing over to beat up innocent people. Shouldn't we stop them?"

The man sighed again. "That's not exactly easy to do. The gangs pop out of nowhere, beat people up, and then retreat before a response can be mustered. We don't have the manpower to do some kind of wide scale stakeout to catch them in the act. And even if we did, you certainly would not be part of it."

"Why not?" Kallen demanded.

"Because you have a cover to maintain which requires you go to school, not spend days on end out here in the ghettos." Ohgi shook his head. "I'm sorry Kallen, I know you don't like sitting around, but the fact that you have free access to the Concession is a lot more valuable than you realize."

In point of fact Kallen did understand just how important her access was. The girl still hated sitting around doing nothing however.

"If tis a hunt you desireth, then tis a simple matter to findeth prey," C.C. spoke up, reminding the two of her presence.

"What?" Kallen said.

"Have thou a map of thy city?"

Ohgi looked over at Kallen nodded. The man ended up pulling out several maps. Tokyo was huge after all and really reach district was its own little city.

"And where have these vagrants appeared?" C.C. asked.

With a pencil Ohgi marked the spots of the reported incidences.

"And what be the times?"

"Umm, I'd have to look those up," Ohgi said as he noted a few down. "These are the ones I remember off the top of my head."

C.C. snatched it from him when he was done and circled another point on the map. Kallen and Ohgi leaned in to take a closer look.

"That's one of the checkpoints into the ghetto," Kallen said.

"From whence these vagrants entered to shew their caddish manners," C.C. said.

"Why do you think that's their point of entry?" Kallen asked.

"The times and measures both align," C.C. answered. "But not half a lieue from any point."

Lieue, that was French, Kallen was certain of it. "League?"

C.C. flashed a smirk. "Yea, tis so."

Not that that helped, a league was historically an amorphous measure of distance. But looking at the map Kallen was able to make a rough translation. Not half a league C.C. had said, whereas all of the reported attacks were within two kilometers of the checkpoint.

"We can work with this," Kallen said. "Once you dig up the specific times we might even be able to find a pattern. Then we can actually stake out that checkpoint to see if there's any suspicious activity."

"Yeah, you're right," Ohgi said. "Huh, that was some pretty quick thinking."

"To fight thy enemy one must know where thy enemy be," C.C. said.

"True enough," Kallen conceded before straightening. "Alright, C.C., you'll be staying here the night."

Ohgi's eyes widened while the girl's narrowed.

"My place is by thy side," she said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea Kallen?" Ohgi asked nervously. Then he blinked. "Cee, too?"

"That's what she claims is her name," Kallen said before looking back at the girl in question. "You don't have any papers yet so I can't get you back into the Concession easily. I'm in the process of getting you some forgeries though but they're not going to be done until tomorrow. And quite frankly you can't stay at the Stadtfeld estate even if you did have papers, you're way too conspicuous and if anyone found you I would not be able to cover for you."

The other reason Kallen was so valuable to the resistance cell, her relative wealth made it possible for her to get much better forged entry papers into the Concession than most other resistance movements could afford. In fact they were not even actual forgeries, just filled with falsified information.

C.C.'s expression did not change.

"My place is by thy side," she repeated. "Maketh what arrangements thou needeth with thy coiner, but my place is by thy side."

Coiner? What did a, oh, that probably meant counterfeiter. Kallen ground her teeth. The girl really could be stubborn. Both in her speech and her intentions.

"Kallen, I think uh, C.C., has a point," Ohgi said, surprising the girl. "She's obviously not Japanese and having her stay here long term could cause some serious problems for me. I really think you'll need to make arrangements to have her either stay at the Stadtfeld's or someplace close by."

Kallen massaged her temples. "Alright, fine, I'll think of something. But today you ARE staying here, C.C. I wasn't kidding about not being able to get you back into the Concession without papers, not with the heightened security, and tomorrow is the earliest I'd be able to get them done. Much more likely that it'll take two days."

The girl tilted her head, her hair swaying with the motion. Finally however she nodded.

"Tally not then, my patience hath limits."

"And what about mine," Kallen muttered before sighing and turning to Ohgi. "Let me know when you've got a pattern worked out for those jackasses. I want to be there."

"Kallen…"

"No buts Ohgi, you only got the idea because of C.C. and I'm the one she's helping."

The older man sighed and held his hands up in defeat. "Fine. But you are going to need to wear something to obscure your face. I am not letting you get identified."

"Fine by me," Kallen said.

"Alright, I'll get you back to the Concession now," Ohgi said, grabbing his keys.

"Oh right," Kallen said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a few slips of paper. "Gas ration tickets. These should tide you over for a bit."

The man smiled. "Thanks Kallen. These help a lot."

"No problem. Might as well spread the wealth around how I can." Kallen glanced over at C.C. "Behave."

The girl offered a wide smile. Kallen was not reassured in the least.

End of Chapter 5

I'm already regretting C.C.'s speech pattern. Ahem.

Alphonse Pierre Juin is a real person. He was the last living holder of the title Marshal of France. He also died shortly after the time period Code Geass is supposed to take place in, but then again most of the famous officers of WWII would have been very old at this point. So, not a made up French name. Unless one is referring to Lamperouge, which while one who knows the language can make sense of, I do believe it is a made up name.

I meant to say this last time, but there are distinct and specific limits to the powers of each girl. They'll be explored in more detail, but those limitations are why Kallen didn't recognize Suzaku as the pilot of Lancelot. One way of thinking about it is, was Kallen specifically trying to identify said pilot?

I had considered a Euphie x Kallen pairing and even went through a few mental exercises to see how that might be portrayed tastefully and convincingly. It certainly would have been an interesting challenge to do it realistically but I ultimately discarded the idea. I just did not see a rationale for it considering the two women's personalities and also could not see a way it could be used to advance the plot that other, less contrived mechanisms wouldn't be more suitable for. So, no yuri pairings are planned. And I don't really count Nina's one-sided crush on Euphie a yuri pairing. Not that I'm confirming or denying that it'll happen in my fic.

To be frank I'm something of a newcomer to the Code Geass fanfic community. The anime came out long after the point where I did any extensive reading of fics for any of the franchises I'm a fan of. It also came during a time when I was still learning the art of prose fiction and I doubt I could have done anything like _In Tune_ or _A Code Calculus_ in a convincing way. That being said I have taken peeks at more recent fanfics to get an idea of what the state of the fandom is. The peggy-sue trop seems to be just as prevalent in the Code Geass fandom as it is in the EVA fandom and the quality equally as uneven. Then again that could be said for all fanfics across all franchises.

Those of you who have been following my EVA fic _In Tune_ will likely have noticed that for that fic at least, I have an obvious plan and I move the fic forward at a deliberate pace. Sometimes it's fast, other times it's slow, but the plot as a whole does advance with every chapter released. The reason is because I am extremely wary of plot fatigue, both on the part of my readers and for myself. If a story drags on too long the risk becomes not only readers having trouble maintaining interest but the writer also losing interest. _Dauntless_ for example is fairly well written characterization wise but at 90+ chapters and over six hundred thousand words it feels like the wider story plot is at a standstill. Progress is being made in the arc plots, but lack of progress in the overall story plot itself is still problematic. Not that I'm claiming _Dauntless_ is bad (though I do take issue with some of the portrayal of military matters, but when the source material itself is so sloppy to begin with there's not much I can do but shrug when the same issue crops up in fanfics), but if I actually hit 600k words with this story I damn well better be nearing the end, otherwise I'll probably be too burnt out to ever actually finish the story, which I consider a disservice to my readers.

Anyway, that long spiel above is basically an assurance from me that I do have a plan for how the story will progress, I do have a plan for at what point the story will end, and said plan is set up to try to maximize the probability of me actually finishing _A Cold Calculus_. I had a similar plan for _In Tune_ when I first started that fic and at 300k words it is close to 80% (well, probably closer to 70%) complete after five months, so I think I have a pretty good shot at keeping this fic on track. As one writer to another my personal recommendation would be that before starting a fic one knows what one wants to write and have at minimum an ending in mind. I presume a significant number of us are here to improve our craft as much as have a little fun.

Anyway, leave a review if you've enjoyed the story thus far or if you have questions. I generally try to remember to answer them in my author notes. If I don't for several chapters it's probably because answering it would spoil something that I want to keep under wraps. Despite the spoilers in the chapter openings. And I am intentionally not answering questions about a certain ex-prince. WinkWinkNudgeNudge.

Addendum: *Reads comment regarding the Six Houses*French expletives*Checks Code Geass wiki*

Well lovely, the wiki is incredibly sloppy about terminology as well and doesn't actually specify if Britannia knew about the name "Six Houses of Kyoto" or not. Merde. I don't remember Code Geass, especially the first season, to the granularity that would allow me to recall exactly how much the Britannian side knew about the whole Six Houses thing. I'll however trust the reviewer that brought it up and in context it does make sense. The appropriate dialog and prose has been adjusted. And yes, I do know some French. Most of it swear words, that's about the only thing I really retained from taking the language in high school.


	7. Chapter 6

_Despite the Princess Euphemia's preference for resolving conflicts peaceably her highness also recognized that there would be times when force of arms was the most effective or only recourse available. To this end the Princess also gathered military assets whose loyalty she could trust, a process that was greatly accelerated by a combination of almost fortuitous events. The first was of course the arrival of her sister, Cornelia li Britannia, fresh from her conquest of the Middle East. The Goddess of Victory wasted little time reorganizing the forces of Area 11 into a disciplined and competent force, weeding out the sycophants and glory hounds that riddled its ranks. The second actually occurred before Cornelia's arrival and involved the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki, one which resulted in a humiliating debacle for the Purist faction._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 6: Visum

The desert is a harsh and formidable landscape, filled with dangers both mundane and unexpected. As a certain European field marshal once noted, it is a tactician's paradise but a quartermaster's hell. Despite never having met the man Cornelia understood the sentiment perfectly and had thus composed her strategy accordingly. Victory needed to be achieved quickly and the pressure on the enemy maintained to prevent them from recovering their strength. To this end Cornelia had led a series of lightning strikes against the forces of the Middle East Federation, overrunning bases and outposts and appropriating the stockpiles of fuel and supplies to continue her advance instead of waiting for her supply train to catch up.

It was a risky strategy, only one step away from disaster if the enemy managed to stall her or decided to adopt a scorched earth defense to destroy their own resources to deny Cornelia their use. Unfortunately for the MEF by the time their generals were able to agree to such a course of action Cornelia had already cut halfway through the Federation's territory and morale was plummeting, making implementation of the strategy next to impossible. Even worse the Princess had managed to seize the port city of Kuwait, likely her main objective since setting out from Muscat. With control of the Persian Gulf secured by the Britannian Navy the port city of Kuwait thus provided the perfect place for supplies to be shipped in by sea, eliminating any need for overland convoys that might fall prey to ambushes, the elements, or opportunistic nomad tribes that still wandered the deserts. After spending a month building up supplies in Kuwait, Cornelia's renewed offensive headed north and overran Baghdad in short order. Two months on and the Princess was poised to seize Jerusalem, the last major stronghold of the Middle East Federation after the fall of Beirut.

"Resistance has stiffened considerably as we approach Jerusalem," Cornelia noted as she regarded the situation map in her field command center. "If they had fought this tenaciously while we were advancing through Arabia, they might well have ended the invasion before it even truly began."

"War is won by those committed to its prosecution," General Andreas Darlton remarked. "The Arabs though their political and financial influence would buy their victory and so did not bother investing their wealth a proper military. They have paid heavily for their complacency."

"Those that have survived this long have learned their lessons well," Cornelia said. "Taking Jerusalem will not be easy."

Darlton nodded. "We have the resources to outlast them in a siege, now that our supply lines have been secured."

Cornelia smirked. "Now Andreas, what kind of goddess of victory would I be if the best I could do is starve out my enemy?"

The general chuckled. "Your words, your highness, not mine. You have already crushed the MEF in every way that matters. Taking Jerusalem is simply screwing in the nails to their coffin."

"Maybe so, but if we want to minimize the threat of future revolts we need to crush the MEF's military decisively," Cornelia said. "To that end we need them to commit the rest of their Bamides."

Darlton nodded in understanding. The Bamides was an interesting machine of war, a product of nations unable to match Britannia's technological sophistication and so forced to rely on brute force over finesse. Even so it was a capable weapon, well suited to desert fighting. Its long range cannon was capable of killing most opponents that dared approach it while its thick armor was generally sufficient against any weapon capable of engaging the Bamides at its preferred range. Combined with its specially designed skimmers the Bamides was quite capable of controlling the terms of engagement when fighting Britannia's standard forces.

Perhaps somewhat ironically the very things that gave it an advantage against the Britannia's regular army made it hideously vulnerable to the Empire's own knightmares. Its large size meant the Bamides was not nearly as maneuverable and the only close range weapon it possessed was a machinegun that was completely ineffective against the armor of current generation knightmares. The only thing that saved the Bamides from complete obsolescence was the simple fact that only a fraction of Cornelia's army was composed of knightmares. A good three quarters were still made up of tried and true tanks and mechanized infantry, the exact sort of opponents that the Bamides excelled at fighting.

Cornelia however had not earned her current position as Marshal of the Empire by fighting her enemies on their terms. Another reason she had pressed forward so hard was to force the MEF to commit in strength to try to stop her, which for the MEF meant deploying their best weapons and troops. Seeing as the vanguard of Cornelia's advance was composed solely of knightmares, the MEF had seen considerably less success from the deployment of their Bamides than they might have expected. By now intelligence indicated that the MEF's remaining strength of Bamides stood at less than five percent of their prewar numbers. And while Cornelia knew it would probably be impossible to get that down to zero, she was still going to try.

"What is 9th Division's status?" Cornelia asked.

"Recovering from their march," Darlton said. "The mechanics are overhauling all of the engines to deal with the wear and tear of their journey. The sand gets into damn near everything."

Cornelia nodded. "ETA to active readiness?"

"Two more days minimum," Darlton said. "The 6th is in better shape, they managed to avoid getting hit by any sandstorms along the way and so made better time. The troops have also managed to get some rest since their arrival."

"Then we will use them to bait the Bamides," Cornelia said. "Have the 6th set up its artillery elements in range of Jerusalem. I want continuous bombardment of the city's walls. Make clear that I do not want any stray shells hitting the residential districts."

"Yes your highness," Darlton acknowledged.

"Hopefully the 9th will also be ready to engage by the time the MEF decides enough is enough and moves against the artillery," Cornelia said. "If not it will be even more imperative that the Knightmare Corps is ready to deploy at a moment's notice to intercept the Bamides before they can engage the 6th in strength."

"I will press the 9th's engineering corps on the urgency of the maintenance," Darlton said."

Cornelia nodded. "Good."

By week's end the Princess intended to have crushed the last of the MEF's resistance and be on her way to Area 11. She would not leave her little sister exposed to whatever had claimed Clovis.

* * *

Figuring out the pattern of the Britannian vigilantes turned out to be trivial. Spotting them entering the ghettos was even easier. Based off of the timing of the attacks it was evident that the gangs were leaving the Concession during off-peak times, likely to avoid any witnesses from spotting them. The Britannians at least showed some imagination by entering the ghetto separately before joining up in smaller groups. They would then pick a target and then converge on their intended victim or victims, always people that looked unlikely to be able to defend themselves. Their first victim had been a housewife out shopping. By the time anyone found her she was half dead from blood loss. Their second victim had emerged with a broken leg and a concussion. Some were luckier, even managing to escape the mob while one person was still in a coma.

Finding the perpetrators and putting a stop to their actions were however two entirely different matters. Killing them outright might have ended this particular bunch of thugs but it would only result in retaliation from the Britannian side. No one would believe that a Japanese fighting back was a legitimate case of self-defense after all and if the authorities decided to do a sweep, the number of people that would get hurt would dwarf any that these unofficial vigilantes might get their hands on. No, escalation would not be the answer here, as satisfying as Kallen would have found it to permanently end these thugs. But the Britannians crossing over on these little escapades were ultimately cowards, picking on people who could not fight back and hiding in the group to avoid facing any personal consequences. Thus the solution to this problem was the same as when dealing with any other bully. Make picking on the people of the ghetto unappealing and they would think twice about coming out here again.

"Alright, are we clear on the plan?" Ohgi asked.

The others nodded.

"Remember, no wild antics, stick to your assigned role and do not deviate," Ohgi said, his eyes on Tamaki.

So was everyone else's for that matter. The man flushed.

"I got it already," he complained. "Stop staring at me already!"

Ohgi chuckled before his face hardened once more. "As far as we can tell these guys don't have anything worse than knives, but don't let your guard down. They may well have brought guns as backup."

More nods, solemn ones these time.

"Then let's go, we only have a small window of opportunity."

The group pulled on their masks and moved out, all six of them. The resistance cell was never very large, at its peak numbering no more than a dozen members. Three of their number were discreetly tailing separate groups of the thugs while a few trusted outsiders had agreed to lend a hand keeping track of the others. They needed to move quickly before the Britannians selected a target and called on everyone to converge. With their numbers each group individually was not terribly difficult to take down but if they managed to meet up or were alerted to being stalked, they might escape unscathed. That would send the entirely wrong message.

Soon enough the first group came into sight. The streets were fairly empty, more and more people staying indoors to avoid falling victim to the vicious attacks. The four Britannians were not making much of an effort to hide their presence. In fact they were flaunting it, daring anyone to challenge them. Unfortunately for them today they had picked the wrong neighborhood to terrorize. Ohgi's cell stepped out in front and behind the four, drawing pistols on them.

"Hands up," Ohgi ordered.

The Britannians froze.

"Whatcha waitin fo!" Tamaki shouted in badly accented English. "Handsu ap!"

This time the Britannians obeyed, throwing up their arms quickly in the face of the obviously excited Japanese nut with a gun. Two other resistance members stepped forward and wrenched their arms behind them, cuffing them and quickly slapping packing tape over their mouths. Desperate sounding moans escaped the Britannians but at this point they were completely at the mercy of Ohgi and the others.

"If you don't make a fuss you'll make it out of this alive," Ohgi said in his more practiced English. "If you give us too much trouble however you may end up needing to be carried out of here, got it?"

Four heads frantically nodded.

"Good." Ohgi nodded to Tamaki. "Get them into the truck."

The Japanese man was not entirely gentle as he pushed the Britannians into the waiting vehicle and slammed the doors shut behind them. With no light inside they would have to sit there in the darkness until the cell was ready to deal with them. No one felt terribly broke up about the discomfort of their passengers as they moved to the next group.

The second group of Britannians crumbled as quickly as the first, leaving only two more groups left. They were making good time though it would not be long before one of the remaining groups called to check in with the others. They needed to hurry.

"Hands up!" Ohgi shouted, having adjusted his approach to a more forceful display than the first time.

The group this time only had three Britannians and while two looked about frantically before raising their hands the third did so more slowly and deliberately. As Naomi approached to cuff him suddenly he lunged and seized the woman, twisting the gun out of her hand and jamming the barrel against her head.

"Ino-shit, let her go!" Ohgi shouted.

"I don't think so," the Britannian said. "Here's how this is going to work. All of you are going to drop your weapons right now and walk away. Me and my buddies are going to then head back to the Concession, and after we're clear, we might decide to let your little friend here go." The man sneered. "Or we might decide that she needs to repay us for the, inhospitality you've all shown."

"Damn it," Tamaki hissed in Japanese. "Let me drop the guy!"

"Tamaki, shut up and don't do anything," Ohgi snapped back before switching over to English. "If you want to run way, then go, but you are not taking her with you."

"I don't think you have a choice," the Britannian said. "Unless you want your friend's pretty little brains blown out?"

The man tightened his grip and Naomi's face became flushed as her breathing became more ragged.

"Damn it man, we need to do something," Tamaki uttered. "We can't let them walk away like this!"

"Tamaki, stop undermining me," Ohgi nearly snapped.

"Yes, it's most unbecoming for a subordinate to argue with his betters, even if it's between you ants."

The resistance fighters stared in surprise.

"Indeed, I understand your primitive tongue," the man goaded them, "so don't think about trying to make plans behind my back, it's not going to work."

Ohgi felt a cold sweat pour over him. The plan was risky, true, but they had set it up to try to minimize anyone getting hurt on both sides. Now this Britannian was about to blow it all and likely get Naomi killed. Think Ohgi, think! There had to be a way! A figure stepped past him, taking the decision out of his hand.

"If you need a hostage to assure you safe passage, take me instead."

Jaws dropped, on both sides. Kallen stepped closer to the Britannian.

"Well?"

"And why should I give up the hostage I already have in hand?" the Britannian asked.

"Because I'm the cell leader, which makes me a much more valuable hostage," Kallen proclaimed.

"Ka-Aka, what are you doing?" Ohgi said, just barely reverting to Kallen's agreed upon codename.

"Shut up," Kallen snapped. "I trusted you to oversee this mission and you blew it, you're obviously not suited for independent field command, so I'm cleaning up your mess. Now shut your mouth and don't get in my way."

The others stared at Kallen aghast at first but as her words sank in the girl's intent became obvious. To them at least. Most of them. Tamaki's mouth was still hanging open.

The Britannian chuckled. "So this was all part of a test? To see if your guy had the chops? Hah, you've got guts girl, I'll give you that much. Fine, since you seem so determined to clean up your guy's fuckup, I'll let you take the fall. Kick your weapon to my buddy and get over here."

Kallen bent down and placed the gun on the ground before kicking it over to the aforementioned man. The Britannian scrambled for the gun and hurriedly pointed it at the others. All that did however was see some of them shift their aim to him instead, causing the man to swallow. Kallen paid the interplay no mind, instead walking over slowly to the Britannian holding Naomi.

"That's close enough."

Kallen stopped.

"Turn around."

The redhead obeyed.

"You, sweetie pie, handcuff her."

Kallen glanced back to see Naomi looking at her. She nodded slightly. The Japanese woman reluctantly took the cuffs and locked them around Kallen's wrists.

"Good girl," the Britannian said.

Without warning he tossed Naomi to his companion and lunged for Kallen. He never laid a hand on her. Kallen's foot on the other hand landed squarely in between his legs, landing a solid kick in his groin. All of the men winced instinctively, only to wince again when Kallen spun around and landed a spinning kick squarely into the crouching man's head. She followed this up with a side kick that knocked the gun out of the other Britannian's hand and then an axe kick that knocked the first Britannian flat on his face. Kallen kicked away the gun and glanced at the third man. She raised an eyebrow.

"I suggest you let her go."

The thug frantically pushed Naomi away and threw up his hands again. The man that Kallen had kicked the hands of quickly emulated his partner.

"Someone get these off me and onto this bastard here," Kallen ordered.

Naomi did the honors, freeing Kallen and quickly securing the still dazed Britannian on the ground. For good measure Naomi gave the man a hefty kick in the side. The other two offered no further trouble as they too were secured.

"How much time did we lose?" Kallen asked Ohgi.

The man regarded her worriedly.

"Time, we're on the clock here," Kallen said sternly.

Ohgi sighed. It seemed for now they would need to keep up this pretense. He flipped open his phone and called their last lookout. A grimace appeared on his face as he listened the report.

"The last group is making a run for the checkpoint," he reported.

"They were the deepest in, we should be able to cut them off," Kallen said.

"Aka," Ohgi said. "We've gotten three of the four groups. That should be enough."

"No, it's not," Kallen said. "We need all of them to make this point or it's not going to stick."

Ohgi glanced over at the largish man being hauled off. He was apparently still in too much pain to walk by himself.

"I think you've made your point," Ohgi said. "And this is my op, not yours." He cracked a grin. "Unless you were serious about me not being up to snuff for field command."

Kallen regarded the man before sighing. "Alright, fine. We'll let this last group go." More loudly. "We'll just have to scare this lot enough that the others'll piss their pants hearing what they barely avoided."

"I think some of them already did," Naomi said in disgust from the back of the truck.

The redhead snickered. "Jiro! Get to work!"

Tamaki grumbled. "Why do I have to do the shit jobs? Literally?"

"It's what happens when you disobey the field commander," Kallen retorted.

More grumbling could be heard but Tamaki got to work, stripping the Britannians of their clothes. Two of the other men helped at least until all of their prisoners were down to just their underwear.

"Priestess, your turn," Kallen said with a big smile.

Naomi returned it. All of the men, Britannian and Japanese, shivered. Except for the big guy, he was still curled up after Kallen kicked his nuts in.

"Well then, let's get started," Naomi said, opening up a briefcase.

As she pulled out the implements the prisoners' eyes went wide with horror. More than one shot pleading looks to their male captors but none of them would meet their eyes. Kallen on the other hand was grinning as widely as Naomi as she approached the prisoners.

* * *

"Should we go out and search for them?" a Britannian man watching the checkpoint intently suggested.

"Not without backup," another man said. "If they had something that could take down Captain Machlin, we're not gonna stand a chance by ourselves."

"Damn it, this wasn't supposed to happen," a third cursed. "Those stupid Elevens shouldn't have the guts to stand up to us!"

"It was probably one of those terrorist cells," the first man said. "No one else is stupid enough to try to defy Britannia."

"Don't understand why the Viceroy doesn't just send in the troops to cleanse the place."

"Hey, watch it, the Viceroy is a member of the Imperial family, you don't want to get charged with lèse-majesté."

"But it's still strange," the man persisted. "Why's she going easy on the Elevens? And you heard those rumors about that Eleven they're letting pilot that new white knightmare?"

The other man shrugged. "What, you gonna say she's an Eleven lover?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Hey, something's happening at the checkpoint!"

All three men looked over and saw the guards there running about.

"Maybe they're back! Let's go take a look!"

The trio were not the only onlookers gathering at the checkpoint as quite the crowd was building up. Nevertheless they were able to force their way through until they were at the front of the gates and peered through. What they saw caused all three to blanch. Running frantically toward the checkpoint were the dozen other members of their gang, all in nothing save their underwear with hands obviously restrained behind their backs. That by itself would have been a sight but what really got the people talking was the fact that each man's face was heavily made up with lipstick, eyeliner, and blush. Whoever had subjected these men to such treatment had shown no moderation or restraint, literally caking makeup onto their faces. Then there were the names drawn with lipstick all over their bodies. Their names, to make it blatantly clear who these men were.

"Those-those bastards!"

"That's, that's disgusting!"

The cries of outrage were however quickly overshadowed by someone breaking out into laughter. Others quickly joined in and soon enough the majority of the crowd was excitedly taking pictures with their cellphones or laughing their heads off. The guards at the checkpoint quickly shepherded the men into the building to get them out of view but it was too little too late. Within minutes photos had been texted to friends and colleagues throughout the concession and not an hour passed before the media caught wind of the spectacle. By the time evening fell it was receiving almost as much coverage as the upcoming memorial ceremony for the deceased Prince Clovis.

* * *

The drive back to Ohgi's apartment was done in uneasy silence between the occupants of the car despite the triumph of the day. For Ohgi the silence was due to his increasing concern over Kallen's conduct. The girl had seemed to be calming down after her initial burst of burning rage after Naoto's murder but ever since Shinjuku she seemed increasingly impatient to do something, anything, to continue the fight against Britannia. Kallen on the other hand was busy mulling over one of the IDs they had confiscated from the thugs. Specifically, a military ID of a certain Britannian army captain. The man in question was not a knight, just a regular commissioned officer, but his presence amongst the vigilante gang was worrying in the extreme. If the gang really did have some sort of unofficial backing in the military then there might yet be forceful retaliation an attempt to make up for lost face, at which point the restraint the cell had shown would have been rendered moot. That thought gnawed at Kallen. Tamaki on the other hand kept his mouth shut not out of any deep thoughts but simply because the environment in the car was so gloomy, instead focusing on the news report being broadcast over the radio. By the time they arrived he could not wait to get out of the car and go grab a cold beer back in the apartment. Too bad Kallen and Ohgi would be right behind, bringing the gloom with them inside.

"Thou hast returned victorious," a voice greeted the trio as they entered.

C.C. was lounging about on the sofa, an empty pizza box laying next to her.

"C.C., did you leave the apartment?" Kallen demanded.

"Nay, this age be but full of wonders, I have but to call to receiveth the bounty I desireth."

Ohgi and Tamaki blinked before looking helplessly at Kallen.

"She ordered takeout," the girl simplified.

Ohgi smacked his forehead. "Great, just what I need, for the local pizza guys to think a foreign teenage girl is staying at my place.

"Don't worry, she'll be out of your hair by tomorrow," Kallen said, casting a glance on the girl in question. "Her papers are ready and I've got a cover for her, assuming she has the self-control to actually play the part."

C.C. chuckled. "Am I to become an actress?"

"No, you're to be my personal healthcare assistant."

Everyone else at the room stared at Kallen. It was C.C. however that first managed to muster a response.

"Be that a, jest?"

"No," Kallen said with a grin. "Seeing as how I am a sickly girl, it makes sense that I should have a personal nurse on hand in case I suffer from any attacks. This way you get to stay by my side and help me when I need it, assuming you can tone down your snark for more than a minute a day."

C.C. responded with a grin of her own. "Thy challenge be accepted."

"What about her speech pattern?" Ohgi asked.

"She's being passed off as a French national," Kallen said. "That'll work with her cover as an EU agent that we're telling the rest of the cell."

The leader of said cell nodded slowly before chuckling wirily. "I never knew you could be so devious, Kallen."

"Needs must," Kallen said. "Speaking of need, we need to decide what to do with this."

The girl pulled out the military ID they had seized and Ohgi grimaced.

"I'm not sure there's anything we can do," he said. "We've let him go and this Captain, Machlin probably isn't stupid enough to poke his head in the ghettos again without a lot more backup than we could handle."

Kallen scowled. "So he's going to get away."

"I'm not so sure about that," Ohgi reasoned. "We just sent him back half naked with makeup all over his face. You saw all of those people taking pictures, by this time tomorrow his reputation will be well and truly ruined."

"I suppose," Kallen said reluctantly.

"Don't forget you crushing his jewels," Tamaki put in. "I mean damn girl, you really went for his weak spot there."

Kallen flashed a predatory smile, eliciting a sigh from Ohgi. Before he could say anything however C.C. intervened.

"I see that thou hast made good use of mine gift."

Ohgi raised an eyebrow, that was at least simple enough to understand. "You used that, geass thing today."

The smile disappeared into a scowl. "When I disarmed that guy."

"I thought we agreed you should only use it as a last resort?"

"And that bastard holding Naomi hostage didn't qualify?" Kallen retorted.

She had a point there, Ohgi had to admit, so he did not try to dispute it.

"I know what I'm doing Ohgi," Kallen said sternly. "I'm not out there taking unnecessary risks, I saw a situation and my geass allowed me to figure out the quickest and best resolution to it.

Ohgi sighed again. "Maybe it worked this time, but what you did was incredibly risky still."

Kallen regarded the man levelly. "Ohgi, you're my brother's best friend and you've always looked out for me, but you can't keep putting my safety above the success of the cell as a whole. In fact you're more liable to get more of us hurt that way. Trust me to make individual tactical decisions and I'll trust you to set the group's targets, okay?"

"Mine contractor speaketh truth," C.C. added in. "If one seeketh to avoid all risk, fortune will forever elude thee."

"Alright, I get the point," Ohgi said tiredly before cocking his head to the side. "It's been a long day. Why don't Tamaki and I cook up something for dinner and we turn in? The radio mentioned curfew for the night thanks to what happened at the border checkpoint and it's too late to get you back to the Concession. You'll stay the night and I'll drive you back tomorrow morning, sounds good?"

Kallen nodded and glanced over at C.C. "C.C., we're helping in the kitchen. You need to start pulling your own weight if you're going to pass off as my assistant."

The woman chuckled bowed in an exaggerated manner. "Thy wish is mine command."

* * *

It was never a good thing when one was summoned in the middle of the night for a meeting. When the one calling the meeting was known to be a genial and thoughtful person like the Princess Euphemia that cared about the convenience of others and Jeremiah knew someone was going to be in a lot of trouble. The man strongly suspected he would be that someone, or at least one of the someones. Upon his arrival the Margrave was quickly shown into the Princess' office. Along the way quite a few of the servants that had arrived with the Princess from the homeland shot him disapproving looks. Was it because the Princess herself was angry with him? Or did they simply disapprove of the fact that the Princess had need to call upon him at this hour? Neither bode well for the Margrave.

As Jeremiah entered the office he bowed his head low in greeting. "Your highness, I have come at your summons."

"Margrave Gottwald," Euphie said formally and sternly. "What do you make of the incident that occurred this afternoon at one of the Concession checkpoints?"

Jeremiah winced. He knew exactly what the Princess was talking about and it burned him with shame that such an obscene event had drawn her attention. Then again how could it not? The spectacle that resulted had been shown repeatedly over the news all evening.

"I am truly shamed to have allowed such an incident to occur while on my watch," Jeremiah said. "I have already detained the men involved and begun questioning them. Once I have ascertained the facts of the incident, I will provide you with a full and detailed report."

"Margrave, stand," Euphie commanded.

Jeremiah straightened but almost wished he had not. The Princess' eyes were cold and hard and gazing into them caused the man to break out into a cold sweat.

"The facts of the incident are quite obvious," Euphie said. "A group of Britannian civilians accompanied by a captain in the Britannian Army was for some reason in the ghettos. They were obviously overcome by Elevens in the area and humiliated before being sent fleeing back to the Concession. The question, Margrave, is why this group of Britannians was in the ghettos to begin with, and why the Elevens would respond to their presence in such a manner. Have you any thoughts on the matter, Margrave?"

The question directed at Jeremiah was twofold, the Margrave knew. First and foremost the Princess really was asking him if he had any idea what was going on. The second, and more important part, was Euphemia indirectly testing how honest Jeremiah would be with her. The Margrave swallowed.

"There, have been unconfirmed reports of groups of vigilante citizens entering the ghettos to seek justice for Prince Clovis' murder," Jeremiah said very carefully.

"Vigilante groups," Euphie repeated flatly. "And since when has the Britannian military been so lacking in discipline that one of its commissioned officers would consider it acceptable to engage in such acts? When did the oath all officers swore to the throne and the Empire upon being commissioned mean so little that this, captain, violated a direct order from a scion of the Imperial family to stay out of the ghettos? When did the military become full of nothing but glory hounds and joy seekers whose notion of carrying out their duty is to harass and intimidate unarmed civilians?"

The level of Euphie's voice remained the same throughout but the tone hardened with every denunciation. The anger behind the Princess' words were palatable and still she had yet to actually raise her voice. It was a cold fury on display before the Margrave and it was already more than he had ever wanted to bear. Euphie however was not finished.

"Willful disobedience of an order issued by a superior is grounds for a court martial and dishonorable discharge in times of peace," Euphie continued. "In times of war, or in areas that have yet to be pacified it is grounds for execution. Furthermore disobeying a direct order from the viceroy of an area is tantamount to treason. Would you disagree with any of those statements, Margrave?"

"No your highness," Jeremiah forced himself to say as calmly as he could manage.

"Then what is your recommendation for how Captain Machlin should be handled, Margrave? What is a fitting resolution for a Pureblood that went against the decree of a member of the Imperial family and made a spectacle of himself while the rest of the Area mourns the death of my brother?"

That last one stun, hard, and Jeremiah found himself searching for words.

"Your highness, I apologize profusely for the dishonor one of my subordinates has brought upon the military," Jeremiah said, bowing his head once more.

"Margrave," Euphie said, her voice as cold as the Arctic wind. "Do not divert your eyes. If your words are truly sincere you have no reason to hide your face in shame."

It was hard, so very hard to meet the Princess' eyes. Not when their blue was as hard and cold as ice.

"Your highness," Jeremiah nevertheless said, raising his head to meet the Princess' gaze. "You speak truth, Captain Machlin's conduct is unbecoming as both an officer of the Empire and as a member of the Purist faction."

"Truly?" Euphie said. "Is it not declared in the Purist manifesto that no Numbers should be granted the honor of serving the Empire in its armed forces? And that the Empire can only remain strong so long as the Numbers are reminded of their subordinate place within the Empire? How then, exactly are Captain Machlin's actions not in accord with the agenda of the Purebloods?"

That elicited another wince from Jeremiah. "We Purists believe that the Empire already possesses all the strength it requires from its own people. There is simply no need to allow those of questionable loyalty into the Empire's service."

"The Purists believe this, do you, Margrave?" Euphie asked.

"Yes, your highness," Jeremiah said. One thing he had learned very quickly about the Princess Euphemia was that she valued honesty and frankness even when she did not share the same opinion.

Euphie regarded Jeremiah silently for several moments.

"I find it interesting," she finally said, "that a former member of the royal guard of Empress Marianne vi Britannia, a woman who was descended from French nobility, would go on to form a political organization dedicated to the sort of exclusion that would have disallowed her to rise to the rank of knight and gain the attention of my father the Emperor. Do you perhaps regard your time under her majesty's service as a stain on your honor, Margrave?"

The accusation twisted like a knife in Jeremiah's heart.

"I hold no such thoughts towards the Empress Marianne!" Jeremiah nearly exploded. "Her Majesty was truly deserving of her rank as a Knight of the Round and then her place at the Emperor's side!"

"And yet Empress Marianne was not a pureblooded Britannian," Euphie pressed, her voice growing darker and darker. "Her family were noble exiles from France who lost everyone after that nation's republican revolution. If you truly believe that Britannia has no need to call upon the services of those not of pure Britannian heritage, then how can I believe you are not secretly pleased with the Empress' downfall? How can I know that you do not relish the murder of my beloved sister Nunnally and the suicide of my dear brother Lelouch?"

Jeremiah gaped openly at the Princess. How could she, how could she accuse him of such disloyalty? Of such dishonor? But the Princess Euphemia was dead serious, the flatness of her tone and the pain behind every word of that last sentence that perfectly clear. And deep down Jeremiah knew that the Princess had a point. How could he claim to believe firmly in the Purist creed without also washing the Empress Marianne in the same brush that he painted all others of foreign heritage with? For Marianne vi Britannia had not begun life as a child of high society, she had grown up as Marianne Lamperouge and clawed her way up through the ranks through pure competence and honest achievements.

The Margrave fell to one knee. "I am shamed, highness. Shamed that the truth you speak was something I willfully ignored for so many years. I sought to soothe my greatest failure, my failure to prevent the death of Her Majesty and her children, and blame others for my own fault. I beg your forgiveness."

"It is not my forgiveness to grant," Euphie said. "Those to whom you owe your apologies are no longer here to accept them."

"I know this to be so your highness," Jeremiah said. "And yet I must still beg your pardon, for I have shamed myself not only before Her Majesty but also before your own august self. You charged me with maintaining order within the Concessions and in this I have failed. I thus beg of you, for your mercy or your judgment."

Seconds passed with the only sound the ticking of the large grandfather clock decorating the office suite. Euphie took a deep breath and clasped her hands before her on the desk.

"Margrave Gottwald. Rise."

Jeremiah obeyed, meeting Euphie's gaze without hesitation.

"Since my arrival I have seen the decay which has taken hold in the area, I have observed the degradation of the people that has resulted, and I comprehend the cause of this decay. I do not believe this comprehension is beyond you and once you have achieved it you may yet find a way to hold your head high when you stand before Her Majesty once more. Thus I give you not my mercy nor my judgment. I give you a chance, to redeem yourself in your own eyes. Once you find the strength to forgive yourself, I will grant you that which you ask for."

The Margrave bowed deeply. "My gratitude, your highness, now and forever."

The following day the court-martial of Captain James Z. Machlin was announced by the Margrave Gottwald. The crime, disobeying the orders of his lawful superiors by engaging in unauthorized incursions into the ghettos and through such actions attempting to subvert the authority of the Viceroy Her Imperial Highness Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Realm. The implications of this act was not lost on any who saw the news, nor the fact that the charge carried with it the death sentence if the captain was convicted. The denizens of Area 11, Britannians and Elevens both, waited with bated breath for the outcome of the trial.

* * *

Suzaku finished buttoning up his uniform with a sigh. It was his first day of school and if he was completely honest he was still a little worried. The student council, well, most of them, had been welcoming enough when he visited Ashford Academy with the Princess. The wider student body was more likely to emulate the black haired girl with glasses however. In fact her avoidance of him might even be preferable compared to the likely bullying he would see. But Cécile had insisted that he should attend school and when the captain got into her insistent mode not even Lloyd dared stand in her way. It was a very interesting group dynamic in the ASSEC, one that Suzaku found himself almost enjoying.

"Suzaku, are you ready?" Cécile called into his room. "You don't want to be late for your first day of school!"

"I'm ready!" Suzaku called back as he hurried to the door. "Sorry to keep you waiting Cécile-san."

"No problem Suzaku," the woman smiled brightly. "Hmm, yes, just as I thought, the Ashford uniform really does suit you."

The boy smiled shyly. "I'm not entirely sure about that."

"No self-deprecation today young man," Cécile said. "You need to project confidence and dignity worthy of yourself. You are after all an honored member of Camelot and our representative on the Ashford campus."

"I thought I was just a part for the Lancelot," Suzaku said with a wiry smile.

"Don't listen to Lloyd," Cécile said. "He has a weird way of showing it but he also values you as a person. Well, as much as he can value anyone."

With that qualifier Cécile closed off any avenue for protest, something the woman was quite well aware of if her smile was any indication.

"Cécile-san, can I ask a question?"

"Of course."

"Umm, it's about the Princess."

Cécile tilted her head to the side. "What of her highness?"

"She seemed very familiar with the Ashfords, how do they know each other?"

"The headmaster used to be a baron active at the court in Pendragon," Cécile said. "Milly Ashford herself also lived there for the first few years of her childhood."

"I see," Suzaku said, "so the Princess and Milly met as children."

Cécile nodded. "That is the gist of it. Any further detail you will have to ask Milly yourself at school."

Suzaku nodded but paused as a thought occurred to him. "The headmaster use to be a baron?"

Cécile pursed her lips. "He lost his title of nobility due to fallout from political infighting at the court. It was why he ultimately migrated to Area 11."

"I see," Suzaku said more quietly.

"The Ashford family however has done quite well since then," Cécile said. "Many prominent families send their children to the academy and it is regarded as the best school for both primary and secondary education in the area." The woman glanced over at Suzaku. "So stay on your toes, Suzaku, and don't bring any shame to the ASSEC name."

"I won't Cécile-san," Suzaku assured the woman.

Half an hour later he stood before the main gates of Ashford Academy, trying to work up the nerve to walk through. Fortunately a helping hand was soon extended.

"Yo," a voice sounded as said hand clapped Suzaku on the shoulder.

The boy jumped slightly and turned to see a familiar face standing next to him.

"Oh, Rivalz-san," Suzaku said.

"Milly thought this might happen so she sent me to fetch you," the other boy said with a grin. "C'mon, let's go."

"Umm, thank you."

"Don't worry about it, I am the student council vice-president, it's my job to look out for all students."

"But still, thanks," Suzaku said.

"Don't mention it. C'mon, let's get you to the office. I know you've registered for classes but you still need to pick up a few things and we can introduce you to your homeroom teacher."

Suzaku nodded as he handed his ID over to the gate guard. The man looked over both it and the boy carefully before handing the card back to Suzaku and waving him through. The boy offered a bow before stepping through the gates. He really was going to attend school here. It still did not feel quite real but with every step the reality sank in just a bit more. As they walked through the halls more than one person stared at Suzaku and the boy did his best to appear oblivious.

"Here we are, the main office," Rivalz said not long after they entered the building. His ears seemed to perk up. "Oh, that sounds like Kallen. Looks like she's well enough to come back to school again."

Suzaku strained his ears and quickly picked up on the voice Rivalz seemed to recognize.

"-yes, here are Mademoiselle Cloutier's credentials, as you can see she is well qualified as a medical assistant."

Rivalz opened the door and stepped in with Suzaku following. He glanced over towards the direction of the forces and froze mid step. The two girls seemed to sense his entrance and glanced over. The redhead's eyes widened while the girl with long green hair narrowed hers. Suzaku's response was little better as he felt his jaw drop. It was them, that Japanese resistance fighter and the strange girl inside what was supposed to be a poison gas container. Both were wearing Ashford uniforms and both obviously recognized him. Time seemed to stand still as the the three locked gazes on each other, oblivious to everyone else around them. Suzaku swallowed. Sometime told him the next few moments would make or break more than just his school life here at Ashford. He could not afford to make a mistake. He turned to face the two directly.

* * *

The fields of Megiddo were aflame and littered with the aftermath of battle. Dozens of shattered Bamides dotted the land, some still smoldering from when their ammunition or fuel cooked off. A few ragged survivors on foot were making their way towards Jerusalem in a futile attempt to escape the Britannian forces. Those not completely devoid of sense had surrendered themselves rather than try to make the hundred kilometer trek. Especially seeing as the Britannian forces would almost certain begin their own march upon the city soon enough. The MEF was done for, its last major fighting force broken on the plains of Armageddon.

Cornelia surveyed the scene from her personal Gloucester, noting with satisfaction the orderly state of her own forces. The MEF had shown considerable imagination and tactical sense, mustering their forces to strike north at the Princess' supply line instead of being baited by her artillery strikes on the city. Unfortunately for them Cornelia had prepared for such a contingency and her Knightmare Corps was positioned to perform a flanking maneuver. She would have liked to be in the first wave that struck the enemy but a general fighting on the frontlines was a general that was not paying attention to the bigger picture like she was supposed to. Still, rank did come with privileges and once the situation was well in hand she had given Darlton command and took personal charge of the forces that moved in to cut off the MEF's retreat.

By now evening was settling in and the Britannian forces were withdrawing to their own camps. Cornelia could see no sign of the patrols that were supposed to sweep the surrounding area for sneak attacks or enemy scouts, which was how it should be. If she could make out those patrols from her position then the enemy could just as easily find them from theirs. Cornelia smiled proudly at the efficiency of the forces under her command. Three months, that was how long it had taken Britannia to break the Middle East Federation even with all the discreet support the European Union had funneled to their allies. With this the conquest and formation of Area 18 was now an established fact. Cornelia could hand the land over to a regular officer and the bureaucrats and hurry to Area 11 now.

Margrave Gottwald was supposed to be a competent officer and Cornelia vaguely remembered having him under her command what seemed like a lifetime ago as part of Empress Marianne's royal guard, but Clovis had been murdered under that man's watch. Cornelia frowned. Just as the Empress had been murdered under hers. The Marshal shook herself. No, the same fate would not befall her beloved sister Euphie. She would go to Area 11, whip its military into shape, and crush this insolent insurrection. This Cornelia swore.

End of Chapter 6

Heh, two cliffhangers, one scene wise and one plot wise.

In real life a general does not lead the charge against an enemy. A general stays behind the frontlines to coordinate the battle. If you're Rommel your definition of behind the frontlines might be a bit looser than convention but your primary responsibility is still to issue commands to the troops, not taking shots at the enemy yourself. And if as a general you do find yourself in that situation, then things have either gone completely to hell on you or you're incompetent. There is very little middle ground. But that probably isn't dramatic enough for anime. Let's see if I can make it dramatic in text.

A big problem with having lots of characters is that they all need screen time to develop properly. Suzaku and C.C. have been kind of getting the short end of the stick the last chapter which I need to avoid doing if I'm going to be able to employ them properly for the roles they are intended for. To make any of their actions believable what they do has to make sense from the context of their personality. I think this was one of the major failings of the anime, too often a character's development was dictated by the demands of the plot and their way of thinking was abruptly changed to whatever was most convenient. That's not realistic and is likely a reason for why certain characters get a lot of hate. Though, having said that, if one hates a significantly large percentage of the characters, then, what exactly are you a fan of in Code Geass?

Anyway, word count per chapter is highly like to start climbing if it really does turn out I need to inject more scenes to develop the characters more thoroughly. I'm of two minds about that, as I said in _In Tune_ I prefer to keep my chapters between 6 to 8 thousand words. If I start regularly toeing or breaching 9 thousand, that might end up being a bit tiring for people to read through.

Anyway, I hope all of you are enjoying my vision of Euphemia. I really don't feel like the canon did her justice and even in Knightmare of Nunnally it seemed like she just did not get enough screen time to shine. Kallen on the other hand got railroaded into so many ridiculous things by the writers that even though she got loads of screen time her character still felt underdeveloped.

Drop a line if you've enjoyed _A Cold Calculus_ thus far.


	8. Chapter 7

_The rivalry between the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki and Suzaku Kururugi was very much in the public's imagination upon their respective debuts on the battlefield. Even now several generations later the duels between the Red Queen and White Knight remain topics of considerable interest. The two are arguably the most talented knightmare pilots of their day and both brought their all as they fought over the future of Area 11. The battle between the two was after all not merely one of strength but also of opposing ideology. For much of their conflict Kururugi represented collaboration and integration with the Empire whereas Stadfeld-Kouzuki regarded such appeasement to be betrayal of their people. The final test for each's ideology came however when the Black Rebellion erupted and both were confronted with the cost that upholding their ideals would entail. For one it would be a defining moment. For the other it would lead to a place in infamy._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 7: Rivalis

Kallen recognized the Japanese boy in the Ashford uniform immediately and her mind raced. What was he doing here? He was a student? That was not entirely unheard of, Ashford was open to Honorary as well as native Britannians, but the cost of tuition put it well outside the range of most people regardless of their heritage. How had he gotten in then? He was just a foot soldier the last time she saw him. The boy turned and Kallen tensed. C.C. moved a step to place herself subtly between Kallen and the Japanese boy, a motion that was not lost upon the staff, Rivalz, and the boy himself. And then he bowed. Kallen's jaw dropped. Of all the things she imagined he might do, accuse her of being a terrorist, attacking her or C.C., bowing was not amongst them.

"My apologies miss for the misunderstanding that happened upon our initial meeting," Suzaku said. "I hope we can set that aside and start off on a proper footing."

The other teachers and Rivalz now shifted their gaze to Kallen to see how she would respond. The girl saw through immediately what the boy is trying to do. He knew that making a spectacle here would do him no good, no one would take his word over that of the Stadtfeld daughter. If he reported back to his superiors they might believe him but by then Kallen would be long gone. On the other hand if he could maintain freedom of movement he could report back to his superiors all the more quickly. Like hell she was going to let him pull that off. Before she could respond however C.C. intervened.

"What tis thy name, boy."

Suzaku looked at the green haired woman in surprise. She spoke with a strange accent but he understood the gist of her question.

"Suzaku Kururugi," he answered.

"And thou be of no harm to mine mistress?" the woman asked.

"C-Cecilia, what are you doing?" Kallen hissed.

"The duty that was bestowed upon I," C.C. said. "Observeth well milady, doust thee sense duplicity in Monsieur Kururugi's words?"

Kallen narrowed her eyes and regarded Suzaku closely. Her head throbbed slightly but she ignored the slight headache. The boy's breathing was calm and his heartbeat slow and steady. There was no panicked excitement which one might expect from when a person was lying and Suzaku held her gaze instead of trying to look away.

"He doesn't have to be outright lying to be dishonest," Kallen said as her temper flared slightly. "Who knows when he'll change his mind next."

Suzaku knew perfectly well what the redheaded girl meant and she was not entirely wrong. He was trying to buy time, but not to report to his superiors. He genuinely wanted to find a chance to speak with the girl, both girls, to understand just what had happened back in Shinjuku. If he could not convince her he was genuine about not wanting to cause her trouble here at school she would disappear and with her the secret of the supposed poison gas, the green hair girl whose name of Cecilia was obviously a fake.

"Lady Stadtfeld, do you know the transfer student somehow?" the teacher Kallen and C.C. had been speaking with before interrupted.

Lady, that meant she was somehow associated with the nobility, Suzaku noted. Yet she had been in Shinjuku as a resistance fighter. The girl was quite the enigma.

"We met a few days ago," Kallen stated flatly. "It was not a pleasant meeting."

Suzaku winced. It had not exactly been pleasant for him either, even if he lived through it.

"I understand that you may resent me for what happened that day Lady Stadtfeld," Suzaku said, "but I bear you no animosity. I am glad that both you and Ms., Cecilia are fine."

Dropping their names like that might not have been very tactful but Suzaku was running out of options. The girl was obviously not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, not surprising considering her attitude in the tunnel. She saw him as some kind of racial traitor, though seeing her here at a Britannian school and finding out she had some kind of relation to nobility made things more than a bit confusing. Unless the circumstances of her birth were not civil? Suzaku winced inside. That was an all too likely possibility considering some of the abuses the nobility had committed over the years. That might well explain the girl's anger towards the Britannian system despite apparently benefiting quite handily from it. It also made it all the more imperative Suzaku got a chance to actually speak with her privately, to make the girl aware of what Princess Euphemia was trying to do. Surely that would help lesson some of the bitterness the girl felt.

"Thou shalt find deeds greater than words where mine charge be concerned boy," the woman called Cecelia said before looking over at Kallen. "Milady, I suggest thou stayeth thy hand till the sooth of his words be beheld. He may be a carl but not necessarily be he a blackguard."

Kallen frowned at C.C. but dared she risk it? If Suzaku really was only buying time then walking out of here and leaving him alone would simply see a squad of soldiers come down on her by day's end. But C.C. was right about one thing, the boy was not lying right now. This meant he wanted something badly enough from her that he was prepared to forego reporting her long enough to get it. Kallen just needed to figure out what it was and keep the boy from getting it, at least long enough for her to make her own contingencies and perhaps even eliminate the liability the boy represented. Maybe even the boy himself.

"Is there anything else you need, Mr. Reeds?" Kallen asked her homeroom teacher.

The man cleared his throat. "That should be all, Kallen." He had switched to a less formal form of address now that he was not speaking for Suzaku's sake. "Your health monitor is now authorized to accompany you while on school grounds, though I think I speak for all of your teachers that we sincerely hope there never arises a need where her presence is a necessity."

Kallen smiled and bowed. "I thank you for the sentiment, Mr. Reeds. I will see you in class."

As the girl left the room she pointedly did not look at Suzaku. C.C.'s gaze however lingered.

"I trust thou will not be so couth as to levant from milady," she said pointedly before departing herself.

"What does levant mean?" Suzaku wondered aloud.

"To leave without settling debts," Rivalz said behind him.

The boy turned to regard his guide. Rivalz simply shrugged.

"We just finished a Shakespeare unit in class." He gazed at the two departing girls. "Though what in the world did you do to get Kallen Stadtfeld mad at you?"

Suzaku sighed. "There was a, misunderstanding when we first met a couple of days ago. Some people on, both sides got hurt."

A minor understatement that. If Suzaku was right about the green haired girl the three of them were the only survivors of the tunnel skirmish. And while he had been recovering in a field hospital Kallen had launched a counterattack against the Britannian forces that culminated in Prince Clovis' assassination. Though as Princess Euphemia had pointed out they did not really know who actually carried out the murder. It might have been the resistance group Kallen was associated with or it might have been another group taking advantage of the chaos. He should not jump to conclusions, that would only get more people hurt.

"You'll want to get that cleared up right quick," Rivalz said. "Kallen's really popular in the school and if the guys think you did something to hurt her, well…"

Suzaku grimaced. That would make his school life more or less unbearable if it came to that.

"Is there a way that I can get in touch with her?" he asked.

"Well since she is attending class today she'll probably be dropping by the student council," Rivalz said. "She's our newest member. You could try coming after school."

"Thanks Rivalz," Suzaku said. "I appreciate it."

The teen chuckled and clapped Suzaku on the back. "Hey, you don't seem to be a bad fella. And if it really is an understanding it wouldn't be fair for you to get your chops busted over it."

Suzaku smiled. The other teen might not have understood the significance of his words but the Japanese in Suzaku did. Too many people would have automatically assumed Suzaku was in the wrong, especially when the person he supposedly wronged was the daughter of a noble. But Rivalz was treating him just like any other person and was willing to give him a chance. Suzaku prayed that he would not let the other student down.

* * *

As Milly watched the other members of the student council work she felt a tinge of worry. The source of that worry was the redheaded girl working sedately through the club finance requests the council had received. Her personal assistant, a French girl with exotic green hair, was also lending a hand. A brief exchange of words was all Milly needed to know that she would like the French girl, assuming everything else worked out. The current issue lay with Kallen herself.

While Milly had had many reasons for extending Kallen an invitation to the student council, the only reason the red haired girl was allowed this close to Milly's friends and little sister was because the student council president had been certain that deep down Kallen was a kind person. Milly considered herself an excellent judge of character but no one was perfect. Could Kallen be her one great mistake? Time to find out.

"Kallen," Milly called to the girl.

"Hmm?" the girl said, looking up at her senior.

"Do you have something against Suzaku Kururugi?"

Kallen's face twisted into a scowl that was quickly smoothed out into simple displeasure. Boy did she have it in for him.

"He, and I are in disagreement right now," Kallen said cryptically.

"Is it because he's an Eleven?" Milly asked.

"No!" Kallen said, the scowl returning with force and causing Shirley and Nina to jump slightly.

Milly raised an eyebrow. She had not been expecting such a vehement denial, which either made it true or Kallen was seeking refuge in audacity. Seeing how quickly the girl had snapped and the sharpness of her eyes Milly was inclined to believe it was the former, for now at least.

"Sorry," Kallen said to the other girls. "No, I don't really care that he's an Eleven. Though since he's an Honorary Britannian I guess he's technically not an Eleven anymore."

Milly cocked her head to the side. "You don't agree with the Honorary Britannian system?"

"It's, it feels too fake," Kallen said. "I mean, the people who become Honorary Britannians aren't really Britannians and they're not really treated with much dignity even if legally they're supposed to have most of the rights that we do. At the same time they're renouncing whatever their original heritage is. Can you really trust someone who respects their own heritage so little that they would discard it like that?"

Kallen may not have meant to reveal it but it was pretty obvious to Milly just what her disagreement with Suzaku was. Kallen was proud, Milly could see that now. Not that pride was entirely a bad thing if it was in moderation. If the situation were reversed and Britannians were the second class citizens Kallen would be unlikely to bow down to whomever had conquered her people. She would fight, even if her frail body meant she would only end up in an early grave if she did.

"I understand what you mean," Milly said, "but try to remember that not everything is black and white. You don't think it's right that a person forgets their heritage. Well, I'll bet you that some Honorary Britannians think the same and that they feel really torn up inside about their choice. Do you think your scorn makes them feel any better?"

"Maybe they shouldn't feel better," Kallen said though the redhead averted her eyes.

Stubborn, Kallen was definitely stubborn, Milly decided, but deep down she was a kind person. Off to Kallen's side C.C. chuckled.

"Thy speech be most eloquent, Mademoiselle la Présidente."

"Why thank you Cecilia," Milly said with a grin before looking back at Kallen. "Anyway, I think there's probably more to Suzaku's situation than meets the eye. Do you know who he's the son of?"

"No not really," Kallen said with a shake of her head.

"Genbu Kururugi," Milly said, "the last prime minister of Japan."

The redhead's eyes widened. "Wait, he's the-and he's an Honorary Britannian!?"

Milly nodded. "So don't be too hard on him, I'm sure his own feelings are all sorts of complicated."

"Alright, I get your point," Kallen said.

Milly smiled. "Having said that, I need to ask you a favor."

Kallen regarded the girl warily. "If it's about Suzaku I can't make any promises."

"It is about him and it does involve a promise, but not in the way you think," Milly said. "Suzaku actually serves in the military, though he seems to be part of a research group instead of as a soldier."

Kallen's eyes narrowed, a reaction not lost upon Milly. "Oh?"

"Anyway, I'd like to keep Nunnally as uninvolved with anything military related as possible, so could you not talk about her at all if you ever do speak with Suzaku?"

The girl was right, that was not what Kallen had in mind when Milly first broached the favor.

"Is there a reason behind keeping him away from Nunnally?" Kallen asked.

"Something, happened when Nunnally was a child," Milly said with obvious reluctance.

Recalling her senior's little sister was confined to a wheelchair Kallen held up a hand.

"You can stop there, I understand."

"Thanks Kallen," Milly said with a wide smile. "This means a lot to me."

"Hey, this should be straightforward enough," Kallen said, "seeing as I don't really expect to talk to him again."

Milly's gaze wandered over to Rivalz, a gaze that Kallen's own followed. "You might need to. By tomorrow half the campus will know you have beef with Suzaku and if it doesn't get cleared up quick he's going to have all the boys after him, seeking to defend your honor. You don't want him dead that bad, do you?"

"You'd be surprised," Kallen muttered under her breath before sighing. "Fine, I'll try to clear the air between us. But that doesn't mean I'm going to like him."

"Fair enough," Milly said with a smile.

A knock sounded on the door and Shirley stood to answer it. The girl opened it wider a few moments later to reveal a somewhat tired looking Suzaku standing there.

"And speak of the devil," Milly said. "Now's as good a time as any."

Kallen sighed. "You planned this, didn't you?"

"Umm, yes and no," Milly said. "Rivalz told me he would probably be dropping by to talk to you after school, but I had no idea when exactly he would show up."

"I see," Kallen said dryly as she stood. "I shall remember this, president."

Milly flashed a smile. "I await with trepidation."

With a most unladylike snort Kallen pushed herself away from the table and walked over to the door with C.C. in tow. Shirley flashed the two reassuring smiles before leaving them alone. Once she was out of earshot Kallen turned to regard Suzaku.

"What."

"We need to talk," Suzaku said in an almost pained tone.

"So, talk," Kallen said.

Suzaku glanced over her shoulder at the rest of the student council. Amongst them Milly was not even bothering to pretend she was not straining an ear in their direction though cupping one ear with her hand was rather audacious even for the Ashford girl. Kallen sighed.

"Fine, we'll take it up to the roof," she said, "but if you try anything funny I won't hesitate to toss you off it."

Suzaku smiled weakly and held up his hands. "I just want to talk, I mean it."

"Sure, and the moment you hear something you don't like you'll run back to your masters like a good loyal dog," Kallen said dismissively.

Suzaku frowned. "I'm serious, Kallen-san. I do want to talk to you, but please don't assume that means I'm going to just roll over for you. If it looks like you're the one that doesn't want to listen, then I have a duty as an Honorary Britannian to report you."

Kallen's eyes narrowed dangerously. "And what would a person who abandoned his heritage know about duty?"

"I haven't abandoned my heritage," Suzaku said. "I may be an Honorary Britannian but that doesn't mean I've stopped being Japanese."

Before Kallen could respond C.C. chuckled from behind.

"Ah so thou hast chosen to forge thy own portion," the girl said.

Suzaku looked helplessly at Kallen.

"Portion, portion, oh, destiny," Kallen said, finding the word in her memory.

"Does she, umm, always speak like that?" Suzaku asked the red haired girl.

"Yes," Kallen said with a sigh before shaking her head. "C'mon, let's get up to the rooftop. I'm pretty sure Milly will be leaning against the door trying to eavesdrop if we stand around here much longer."

Suzaku nodded and followed the two. With classes over for the day those students still on campus and not on their way home or back in the dorms or common areas were busy with clubs and thus they had the halls more or less to themselves. That was probably for the best as there was no telling what rumors would start flying around if someone saw Suzaku with Kallen and the green haired girl. Not that there were not already enough rumors as it was, Suzaku thought glumly. He had spent most of lunch dodging other male students who thought he had somehow offended Kallen instead of eating lunch. That might also have been for the best despite his rumbling stomach. Cécile meant well but her taste buds were remarkably, flexible.

"Alright, we're here," Kallen said as the three stepped out onto the roof of the main campus building. "What did you want to talk about?"

Suzaku took a deep breath. From their brief exchange thus far he already knew Kallen was passionate about her beliefs and regarded him as a sort of racial traitor. That was not an uncommon reaction towards Honorary Britannians, from their own people and native Britannians both. That should not have been how it was and Suzaku was determined to do his part to change that.

"Before I start, I ask that you let me finish speaking before you try to dispute my viewpoint," Suzaku said.

Kallen regarded him thoughtfully before simply nodding.

"Thanks," Suzaku said with a slight smile. The girl's face remained impassive. "I recognize that the Empire is responsible for a lot of suffering. It's the one that invaded Japan and killed so many people after all. I don't dispute that things are likely to be better if Britannia never invaded or if it was pushed out successfully. But the fight to throw them out is getting a lot of people killed, people not even involved in the resistance movement and who don't want to be, who just want to live their lives as best they can. I don't think it's fair that those people get dragged into the fight."

Kallen frowned but held her peace. What Suzaku said made sense but if he used that as a way to appeal to some collaborationist ideology she would toss him off the roof and worry about the consequences later.

"I want to help make my people's lives better," Suzaku continued. "I don't want to get a lot of them killed in the process, which is what defeating the Empire militarily would entail, because let's face it, the Britannia of now would never leave Japan willingly. But there is a way to make things better, if we can make the Empire itself a better place. If we can turn the Empire into a more tolerant place, a place where there's no distinction between native and Honorary Britannians, no difference between Britannians or Japanese or any other ethnic group, then we can end the suffering our people are going through. They can live the lives they want, the lives they deserve."

"You'll be long dead before that happens," Kallen said, breaking her silence.

Suzaku smiled wirily. "Maybe. Even probably. But someone has to take that first step, or the journey will never be started."

C.C. let out a low whistle next to Kallen. "Tis be a man that stands before us, milady. An idealist, mayhaps even a mooncalf, but a man nonetheless. Tis a hard path he hast chooseth to walk."

"Fool," Kallen said just as Suzaku glanced at her again. "Mooncalf means fool."

Suzaku chuckled dryly. "I suppose I would seem foolish to some people, but I still believe in my course."

Kallen stared at Suzaku. "And what makes you think the Empire is even capable of changing? What makes you think the nobility would allow that kind of change to happen?"

"Well, you're of the nobility, right?" Suzaku reminded the girl. "You want Britannia to change, don't you?"

The boy was at least not a complete idiot, Kallen conceded privately. Idiotically naïve, but not just plain idiotic.

"I am half-Japanese," Kallen stated. "Were that to become public knowledge noble society would shun me almost immediately."

"Not all of them," Suzaku insisted. "Princess Euphemia wouldn't."

Kallen snorted. "The new viceroy? She's Clovis' sister. Do you really expect me to believe she's cut from a different cloth?"

"She is different," Suzaku stated confidently. "The Princess wants to eliminate the corruption and mistreatment that was so prevalent during Clovis' reign."

"And you honestly believe her?" Kallen said incredulously. "Do you believe everyone who spouts that kind of rhetoric?"

"It's not just words," Suzaku insisted. "You saw the news right? That Britannian captain being court martialed for what he was doing in the ghettos."

"Yeah, I saw her clamping down on a source of potential political opposition within the military," Kallen countered.

Suzaku frowned. "Is that all you're able to see?"

"And are you so blind that never even occurred to you? Why did it take until that captain was publicly shown up for the Princess to take action if she was so serious about putting an end to all the corruption and abuse? Or are you going to make up some excuse about how she needs time? Well every minute, hour, day that your precious princess doesn't crack down on people like that captain is more time for them to make others suffer. You don't want more people to die? Well I've got news for you, they're dying right now because they can't get medicine, can't get food, or because they've lost all hope. Some people can't wait, Suzaku, and your and your Princess' inaction is costing those people their lives."

The glower that Kallen was delivering was impressive and it took some effort for the boy to not back away. There was no denying the validity of her points but Suzaku believed with all his heart that in the long run his way was better. Kallen likely understood that but it was clear that she simply had no faith in him or the Princess. That was fair enough, she did not know him and the only reference she had was when the two were down in the tunnels trying to kill each other. She had also not met Euphemia either so she would not have experienced the Princess' willful conviction firsthand.

"Would you be willing to at least talk to the Princess?" Suzaku asked.

Kallen frowned. "Why should I?"

"Because I'd like you to at least give her a chance to convince you that she really does want to make things better."

"And how do I know this isn't some attempt on your part to stall so you can call in reinforcements to arrest me?" Kallen pressed.

"I've had all day to do that," Suzaku pointed out.

"If you think that gives you any credit you think too highly of yourself," Kallen replied. "I do not trust you, Suzaku Kururugi, your actions and convictions do not suggest integrity, they suggest a self-absorbed need for vindication. You want me to give the Princess a chance to explain myself? Why? So that I'll agree that you were right and I was wrong? You think too highly of yourself, Suzaku. Other people's lives do not exist for your own self-satisfaction."

Suzaku felt as if he had been punched. Was that really how he appeared to Kallen? No, she was just being bitter. She had to be. He was trying to help people, trying to make sure as few people as possible died on both sides. Why could Kallen not see that? Why did she refuse to see that?

"Why can't you see the harm you're causing?" Suzaku asked. "The people you're killing and getting killed?"

"I do see them," Kallen replied coldly. And then she blinked. "That's it."

Suzaku frowned, almost daring to hope. "What?"

"You feel guilty," Kallen said. "You're trying to make yourself feel better about having to kill your own people as a Britannian soldier. That's why you're so dogged about the whole reforming the Empire from the inside. It's got nothing to do with making things better for our people, it's about your own goddamn sense of guilt!"

Suzaku staggered back.

"You're wrong!" Suzaku shouted. "I do want to make things better!"

"Then why can you only think of your way as the only way!?" Kallen snapped. "You're placing your own self-satisfaction above our own people and you're too fucking blind to see it!"

The boy clutched his head. "No, you-you're wrong, all you're doing is getting more people killed!"

"All I'm doing is getting shitheads like you killed," Kallen countered. "Do you really expect me to feel bad about that!?"

With a scream Suzaku lunged at Kallen but before the girl even had a chance to defend herself a blur flashed past her and Suzaku's head slammed against the roof. The boy moaned pitifully as C.C. kept him pinned.

"Raise thy hand against milady again, cad, and thou shall meet thy Maker this day."

"You-what are you!?" Suzaku asked. "You were in that container, there was supposed to be poison gas but you were inside instead!"

"Tis most impolite to inquire a lady's secrets," C.C. said with a harsh grin.

"Are you done?" Kallen asked, towering over the boy. "Or should I have Cecilia toss you over the fence and tell the police you tried to assault me? Whose word will they believe I wonder, an Honorary Britannian or the Stadtfeld daughter?"

"I thought you hated how nobles abused their power," Suzaku said bitterly.

"And I thought you wanted to reform the system from inside out," Kallen replied. "Or are you saying that what you just tried now wasn't attempted assault?"

Despite him being the one on the ground Suzaku had to admit Kallen had a point. She really could go to the police and claim completely truthfully he made the first move. She would not even need to rely on her standing as a noble's daughter, they would believe her without hesitation just because he was an Eleven. Worst of all however was what Lloyd and Cécile might think. They had had done so much for him, could he repay them by causing a scandal of such magnitude?

"We're done," Suzaku finally said.

"I can't hear you," Kallen said, leaning over.

"We're done," Suzaku said louder. "I won't report you to my superiors and I won't cause any more trouble for you at school."

The way the girl eyed him was unnerving, it was as if she could see right through him. Would she actually believe him? Or would she choose to follow through with a more permanent solution? Suzaku did not want to hurt her but he would fight back. Assuming of course he was even a match for the two girls.

"I'll take your word for it," Kallen finally said, "for whatever that word is worth."

A slight irritation burned inside Suzaku. If she held his word in so low regard, why was she accepting it? But he knew. She had really managed to peg him. After being so dismissed there was no way his pride would allow him to break that word, at least for a while.

"I just ask one thing in return," Suzaku said.

"What, you want me to get the boys off your back?"

Speaking of which, the angle that Kallen was standing at was starting to make things incredibly awkward. Suzaku looked away, hoping that his blush would go unnoticed.

"No, that's not it," he said quickly. "I just want you to keep an open mind, to look objectively at what the Princess is doing. Give her a chance to prove herself instead of just dismissing her out of hand."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "Fine, I'll do that. But if she turns out to be another Clovis don't expect any of us to hold back."

Suzaku winced at that seeing as Clovis had ultimately paid with his life for his actions in Japan.

"Hey, why are you blushing?" Kallen suddenly asked.

He winced again. Oh crap.

"Oh you pervert!"

The last thing Suzaku remembered was a kick to his head. It was a most familiar sensation, providing final confirmation that Kallen really was the girl he met down in the tunnels. Not that said confirmation was needed or wanted at this point.

* * *

"Thou art certain the boy will keep his word?" C.C. asked as the two left the unconscious Suzaku on the roof.

"For now at least," Kallen said. "We're going to need to prepare some contingencies though, in case we need to bug out quickly."

"Prudent," C.C. agreed, "though I be loath to abandon the comforts thy degree bestows."

"Don't get too comfy," Kallen said. "We're fighting a war, not having a weekend picnic. For the meantime though I'm going to need to talk to Ohgi about this. If Suzaku really is telling the truth about the new Viceroy we may need to adjust our strategy."

"Methinks the boy was earnest."

"Me too, but what he believes and what is really the case are two different things," Kallen said, circling down the stairs back into the hallways. "He might just be deluding himself because he needs to believe that what he's doing will make a difference."

As they rounded a corner a brunette nearly bumped into Kallen.

"Ah, Kallen, there you are!" Shirley exclaimed.

"Oh, Shirley, you were looking for me?" Kallen said, her face reverting to a more relaxed expression.

"Well you were gone for a long time so Milly got a bit worried and so I volunteered to go look for you." The girl looked about. "Umm, is everything settled between you and Suzaku?"

Kallen thought for a moment before responding. "No, not really. But so long as he stays away from me I don't expect there to be any problems."

"Oh, I see," Shirley said with a frown. "He didn't seem a bad sort when he came with Princess Euphemia."

"Huh? He came with the Princess?" Kallen said in surprise.

The other girl nodded. "She introduced him and asked us to look out or him while he was attending Ashford. You weren't here for that, since Milly didn't want to keep you around that late."

Kallen thought back, recalling the day when Milly had canceled the meeting. She had not thought to ask, only focusing on the opportunity it gave her to slip out of the ghettos with C.C. Apparently that was an oversight.

"I wouldn't say he's a bad person," Kallen found herself slightly backtracking. "He and I just don't see eye to eye on a few things. It'd be better if we didn't bump into each other and end up causing more friction to develop between us, that's all."

"Is that so?" Shirley said thoughtfully, stroking her chin. "Hmm, might it be that you're interested in him?"

"No," Kallen said immediately and firmly while C.C. did not try very hard to suppress a snicker.

"Hmm, well if you say it that way then that's probably not it," Shirley said.

"Anyway, is there anything else that needs to be done today?" Kallen asked, changing the subject as quickly as she could.

"Oh, no, we've finished the work for today," Shirley said. "You really were gone for a while, you know."

Kallen offered the girl a reassuring smile. "Sorry about that Shirley. And thanks for coming for me."

"No problem," the girl said with a bright smile. "You're a friend on the student council, of course we'd worry."

Shirley Fennette, Kallen mused, was a carefree girl that did not seem to think too much about the harshness of the world around her. That however did not make her a bad person.

"Say, Shirley, what do you think of the new viceroy, Princess Euphemia?"

"Umm, she's rather young for such a position, at least I think so," Shirley said, tapping her fingers together. "Let's see, she's I think the Third Princess? And I think she's actually sixth in line to the throne. That's pretty impressive actually, didn't we learn in class that the emperor decides the succession purely at his own discretion?"

"Something like that," Kallen said, "though he's supposed to take into account the opinions of the great peers of the court."

"Right," Shirley said with a nod. "Say, you really do know your stuff even with missing so much class."

Kallen smiled wirily. "Being in bed all the time means I have lots of time to read."

"I'm sorry," Shirley said quickly. "I didn't mean to-I mean-"

"It's alright," Kallen assured the girl, her smile taking on a gentler appearance. "But anyway, I just wanted to hear what your personal opinion on the Princess was. Not just her official position, but her as a person since you met her."

"Umm, well she seemed very nice," Shirley said. "She's actually enrolled in the school, but can't actually sit classes because of her duties. She worked out an arrangement with the headmaster for her to do schoolwork and sit exams remotely."

Kallen frowned thoughtfully. "That's, interesting."

"She does seem to take education seriously, well, more seriously than me," Shirley said with a chuckle. "Maybe that's why she helped sponsor Suzaku for the school."

"Maybe," Kallen muttered.

Shirley glanced over at the girl. "You know, if you want to learn more about the Princess you should probably ask Milly."

Kallen looked over quizzically. "Milly?"

The brunette nodded. "Yep. Milly's family used to be nobles before, well, political stuff happened."

Kallen chuckled. It was very much like Shirley to describe the cutthroat politics of the imperial court as 'stuff.'

"Anyway, she used to live in Pendragon and knows the Princess from back then," Shirley said, brushing aside the obvious unpleasantness for why Milly no longer lived in the capital.

"I see," Kallen said. "Thanks Shirley."

The girl responded with a bright smile as they reached the student council room. "Happy to help."

As the door opened and excited voice called out.

"Ah, Kallen! Shirley, get her in here!"

Without hesitation Shirley took hold of Kallen's hand and pulled her deeper into the room. This time Kallen remembered not to resist and so was dragged in without much difficulty by the officially stronger swim team girl.

"President, target retrieved!" Shirley said with one arm raised.

"Excellent! Rivalz, out!"

"Yes ma'am," the boy said with a chuckle.

As he passed Kallen he gave her a wink, leaving the girl only more confused.

"What's going on?" Kallen asked.

"Well it's just that as a member of the student council we need to get your measurements!" Milly said with a huge grin.

Kallen's head snapped to face the beaming girl. "Huh?"

"You've at least heard of all the events we hold on campus right?" Milly explained. "Well the student council has a responsibility to take the lead and dress appropriately for whatever theme we're doing!"

"The swimsuit day, the ballroom dress day," Nina counted off a few examples.

"Seeing as you'll also be joining us, we need to get your measurements so that we can make sure we get clothes that will fit you!" Milly said cheerfully.

It took a few more seconds for those words to register. "WHAAAAAAAA!?"

Milly glanced over at C.C. "I'm sure you agree, Mademoiselle Cloutier, that engaging in group activities will help maintain Lady Stadtfeld's spirit?"

Kallen's head now snapped to gaze at C.C. A look of horror appeared on the redhead's face as she saw the amusement written all over the other girl's expression.

"Verily so," C.C. said with a grin that matched Milly's. "Please proceed Mademoiselle la Présidente."

"Merci, Mademoiselle Cloutier."

"Wait!" Kallen protested. "Don't I get a say in this!?"

"Don't bother resist, it'll just prolong things" Milly said, chackling. "On second thought resist all you want, we'll just get to enjoy it longer."

A cry of despair echoed from the student council room and Rivalz mentally pictured what was going on inside. It did kind of suck being stuck out here like this but it was a small price to pay to otherwise be involved in Milly's antics. Interesting times took on a whole different meaning with Ashford's student council president, that was for sure.

* * *

Lieutenant-Colonel Kyoshiro Tohdoh stepped an ornately decorated Japanese-style room. He came to a halt before a false wall with screens over six alcoves.

"I have arrived per your summons, honored representatives of Kyoto," Tohdoh said with a low bow.

"Please, make yourself comfortable, lieutenant-colonel," the figure behind the center-left alcove said.

"My thanks," Tohdoh replied before settling down onto his knees.

"A situation has arisen, one that requires great care in its handling," another voice spoke up. "The Numbers Administration Council has been instructed to send representatives to Clovis' memorial ceremony, representatives drawn from all of the noble houses."

"We dare not decline, but Britannia is unlikely to move against us at such public an event," a third voice said. "The new viceroy however has made an interesting request. She has invited Kirihara-sama and Sumeragi-sama to direct, one-on-one meetings after the ceremony."

That was interesting, Tohdoh agreed. Prince Clovis had tended to keep the members of the NAC at arm's length, barely acknowledging their existence even at official events that required their presence. And while the Princess Euphemia might have a straightforward reason to speak with Kirihara Taizou, the official Japanese leader of the NAC, her reasons for wanting to meet with Sumeragi Kaguya, the youngest representative, was more ambiguous.

"As I have said, we do not suspect treachery," the voice continued. "It would however be prudent to take measures to ensure the safety of Kirihara-sama and Sumeragi-sama. The difficulty is how to do so without arousing Britannia's suspicions or, offending their sensibilities."

Tohdoh nodded in acknowledgment of the point.

"We thus come to you, Lieutenant-Colonel Tohdoh," the first voice said. "The Princess has granted Kirihara-sama and Sumeragi-sama permission to bring along one retainer to their respective meetings. We request that members of the Four Holy Swords might be available to serve in this capacity."

"We are at your command," Tohdoh said, bowing his head. My warriors will not allow any harm to come to Kirihara-dono and Sumeragi-dono while they draw breath."

"Excellent," one of the representatives said. "In addition, we feel that it would be beneficial if your subordinates might be instructed to make note of any martial matters that may arise in conversation and advise their respective charges accordingly."

So the Six Houses intended this to use the meeting with the viceroy to both gauge the Princess' political position and what her intentions might be in dealing with the various resistance movements. Clever, assuming the Princess did not find out and take umbrage at such discourtesy.

"I will instruct them to do so," Tohdoh said however.

The shadow shifted, indicating a nod. "We thank you for your service, Lieutenant-Colonel."

So dismissed Tohdoh bowed before retreating out of the room, already considering how best to complete his mission. Senba was old but wise and seeing as the Britannians were unlikely to actually threaten the NAC representatives his mind was important than any dulling of his form. He would do well as Kirihara-dono's escort. The question was who should escort Sumeragi-dono. No, there was no question seeing as there was only one answer. Chiba was the only appropriate choice here. She was one of the younger members of the Swords but her mind was as sharp as any of Tohdoh's other blades. Chiba would guard the young Sumeragi heir well and see that the right questions be asked. And maybe they would all find out from just what cloth this Princess Euphemia was cut. Might Japan have received a viceroy that had the vision to see beyond her own self-importance? Tohdoh would not be holding his breath on that count. But neither would he dismiss that possibility out of hand completely. He might be a mere soldier but he understood the political realities of the day. It was Britannia that held the fate of Japan in its palm, not the people to whom the land rightfully belonged to. As such it was up to the viceroy, representative of Britannia's will, whether the Japanese suffered or prospered. That may yet change in the future but they lived in the present. Tohdoh eagerly awaited to see what kind of present their new viceroy would deliver, and what kind of future she would promise.

* * *

Suzaku did not know how long he had been out for but with the fading light it was obvious evening was almost upon them. The boy rubbed his head, wincing at the bruise from Kallen's kick. He had learned that the noble girl was reputed to be sickly and frail. At this point he did not doubt for a moment that that was all just an act. Kallen Stadtfeld could be absolutely merciless when she was given cause and in some respects Suzaku knew he was technically at fault. Peeking up a girl's skirt was not something a gentleman should do after all.

"Well, might as well get back to the barracks," the boy muttered to himself.

Picking himself up, Suzaku brushed off his uniform before heading to the roof door. He gave the handle a twist but all he got was a clicking sound.

"Are?" The boy twisted again. "Are, are?"

The door was locked. Suzaku looked around. Now how was he supposed to get down from here?

End of Chapter 7

Note: I already mentioned this in an addendum like two chapters back but the way that the Six Houses get referred to will be following a convention. See said addendum for more details.

I need to time my releases better. Within 24 hours of my update my thing gets buried by six other works? Yeah, not really the best way to achieve exposure.

No, I don't think I'm going to do a C.C. x Kallen pairing either. My head hurts just thinking of how that would even work with the two's personalities. It'd probably be hilarious, but I'd probably hate every moment of coming up with ways to write it.

Petain would have been perfect for a role I need filled later on, unfortunately in the real world by the time Code Geass takes place he's already dead and buried. So I'll need to find someone else's name to drag through the mud.

It's actually kind of amazing, the bulk of this chapter was taken up with two scenes. I'm not really sure I moved the plot along that much, but this is just more setup. I have plans for what the next action-related sequence will be but Code Geass has a lot of, dialogue heavy vibes due to a lot of stuff being centered on opposing ideology. Granted the ideology on display in Code Geass has about the complexity of a brick and the consistency of Swiss cheese, the series itself can get really wordy in places. The characters and plot could have been so much more interesting if the writers had bothered adding some actual depth to the characters or making them think beyond their initial intentions. But no, we got the mess that was the second season where the idiot ball got tossed back and forth between almost all of the characters.

Having said all that, this fic is moving a lot more slowly than _In Tune_ was at this point. Or at least it feels like it. I'll have to see if I need to adjust pacing or just start pumping out longer chapters to cram in everything I want to happen and to hell with my self-imposed word limits.

Oh, for those people who don't want to get too spoiled by the opening snippets, I'll be putting ratings on how spoiling I consider each snippet at the end of the notes from now on.

Anyway, if you've enjoyed, leave a review. If you have questions, leave a review. If you have complaints, leave a review. I think I answered all questions thus far asked.

What tis thy name, boy. – What is your name, boy.

And thou be of no harm to mine mistress? – And you are no danger to my mistress?

The duty that was bestowed upon I. Observeth well milady, doust thee sense duplicity in Monsieur Kururugi's words? – The duty I was given. Look carefully milady, does Monsieur Kururugi seem to be lying?

Thou shalt find deeds greater than words where mine charge be concerned boy. Milady, I suggest thou stayeth thy hand till the sooth of his words be beheld. He may be a carl but not necessarily be he a blackguard. – You will find deeds greater than words as far as my charge is concerned, boy. Milady, I suggest you stay your hand until the truth of the matter is determined. He may be commoner but he is not necessary a scoundrel.

I trust thou will not be so couth as to levant from milady. – I trust you will not be so crass as to run away before the matter is settled.

Thy speech be most eloquent, Mademoiselle la Présidente. – You are most eloquent, Madam President.

Ah so thou hast chosen to forge thy own portion. – Aha so you have chosen to forge your own destiny.

Tis be a man that stands before us, milady. An idealist, mayhaps even a mooncalf, but a man nonetheless. Tis a hard path he hast chooseth to walk. – A man stands before us, milady. An idealist, maybe even a foo, but a man nonetheless. It is a hard path he has chosen to walk.

Raise thy hand against milady again, cad, and thou shall meet thy Maker this day. – Raise your hand against milady again, (cad means someone who behaves dishonorably towards women), and you shall meet your Maker this day.

Tis most impolite to inquire a lady's secrets. – It is most impolite to inquire about a lady's secrets.

Verily so. Please proceed Mademoiselle la Présidente. – Indeed. Please proceed Madam President.

Snippet Spoiler: Minimal


	9. Chapter 8

_The challenges the Princess Euphemia faced in her governorship of Area 11 were both numerous and all too often potentially fatal. As a Princess of the Realm however few Britannians could overtly challenge her Highness' decrees and as such opposition to her reforms by necessity needed to be indirect. The Princess was of course aware of this, hence the complete restructuring of the cabinet she inherited from her brother. Opposition within the military was both trickier to handle but more straightforward to suppress. Initially Margrave Gottwald's staunch public support for the Princess deprived the opposition of a visible figure to rally behind and his reputation and professionalism easily eclipsed any other potential malcontent. The arrival of Princess Cornelia li Britannia, Marshal of the Empire, put paid to any further thoughts of mutiny within the ranks. But opposition to the Princess Euphemia did not disappear completely and combined with the staunch resistance of various Japanese liberation movements a dangerous combination brewed, culminating in a series of threats to the Princess' life._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 8: Dum invicem rursus occurremus

"Suzaku, what happened!?"

The boy grimaced. Count on Cécile to notice his somewhat beat up visage.

"I uh, got into a misunderstanding at school," Suzaku said.

"A misunderstanding?" the captain said with a raised eyebrow. "And what was the source of this misunderstanding?"

How to explain this? He could not exactly tell Cécile the whole truth, but he might be able to get away with telling her just enough of the truth.

"I, accidentally saw under the skirt of a girl," Suzaku said with an all too real blush. "She, has a lot of admirers and they decided to take offense for her. Well, she took offense too."

Cécile regarded the boy before sighing. "And on your first day too."

"I'm really sorry Cécile-san," Suzaku said with a bow. "I really didn't mean for this to happen."

"It's alright," Cécile said. "Have you apologized to the girl?"

"Yes," Suzaku said.

"And she didn't forgive you," Cécile surmised.

"Yes," Suzaku said more quietly.

"Hmm, have you considered asking the student council for some help on this?"

"No, I should take responsibility for my own mistakes," Suzaku said. "Even if it was an accident I should still take care of it myself."

Cécile smiled gently at the boy. "Don't try to shoulder too much by yourself, Suzaku. Remember, you're not alone."

"Thanks Cécile-san," Suzaku said with a grateful smile of his own. "I won't."

"Good. Now come along, we need to get you fitted for your new uniform."

The boy blinked dumbly. "My what?"

"Princess Cornelia is arriving tomorrow and the viceroy has ordered a full honor guard for her," Cécile explained. "As the pilot of the Lancelot she has requested your presence so we need to get you a proper dress uniform."

"The, Princess asked for me to be there?" Suzaku said disbelievingly.

Cécile nodded. "It's quite the privilege. You'll be representing all of us here at the ASSEC, so do your best Suzaku."

"Yes ma'am!"

* * *

Euphemia regarded the report before her desk with thoughtful consideration. Captain Machlin's court martial was stirring up all sorts of reactions within the political and military circles of Area 11. Most people could read the lines and surmised correctly that Euphemia did not approve of the mistreatment of Elevens even if officially the captain was being charged for attempting to circumvent an order issued by a member of the Imperial family. Such a crime when committed by a commissioned officer was serious enough to warrant a full panel seeing as one possible punishment could be death. As it was the captain was almost certainly going to be stripped of his rank and dishonorably discharged from the military. The captain would serve as an example, but changing the culture of the Britannian forces stationed in Area 11 would be a long and arduous task, a point reinforced by the report she was now reviewing.

Corruption in the military took many forms with the wanton abuse Elevens were subjected to during policing actions but one part. Participation in the area's grey economy by soldiers was another problem of varying degrees. A major one was the disposal of weapons in the black market, ranging from small arms all the way up to knightmare frames. The latter should not have been possible but after careful examination of industrial activity in the area Euphemia found a curious anomaly in the records supposedly certifying the scrapping of obsolete Glasgows left over from the invasion. The scrapping of so many knightmares should have resulted in a marked decrease of commodity prices with the increased supply of metal and other recyclable materials. That decrease did not appear to have ever happened, indicating a very high probably of the Glasgows not being scrapped. The question then became where did they go.

A conspiracy of this scale would have required immense resources, not just to move all of the knightmares but also to manipulate the paperwork of the Britannian bureaucracy to hide said movement. That suggested the involvement of the industrialists that made up the Numbers Administration Council, which further suggested the Japanese Liberation Front was the ultimate recipient of those knightmares. As inferior as they were to the Sutherlands and the next generation Gloucesters now coming into service, that many knightmares in resistance hands could still prove a potent challenge should open conflict erupt in Area 11. Preventing that from happening would be no easy task.

A knock sounded, drawing Euphie's attention.

"Enter."

The sturdy old man that entered bowed. "Your highness."

Euphie smiled. "Ruben, thank you very much for coming. Please, sit."

"Thank you highness," Ruben said as he walked over and settled into one of the chairs.

"I trust you find your office adequate for your needs?"

"Indeed highness," Ruben said, a corner of his mouth quirking into a smile. "You have a most efficient staff, I wonder whether I can really be of help."

"Believe me, all of them are glad that you are here," Euphie said with a chuckle. "They already feel slightly less overworked!"

Ruben responded with a laugh of his own. "Then I suppose I should begin demonstrating my usefulness." The man pulled out the folder under his shoulder. "I have assembled a list of individuals whose integrity and competency I trust. You already have an industry minister in Baron Rochester, an excellent choice in my opinion, your highness, and I believe at present the most crucial post that needs filling is that of the Exchequer."

"To be honest I debated whether I wanted to off you that position or your current one," Euphie said as she accepted the folder and glanced at the contents. "Ah, excellent, you also have candidates for education and healthcare."

Ruben nodded. "If your highness truly wishes to harness the economic potential of the Elevens, they need to be provided with more services that would allow them to make contributions beyond that of basic laborers. Proper healthcare and education are two such."

"The difficulty would be delivering such services in the ghetto," Euphie remarked.

"Yes and no, your highness," Ruben said. "One must keep in mind that before the conquest Japan was a relatively modern state with its own doctors and teachers and the like. At present many of them are out of work or are without sufficient supplies to carry on practicing. Remedying that supply problem should be feasible with a modicum of investment."

"Quite. Still, this would require finding someone with the vision to plan a deployment of resources into the ghettos. We must also ensure that the supplies that are delivered are not waylaid by opportunists."

"That is why I recommend a medical professional with a military background, your highness," Ruben said.

"So I see," Euphie said as she looked at the profile. "Colonel Samantha Frasier, ranking officer of the Britannian Army Nursing Corps stationed in Area 11."

"The colonel is a commoner and is held in high regard by many for her dedication to her duties," Ruben said. "Her professionalism is impeachable and I believe she can be trusted to ensure services are provided to whomever you order, Elevens or Britannians, your highness."

"Very good," Euphie said. "And education?"

"Umm, I have a perhaps unorthodox proposal in that regard, your highness."

Euphie looked up at Ruben, head cocked aside quizzically. "Oh?"

"I request that you permit me to oversee the initial preparation for the education initiative, your highness, seeing as I have some experience in the field," Ruben said, smiling slightly.

"So you do," Euphie said with a chuckle. "Are you certain this will not unduly strain you, Ruben?"

"I promise that I will take care of my health, your majesty," Ruben assured the girl. "In addition, I would be training potential a candidate to succeed me as the education minister."

"And such a candidate would be?"

"My granddaughter, your highness," Ruben said with a composed expression.

"I see," Euphie said thoughtfully. "I was not aware Milly was interested in the field of education."

"To be completely honest, neither is she," Ruben said, that quirk of a smile reappearing. "I cannot promise that Milly would be the best candidate to succeed me and if one more qualified does appear I would have no objections to taking him or her on. I however do trust my granddaughter to devote herself to a cause she believes in, and the improvement of the Area she calls home is one such cause."

"I see," Euphie said again, and the young woman meant it.

If it had been anyone but Ruben Euphemia would have immediately assumed that this was a case of nepotism and trying to pack Euphie's cabinet with partisans. But the man offering the services of his granddaughter was Ruben Ashford and the significance was entirely different. Euphie did not doubt that Milly would be a capable assistant that would grow into an equally competent education minister given time under her grandfather's tutelage. But that was not the only reason Ruben made his proposal. In a way he and Milly were telling Euphie that they were prepared to cast their lot with the Princess, to commit not just themselves but the Ashford family itself to her. That was no minor step for a family stripped of its nobility after such a commitment in the past ended in tragedy. This was the Ashfords telling Euphie that they believed in her ideals enough that they would take the plunge once more, discarding the safety of their relative anonymity and reenter the politics of the Imperial court.

"I see indeed," Euphie said for the third time as she smiled. "In fact I believe Milly would make an excellent understudy, and it would allow the two of us to spend more time together. There is much for us to catch up on after all."

"I am glad you think so, your highness," Ruben said with a slight bow of his head.

"Now that education is settled," Euphie said, moving the meeting along, "could you tell me a little about your suggestion for the Exchequer?"

"Of course, your highness," Ruben said. "Sir Lawrence Kraft is a skilled businessman, a disciplined man who understands the finiteness of wealth. He is widely regarded as frugal despite his own considerable wealth and he abhors waste. At the same time he understands the distinction between pinching pennies and extracting maximum value for one's money."

"A most important distinction," Euphie nodded approvingly. "I see he currently works as the head of the Imperial Bank of Britannia's Area 11 branch."

"Yes highness. IBB is only the third largest of the banks operating in Area 11, but that is because Sir Kraft is very careful about with whom his bank will do business with. For the most part his bank holds deposits from normal everyday Britannians whereas the majority of his loans are to businesses with steady and reliable revenue flows. In general IBB will not engage in speculative transactions regardless of how high a return is promised. This generally produces a lower profit than the other banks, but conversely IBB has never faced a major shortfall in funds like what happened to so many banks back in the homeland about thirty years back."

"Hmm, yes, the Great Depression," Euphie said. "Sir Kraft would have lived through that, no?"

"Yes, your highness. Perhaps that is why he is so prudent with his bank's money."

"There are certainly less suitable men for the position of Exchequer," Euphie said as she closed the folder. "Please arrange for interviews with all of them, I will wish to speak with them before making any final decisions."

"Of course your highness," Ruben said. "Will there be anything else?"

"Not at present. And thank you for accepting my offer, Ruben. I know I've said it several times already, but it does mean a great deal to me."

Ruben smiled at the Princess and bowed. "It is an honor to be so entrusted, your highness. I have no doubt that you will achieve your vision and I am simply glad to offer what meager aid I can."

* * *

The rundown warehouse Ohgi owned was useful on many levels. First, he made a small amount of money from renting out space in it for people who needed a safe place to store things. Second, it was a safe place to store his cell's own equipment and the trucks he owned could be used to move said equipment where it was needed so long as he took care to avoid checkpoints and the like. Finally, it offered cover for the other members of his cells when they needed to assemble. No one would think it too strange that a warehouse might see many people entering and leaving. And thanks to Kallen's connections Ohgi was actually able to get some of the buildings material needed to keep the warehouse structurally safe. The same could not be said for so many other places in the ghettos.

Today the members of the cell were gathered for what was supposed to be an informal meeting and work session with Inoue leading the effort to inventory their current stockpile of equipment. Said inventory took a back seat as Kallen dropped her little bombshell about the transfer student at Ashford Academy.

"We need to pull you out," Ohgi said immediately.

"No."

"Kallen, I'm not kidding, if that student knows you're a resistance fighter there's no telling when he'll report you."

"He won't," Kallen insisted, "at least not in the short term. He seems fixated on trying to convince me to give up being a resistance fighter and become a collaborator."

"You don't know that," Ohgi countered.

"Yes, I do," Kallen said, tapping the left side of her head. "I could tell he wasn't lying."

Ohgi shut his mouth. They had done some experimentation of Kallen's powers and one thing the girl did exhibit was a somewhat frightening ability to tell when someone was trying to deceive her. According to Kallen it was because she could notice when someone's heart started beating faster or their breathing became more irregular. However right now amongst the cell only he and Tamaki knew about Kallen's power. Inoue, the only other person present besides C.C. who was lounging about munching on a slice pizza, was not privy to that secret, and so he could not openly discuss it right now.

"Alright, maybe he wasn't lying then, but you don't know when he'll change his mind and decide you're a lost cause," Ohgi persisted.

"That's probably not going to happen without some pretty clear warning signs," Kallen said. "And there is a big reason for me to stay at Ashford. I might be able to get in touch with the viceroy."

Ohgi frowned. "Kallen, you're not thinking of trying to kill her, are you?"

The girl shook her head. "No, I've learned my lesson after what happened with Clovis. But we need to learn more about the Princess. Suzaku seemed insistent that she wanted to make things better for Japan but just because he honestly believes in her doesn't mean the viceroy is herself genuinely committed."

"The Princess has been keeping a tight rein on the military," Inoue interjected, "and that captain we caught in the ghettos is facing some pretty hefty charges. If it was just a disciplinary issue he probably wouldn't be looking at the possibility of a death sentence."

Kallen nodded. "Suzaku tried to argue that but he, well, let's just say he's not very articulate."

Behind the redhead C.C. snorted, making clear her own assessment of the boy's persuasiveness, or lack thereof.

"Anyway, we're in this fight to help people who are suffering," Kallen said. "Not for vengeance, not for petty thrills. If the Princess really is serious about treating the Japanese people with dignity and respect we should be trying to help her, not trying to kill her. It's, what Naoto would have wanted."

The last was said so softly it was little more than a whisper. Inoue walked over and gave the girl a tender embrace while Ohgi regarded Kallen proudly. Immediately after Naoto's death the girl had come dangerously close to succumbing to her grief and rage. By Shinjuku she was getting better but was still driven by a need to avenge her brother, a need that ultimately led her to assassinate Clovis. The Prince's death seemed to have provided Kallen with a measure of closure seeing as it was Clovis' brutal policies that saw Naoto tortured and executed. Ohgi had originally worried that killing the Prince would only cause Kallen to want more, to succumb to a bloodlust against any member of the Imperial family. That was fortunately turning out not to be the case, something the Japanese cell leader was devoutly grateful for.

"Why do you think you can get in touch with the viceroy?" Ohgi asked as Inoue released the girl.

"Because she's officially enrolled in Ashford even if she isn't actually attending," Kallen said, "and as a member of the student council I should be able to get messages to her relating to official school business. That'll at least help establish initial contact. Also, she and Milly, the student council president, knew each other when they were young. I get the impression that the two still consider each other friends. If I could work out a believable reason, I could probably get Milly to pass on a message or even help introduce me."

Ohgi thought it over carefully. "That, is certainly promising. But I'm still not happy about you putting yourself at risk like that."

"That's why I want to make sure I have an exit strategy," Kallen said, "a quick way of bugging out if things do go south. That's where all of you come in."

Ohgi and Inoue exchanged looks.

"We'll do what we can," Ohgi said, "but remember that Ashford is inside the Concession, even if it's in one of the outer districts. If you can get out of the Concession we can make you disappear pretty easily, but past the checkpoints our options are limited."

"I know," Kallen said. "But it would still be prudent to explore my options."

"Speaking of options," Ohgi said, looking over at Inoue. "How are we on munitions?"

"It's about what we expected," the woman said. "Shinjuku saw us use up a lot of our stock. We have about five magazines worth left for the rifles and twelve for the pistols. Of course the pistols are different calibers so in point of fact we only have about four for each caliber. The rifles at least are all Britannian make and the Britannians standardized on a single caliber for those a long time ago."

"And explosives?" Ohgi asked.

"A couple of grenades, not really anything to write home about."

"What about stuff for the Sutherland?" Kallen asked.

"Just what was left onboard after we escaped," Inoue responded. "It was hard enough getting ammo for the Glasgow but there are enough of those are floating around amongst some of the bigger resistance cells so we could get some ammo and power cells from time to time. A Sutherland is another matter entirely, I'm pretty sure ours is the only one liberated from the Britannian military. The Glasgow also didn't have a rifle, just a pistol, so we don't have any extra ammo for it, and we don't even have a pistol anymore for the Sutherland to use since we lost it in Shinjuku."

Kallen grimaced. "So it's just a big white elephant."

"Not entirely," Inoue said. "We can probably get a replacement pistol, the Sutherland can use any weapon a Glasgow could, same with the rifle ammo. That's all doable without revealing that what we have is a Sutherland. The power cells are another matter entirely however."

"If people found out we were looking for power cells for a Sutherland, they would immediately pin us as the ones in Shinjuku," Ohgi said grimly. "That would attract far more attention than we'd be able to handle."

"I might be able to rig something up to recharge the cells," Inoue said, "but it wouldn't exactly be reliable."

"Make a list of the parts you need," Kallen said. "I'll see if I can get my hands on them in the Concession."

Inoue nodded before glancing back at Ohgi. "In general though we're pretty low on supplies. We won't be running any serious ops with what we have."

"So we need to resupply," Ohgi said.

"Yes, and this is not something that Kallen can get us," Inoue said with a grin at the girl in question.

"Sneaking out fuel rations and concrete's not quite the same as ammunition," Kallen said with a smile of her own.

"And I wouldn't want you to risk it either," Ohgi added pointedly. "This is going to be tricky though, our usual suppliers all seem to be having issues of their own thanks to the crackdown Margrave Gottwald started. Fewer Britannian soldiers willing to offload things, especially weapons, into the black market."

"What about communications gear?" Inoue asked. "A couple of our radios got trashed or needed to be abandoned in Shinjuku as well."

"Possibly," Ohgi said. "I'll ask around, some of the dealers may be sitting on old stock that they haven't offloaded yet. But we might need to consider options outside our usual sources."

Inoue raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to risk that? No telling how trustworthy these other parties might be."

"That risk is always there. But the problem right now is that we're still considered small fry. If we could make contact with, say, the JLF, we might be able to get our hands on a more steady supply line."

"That would be nice," Inoue said wistfully.

"Maybe we should make an approach," Kallen said.

The others looked at her.

"We were the ones that took out the viceroy," she said. "We also fought the Britannian forces to a standstill in Shinjuku until they sent that new white knightmare after us. Shouldn't that count for something?"

Ohgi pursed his lip. "Maybe. But I'm not exactly wild about broadcasting to everyone that we were behind Clovis' death."

"Kallen does have a point though," Inoue said. "And we're definitely one of the few resistance groups with a working knightmare. We may not be in the big leagues ourselves but we're not small fry anymore. We should try to exploit that."

"The question is how do we do that without it coming back to bite us," Ohgi said.

"Too bad we can't do something flashy and claim credit for it," Kallen said. "A few other resistance groups know of us but we still fly under the radar when it comes to the general public."

"Even after sending a Britannian captain running back to the Concession in his underwear all made up?" Inoue said with a smirk.

"Yes, even then," Kallen said with a wistful grin.

Ohgi fidgeted somewhat uncomfortably. As a man he could at least sympathize with what the Britannians had suffered through, even if they deserved it and worse for what they were doing in the ghettos.

"I'll make some inquiries," Ohgi said. "In the meantime we may have to lay low for a bit, or at least keep violence to a minimum for any operations we want to run."

"We still need to figure something out about our supply problem," Inoue pointed out.

"I wonder," Kallen said thoughtfully. "The Britannians have been shipping in a lot of weapons and equipment. Could we make off with maybe, a crate or something?"

"No," Ohgi said immediately.

"The harbor is well guarded," Inoue said. "It's also inside the Concession so even if we could get in and hijack a truck with weapons, we would still have to pass the checkpoints back into the ghetto."

Kallen grimaced. "There has to be some way to get what we need."

"Actually," Inoue said thoughtfully, "We could hit one of the smaller supply convoys the Britannians use to keep their outposts stocked on food and fuel. Those tend to be much more lightly guarded, seeing as what they carry isn't nearly as valuable as munitions."

"How does that help us?" Ohgi asked.

"The food, we could distribute amongst the ghetto districts to raise some more awareness about our cell," Inoue said. "The fuel, there's always a market for fuel. We could probably raise enough cash to get our usual dealers to cough up what goods they still have."

"Maybe, but seeing as we're short on ammunition as it is, would it be cost effective to actually expend more just to hit one of these convoys?" Ohgi pointed out.

"If we play it right we won't need to fire a shot," Inoue said and waved at the knightmare behind them. "We use the Sutherland. It has enough charge for a few hours at least and even without additional weapons it's more than a match for the number of escorts those convoys run with."

Kallen grinned. "I like it." She regarded Ohgi. "You in?"

The man sighed in resignation. "We'll have to scout out a convoy first. And we need to make this count. If we succeed the Britannians will definitely beef up security or merge their smaller supply convoys into larger, better guarded ones."

"Fair enough," Kallen said as she stood. "Let me know when you have a target."

"Where are you going?" Ohgi asked as he watched the girl circle about.

"Need to finish painting the Sutherland," Kallen said, picking up a facemask. "Can't go out there sporting Britannian colors after all."

The two adults chuckled. The Sutherland's legs were already a bright red. There was little doubt it would be ready for its debut.

* * *

"Thy goal seems nigh impossible," C.C. remarked as Kallen worked. "To topple the heretofore puissant Britannian Empire? And thou lacketh even the slightest of vision to achieve thy sweven?"

Kallen glanced back at the other girl. "The goal isn't to defeat Britannia, it's to help the Japanese. Fighting incessantly is only going to make things worse, we need to be more strategic about what we do. For that, we need more information to pick better targets and more supplies so that we can actually hit those targets."

"Oh? And what pray tell would incur thy wrath?"

"There are plenty of Britannians that take advantage of the Japanese or actively hurt them," Kallen said. "That Britannian captain for one. Then there's the lack of food, medicine, all sorts of stuff. There also used to be regular sweeps through the ghettos where the Britannian military would pressgang healthy people to work on construction projects for expanding the concession, but those stopped about a year ago or so after the last expansion was completed. If they start up again, we need to be ready to fight back."

"Hmm, a pittance when thou be athwart Britannia."

Kallen snorted. "You call taking down Prince Clovis a pittance?"

C.C. smirked. "Mayhap. The Emperor possesses no shortage of scions wherethrough his will be done."

"So long as Suzaku wasn't lying about Princess Euphemia, then in some ways we've achieved our objective," Kallen said. "But until then we need to be vigilant and make sure we're ready to act if the Princess tries anything nasty."

"Therewith thou shalt payeth her highness a most final call?"

Kallen's jaw tightened. "Yes."

"Hmm."

"You got something to say?"

"Meseems that thy true enemy be the Emperor himself, not his scions."

"Aim for the Emperor? But he's in the homeland."

"Art thou a lady of quality? Eke, who be the greatest danger to a king?"

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "His heirs."

The smirk turned into a grin. "Aright."

"The Emperor has always promoted a policy of segregation and inequality," Kallen said thoughtfully. "But the Princess Euphemia is pursuing a different method in Japan, assuming Suzaku is telling the truth."

It was an interesting thought, the possibility that the Emperor Charles could be displaced by a more compassionate monarch. Yet from what she knew of the Imperial court anyone who could succeed in ascending the throne would need to be utterly merciless. If Princess Euphemia was truly that ruthless, would she be any better than her father?

"We need more information," Kallen said finally. "That much hasn't changed." This time it was Kallen's turn to smirk. "And Kallen Stadtfeld just might be able to get it."

* * *

The Princess Cornelia's arrival in Area 11 was treated with the appropriate pomp and circumstance though Euphie, knowing her sister well, kept the ceremony to a minimum. As such after a review of the honor guard greeting her Cornelia, Euphie, and their respective entourages entered the waiting cars and drove for the viceroy's palace. The streets were once more lined up with well-wishers, Cornelia likely even more popular than her younger sister thanks to her many visible achievements on the battlefield. The Princess however did her best to mostly tune them out inside the well-insulated car. Her mind was on other matters after all.

"That white knightmare," Cornelia began.

Euphie smiled tolerantly. She knew this would come up eventually, though fortunately her sister had enough tact to not openly convey her displeasure at seeing a Number as a knightmare pilot.

"The Lancelot," Euphie said. "It is a prototype developed by the ASSEC."

"The ASSEC, that's one of Schneizel's think tanks, is it not?" Cornelia said thoughtfully before frowning. "That would mean the Lancelot is a next generation prototype. Why is it being entrusted to an Eleven?"

"Private Kururugi is an Honorary Britannian," Euphie corrected her sister. "And it was Earl Asplund that selected him as the Lancelot's pilot. He apparently determined that no other candidates possessed the aptitude to control the prototype."

"Aptitude?" Cornelia said, eyebrow raised. "That seems highly doubtful."

Euphie glanced over at Jeremiah who grimaced.

"As much as it pains me to admit this, your highness," Jeremiah said, "this, Private Suzaku is undoubtedly skilled. The terrorists that attacked Shinjuku had amongst their number an extremely competent knightmare pilot, one that managed to defeat every knight that engaged him, including myself."

"Are you certain that he did not succeed merely because of the prototype's improved performance characteristics?" Cornelia persisted.

"Have you not always told me that a weapon, no matter how excellent, is useless if wielded by a poor soldier?" Euphie chided.

Her sister, Cornelia recalled, could be very stubborn. But then again that was a quality the two shared.

"If Private Kururugi is truly worthy of piloting a knightmare that assessment should be made by a soldier, not an engineer," Cornelia said.

"Fair enough." Euphie turned to glance over at the other man accompanying them. "General Darlton, would you be so kind as to assess the private's competency?"

Cornelia clucked her tongue. She also needed to remember that what Euphie wanted, she got. And by using Darlton, whom Euphie knew to be a fair and dutiful soldier, she would undercut any future protests by Cornelia unless the marshal wanted to sound like a hypocrite.

"Very well," Cornelia finally conceded before looking over at Darlton himself. "I expect a thorough evaluation of Private Kururugi, general."

"Of course your highness," Darlton said with a nod.

As satisfied as she was going to be on this matter Cornelia turned toward Jeremiah.

"Have there been any more major breeches of discipline since the checkpoint incident?"

"No your highness," Jeremiah replied. "I have implemented a more rigorous accounting of who enters and leaves the Concessions. Individuals serving in the military are registered each them they cross a checkpoint and we are comparing records to see if there is any suspicious movement on their part."

"I have also had my staff begin setting up a system that all people in the Area can use to send in reports about incidences of violence," Euphie said.

"Everyone, including the Elevens?" Cornelia asked.

"Of course. They live under our rule, if we wish them to acknowledge and accept our authority we must take into account their circumstances and needs."

"The Empire has already extended the opportunity for Numbers to have their needs seen to by becoming Honorary Britannians," Cornelia said dismissively. "Those that reject the offer have made clear that they have no intention of ever acknowledging the Empire's rightful authority."

Euphie's eyes narrowed. "Would you ever acknowledge the authority of someone who treats you with so little dignity?"

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Cornelia said frostily.

"We are supposed to be leaders of the Empire, sister," Euphie said. "That responsibility does not end with the conquest of a land and its people, it only just begins. Area 11 is not just the Concession and those that live within it, it is all of what used to be Japan. And yet the Empire barely has a presence in the ghettos." Euphie's eyes hardened. "Why?"

Cornelia said nothing. She knew the reason why, just as her sister did. The Empire simply did not have the manpower to forcibly assert its dominance in the ghettos and so they left those districts more or less rot. It was a failing that polite society within Britannia pretended did not exist as every previous attempt to resolve it usually resulted in significant expenditure of both blood and gold for very little gain. Proposals for solving the problem via greater integration of native populations, while raised, were never seriously considered since it ran counter to the ideals that underpinned the Empire's manifest destiny. But Euphie had never believed in such ideals, Cornelia knew, meaning she would have no reservations with adopting integrationist policy. The marshal however could only see one way that this could end.

"The Emperor would never permit it," she stated.

"If that is the case then he is free to recall me," Euphie replied. "Until then, I remain viceroy with all the responsibilities and privileges it entails."

Cornelia regarded her sister with wary concern. She cared for her greatly but there were some things that Cornelia held to as firmly as Euphie did for her own ideals, one being the unequivocal superiority of Britannia and its people. For her own sister to seemingly disregard that superiority was more than a little troubling. The notion of equality was delusional after all, to think that all people should be treated the same was equivalent to denying the talents and abilities of those that were truly gifted. And a society that repressed those who possessed such gifts might as well be dead thanks to its stagnancy. Surely her sister could understand that much?

"You do not have to agree with me, sister," Euphie said, "and I will never ask you to execute a policy you do not believe with. But I am the viceroy of Area 11 and I am the one that will set the policy. Were I to let someone else dictate it, I would be failing in my duties."

Cornelia felt a slight anger rise within her before squashing it. From anyone else those words would have been a direct insult. From Euphie it was both reassurance and in some ways a plea. Euphie cared about her enough to not want her to do something Cornelia genuinely did not believe in and so her sister was effectively offering her a way out. But doing so would be a very public repudiation of her sister's ideals, something Cornelia would never bring herself to do. Yet the final cost of Euphie living true to her own ideals, Cornelia shuddered to think what it might be. Her sister would not be dissuaded, Cornelia knew that for certain. The only way to ensure Euphie would not fall victim to the politics of the Imperial court was to make her policy so successful that attacking her would be the ruination of any noble foolish enough to attempt it.

"I believe in you, Euphie," Cornelia finally said, "even if I do not always agree with you."

A noticeable tension seemed to be lifted from her sister's shoulders as Euphie took a deep breath. The smile she gave Cornelia however was heartfelt as she slid closer to her sister and leaned against the older woman.

"Thank you, sister. That, means more to me than you can imagine."

Cornelia laid an arm around Euphie, half-embracing the girl. Members of the Imperial family had few people they could lean upon, to provide succor in trying times. Generally the only ones an imperial scion might be able to find comfort from were those siblings that they might be close to. It was why despite any arguments they might have, despite any conflicting ideologies, Cornelia could never be genuinely angry at Euphie and vice versa. It was also why the loss of a cherished sibling was all the more devastating. And so as much as Cornelia was prepared to support Euphie in her plans to extend Britannian authority across more of Area 11, she would still be vehemently hunting for those responsible for Clovis' death. She had already failed to avenge two siblings, she would not fail yet another.

* * *

The funeral for Clovis was grand, befitting a man of his stature. Thousands of mourners lined up to pay their respects for the three days his body was lying in state inside the viceroy's palace. Despite the potential security concerns Euphie had insisted that her brother be placed on the garden roof, a recreation of the Imperial Aries Villa, a place that elicited memories both joyous and heart wrenching for herself, Cornelia, and Clovis himself. On the third day Clovis' casket was lead through the Concession trailed by a caparisoned horse. Both Euphie and Cornelia followed on foot behind, the viceroy in a simple black dress while Cornelia settled for an equally dark suit. To their sides were the Glaston Knights, General Darlton's sons in formal parade dress but armed and charged with ensuring this day would not see the Britannian people given greater reason to mourn.

The walk took about ten minutes in total but it felt like an eternity to Euphie. Every step felt like her shoes were of lead and she barely even noticed the crowds to her sides. Her tears were already shed, her heart steeled for what she would need to do next. The simple truth was that she was cynically taking advantage of Clovis' death to advance her own agenda. Was that wrong? Possibly. But however much she mourned the dead, she herself was still alive. She could not wallow in grief or self-pity, not if she was to prevent more of those she loved from joining Clovis, Lelouch, and Nunnally. No, there would be no more siblings robbed from her. That she swore.

The procession arrived at the magnificent cathedral and the casket was lifted inside. Prayers were said and solace offered by the bishop. And then a large screen was lowered and a live broadcast from Pendragon appeared. The Emperor could not leave the homeland for his son's funeral but he would deign to last least say a few words. Euphie held little expectation for anything sentimental or heartwarming. Bombastic, or perhaps even grandiose, but her father would not waste tears on any of them, this she knew for fact.

On the screen Charles zi Britannia, 98th Sovereign of the Holy Britannian Empire, stepped to the podium. His stern, imposing demeanor was captured almost perfectly by whomever was managing the cameras. It would never do to make the Emperor look bad on live television after all, bad for one's career and just possibly one's health. The Emperor forcefully seized the podium.

"This world that we live in is a world of falsity. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. All of these commandments, lies in the face of reality," the Emperor proclaimed. "They are nothing more than pleas from the weak, who use fictions such as morality and justice to save themselves. But such deceptions are useless in the face of the singular truth of this world, the survival of the fittest. One most overcome and consume all in one's path whether it be wealth, your fellow man, or even the world itself! Only then will the greatness of man be unchained. Britannia will destroy these lies and bring forth absolute truth." Charles' fist rose into the air. "ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!"

Instinctively the soldiers, both those attending the address in Pendragon and those watching in the cathedral, echoed their Emperor.

"All hail Britannia!"

The rest of the audience as applause rippled through the crowds. A distinct sense of unease accompanied it however. Was this truly the most appropriate place for the Emperor to be spouting doctrine? At the funeral of his own son?

From her seat midway through the cathedral Kallen frowned even as she applauded with everyone else. As the daughter of the Stadtfeld family there was absolutely no way she could have missed this and maintained her cover. At the same time coming here had provided useful confirmation. C.C. had been right about one point, the Emperor himself was the true force behind the institutionalized discrimination within the Empire. Regardless of what Princess Euphemia might achieve in Japan, it would all be for naught the moment the Emperor decided it went against his doctrine and imposed his will upon her home. The problem was how one fought someone as distant and powerful as Charles zi Britannia. Kallen watched as the Princess stood and walked toward the stand as the screen receded. She moved with a regal bearing, holding her head high even as her expressions were obscured by the veil. A hushed silence fell as the Princess approached the podium.

Kallen narrowed her eyes, focusing on the woman. And then they widened. What Kallen saw before her was all that she could see, a young woman around her age wearing an austere black dress with her face partially obscured by a veil. Kallen could not see the Princess' breathing, she could not see the woman's eyes, all she could see was what her naked eyes would tell her. The Princess was someone completely blocking the effect of her Geass. That was impossible. Or was it? C.C. was not here and even if she had been this was no place to demand an explanation. That would have to wait as the Princess faced them all for her own speech.

Euphie regarded the audience before her. It would be the first time she ever delivered a public address. The girl took a deep breath.

"I remember, as a child, the concept of death was foreign to me. I remember believing that my family would be with me always, that we would love and be loved by each other for many years to come. Today, I will have bid farewell to three of my family."

All eyes were fixed on her, Euphie saw. She had their rapt attention, something no one could claim about her father's speech.

"It is never enough, when we compare what we have now with what we have not," Euphie continued. "We strive, we desire, but in so doing we live. I see my family, and I see the absence that has grown with the passing of years. I accept that absence not, even knowing I can never have back what is gone. But I desire still, for I am alive."

The strain on Euphie's face was no act and what was visible under the veil was projected with crystal clarity on the screens positioned throughout the cathedral. Every word uttered by the Princess was listened to attentively, the masses sensing that this was a pure, heartfelt moment from the young woman that Euphemia ultimately was. Yet that humanity stirred their hearts beyond what the regality of nobility could ever hope to achieve.

"I will never see my dear brother again nor hear his words or laughter, save for what precious memories I hold within," Euphie said, one hand falling over her heart. "I cannot seek now his solace nor console him in turn. But to him I may still promise, promise that the duty left in my care will be fulfilled. I may still promise that those of us who share his blood, we will not allow more of his blood to be spilled." Euphie turned about to face the casket wherein her brother lay and curtsied. "And when we meet once again dear brother, I ask that you find me true to my words."

End of Chapter 8

This chapter was bloody hard to write. Euphie needs to stop giving goddamn inspirational speeches, they take forever to compose. The other reason is that I'm needing to do way more setup than I had to for _In Tune_. Code Geass' characters were kind of a mess, as I said before in the series their personalities changed based on the dictates of the plot, not the plot advanced based on what actions their personalities would have chosen. If I am to make this a believable story, I need to make sure all the justifications for how the characters act are present instead of relying on my readers to reference the characters from canon because, quite frankly, the canon versions are too inconsistent to serve as references.

Incidentally, I added one more scene to chapter 7. It's a short one meant primarily for humor and doesn't really add anything to the story proper, but I thought it would be amusing after the fact and so tacked it on.

Is Kallen a hypocrite? Hmm, not any more so than any other human being is. I at least don't recall anything from the previous chapter in her little argument with Suzaku that was outright hypocritical. One has to keep in mind that the two are taking very different approaches to trying to achieve the same thing, namely the betterment of the Japanese people. That each approach has a very likely possibility of undermining the other approach in order to make progress should be pretty obvious to everyone who has seen Code Geass. And ultimately, as Kallen pointed out, Suzaku is not a very articulate person. He did a shitty job justifying his actions in the series and that hasn't really changed here. In spite of his lack of a silver tongue Kallen does get what he's trying to do, but as is pretty obvious she doesn't think it's going to work and she isn't willing to stop what she's doing for the sake of something she has no faith in. As is also pretty obvious, Kallen doesn't have any faith in Suzaku himself so even if she thought his idea might work, she's not likely to trust him to be able to pull it off.

Hmm, I suppose at the very end where Kallen gets him to keep his mouth shut might seem hypocritical if someone read it as Kallen using her noble/Britannian status against Suzaku, a Japanese. That part might not have been worded as well as I would have liked, Kallen wasn't threatening him from that angle, she was threatening him with derailing his attempt to show that it was possible to integrate successfully in Britannian society. Is that hypocritical? Maybe. I suppose it all depends on whose approach your own personal ideology leans toward.

Let's see, spoilers. Technically the biggest spoiler is already out there, Euphie succeeds. That's in the story summary after all. The other stuff, well, revealing anything is always a calculated gamble. Whether it's a good or bad idea depends on whether my writing is enticing enough to keep people reading despite knowing what some of the endgame is. Having said that, anyone who thinks that knowing what happens to various characters would allow you to guess what will happen, uh, yeah, go read _In Tune_ and try telling me that I'm that predictable.

That said, I will not be answering any questions regarding what are in the snippets at the start of the chapter. I know at least some people have elected to skip them entirely and so I will not be talking about them in the author notes until the very end.

Hmm, looks like my readers are getting tired of C.C.'s speech pattern faster than I'm getting pissed off at writing them. At this point I'm not likely to switch it simply basically that would cause some dissonance, but I will have a section at the end of each chapter that basically translates every line she has from now on. I may also go back to do the same for previous chapters if I find the time. I'll at least do it for chapter 7 since I'm reuploading that anyway. Note that I'm not offering direct translations, I'm just offering the essential meaning.

Thy goal seems nigh impossible. To topple the heretofore puissant Britannian Empire? And thou lacketh even the slightest of vision to achieve thy sweven? – Your goal seems impossible. To topple the up till now might Britannian Empire? And you lack even the slightest idea of how to achieve your dream?

Oh? And what pray tell would incur thy wrath? – Oh? And what would piss you off?

Hmm, a pittance when thou be athwart Britannia. – Hmm, a mere pinprick against the likes of Britannia.

Mayhap. The Emperor possesses no shortage of scions wherethrough his will be done. – Perhaps. The Emperor has no shortage of children that he can use.

Therewith thou shalt payeth her highness a most final call? – Thereupon you will pay her highness a most fatal visit?

Meseems that thy true enemy be the Emperor himself, not his scions. – It seems to me that your true enemy is the Emperor, not his children.

Art thou a lady of quality? Eke, who be the greatest danger to a king? – Aren't you a noble lady? In addition, who is the greatest danger to a king?

Aright – Correct

Snippet Spoiler: Minimal


	10. Chapter 9

_It is difficult to chronicle the rise of the Empress Euphemia without also documenting the rise of the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki. Although the resistance group the Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki led started out as a minor cell, over time its actions and victories would draw the attention of not only the wider Japanese population but also the Britannian authorities. The first such incidence culminated in a major scandal involving the trafficking of narcotics by certain Britannian officials and nobles. The political fallout of this scandal was immensely useful to the Princess Euphemia, allowing as it did for the removal for many of the old guard in Area 11's hierarchy. From this incident the Princess began to view the various resistance cells as potential resources to be coopted, assets that could attack those political opponents of hers whom were too prominent to move against openly. The ruthlessness this implies surprises many to this day thanks to the careful reputation the Empress cultivated as a fair and just woman. Most historians however agree that the Princess Euphemia would have never ascended the throne without it._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 9: Absit invidia

Kaguya adjusted her clothes once more, the formal Britannian business suit she wore considerably stiffer than the modified kazami she normally wore at home. Showing up for an audience with the new viceroy donning traditional Japanese would have been monumentally stupid politically however so she suffered through the slight chafing of the new suit. The door opened and Kirihara stepped out, leaning against his cane as Senba Ryoga trailed him at a respectful distance. Kaguya stood and bowed to her elder.

"Kirihara-sama."

"Kaguya-sama," the older man greeting her by name but still retaining the respectful honorific.

Kaguya frowned, noticing the slight unease in Kirihara's voice. "Are you feeling ill, Kirihara-sama?"

Did something happen in the meeting with the viceroy, was the unspoken question.

"I am fine," Kirihara said, "thank you for being concerned for an old man such as myself, Kaguya-sama."

Kaguya gave the man a practiced smile so as not to draw any further attention from the Britannian personnel present. After a nod Kirihara walked towards the door. As he passed Kaguya however a hand reached over and gave her arm a squeeze.

"Be careful with the viceroy," the old man whispered before smiling and patting Kaguya's hand as if he were merely saying farewell.

Kaguya continued smiling as she bowed slightly.

"The viceroy will see you now," the secretary said once the antechamber's doors closed behind Kirihara.

"Thank you," Kaguya said with a nod and proceeded towards the office entrance.

Chiba Nagisa followed, sticking a bit closer than her counterpart had for Kirihara, but then again Kaguya was many years her junior and so the lieutenant was likely feeling a bit more protective. The two passed the threshold into a tastefully appointed and relatively cozy room. Kaguya had never visited the viceroy's personal office when Clovis still reigned but something told her the Princess Euphemia had made an explicit decision when she decided on this room for her own office instead of using the one that was supposed to officially serve as her workplace. For one thing, despite having enough space for a sitting area with a pair of coaches and loveseats along with a coffee table and end tables, the room itself was positively tiny compared to the grandiose chambers most Britannian nobles seemed to think were necessary to remind others of their standing and others' insignificance. In here however no space was wasted, every piece of furniture was functional, and even the massive desk the princess sat behind seemed entirely necessary seeing as there were a total of six computer displays on it along with stacks of neatly arranged papers. Along the walls were a few shelves and from the corner of her eyes Kaguya noted that there were books on economics, statistics, a few history texts, and a book of fairy tales? Well, perhaps that was a memento from the princess' childhood, something she was loathe to leave behind due to the memories associated with it. Kaguya could certainly understand that.

A single painting of the emperor hung to the left behind the viceroy though due to its size Kaguya surmised that it was there mostly for the sake of form and not because the Princess actually cared. The photo frame that sat facing towards the Princess on the other hand likely did hold something of sentimental value and Kaguya felt an itch to see what was in it. It was however unlikely that she would find an excuse to walk around the desk to get a view, especially with the dark skinned woman standing sternly behind the Princess. The woman was obviously a soldier, selected to ensure the Princess' safety in case anyone from the NAC was insane enough to try something this day. Seeing as Kaguya was not on a suicide mission however she did her best to ignore the woman and treat her as mere background.

Instead Kaguya fixed her attention on the Princess and bowed at the appropriate distance from the table. The Princess had changed out of her black mourning dress into a still austerely cut business suit. Despite having even less

"Your highness, it is an honor to be summoned."

An amused smile crossed Euphemia's face at the obvious false courtesy, much as a frown appeared on Villetta's. But so long as Kaguya was not overtly rude the Britannian side could not openly express any disapproval.

"Welcome, Dame Sumeragi," Euphie said before glancing over at the woman trailing the girl. "And your assistant would be?"

Kaguya blinked, not expecting the viceroy to pay any attention to her escort, but did not falter.

"This is Ms. Minami Sakurai," Kaguya said and the woman bowed once more. "She has served the Sumeragi family for many years."

"Minami Sakurai," Euphie said, still smiling disarmingly at them. "I shall remember that."

Chiba stiffened slightly and kept her pose rigid. Fortunately Euphie's gaze returned to Kaguya and the woman let out a slight sigh of relief.

"Please, have a seat," Euphie invited.

"Thank you highness."

"Fourteen," Euphie said thoughtfully. "That was about when I first formally entered the Administratum." That smile again. "Though I suppose our responsibilities are not likely to be completely the same."

"You worked in the Administratum, your highness?" Kaguya said curiously.

Euphie nodded. "As an auditor. I examined the various accounts and budgets of the myriad of ministries, operations, and other such subunits of the Empire. I also looked at reports to discern whether there existed issues of efficiency. For all its wealth the resources of the Empire is finite after all and as stewards of the nation We must ensure that losses to waste be minimized."

Kaguya nodded. This was a sentiment she understood and even agreed with, even if the one preaching it was the viceroy responsible for keeping her people under Britannia's heel.

"Tell me Dame Sumeragi," Euphie said, clasping her hands and resting her chin atop them, "what is it that your family does?"

Kaguya blinked. "Your pardon, highness?"

"Your family is involved in the production of sakuradite, that much I know already," Euphie said, "but could that truly be all? Surely all the wealth that comes into your hands is not used simply to maintain your lifestyle?"

A backhanded provocation if Kaguya had ever heard one but ambiguous enough that again she could not openly take offense. This Princess Euphemia was good.

"My family has a variety of interests beyond our core business," Kaguya replied. "Some of our charitable works involve supplying clinics in the wards outside the Concessions so that its residents have access to basic health services."

Services that were denied them by the Britannian government, went the unstated point. Two could play at this game, even if Kaguya risked a great deal more by trying to get a rise out of the viceroy. The smile never left the Princess' expression however. She cocked her head to the side.

"Indeed? An admirable undertaking. Would you happen to have any records of the type of services most in demand? And what requests go unfulfilled due to lack of the necessary supplies, equipment, or qualified personnel?"

The question took Kaguya by surprise but she kept her voice calm. "I would need to consult our records, your highness."

"But such records do exist?" Euphie pressed.

"Yes, they do," Kaguya said in a puzzled tone. Just what was the Princess getting at?

"Excellent," Euphie said. The young woman reached over to press the intercom. "Rachel, has Colonel Frasier arrived?"

"Yes your highness."

"Please send her in."

"At once, highness."

The door opened and a smartly woman in formal military attire walked in. She saluted sharply.

"Colonel Samantha Frasier, reporting as ordered your highness."

"Colonel, I appreciate your punctuality," Euphie said and gestured to the seat next to Kaguya. "Please."

"Thank you highness."

The newly arrived woman paid Kaguya absolutely no mind as she sat down, her attention fixed on the viceroy. Kaguya on the other hand studied her carefully albeit discretely. The eagles on her collar indicated she was a full colonel, not just a lieutenant-colonel but it was the red shield on the woman's armband that really caught Kaguya's attention. The red shield of Eir, the Valkyrie of healing. Colonel Frasier was a member of the Britannian Army Nursing Corps, not a member of the regular Britannian forces.

"Colonel Frasier is organizing the establishment of treatment centers in the outer wards," Euphie explained to Kaguya. "We intend to use the hospitals that are still intact and would welcome your family's input on which buildings are still structurally sound and what services are most urgently needed outside the Concession."

The questions about her family's work made sense now, Kaguya mused.

"Suggested provisions for making sure the supplies intended for these treatment centers all reach their destinations would also be welcome," Euphie added.

And there it was, the other shoe. The Britannians never entirely the NAC and always assumed that the councilmembers possessed some backdoor channels to the various resistance elements. Those suspicions were rarely ever brought up, likely because even the Empire might someday find it useful to have some means of sending discrete messages to those they considered rebels or terrorists. It looked like that someday was today.

"Of course highness," Kaguya said agreeably. "I am sure if the residents outside the Concessions were made aware of what these supplies are intended for, there should be no difficulty in ensuring that they arrive safely at their destinations."

Euphie nodded, accepting the roundabout answer. "Colonel, I believe I asked you to prepare a brief for the first medical treatment site that is to be established."

"Yes your highness," Frasier said, pulling out a data disk. "I have it with me right here."

Euphie gestured to the display mounted on the wall. "Please, could you provide us with a précis?"

"Of course your highness."

The colonel walked over to the display and inserted the disk into the computer hooked up to it. The display came to life and after a minute or so of setup a map of Tokyo appeared. Specifically, a ward within the Tokyo Greater Metropolitan Area. Euphie frowned slightly.

"That is, the Shinjuku ward?" the Princess said.

"Correct, your highness," Frasier said with an apologetic look. "The Shinjuku ward is right next to the Concession and thus significantly reduces the distance that would need to be traversed in order to deliver supplies. In addition, there is a hospital campus especially suited to our needs."

"Oh? And which one would that be?"

Frasier zoomed into a coordinate on the map. "The former site of the Keio University Medical College. Most of its buildings are still intact and could be put into working order with a little effort. In fact there appears to be a sort of community medical center using the buildings now."

Euphie glanced at Kaguya. "Is that one of the clinics your family supports, Dame Sumeragi?"

Kaguya needed to think about that for a moment. "I believe we have provided supplies to them in the past, yes, your highness. I would need to consult our records on whether they have received support recently."

"If there is someone in your household who has interacted with those running the community clinic, I would appreciate if you could make them available to Colonel Frasier's team to help facilitate the establishment of a more formal hospital," Euphie said. "Or rather, the reestablishment of the hospital."

"I will look into the matter, your highness," Kaguya promised.

"Excellent." Euphie nodded to the colonel. "Please, continue."

"Yes your highness." Frasier turned slightly toward the monitor. "As a university campus, not all of the buildings were designed to serve as treatment centers. Your highness has specified a target of 1000 beds," both Kaguya and Nagisa inhaled sharply at that, an act more or less ignored by the Britannians in the room, "and I have selected the buildings clustered around the main gate for the wards. The community clinic is likely already using some of the rooms, but with a rotating schedule to shift patients out of the old rooms as refurbishment is completed in others, we should see minimal disruption of current treatment services."

"Very good colonel," Euphie said. "And have you had success in finding the necessary personnel?"

"Yes your highness," Frasier said. "At present I have seventy-three physicians whose credentials we have managed to verify and another twenty-six whose records were lost in the war but whom based on interviews demonstrate in-depth knowledge that indicates their qualifications are likely real. We also have one hundred twenty-six verified nurses and sixty-nine unverified but likely qualified individuals. Then of course there are likely to be individuals already practicing at the clinic. Assuming they are willing to stay, staffing the hospital should be feasible even if personnel are a bit stretched."

Now that was interesting, Kaguya noted. That all sounded like the hospital itself would be staffed by Japanese. A not entirely unreasonable proposition seeing as the people living in the ghettos were unlikely to look kindly upon a large number of Britannians suddenly overrunning one of their few community centers.

"Still, all around very promising," Euphie said. "Very good work, colonel."

Frasier nodded at the praise. "Thank you highness."

"Dame Sumeragi's family is also supposed to have records of the type of services most requested at the clinic and the usage rates of various supplies," Euphie said. "Would those be helpful in determining prioritization and rationalization of what supplies to deliver?"

"Immensely, your highness," Frasier said. "I had originally thought simply to provide proportional quantities based on usage patterns at hospitals within the Concession and my own experience with battlefield medicine, but if we have hard numbers we should be able to better balance the initial delivery of supplies and subsequent weekly deliveries."

"I trust your family would be willing to share those records, Dame Sumeragi?" Euphie asked.

Kaguya nodded, not that she had a choice. "Yes, your highness."

"Is there anything else you believe we should be made aware of at this time, colonel?" Euphie said to Frasier.

"There is one last matter your highness, involving the security of the site," Frasier said.

Nagisa's expression flickered ever so slightly.

Euphie nodded for the woman to go ahead. "Please."

"I am afraid your highness' instructions for a predominantly Honorary Britannian security detail has been, difficult to fulfill," the colonel said. "The majority of such units tend to be commanded by officers of, less than excellent standing and discipline and unfortunately it is extremely difficult to determine which units are simply saddled with poor leaders and which genuinely deserve their low readiness scores."

Euphie nodded. "An excellent point, and one I should have considered. The reorganization of the military will however take time and I do not know when appropriate units might be ready."

"We will need security of some sort your highness," Frasier said. "Notwithstanding the personal safety of our patients, the medical supplies are valuable and we must ensure that they are not lost to petty theft."

"A suggestion if I may, your highness?" Kaguya found herself speaking up.

Euphie looked over at the girl again. "Yes, Dame Sumeragi?"

Kaguya considered very carefully her next few words. "My family, and those of the other councilmembers on the NAC, may be able to provide personnel from amongst our own retainers to help secure the hospital. All of them are also Honorary Britannians."

There it was, Kaguya was offering her own people to help with this endeavor. It was pretty obvious that the viceroy wanted greater participation in society by the Japanese and this hospital, and others like if it this first one proved successful, would serve as a positive role model for the residents of the ghettos that were unwilling to become Honorary Britannians. At a more abstract level though the Princess' plan would only work if the Japanese saw that the people working in the hospital were more than simply laborers at the beck and call of the Empire. And while accepting Kaguya's offer would not really mean anything to the people of the street, it would be an indication to the NAC that the Princess really did want to engage with the Japanese people.

Euphie tilted her head slightly. "That would be a possibility, though any candidates would need to be properly vetted. Do you foresee any problems, colonel?"

"No highness. As such retainers are ultimately responsible to the councilmembers of the NAC I believe they could be entrusted with this particular task while the military's reorganization is in progress."

"Very well, your kind offer is accepted, Dame Sumeragi, I thank you for your consideration."

Kaguya bowed slightly in her seat. "You are most welcome, highness. House Sumeragi will put its all into supporting this noble endeavor."

On this Kaguya was entirely honest. The Six Houses could not attempt to undermine something like this without severely undercutting popular support for the liberation movement. Even if the viceroy's ultimate goal with this endeavor was to eventually subsume of the Japanese people into Britannian society. The good that this hospital could do however, the number of lives it might improve, that was immeasurable. The Princess had chosen something that was effectively inviolate as the opening move of her campaign to win the hearts of the Japanese people. Kaguya could not help but shiver slightly. Little wonder Kirihara had warned her to be careful around the Princess.

The presentation by the colonel came to an end and the woman departed after receiving Euphie's thanks once more. The conversation then moved to the sitting area and servants entered with a tea service. To Kaguya's surprise green tea was one of the options she could have chosen. The girl however erred on the side of caution and asked for black, eliciting a playful smile from the princess. It was hard to tell when the princess was being polite versus testing Kaguya. Yet as the conversation turned to things like Kaguya's own education, her upbringing, and Euphie compared the girl's experiences to her own, the Sumeragi head found herself relaxing more and more. By the time Kaguya departed the smile she gave Euphie in their parting was actually genuine. Charisma, it was something the viceroy had in spades.

As the door closed and Kaguya and Nagisa settled into the car, the JLF officer finally spoke.

"Sumeragi-dono, do you truly intend to cooperate with the viceroy's hospital project?"

Kaguya regarded the woman. "Do you believe I should not, Lieutenant Chiba?"

"It, is not my place to say," Nagisa said cautiously, "but the goal of this project is obvious. The viceroy intends to use it as a way of garnering support from amongst the ghetto residents for incorporation into the Empire, to weaken support for independence."

"That is likely true," Kaguya agreed. "The problem, lieutenant, is that the viceroy does not really need my cooperation on this endeavor. She will proceed regardless of whether my retainers help provide security. Furthermore any attempts to actively sabotage this project would have a direct, detrimental impact on the residents of the Shinjuku ghetto. Sacrifices must be made in the struggle for independence, of course, but to be so callous in demanding them from others? That path leads to our eventual ruin."

"It is as you say, Sumeragi-dono," Nagisa said reluctantly.

Kaguya smiled gently at Nagisa. "Do not fear, lieutenant, the Six Houses' support for the JLF and all those who fight for Japan's liberation will not waver merely because the viceroy has demonstrated a token of goodwill to our people."

"But what of the next token, your grace?" Nagisa asked before clapping a hand over her mouth and bowing. "My apologies, that was impudent of me."

"It is fine," Kaguya assured the woman even as she thought it over. The older woman did have a point after all. "Consider, Lieutenant, what it would mean if the Japanese were allowed to reclaim our name and our rights within the Empire. In that case, what would we be fighting for?"

Nagisa's mouth moved wordlessly as she struggled to answer. Eventually the woman gave up and gazed at Kaguya silently.

"We may well have to ask ourselves this if the Princess Euphemia is genuine in her efforts," Kaguya said. "Well, I admit that it is unlikely, but one never knows. Still, best that we start pondering it now than find ourselves making hasty decisions if the time ever comes."

Sumeragi Kaguya was, despite her youth, a remarkable person, Nagisa decided. In some ways so was the Princess Euphemia li Britannia. As the car continued on its way back to the Sumeragi estate Nagisa pondered the question set before her. What would there to be fight for if the Japanese were allowed to be Japanese within the Empire?

* * *

Kallen burst into her room and slammed the door shut tight, causing C.C. to glance over from the sofa. The girl was munching away at a bag of chips while watching some soap opera on TV. Kallen placed herself between said TV and C.C., hands on her hips.

"We need to talk."

"Egad," C.C. said lazily, "and what hast thou so mazed?"

"Is it possible for someone to be immune to my power?"

C.C. smirked. "Hast thou truly not attempted to use thy gift upon moi?"

Kallen blinked. And blinked again. The girl leaned in and narrowed her eyes. Shortly after they widened.

"I can't read you."

"Verily," C.C. said dryly.

"Why is that," Kallen demanded.

"I be the one whom granted thee thy gift," C.C. said. "Doust thee think I be so drab as to permit thee to turn thy gift against me?"

That Kallen had to admit was a good point.

"Natheless," C.C. said, straightening and staring Kallen in the eye, "thy worry seems to be aimed at another. Whom else hast thy gift failed upon?"

Kallen grimaced. "The Princess. I tried to get a read of her during the funeral ceremony, but I couldn't get anything off of her. Does that mean she has the same power as you? The power to grant other people, powers?"

"Hmm," C.C. hummed. "Tis unlikely. More probable be that her highness was gifted by another."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "Another? There's someone else out there like you?"

C.C. smirked. "And what doust thee believe, milady?"

The red haired girl ground her teeth. "Listen you, you said you're here to help me, right?"

"We have a pact," C.C. corrected. "For fulfilling mine wish, thou hast my aid."

"But you still haven't told me what the blazes your wish is!" Kallen exclaimed.

"Pore on it," C.C. said. "Whether thou art capable of fulfilling mine wish remains to be seen. Thou must proveth thyself alone in that."

"Your wish, involves this power, this Geass?" Kallen said questioningly. "Then does that mean you aren't going to answer any of my questions about the Geass?"

"Hmm, twould be unjust should I remain entirely silent, hereat thou might become silly at a most importunate moment. Ask, and I shall answer at my whim."

"Like that's any different than usual," Kallen muttered before sighing. "So the Princess, is there a way to definitively figure out if she has a power, a Geass?"

"Should her highness utilize her Geass, perhaps thou might sense it."

"And would her Geass be like mine?"

C.C. shook her head. "The Geass manifests uniquely for each whom receiveth its gift. Though soothly, a distinction mayhap be difficult to discern when regarding the effect."

"So it might work differently, but someone else's Geass could basically allow them to do the same thing as me."

"Aye."

Kallen paced back and forth in her room. If that was the case, if there were other people with the Geass, that could seriously complicate things if more of them showed up in Japan. She came to an abrupt halt before C.C.

"How many other people have you granted the Geass to?"

C.C. regarded the girl thoughtfully, tilting her head side to side. At first Kallen thought the girl was mocking her again but the hardness of C.C.'s eyes indicated otherwise.

"None should pose a threat to thy goal," C.C. finally said, fixing Kallen with her stare. "But know this, should a past contractor dare intrude upon thy path, twould be thou whom I shall lend my aid."

And that was as much as Kallen would get out of the girl as C.C. laid back down so that she could look around the redhead at the TV. Kallen spent a few moments scowling at C.C. but knew that her displeasure would not move the enigmatic girl. Yet one thing that stuck out at the end there was C.C.'s explicit siding with her. Casting her lot with Kallen was not that surprising in and of itself, but the fact that C.C. did so explicitly against a past, contractor, suggested that there were others running around possessing the Geass. Others that might be enough of a threat that she would need C.C.'s help dealing with them. That was more than a little unsettling. And if Princess Euphemia was not one such past contractor, then who had given her a Geass? C.C. seemed unwilling to divulge this information, at least so long as said source did not start interfering with Kallen's own life. But the girl's instincts told her that such a crossing of paths was inevitable. This source must have been within Britannia and Kallen had made the Empire her enemy. One way or another she would eventually face this force. Only the Fates might discern just what how that battle would end.

* * *

The three semi-trailer trucks rolled through the quiet eve of the countryside with a pair of Humvees leading and trailing respectively. It was a small escort but then again they were not expecting any trouble. The convoy was only carrying rations and parts after all, the only weapons were the ones the soldiers themselves were carrying. Even the drivers were unarmed. The run promised to be entirely routine and so the soldiers in the two Humvees barely paid attention to the rolling countryside. They were not entirely sleeping on the job however, the driver certainly needed to keep his eyes on the road. That was perhaps why the first warning the convoy had of trouble was the driver of the lead Humvee slamming down on the brakes even as he cursed. Not that it did much good as something slammed down on the hood of the Humvee and neatly flipped the vehicle up. More screams sounded but the vehicle did not flip over entirely. Instead very large fingers gripped the roof of the car and pushed it down over onto its side, leaving the only doors accessible atop while also neatly blocking the road.

The soldiers within the first Humvee were still trying to untangle themselves when crunching mental sounded again behind their position, indicating that the trailing escort had met a similar fate. A head appeared in the broken window above them and leveled a rifle at the soldiers.

"Don't move," the man ordered.

Another figure appeared, also bearing a weapon. Considering the confined space and their own lack of preparedness the Britannian soldiers wisely held their hands up, as best they could.

A few minutes later, a few more minutes than Kallen was really happy with, the Britannians were pulled out of their mangled Humvees and forced to huddle up. Their weapons and gear were confiscated so they were left with only their fatigues. The drivers interestingly enough were all civilians and obviously unused to being put in such circumstances seeing as how they fidgeted. Kallen did not bother wasting any sympathy on them however.

"Here's the deal," Kallen said over the knightmare's loudspeaker. "We've got what we came for and we're prepared to let all of you go alive. However we're not about to let you just phone home and call for backup to try to pick us off as we're leaving." The knightmare's hand opened to reveal the intact radio pack. "We'll be taking this with us and leave it two kilometers out from here next to the road. After you find the radio it's up to you what you do, but we'll be long gone and you're in the middle of nowhere so try to get your priorities straight."

The Britannians looked at her with a mixture of shock and resentment but none made a move. They were not that stupid at least. Looking over Kallen saw Inoue give her a thumbs up, indicating the woman had not found any tracker beacons on the trucks. Kallen proceeded to shove the wrecked Humvees off the road and the semis were turned around to head back for the city. The cell's own vehicles formed up to create a more ragtag escort but out here they were unlikely to run into opposition. Still they kept an eye on the Britannians until they were out of sight. Only then did Kallen roll her knightmare into the truck that had brought it here. Needless to say she did this while the truck was still moving, they did not have time to waste stopping and starting up again.

"Nicely done," Ohgi said over the radio. "I'd say that was a successful debut for the red knight."

Kallen snorted. "Not exactly dramatic, pulling a highway robbery."

"But we got what we came for and that's what's important," Ohgi said. "Remember-"

"Keep the big picture in mind," Kallen finished for the man. "Yeah, I got it."

In the truck Ohgi exchanged knowing smiles with Inoue. Some things about the girl was never going to change.

Several hours later the trucks rolled into Ohgi's warehouse, all indications being they had escaped clean.

"Alright, let's crack them open and see what we've got," Ohgi ordered.

The cell members quickly unlocked the trailers and began pulling out the crates. Much of it was food as expected but Inoue almost squealed as they pulled out spare parts for radios. There was also a smattering of medical supplies, bandages and painkillers and the like.

"A decent haul," Ohgi said as he looked over one of the meal, ready to eat (MRE) rations. "If nothing else we'll be able to distribute some food to a few of the community centers. There's always military rations floating around."

"I could use a couple of crates for the Keio hospital," Inoue said. "We've been getting a lot of patients due to what happened in Shinjuku."

Ohgi nodded. "Take whatever you need."

"Oi, boss man, get over here!" Tamaki called from one of the other trailers.

Ohgi frowned and walked over, followed by Inoue and Kallen. "What is it?"

Tamaki held up a container holding some sort of translucent brown liquid. "Wadda ya make of this?"

Ohgi took the container and looked it over but before he could reply Inoue sucked in her breath. The others glanced over at her.

"You know what this is?" Ohgi asked.

A look of righteous anger suffused Inoue's expression. "I'm not one hundred percent sure, but that looks like Refrain."

Eyes widened all around her and soon enough all shared her anger.

"Is there a way to safely find out?" Ohgi asked.

"Give me a sample," Inoue said, "a small sample. I'll get it tested at the hospital."

"Alright. Tamaki, find a clean bottle or something and pour some out for Inoue."

"Roger that."

As the other man walked over Ohgi turned to Inoue and Kallen.

"If that really is Refrain, then why was it in that convoy?" the man wondered aloud.

"At a guess? They were sneaking it out to sell," Inoue said. "Someone at that base has to be a dealer, or at least a middleman."

Ohgi grimaced. "That's not good. That much Refrain, what do you think the street value is?"

Inoue walked over to look at the single crate. None of the others around it held any more vials.

"Probably a couple hundred thousand pounds," the woman said. "The question is what will we do with it."

"I don't like this," Ohgi said. "I'd prefer to just destroy it, something vile like that, we can't risk it getting out onto the streets or being caught with it."

"We need to stamp it out at the source," Kallen said, "find out who the intended recipient was."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Ohgi said.

Kallen glanced over at Ohgi.

"No. No, you are not going anywhere near that place," Ohgi said.

Inoue looked at the two in confusion. "What?"

"Nothing," Ohgi said, rubbing his temples. "Inoue, get your sample checked out. We'll figure out our next step after we've actually confirmed this is Refrain."

"Alright," Inoue said, though she cast a questioning look at them as she walked off.

Once she was out of earshot Kallen turned to Ohgi.

"Get me within a kilometer of that place and I can find who the recipient is," Kallen hissed. "You know I can."

"Don't you remember what I said about being careful about when to use this power?" Ohgi countered.

"And this isn't important? Ohgi, someone at that outpost is peddling Refrain. We need to do something about it."

"We're too short on supplies," Ohgi insisted. "We're-"

"Ohgi," Kallen said very flatly. "I am going. If need be I'll go with just C.C. You can either come along and watch my back or you can sit out of this, but you _cannot_ stop me from doing this."

"Damn it Kallen this isn't a game," Ohgi said vehemently.

"No, it's war, and to win a war we have to take risks," Kallen said. "We can't keep playing it safe, not if we actually want to win. You said you'd stop trying to pamper me, was that a lie?"

Ohgi ground his teeth. "That wasn't a lie, Kallen, but there are necessary risks and unnecessary risks. What you're talking about is-"

"What I'm talking about is taking down a major drug trafficking ring," Kallen cut him off. "You need to get your priorities straight, Ohgi. Me or Japan. Who do you care more for? Your country or your best friend's little sister? Cause there may well be a time when you have to make that call and if you hesitate you're liable to lose both."

"Kallen-"

"It doesn't even have to be choosing Japan over me," Kallen pressed on. "You could choose me over Japan, but you need to resolve this now. Otherwise you're putting all of us at even more risk by being indecisive. We need a leader who knows what he wants Ohgi, a leader that loves us but is still willing to send us out to our deaths."

Ohgi grimaced. "I don't know if I can do that Kallen."

"Naoto could," Kallen said, her own grimace making clear saying that was as painful for her as it was for Ohgi to hear. "I'm going to run this op, Ohgi. I'd appreciate your help with the planning and execution, but I'm doing this with or without your support."

Kallen walked off leading Ohgi trying to grapple with his internal turmoil. Everything Kallen said was true and it ate at him. But the thought of putting the girl, Naoto's little brother, into ever greater danger was almost unbearable. True in the Shinjuku operation she had been in the thick of things but that was when they were desperate, when the fear of a poison gas attack on the Japanese population demanded they do whatever was necessary to stop it. And then it turned out that there was no poison gas, that they had risked it all for nothing. The doubts had crept in afterward and were still hanging in the back of Ohgi's mind. But Kallen was right, if he continued hesitating like this he was liable to get them all killed because he couldn't make a hard call. So why was he still not able to make a decision?

* * *

The field Suzaku found himself standing on was fairly Spartan, not entirely surprising seeing as militaries worldwide tended to admire practicality over aesthetics. This was true even for the Britannian army with its officer corps packed with nobles, though from the few rare glimpses Suzaku had seen of the officer's lounge there were some amenities those of commissioned rank enjoyed that could be termed extravagant.

Boots sounded against the tracks and Suzaku stiffened as a man in the combat dress of a Britannian general approached. Lieutenant-General Andreas Darlton, Marshal Cornelia li Britannia's direct subordinate and confidante, one of the most decorated officers in the Britannian Army. He was the one that had summoned Suzaku here for reasons the young man could only guess at. Considering the scowl upon the face of the general and the four men accompanying him it was not likely to be good. Nevertheless the man was Suzaku's superior so he saluted smartly.

"Private Kururugi, reporting as ordered sir."

Darlton looked over Suzaku with a barely concealed expression of disdain. Suzaku knew of the general's reputation and had hoped that a man that adopted orphans and granted them the opportunity to become knights of the Empire might be fairer and more open minded. That was perhaps a naïve hope after all considering the general's familiarity with Marshal li Britannia.

"Suzaku Kururugi," Darlton said flatly. "The ASEEC has deigned to allow you to pilot a knightmare, an honor generally reserved for those that prove themselves worthy of the title of knight within the Empire."

Suzaku tried to hide his trepidation. He had expected something like this to eventually happen, there was bound to be dissatisfaction and resentment at a Japanese for being allowed to pilot a knightmare, even if it was a prototype. Lloyd's status as a noble would have offered some protection, loathe as Suzaku was to use his connections like that, but the one confronting him now was Darlton, a noble in his own right and confidante of Princess Cornelia. Unless Lloyd was prepared to lean on Princes Schneizel himself, it was unlikely the Earl could shield Suzaku in this instance. He needed to come through this with his own strength.

"Yes sir," Suzaku replied respectfully.

Darlton began circling the young man. "The requirements for knighthood are extensive, one must be fit within both body and spirit. The Earl may be a noble but it is not his prerogative to excuse you of those requirements."

Suzaku said nothing. In the military you did not speak your mind unless invited to, that much he had enough sense to understand.

"Glaston Knights," Darlton said, having come full circle around Suzaku.

"Sir!" the four men cried together in response.

"Four laps around the track, on the double."

"Sir!"

The four shot off, breaking out into a flat out run instead of a steady jog. Darlton regarded Suzaku.

"It would behoove you not to be last, Private."

"Sir!" Suzaku shouted before dashing off after the others.

In the end Suzaku was not last, though he was certainly not first. The Glaston Knights were regarded as the cream of Princess Cornelia's personal unit and a simple run of a mile was child's play for them. The pace they set saw Suzaku going all out to keep up and he had just managed to achieve third when the laps came to an end. That was however the extent of his ability however as the knight in first place had half a lap ahead of the one in second, who had a quarter at least on Suzaku himself. The boy was panting heavily as he reached the end, barely able to stand.

"Fifty pushups, now!" Darlton shouted.

"Sir!"

Suzaku fell in line with the others and began furiously bobbing up and down. The muscles in his arms soon shared the burning sensation with those of his legs but at least it was a different part of his body being exercised. This time all of them were moving in sync, the lead knight setting a brisk pace that seemed incredulous to the young man. He kept up however and even managed to do so without cutting corners. Not that his arms were feeling particularly grateful about that.

"Sit ups, a hundred!"

"Sir!"

Where the others were finding the breath to shout so loudly Suzaku had no idea. He tried his best to emulate them though his own cry was a mere rasp at this point. Halfway through Suzaku felt his abs starting to cramp up. By the hundredth the boy felt as if he was going to throw up. He was barely back on his feet when the next command came.

"Squat thrusts, fifty!"

He was going to die. That was Suzaku's conclusion as he dropped down, thrust his legs out into a push up pose, before retracting them into a squat and jumping up. Things became a complete blur and Suzaku felt his body become incredibly light. Or perhaps it was just his head that was feeling light. Either way when the final count of fifty sounded Suzaku almost went down for another squat thrust before his brain caught up with his ears and forced his body to stiffen up into an at attention pose once more. About the only consolation in all this was the Glaston Knights were also breathing heavily at this point. If they were not feeling it by now they would have been absolutely inhuman.

"Bartholomew," Darlton said.

"Sir!"

One of the knights immediately walked over and picked up two swords. One he presented to Darlton himself, the other was thrust into Suzaku's hands.

"En garde, Private," Darlton said as he unsheathed the blade.

Suzaku hastily did the same, noting that the blade was not dulled. He clasped the handle with both hands, eliciting a frown from Darlton.

"The sword is not a katana, Private," Darlton chided. "Attempt to wield it like one and you will only end up hurting yourself."

Suzaku grimaced, knowing the General was right. He had however instinctively gone into the pose thanks to those early years under Toudou's mentoring. Suzaku released one hand and shifted his stance.

Darlton nodded. "Till first blood."

The General glanced over at Bartholomew. The man raised his hand.

"Read?"

Suzaku tensed.

"Begin!"

Darlton lunged forward, thrusting his blade at Suzaku's center. The boy deflected the strike and tried to land one of his own. Despite his size however Darlton was amazingly agile, twirling his sword about and deflecting Suzaku's swing. Before the young man realized what was happening Darlton was inside his guard and slammed a fist into his chest. The wind knocked out of him, Suzaku stumbled back even as he desperately raised his blade to shield himself. Darlton effortlessly parried aside the feeble swings but did not move in for the kill. The reprieve gave Suzaku time to recover and his movements regained some of their original vigor. He was still on the defensive however as Darlton kept advancing on him.

Opening up the distance between the two, Suzaku readjusted his stance once more. The General was a frighteningly competent swordsman, easily surpassing any of the instructors Suzaku had had since joining the Britannian military. He might well be a match for Toudou-sensei himself. Furthermore Suzaku was already worn down from all the running about, negating a big chunk of the traditional advantage a younger man's endurance might confer against an older opponent. Perhaps that was the entire point of the previous exercises, to push Suzaku to his limits before Darlton finished him off. The boy's grip on his sword tightened. He would not fall here, he would not give the General the satisfaction of such a lopsided victory. Suzaku cried and charged, eliciting a look of surprise from the General. That surprise did not last long however as Darlton executed a lateral slash against Suzaku's unguarded side. The boy however angled his own blade, catching Darlton's sword and using the point of contact to pivot around. Suzaku spun, using his momentum to slam his fist into the General's side. Darlton gasped in pain as he stumbled back, trying to disengage his sword from Suzaku's. The boy shoved the General's weapon aside before slashing downward with his own.

"Halt!"

And stopped just a hair's width from slamming the blade through the man's shoulders.

"Winner by first blood, General Darlton!"

Suzaku blinked. "What?"

Darlton straightened and pushed aside Suzaku's blade with his own, the glint of the sword mixed with the red of blood.

"Look at your hand, boy."

Suzaku looked down and gasped. There was a gash on the back of his hand. When had that happened? The young man was still staring at his wound when Bartholomew stepped forward to retrieve the sword. Suzaku handed it numbly over.

"You have the strength of body," Darlton said, causing Suzaku to look up. "You have the strength of spirit."

Suzaku's eyes widened.

"Perhaps someday you will have the strength of mind to go along with them," Darlton continued as he finished wiping his sword and sheathed it. "Do not disappoint, Private Kururugi. Her highness has placed immense faith in your qualities."

Suzaku stiffened and snapped a salute. "Yes sir!"

"Have your wound looked at," Darlton ordered. "The viceroy requests your presence this afternoon at 1400 hours. Do not be late."

"Yes sir!" Suzaku repeated.

Three hours later after his hand was stitched up under the watchful eye of an obviously disapproving Cécile Suzaku was ushered into the viceroy's office once more. It was his second time seeing the place and he noted the changes. A lot more papers were on the Princess' desk now, along with several shelves packed with books. This was truly becoming a place of work for the viceroy.

"Private Kururugi," Euphie said with a gentle smile. "I hope you will forgive General Darlton for the injury you suffered this day. There have been parties that expressed, dissatisfaction, with your current position, and so I requested the General to conduct an informal evaluation."

That made sense, Suzaku thought to himself. If he gained the General's approval that would help relieve some of the direct pressure that could be applied against him. Reducing the indirect pressure was a whole other matter but every bit helped. Suzaku bowed.

"I hold no ill will toward the General, your highness," he said. "Please convey my thanks to him for what he has done for me this day. And I of course thank you, your highness, for your consideration."

Euphie nodded, accepting the boy's gratitude. "You are welcome, Private, but if you wish to truly thank me, then continue to remain dutiful to the Empire."

"Of course highness," Suzaku said, though deep down that dutifulness was to the Princess herself instead of the Empire at large.

"There was one other matter that I wished your input upon," Euphie said. "You served as a member of the regular Britannian military alongside other Honorary Britannians."

Suzaku nodded even though it pained him slightly to recall his slaughtered comrades. He did not hold it against Kallen for fighting as hard as she could down there, especially seeing as she too lost people in Shinjuku. But of his squad he was the only survivor and a large chunk of the platoon he was part of had fallen as well.

"Yes your highness," Suzaku nevertheless said.

"Then might I impose upon you to make some recommendations for competent and loyal Honorary Britannians that could be entrusted with a special task?" Euphie asked.

Suzaku blinked. "May I, ask what that task is, your highness?"

"Certainly," Euphie said. "I am endeavoring to extend public services into the wards outside the Concession. The first step of my plan is the establishment of formal hospitals in the wards so that its residents may have access to health services. These hospitals however will need some protection, until at least the rule of law is more firmly established, and I believe that deploying Honorary Britannians as security would create considerably lower tension than deploying regular Britannian units."

Suzaku blinked again. "You're, opening hospitals in the wards? Uh, pardon me your highness, I do not mean to doubt."

Euphie smiled reassuringly at Suzaku. "Your surprise is excusable, Private, seeing how little past administrations have done for the wards. I however consider their redevelopment a major priority if Area 11 is to ever become a full and productive member of the Empire."

Suzaku tried to keep his elation under control. The Princess was doing exactly he had hoped she would when they first met. She was reaching out to the Japanese, engaging them with dialogue and offering help instead of demanding submission and treating them as menials.

"Of course highness," Suzaku said. "Umm, if you could give me a day or so, I can come up with a list of people I knew back in the army that I believe are trustworthy and loyal."

"Excellent," Euphie said. "Your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated, Private Kururugi. I hope that you will continue serving as an example of what can be achieved."

Suzaku nodded firmly. "I will highness. And, thank you for giving all of us a chance."

As Suzaku departed after his dismissal Euphie sank back into her chair. She was manipulating the young man to a certain extent, playing his idealism to her advantage. Yet Euphie felt little guilt about it. She did want to help the Japanese after all and she did believe that successful integration of Area 11 required that its original residents be accorded greater standing and rights. Yet she needed to tread carefully. She must never give the impression that Area 11 might ever be allowed its independence. Self-rule, on Britannia's terms, possibly, but never outright independence. That would be political suicide of the highest magnitude within the Empire and Euphie herself did not really believe that the various Areas would be better off separated from the Empire. Most were all too likely to succumb to the disease of populism and eventually keel over under tyranny of another sort, of the unruly masses. Better that the Empire be guided by a firm but benevolent hand. The time was coming after all, when she herself would need to demonstrate her firmness. For now however benevolence was still paying dividends. There was as yet no need to remove the silken glove to reveal the iron fist.

End of Chapter 9

I had considered naming this chapter Absit inuria instead but switched it to Absit invidia on reflection.

Whenever I need to write dialogue for C.C. I try to channel Holo. Which may be a tad ironic seeing as Holo's VA is actually Kallen's, not C.C.'s.

The tricky part with Kallen in this story is that, if she is to become what all of you believe to be the Zero of this story, she needs to take on an actual leadership role. In the canon anime she never actually led beyond the small unit level, she never made any strategic decisions so to speak. It was always someone else pointing her at an enemy. If she is to become Zero, as some of you keep speculating, she has to start making decisions for herself. If she becomes Zero, that is. I'll leave the direction I'm taking with her open to speculation.

Ohgi in the original series did not impressive me very much. Or at least his characterization didn't. He was indecisive as all hell and clearly way over his head in a lot of situations. This was especially evident in the latter part of the second season. Again, problematic/lack of character development that was prevalent throughout the entire series can probably be blamed here. But overall he wasn't an entirely impressive character. And then there was that really contrived Villetta subplot with him. How the blazes do you not recognize the second in command of the Purist faction.

Writing Euphie, my version of her at least, is actually pretty fun, as indicated by her taking up I think over half the chapter. There is a certain degree of uncertainty that I want to display about how 'good' Euphie is. In the anime she was kind of the sickeningly sweet variety where she was literally too nice to everyone. That wasn't believable even before the whole SAZ idea. Anyway, I leave it up to you to guess what her long term goal is. Some of you seem to have come to conclusions as to what Kallen and Euphie's relationship will be based on an earlier 'spoiler.' Let's see how certain all of you remain about those conclusions with this chapter.

One aside, from here on out during conversations involving Britannian characters they will be referring to the ghettos as wards. I've changed this in previous instances in my draft and I may go back in a definitive version to fix this in the uploaded versions, but I just wanted to call out this change.

Anyway, back to _In Tune_ before I work on the next chapter for this. As always feedback would be appreciated.

C.C.'s translations.

Egad, and what hast thou so mazed? – Wow, and what has you so worked up?

Hast thou truly not attempted to use thy gift upon moi? – Have you truly not tried to use your gift upon me?

Verily. – Indeed

I be the one whom granted thee thy gift. Doust thee think I be so drab as to permit thee to turn thy gift against me? – I was the one who granted you your gift. Do you think I am so stupid as to allow you to turn your gift against me?

Natheless, thy worry seems to be aimed at another. Whom else hast thy gift failed upon? – Nevertheless, your worry seems to be about someone else. Who else did your gift fail to work on?

Hmm. Tis unlikely. More probable be that her highness was gifted by another. – Hmm. That is unlikely. It's more likely that her highness was granted the gift by another.

And what doust thee believe, milady? – And what do you believe, milady?

We have a pact. For fulfilling mine wish, thou hast my aid. – We have a pact. For fulling my wish, you have my aid.

Pore on it. Whether thou art capable of fulfilling mine wish remains to be seen. Thou must proveth thyself alone in that. – Think about it. Whether you are capable of fulfilling my wish remains to be seen. You alone must prove yourself in that.

Hmm, twould be unjust should I remain entirely silent, hereat thou might become silly at a most importunate moment. Ask, and I shall answer at my whim. – Hmm, it would be unfair if I kept completely quiet, otherwise you might end up defenseless at a really bad time. Ask, and I shall answer what I will.

Should her highness utilize her Geass, perhaps thou might sense it. – Should her highness use her Geass, you might sense it.

The Geass manifests uniquely for each whom receiveth its gift. Though soothly, a distinction mayhap be difficult to discern when regarding the effect. – The Geass manifests differently for each person. Though truthfully, it might be hard to distinguish between the end result.

None should pose a threat to thy goal. But know this, should a past contractor dare intrude upon thy path, twould be thou whom I shall lend my aid. – None of them should pose a threat to your goal. But know this, should a past contractor try to interfere with your plans, it would be you who I help.

Snippet Spoiler: Medium to minimal


	11. Chapter 10

Snippet spoiler rating: high. Do not read if you do not want to be spoiled.

 _It must be remembered that though the reign of Charles II is considered the zenith of the Pax Britannia the Empire was not completely unchallenged. Unrest seethed in many of its conquests and the other great powers of the day, the European Union and the Chinese Federation, were constantly on alert for chances to test and erode Britannia's power. It was from the EU that an especially dastardly opponent emerged, a cunning and ruthless tactician that scored a series of major victories against Britannia including inciting in Japan what is known today as the Black Rebellion. Of Britannia's many enemies Le Roi Noir is generally regarded as having come the closest to toppling the Empire. Perhaps ironically the Black King's actions ultimately set the stage for the ascension of Euphemia I._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 10: Alea iacta est

The outpost was a small thing, really just a makeshift camp with a couple of prefabricated buildings and a chain link fence surrounding it. It was out in the countryside and thus pretty remote, relatively speaking, meaning it should have been easy pickings for any resistance group that wanted to bloody Britannia's nose. One look at the gun emplacements around the base however made clear that taking it would not be a simple matter. The outpost might not have been large but it was fairly well fortified with its approaches restricted by barbed wire, ditches, and those then covered by heavy machineguns and even a few anti-armor guns. Thus for the majority of Japan's resistance groups an attack was just not worth the effort seeing how much firepower they would need to crack the place.

Traditionally a sneak attack was also considered futile seeing as the terrain surrounding the place was complete flat and devoid of anything that might be used for cover and camouflage. One could try a Trojan horse of some kind, driving up in a Britannian vehicle, but any such vehicles were challenged over radio and failure to respond correctly would see said vehicle riddled with bullets. And on the off chance someone did manage to have the codes for the day, a vehicle would still be thoroughly searched beforehand. All in all Britannia's hard won experience in fighting an insurgency was being put to practice here with thorough efficiency.

Of course no place was impenetrable, especially when one possessed abilities such as Kallen did. Still not even Kallen could sneak in an entire army with her, which resulted in only two other people crawling after the girl. The first was C.C. who muttered a brief complaint about the lack of dignity of their action this day. The second was Inoue, who was along in case they ran into any electronic countermeasures that Kallen might not know how to work around. The suggestion for the latter had come from Ohgi, who was waiting nervously several kilometers away in a pickup manning the radio as another cell member kept watch.

"This is such a bad idea," Ohgi muttered.

"Not like you could have stopped her," the man on watch remarked. "Kallen's always been spirited. And to be frank, she is right about this. Shutting down this Refrain network is worth the risk."

Ohgi ground his teeth and said nothing. Yes, it probably was worth the risk, but he still could not come to terms with Kallen putting herself into the fire like this. Maybe that made him a bad leader but he could not change that about himself.

Closer to the base Kallen crawled slowly towards her goal. The base's defenses did indeed look impressive but with her powers it was trivially easy to spot weaknesses in the perimeter. Here and there were gaps in the fields of view of the sentries on duty. Even more inexplicable was a slight ditch under a section of barbed wire, one big enough for a person to crawl through if they were careful. That had to have been intentional, there was no way the Britannians were that incompetent, especially seeing as one sentry was specifically looking down at said gap. More likely than not it was a clandestine entryway, possibly to allow Refrain dealers to enter and exit the base discretely. Still, with someone actually watching that particular hole Kallen could not risk using it, at least not with C.C. and Inoue in tow. At the same time with the guard's attention so fixated on the hole he was ignoring another area he was likely nominally responsible for. That would be their point of entry.

Under the cover of darkness Kallen maneuvered her little group over to the section of barbed wire. The girl took out some wire cutters and began snipping away. Soon enough she had a section cut out and pushed it very carefully aside. Once they were through Kallen put the wires back the way they were. Hopefully no one would notice until they were ready to take their leave. From there the three women got up to the fence. In another blind spot Kallen cut them a hole and they crawled through. They were in. Now for the tricky part, finding out who the Refrain dealer was.

A pair of soldiers on patrol walked by and Kallen signaled to Inoue. The woman nodded, pulling out her own knife. It was a solid blade, a Britannian combat knife liberated from its previous owner who no longer needed it. Much as these soldiers would no longer need theirs. As the two soldiers passed Kallen and Inoue reached out, clapping their hands over the soldiers' mouths even as the slammed the knife into the base of their necks. C.C. kept her blade at the ready, prepared to assist either woman if the need arose. A gurgle sounded but faded quickly as the soldiers sagged. Quietly and quickly Kallen and Inoue stripped the soldiers of their gear. The body armor would be too bulky for sneaking around but the added weapons would still be welcome. Plus the keycards would be quite useful. They stuck the bodies in an out of a way spot and made their way to another part of the base.

As it was Kallen had already found what she was looking for. There was a secret compartment in the drawer of the platoon quartermaster, containing a ledger that was obviously tracking the man's dealings in the drug. The problem was Inoue did not know about Kallen's power and it had been decided early on that the fewer who knew about it the greater its advantage would be. As such Kallen needed to figure out a way to 'discover' the ledger that was plausible. Fortunately the quartermaster was already a suspect, who else could fudge the supply logs easiest after all, so heading over to search his office would not arouse any suspicion.

The main building, really just another prefabricated unit that was slightly larger than the rest, was pretty well secured. Its main entrances were well light and had guards standing at attention outside. Fortunately there was a back door that was not being observed, even if it was locked. Time to find out if the keycard they had stolen was any good. Kallen slid it through the reader and was greeted by a simple message.

Enter passcode

Great, another two-factor system. The girl's eyes narrowed as she focused on the keypad. Only four of the numbers had fingerprints on them, so it must have been a shared code for all of the soldiers on base. She tried the most likely combination. A click sounded as the door unlocked.

"How did you do that," Inoue whispered once they were inside.

Oh, right, Kallen chided herself. "The numbers were a bit smudged on four of the numbers. I guess I got lucky with my first try."

Inoue looked at the girl incredulously. "Do me a favor Kallen, and don't do that again. If you had guessed wrong, this late at night, they might well have alarms set up to go off."

Kallen tried to look sheepish. "Sorry about that Inoue."

The older woman sighed. "Let's get to work, the sooner we're out of here the better."

Kallen looked about, making sure there were no guards. The trio then proceeded through the darkened halls, making sparing use of their flashlights. Fortunately Kallen knew exactly where the quartermaster's office was and so there was a minimum of bumbling around. The room was locked but with a standard keyhole instead of an electronic one.

"Alright, give me some light," Inoue said.

Kallen and C.C. positioned their flashlights to shine on the keyhole as Inoue went to work. Lockpicking was one of the many skills the woman had picked up since the occupation and another reason why she had come along on this mission. About a minute passed as Inoue futzed with the lock until a distinct click announced her success. The three walked in carefully though Kallen wasted little time going over to the desk. She began feeling her way about it, pretending to be looking for anything out of the ordinary.

"Aha," the girl said as she pulled out what looked to be a completely normal drawer.

"What is it?" Inoue asked.

"Look. Isn't this too shallow?"

The other woman glanced at the drawer in question and then at another on the other side of the desk. "Yeah, you're right. Okay, let's pry this open."

The two wedged the tips of their blade against the false bottom and pulled. A crack sounded and Inoue and Kallen froze, though Kallen knew that no one had heard them. After a few seconds she reached down and pulled the wooden piece out, revealing a notebook. Placing it on the desk, Kallen shined her flashlight over it as she flipped through the pages.

"Look at this," the girl said. "This guy's been dealing for years. And not just Refrain, but also other drugs, food, even weapons."

Inoue nodded but her hand suddenly shot out. "Wait, what's on this page?"

Kallen leaned over and looked more closely. She shucked in her breath sharply.

Midori K, Ayane R, Naomi M. It was a list of names, all Japanese, and all obviously female. And then there were the sums next to them.

"Son of a bitch," Kallen swore.

"Twould appear he be a peddler of many a base pleasure," C.C. said in obvious disgust as she read along with them.

"The bastard's also in human trafficking," Kallen said in cold fury. "We need to stop him."

"We can't go after him like this," Inoue said. "He has to be in the barracks with all the other soldiers sleeping. If we try hitting that place we'll have the entire base after us."

"Damn it, we can't just let him get away with this," Kallen hissed.

"And we won't," Inoue said. "The problem is finding out who he deals with."

Kallen frowned. "He's almost certainly in the barracks and we can't just break in there to question him."

"And we probably won't be able to lure him out to capture him," Inoue said. "But there are ways. In the meantime, we can at least make sure this guy isn't around to hurt anyone else."

The woman pulled out and slid it into the secret compartment. After a bit of futzing about she closed it in satisfaction and nodded. Kallen returned it and proceeded to lead them out of the outpost. No one had seemed to miss the two guards yet so they made it away safely. Once they were away Inoue pulled out a cellphone and dialed a number.

Kallen grinned fiercely at that. Makeshift bombs were another of Inoue's specialties, or at least the remote detonators used for them were. Another member of the cell actually handled making the charges. Sometime tomorrow the fruits of their labor would remove another abuser of the Japanese people.

* * *

"Is Kallen absent?" Milly asked as the rest of the student council assembled.

"Yeah, she's apparently sick again," Shirley said. "She wasn't in class today."

"Hmm, I wonder what her condition actually is," Milly said.

"She's supposed to be anemic," Rivalz said. "At least that's what most of the boys think."

"I suppose that would make sense," Milly said. "Shame, I wanted to speak with her."

"About what?" Shirley asked.

Milly glanced over at Rivalz. "Well, it seems like Suzaku's been catching a lot of heat from all the boys. Whatever misunderstanding happened between him and Kallen hasn't been cleared up and with how coldly she's been treating him a lot of the boys seem to think he really did do something to hurt her."

"Oh boy," Rivalz said with a sigh. "Poor guy. Then again we still don't know exactly what happened between the two."

"Hence why I wanted to speak with her," Milly said. "It's not exactly setting a good example for a member of the student council to be the cause of harassment on campus after all."

"True enough," Rivalz agreed. "I'll try to get the guys off his back long enough for you to get in touch with Kallen."

Milly beamed the boy a smile. "Thank you Rivalz."

"No problem," Rivalz assured her. "Besides, you're busy enough as it is what with being an understudy to your grandfather. How is that going anyway?"

Milly gave an exaggerated sigh. "It's a lot of work is what it is. There are a lot of schools in Area 11 and quite frankly quality is really uneven. The private ones like Ashford are pretty good, but the public ones the government runs tend to be really hit and miss. Grandpa is cracking down on them though and the Princess has promised more funding. That was probably part of the problem, the previous viceroy didn't bother making sure the schools had enough money to carry out their mandates."

"I've got to say, Princess Euphemia really is something," Rivalz said, folding his hands behind his head. "I mean, she's only been here for what, two weeks? And she's really turning things on their head. Was she like this when you knew her back in the homeland, Milly?"

Milly pursed her lip. "No, she wasn't. Back then, she was a lot more carefree."

"Huh," Rivalz said quietly.

No one said anything, no one made any comments. All knew what the boy was thinking, that Princess Euphemia must have been irrevocably changed after that incident. The same incident that took away Euphemia's brother and sister and that saw Milly gain a sister of her own. Milly had not picked the members of the student council arbitrarily. Nina was basically another little sister to her and the three of them considered each other family. Shirley was a more typical Britannian girl but valued friendship more than social advancement and thus would not betray the little girl she liked to dot upon as much as Milly herself did. Rivalz had a strong sense of integrity and like Shirley considered his family and friends more important than moving up into high society.

The only wildcard was Kallen and bringing her in was a calculated risk on Milly's part. Having the Stadtfeld daughter befriend Nunnally was not without its dangers but based on Kallen's reaction when Milly asked her to keep quiet about her little sister with Suzaku the girl might yet turn out to be an ally. Assuming of course Kallen's agreement was premised on concern for Nunnally and not because she disliked Suzaku.

"We could try calling her house or her cell to see when she's coming back," Rivalz suggested.

"Hmm, maybe," Milly said, "we do need to ask her about this after all." The girl flipped through the pages before her. "If she comes with us to Lake Kawaguchi we'd probably need to switch up who rooms with who at the hotel."

"Shall I make the call?" Shirley asked.

Milly smiled at the girl. "Please do."

As the blond girl hummed Shirley pulled out her cellphone and looked up Kallen's number. Ringing sounded after dialing but after a few seconds an automated message began playing, telling Shirley the owner was not available and asking her to leave a message. Next the girl tried the Stadtfeld residence, this time getting a response.

"Stadtfeld Residence, how many I help you?" a woman, likely a maid, answered.

"Ah hello, my name is Shirley Fennette and I'm a member of the student council at Ashford Academy. I was wondering if I could speak with Kallen?"

"One moment please." That moment dragged on until a minute had passed. "I apologize for the wait, but milady is, sleeping, right now. Could I perhaps take a message for her?"

"Umm, yes, that should be fine," Shirley said. "The student council's planning a trip to the Lake Kawaguchi resort this upcoming weekend and we were wondering if Kallen would be joining us. She is a member after all. We had hoped to invite her earlier, but due to her absences we were not able to get in touch with her."

"Understood. I will convey your invitation to Lady Kallen."

"Thank you very much," Shirley said.

"I bid you good day, Ms. Fennette."

A click indicated the other end had hung up and Shirley closed her cell.

"Well?" Milly asked.

"She's, sleeping," Shirley informed the others. "A maid answered and said she'd pass along the message."

"Well, I guess that's that," Milly said. "In case she does come, you mind rooming with her, Shirley? And Nina, you okay with squeezing in with me and Nunnally?"

The two girls in question nodded.

"It'll be just like when we were kids," Nina said with a smile.

Milly chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose it will be."

* * *

Kallen's cellphone rumbled, notifying the girl of a new text message. Only a few people had this particular number and most of them were camped out with her right now waiting for the Britannian quartermaster to show up. The girl reined in her senses as she flipped open the phone. As she suspected it was from her mother, her real one. The message in Japanese.

Your friends invited you to go to Lake Kawaguchi with them this weekend.

Her friends? Kallen wondered who her mother was talking about. And then she recalled a passing remark by Milly about Lake Kawaguchi. This meant it was probably student council related. Kallen fired back a response telling her mother to decline the invitation for her. There was still this Refrain ring to crack after all, some weekend trip could wait. A few minutes later the phone rumbled again. The girl frowned.

You should go.

Kallen felt her chest tighten. It was surprising how much those few words could mean. This was her mother, trying to be a mother, telling her she should spend time with people who she thought were Kallen's friends. For all her resentment over being handed over to the Stadtfelds Kallen was understanding more and more how incredibly painful the act must have been for her mother. It was not an act of abandonment as Kallen had assumed when she was younger, it was her mother trying to provide her with a home and standard of living that her mother would herself be losing thanks to the Empire's invasion. An act of self-sacrifice that she had been too foolish to recognize for what it was at the time. There was still some resentment in the girl for the forced parting but Kallen was becoming more and more determined not to take it out on her own mother. She sent another response.

Let them know I'll think about it.

That was the best she could do right now. Taking down this trafficking ring had to take priority, too many people were being hurt by it. Kallen tucked away her phone and felt a mild relief when it did not buzz again. And also a slight regret.

"Alright, here it is," Inoue said as she spread out another map. "This is the supply depot that the convoy we hit came from. It's run by contractors, not the Britannian military directly, which could explain why it's being used as a Refrain distribution point."

"What company is it?" Kallen asked.

Keller, Browne, and Ruth," Inoue answered.

Kallen grimaced. "KBR."

Looks of displeasure were echoed on the faces of the other cell members. KBR was one of the largest service contractors employed by the Britannian military, responsible for everything from engineering work to running basic services. It was also notorious for the way the company constantly tried to pad its profits. This ranged from cutting corners to employing and underpaying desperate Japanese, or in some cases outright cheating them of their wages. All in all KBR was the quintessential Britannian company, grinding the downtrodden under its heels while profiting from their misery and desperation. The Emperor would be proud. Even if it was his treasury that KBR was also cheating money from.

"Hitting this place is going to be a lot more complicated than the outpost," Inoue said. "We'd need more intel, actual weapons, maybe even more manpower."

"I know a few other cells that we can trust," Ohgi said. "They're probably as short of arms as us, but with what we've offloaded so far we have a bit of cash we can spend to get more weapons. But either way we're going to need more time to prepare."

Kallen frowned. Patient the girl was not. Ohgi gave her an understanding smile.

"You got us this far already Kallen," he said. "Let me do my job and get us ready for the next battle."

Kallen sighed. "Fine. I assume we probably won't be doing anything for at least a week?"

"If not longer," Ohgi said.

That was not what Kallen wanted to hear but she knew Ohgi was probably right so she simply nodded. "I got invited to some trip with the student council anyway. Might as well go on that."

"Oh, where to?" Inoue asked.

"The Lake Kawaguchi resort," Kallen said, "or at least I think it's the resort."

"Oh?" Inoue said, her ears perking up. "Isn't the sakuradite conference also happening this weekend there?"

"Yeah," another cell member said. "There will be diplomats from quite a few countries."

Inoue's eyes narrowed speculatively. "Is there any chance your French contact could put you in touch with an EU diplomat? Someone who might be able to help arrange more concrete support?"

Kallen pursed her lip. C.C.'s cover within the cell was that she was a DGSE operative sent to reconnoiter Japan to identify resistance movements that might be worth supporting. If they were going to keep up that charade they needed to produce some tangible results for the others to see.

"Maybe," Kallen said. "I'll ask her about it, but this is a bit short notice."

Inoue nodded understandingly. "It's a shame we don't know more about this Refrain ring. That might have been a juicy enough tidbit to get them interested in backing us."

Kallen nodded even as she felt a growing headache of just how they were going to keep this charade going. She was sorely tempted to reveal the truth to Inoue at least, the woman was extremely smart and would likely start suspecting something sooner rather than later.

"At least we have a target," Ohgi said. "I'll sound out our contacts, see what else we can learn about KBR's activities. Once we have more intel we can figure out how we want to hit the place."

"Suits me," Inoue said. "I need to get back to the hospital anyway. Tamaki, you coming?"

"Yeah, sure," the man replied. "Let me guess, you need me to help unload all the MREs?"

"Why, you wouldn't dream of letting a lady lower herself with manual labor, would you?" Inoue said with a bright smile.

The others chuckled, Tamaki included, and the two headed off to Inoue's van.

"C'mon, let's get you back to the Concession," Ohgi said to Kallen. "You apparently have a trip to pack for."

"So I do," Kallen said with a sigh.

Ohgi regarded the girl. "You know, I know you don't like it when I harp on this, but having friends at school? That's not a bad thing, Kallen. You should cherish them, whoever they are."

"I know, I know," Kallen said. "And I suppose everyone on the student council are good people. It's just, it feels unfair that I get to enjoy all this when all of you are stuck out here."

Ohgi gave the girl a pat on the head. "You care about us, Kallen, but don't deny yourself the experience of living because of that. Remember, we care about you too and we want you to find happiness where you can as well."

"I'll be happy when Japan is free of Britannian tyranny," Kallen said, eliciting a sigh from Ohgi. But then she grinned at the man. "But I'll settle for being with my friends in the meantime."

* * *

As Kallen packed for the weekend outing C.C. seemed to gaze off blankly into the distance. At first Kallen did not take note of the girl's expression but when she turned to tell C.C. to get her own things together she hesitated.

"C.C.?"

The green haired girl looked over at Kallen with an expression she had never shown before. Kallen frowned.

"Is something wrong?"

"Mayhap be naught," the girl said. "A ruth that refuses to avant."

Kallen frowned. Some sort of distress? What could get C.C. so worried when the girl seemed to treat everything else with carefree disregard?

"Is it something to do with the Geass?" Kallen asked.

C.C. smiled wirily. "Mayhap or mayhap not. Pore not on me, it shall not be a let."

"If you say so," Kallen said. "Anyway, you need to get packed. You're supposed to be my assistant, not the other way around."

C.C. chuckled but proceeded to do as she was told. That perhaps should have warned Kallen that something was amiss. As it was the girl would only be able to regret her oversight after the fact.

* * *

"And so we are certain that Britannia's position will be to maintain the current production quotas?" Euphie said.

Rochester nodded. "Yes, your highness. At present the market rate stands at 60 pounds per ton. Several of the other members of OSEC are likely to press for a reduction in the production quota to try to increase prices, but seeing as any such cut would almost certainly disproportionately fall upon us I do not believe it would be to our advantage to accede to it."

Not that the Empire really needed to play the consensus game.

Euphie nodded. "Neither do I. And considering the fiscal demands on the area, reducing our revenue is not an option."

"Indeed, your highness." Rochester flipped through his papers. "I must admit, your highness, your grasp of the economics of the sakuradite industry and its effects on the wider economy is extremely impressive."

Euphie gave Rochester a practiced smile. "I always did seem to have an intuitive grasp of maths." And she was massively cheating, using her newfound power to basically absorb and work through numbers no mere human could hope to hold in their head. "But I've long since learned that merely being able to juggle numbers does not impart genuine understanding. After all, a rise in the price of sakuradite might make for a neat and clean number after the effects of supply and demand are accounted for, but it does not tell of the increased hardship a family might go through making ends meet because their electricity bill has increased."

Rochester nodded thoughtfully. "You demonstrate a conscientious attention to the effects of your policy decisions, your highness. That is admirable. But, and I do not intend offense, I would caution that you try to remain objective when deciding the best course of action to take."

"Have no fear Baron," Euphie said with a thin smile. "There is little risk of me succumbing to populism."

The Baron cleared his throat. "I would not dare to suggest such a thing, your highness."

"Of course," Euphie said before moving the topic along. "Still, there are some rather practical considerations beyond the immediate impact of whether sakuradite prices rise or fall due to production numbers. For example, to raise production requires that there be spare capacity to do so. To lower it, how many machines will need to be idled? How many workers given fewer shifts? Any modern industry is fiendishly complex. It would be foolhardy to believe that we could account for every single variable. The best we can do is try to ensure enough slack exists that damage from the inevitable shocks we do not predict are minimized."

"You, have a most pragmatic point of view, your highness," Rochester said. "In some ways it is most, refreshing."

"Why thank you Baron," Euphie said. "Now, was there anything else we needed to cover before the conference?"

Rochester ruffled through his papers again. "I do believe that is it, your highness."

"Very well. Thank you for your hard work Baron, I am pleased to say that you have met my expectations."

"Not exceeded, your highness?" Rochester said with an almost playful smile.

"Well if you would like me to lower my expectations for you," Euphie responded with equal mischief.

Rochester bowed his head in concession. "I am grateful for your trust in me, highness."

* * *

The biannual meeting of the Organization of Sakuradite Exporting Countries was opened with great fanfare by the viceroy of Area 11, the Princess Euphemia li Britannia. With sakuradite being one of the key resources of the Area it was only natural that the Princess would take a keen interest in the proceedings. Thus it was widely known that her highness would be attending the conference along with her industry minister. Over a dozen delegates from other sakuradite producing countries were also present, though all were eclipsed by the reserves Area 11 possessed. In theory the Empire could have simply dictated the price of sakuradite but something that blatant might well have been enough to prompt the EU and the Chinese Federation into declaring open hostilities. And so the Empire obeyed the forms, 'consulting' with the few other sakuradite producing countries on what production levels should be to ensure a stable and mutually profitable price for them all.

Overall when all the aides and junior diplomats were included more than a hundred people were attending the conference proper with probably twice that many journalists hovering over them trying to pick up some tidbit to gain an advantage over their competitors. International diplomacy was not the only cutthroat engagement on display today.

Despite the very risk of exposure should the Princess Euphemia catch sight of her, Milly had still brought Nunnally along with them to the resort. There was no reason her little sister should be cooped up all by herself back home and Milly was determined that Nunnally experience as much of life as the girl wanted. Nunnally deserved that much at least especially since for her own safety she was effectively cut off from the only members of her original family that genuinely cared for her despite their proximity. As it was keeping the girl out of sight while still letting her enjoy herself required a delicate dance be carried out by the rest of the student council, especially seeing as their newest member was not privy to Nunnally's secret. At the same time Kallen had accepted Milly's half-truth of wanting to keep her little sister out of the complexities of noble politics and was surprisingly cooperative in helping Nunnally maintain a low profile. Milly was starting to suspect that Kallen's views were even more unorthodox than she originally thought. Investigation of just how unorthodox would have to wait until they got back to school however.

"Here you go Nunnally," the red haired young woman said as she set before the girl a plate topped with a variety of selections from the buffet.

"Thank you Kallen," Nunnally said.

For now though Milly was content to watch as Kallen looked after Nunnally as naturally as if the girl was her own sister. A few minutes later Rivalz and Shirley made it back with their own plates.

"Sheesh," the boy said as he plopped down. "With all the reporters around the buffet tables are like a battlefield."

"You just have to know how to ask politely," Shirley said.

Milly smirked. "Not all of us have your ample, charms, to exploit, Shirley."

The brunette flushed. "Prez! Oh you, why do you have to sound like a perverted old geezer all the time?"

"But your reaction is so much fun to watch!"

Shirley stuck a tongue out at the other girl, eliciting laughs all around.

"But anyway, what should we do this evening?" Milly asked after she was done. "We'll be hitting the beaches tomorrow morning so let's go for something low key tonight."

"Hmm, what about karaoke?" Shirley suggested. "They're supposed to have a really nice setup here at the hotel."

"Oh, sounds interesting," Milly said before glancing at Kallen. "Have confidence in your voice, Kallen?"

Kallen smiled playfully at the other girl. "Wouldn't it be quite the scandal if I didn't?"

Milly chuckled, knowing full well what the other girl meant. Daughters of the nobility were expected to be masters of social grace and being able to sing was considered a crucial trait. Despite her own family's disgrace Milly's parents had forced the girl to endure such tedium as a child, or at least tried to. Milly had become an expert at finding out of the way places to hide by the age of ten. That instinct served her well for a variety of purposes even today.

"Karaoke it is then," Milly said and then smirked at Rivalz. "I expect a command performance, Mr. Vice-President."

"Spare me, please," Rivalz said in mock horror before chuckling. "What about you, Cecilia?"

"Twould be of ages since I last made merry melody," C.C. said. "And fairness demandeth that such a woman of quality as milady Ashford be repaid in full for her most generous invitation."

"Then we should have a duel," Milly said. "No, dueling duets! We face each other in duets and the audience votes on the one who was the star!"

Looks of wiry acceptance answered the girl but no one objected outright. And besides, Milly's crazy ideas tended to see everyone have fun one way or another.

Kallen's phone rang and the girl pulled it out to see who it was. There was no name associated with the number but it was one she recognized instantly.

"Excuse me," Kallen said as she rose.

The dining area was a busy place but Kallen managed to find an out of the way spot. She did not even have to resort to her powers. She flipped open the phone.

"What is it?"

"Kallen, get out of the hotel now!" a frantic sounding Ohgi cried.

"What? What's going on?"

"I just heard through a contact of mine, but a resistance group is planning on hitting the Lake Kawaguchi resort. They're after the viceroy!"

Kallen paled. "Roger, need to go."

"Stay safe Kallen," the girl heard Ohgi say before she snapped shut her phone.

The time for discretion was over. Kallen expanded her senses and absorbed all the information around her. She saw all the regular guests, people who had come much like the student council for a relaxing weekend. She picked out the delegates, a mixture of diplomats, bureaucrats, and even a few military officers for all that this was supposed to be mostly an economic-centric conference. But a modern war was won based on a country's industrial might and nowadays said might was fueled almost exclusively by sakuradite.

And then Kallen's inner eye fell upon the hotel staff, the people who moved about almost invisibly simply because everyone ignored them. The cooks, the servers, the housekeepers, all those people who were needed to see to the needs of the guests. How many temporary staff had the hotel needed to bring on to deal with the surge of customers due to the sakuradite conference? How many of them were infiltrators from whichever resistance Ohgi had just warned her about? Kallen's senses swept across every person she could find, her mind racing as she examined each one in detail. Pain pounded her head and her left eye throbbed but she persisted. There, that server was watching things with just a bit more interest than one might expect. That group of chefs were exchanging knowing looks. A janitor was walking out of a closet and passed on a weapon to a housekeeper. In fact there were a lot of people armed. And then all of a sudden a surge of bodies began to converge upon the dining area and the nearby conference halls.

"Shit," Kallen muttered.

Pulling out her cellphone she fired off a text to Milly. Hopefully the girl would get the message quickly enough and believe her. Kallen melted back into the background, disappearing just in time to avoid being spotted by a group of men and women rushing past. The girl's mind raced. She needed to get her friends out of there, maybe she could arrange some sort of bargain through Ohgi's contact. Kallen moved quickly and quietly to a better hiding spot. If she was going to be of any use to her friends she needed to remain free herself.

* * *

"We're clear," a woman said as the car she drove passed the last checkpoint.

The man seated immediately behind her nodded and glanced up at the person sitting to the left of the driver.

"Get us to your closest safe house," he ordered, "one that we can use to contact the rest of your group."

The man nodded and began giving directions to the driver.

"Lieutenant," another man seated in the car said. "Are you sure this is a wise course of action?"

"Our orders from the Marshal were to attempt to establish contact with a major Japanese resistance cell that the EU might be able to bolster with proper support," the first man replied. "Considering the numbers and coordination this operation took, I would say the Blood of the Samurai would qualify."

"Based on what our prisoner has said, the Samurai intend to take the viceroy and other guests at the resort hostage in order to force concessions from Britannia," the other man went on. "This strategy has several major flaws and is ultimately an act of desperation, not one indicative of a strong and well lead resistance force."

"True enough," the lieutenant said. "Still, the Samurai are supposed to be one of the largest in central Japan. If nothing else they would offer a useful supply of manpower in further moves against Britannia once we assume command of their leadership."

"And if the Princess Cornelia makes it her personal mission to crush them for daring to threaten her sister?"

The lieutenant's mouth quirked up into a most eerie half-smile. "Then they will serve as a distraction while we build up other, more useful assets."

"Other assets?"

"The Japanese Liberation Front is composed of not only soldiers of the former Japanese Army but they are also rumored to be remarkably well supplied with modern weapons, even knightmares," the lieutenant explained. "They should serve as a workable foundation to build a proper army that can challenge Britannia's rule of Area 11."

"I see," the other soldier said thoughtfully. "And if you can seize control of the JLF's backers, you would also be able to gain access to the other resistance cells that they considered worth sponsoring."

"Indeed," the lieutenant said.

Before the conversation could go on the radio that had been playing a soothing classical sonata crackled with an excited voice.

"We interrupt your regular programming for this emergency broadcast. Reports from the Lake Kawaguchi resort have come in that terrorists have attacked the OSEC conference being held there. As of yet we have no clear numbers for the terrorist, nor of any casualties amongst the resort's guests. Authorities are mobilizing and there has been a suggestion that the army may also deploy to assist in the situation. Wait, hold one, we have just confirmed that the Princess Euphemia was on site at the conference at the time of the attack. The viceroy's office has yet to issue a statement about her current whereabouts but there is a possibility that the Princess is still at the resort."

"Well, looks like they've made their move," the lieutenant remarked. "Good thing we got out when we did."

The other passengers in the car nodded their assent, not that any of them had an actual say in the matter. A telltale faint redness could be seen in all their eyes save for the lieutenant himself. Then again the young man's left eye was but a milky white. Beneath the obscuring contact a purple sigil burned bright.

End of Chapter 10

A, bit, shorter than the last chapter, but I wanted to set the stage so to speak. The next chapter will see quite a few developments.

As all of you may have noticed, I have decided not to use the JLF for the Lake Kawaguchi incident. Primarily because I have a use for them later on in the story and also because the entire thing was damn amateurish from a military perspective. Seize hostages without an extraction plan? Holing up in a defensive posture? That has never worked out well in real life for the hostage takers even when authorities fail to save the hostages. I probably should stop harping on the lack of realism when it comes to military and geopolitics in Code Geass, but it was one of those things that really irritated me even as I enjoyed other aspects of the series. But suffice it to say, I intend to develop this story so that there are discrete steps in the development of plot points and events. Case in point, the Refrain thing is set up to be resolved after the hotel incident but I've been setting the stage for it for a few chapters now. And the ending scene had some foreshadowing quite a few chapters before with the conversation between the EU field marshals. Code Geass had a tendency to do spur of the moment plot points that, tended not to be very well foreshadowed or felt contrived. I want to avoid repeating that.

Ohgi. Heh. I'd just like to say in response to a specific review that everything said review described is indicative of how one is not supposed to run a resistance cell fighting an asymmetric war. The chain of command cannot have a singular point of failure nor overreliance on a single individual to hold the entire thing together. And again, how the blazes does a Japanese freedom fighter not recognize the second in command of the Purist faction, one of the most ardent persecutors of your people? The entire Ohgi/Villetta subplot is just, so incredibly hard to swallow. Nevermind the way both character's personalities were twisted about to justify the whole thing. Any depth that Ohgi does possess went straight out the window whenever Villetta got involved. Yeah, take that as confirmation that that pairing is not happening in this fic. This is something I have no problems spoiling.

Euphie seems to be attracting a variety of reactions, some like her while others find her almost eerie. That's, well, intentional. And it relates to the title of this fic. The exact ramifications will be revealed in time as the story progresses. As well as how various characters in story react to her, methodology.

I've decided to move the spoiler ratings to the top of the chapter above the snippets. That'll likely be more useful to my readers.

I will be traveling overseas, again, due to an unexpected issue that cropped up. I am, less than pleased about having to spend basically 24+ hours on a plane. Again. Within the span of two months. As you can probably tell, I hate flying. Anyway. Next up will be a chapter of _In Tune_ , which I'm sure those of you actually following are eagerly anticipating considering what I've promised to reveal in it. And seeing the cliffhanger I just left all of you reading this fic with, I'm sure you're all eager for me to get cracking on the next chapter for _A Cold Calculus_ as well. We'll see how much writing I get done while in China.

As always, feedback is welcome.

C.C. translations:

Mayhap be naught. A ruth that refuses to avant. – It might be nothing. A bad feeling that refuses to go away.

Mayhap or mayhap not. Pore not on me, it shall not be a let. – Maybe or maybe not. Don't worry about me, it won't be a hindrance.

Twould be of ages since I last made merry melody. And fairness demandeth that such a woman of quality as milady Ashford be repaid in full for her most generous invitation. – It's been ages since I last sang. And fairness demands that a woman of your high social standing be repaid for your generous invitation.


	12. Chapter 11

Snippet spoiler: Low.

 _The Lake Kawaguchi Terrorist Attack is remembered for many things._ _In the context of the Empress Euphemia's rise to power three noteworthy consequences stand out._ _The first was despite having the lives of herself and her subjects so threatened the Princess Euphemia remained magnanimous in her treatment of the Japanese people._ _While the Blood of the Samurai were ruthlessly purged the Princess continued with her plans of extending basic services out to the ghettos._ _The uninterrupted rollout of medical services to the wards after the attack initially baffled many of the viceroy's subordinates but the goodwill it engendered amongst the Japanese population was to have ramifications no one at the time could have foreseen, save perhaps for the Princess herself._ _With this act the Princess Euphemia established a reputation for firm but fair rule, a reputation that would serve her well throughout her reign._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 11: Ad vitam aut culpam

Gunfire sounded, causing all of the delegates to start. Euphie's eyes narrowed and she did not resist as one of her guards pulled the young woman up and started leading her towards one of the emergency exits. The door suddenly slammed open and a Japanese man burst through. He went down hard as the guard opened fire. The insurgent behind him was more careful and began trading shots with the soldiers inside even as all of the civilians ducked for cover, Euphie included. And then the main conference door burst open and more insurgents poured in. The few Britannian guards still standing were promptly cut down.

"Zenbu shoumetsushita."

Euphie could not even begin to claim to be fluent in Japanese despite the crash course she had been undertaking since Clovis' death. There was simply not enough time to absorb the sheer vocabulary much less the subtle nuances of the grammar, but she could take a guess at what the Japanese man had said. A declaration of victory tended to carry similar tones and style regardless of what language it was made in. The insurgents surveyed the room and quickly zeroed in on Euphie. One marched over and grabbed hold of the girl.

"Koi!"

"Unhand her you Eleven bastard!" Rochester rose.

The insurgent manhandling Euphie released the young woman just long enough to point his gun at the noble and pull the trigger. Rochester cried out in pain as the round cut through his side.

"Baron!"

A flare of rage suffused the girl and she landed a solid kick into the back of the shooter's knee. The man was not expecting the attack and nearly toppled over. Before he or anyone else could respond Euphie slammed an open palm against his cheek, producing a sickening crack. The insurgent keeled over, clutching his broken jaw even as a muffled howl of pain escaped him. Guns were quickly trained on the Princess.

"Stop!" Euphie commanded.

No one opened fire but neither did the guns cease pointing at the girl.

"You want me alive," Euphie said, "that much is obvious already. But if anyone else opens fire on _my_ guests and _my_ subjects, then it will be in vengeance that my sister storms the resort. Am I clear?"

The other insurgents exchanged glances, not quite sure just how they were supposed to respond to such an imperious command. Technically they were the ones supposed to be in control and the Princess should be quivering in fear of what they would do to her. Yet it was obvious Euphemia retained her regal pose even under such circumstances and would not bend easily to their whims. Finally one of the insurgents nodded and stepped to the side.

"If you would come with us then, Princess."

Euphie looked over at Rochester. The Baron was already being seen to by the personal aide Euphie had brought with her, a bright young woman trained in not only clerical matters but emergency aid just for such contingencies, though the expectation during such training was that the Princess herself would be receiving the aid.

"Take care of him Jane," Euphie said.

"I will your highness," the woman responded without stopping her bandaging of the Baron's wounds.

"Baron Rochester," Euphie said and the man looked up at her weakly. "I will not forget your courage this day."

The Baron tried to say something but was quickly hushed by Jane. Euphie regarded the still moaning insurgent on the ground. She gave a most unladylike but blatantly dismissive snort before walking over to the English speaking insurgent.

"Lead the way," the young woman commanded once more.

The insurgent gave her a look of grudging respect before turning about and heading for the door.

* * *

Milly pulled out her cellphone leisurely as it beeped to notify her of an incoming text. There was nothing leisurely about her slamming it shut and suddenly picking Nunnally up and charging for the door.

"We're leaving, now!"

Her friends did not hesitate in chasing after her but just before they reached the dining room entrance panicked screams filled the room. Their way was suddenly blocked by several Japanese armed with handguns and bladed weapons.

"Down! All of you!"

Milly's heart froze as she stared at the barrel of the gun. She staggered as Rivalz pulled her down to the ground, getting the girl and her sister out of the line of fire. More insurgents were piling in and now the sound of gunshots could be heard, the conference's security personnel responding to whoever these people were. Nunnally's grip on her sister tightened as the girl pressed against her.

"Milly."

"It's going to be alright Nunnally," Milly assured her sister even as she cradled her. "Just stay calm, everything's going to be alright."

Nunnally nodded, trying to remain composed but the grip of her hands on Milly's blouse belayed the fear and anxiety the girl was feeling.

"All of you, hand your cellphones over now," the same man that had shouted at them before demanded.

A shuffle of movements as all of the diners pulled out their phones and held them out meekly. Milly frowned, chancing popping open hers. It was still displaying Kallen's text. She quickly hit the delete button and then confirmed it before snapping it shut again. Fortunately the intruders did not notice her movement, likely because the Rivalz and Shirley had positioned themselves to help further shield Nunnally. Like the others Milly surrendered her cellphone, but at least this way even if they looked they would not be able to see that someone had tried to warn her. Hopefully that would allow Kallen to remain free, she owed the girl that much.

"All of you, center of the room," another gunman ordered.

Their English while rough was understandable and the people gathered in the dining room quickly obeyed. Milly and the others maneuvered themselves over to Nunnally's wheelchair which fortunately was along the way and set the girl back in it. So far none of the intruders seemed to have noticed the fact that she was being carried before and ask any awkward questions. Still the student council positioned themselves around Nunnally as much as possible. As they walked Rivalz looked about.

"Uh, hey everyone," he said in a hushed tone, "where's Cecilia?"

The others looked up in surprise and saw that the boy was right. The green haired girl was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN THEY'VE TAKEN THE RESORT!?"

Guilford tried not to flinch as his Princess exploded at him. "We just received emergency calls from the conference, armed gunmen appear to have breached the perimeter and overrun the internal security forces. We're still trying to determine the extent of their penetration, but it's not looking good."

"WHAT THE FUCK WERE THE SECURITY FORCES DOING!?" Cornelia demanded. "HOW DID THEY LET THAT MANY INSURGENTS GET THROUGH!?"

To that Guilford had no answer and he made no pretense of knowing. Having served at Cornelia's side for so long he knew that if there was one thing the Princess hated more than outright incompetence it was feigned competence.

"Deploy the 9th Battalion," Cornelia ordered as she turned to Darlton. "I want a complete lockdown of the area, no one gets in or out."

"At once your highness!"

Darlton clicked his heels and marched out with all speed.

"Gilbert, with me. I'll be taking direct operational command."

"Yes your highness."

As Cornelia charged out of her office her thoughts were focused solely on her sister. She had warned Euphie, warned her that the insurgency in Area 11 could not be treated lightly, that it needed to be crushed swiftly and thoroughly before it could it could fester into something more dangerous. Were they already too late? How had the rebels even martialed the necessary arms and manpower to attempt this? This had to be the work of one of the larger so-called liberation fronts, perhaps even the JLF itself.

"Your highness," a man called out to her.

Cornelia looked back but did not stop walking and saw Jeremiah hurrying to catch up.

"Margrave, keep this quick," Cornelia said. "We do not have time to waste."

"Your highness, we've received a message from the hostage takers," Jeremiah said darkly.

That did give Cornelia pause and she spun about to face the man. "What does it say?"

"They claim they've captured the viceroy, your highness," Jeremiah said softly, "and they have issued a set of demands in exchange for her safe release."

Cornelia ground her teeth. The entire notion was preposterous. The Empire did not negotiate with terrorists ever, no exceptions, regardless of whom might be a hostage. It was claimed that not even capturing the Emperor would see Britannia bow to the demands of others, though this had never actually been tested before. With a Princess of the Realm, as far as the Emperor was concerned her death would simply be used as a warning to the other Imperial scions about the need to remain vigilant to avoid the same fate. The people behind this charade were either desperate or incredibly amateurish despite managing to blindside the Inquisitio. Or they knew there was no chance of then actually succeeding and merely meant to use this event to galvanize the other liberation movements. One viceroy had fallen already after all, to see two slain in such a short span of time could seriously undermine Britannian confidence. And cast Euphie in history as a foolish girl that had bitten off more than she could chew.

"What are their demands?" Cornelia asked even as she resumed walking.

"Much of the usual," Jeremiah said. "They want all prisoners held by the security forces freed, the restoration of self-governance, and the Empire's eventual withdrawal from Area 11."

Cornelia scowled. "Are they complete imbeciles?"

"I wondered much the same, your highness," Jeremiah said with little humor. "The Empire would never agree to such demands, they have to know that, so it begs the question of why they are making them in the first place."

"They want to drag this out," Cornelia said, "to show our helplessness as they stall for time. The longer we are unable to resolve this crisis the weaker the Empire looks, thus potentially galvanizing their fellow malcontents."

"Then we should strike quickly, rescue her highness the viceroy and put these traitors to the sword."

"Do not make grandiose promises that you cannot keep, Margrave," Cornelia said darkly.

"I am aware of the price of failure, your highness," Jeremiah said, "and I have been considering the tactical difficulties we face. Schematics of the resort are being forwarded to the command center as we speak and I have ordered off duty maintenance staff be brought in to provide insights into any methods of entry that we may be able to exploit."

Cornelia raised an eyebrow. "I stand corrected, Margrave, you have thought through the matter. Notify me immediately once you develop relevant intelligence."

"Yes your highness!" Jeremiah snapped a salute before hurrying off.

The marshal wasted no time herself either. Ten minutes later she was in the air headed towards Lake Kawaguchi even as a convoy set out from MacArthur Base with the personal knightmares of the Princess and her royal guard. One thing that Britannia would not lack when it set out to bring these insurgents to heel would be firepower but as Cornelia knew painfully well this battle would almost certainly be decided by other means.

* * *

Kallen slinked through the now empty halls, casting her sight wide so no one would be able to get the jump on her. She had thus far identified sixty insurgents, the majority scattered around the hotel perimeter. One large group was clustered around the dining hall likely guarding the hostages while another group, presumably the leadership, was in the conference area. From what they were wearing it looked like most had been masquerading as cooks and waiters. If Kallen was to guess they were probably extra hands hired to help with all the additional guests the hotel was expecting for the OSEC conference.

First thing was first, Kallen needed to figure out how to get the hostages out of here safely, preferably without blowing her cover. Most of the hotel guests were innocent civilians and did not deserve to get caught in the crossfire between the liberation movements and the Britannian military. Kallen scowled. That these insurgents were willing to involve civilians at all put them on the entirely wrong side of morality as far as Kallen was concerned. No, these were not freedom fighters, they were terrorists.

She needed a weapon. And something to hide her identity. The terrorists had been careful enough to grab the guns of the fallen security detail but they had not bothered with their armor and other gear. The girl grimaced at the gory remains of the guard at her feet. This one had gone down from a very unlucky hit to the head, leaving his armor intact albeit splattered by blood. It would have to do. Kallen stripped it off the dead man, saying a quick prayer for a Valkyrie to see fit to guide him to Valhalla, and put the armor on. Next was a helmet from a soldier whose body was riddled with bullets. The body armor all of these soldiers wore could stop a few shots from handguns and if you were lucky a rifle round but they would not save one from concentrated fire. Kallen adjusted the goggles and once satisfied she was mostly incognito grabbed the only weapons available, combat knives that the terrorists had apparently decided were worthless with their possession of guns. They were about to learn just how much of a misconception that was.

Pain shot through her head as the migraine flared up again but Kallen fought it down. Against this many people she needed every advantage she could get here and without the Geass she stood no chance.

"Thou."

Kallen nearly screamed in shock as she spun around. As it was a certain green haired girl nearly got decapitated as Kallen slashed the air where her head was just a moment ago. C.C. was however very nimble and had already retreated a step.

"C.C.!" Kallen hissed. "Don't sneak up on me like that! Damn it, you know my powers don't work on you!"

C.C. sniffed dismissively. "And what doust thee intendeth alone?"

"I'm going to free the hostages," Kallen said, "and then I'll decide whether the Princess is worth helping or not."

"By thy lonesome?" C.C. repeated snidely.

"Well you're here, aren't you?" Kallen snarked back as she thrust a knife handle first at the other woman. "Make yourself useful and help me."

C.C. chuckled and bowed theatrically, swiping the blade from Kallen's hand. "Thy wish is mine command, mademoiselle."

Kallen snorted, grabbed a helmet, and shoved it onto C.C.'s head while making sure all of the girl's hair was also stuffed under. "We'll find you something less conspicuous to wear later."

C.C. looked down at her civilian dress and shrugged. "To shame the guise o' th world, I will begin the fashion-"

"Less without and more within," Kallen finished with a smirk. "You really think I wouldn't know Shakespeare when I hear it?"

C.C. chuckled and waved for Kallen to take the lead. The two hurried toward the dining hall. While the terrorists had established a well-guarded perimeter to keep anyone from getting into the hotel, once inside there were few patrols to run into. Lack of manpower was more than likely the reason for this, what with the majority of their numbers stationed at various chokepoints into the complex. Only a dozen or so gunmen were guarding the hostages and they could have been easily overwhelmed if all of the guests mobbed them, assuming of course one accepted a horrific body count in the process.

The two made swift progress with Kallen guiding them. They were upon the first patrol quickly and C.C. demonstrated once more her deftness with a blade was the equal of Kallen as she slashed the throat of one gunman and very nearly literally disarmed him to keep his gun from going off. The redhead utilized a similar approach in disabling her target, slitting the wrist of the hand holding the pistol before shoving a second blade into the man's throat.

C.C. regarded the stunned expressions on the faces of their victims and regarded Kallen. "A little more than kin, and less the kind."

Kallen scowled. "They may be Japanese, but they're nothing like me."

"Tis not what I have sayeth?" C.C. replied with a raised eyebrow.

"I barely understand half of what comes out of your mouth," Kallen said as collected the pistols and handed one to the other girl. "Do not start shooting until I give the say-so, I don't want these guys becoming alerted to our presence."

C.C. nodded and quickly followed in Kallen's wake. Much blood still needed shedding.

* * *

"Team 2, reporting in," the corporal said. "We're in position."

"Roger. Do you see the entrance?"

"Yes, moving in. Are we sure about the code?"

"Straight from the maintenance staff," the operator on the other side said. "Remember, this is a recon sweep, avoid contact with the terrorists if at all possible, we don't want to spook them and cause them to start killing hostages."

"Understood." The squad leader nodded to the others. "Alright, let's do this right."

The others returned it. A soldier punched in the code and a click sounded as the door unlocked. He pulled it open and the point man burst through, rifle at the ready as he swept the room. Another soldier was right behind and scanned the opposite direction.

Rapid clicks sounded until it was nearly a constant hum.

"Oh shi-"

A stream of bullets smashed through the two soldiers, their screams drowned out by the thunder of the fire pouring down upon them.

"Command, they've got a minigun!" the squad leader tried shouting above the dinge.

The Britannian soldiers returned fire, trying to take out the gunner or just maybe jam up the weapon chewing them apart. Sparks splattered the armored plate shielding the gunner but ultimately none made it through. The whirling died down and the dust settled along with it. There was no longer a door, instead pieces of a shattered frame jutted from the wall. Around it lay the bloodied corpses of the Britannian soldiers.

* * *

"It has been confirmed," Jeremiah said darkly. "All subterranean entry points into the hotel have been heavily fortified, the only way through those strongpoints is with overwhelming force."

"And if we move in in force, they will kill the hostages," Cornelia stated flatly.

The image of the Margrave nodded.

"And entry from above is also not an option," Cornelia said tiredly. "At this rate our only option would be to try forcing our way in quickly enough to reach the hostages before they start shooting."

"Not, necessarily, your highness," Darlton said.

Cornelia looked up at her trusted second in command. "Do you have an idea, Andreas?"

The general nodded. "A HAHO jump, highness. The terrorists may be watching out for any air units at lower altitudes, but they would be considerably less likely to notice us inserting troops from that high up."

"How many could we get in?" Cornelia asked. "And how quickly can we get them in the air?"

"No more than a squad, a five man team. And I took the liberty of ordering the plane overhead half an hour ago, your highness. They should be over the target zone now."

Cornelia smiled approvingly at Darlton. "I commend your initiative, general. Send them in."

"Their exact orders, highness?" Darlton asked.

The marshal grimaced. "Highest priority is getting Euphie out of there."

Darlton nodded and spoke into the radio to relay the command. He supposed it was a good thing her highness had not asked just who made up the squad.

"Once they move to secure the Princess we should storm the perimeter," Guilford said, tapping the projection of the hotel layout. "We know that the hostages are all being held in the dining hall, if we move quickly enough our troops could overrun their guards and get there before they have a chance to kill any of the civilians."

"Chancy, but we don't really have any other choice," Cornelia said. "Once their chain of command gets cut off the insurgents are likely to panic and decide they have nothing left to lose."

"We have units on standby ready to make the attempt nevertheless, your highness."

Cornelia looked over at the monitor displaying the Margrave's face. "Oh?"

"Before being awarded her knighthood Dame Nu was a member of the Ranger Corps," Jeremiah said. "She possesses extensive training in rapid insertion and assault and already has an ops plan ready to go, with different contingencies depending on what the ultimate objective of the assault is."

"Is that so? Patch her through to the command channel."

"Yes your highness."

A few seconds later another portrait appeared on the monitor with Jeremiah sharing screen space with his subordinate.

"Your highness," Villetta bowed.

"Dame Nu," Cornelia replied with a curt nod. "The Margrave informs me you have a plan for assaulting the hotel."

"Yes highness," Villetta said. "The entrances into the hotel are well covered by the insurgents but they very plainly lack the manpower to completely cover their perimeter. That means any fighting that breaks out, they will be unable to support each other and each enemy element can be defeated in detail. Conversely, we do not necessarily need to assault the actual entrances to gain entry into the hotel."

Cornelia grunted in understanding. "Breaching charges against the walls"

"Yes your highness," Villetta confirmed. "Based on the schematics if we breached along the northeastern wall we would be able to bypass their defensive positions and make a straight run for the hostages."

"Time from breach to target?" Cornelia asked.

"Two minutes tops your highness," Villetta answered. "One if no one falls behind with me."

The marshal raised an eyebrow. "You, Dame Villetta?"

"I believe am the most suited to lead the assault, your highness," Villetta stated not with bravado but the cool confidence of a warrior who was beyond needing to prove her elite status.

"Very well Dame Villetta," Cornelia said with a fiery grin. "I would say prepare your troops, but seeing as I seem to be surrounded by competent subordinates who know how to take initiative I'll simply assume you already have them ready."

Villetta bowed once more. "I thank you for your confidence in my, your highness."

"Thank me by succeeding," Cornelia said, "and by showing these Eleven bastards that no one escapes unscathed after threatening Britannian citizens."

Villetta met Cornelia's hard gaze with one of her own. "By your command, highness."

* * *

Suzaku took deep breaths to try to remain calm. He had never done anything like this before and in fact had never actually gone through airborne qualification. Few Honorary Britannians were accepted for the training even if they volunteered. Now however he was about to perform one of the most difficult insertion techniques, a high-altitude high opening, or HAHO, jump. This particular method involved opening parachutes while still at very high altitudes mere seconds after existing the plane and then navigating to the desired target. Being able to perform this navigation required a great deal of training, which was why Suzaku was not designated as the lead for the jump. That responsibility had been given to Claudio Darlton, one of General Darlton's adopted sons and also the one that had literally ran the pants off Suzaku during the little informal review. All Suzaku needed to do was follow the man's lead, which was easier said than done with just a crash course in how to use the parachute.

As Suzaku futzed with his chute Claudio walked over and took hold of the straps from the young man.

"Calm yourself private," Claudio said as he adjusted the fit. "Breathe deeply, this operation is dangerous enough without you running the risk of getting the bends."

"Yes sir," Suzaku said as he stiffened.

"You've never performed a jump before?" Claudio said conversationally as he checked over Suzaku's gear.

"No sir."

"Hmm. Well, keep your head on straight and follow me down."

"Yes sir."

Claudio regarded Suzaku silently for a moment. "My father assigned you to this mission because he thinks you're up to the task. Prove him right, private."

Suzaku nodded firmly. "I will not let him or you down, sir."

"See that you don't." Claudio clapped the boy on the shoulder and marched off to take up the lead position.

Suzaku did as he was told, taking deep breaths and letting the oxygen suffuse his lungs. They had been in the air for close to half an hour and the entire time was spent with the breath masks on to flush their bloodstream of nitrogen in preparation for the jump.

The radio hissed. "All personnel, prepare for insertion."

And now the time had come. Suzaku took up his spot third in line. The soldier behind him tapped him on the shoulder and he looked back.

"Don't screw this up kid," the older man said. "I'm behind you so you're the one that I'm supposed to be trailing. You get lost, we lose more than half the team before we even make it to the resort."

Suzaku nodded. "I won't get lost sir."

The soldier grunted and went back to giving his own equipment a final check. Suzaku turned about and readied himself.

"Opening doors."

Klaxons blared as the rear hatch was lowered. Another soldier standing by waved his arm, signaling for them to go. Claudio charged and leapt with the second man right behind. Suzaku followed in their footsteps, throwing himself out with somewhat less grace than the men that preceded him and immediately counting down. Once he reached zero he pulled the strap and felt his body jerk as the chute expanded and caught air. He locked his gaze on the person below him and tugged at the handles, doing his best to control his descent and follow after. The muscles in his arms quickly began burning as he made adjustment after adjustment.

Winds roared and buffeted him. At this height he could not hear anything, not even the panting of his own breath. Suzaku resisted the temptation to look around, that had been one thing he was very explicitly warned not to do when performing a jump like this. Distractions would only get him completely lost and screw the people above him. For the next half hour Suzaku fought to stay on course. He had already been humbled once before when the Glaston Knights pretty much ran him into the ground. Taking that experience to heart Suzaku had increased the intensity of his own workout. Not enough time had passed however for his physique to have seen that much improvement though Suzaku was not certain if any training in the world would have made him ready for this.

The hotel came into view and Suzaku gazed down at it. That turned out to be a really stupid mistake and he panicked as he lost sight of the soldier below him. His head turned frantically about until he saw the blinking light atop the parachute below him. Suzaku duly adjusted his trajectory and veered after. They circled downward in a spiral toward the roof. This close Suzaku made out four insurgents surveying the sky. None seemed to have caught sight of the approaching Britannians. None would have the chance as the muffled crack of a rifle sounded four times. One insurgent dropped after each shot and the roof was clear.

If his exit from the plane was less than graceful his landing barely qualified for the term. Suzaku hit the ground hard, crumpling up and rolling about as his parachute tried to pull him along with the wind. He hit the release and was suddenly free but momentum carried him for a few more meters before the boy finally managed to stop himself. Pulling off his mask boy took a deep breath.

"Kururugi, get on your feet," a voice snapped.

Suzaku pulled himself up.

"Weapons check."

The young man hefted his rifle and made sure his pistol and flashbangs were still there.

"Clear."

"Clear."

"Clear."

"Clear," Suzaku said last.

Claudio nodded. "Alright, remember, locating the viceroy is our primary objective. If we see a chance to secure her, we take it regardless. Understood?"

Nods all around though Suzaku looked on grimly. Regardless meant regardless of what happened to the other hostages. He could understand the logic behind the choice but it did not sit well with him. Their objective should have been to get everyone, including the Princess, out. He was certain that was what her highness would have wanted too.

"Move out."

The plan was simple, infiltrate the hotel from the roof and work their way down towards where the viceroy was being held. The threat of a kidnapping had always been treated seriously by the Princess' security detail and one of the contingencies in case an attempt succeeded was tracker beacons that the military could lock onto. The biggest risk was of course any would be kidnappers finding and disabling the beacon, hence why Euphie wore quite a few seemingly completely ornamental decorations. At least two of them were still transmitting and placed the Princess in an office by the main security room, the squad's target destination.

As Suzaku followed the others he tried to figure out just how he might get not only Euphemia out alive but the other hostages as well. Not for a moment did the boy ever consider whether he should or should not make the attempt.

* * *

Milly looked around, taking note of the number of guards and where they were. There was no telling when they might decide to make an example of someone or that they were out of options and start shooting. Milly was determined that Nunnally would not be counted amongst the victims, even if she needed to shield her herself.

"There're ten guards," Rivalz whispered to Milly, "at least that I've actually seen. If there are more outside they haven't bothered coming in here."

To that Milly nodded. It seemed she was not the only one considering their options.

"Milly," Nunnally murmured as she pressed against her. "They, they're here for Euphie, aren't they?"

Milly grimaced. Her adopted sister was too smart by half. She gentle caressed her.

"Calm down Nunnally, you know that Princess Cornelia's not going to let Euphie come to harm."

The statement seemed to offer Nunnally some comfort as she fell silent. That she pressed herself tighter against Milly indicated that her concern was not entirely assuaged.

Heavy footsteps thudded as another insurgent marched into the dining hall. Milly looked up, her eyes narrowing. The large man glanced in their direction and stopped. Milly felt her heart freeze and she tightened her grip on Nunnally. As if sensing their friend's distress Rivalz and Shirley shifted so that they blocked the way to the two girls. The Japanese man sneered and began approaching them. Milly's mind raced, trying to figure out something, anything, that she could do. Running was completely out, they would be gunned down before they got close to any of the exits even if they were not guarded. Fighting back was also likely to be equally futile with similar results. And then the man reached them and Milly was out of time. Shirley tried to step in his way but a backhanded strike sent her spinning aside with a cry.

"Shirley! Bastard!" Rivalz said, lunging at the man.

The boy was rewarded with a kick to his gut before being slammed into the ground.

"Rivalz!" Milly screamed.

The insurgent reached out and seized Nunnally's arm.

"No! Let my sister go!"

Milly lashed out, desperation taking hold as she threw a punch at the man. She was no Sayako but the girl did have some self-defense training and so when the man moved to block Milly used the opening the motion created to land a kick against the man's groin. The man cried in pain but remained standing. He released Nunnally and threw a punch of his own at Milly.

"Kisama!"

The girl managed to deflect the strike albeit not entirely, the mass difference simply too much for her to overcome. The second blow came quickly, the man now aware that his intended victim was not entirely defenseless. The third blow broke through Milly's defenses and she cried in pain as the insurgent's fist slammed into her gut. Taking advantage of her momentary weakness, the man grabbed Milly by her hair and smashed her face into the floor. Blood began pooling.

"Milly!" Nunnally screamed.

"RAAHHHHHHH!"

Rivalz threw himself at the man, tackling him away from the downed girl. He wailed on the figure beneath him, trying to make sure the man would not get a chance to counterattack. Suddenly a bang thundered in the room. Rivalz looked down and saw a sickening stain begin spreading in his shirt. A fist struck his chin, sending the boy spiraling back.

"Stop!" Nunnally cried. "I'll go with you so stop it already!"

The large man growled and landed a kick against Rivalz's side, causing the boy to cry in agony.

"I said stop it!" Nunnally pled.

"Watanabe," a distinctly female voice called out, causing the large insurgent to freeze up.

"Ike."

The man apparently named Watanabe scowled at the woman but obeyed, grabbing Nunnally's wheelchair and dragging the girl along. As she was pulled out Nunnally saw Shirley frantically trying to put pressure on Rivalz's wound while Nina attempted to tend to Milly. Her sister's hand twitched, the last thing Nunnally saw. The girl was grateful for that much, even if she knew how unlikely it was she would hold that hand ever again.

* * *

The terrorist leader that had organized the entire attack was visibly losing patience with Euphie. In point of fact the slight bruising of her cheek was from the man slapping her after becoming angered by Euphie's lack of response to his threats. Or lack of the response he desired. Euphie had spent the last half hour demonstrating to the man that whatever her supposed public reputation for elegance and eloquence she knew plenty of imaginative invectives with which to describe the terrorist, his intelligence (or lack thereof), and her complete lack of regard for what he wanted.

"Area 11 is the Empire's now and nothing you do will change this," Euphie stated coldly. "Every time you fools attempt such absurdity you invite a response from the hardliners who would not hesitate to level entire wards to simply kill one of you. And if they decide that Elevens are not worth the trouble of civilizing then they will enact a final solution."

Another slap as Euphie's face jerked aside.

"We're Japanese you fucking bitch," the terrorist screamed at the Princess. "We're not the ones that need to be 'civilized,' it's you damn Britannian barbarians!"

"And here I thought a mark of civility was knowing how to hide one's fangs," Euphie sneered.

The man's hand rose to hit her once more but he visibly restrained himself and pulled back.

"It would see you have more iron than that mewling brother of yours," the man said and Euphie's eyes hardened at the insult, something else that seemed to escape the terrorist. "Let us see whether you have genuine conviction to back your beliefs. Koi!"

The door opened and Euphie could see where this was leading from a mile away. "If you truly believe that threatening a hostage will allow you to coerce me to-"

Euphie stopped midsentence as a girl was pushed in on a wheelchair. She was probably no more than middle school age and had brown hair that flowed well down to her waist. It was the eyes however that drew Euphie, the soft purple tinted eyes that she thought she would never gaze upon again.

"Nunnally?"

The younger girl's eyes began tearing up. "Euphie."

"Oh, you two know each other?" the insurgent leader said with a smirk. "Then this makes things simple." He took out his pistol and shoved it against Nunnally's head, eliciting a terrified squeak from her. "You will either agree to our demand and record the statement or I blow out your little friend's brain."

Euphie froze. Her mind both raced and locked up as she witnessed the absolutely impossible. Nunnally, her little sister, was alive. Crippled and confined to a wheelchair, but alive. But she might well not be for much longer if Euphie did not acquiesce to the insurgent's demand.

That demand was simple in the extreme. Renounce Britannia's rule over Japan, apologize for the Empire's invasion and treatment of the Japanese during the occupation, and admit that Britannia was in the wrong. In other words, demands that if Euphie acceded to would have almost certainly led to her execution as a traitor. It was also completely pointless seeing as the empire would immediately repudiated Euphie's statement and almost certainly increase the oppression the Japanese were subjected to just to dissuade anyone else from trying this again. If the objective of these insurgents was to free Japan there were fewer methods that could match this one in ineffectiveness or outright stupidity.

Shock slowly transformed into rage as Euphie's emotions caught up with her logical analysis of why none of this would work. This man, this insurgent, this, worthless piece of garbage was threatening her family. Not just any family but someone she had thought lost to her so many years ago and now returned to her as if by providence. And he thought she would give him the satisfaction of giving into his demands? Euphie stood, the smoldering glare she directed at the terrorist breaking through his smug façade as the man realized that maybe, just maybe the iron will Euphie had displayed thus far went far deeper than he realized.

"Tell me sir, do you honestly believe that you can threaten me?"

The man opened his mouth but Euphie cut him off before he got a word out.

"Behind me stands the might of the Britannian Empire. Whether I stand or fall, its strength will remain undiminished. If you dare harm my subject, know that if I do not perish with her this day I will drown your people in their own blood. I will burn their homes, salt the earth they stand upon, and unleash a reign of vengeance such that will see me upheld as the epitome of Britannian manifest destiny, this I swear!"

The terrorist leader and his subordinate both stared at Euphie and even Nunnally seemed stunned by her sister's vehemence. The gun that was pointed at the girl's head had drifted away and was even now slowly being turned on Euphie instead.

"You really are crazy," the cell leader said with a nervous chuckle. "You believe all that nonsense about how Britannians are better than everyone. You, you're even more of a monster than that bastard brother of yours."

Euphie's eyes narrowed. "Slander my family again and I shall show you how much of a monster I am."

The terrorist ground his teeth. "We're not walking away from this alive, I knew that before I kicked off this op. But I can make sure that none of you do either." He pressed down on his radio. "This is Izanagi. Kill the hostages."

Nunnally gasped while Euphie stiffened. The hiss of static echoed from the radio.

"Izanami, iruka?"

More static. Euphie reached a conclusion a moment before the second person to react.

"GAAAHH!"

The terrorist leader screamed as Nunnally shoved a Taser into his side, only to cry out in turn as the other insurgent smacked her head. Euphie threw herself forward. They might all die this day, but they would not die lying down. The sound of gunfire echoed.

End of Chapter 11

I considered whether I wanted to resolve the hotel incident this chapter but as the word count climbed I decided to split it and so we are left with a second cliffhanger.

A couple of things to note. First, as should be fairly obvious, there are no damsels in distress in my version of Code Geass. There may be situations where someone is unable to effectively fight back but they will never be completely helpless. Much as in the real world. Euphie obviously has some self-defense training and the Ashfords have also carefully considered means to protect Nunnally. After all, who would expect the paraplegic middle school girl to be packing a Taser? How effective those means are, well, you'll find out next chapter.

A lot of secondary characters are getting exposition. This is perhaps inevitable as there is a lot going on and I need to show someone doing the stuff. I generally prefer to use existing characters instead of creating entirely new ones like some other authors do. In all honesty it's more a matter of laziness than anything else. To create a new character requires a significant amount of work to make them credible in the eyes of the fandom. I will however create characters when there is an actual need, as is evident with Rochester and Frasier. I am mildly curious as to whether anyone has any comments on the secondary characters thus far. So far most comments have been about Euphie or Kallen. A few odds and ends about Suzaku. And an attempted defense for Ohgi that, well, did more to reinforce my view of him than dissuade me from my view of the character.

I mentioned this in _In Tune_ but it bears repeating here. I have a pretty straightforward rule when it comes to using non-English languages in things like dialogue. When I use other languages, the intent is not to show off or try to make things feel more 'authentic' or any such nonsense, I do so purely to convey the 'foreignness' that the people in-story would experience when they hear an unfamiliar language. I will almost never insert say Japanese between two characters who are native speakers of the language. I don't feel any need to remind readers that the conversation is technically happening in Japanese by using the language itself. If a reminder is warranted, I'll mention it in the prose instead. Also, you are not going to see me use honorifics when the people in the conversation are all Britannians. I really don't care that the Code Geass anime did that, it's another of what I consider sloppy points in the series that I will not repeat in my writing.

The entire thing about there being a tunnel wide enough for a knightmare to traverse under the hotel was pretty obviously for the sole purpose of showing off Suzaku's piloting skills. Seeing as Suzaku is intended to play a different role in my story, I'm throwing that right out. Justifying the insurgents sneaking in Gatling guns is hard enough, justifying them sneaking in a huge custom knightmare mounted coilgun? Uh, yeah, no, not touching that.

I think it's clear that Euphie has a couple of layers to her. Before this chapter what was on display was a sort of analytical but still charismatic individual. Now we've seen a hint of what might be a dark side. How deep does it go? That's something for future chapters to touch upon.

There is a reason C.C. speaks the way she does but it's a complex thing that I'm still in the process of designing. I do need to start injecting hints however so that when the matter is brought up enough foreshadowing has happened that people don't feel entirely blindsided.

I do keep an eye on the stats for this fic. I believe I have somewhere between two and three hundred readers, insomuch as the latest chapter's reader count tends to hover in that range. Ultimately the rate of feedback for this fic is actually higher than _In Tune_ so I suppose that's good. Now if I would get put onto the tvtropes Code Geass fic recommendation page by a reader, that would be a first step to my master plan of becoming the most recommended fic writer on tvtropes. I kid, I kid. I'm not sure I'd survive writing enough to pull that off.

I don't think C.C.'s dialogue this chapter warrants me providing translations.

Anyway, drop a review of what you all think thus far.


	13. Chapter 12

Snippet spoiler: medium.

 _The second consequence of note as a result of the Lake Kawaguchi Terrorist Attack was the discovery of her supposedly deceased younger sister, Nunnally vi Britannia, as one of the hostages taken by the terrorists._ _The details of her sister's survival would take a while longer to reveal themselves but once the Princess Euphemia learned of them she arrived at two conclusions._ _The first was that the Ashford family was not only capable of keeping a secret._ _The second was that they were also worthy of her trust after having safeguarded the Princess Nunnally for so many years._ _The Ashfords have been stalwart allies of Euphemia I and her line ever since though their loyalty has cost the family their blood on many an occasion._ _The third and final consequence of note was the first meeting between Euphemia li Britannia and Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki, a meeting that would set in motion great changes for not only the two young women but the world at large._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 12: Cui bono

Kallen's senses swept the dining hall and she made final confirmation of the position and number of insurgents guarding the hostages. In the process she also became aware of two, no three things that sparked a near berserk rage within her. The first was the sight of Milly clutching a makeshift bandage against her head. Dried blood caked her hands and hair. The student council president was not crying, yet, but her breathing was a pretty clear indication that she was distraught. The second was Rivalz lying on his back, Shirley pressing his bloodstained jacket over his side. The reason for the girl's action became eminently clear as Kallen saw the bullet embedded in the boy's flesh. Rivalz was not the only one with a gunshot wound but Kallen did not know the older man that also suffered thusly. She did know the good natured boy, someone who was actually willing to stand up for Suzaku, an Eleven, and despite her own dislike of the Honorary Britannian she respected the student council vice president's integrity. He most certainly did not deserve to get shot. And then there was the very telling absence of the wheelchair and Milly's little sister sitting within it. Kallen broadened her senses and locked onto the girl. She was riding up the elevator with another insurgent.

"We're going in," Kallen said. "Cover my back and remember the plan."

C.C. nodded, gun raised. Kallen took a deep breath to try to quell some of the smoldering fury within her. It did not work. She stepped out into the hallway and fired off two shots, nailing her target with a double tap. The other insurgent was just spinning around when his head too exploded in a geyser of blood and gore. That felt a lot more satisfying. Kallen broke out into a run, charging the insurgents that were rushing to respond to her attack. The next pair that broke out from cover to open fire were cut down almost immediately, one by Kallen and the other a second later by C.C. Almost half of the insurgents were down.

Kallen slid to a halt next to the large doorway and popped off a single shit, nailing the gun arm of another terrorist and momentarily neutralizing her but not killing the woman outright. C.C. took up position at another door and fired off a few shots of her own, mostly to distract the insurgents as Kallen crossed the doorway to get under cover again. She moved more quietly albeit still quickly, stopping at the corner and waited. The crack of a rifle had just sounded when Kallen leaned out and nailed the shooter with a headshot. The rifleman's partner pulled back from his exchange of fire with C.C. and instead sprayed a burst in Kallen's direction. The girl had already crossed the hallway however and was hurrying towards another vantage point. Five down, five to go.

C.C. was now completely out of sight and Kallen could only trust the girl to follow the plan. The strange girl could be quirky and even outright irritating but thus far when the chips fell she came through so Kallen was not that worried. The sound of pistol fire moments later confirmed that C.C. was once again engaging the insurgents. Kallen rounded another corner at a full sprint, kicking off against the opposite wall to keep from running into it. She opened fire, dropping the insurgent that she had disarmed previously. Her appearance proved fatal for another gunner as his gun swung toward her before a shot from C.C. sent him staggering. The man did not get the chance to recover as Kallen finished him off with a followup. Seven down, three to go.

The last of the insurgents were hunkering down and Kallen could even hear their curses at being attacked by demons. The girl smirked as she slammed a fresh clip into her gun. A demon was not a bad thing to be compared to as far as she was concerned. Time to make their fears come real. Kallen aimed at the wall and opened fire. Four rounds smashed through the sheetrock without any difficult and down went another insurgent. The last two spun about and sprayed the wall where the shots came from, thoroughly ventilating it. Kallen however was long gone and was already repositioned by the time they stopped shooting. That was her cue to start and once more the girl nailed an insurgent through the walls. The last person standing, a woman, let out a panicked scream and turned to fire at Kallen again. Her gun clicked, a sound Kallen could hear even on the other side. Coming to a halt Kallen took aim once more. Might as well keep using what worked. Kallen took aimed and fired. And heard a series of cracks as the rounds failed to penetrate.

"Shit," Kallen hissed as she sensed the woman making a break for it.

Kallen took off after, tossing aside her spent pistol. Apparently she had hit a stud and the frame was thick enough to stop the rounds where the drywall was not. How had she not noticed? No time to worry about that however, she could not let the last insurgent get away and warn the others. The only one with a radio was already dead but if the other reached either the perimeter or the elevator she could sound the alarm. Assuming of course all the gunfire had not roused them already.

The other woman was fit but Kallen far surpassed her in athleticism. She gained with every step and had the added advantage of knowing just where the woman was trying to go. Kallen charged into the dining hall to the gasps and cries of the huddled hostages. She paid them no heed, cutting through the room and making her exit through another door. Her target nearly tripped over herself at seeing Kallen moving to flank her. The redhead suffered no such misstep and reared back. She slung her arm forth and sent her combat knife flying towards the insurgent. The thud that sounded did not mark the blade sinking into the woman's flesh however, instead impacting against the wall and throwing her target off balance. Kallen closed the remaining distance with little trouble and landed a hard, solid kick against the woman's head. The crack this time marked the snapping of the woman's neck and her body went limp. Kallen panted, the rush of adrenaline starting to fade as she stood above the broken corpse. Ten down, zero left of the insurgents guarding the hostages.

Kallen walked back to the dining hall, picking up a new gun and ammo in the process, and found C.C. standing watch over the civilians.

"Rosaline, get these people out of here," Kallen ordered.

C.C. nodded. "Acknowledged Juliet."

Behind her goggles Kallen raised an eyebrow, not that the other woman could have seen it even if she was not turning to obey the command. Not a trace of accent or inflection. Kallen was becoming more and more certain C.C. was just trolling her with her archaic speech. She would give the girl a piece of her mind later.

"Wait!"

Kallen glanced over to see a visibly shaky Milly stumble towards her, Nina doing her best to support the other girl.

"My sister, the terrorists took her," Milly said. "Please, please help her. Whatever you want, my family, we can-"

Kallen held up a hand, cutting the girl off. "I will see to your sister, have no fear."

Milly's body noticeably slackened as the tension left the girl. She smiled gratefully at Kallen, apparently still not recognizing her classmate under the makeshift disguise.

"Thank you, I-thank you," Milly said, the tears finally bursting forth.

"Evacuate with the others," Kallen said as she turned to leave.

"Wait," Milly called out as she wiped her eyes. "Wh-who are you?"

Kallen hesitated. She could not reveal the truth to Milly, that was far too dangerous, but neither could she simply walk away with giving some sort of answer. All of the hostages were shaken up and Milly in particular was on unsteady ground with her sister taken and a friend shot. She needed to at least try to avoid unsettling the girl even more.

"I am, one who avenges," Kallen stated before walking off.

Milly blinked and watched as the figure in bloodstained armor headed out. A sense of confusion more than anything else pervaded the young woman. One who avenges? Whom was the strange woman avenging? And could an avenger also save? Those thoughts lingered with Milly even as Nina began pulling her back to join the evacuating hostages. Milly prayed that the answer to the latter question was an unequivocal yes.

* * *

The insurgents had not been entirely blind to the possibility of being infiltrated from above. The main stairwell that ran through the heart of the hotel was heavily fortified with another minigun mounted behind a makeshift barrier. This one did not have the metal plates that protected the ones guarding the basement access points but that did not measurably increase the chances of the Britannian strike team in taking it out and still being able to complete their primary mission. Faced with such an obstacle the logical course of action was to try and find an alternative route, which was exactly what Suzaku and the others were doing. The problem of course was finding one that the insurgents would not be expecting and thus likely booby-trapped. The solution was to similarily think outside the box. Or rather outside the building.

"Alright, based on the blueprints the security office is on the north quadrant of the building," Claudio said, pointing at the relevant parts of the sheet. "We can force entry into these suites on the south side where they don't seem to have posted any lookouts. From there we'll need to move quickly. Any patrols we run into we want to take out quickly and quietly if possible. Stick to your crossbows unless they manage to shoot back. If shooting does start up, we go all in and try to get to the Princess as quickly as possible. Understood?"

The other four nodded. Suzaku's grip tightened on his own weapon. If the shooting really did start Euphie's chances would drop to effectively zero. They needed to be very, very careful and take out any patrols in their way without alerting the rest of the insurgents. To achieve this the team had been issued with crossbows in addition to the standard firearms. The suppressors mounted on said guns were certainly not intended to make firing them a silent affair, that was in the realm of fantasy. They would however allow the squad to actually hear something besides their own gunfire if they ended up in an outright firefight.

Claudio folded up the blueprint and shoved it into a pocket before exiting with the others right behind. No opposition was encountered as they proceeded to the suites on the south side and soon enough the squad was securing lines as they prepared to drop down. Once again Suzaku was third down, another soldier taking point with Claudio sliding down second. It was fascinating watching the older man work. Claudio's experience was quite evident in not only how he himself moved but also in how he directed the rest of the squad. Each soldier in the squad could be considered to possess some trait or skill and Claudio assigned each of them tasks appropriate to those skills. The adopted son of Andreas Darlton had obviously absorbed his father's lessons well and would be a leader men would be only too glad to serve under in time. For that matter Suzaku himself found that he actually enjoyed serving under Claudio. It was nice to be following orders from a competent officer for a change.

Leaning to the side of the door Suzaku watched the point man extend a small mirror to peek outside. The soldier then held up two fingers to indicate the number of insurgents he saw before waving for the others to move back. The sound of footsteps was soon audible as the pair of insurgents neared the room. Suzaku glanced over at Claudio to see if the man had any new orders for them. A series of hand signals were directed to the point man who nodded in response. Suzaku and the others however received no further instructions and so simply sat tight.

Murmurs were soon audible but Claudio and the other soldier remained motionless until the thud of footsteps began receding. The knight nodded and point man stepped out silently with Claudio right behind. Three seconds later the whistle of crossbows sounded followed by the toppling of bodies. Claudio and the other soldier hurried over, grabbing the bodies and hauling them into the suite they had entered. Looking down at them Suzaku saw the two well-placed bolts sticking out of the insurgents' skulls. Quick and clean and now two more terrorists were out of the picture.

"They don't have radios," another soldier remarked.

"That means we have some time before they notice their comrades are missing," Claudio said. "Let's get moving."

The sound of gunfire erupted, causing all of the soldiers to jerk up.

"Shit, move!" Claudio screamed, tossing aside his crossbow and unslinging his rifle.

The others did likewise and the five soldiers charged into the hallway. What greeted them in the main atrium was a scene of massacre with the bloodied corpses of half a dozen terrorists strewed about. Shouts and cries could be heard below and a quick peek by another soldier saw bullets rise to greet him.

"We've got incoming, a dozen insurgents at least."

Claudio wasted little time arriving at their next course of action. "Suzaku, Marcus, get to the Princess and get her out of here. The rest of us will hold the line and keep the insurgents from getting through."

Suzaku looked at the knight in bewilderment. "Sir!?"

The other soldier grabbed Suzaku by the shoulder and hauled him along. "Don't question orders, just get your ass in gear."

Reluctantly and with one last parting gaze Suzaku hurried after Marcus.

"We'll exfiltrate her highness the same way we got to this floor," the soldier said. "The lines aren't long enough to get us to ground level but we can at least get off this floor."

"Yes sir," Suzaku said.

The two sprinted through the halls before coming to the security office. Two more bodies lay slumped against the wall on both sides of the door. Marcus did not even wait, slamming open the door and charging through. Suzaku was right behind and just in time to see something hit Marcus in the face with a crackling sound. His rifle was still only halfway up before he felt the cold barrel of a pistol shoved into his own face.

"Drop the rifle," a frigid, feminine, and familiar voice commanded.

* * *

"Ma'am, we have movement."

Villetta looked up and saw that her subordinate was right. The insurgents guarding that particular entryway were pulling back, all of them.

"Something's happened inside," she concluded immediately before speaking into the radio. "All teams, status on your targets?"

The responses that filtered back confirmed Villetta's suspicions as all the other positions reported the insurgents withdrawing. Villetta wasted no time reacting.

"Begin assault now," she ordered before switching channels even as she rushed forth with her personal unit. "Your highness, the terrorists are pulling back into the hotel. I suspect something has happened. We are launching the attack now."

A brief pause passed before Cornelia responded. "Understood. May the gods smile upon you Dame Nu."

* * *

Getting up to where the Princess was turned out to be pretty straightforward. Getting around the minigun, slightly less so. In the end Kallen was forced to use one of the laundry chutes to flank the insurgents, taking the six guarding the atrium out with a combination of blade and bullets. Kallen took just long enough to slam one of her knives into the minigun's rotary assemblage and snapped off the handle, taking the weapon out of commission. This done she wasted no time dashing for the security room, dropping the two men standing guard with the same number of shots. Both managed to get off shots of their own but the first went wide and the other only grazed the side of Kallen's armor. Neither lasted long enough for a second attempt and Kallen kicked open the door to reveal the Princess landing an open palm strike under the chin of a large insurgent.

Another man was bringing his pistol to bear against the young woman but Kallen already had him in her sights and fired. The man shuddered from the hit and even as his head turned to gaze at Kallen in shock the girl was pulling her trigger again. Her target went down and Kallen threw the empty pistol, nailing the other insurgent in the back of the head as he tried to throw a punch at the Princess. The momentary distraction allowed Euphie to land a solid kick between the man's legs and he was still clutching his groin when Kallen pulled out her second pistol and capped him twice in the head. The bloody corpse toppled over.

To Kallen's surprise Euphie seemingly ignored her and instead rushed to the side of the young girl sprawled on the floor.

"Nunnally!"

Kallen blinked. The Princess knew Nunnally? Then again that perhaps should not have been that surprising if what Shirley had said about the Ashford family was accurate.

"Euphie," the younger girl said between her sobs as she clung to the Princess.

"Thank the gods," the Princess whispered. "Thank the gods you're alright."

Kallen frowned, wondering just how she was supposed to get a word in like this. And then she ran out of time as she sensed the five-man squad infiltrating the hotel make their move. Three of them were hunkering down in the atrium to deal with the insurgents charging up but two were headed her way. Kallen frowned as she recognized one of them. The girl picked up the Taser on the floor and checked to make sure it still worked. It did. Moments later as the first soldier charged in Kallen put it to use, slamming the Taser into the man's face and knocking him out. Suzaku was right behind but Kallen was equally prepared and had her pistol pressing against his face as the boy skid to a halt.

"Drop the rifle," Kallen ordered coldly.

Suzaku blinked, his eyes first focusing on the barrel of the pistol and then onto Kallen. They widened.

"You-"

"Gun, now," Kallen cut him off.

The Japanese boy swallowed nervously and bent over to lay down his rifle. His eyes flickered ever so slightly as he caught sight of the Princess starting to rise toward Kallen but before he could war her off Kallen did it for him.

"Stay where you are Princess," Kallen said, gun still pressed against Suzaku's forehead, "unless you value your subject's life so little that you would not mind seeing his brain splattered on the floor."

Euphie froze. "You are not with the military."

"No, I am not." Kallen jerked her head to indicate Suzaku should make his way to where the Princess and Nunnally were. "I'm also not with them however."

Euphie's eyes narrowed. "If you are not with them, then who are you with?"

"She's the one I told you about," Suzaku said, quickly amending himself when Kallen's head snapped to look at him. "I mean, the one I meant in Shinjuku."

A look of understanding appeared on Euphie's face before her expression darkened. "So. Does that mean you were also the one that murdered my brother?"

Nunnally gasped, a not surprising reaction seeing as the girl was simply an innocent bystander.

"I was his executioner, yes," Kallen said. "And if you prove to be as callous and abusive of a viceroy as he was, I will be yours as well."

Suzaku stiffened and was about to say something when Euphie placed a hand on his shoulder. The young man looked at her in surprise at the touch but closed his mouth. Satisfied, Euphie's gaze settled upon Kallen once more.

"My brother was not without his faults, no person is," Euphie said. "Nevertheless, he was still my brother. Whatever your grievances and justifications, I will never forget that it was you who took him away from me."

"And I will never forget that it was Britannia as represented by Prince Clovis that took away my brother," Kallen retorted.

Euphie regarded Kallen thoughtfully and to the girl's irritation her inability to get a read on the Princess made it extremely difficult to interpret the Princess' expression, or lack of one for that matter.

"This, insurgency," Euphie finally said, "causes nothing but suffering on both sides. You and I, we may have little else in common but our loved ones have both been casualties of it."

"The Empire was the one that invaded Japan," Kallen snapped. "If Britannia had never invaded, I would have never been given reason to kill him. Don't try to compare my brother with yours."

Euphie pursed her lip. "I will not dispute that, but the past is past. I cannot change it, much as I would like to. All I can do is try and forge a brighter future. A, new dawn for the Empire and all its people whether they be Britannian or not."

"And those of us who don't want to be part of the Empire?"

"Tell me, how long would it have been before one of the other great powers would have attempted to absorb Japan had Britannia not done so?" Euphie responded.

Kallen frowned, not that that was very obvious with her makeshift disguise. "What?"

"The Chinese Federation has a history of conquest far longer than that of the Empire and even today they still covet Japan and her wealth. Would you prefer their rule to ours?"

"Neither," Kallen replied immediately.

Euphie smiled slightly. "In an ideal world, that might well be feasible. But the world is not so kind, Dame Knight. Japan would have been subsumed by one of the great powers eventually and while the Empire has been a poor steward thus far, that can change."

"And you think you actually have the ability to force that change?" Kallen said dismissively. "You really think the Emperor would let you rip apart his little Social Darwinist utopia?"

"It was my father the Emperor whom appointed me viceroy of Area 11," Euphie stated firmly. "Until such time as he withdraws his confidence I will wield fully all authority thus granted upon me."

Kallen regarded the Princess. As opaque as Euphie was, there was an unspoken undertone in that last bit. Dear gods could C.C. be right? Maybe. But that did not necessarily mean the Princess could be trusted. Before she could say anything further though Suzaku raised a hand against his ear and grimaced.

"The terrorists are breaking through, Sir Darlton and his men can't hold them for much longer."

Kallen glanced over in the direction of the atrium, not that that was really necessary. She could sense the Britannian soldiers being pushed back, one was already dead and the other two were running low on ammo. Maybe she should not have jammed up the minigun after all.

"How were you planning on getting the Princess out of here?" Kallen asked.

"Through the windows," Suzaku said. "We were going to zipline down a few floors to a safer level."

Kallen grabbed the grappling gun on the unconscious soldier. "Then let's go."

Suzaku gave her a grateful look and picked up Nunnally. Kallen exited the room, not bothering to confirm whether the Princess was following seeing as she could sense Nunnally and Suzaku in her stead. She led them away from the fighting and into one of the hotel suites. As Kallen forced open a window she could hear Suzaku advising his comrades that they could begin pulling back themselves.

"Private Kururugi," Euphie suddenly spoke up. "I have a mission for you."

Suzaku stiffened to attention. "Anything, highness."

Kallen tried not to snort. So that was it. Suzaku was not only enamored with the Princess' seeming idealism, he was outright smitten. Men.

"I need you to take Nunnally home without letting her be seen by the media or anyone else. And you must not reveal to anyone else what you have done."

Suzaku frowned and he was not the only one. Kallen looked at the Princess and then at the younger girl who seemed ready to protest.

"Shhh," Euphie said, gently caressing Nunnally's face. "Don't worry, Nana. We'll meet again, I promise. And I'll be fine." The Princess looked over at Kallen. "I have a feeling that I have yet to, transgress, against her people."

Suzaku's eyes widened as he fully comprehended what the Princess intended. Kallen herself was more than a little surprised.

"But highness-"

"There is no time to debate this," Euphie cut the boy off. "This is an order, Private Kururugi."

Suzaku looked like he wanted to argue the point nevertheless but the firmness in Euphie's eyes told him that doing so would likely only undermine her confidence in him. He nodded stiffly.

"Yes, highness."

He walked over to secure his tether.

"I asked you to give her a chance," he whispered to Kallen as she did the same. "Please."

Kallen regarded him before finally nodding. Suzaku sighed in relief before going over to pick Nunnally up. The younger girl exchanged one last hug with the Princess before latching tightly onto Suzaku as the boy secured her. Euphie then did the same with Kallen.

"Go," Euphie ordered the boy.

Reluctantly Suzaku climbed out the window. He gave the two women one last look before giving Nunnally a reassuring pat on the head. He then dropped and Nunnally's cry of terror sounded before slowly fading. Next Kallen and Euphie climbed out.

"You going to scream as well, Princess?" Kallen said dryly.

"I have no idea," Euphie said, sounding far more uncertain than at any other point in their encounter.

"Well time to find out."

Kallen pushed off and the two dropped. The Princess did indeed scream. In fact she was still screaming when the rope ran out several floors below, suspending the two girls in the air. Only after Kallen kicked in another window and pulled them in did she stop.

"This floor is clear of insurgents," Kallen said. "In fact the military is storming the place already. If you go to the atrium you should be able to meet up with them without much trouble."

"What of yourself?" Euhie asked as the two finished unhooking from each other. "Will you require that I grant you safe passage?"

"No need," Kallen said. "I can get myself out just fine."

Euphie opened her mouth but a few moments later closed it wordlessly. Kallen nodded once more at the Princess.

"We shall meet again, Princess," the redhead said. "Under what circumstances, will be in your hands."

With that Kallen took her leave. It would be child's play avoiding the soldiers even now filtering into the hotel. She had done it once before slipping past Clovis' guards after all.

* * *

To Suzaku's considerable surprise the address that Nunnally gave him for her home was the Ashford Academy. At first Suzaku assumed she was a student living in the dorms but the set of buildings she directed him towards were not the girls' dormitory but the headmaster's residence. The boy's suspicions were confirmed when the maid that came to greet them bowed.

"Milady, thank goodness you are safe."

"Sayoko, is there any news about Milly? And Euphie?"

"Your sister is safe," the maid said, "as is the Princess. We should inform Mistress Milly of your return immediately."

So Nunnally was the youngest daughter of the Ashford family, Suzaku mused. That might well explain the Princess' familiarity with her. Any furthering musing was interrupted however as the maid bowed to him.

"You have our sincerest gratitude, Kururugi-san," the woman said in Japanese.

Suzaku blinked. "How, do you know my name?"

"As a member of the Shinozaki clan it would be remiss for me to not recognize the heir of the Kururugi house."

Suzaku flinched but if the maid noticed she gave no indication as she proceeded to lift Nunnally out of the car and carry her inside. The boy sighed in relief. He had at least been able to carry out this mission without any complications. Still, the Princess was safe and Kallen seemed to be heeding his suggestion. There might yet be hope that they would one day not be on opposite sides. He could at least hope for that.

* * *

As Kallen expected evading the Britannian soldiers was not terribly difficult and she was able to reunite with C.C. and then the other Ashford students with little difficulty. Several hours later she had yet to go home, instead waiting with the other girls at a hospital for Rivalz to come out of surgery. The boy was not the only person to have been shot that day though he had the dubious distinction of being the youngest. Milly's head wound had required a few stitches but the girl was in and out quickly and now sat with them in the lounge. News that her little sister had reached home safely, along with a brief conversation with the girl, had calmed her considerably, but she remained somewhat distraught over Rivalz's condition. And something else as well though Kallen could not quite make out what.

The TVs mounted in the waiting room were all playing news broadcasts talking about the terrorist attack. Images, even some with the Ashford group in them, were played back endlessly. Details were scant however as the military was being extremely tightlipped about the whole affair. This of course meant the news anchors were speculating endlessly on what transpired inside the hotel.

"Wait, wait one moment," the anchorwoman said, "we've just had a new development, an amateur cameraman was in the vicinity and has posted some incredible footage of the terrorist attack. Our experts have reviewed the footage and we believe it to be genuine."

Kallen frowned. It looked like more fuel was going to be poured on this incident. She wondered idly whether the censors would clamp down on whatever it was that had been recorded. And how much success they would have seeing as it had spread far enough for the BBC to catch notice of it.

The broadcast shifted from the newsroom to a grainy recording of the outside of the hotel. The image quality was poor, really, poor, and combined with the shaking that was probably whoever was doing the recording moving about, it was hard to make out anything. And then the view zoomed in and Kallen caught a figure in black disappearing into a hotel window. Kallen blinked. That had to have been Suzaku just as he was entering the room with Nunnally, though the shot was so grainy Kallen could not even make out the younger girl's presence. And then the camera panned up and caught another black clad figure, though splashes of scarlet were visible on the armor, as said figure climbed out of the window. A moment later a woman in a pale pink suit appeared and was helped out. Kallen suppressed a hiss. Someone had recorded her rescuing the Princess. Well, no one would know it was her from the video, but the act itself was now on display to all of Area 11 if not the world. As Kallen watched the black figure and Euphie dropped down, the camera trying to follow their descent but only really managing to lock back on as they were climbing into the window several floors below.

"She rescued the Princess," a voice next to Kallen said.

The red haired girl looked over at Milly. "She?"

Milly nodded, wincing and running her hand along the stitches on her head. "She. She rescued us from the terrorists in the dining hall, and then went to save Nunnally. Looks like she ended up saving the Princess as well."

"Do you have any idea who she is?" Kallen asked carefully.

The older girl shook her head. "None whatsoever. Her English was really good though, no trace of an accent. I'd say she's Britannian, though I don't think she's a soldier."

"Why not?" Kallen asked, trying to sound just curious enough but not as if she was eager to know.

"Just a feeling," Milly said. "She didn't seem to, move like a soldier, if that makes sense. And she and that other woman referred to each other by name. Well, aliases at least. If Juliet and Rosaline were their real names, I'll eat my uniform."

Kallen chuckled at the exaggeration and cocked her head aside in feigned musing. "Juliet and Rosaline. Why do those names sound familiar?"

"Romeo and Juliet," Nina said, walking over next to Milly. "Rosaline was the first girl Romeo claimed to fall in love with, before he saw Juliet."

"So pseudonyms based off of Shakespeare?" Kallen said. "Might they be vigilantes?"

"Maybe," Milly said with a grimace. "I'm grateful for them saving our lives, but I can't help but feel a bit uncomfortable about that."

Kallen said nothing as she understood the student council president's view. After all the bunch of pricks that had been beating up on Japanese in the ghettos had also styled themselves as vigilantes. She turned her attention back to the news broadcast where the anchorwoman was once again spouting random speculation based off of the few hard facts the public knew.

"-and eyewitness reports from amongst the rescued hostages reported two women, one whose armor was stained red with blood, rescuing them from the terrorists. The Britannian military has still not issued an official statement on these reports but based off of the video the existence of at least this, red knight, seems to have been confirmed."

Milly tsked. "Reporters these days. They'll spout anything to try to come up with a story."

Kallen smiled wirily. "Maybe you should become one and show them how real reporting should be done."

Milly snorted but before she could reply the door to the inner wards opened and a doctor in surgical wear came out. In the blink of an eye Milly was standing before him, impressing even Kallen with how quickly she moved.

"Doctor, how is Rivalz?" she asked.

"We've removed the bullet and its fragments," the doctor said, "and I expect he will make a full recovery. I would recommend that he stay off his feet for a week or so to let his body heal but otherwise he is doing very well."

Milly let out an audible sigh of relief before bowing. "Thank you doctor, thank you very much."

"You are most welcome, Ms. Ashford," the doctor said. "And take care of yourself as well."

Milly gave him a bright smile. "I will."

* * *

The moment Euphie entered the room she was enveloped in Cornelia's arms.

"Euphie," the woman said. "Don't you ever, ever put me through that again, understand?"

"I'm alright Cornelia, I'm alright."

It was only now that Euphie could relax, here in the arms of her beloved older sister. She stayed that way for a minute or so as the tension in her muscles finally bled out. With a sigh she reluctantly parted from Cornelia and turned to one of the several others present.

"General Darlton. The men you sent in to rescue me?"

The general regarded Euphie for a moment before clearing his throat and answering. "We suffered two casualties ma'am, one fatal."

Euphie's face tightened in a visible grimace. "I see. Did he, have family?"

Andreas nodded.

"I will wish to speak with them."

"Understood, highness." Andreas cleared his throat again. "It also appears that Private Kururugi, left the operational area."

Out of the corner of her eye Euphie saw her sister frown. Best to nip that in the bud before Cornelia decided to actually vent her frustration on the young man.

"Private Kururugi was following my orders," Euphie said, eliciting looks of surprise all around. "The terrorists had brought up a civilian to threaten in an attempt to force me to give into their demands. I instructed the private to see that she was returned home safely."

"He left you alone with that unidentified woman!?" Cornelia demanded.

"He followed orders to get a hostage to safety," Euphie countered.

"You put yourself at an unacceptable risk," Cornelia said, unconvinced. "Your primary responsibility in such situations is to ensure your own safety, not send the only soldier in your company off on an errand no matter how important you think it to be."

Euphie briefly wondered if her sister would have dismissed her actions if Cornelia knew just who the hostage Suzaku ferreted away was. Just possibly, and in fact Cornelia was not even entirely in the wrong. As the viceroy of Area 11 it could be logically claimed that Euphie's life was more important than the vast majority of the people living under her rule. But on a personal level despite the years she spent hardening her heart so that she could learn to make the impartial, rational decisions demanded of a leader, Euphie could not completely agree with the cold, dispassionate logic that entailed.

"I was in no danger, sister," Euphie stated firmly. "The woman I was with assisted in my rescue when she could have easily killed me before the strike team was able to reach me. Will you accept that fact, or have you decided to dismiss my judgment?"

Cornelia's eyes narrowed as she stared at her sister. Finally she gave a curt nod, accepting that Euphie's position was the stronger this day seeing as she had emerged unscathed thanks to the mysterious woman.

Euphie nodded in turn before her eyes hardened once more and her gaze swept the room. "Have you determined who was responsible for this attack?"

"We have tentative identifications on two of the terrorists," Jeremiah answered that one. "They were known members of the Blood of the Samurai that the Inquisitio lost track of a month ago."

"Blood of the Samurai?" Euphie said quizzically.

"They are a major terrorist organization, possibly the largest, in the eastern regions of Area 11," Jeremiah explained. "Based on what intelligence we do have, an attack such as this would not have been beyond their means."

"That is unacceptable," Cornelia snapped, her irritation finding a new target. "How could a terrorist cell have been allowed to grow in such power unchecked?"

Jeremiah bowed his head. "I have no excuses, highness. The unfortunate fact is that far too many terrorist cells have managed to gain considerable strength during the past, few years."

In other words during Clovis' viceroyalty, but saying that outright was anathema and so everyone tiptoed around the issue. It was another of the systemic flaws the Empire suffered from, the unwillingness to express criticism of one's supposed social betters. One battle at a time though.

"The past is past, so long as we avoid repeating the same mistakes," Euphie said. "Forward all of the raw data the Inquisitio has gathered about the Blood of the Samurai to my office."

Jeremiah blinked. "Highness?"

"There are many ways to find a needle in a haystack," Euphie said. "We shall see if my method will have more success than those tried thus far."

The Margrave glanced over at Cornelia. The request was irregular to say the least, access to the raw intelligence gathered by the Inquisitio was restricted and not even an Area's viceroy was supposed to be able to call it up at will. Jeremiah himself technically did not have the clearance to see it either. Cornelia li Britannia, Marshal of the Empire and the highest ranking uniformed officer in the military however, could. After a few lingering moments of silence she finally nodded.

"Alright Euphie, work your magic. Find me a target. But once you do, I decide how we'll handle them."

The glint reappeared in Euphie's eyes and Jeremiah wondered whether he was about to get caught in the middle of another confrontation between the two sisters. The next words out of the Princess' mouth however left him speechless for a different reason.

"So long as there is nothing left of them save ash in the wind."

The expression on Cornelia's face indicated that she had not been expecting such a response from her younger sister either. But then a steely and determined visage replaced the surprise and Cornelia nodded. The two of them were in sync with each other on this point. Jeremiah could not help but shiver at the thought of what they would achieve when working in tandem like this.

* * *

Suzaku had just enough time to shower and grab a quick bite to eat before the boy found himself shepherded to the viceroy's palace. He had barely sat down in the waiting room before the doors to the Princess' office opened and he was ushered inside. Euphie was alone, seated at her desk with hands clasped before her. Suzaku bowed.

"Your highness."

"Private Kururugi," the Princess replied. "You have completed your mission."

It was not a question. Suzaku nodded.

"Yes, your highness. I brought Nunnally back home to the Ashfords."

Euphie blinked. "The Ashfords."

"Umm, yes your highness," Suzaku said in a puzzled tone. "She, is Milly's little sister, is she not? The maid there called her Lady Ashford."

"Yes," Euphie said softly before repeating more confidently. "Yes, she is. And you have not spoken of this to anyone?"

"No your highness," Suzaku assured her.

The Princess nodded. "Good. I expect you to refrain from discussing Nunnally Ashford with anyone save myself and her family. Is that understood, Private?"

Suzaku nodded even though his eyes betrayed his uncertainty. "Yes, highness."

Euphie offered the boy a smile at his acquiescence. "Thank you for your service, Private. It is appreciated, truly."

Suzaku bowed once more, apparently placated by the smile. After the boy left Euphie sat motionless at her desk for several minutes. She then pressed the intercom.

"Rachel, please summon Ruben to my office."

"Yes your highness."

A few minutes almost certainly passed between the call and the door opening to admit the elderly man but Euphie barely noticed their passage. Her mind was still racing, picking out details and tidbits from all the numbers she had on the Ashford family, their assets and their personal selves. There, the disposal of significant amounts of assets that Euphie had originally assumed was the Ashfords liquidating their fixed assets for liquid capital in preparation for their exile. Yet there was a significant percentage unaccounted for, unless the Ashfords were keeping the cash physically on hand for some reason. Or if they had spent it on something very discrete and off the books. Something like a complete set of documents for a little girl that officially no longer existed.

The clearing of a throat alerted Euphie to the fact that she was no longer along. She looked up to see Ruben standing before her.

"How long did I make you wait?" Euphie asked.

"Just a minute or so your highness," the old man said kindly. "You seemed, deep in thought."

Euphie smiled slightly. "Yes, I suppose I was."

Silence lingered between the two for another minute before Euphie broke it this time.

"Is she happy?"

"I believe so," Ruben said. "She misses you dearly though, and was very worried when she found out you were coming to Area 11."

"I suppose I have not exactly helped alleviate that worry with the recent turn of events," Euphie said.

Ruben made no response and simply waited once more. Euphie took a deep breath.

"How."

The old man regarded Euphie carefully. For all the girl's impressive self-control his experience still vastly outstripped hers and he saw the minute quiver in her features, the slight tremor behind her question. And because Ruben sensed the boiling emotion behind the Princess' calm façade he decided to once more cast the die.

"She was brought to us, by a green haired woman who spoke with a French accent," Ruben said.

Euphie frowned. "A, green haired woman?"

A nod. "I had seen her several times in Empress Marianne's company and so assumed she was one of her majesty's confidantes. When she appeared literally at our front door with Nunnally, the girl was badly wounded. There were three bullets in her back, one of which we never were able to remove because it is embedded in her spine."

Euphie's façade cracked for a brief moment as an expression of unadulterated rage swept over her face. She was able to snap back quickly but there was no mistaking her reaction.

"The woman entrusted Nunnally to us, told us to make her disappear so that no one could harm her again. And so I used whatever wealth was necessary to obtain falsified documents to create a fictional identity for her. Abigail Nunnally Ashford, born two years after the Princess Nunnally and named after her in the hope that the two would become fast friends. Milly gained a little sister, and I a granddaughter."

The Princess' façade cracked again, though this time likely without her even realizing it was happening. A single tear streaked down her cheek, leaving behind it a trail that was all too visible to Ruben's keen eyes. Euphie blinked, seeming to finally realize what was happening and wiped her eyes. Ruben said nothing, simply regarding the Princess patiently.

"Would you, would you let me see her?" Euphie asked.

Ruben's jaws tightened. Here was the critical point.

"Your highness. What would be the ramifications of your drawing awareness to Nunnally?"

"If it were discovered that Nunnally was still alive," Euphie replied with a composed tone, "the faction that sought to eliminate the Empress Marianne's line might seek to harm her once again." The composure crumbled as a look of grief and anguish suffused the young woman's face. "I know this, I know this beyond doubt, but I still must see her. Please."

The last word was but a whisper but Ruben had no difficulty making it out. He regarded the young woman seated before him, her knuckles white as she clasped her hands and her face stained by the tears that now poured forth. This was Euphemia Li Britannia. Not the Third Princess, not the Viceroy of Area 11, but the young woman who had lost a beloved sibling all those years ago. A young woman who was finding out that her little sister was not lost, was indeed a stone's throw away. How could she not be overcome by all the emotions whirling within her? It would appear that his gamble may yet pay off. Ruben nodded. The smile that appeared on Euphie's face was a rare one, a genuine and heartfelt display of gratitude after so many years of practiced and calculated displays.

"Thank you."

End of Chapter 12

I emerge from behind the Great Effing Firewall. It is liberating to be able to access the real internet without stupid random slowdowns and complete outright blockages.

Killing off Nunnally might have made for some decent drama but I think it would have felt a bit, cheap, so to speak. A major character's death should serve some genuine meaning beyond serving to, motivate, other characters. For an example of what I mean, I refer all of you to _In Tune_ and how I handled the deaths of two, majorish characters there. For an example of what I consider how not to set up character death, I refer all of you to Assassin's Creed Unity. Ahem.

With respect to a, well, huge number of fanfics, many of them seem to suffer a common issue of being a form of wish fulfillment. We all have things we are dissatisfied with when it comes to the media we consume and a fic offers an opportunity to, well, fix the things we're dissatisfied about. There's nothing wrong with that desire per se. The question becomes, does solving what you disliked make for a good story? I mean, it's pretty straightforward to list all of the developments that ended up screwing Lelouch or Suzaku or any of the other characters and wiping them away in the form of a Peggy Sue or the like. But much of the conflict that drove the story derived from those developments. Take them away and what drama, tension, and conflict is left? And without those, what is there to hold onto your interest?

There is another category of fics, one that tries to explore the ramifications of slight tweaks to the canon. In the Code Geass fandom a large number of these tend towards the Lelouch is still a prince in some way. _A Cold Calculus_ falls within the wider category, though to be honest I'm not aware of that many fics that claim to outright kill Lelouch and let other characters take center stage. These fics tend to keep intact the conflicts and difficulties present in the canon albeit modified to whatever new conditions have resulted from whatever tweak the author decided to make. Personally I think such fics tend to be more interesting than the traditional fix fic. Not that fix fics can't be interesting, I think I did a pretty good job with _In Tune_ , but then again I might be biased there.

Ultimately though if there is any wisdom in any of my ramblings, it would be that if you intend to write a fic of your own, know what it is you want it to be. If you really want to make it through the long haul of writing a multi-chapter story, you need to keep the story interesting not only for your readers but also yourself. And to do either, you need to know what kind of story you are trying to write and plan accordingly.

The Lake Kawaguchi incident has now spanned about two and a half chapters. And it's still technically not over since I still need to deal with the aftermath. That's actually pretty long when compared to the length of previous incidents like Shinjuku. I'm actually kind of amazed it ended up being this long. I'm going to need to be very careful to make sure I don't drag out things so much that arc fatigue sets in. It is important to strike a proper balance between level of detail and pacing that will move the plot along.

Another important thing is consistency. Not only in how characters are portrayed but also in things as seemingly mundane as their names in the prose. I've been going back and forth a bit on this in previous chapters, partially because the anime series itself is not entirely consistent with their own name usage conventions. At this point however I think I've worked out a reasonable pattern that I will be adopting for this and future chapters. My master draft will also see the changes be applied retroactively in case I ever go back to upload cleaned up chapters. The convention is as follows.

All main characters and a selection of important secondary characters will be referred to by their first names in the prose regardless of nationality. All Britannians when referred to without a title will be referred to with their first names. When a title or rank is used in association with a name, the last name will be used for everyone not a member of the imperial family. The imperial family will have their first names used. All Japanese will be referred to with their last names irrespective of whether a title is used or not. Please note that this applies only to the prose text, not dialogue. And please also note the qualifier in the first convention that may override the others.

The last time a fic of mine got recommended on tvtropes I put up a new chapter early to celebrate. I could do that for _In Tune_ because at that point I had something like three or four chapters sitting in my queue just waiting to be published. I do not have that kind of buffering with this fic though I suppose it might have helped me impose a better overall consistency if I had written a couple of chapters to work out the kinks before I started publishing. Still, I think my rate of production has been pretty high even so. Being stuck on a twelve hour flight over the Pacific leaves me with a lot of free time to write and think. It will be interesting to see, assuming any of my fics ever get their own page, which one gets one first.

Watanabe is a really common Japanese name. I used it because I needed it for a basically throwaway character. There's no secondary meaning or anything.

One final addendum, the assistant that was accompanying Euphie last chapter has been renamed to Jane. Why, I leave to the fans of classical literature amongst my readers to figure out.

Anyway, drop a review if you have enjoyed the fic thus far and if any of you have questions. I try to remember to answer any that do not touch upon the spoilers in the headers or points that I am intentionally being vague about for the purpose of future plot development.


	14. Chapter 13

Snippet spoiler: Medium low

 _Despite the steady progress she achieved the Princess Euphemia's program of reforms did not go unopposed. While the Marshal li Britannia and the Margrave Gottwald initially kept dissension amongst the military to a minimum a significant amount of passive resistance existed amongst the nobility and certain quarters of the civilian population. Most who opposed the reforms assumed that the Princess would be unable to do anything about their defiance and things would soon return to the status quo as the new regulations were proven ineffectual and ultimately removed. The arrests, prosecutions, and even imprisonment of many notable members of the business community soon showed the folly of such optimism. And while some grudgingly began obeying the new regulations, others dug in their heels and became more inventive in their defiance. Resentment against the viceroy slowly grew amongst those in positions of wealth and power even as Euphemia remained wildly popular with the general population. This resentment would ultimately play into the hands of the Black King in sparking his Rebellion._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 13: Ad honorem

Officially the reason for Euphie's visit to Ashford Academy was to convey her sympathies to the granddaughter of her chief of staff and to also commend one of the students for his bravery in the face of the terrorists' aggressions. While some might have found the timing odd, most wrote it off as simply an indication of the growing closeness between the Ashfords and their new political patron. Suzaku was more inclined to believe that it was a reestablishment of preexisting closeness between Euphie and the Ashford daughters but even he was not privy to all the details. The young man however took it as a sign of confidence that he was once more tasked with escorting the Princess to the school.

"Private, please wait here," Euphie said after they entered the house serving as the student council office.

Or not. Suzaku frowned.

"Your highness, you really should not be left alone," Suzaku said. That point had been emphasized, pointedly, by General Darlton when he was finally debriefed after getting Nunnally home.

"I will not be alone," Euphie said. "The Ashfords will be with me the entire time."

"Your highness-" Suzaku begin.

"Please, Suzaku," Euphie said calmly but sternly. "Do not make me turn this into an order."

Suzaku grimaced but finally nodded. "Yes, your highness."

After returning the nod Euphie pushed through the doors. Suzaku tried to keep her in sight for as long as possible but eventually they shut behind her. He hoped this would not earn him another earful from the General, or worse, the Marshal.

Inside the large room Euphie looked down from the stairwell to see Milly waiting for her alone. The Princess walked down those steps in what she hoped was a steady and unhurried pace. The fierce beating of her heart made every motion seem to pass so slowly. After a seeming eternity she was before Milly, who bowed formally.

"Your highness."

Euphie frowned slightly. "You don't need to be like this, Milly."

"Don't I?" the Ashford girl replied. "Is it not Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Realm, come to call upon my family?"

"No," the Princess said as kindly as she could manage. "It's just Euphie, here wishing to see her sister."

Milly furrowed her brow. "Is it really just Euphie? Not the imperial daughter, the sixth in line to the throne?"

"I know that you're worried, that you're afraid that I'll drag Nunnally back into that viper's pit that's the imperial court," Euphie tried to reassure the older girl, "but I swear that I will not endanger Nunnally with such a foolish act. She is safe in your family's care. I would not jeopardize that."

"Technically you already have," Milly said, not coldly but firmly. "You're bringing attention to my family. Lots of attention, what with hiring grandpa as your chief of staff. People will come sniffing around eventually, trying to get an angle on you. It's only a matter of time now before they discover Nunnally and make the connection."

"Then why did Ruben accept?" Euphie countered. "He could have declined my offer, ensured his family remained in relative obscurity."

Milly chuckled mirthlessly. "Oh come now Euphie, you know that wouldn't have worked, not with you. You would've gotten your way sooner or later, all denying you before would have done is arouse her curiosity. And after your little trick with Toronto Arms? No way we could have kept Nunnally hidden for long once you started sniffing around."

"Does that mean you don't trust me?" Euphie asked.

"I trust Euphie," Milly said. "She I played with back when we were children, often times with Lulu and Nanna as well. But Princess Euphemia? I'm afraid I don't know her, not yet at least."

Euphie tilted her head aside. "A fair enough point. And you are right, the attention I have drawn to your family will eventually expose Nunnally. But that simply gives greater impetus to my plan."

"Your plan," Milly said flatly.

The Princess nodded. "I seek a world, Milly, where Empress Marianne would never have been murdered in the first place. A world where Nunnally can live openly as who she is and not fear the jealous treachery of her own relatives. A world where kindness and compassion are regarded with respect, not disdain." Euphie offered a hand. "Will you help me forge that world?"

Milly looked at the extended hand and then back up to meet the Princess' eyes. "If you fail, we all die, without exception."

The smile on Euphie's face now was one of hard determination. "Then I best not fail, for not just my sake."

The two stared at each other for several moments before Milly slowly and with some reluctance took Euphie's hand. Her grandfather had insisted that Milly be the one to make the final call, to speak with Euphie to decide whether their family should risk it all by backing what would eventually become a power play by the Princess. She was the future of the Ashford family after all, was the old man's reasoning, so she should be the one to decide how her future should unfold. But Milly knew that the actual choices before her were limited in the extreme. She could reject Euphie's offer and the Princess might well not hold it against her family. Then again she might not, but for all her supposed uncertainty Milly was confident enough in her read of the Princess that she doubted Euphie would openly move against the Ashfords. The problem was that if Euphie did fail, regardless of whether the Ashfords backed her outright or not they would be caught in the resulting fallout. Her family could try to bail on the Empire entirely, defect to the European Union and hope to disappear from sight, but anyone with an ounce of intelligence could see the way the winds were blowing. A confrontation between the two powers was inevitable and while Britannia's victory was hardly assured, there was something to be said for one side having a battle tested military while the other, for all its handwringing, still maintained what was effectively a peacetime posture. No, the only way to guarantee her family's safety was to make sure Euphie succeeded. And so Milly Ashford committed her family, fully and earnestly, to seeing that it would Euphemia li Britannia, who would eventually sit on the throne.

Euphie smiled ever so slightly, letting the other girl know that she understood the severity of the decision and also her appreciation for Milly having made it.

"Now that that's out of the way," Milly said dryly before turning about. "Sayoko, please bring Nunnally in."

The door at the back of the room opened and a Japanese woman pushed in the wheelchair bearing Abigail Nunnally Ashford. Or as Euphemia knew her, Nunnally vi Britannia. The young woman did not bother waiting for Nunnally to be brought to her, she was already on the move closing the distance between the two. The moment she reached the girl Euphie pulled her into a tight embrace once more.

"Euphie," Nunnally said tearfully. "I missed you so much."

"Me too Nanna," Euphie cooed. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you for all those years. I'm, so glad that you're safe."

Ever so reluctantly the two let each other go and Euphie beamed as she regarded her little sister. Nunnally was much as she remembered, her flowing brown hair of a volume that easily put Euphie's own to shame. Then there was her tender and kindly face, one that reminded Euphie of an angel when she smiled. Yes, Nunnally should be smiling, not cringing in fear or grief.

"You have been well?" Euphie asked the girl.

Nunnally nodded. "The Ashfords have been very kind to me. Milly, she's always there for me, making sure I'm okay." The girl's smile turned slightly sorrowful. "She's, been a really kind big sister."

Euphie regarded the older girl who simply smiled kindly. Yes, the Ashford daughter had been the one to be there for Nunnally, to be the elder sister that cared for her while Euphie herself remained ignorant of her own little sister's survival. She should not have resented Milly for that but Euphie was human enough to both feel and admit the feeling. But the Princess also understood the rationale behind the deception and how at the time she would have been poorly suited to the role. Someone close to the Empress Marianne had made the call that no one in the imperial family could be entrusted with Marianne's daughter, a decision that Euphie could not readily dispute. But things were different now, now Euphie did have a powerbase at court, one that she would soon be leveraging into something far more potent given the time. And with that something she could shield Nunnally, regardless of whether the girl decided to remain an Ashford or reclaim her heritage.

"I'm glad," Euphie smiled reassuringly at her sister. "I'm glad you were able to find a family, Nanna. And I am more grateful than I can express with words for what your family has done."

Nunnally smiled happily, obviously relieved that the awkwardness she feared was not coming to pass.

"I just want you to remember, Nanna," Euphie continued, her expression serious, "that you also have family in me. I know the Ashfords have and will continue to take good care of you, but don't forget that if you ever need me, I will also be there for you."

Nunnally nodded firmly. "I won't Euphie."

The Princess smiled and pulled Nunnally into a hug once more. It felt so right to have her little sister in her arms again. Perhaps one day soon she could do this in not just the privacy of this sanctum.

The three girls spent close to an hour talking, sharing stories of all the memories that they could not experience together and catching up in other ways as well. To Euphie's delight Nunnally's sweet tooth was undiminished even now and the young woman silently vowed to make sure to bring some choice candies the next time she paid her little sister a discreet visit. Nunnally in turn spoke of her life at school, the friends she had in class and the kindness and understanding of most of her teachers. Some were a bit grouchy and strict but it was clear that the majority were kind people that believed firmly in carrying out their duties responsibly. That did not terribly surprise Euphie seeing as Ruben seemed to have a knack for attracting people of quality, another reason she had poached him to be her chief of staff.

The Princess was also introduced to the maid personally responsible for Nunnally, the Japanese woman that had brought her in. A few subtle remarks from Milly made clear that Sayoko Shinozaki's responsibilities extended to more than simply seeing to Nunnally's daily needs. Euphie made a mental note to check with Suzaku if the Shinozaki name meant anything to the boy, seeing as he was the son of Japan's last prime minister.

Eventually however the time came that Euphie needed to fulfill the official reason for her visit and return to the palace. After one last hug and a more than slightly tearful farewell Nunnally was led away by Sayoko and the rest of the student council was brought in. Included in their number was a red haired girl that Euphie did not recognize. Suzaku was also allowed into the student council room now, to the boy's palatable relief. He stiffened however when he caught sight of the others. Before Euphie could consider the boy's reaction in more detail Milly stepped forth with the new girl in toll.

"Euphie, allow me to present the newest member of the student council," the blond girl said enthusiastically. "This is Kallen Stadtfeld, you may know of her father, Baron Stadtfeld?"

"Ah, yes," Euphie said as the name clicked. "While I have not met him personally, the Baron is known to me."

Kallen bowed respectfully. "It is an honor to finally make your acquaintance, your highness. Milly has spoken much of you."

"Has she now?" Euphie said, giving the older girl a playful smile.

Milly returned it before her face turned more serious. "Kallen tried to warn us about the terrorists before they stormed the dining hall. We almost got out of there because of that."

Euphie's eyes widened as she regarded the red haired girl who was looking a tad uncomfortable at the attention.

"I saw some suspicious people when taking a call from a friend," Kallen half-lied. "I managed to hide and get a warning off to Milly, but not quickly enough."

"Nevertheless that you tried speaks well of your concern for your friends," Euphie said, dipping her head. "You have my gratitude, Kallen, for the Ashfords are like family to me."

Kallen looked at the Princess with a stunned expression before recovering with a bow of her own. "You honor me, highness, truly."

Euphie smiled at the girl as she rose once more. "The honor was mine, Kallen. I hope that you and I will become friends as well."

"Umm, yes your highness, I as well," Kallen stuttered.

To say that this was getting weird for the redhead was something of an understatement. But then again establishing a line to the Princess as Kallen Stadtfeld was one of her long term goals. Who knew when said line would be useful to Kallen Kouzuki. Out of the corner of her eye Kallen caught Suzaku smiling. The girl suppressed a snort. That guy really was too optimistic by half. He seemed to be keeping his end of the bargain though so Kallen would live up to hers.

Euphie next stepped before the only other boy present. Rivalz was actually presently confined to a wheelchair, having received express orders from his doctors to stay off his feet and rest. Bowing was also out and so he simply nodded and hoped the Princess did not take offense.

"Your highness."

To the surprise of not simply the boy but several others Euphie curtsied deeply, perhaps the only girl present who could pull off the move thanks to her formal gown.

"Mr. Cardemonde, you risked and incurred great harm for one whom I consider a sister," Euphie said formally. "For that you have my gratitude. Ask of me what you will and should it be within my power, I shall grant you your desired boon."

Rivalz's jaw dropped. So did Suzaku's. Kallen was no better and in fact the only two that did not look completely taken aback were Milly and Euphie herself. When Rivalz finally recovered he momentarily forgot the restriction on his range of motion. The pain that shot through his side quickly reminded the boy of it once more.

"There's really no need," Rivalz said, doing his best to not look like he was clutching his side. "I mean, I couldn't stop that bas-I mean, terrorist, from taking Nunnally."

"You tried," Euphie said, "and as I said to Lady Stadtfeld, that you made the attempt is of worthiness regardless of your success or failure." The Princess' face hardened ever so slightly. "How many others simply stood aside and let Nunnally be taken?"

To that Rivalz had no answer as much as his jaw worked trying to come up with one.

"Rivalz," Milly said gently before looking over at Euphie. "Please let him think about it a little, Euphie." The girl smiled wirily. "At this rate he's going to reopen his wounds trying to figure out what to do."

"Of course," Euphie said with a smile of her own. She then regarded all of the student council members. "You have fast friends, Milly. For that I can say without reservation I envy you."

"I wouldn't trade them for anything else in the world," Milly agreed.

* * *

Three days had passed since the terrorist attack on Lake Kawaguchi and the aftermath of the incident continued being dealt with. Some of it was pure logistics, forensic teams were scouring the hotel to try to find any useful bits of information that would help establish just how the terrorists had breached the conference's security and also for any clues that would lead them to the terrorists' support network. Others involved dealing with the unfinished business of the OSEC conference itself. Most of the delegates were too shaken up to continue with discussions and so the decision was ultimately made to defer any further deliberations on sakuradite production levels until the next conference in six months' time. Assuming of course that OSEC still existed, which Cornelia strongly suspected would not be the case seeing the movement of manpower and material within the Empire.

One interesting discrepancy was the seeming disappearance of three members of the EU delegation. There was no indication they were amongst the casualties of the attack and seeing as there was no record of them leaving the country with the rest of the delegates they likely were still in Area 11. The most probable conclusion was that they were intelligence agents intending to gather information on the Area. They might even be agent provocateurs though when she raised to matter with her older sister Euphie gave no more than a 10% chance of that being the case. Nevertheless the younger girl had duly informed Cornelia about the possibility of foreign infiltrators in the country, issues of internal security being under the older woman's purview after all. And because it was under her purview Cornelia was sitting through a meeting that detailed the numerous and flagrant violations the Kawaguchi resort was guilty of so very recently.

"-and the hotel still cannot produce valid residency and work permits for two thirds of the temporary workers they brought on to help with the conference," Gilbert said scornfully. "According to the surviving managers most were recommended to the hotel by people who did have the permits, but this kind of scrimping is outright criminal."

"Have the resort managers presented any sort of defense to their conduct?" Cornelia asked, not that any excuse from the miserable wretches was going to make her feel particularly merciful seeing as their cheapskate tendencies nearly ended up costing Euphie her life.

"They said that they were trying to take to heart the Princess' tolerance for Elevens to help more integrate into Britannian society," Gilbert said dryly.

The scowl that crossed Cornelia's face easily put the one previously on Gilbert's to shame.

"They said what?" the marshal ground out.

"Further investigation indicates that quite a few of the jobs were acquired via simple bribery however," Gilbert went on, having long since learned how best to handle his Princess' tempers. "The various managers basically put jobs up to bid and whomever was willing to hand over the largest percentage of their wages was hired. As the majority of the terrorists were not seeking work for the money, they easily outbid other comers."

"Does Euphie already know about this?" Cornelia asked.

"Her highness does," Jeremiah said. "She, had me wait while she signed the arrest warrants for the managers in question personally." The Margrave smiled slightly in admiration. "It took less than five minutes for her to have the paperwork ready."

Cornelia nodded absently. If there was one thing Euphie had gotten very good at, it was making sure all her i's were dotted and t's crossed.

"What of the weapons?" Cornelia asked. "How were they able to get in miniguns of all things? And how did they even get their hands on them in the first place?"

"The pistols were smuggled in by those on janitorial duty," Gilbert said, returning to his report, "and the rifles were taken from guards they killed in their initial takeover. As for the miniguns, they appear to be surplus from the invasion, likely examples captured by the Japanese Army and then changing hands after the war until the Blood of the Samurai acquired them. As for how they were smuggled into the resort, that is still under investigation but Dame Nu has a theory on this."

Cornelia looked over at the woman in question and tilted her head.

"We believe that the miniguns were brought in piecemeal, your highness," Villetta said. "They were then hidden and only assembled onsite before the actual attack."

"Evidence for this?" Cornelia asked.

"Indirect indications, your highness," Villetta said. "A few of the maintenance engineers reported that before they clocked out the day before a substantial amount of tools had been checked out for, unscheduled work. And the miniguns that we have recovered were not in the best of shape, though it is difficult to tell whether that was due to poor maintenance in the intervening years or because they were hastily reassembled."

"I see," Cornelia said thoughtfully. "Still, it is a possibility we should bear in mind for the future."

Villetta nodded at the indirect approval of her hypothesis.

Cornelia glanced over at the time. "We will conclude this meeting here, we all have somewhere we need to be this afternoon."

The others rose and offered a salute. Cornelia returned it before taking her leave first. She after all had someplace to be before their shared afternoon appointment.

* * *

Euphie held up the piece of paper, squinting a bit as she tried to find further mistakes. The official transcripts had already been delivered to the various news agencies so technically it was too late even if she did find anything wrong. Nevertheless a variety of scribbles filled the margins noting places where the Princess wanted to make sure she emphasized certain points plus other details in case something unexpected happened during the ceremony and she ended up needing to improvise.

Many soldiers had been involved in the battle at Lake Kawaguchi and quite a few had fallen in the line of duty. All of the guards stationed inside the hotel itself had fallen victim to the terrorists and the attack that ultimately retook the site was not bloodless for the Britannian side either. Euphie had personally reviewed every letter being sent out to the bereaved before signing them by hand. As a gesture it might not mean much but as Euphie had learned long ago every little bit helped. The ceremony this afternoon would honor the courage of both the deceased and the still living that she would need to be leaving for soon. Euphie checked the time. Cornelia had asked to see her before the two headed over and she should be here any moment now.

"Your highness, Princess Cornelia is here to see you," her secretary said.

"Thank you Rachel, please let her in."

Punctual as usual. Something about the military mentality and its strict observance of time, a mentality that Euphie approved of wholeheartedly. The young woman preferred a neat, orderly universe in which to execute her policies. A shame the universe so often failed to oblige.

As Cornelia entered Euphie rose to great her sister and glided over to the sitting area. Gilbert as usual was right behind his princess.

"You wished to speak with me, sister?"

Cornelia nodded, taking a seat as Euphie did the same.

"I've come to speak with you about your personal security arrangements," Cornelia said.

"I have already taken steps to remedy the lapses that allowed myself to be taken hostage," Euphie assured her sister. "You remember Colonel Eyre? I have requested him to serve as my new security chief and his transfer is in progress. He should be arriving early next week."

"I am aware," Cornelia said, the sternness of her tone not abating. "I am however referring to more than just your security screen, I am referring to your personal, physical security."

Euphie looked at her sister quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"Euphie, I want you to select a Knight of Honor."

The girl looked at her sister flatly. "Really."

"Really," Cornelia responded in an equally deadpan tone.

"And for what, purpose, would such a knight serve?" Euphie asked.

"Don't play dumb with me Euphie," Cornelia chided. "You're not in the homelands anymore, you're in a highly volatile Area with an active insurgency. You nearly died at the Lake Kawaguchi resort. There will almost certainly be other attempts on your life."

"And how does a knight measurably improve my chances of survival beyond that of simply having a competent armsman at my side?" Euphie asked before flashing a smile at Gilbert. "No offense intended, Sir Guilford."

Gilbert nodded to indicate acknowledgment of the courtesy.

"Armsmen would be a good start," Cornelia said, "but eventually you will need proper knights for your royal guard."

Euphie considered her sister's wording carefully. Cornelia tended to speak her mind more openly than some of her other siblings if only because of her bluntness. This bluntness also meant it was fairly easy to know what her sister was thinking.

"Is there someone whom you do not consider a proper knight, sister?" Euphie prodded.

Cornelia scowled. "That Eleven boy, Kururugi. You are not intending on knighting him, are you?"

Euphie blinked. The thought had honestly never occurred to her but now so prompted she considered the question with her usual objectivity. At the same time her mind filled with numbers, opinion polls, confidence figures, everything from statistics on petty crime to worker productivity all converged to give her a rough estimate for the effect that such an action would cause. It was a very rough number, as wondrous as her power was trying to focus it on a single person was hellishly difficult and the margin of error was not anything she would have found acceptable for a formal audit. Still it provided a guideline, one that pointed to some very unpleasant consequences should she make Suzaku Kururugi a knight of honor. Euphie shook her head and Cornelia noticeably relaxed at seeing the motion.

"Private Kururugi may well one day rise to the rank of knight," Euphie said, causing Cornelia to stiffen once more, "but he is not suitable to serve as a knight of honor. Furthermore, he would better serve the Empire as a soldier or a common knight than as a knight of honor."

Cornelia frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Based on his simulation scores, Private Kururugi stands at the top 1% of knightmare pilots," Euphie said, eliciting looks of surprise from both Cornelia and Gilbert. "Were he not an Eleven there would be any number of officers and nobles who would clamor for his service. The fact remains however that he is an Eleven and to elevate him as a knight of honor would be, counterproductive."

"You've put some thought into this," Cornelia said with a raised eyebrow.

"Not really," Euphie replied with a simple smile. "Just a simple cost-benefit analysis."

Cornelia shook her head ruefully. "The things you consider simple. Alright, for the sake of my curiosity, why would appointing Kururugi as a knight of honor be counterproductive?"

"Would you prefer the military or the political angle?"

"Both, assuming we have the time."

Euphie glanced at the clock. "Probably. Let us begin with the military. As I said previously, the private is an extremely talented knightmare pilot and as indicated by his participation in the hotel insertion he is also a skilled soldier. Both qualities are ideal for a knight and even more so as a knight of honor. I have little doubt that he could ensure my safety against a wide range of threats without much difficulty. At the same time by making him my knight I would be depriving the military of a highly useful asset, both in Private Kururugi himself and in the Lancelot knightmare he pilots." Euphie smiled wirily. "I am not a soldier, sister, and I do not foresee myself taking to the field of battle like yourself. As such the private would be spending most of his time idling about standing guard over me. And while I personally would not object to being protected by such a competent soldier, Private Kururugi could have a much greater impact serving on the frontlines than at my side, assuming of course whomever was his commanding officer employed his talents properly."

Cornelia's eyebrow twitched at that last bit but she chose not to make a fuss about it. Euphie likely meant it simply as a gentle reminder that the young man had passed Darlton's evaluation and thus she expected Cornelia to honor her side of the bargain and not treat Suzaku as an unwanted tagalong. And as much as it pained Cornelia's pride she had to admit that the Lancelot was a most impressive knightmare, far surpassing even the custom Gloucester she piloted. Cornelia was already considering how she might get the ASEEC to build one for her but for now she would put the only one available, and its pilot, to actual use as needs arose.

"And the political angle?" Cornelia asked, seeing as Euphie seemed to be done with the military explanation, a fairly reasonable one despite her sister's relative lack of any actual combat experience.

"Well, the obvious one is that he is a Number," Euphie said. "Do you have any idea how much political capital I would burn if I selected him as my knight of honor?"

Cornelia snorted. "I can imagine. Then again you've never seemed to care how much capital you need to expend to get what I want."

Euphie allowed a smile. "Indeed. But the things I want generally serve a specific purpose. Making Suzaku Kururugi my knight of honor would not serve a purpose and would in fact be counterproductive to my goals irrespective of the political fallout."

"Oh? How so?"

Euphie pursed her lip. "Tell me sister, of the people who enlist in the army, how many qualify for formal knighthood?"

"Around 12%," Cornelia answered after a brief pause.

"12.5%," Euphie amended with a slight smile. "And how many rise to serve as knights of honor?"

"Well under 1%," Cornelia returned the smile.

".02%," Euphie stated, "assuming we count all of the knights of honor amongst the myriad of princes and princesses."

That earned the girl another snort from her sister. While all members of the court afforded the title of Prince or Princess of the Realm were granted the privilege of appointing such knights everyone knew full well that really on the top seven or eight heirs mattered, the top ten if one wanted to be generous. Euphie herself just barely qualified as a member of the court's top tier but most dismissed her as simply being a hanger-on of Cornelia and Schneizel. Those same two siblings however knew better as they watched their little sister build up a powerbase that was less dependent on the whims of the nobility and their more capricious relatives. Anyone foolish enough to try to move against Euphie would be in for a world of hurt politically, and very likely physically.

"Suzaku Kururugi might well have the necessary talent to stand at such heights," Euphie continued, "but him doing so creates a disconnect between himself and all the other Elevens. Right now he is not even formally a knight despite piloting a knightmare, but consider the numbers. One in ten is impressive, but not that spectacular. One in five thousand, there you start reaching some rather lofty heights. And one in a million? That would seem unsurmountable for a true blooded Britannian, never mind a number. Right now in his current position Private Kururugi can serve as an example that the masses can imagine themselves in, a goal that actually looks obtainable and thus something to work towards. As a knight of honor, especially at his age, they might hold him in awe but few would imagine that they could emulate his rise. No, he will serve my purposes far better where he is. He may well achieve a knighthood but I will not make him my knight of honor."

A conflicted look crossed Cornelia's face as she listened to her sister. True one set of concerns was put to rest as Euphie made clear she would not invite the train wreck that making the Japanese boy a knight of honor would bring, but she was also making clear that knighthood itself was not out of reach to the boy. The political consequences of that, while likely nowhere as severe as the former possibility, would still be substantial. Then there were her own personal feelings on granting such an honor to a number. But Cornelia already knew what her sister's long term goal for the Area was and knew arguing over it now would not accomplish anything. And if she was to be perfectly frank at heart Cornelia was a military officer, one who preferred the simplicity of the battlefield where her friends and enemies were usually well defined. The problem of course was that in politics and governance the lines were not so clearly visible and while Cornelia could navigate the intricacies of court she did not relish it. Euphie on the other hand did so with a deftness that surprised many due to her relative age. And thus while her concerns remained many Cornelia was willing to let Euphie's plans play out, for now.

* * *

Suzaku fought the urge to fidget. His new formal dress uniform was just a bit too tight under the arms and there had not been enough time to retailor it. The other surviving members of the rescue team seemed remarkable calm, a composure that the boy envied. His own stomach felt like it was doing somersaults.

"Private."

The boy stiffened and turned about to find Claudio standing behind him.

"Sir," Suzaku came to attention.

"Relax private," Claudio said as he stepped to Suzaku's side. "We may technically be on duty right now, but we are not _on duty_."

"Yes sir," Suzaku said nervously even as he tried to calm down. He glanced at the older man. "Is, something the matter sir?"

Claudio regarded the boy for a few moments. "You were put into a very awkward situation back at the hotel."

Suzaku grimaced. At the time he had not thought too much about it, trusting his gut instinct that Kallen would keep her word and see the Princess out safely. After the grilling by General Darlton and Sir Guilford he was beginning to reevaluate the propriety of his course of action, not that he had any idea of what else he could have done at the time.

"Yes sir," Suzaku simply agreed.

"I can't say I envy you having to make that kind of call," Claudio said, "obeying an imperial order versus following protocol."

It had not been easy, that much Suzaku agreed with. Conversely ultimately it had been easier than the knight might have imagined.

"In a way you got really lucky," Claudio went on. "If that mysterious, insurgent, had harmed the princes, well…"

Suzaku began to open his mouth but then thought better of it. He could not very well explain just why leaving the Princess with Kallen was fairly low risk after all, that would cast all sorts of suspicions on him and also invite questions on why the viceroy considered it so important to get Milly's little sister out of there. Suzaku himself was less than clear on that last point but Euphie's order rung in his head. He was not to reveal anything about Nunnally and he had no intention of even accidentally breaking that order.

"The two, talked," Suzaku finally said. "I'm not privy to discuss exactly what they spoke about but they established, an understanding."

Claudio raised an eyebrow. "I see. That, does certainly put things in a different light."

Suzaku clenched his jaw. Hopefully he had not just said something he should not have.

"Do not worry, this is between just you and me," Claudio said and Suzaku relaxed just a bit in response. "The, Princess has always been difficult to understand. Her attention often seems to be on a loftier goal. It makes her seem, detached at times."

"You, are familiar with the Princess?" Suzaku asked.

"My father has served Marshal Cornelia for many years," Claudio said. "In that time I have had opportunities to interact with Princess Euphemia. She was always cordial, even kind, but I never felt like I saw her true self." The man shrugged. "I doubt anyone save her family has."

A flicker of uncertainty crossed Suzaku's mind as he thought back to his own interactions with the Princess. Did he truly know her? Even after the times they spoke the boy found that he could not quite put into words what Euphemia was actually like. Polite, most definitely. Kind, he at least thought so. And she was certainly capable of compassion, that much Suzaku was certain of after seeing her and the younger Ashford daughter. But there was a detachment, a line that the Princess seemed to draw between her close friends and family and everyone else. At that moment said family appeared and all of the soldiers snapped to attention as Princesses Cornelia and Euphemia entered the room accompanied by Sir Guilford, General Darlton, and Margrave Gottwald. Suzaku's gaze locked onto Euphemia immediately and he followed her movement as she walked over to speak with a noble seated by the exit.

"You're staring."

The boy blinked and his face flushed slightly. "Sorry, sir."

Claudio raised an eyebrow. "Word of advice, Private, no matter how much you might admire the Princess do not openly display it. There are many who would find such attention, distasteful."

The neutrality of Claudio's tone did not betray whether the knight was one of them but Suzaku nodded and looked away from the Princess nevertheless. Fortunately he did not have much time to stew as they were called to attention. It was time.

The gathered stepped out to the stage and were greeted with boisterous cheers. Not even Suzaku's presence seemed to give people pause though the boy doubted any of them were actually cheering for him. Then again scattered amongst the crowd were not too few Japanese and he did seem to be the focus of their attention. Suzaku glanced over discretely at the two Princesses. Euphemia had taken a seat with Andreas to her right and Gilbert hovering protectively behind. An empty seat to the young woman's left was obviously meant for Princess Cornelia but she had stepped up to the podium.

"Three days ago, insurgents unable to face the might of Britannia sought to do harm to her sons and daughters with a cowardly attack on the Lake Kawaguchi resort," Cornelia began. "Through the valor of our soldiers the terrorists were defeated, though not without loss. Today we are here to honor those who gave their lives in the line of duty and those whom remain with us to continue their service."

And so it went, the men and women who had fallen in battle were named and their next of kin stepped forth to receive directly from the hands of the viceroy the commendations and awards their lives had bought. Then those living and had demonstrated exceptional courage during the storming of the hotel came forth to receive their thanks. The last was a noble that wore no military uniform. Suzaku's eyes widened as he heard how the man had been shot trying to protect the Princess when the insurgents first tried to grab her. And then it was their turn. Cornelia took a seat and Andreas stepped up to the podium from where he was helping the Princess hand out awards.

"Many were the men and women who risked their lives to protect our fellow Britannians, but a select few accepted the duty of attempting to save her highness the Princess Euphemia. These men volunteered to perform an extremely complex and fraught insertion, one that could well have ended in disaster even before they reached the hotel. They did not fail however and after overcoming those who sought to harm our viceroy secured the way for her evacuation." Andreas gazed out at the crowd. "The glory of our Empire was built on such acts of bravery and future glory will no doubt be won by these men as they continue in service to Britannia."

Andreas turned to the side and regarded the four soldiers and the uniformed woman that sat closet to the general on Claudio's right.

"Lieutenant Victoria Celeste, rise and stand forth."

The woman stood and stepped over before Euphemia and bowed. Suzaku's eyes fell on the armband with the red shield she wore, recognizing it from when he was treated during the Shinjuku incident. Victoria was a member of the Army Nursing Corps.

"Your husband's valor will not be forgotten, Lieutenant Celeste," Euphemia's voice echoed across the plaza. "For the bravery he demonstrated in coming to my aid and in honor of his sacrifice, I have appealed and my father the Emperor has approved his appointment as Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the Britannian Empire." The Princess held out the velvet box containing the medal. "I humbly ask that you accept on his behalf."

Victoria reached out and placed her hand upon the box firmly and bowed her head. "My gratitude, highness, for my husband."

Euphie offered a comforting smile. Victoria cradled the box against her chest and returned to her seat. There was no applause, only a solemn silence that hung in the air until Andreas spoke next.

"Claudio Darlton, Alexander Armstrong, Marcus Bradley, Suzaku Kururugi."

There, the noticeable confusion and even consternation at a Japanese name being called. Suzaku breathed deep, doing his best not to let it get to him. He focused on where he could see Cécile and Lloyd standing near the front, the woman smiling happily at him while Lloyd looked seemingly bored before grimacing at what was almost certainly the grinding of his foot by the captain. He focused on Euphemia who was stepping forth, Darlton following with four boxes in his hands.

"A simple medal cannot express my gratitude for your coming to my aid," Euphemia said. "What is presented will serve as not a reminder of my gratitude, but a reminder to others that you have rendered honorable service to the Empire and to myself. And if you yourself ever find need for a reminder of your valor that day, then I hope that these words will serve."

The Princes took out the first medal and pinned it on Claudio's dress uniform. "Thank you, Sir Claudio Darlton."

Next was Alexander. "Thank you, Alexander Armstrong."

Then Marcus. "Thank you, Marcus Wright."

And finally Suzaku. "Thank you, Suzaku Kururugi."

End of Chapter 13

Alright, that's the aftermath of the hotel attack dealt with.

The numbers that Euphie was throwing out are based on my guesstimates for the size of the Britannian Army and then what proportion of that army is made up of knightmare forces. Or rather, people qualified to be knightmare pilots. As one review stated, Code Geass is a mecha anime and they shoved knightmares everywhere, which to be perfectly frank from a purely budgetary perspective is impossible. The T-54/55 series, the most widely produced tank design in the world, had a production run of on the high end 100,000. Assuming we added up together the production of all of the post-WWII tanks built, I'd be surprised if it breached 300,000. Probably closer to 200,000. And this is including the 'light' tanks that were basically obsolete before they rolled off the production line. Note that this number is spread across the world so it Includes the US, Europe, Russia/USSR, and China, the principle tank builders in the modern world.

Knightmares based on their mechanical design are much more mechanically complicated and almost certainly more expensive as a consequence. So, no, the police force does not have knightmares. And in my version of the Code Geass universe the number of people qualified as knightmare pilots far outstrips the number of actual knightmares, which is why Euphie specifically says 'qualifies' when discussing the numbers. They qualify for a knighthood insomuch as they have demonstrated that they possess the aptitude for piloting a knightmare, but they are not a knight because there are lots of people better than them. The majority of the fighting will almost certainly be done by more conventional forces and knightmares will only show up to serve as shock troops or to take out opposing knightmares. Kind of like in my portrayal of Cornelia's Middle East campaign.

As for the specific numbers, I'm going to be holding those in reserve until there is a genuine need for me to start flashing them about in case I need to adjust them later on.

One thing I want to note, events in my fic do not happen in a vacuum. The Lake Kawaguchi attack has discrete in-universe justifications for both why the Blood of the Samurai tried it and why it was even possible in the first place. The anime I don't think ever attempted to explain the latter but it's not a hole that I feel comfortable leaving since otherwise it makes the Britannian authorities look absolutely incompetent.

Umm, I don't see anywhere where I said C.C. would stop speaking archaically. She only spoke normally with Kallen at the hotel to help maintain their respective covers.

I've said in the past that I try to respond to any questions or critiques posted in reviews. One review for last chapter had several different points that I will address separately. I would say that I struck several nerves for said reviewer.

1) I am being hypocritical for calling other people's stories wish-fulfilment when that is what mine is. There is also an implication that I consider wish-fulfilment a bad thing.

Response: At an abstract level every story ever written is a form of wish-fulfilment insomuch as it is an author trying to tell a story. A more careful reading of my notes however should make clear that my problem is not whether a fic has wish-fulfilment, it's when an author prioritizes wish-fulfilment over actually having a story. A lot of writers want to hurry up and give their characters everything and more often than not do so quickly, or right away. And when that everything includes everything needed to resolve every conflict in the story, you remove basically every source of conflict that tends to drive stories. Doing so is not writing a story, it's bad writing. If you're just starting out, it's understandable since everyone has to start somewhere and as you write more you learn how to develop realistic plot and characters, hopefully. My earliest works were pretty much pieces of crap in the same vein. This fic is the culmination of many years of practice.

2) I am practicing wish-fulfilment by making my favorite characters Kallen and Euphie into Mary-Sues.

Response: Hah. Hah. I think someone missed where I said that I did not particularly like Euphie in the Code Geass anime. And I don't think I've said anything about whether I like or dislike Kallen. Even setting that aside, Mary-Sues are generally written as not making mistakes and beloved by everyone except people everyone else hates anyway. Both Kallen and Euphie have been making mistakes all throughout the story. The consequences of Kallen's tend to be readily apparent since she acts on a tactical, micro level so to speak. When she screws up, she gets her ass handed to her in some form or another or lets someone get away like in last chapter. The consequences of Euphie's mistakes take longer to manifest and are harder to see since her decision making is often at the strategic/macro level. They have happened however and in point of fact the feasibility of the Lake Kawaguchi attack was partially due to Euphie's actions. Why Euphie and Kallen are the duel protagonists in my story will have to wait for another author note when more plot is revealed but the plot itself was something I conceived because I thought it would be an interesting story to try to tell, not because I have any particular character I want put on the pedestal to glorify.

3) The reviewer is dissatisfied with Suzaku's portrayal and thinks he is acting out of character.

Response: Umm, don't really see the OOC myself. He's acting exactly like how I understood his personality to be at this stage in the anime. And without any specific examples as to what constitutes OOCness, there's not much I can say definitively. I am going to take a wild guess though and claim that the reviewer is a Suzaku fan and would not be satisfied with any portrayal that did not cast the character in a heroically sympathetic light. Hence the previous accusation that Kallen and Euphie are Mary-Sues because they are being portrayed in what the reviewer probably considers a more flattering manner than Suzaku. And the accusation about me pursuing wish fulfilment myself with those the reviewer believes are my 'favorite' characters. Which is, strange considering things are actually going pretty well for Suzaku so far, and really way better than the character has any right to expect.

The fact of the matter is in a realistic setting Suzaku would have never gotten as far as he did. The writers basically shoehorned him into every one of his positions and handwaved every complication he should have run into in that position. Euphie selecting him as her knight of honor should have killed any possibility of her ever inheriting the throne from a political perspective, not with the entrenched xenophobia of the Empire's nobility and especially of the imperial court. She therefore should have had no bargaining chip whatsoever when she was trying to create the SAZ. Trade her claim to the throne to buy off opposition to it? Uh, yeah, no, realistically by then her standing would have been so low that her claim would not have been worth anything anyway. Schneizel and Cornelia might have been able to shield her from the immediate physical consequences of her knighting Suzaku, but not even they could have preserved Euphie's overall standing at court.

Literally the only one who could justify getting away with elevating Suzaku like that was the emperor because he's the emperor of a totalitarian regime and he can damn well do anything he likes and if you disagree then it's off with your head and he's the emperor. Did I mention he's the emperor? And after Euphie's death absolutely no one should have trusted him enough to let him keep piloting the Lancelot, much less hand over to him a WMD like the Freyja warhead. Unless it was to off him in as surefire of a way as possible.

That is what a realistic portrayal of Code Geass should be treating Suzaku like. But to be frank I think he's actually doing pretty good so far in my story. So far he's gotten a medal openly acknowledging the role he played in saving Euphie, he has two, two and a half noble sponsors pushing his way up through the military in the form of Lloyd (perhaps a less than reliable sponsor but still someone with some pull), Euphie (the half because in this story I think it's pretty clear Euphie always has a plan behind every move she makes), and Andreas (who has a public reputation for mentoring and raising up promising soldiers). As it is I'd say Suzaku's actually in a much better position to actually make a difference than where he was at this point in the anime. And I did this all while sticking to my desired goal of building a more realistic representation of Code Geass. So if you're going to try to accuse me of intentionally mangling a character because you think I don't like him, you better damn well show textual proof. And that line in the opening snippet doesn't count seeing as that's no worse than anything he went through publicly in the canon anime.

Sidenote: If you think I am being an arrogant prick, you are welcome to that opinion. I however do not appreciate when people try to force upon me their desired interpretation of a character simply because my own interpretation or portrayal conflicts with theirs, especially since I'm doing the work of writing the story. And then there are the outright batshit insane requests that I've gotten in the past…

Anyway, to everyone else who seems to have thus far enjoyed my portrayal of the characters (aside from the griping about C.C.'s speech pattern, which does have a purpose I assure you), I hope you also enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter will kick off the next story arc and will shift over to Kallen and co more. As the dual protagonist she needs some dedicated screen time too after all.

Drop a review with any thoughts. I think if nothing else I've proven that I do read the reviews and will respond to questions and points raised therein. Page view tracking also seems to have broken over the past few days, at least for me.

Aside, I would be interested in hearing more opinions about the side characters like Inoue, the Darltons, etc. They've been getting a lot of screen time and I'd like some feedback on how people think they're shaping up.


	15. Chapter 14

Snippet spoiler: medium

 _Amongst the many soldiers who swore loyalty to Euphemia li Britannia, Brigadier-General Jonathan Eyre is often considered to be the one all the others were measured against. Several years before the Princess Euphemia's viceroyalty of Area 11, Colonel Eyre had established a working relationship with her highness when he was tasked with arresting Duke Constantine of Toronto. The colonel's professionalism impressed the Princess and she soon found other tasks that required his attention. After the Lake Kawaguchi terrorist incident Colonel Eyre was transferred to Area 11 to serve as the new head of the Princess' personal security detail with a brevet promotion to Brigadier as befitting his new duties. Upon his death the Princess Euphemia took the exceptional step of petitioning her father to appoint him a Knight-Commander of the Order of the Bath. The request was not without some controversy at the imperial court as some nobles considered General Eyre's commoner status as a mark against him but the Emperor ultimately ignored the opinion of the peerage and acquiesced. The Empress would later admit that that was perhaps the only time she ever felt genuine gratitude toward her father._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 14: Panem et medicina

"Inoue-san!"

A thunk sounded followed by a string of barely audible expletives as the normally mild-mannered woman clutched her head in pain.

"Are you okay?" a man not responsible for her sudden contact with the generator tank said.

"Yeah," Inoue muttered as she dragged herself out from under the tank. "Was that sensei?"

The man nodded even as he looked nervously toward the door. "He sounded a bit tense."

"Alright, I better go see what he needs," Inoue said, pulling herself up. "Get started on draining the diesel, the sooner we change the filters the sooner we can get the generator running again."

"Gotcha."

The man went down onto his back to take Inoue's place and side under the fuel tank. The community center housed at the old Keio University Medical College had only two diesel generators providing power to it, one laid up as Inoue and a few of the other mechanically inclined volunteers stripped it down to perform some very overdue maintenance. They needed to get this done quick however as the other generator was working overtime keeping all of the critical equipment running while all nonessentials were shut off to conserve power. And while no one was liable to die while they were running half-on like this, they also had no fallback if the other generator decided to croak. The doctor that helped administrate the center knew this and so if he was prepared to pull Inoue off of the maintenance job something very important must have come up.

As Inoue emerged from the building housing the generator, wiping her hands with a slightly less dirty rag, she came to an abrupt halt. Standing outside with the doctor were two other people. One was a Japanese man in a neat and tidy business suit, a suit that was way too clean for anyone who was not an Honorary Britannian, and a relatively well-off one at that. The other was a woman in the field uniform of the Britannian military. The only thing that stopped Inoue from instinctively reaching for her blade was the armband the woman wore, an armband with the red shield of the Valkyrie.

There was an unspoken rule of sorts amongst the more reputable resistance movements. Members of the Britannian Army Nursing Corps were not to be intentionally targeted and quite a few cells went out of their way to avoid causing casualties amongst the Corps members. Part of it was due to a certain sense of honor, killing women sworn to the assistance of others left a very bad taste amongst even some of the most jaded insurgents. Another was more pragmatic. On more than one occasion the Corps had demonstrated that they considered their oath to extend to everyone, regardless of race or loyalty. And while someone was their patient they would not allow any additional harm to befall them. Very few were the Britannian soldiers that dared argue that point and those that did were more often than not sternly warned off by their own comrades-in-arms for all experienced soldiers understood that the dedication shown by the nurses in treating even the enemy was a testament to the dedication to care that they themselves would receive if they ever ended up under the Corps' care. Forcing a nurse to compromise their sense of duty would in the long term be, counterproductive at best and fatal at worst.

That same dedication also meant that if any Britannian soldier could venture alone into the ghettos and expect to emerge unharmed, it was a member of the Nursing Corps. That did not mean it was a good idea for one to do so but as Inoue noted the obvious guards scattered about this particular nurse was not quite alone. It was rather interesting however that all of the guards were Japanese. Inoue turned her attention back to the doctor and his, guests.

"Can I help you with something, sensei?" Inoue asked.

"Umm, yes," the doctor nodded to the two people accompanying him. "This is, Lieutenant Helena Blanche, of the Army Nursing Corps. And this is Ichijo Hiroshi, of the Sumeragi estate. They are here to, facilitate the restoration of the Keio Medical College into a working hospital."

Inoue stared at the doctor for several seconds before finally blurting out her reaction. "What?"

Ichijo smiled wirily. "I understand your confusion, Inoue-san, but Kuroba-sensei speaks the truth. Though it has not been publicly announced yet, her highness the viceroy has initiated a program to extend proper medical care to the wards beyond the Tokyo Concession. The Keio Medical campus was selected as the first of such centers."

Inoue's eyes narrowed. "And the catch?"

"Your caution is admirable," Ichijo said, "but in this case unnecessary. The viceroy wishes nothing more than to ensure that basic, essential services start being restored to the wards. She considers it shameful that the residents have been neglected for so long."

Inoue glanced ever so subtly at the doctor and Kuroba tilted his head ever so slightly in response. It seemed he at least was willing to give his two guests the benefit of the doubt, for now at least.

"And what do you require from me?" Inoue asked.

"Kuroba-sensei informed us that you helped maintain much of the current systems here," Ichijo said. "We believe your input would be, invaluable in minimizing disruption to the services the center currently provides as well as in helping repair and upgrade the current facilities to better see to the needs of Shinjuku's residents."

This was getting more and more surreal. Had not the viceroy just been taken hostage last week by a bunch of Japanese insurgents? Insurgents who ended up getting their ass handed to them by Kallen, though Inoue was still not quite clear how the girl had managed to take on that many opponents with minimal support, but whom had obviously roughed up not only the Princess but also shot her industrial minister amongst others. And now the viceroy wanted everyone to believe she was going to provide healthcare to the Japanese people? Inoue's skepticism must have been very evident as the Britannian woman stepped forward.

"Do you understand English?" she asked in said language.

Inoue nodded. At this point most Japanese did out of necessity if nothing else even if some people like Tamaki still absolutely butchered the language when they bothered trying to speak it.

"You are likely wondering why her highness would extend such generosity despite the events at the Lake Kawaguchi resort," the woman said.

That one was blindingly obvious and Inoue would give nothing away by agreeing so the woman nodded once more.

"Her highness recognizes that those who wished her harm do not represent the totality of the people of Area 11," the lieutenant said.

Inoue kept her face expressionless. So many nuances to what appeared to be a single sentence. The Princess was willing to distinguish between those people who tried to harm her and those completely uninvolved with the resort attack, sure, that was promising. But Japan was still referred to as Area 11, indicating that on that point at least the Empire would give no ground. Yet even as she took the effort to make explicit the Empire's position, the lieutenant was seemingly offering a minor, very minor, concession in not calling the Japanese people Elevens. She referred to them as people of Area 11 instead. It might seem a minor, almost trivial point, but the way the lieutenant held Inoue's gaze made the woman think it was meant as a small peace offering.

"The viceroy is also aware that the desperation that exist in the wards due to lack of opportunity and basic safety nets creates a situation that might drive people to extreme acts, such as the Kawaguchi terrorist attack," Helena continued. "Her highness has no desire to see a repeat of the incident and she sincerely believes that improving the lot of the ward residents will go a long ways to preventing future incidents."

That caused Inoue to narrow her eyes ever so slightly. "The problems we face are deep rooted."

"Then shall we take the first of many steps in solving them?"

The lieutenant's words were logical in the extreme, with all the problems in the ghettos the Empire had to start somewhere. Yet it was also abundantly clear that the biggest sticking point for a lot of Japanese people, the Empire's occupation of Japan herself, was not one of the 'problems' that the viceroy intended on addressing, all of which put Inoue in a position she never dreamed of finding herself in. The woman was reminded of a conversation she had with Naoto many years ago when she first joined his cell.

"At the end of the day, what I'm fighting for is not some abstract concept like freedom," Naoto had said. "I don't see the Britannians as all evil monsters. I'm half Britannian after all, and so is my little sister. And as much as I resent my father, the years he was with us were happy ones. My mother would have never married him if he was a complete bastard either, so I know that there's some good in him. At the same time Britannia has hurt the Japanese people a lot and that's what I'm fighting to stop. But if there comes a time when both my peoples can peacefully coexist, work hand in hand, and treat each other with respect and dignity, I'll lay down my arms regardless of whether Japan is independent or still part of the Empire. I won't ask all of you to do the same, and I won't turn in any of you who don't, but at least know what you're fighting for. Are you fighting for yourself, or for others?"

Most everyone who heard Naoto's little spiel had assumed that it would be decades if it ever came that the Empire would adopt a policy of treating all its subjects equally. None expected to have to make the decision Naoto spoke of within their own lifetime. And technically speaking that was not the decision that was facing Inoue now. All that was on offer now was the offer of medical care. The lieutenant was hinting at further changes in the pipeline but that was all they were right now, vague hints. Inoue again glanced subtly at the doctor who once more tilted his head. He at least seemed prepared to accept this uncharacteristic display of goodwill, probably because Kuroba out of everyone here knew just how insufficient the clinic's resources were compared to the demands placed upon it.

"Very well," Inoue replied in English, "what do you need assistance with?"

Helena's gaze shifted to behind Inoue. "Is that where you keep your generators?"

Inoue nodded. "One of them. The other's on the other side of the campus."

"So you only have two?"

Another nod and the lieutenant began jotting down notes.

"Inoue-san, if you could please join us?" Ichijo said in Japanese. "This is a preliminary survey, to see what equipment will be needed to bring this hospital back to its former glory."

That elicited a raised eyebrow but Inoue accepted the invitation.

"What are the generators rated for?" Helena asked.

"The one here is 50kW," Inoue replied. "The other is only 25kW."

The lieutenant pursed her lip. "Not much. Are the mains problematic?"

Inoue felt like snorting but answered as respectfully as she could manage. "We have rolling blackouts about every six or seven hours."

Helena's eyes narrowed. "I see." Another note jotted down.

And thus it went, the Britannian lieutenant asking questions and Inoue answering to the best of her ability. The conversation migrated to the main wards where the Japanese woman provided a very brief explanation of the redundant power system she and a few others had jerry-rigged together to make sure the few critical care systems the hospital still possessed were the very last things to go down. And then they moved to the cafeteria that provided cheap meals to the many residents of the Shinjuku ghetto. While there the lieutenant's attention was drawn to the food on one of the diner's tray and Inoue felt like kicking herself.

"MREs," Helena said offhandedly.

Both Inoue and Kuroba froze up, waiting for the Britannian officer to demand where they had gotten the military rations from. Officially MREs were not meant to be resold. Unofficially there were plenty of ways to get ahold of the rations, from corrupt quartermasters to outright theft or scavenging.

"Are the meals from the patients also derived from MREs?" Helena asked.

Kuroba looked at Inoue nervously and the woman took a deep breath. If it really came down to it she would take the fall. The latest batch of MREs was brought here by her after all.

"We make do," Inoue answered. "Sometimes we split up MREs to make sure our patients have something to eat."

"The nutritional makeup of a MRE is not really suitable for non-combatants," the lieutenant said, causing Inoue and Kuroba to stare at the woman blankly as she went on. "The salt and fat levels are specifically designed for personnel who burn significant amounts of calories and lose sodium from sweat." A grimace. "There is also the low fiber content. We will need to remedy this."

And that was apparently all for that topic as far as the lieutenant was concerned as she headed for the cafeteria's exit. Inoue and Kuroba exchanged bewildered looks before hurrying to follow. More questions were asked and more answers haltingly given before finally the lieutenant seemed to have gotten all the information she wanted.

"A supply convoy will be arriving tomorrow along with workers from the Sumeragi estate," she said, prompting a nod of confirmation from Ichijo. "They will perform a structural analysis of the buildings to see if any additional repair work is necessary. The convoy itself will be bringing in cleaning supplies and an initial shipment of medical supplies and food." Helena looked pointedly at Inoue for some reason. "I trust there is a safe place to store the medical supplies?"

"There is," Inoue said immediately. "There's an old bomb shelter under the main building that can be locked down tight."

The lieutenant nodded, apparently taking Inoue's comment at face value. "Very well. I will report to my superiors that there are currently no major impediments to restoring the Keio hospital campus."

Helena extended a hand to Kuroba and the doctor accepted it with a slight bow.

"I look forward to working with you, Mr. Kuroba," the lieutenant said.

"And I with you," Kuroba replied earnestly.

And then to Inoue's surprise that same hand was extended to her. The woman hastily wiped her hand on her pants again, not that that made much of a difference, and took the lieutenant's hand.

"You have done a remarkable job under trying circumstances, Ms. Inoue," Helena said. "I hope that you will continue lending your aid to the Keio campus."

Inoue nodded stiffly as the two shook hands. She was still not certain how honest the Britannian effort was, but at the least she would watch and do her part to make sure it would not fail. As the lieutenant made her way back to the waiting Humvee Ichijo stepped before Inoue and Kuroba and bowed.

"Kuroba-sensei, Inoue-san, rest assured, the Sumeragi house will lend all of its strength to seeing the restoration of this campus come to fruition."

The two Japanese bowed in kind as Inoue's attention shifted to the man before them. House Sumeragi was one of the major collaborationist families, an old lineage that upon Britannia's conquest of their homeland had turned their backs on their heritage to become Honorary Britannians and assist the Empire in its pillaging of Japan's national wealth. It was not unknown for the Sumeragi family to engage in charitable acts, supposedly as a way to soothe their sense of guilt, but there were rumors abound that the Sumeragis were involved in more than that. Rumors involving something called Kyoto House. Inoue considered her options. It was too risky to make an approach right now, that would simply arouse Ichijo's suspicions and there was always the risk that the Sumeragi family really was nothing more than a bunch of racial traitors. Only time would tell if Kyoto House was anything more than a false hope.

* * *

"Whatcha looking at?"

Kallen blinked and looked up to see Milly leaning on top of the monitor smiling at her. The antics of the older girl never ceased to amaze her.

"The viceroy, Princess Euphemia," Kallen said. "I'm trying to learn more about her, but she's really not in the news much if at all."

"Her visit piqued her interest?" Milly asked as she shifted around to Kallen's side.

"Kind of," Kallen replied. "She is the new viceroy after all, and the way she seems to be doing things is a lot different than Prince Clovis."

"You don't know the half of it," was the barely audible mutter under Milly's breath.

In truth Kallen was probably not supposed to hear that at all but the girl's senses had been growing keener ever since she gained the Geass. Hopefully it would not become so sharp to the point of distraction. For now however Kallen glanced over at Milly quizzically as if she had not heard the older girl loud and clear.

"What do you know about the Princess, off the top of your head?" Milly asked.

"Umm, she's the Third Princess of the Realm, the third oldest daughter of his majesty the Emperor," Kallen rattled off the basic publicly known facts. "She has one full blooded sister, the Princess Cornelia, Marshal of the Empire. Beyond that, I really don't know much else."

Milly nodded as she sank into a seat next to Kallen. "Euphie hasn't really gone out of her way to publicize herself."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "Euphie."

Milly grinned. "That's what I called her when we were kids and she hasn't told me to stop."

Kallen chuckled and shook her head. "You really did live at court."

"Hmm, Shirley told you about that, right?"

A nod. "She said that if anyone could tell me about the Princess, it was you."

"Hmm. Thinking of dipping a toe into politics?"

"No," Kallen said, a bit more strongly than she really intended. "Sorry, that's not what I meant. I mean, I'm the Stadtfeld heir so eventually I'll have to deal with the politics of the nobility, and for a long time I thought I understood on at least a simplistic level what that politics was like. But the Princess, well, she seems to be making up her own rules."

"You referring to giving Suzaku a medal?"

Kallen grimaced. Her unspoken antagonism of the Japanese boy had gotten immensely complicated after he was so publicly applauded for his role in rescuing the Princess. In fact it could have gotten downright ugly had the two not worked out a much improvised staged conclusion to their supposed tension. Thus one day after classes but before the majority of students had dispersed to their afterschool activities Suzaku had approached Kallen and apologized for getting a peek of her panties. Kallen's response was an appropriately girly slap of the boy's face, as befitting her sickly persona, and screaming at the boy that one does not apologize for violating social decorum by committing further breaches. In truth the girl really would have preferred delivering a kick to the boy's groin but she ultimately decided that realism trumped her own self-satisfaction. Suzaku probably would not have been very cooperative about it either.

In the end the two provided the rest of their classmates with a plausible cause for why Kallen disliked the boy and ending the speculation that had reached near fever pitch ever since the hotel incident. And while Suzaku was still not entirely welcomed by the majority of the student body the outright hostility was considerably reduced. In fact if Kallen did not know better a few of her male classmates even seemed jealous of the boy. Kallen hoped that it was due to his interaction with the Princess Euphemia and not because of his very real insight into, other matters.

"It's almost unheard of for a Number to be awarded a medal of valor," Kallen said.

"Do you disapprove?" Milly asked.

The question caused Kallen to frown and she looked over at the older girl only to see Milly regarding her very intently. That by itself told Kallen that the question was not one of idle curiosity and how she answered would be the standard Milly would hold her to.

"I believe that a person's achievement should not ever be denied," Kallen said very carefully, "regardless of whether that person is a pureblood Britannian or a Number."

"Oh?" Milly said with a sly smile.

"The Empire's official policy is that one must constantly strive so as not to be overtaken by others. To ignore another's strength is simply setting the stage for your own downfall in the future." Kallen's eyes hardened ever so slightly. "And strength comes in many different forms."

The smile was still on Milly's face but the playfulness was no more. The Milly that now regarded Kallen was all business.

"You tried to warn us about the terrorists back at Lake Kawaguchi," Milly said. "I owe you for that. So I'm going to let you in on a little secret about my family and also tell you a little about Euphie as well."

Kallen said nothing, simply waiting for the other girl to go on.

"Before our effective exile to Area 11, Japan, the Ashfords were a prominent family at the imperial court," Milly said. "We rubbed shoulders with a lot of high ranking nobles as well as members of the imperial family. Apparently there were times when even the Emperor lent us his ear."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. That was impressive, if true. She jacked up her senses to make sure any future such declarations would undergo the appropriate scrutiny.

"Back then, our star was on the ascendant so to speak," Milly said. "My grandfather's business interests were growing and a commoner we sponsored had transformed from Marianne Lamperouge into Marianne vi Britannia."

That elicited more than a raised eyebrow as Kallen's eyes widened. Milly smiled humorlessly at the reaction.

"That's right, we were supporters of the Empress Marianne, and after her ascension she became our foremost patron at court. But we were not the only ones to benefit from her position. Tell me, what do you know of Euphie's mother?"

This forced Kallen to search through her memories. Remembering the myriad of imperial consorts and their children was a headache shared by all high school students in the Empire.

"Empress Consort Annabella li Britannia," Kallen said before frowning, "passed away 2002 atb due to illness."

Milly nodded. "For an imperial scion to lose their mother at such a young age is usually a death kneel for any further involvement in court politics. But Empress Marianne shielded the Princesses Cornelia and Euphemia from the political upheaval. She also sponsored Princess Cornelia's entry into the military and her rapid attainment of knighthood. As a result the li Britannia children were very close with the Empress Marianne's own children. And I was also encouraged to socialize heavily with them, which I did."

Kallen regarded Milly with a renewed perspective. It was clear that the Ashford daughter was far more cognizant of imperial politics than her playful demeanor would suggest. She had lived and breathed it as a young child after all.

"We were an interesting little corner of the court," Milly went on with an almost wistful smile. "The vi Britannias, li Britannias, and Ashfords, united with our mutual respect for each other and a shared sense of loyalty. According to grandpa there was even talk of wooing Prince Schneizel into our faction."

In other words the current Prime Minister of Britannia. Kallen had to give the Ashford patriarch credit, he did not think small.

"For a time it looked like things would turn out great for us," Milly said. "By the time 2010 atb came around the Empress Marianne was clearly the Emperor's favored consort, my family's company was working out the kinks to put the first knightmare designed for combat into mass production," Kallen started at that, "and my parents were talking about a possible match between me and the Empress Marianne's son already."

That last bit was followed with a snort from Milly and Kallen found herself in agreement with the sentiment. Neither of them could have been much more than ten years old at the time, a bit too early to be talking about marriage. But then again marriage was for the most part a purely political arrangement for the nobility. That the Ashfords were taking the effort to try to get Milly and the Empress' son to socialize and get to know each other better already set them apart from those nobles that viewed their children as little more than pieces on a chessboard for advancing the family's standing.

"Things were looking well," Milly said as a slight tension entered her voice, "until the Empress Marianne was assassinated."

Kallen had known that was coming. Even so she could not help but wince. She also knew what was coming next, having recalled the other unpleasant details the public was aware of regarding the consequences of the Empress Marianne's death.

"Her daughter, Nunnally vi Britannia, whom my little sister is named after, was murdered alongside her."

The red haired girl froze. There, a slight quickening of her pulse, as Milly said that. The girl was lying. Lying about whom her little sister was named after? That made no sense. Why the lie? And why else would the girl's middle name be Nunnally? But why then did everyone call her by her middle name instead of her first, Abigail? Kallen reached the obvious conclusion quickly. Abigail Nunnally Ashford was a false identity. Milly's little sister was Nunnally vi Britannia, the daughter of the Empress Marianne hidden away by the Ashfords after her mother's murder.

Holy crap, Kallen thought. Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, what have I walked into!?

But the girl did not have the time work through her shock as Milly was still talking.

"Her son, Lelouch vi Britannia, took his own life after the loss of his mother and sister."

Milly's face twisted in an all too genuine pain. That one Kallen had no difficulty detecting the honesty of so it seemed that Lelouch at least was actually dead as far as the other girl knew.

"By that point Princess Cornelia had become successful enough in her own right that she did not need the Empress Marianne's continued patronage anymore. And between her and the Prince Schneizel they were able to get Euphie out of the line of fire. My family all got out alive at least, but our company's assets were seized by competitors supporting other imperial relatives and we lost our noble title." There it was again, that mirthless smirk. "And to add insult to injury we were exiled to Japan as part of a, trade delegation, even though everyone knew the Empire was preparing to invade." Milly's face hardened. "That nearly got my little sister killed when we were evacuating to the Britannian Concession."

Another lie, but one intended to mask the source of Nunnally's injuries. And there was absolutely no insincerity behind the anger Milly felt over the younger girl's traumas.

"Anyway, the thing that you should take away from all this is that the only ones that win, if you can call it winning, in the imperial court are those who play for keeps or those who refuse to play at all," Milly said. "For years after our exile my grandfather tried to keep us under the radar, to avoid drawing any attention that might make it look like we were trying to get back in. And we were successful. But Euphie's come calling and as you've probably figured out she really doesn't take no for an answer."

That Kallen did not dispute, especially seeing as the Princess had the will to stand up to not just the insurgent leader threatening Milly's, no, Euphemia's little sister, she also stood her ground against Kallen herself. Implacable did not begin to describe the Princess' resolve.

"And now we're back in that viper's nest," Milly said, "for good or ill. But you aren't, not yet at least. But you've gotten Euphie's attention and if you keep doing that she will find a use for you. You and your family might think that that'd be a huge boost for the Stadtfeld family's standing, but remember what I said. Playing for keeps has its costs, costs that at their cheapest comes in blood. So unless you think there is something important enough to pay that cost, my suggestion would be to get out now before Euphie asks you to sign on with her. Cause by the time she does that, everyone else will already assume you're with her and treat you accordingly."

As Kallen met Milly's eyes she realized that the warning the older girl was giving her was one of absolute sincerity. In her own way Milly was looking out for a junior classmate, not just repaying a supposed debt incurred when Kallen tried to warn her back at the hotel. Milly spoke as someone who knew firsthand the costs of the great game being played in the imperial court, someone who knew just what the value of her current life was. She was also someone who, knowing all this, was still signing on with the Princess Euphemia and not just because, as the girl said, her highness does not take no for an answer. There was something important enough, something worthwhile enough, that Milly and her family was preparing to risk their very lives, and the life of the little girl in their care, to reenter the game. And from this insight Kallen found that she and Milly were quite alike, for Kallen also had found something worth risking her life for.

"I will take your advice to heart," Kallen promised.

Milly nodded solemnly. Nothing else needed to be said.

* * *

"They're doing what?"

"They're working on restoring the hospital as an actual hospital," Inoue repeated. "Look, I'm as confused as you are, but that Britannian army nurse seemed really serious. And tomorrow a bunch of people from House Sumeragi are supposed to be coming to start cleaning up the place."

Ohgi pursed his lip thoughtfully. "Are you in danger?"

"I don't think so," Inoue said with a shake of her head. "I thought the nurse would get sticky about the MREs when she saw them, but she just commented about them not being of the appropriate, nutritional value, for patients and left it at that."

"Huh. Okay, now I'm feeling really confused."

"Tell me about it," Inoue said and slumped back into the chair she occupied in Ohgi's warehouse office. "On the other hand if the Britannians are really serious about extending basic services like healthcare into the ghettos, it'll change a lot of lives for the better."

"If," Ohgi repeated. "I agree with you, this could do a lot of good, but it's too early to tell whether the offer is genuine or whether it's just some sort of publicity stunt by the viceroy."

"I'm actually inclined to think it's not just a publicity stunt," Inoue said. "Too much thought's been put into it, like using the Army Nursing Corps in conjunction with Honorary Britannians to make the initial approaches. But the viceroy isn't doing this out of just compassion."

Ohgi nodded. "Hearts and minds. If the Princess can convince the population that they're better off as Britannian subjects, support for the various liberation movements will dry up."

"From what I can tell the viceroy is too smart to expect to be able to win over everyone," Inoue said, "but lessening support for people like us is probably what she's angling for."

A frown flickered across Inoue's face.

"What is it?" Ohgi asked.

"Nothing really," the woman responded, "it's just that if the viceroy's intent is to try to bridge the divide between us and the Britannians, she's got her work cut out for her."

"Something tells me you're referring to more than just our lack of basic services and opportunities," Ohgi said.

"Yeah," Inoue nodded. "It's also a matter of basic respect. A sense of superiority is so ingrained in the Britannian mentality that it's completely natural for them to be condescending to other people without even realizing it. The nurse that came out to survey the campus? She seemed like someone dedicated to doing the best job she can and making sure anyone under her care gets the best treatment possible, but the way she carried herself, it felt a lot like she was expecting us to be the ones helping her, not the other way around."

"I know what you mean," Ohgi said. "And you're right, that's going to put a lot of people off and cause some friction that'll make the viceroy's goal that much harder. But that's a long term consideration, the question before us right now is what _we_ do about the hospital project."

Inoue grimaced. "We can't interfere with it."

An eyebrow rose on the man seated across from her.

"Don't even start," Inoue stated firmly. "I know what I just said but I work at the clinic every day that I'm not here helping you Ohgi and I see just how many people we have to turn away or let down because we just don't have the medicine or manpower to treat them."

"Hey, I got that," Ohgi held up his hands. "And I'm not suggesting we do anything to mess it up. But this could end up opening up other opportunities. If this hospital project is on the personal initiative of the viceroy, that means she's probably paying close attention to how it goes. Could we maybe use that attention to get a message to her? Like, about what a certain Britannian company is up to?"

A speculative expression crossed Inoue's face and she sat there silently in thought.

"Maybe," she finally said. "But if we're looking for allies against KBR, another avenue might be more productive to pursue right now."

"Oh?"

"The Honorary Britannians helping the Nursing Corps are from the Sumeragi household."

"Oh?" Ohgi repeated, his own expression shifting from one of curiosity to contemplation.

"Oh," Inoue echoed back. "Didn't Naoto once say something about Kyoto House being made up of some of the oldest families in Japan? And the Sumeragis claim to be able to trace their ancestry back to the Heian court."

"So you think we should try to make an approach?" Ohgi asked.

Inoue nodded but grimaced at the same time. "The problem is we need to get them to take us seriously. And to do that, we might need to dangle a pretty big carrot in front of them."

The Japanese man frowned. "You're thinking of telling them about Kallen."

"Hinting, and about the Red Knight," Inoue said, using the nickname that the Britannia media had adopted for the girl much to her chagrin. "And only if bringing up the Refrain trafficking isn't enough to get us through the front door. Once we're in though, I think we can risk revealing Kallen's identity and the fact that she's the one that offed Clovis but also rescued Euphemia."

The frown deepened and it was clear Ohgi was unhappy about letting anyone outside their cell know about his best friend's little sister. But as Kallen had so often pointed out before, his responsibility was to more than just her and if they were careful they could use her Red Knight persona to garner far greater support than they could have ever imagined.

"The person from the Sumeragi household, does he look like a lower tier functionary or someone in the family's confidence?" Ohgi asked.

"At this point I honestly can't say," Inoue answered. "I think it depends on how seriously the Sumeragis are taking the viceroy's hospital project and also how seriously the viceroy herself is pushing it. If both are actually dedicated to making the project a success, then the Sumeragis would have almost certainly sent a trusted member of the household, someone who could get a message passed to the family head."

Ohgi rubbed his chin. "So it's more wait and see."

"In our line of work we have to be careful," Inoue said nonchalantly.

"That we do." The man sighed. "I suppose at this point the best we can do is keep at it and continue gathering what intel we can on KBR's activities. Maybe we'll catch a lucky break and find a weakness we exploit. Otherwise we try and see if the Sumeragis really are part of Kyoto House and if they're willing to lend us some actual support."

Inoue nodded in agreement. The best they could do right now might not seem like much but patience was often as important as initiative for a resistance cell. Thus far despite the losses suffered thus far they had been far more successful than they had any real right to expect. But tomorrow was another day with its own set of challenges. Only time would tell if they were able to meet them.

* * *

Euphie had cleared her schedule for Saturday and issued explicit orders that she only be disturbed if an emergency situation arose. For what she was about to attempt the young woman wanted no interruptions and to make sure none would be necessary she even had very simple meals prepared beforehand that she could munch on as the day wore on. Such crunch days were not unheard of for the Princess but there was still a slight hint of worry amongst her staff as the door to Euphie's office closed.

Since receiving her power Euphie had made ample use of it to mow through the reams and reams of data available to her as viceroy of Area 11. The sharp rise in her productivity was extremely useful and allowed the young woman to keep an eye on far more of the running of the Area than she might otherwise have managed from the collection of taxes to the billing of services by contractors. More and more of this responsibility was slowly being shifted to her growing cabinet and Euphie was especially pleased with how Sir Kraft, her new exchequer, was working through the backlog of taxes owed by a variety of companies whose owners had used their noble connections to try to cheat the treasury. With a royal edict backing him however Sir Kraft was making measurable progress and Euphie expected that the books would be properly balanced by the end of the fiscal quarter.

Another thing the Princess had done since that fateful day was to experiment with her strange power. It was one thing to look at a pool of data and work out the relations between each piece. It was quite another to construct a new model that was capable of generating new data that fit within the pattern of established trends but still respond in realistic ways to simulated stimuli. To find the leadership of the Blood of the Samurai Euphie would need to do just that.

First Euphie went over the various forensic reports from the resort attack. The majority of the pistols were of Japanese make, leftovers from the invasion. A few were Britannian models verified to not have been taken from the conference's security staff but before Euphie's assumption of her office the black market was rife with seemingly surplus stock from Britannian armories. At least three quartermaster officers had faced the firing squad since the clampdown started by Jeremiah and continued even more forcefully by Cornelia. Unfortunately the weapons in question were also old enough that any trail they might have laid were too cold to follow fruitfully.

Equally unfortunate none of the insurgents that directly participated in the attack survived to be taken prisoner. The only information available on them was background that the Inquisitio had managed to dig up and there was sparingly little of it. Most were transient laborers with barely any documentation, which in theory should have precluded them getting any sort of work in the Concessions. Economics being what it was however there was always a demand for cheap labor and this group must have looked particularly appealing to the resort's management due to their willingness to hand back a significant percentage of their wages as bribes. Euphie squelched her irritation at such blatant corruption and exploitation. Those same managers were now awaiting trial in what were probably considerable more austere living conditions than they were used to after all.

It was another dead end but not entirely fruitless. Euphie held onto the bits of information gleaned thus far and moved onto the far larger set of data the Inquisitio had on the Blood of the Samurai itself. Widely acknowledged as one of the largest resistance movements in central Japan the Samurai were fiercely devoted to freeing their nation from Britannian rule. Like most other groups they had restricted most of their public attacks on military targets though the Inquisitio had a list of incidents where known affiliates were engaged in attacks on predominantly civilian targets.

It was those known affiliates that drew the Princess' attention as she picked apart every little detail the Inquisitio had managed to dig up, both from background research but also in a few instances from direct interrogation of a suspect. The Inquisitio could be very imaginative in how it broke its prisoners and generally tended to rely on deception instead of brute violence. In point of fact one of its most successful interrogations involved a staged breakout that led to a Samurai safehouse. The subsequent raid had revealed a treasure trove of intelligence including the possible location of several other safehouses. Unfortunately the military under General Bartley had not followed up on the intelligence coup and so the Blood of the Samurai was allowed to slip back into the shadows. An unfortunate oversight and had the general not perished alongside her brother Euphie was certain Cornelia would have had the man court-martialed for gross incompetence.

Nevertheless, the beginnings of a pattern was emerging in Euphie's mind. Looking at a map showing the known safehouse as well as the other suspected ones, the Princess mentally overlaid all of the attacks linked to the Blood of the Samurai onto the projection. Almost every single incident that involved more than a handful of insurgents was carried out with at least two safehouses within ten miles of the target. The sample size was not large enough to guarantee an actual correlation but it was a starting point. And then there were the safehouses themselves, they seemed to be snaking out from the wards into the Concessions along a deliberate vector. Euphie brought up another list, this one composed of weapons caches and supply dumps the military had discovered over the years. When combined with the locations of the safehouses several stood out in particular. As she applied the derived pattern, the approximate location of more safehouses appeared in Euphie's mind and she began drawing a line from the Concessions back out into the wards and finally into the countryside along a western trajectory.

Euphie swept the map aside and brought up more numbers. After opposition against the initial invasion crumbled the Britannian military had moved quickly to seize as many stocks of Japanese weapons as it could to prevent them falling into the hands of any would be insurgents. They had only been partially successful and the fact that the Japanese government had tried to destroy as many records as they could made it impossible to actually account for every stockpile. Some records did fall into Britannian hands however and from them Euphie could get an approximate feel of what types of arms were floating about. From all indications the Blood of the Samurai was predominantly armed with leftovers from the defunct Japanese Army and if some of the caches found were really theirs the group was even in possession of some heavy weapons. Euphie's eyes narrowed.

The weapons caches, those were the key. As the largest resistance group in central Japan the odds were that the majority of the discovered caches were set up by the Blood of the Samurai. There was a definite flow of weapons from west to eat, a trail of sorts that grew more diffuse further west it went. Assuming the caches were intended for use by the group's members further away from their home base, the closer she got to their headquarters the fewer caches should be about.

There were a few problems with this assumption of course, the first being that the rate of discovery was equal amongst the different regions. If the Blood of the Samurai really was burying its weapons in the mountains it was highly unlikely the Britannian military would stumble upon them if only because the military tended not to send too many patrols out there, instead relying on aerial surveillance to keep an eye on things. Then there was the possibility that she was accidentally fitting the data to make a desired conclusion look plausible. Yet something tugged at Euphie, a slim strand that seemed to peek out from amongst all the numbers.

The princess focused, allowing herself to sink into all the variables, the factors, and the possibilities. It was not just the movement of weapons, it was the movement of people as well. The sightings of individual or small groups of cars, of trucks, of even groups on foot. Euphie's mind absorbed the data the checkpoints maintained on the network of roads outside the cities. The records themselves were less than consistent but in their gaps Euphie saw a pattern emerging. Here, a car passing through a checkpoint but with no sign of it ever crossing the one before. There, a business shipment from a Britannian company that did not service that region of Japan. And finally, past the city of Kofu, the trail seemed to disappear outright. Euphie's eyes narrowed. Now the hunt truly began.

End of Chapter 14

Publishing this was delayed due to 's little login hiccup.

I suppose technically Inoue was the star of this chapter instead of Kallen. Whenever I reuse a character from canon I try not to deviate too much from the established persona. I have no real desire to turn them into stand-in original characters, from my perspective that kind of defeats the purpose of using a canon character to begin with. Even Euphie, who has undergone the most radical change, is still recognizably Euphie in some respects, and the changes that have happened have a reason built into the story instead of me just unilaterally changing her without explanation. Characters that did not get enough screen time to really establish their personas I have more flexibility with, but there are certain vibes and whatnot that I try to preserve. Inoue always felt to me like kind of a big sister figure to Kallen for example.

The number of original characters is going to climb simply because there is a lot going on and Code Geass was kind of lopsided with respect to which side got more named characters. Kyoto House only has the heads of the various families, the Britannians tended to be limited to either those who die after a few episodes or those who die in a couple seconds after their first appearance, and I swear the new members of the Black Knights in R2 were there purely for fan service. There are a lot of gaps that I basically need to plug in as roles crop up that need filling. Though if we're keeping track Colonel Eyre really was the second original character to appear after Duke Constantine. And bonus points to anyone who can guess where I pulled his name from.

In the original anime we never got to see much of the imperial court and quite frankly what we did see of it was not that impressive. For a bunch of backstabbing nobles things were pretty subdued. Anyway, we never really hear anything about Euphie and Cornelia's mother. We at least heard that Clovis' mother became depressed with his death, but the other consorts? Not so much as a peep as far as I can recall. My solution to this lack of information is just to remove her from play outright. At the same time that offered me an opportunity to better explain just why the li Britannias were so close with the vi Britannias. In theory the children of different mothers should all be competing with each other to increase the chance of one of them being designated the heir. For a supposedly hypercompetitive society like Britannia we really did not see much of that and what we did see was mostly Schneizel planning on planting a dagger in everyone else's back when the time came.

I thought about having Euphie discover where the Blood of the Samurai were hiding at the end of this chapter but I decided to not have that happen. Instead, she has a starting point where she can point Cornelia and the military can take over the hunt, providing her with more data that she can then sift through to narrow the field. For the most part I think I did an okay job showing how her powers worked combing through all the data. I suppose the real question was whether it was a slog to work through or if I managed to make her power actually seem cool in prose. I'd appreciate feedback on that, by the way.

Well, Kallen now knows Nunnally's secret. Or at least she thinks she does. One thing about the girl is that she had a tendency to jump to conclusions. She's working on that in this fic but it can still happen. That of course doesn't mean she's always wrong when she does that. It'll be fun to see where that all goes.

I think I need to make mention about the knightly orders thus far. They're based on the ones that actually exist in Great Britain today, but there are distinct differences. For example, the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is intended to recognize noncombatant achievements. The Most Excellent order of the Britannian Empire on the other hand is closer to the Royal Victorian Order in that it recognizes personal service to the sovereign, his family, or a viceroy. This is not the only discrepancy that is going to crop up and as they appear I will call them out to help reduce confusion. The Order of the Bath is more or less the same.

A note on snippets, by and large they are not intended to provide sneak peeks. They have spoilers by virtue of their content, but their purpose is to allow me to add in additional background that I can't pack into the chapters themselves or to provide hints about how this period of time is viewed in the future. Those hints are themselves intended to provide, umm, cues that should lead the people who read them to question certain assumptions about the characters. Mostly they're there to try and get people to think a bit more about what kind of person Euphie really is, cause I foresaw the possibility that people might take her at face value despite all of the nudging I do in text and in showing her thoughts. And yes, some people are taking her at face value if some of the reviews are any indication. Also what's in the snippet may not necessarily have anything to do with what's portrayed in the chapter itself.

Let's see, looking back at my previous notes I don't see anywhere where I denied that there wasn't wish fulfillment in my writing. I tended to be more blatant in my earlier works as I made the common mistake of wanting to 'give' my favored characters everything without bothering to make said characters work for it. I haven't really felt much temptation to do that for a while now, these days if I have a 'wish' it tends to be trying to figure out what combination of changes to the mainline canon would make for an interesting story. As I have said several times before, if one feels that my portrayal is somehow unbalanced in some manner, show me direct textual references and explanations for why said references back your position. Otherwise the only conclusion I can come to is that the difference in opinion is a matter of personal taste and I will not expend the effort of trying to make everyone like this story since that's a fool's errand at best.

Hmm, at the time of posting this update I am one review short of the milestone of 100. Will be interesting to see how quickly I can get to 200.

Anyway, as I've requested in the past, if anyone has comments about the development of the side characters, I'd appreciate them. Other reviews are equally welcome obviously, but as the story progresses the supporting cast for both Kallen and Euphie will grow in importance simply because the two girls can't be everywhere at once and will rely on the help of others to achieve their respective goals.


	16. Chapter 15

Snippet spoiler: Medium

 _Born in 1943 two years before his distant cousin Lelouch vi Britannia, Lelouch Lamperouge has often been regarded as personifying the vengeful spirit of his younger relative. Some fringe conspiracy theorists continue to insist that the two were one and the same and that Prince Lelouch had not committed suicide but instead been secreted out of Britannia and placed in the care of the French branch of the Lamperouge family. A great deal of documentation contravening this idea exists however, not to mention the eye witnesses that recall the infant Lelouch Lamperouge for the two years before the Prince Lelouch was born. Nevertheless the idea that Lelouch Lamperouge might be the lost Prince was as fascinating to the public of the time as it is today, once his existence became wider known of course. His use of the codename Le Roi Noir while operating as an agent of the_ _ _Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage_ likely added to the mystique of the man and created ready fodder for comparisons with the Princess Euphemia's image of the White Queen. Even without being a member of the Britannian imperial family the Black King proved extremely capable of manipulating the political dynamics of the Empire as demonstrated by his triggering of the Black Rebellion. To this day many shudder at how close he came to achieving his goal of assassinating her highness Princess Euphemia._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 15: Ophidia in herba

"Your highness, your eleven o'clock is here."

Euphie looked up. Was it really that time already? Sorting through the reams of regulations pertaining to the civil service was certainly eating up a lot of time.

"Thank you Rachel, please show him in," the princess said over the intercom.

The doors opened a moment later and a stern looking man in the dress uniform of the Britannian Army entered. Euphie smiled and rose to greet him. The officer snapped to attention and saluted.

"Colonel Jonathan Eyre, reporting for duty your highness."

"It is good to see you again Colonel," Euphie said with a nod. "Or should it be Brigadier now?"

"Whichever feels more familiar to you, highness," Jonathan said before cracking a smile. "You are looking well."

"Thank you," Euphie said before waving to the more comfortable sitting are to the side of the office. "Please, have a seat."

The colonel acknowledged the Princess' graciousness with a click of his heels and made himself comfortable in one of the loveseats. Euphie herself settled for the couch to the man's left. Right on cue a servant entered with a tea service and placed two cups before them before withdrawing with equal efficiency.

"Darjeeling orange pekoe," Jonathan remarked. "It would seem my niece has been influencing you, your highness."

Euphie smiled whimsically. "Jane often speaks of the many varieties and combinations she sampled while growing up under your care."

The colonel chuckled before taking a sip. "I trust she has not given you cause for disappointment?"

"On the contrary," Euphie said, taking on a slightly more serious tone. "The skills she learned from you came in good stead just recently. Had she not kept a cool head, I may have had need to find a new industry minister."

Jonathan's mustache twitched ever so slightly as the man grimaced. "If you would pardon my saying so your highness, but that such an opportunity for Jane to put into practice her first aid skills is a problem by itself."

"I will not dispute that," Euphie agreed after a sip from her own cup. "That is why I requested your transfer, Brigadier Eyre."

And so they were onto business, Jonathan noted. "I hope your highness understands that I accepted the position with several contingent conditions."

It was unusual to say the least for a commoner, even one with the unblemished service record that Colonel Eyre possessed, to be offered the position of head of security for an imperial scion. It was literally unheard of for said commoner to attach conditions to accepting such an offer. But Jonathan Eyre was no ordinary commoner and Euphemia li Britannia was no ordinary imperial daughter. The colonel was a career army man, one who intended to serve diligently and faithfully before being discharged, assuming he survived that long, and spending the rest of his days quietly collecting his pension checks and fading into obscurity. Continuing the family line was the responsibility of his younger brother, a man who went into finance and found a lovely wife in the process.

And then when overseas in Area 3, an insurgent attack claimed the lives of his brother and his wife and Jonathan Eyre found himself responsible for the care for his five year old niece. The sudden appearance of someone so utterly dependent upon him derailed the then lieutenant's long term plans and at one point he even considered leaving the army. Ultimately however Jonathan had managed to make things work, not without some pain involved for both him and his niece, but the two ultimately persevered and Jonathan rose from a mere second lieutenant to a colonel even as he watched his surrogate daughter grow into a fine young woman.

Just as things were settling down however one Colonel Eyre somehow attracted the attention of one Princess Euphemia li Britannia. To this day Jonathan still did not know what first drew her highness' attention but suddenly out of the blue the man found himself handed an order undersigned by the Marshal Cornelia to execute an arrest warrant for a member of the peerage. Jonathan was no fool however and understood right away that he was faced with effectively a no-win scenario. He could not refuse the order, there was nothing illegal about it after all and it had come from the highest ranking officer in the entire Britannian armed forces. But if he carried it out he, and by extension his family, would be the ones to suffer the direct ire of the other nobles. The Princesses Cornelia and Euphemia might suffer some long term political fallout down the road but their positions made them effectively immune to any immediate blowback. He on the other hand was a commoner, who was he to presume to lay a hand on his social betters?

In the end Jonathan had requested an audience directly with the Princess Euphemia. He laid out his concerns frankly, and perhaps a bit bluntly, and informed the Princess that if pressed to choose between the welfare of his niece and his career in the military, he would choose the former. Euphemia had listened without interrupting but at the end extended the very unexpected offer of taking Jonathan's niece on as an intern of sorts on her personal staff. If Jane proved to be a competent assistant, the temporary position might even turn into a permanent one. And if the colonel himself performed his duties well, the Princess hinted that she might find further use for an asset that she could trust. An asset that she would in turn protect.

Thus began a rather unconventional, sometimes even eerie, relationship between the colonel and her highness. Jonathan gained effectively a patron at court, something he never in his wildest imaginations ever dreamed of, and Euphie a competent officer and the seeding of personal loyalty to her in the Britannian military. While Euphie knew she was not likely to ever match Cornelia's personal popularity with the military, it would not hurt to cultivate at least some partisans within the officer corps. Now her very first adherent was being entrusted with a most important matter, Euphie's own personal safety.

"I understand that you wish a relatively free hand in establishing the security protocols that will protect me," Euphie said. "I also understand the operational practicalities that require you have that flexibility. Nevertheless I ask that you at least keep in mind that as viceroy of Area 11 I am as much a servant of the people as they are to me as imperial subjects. I do not wish to present too distant or threatening an impression to them."

"Beginning your pardon your highness, but this very desire to minimize the impression of, separation, was why your security detail was too thin to stop the terrorists at Lake Kawaguchi," Jonathan countered. "My responsibility as your new head of security can only have one overriding objective, to ensure your personal safety. Nothing else can interfere with that."

Euphie pursed her lip thoughtfully. She should have known the line about wanting to be closer to the people would not work on the colonel. The man was military through and through after all with little regard or patience for politics or public relations. But he did have a point, his job was to keep her safe and she would not be improving his odds of success by adding qualifiers to that objective.

"I understand," Euphie repeated. "You are correct, your responsibility is to see to my safety. I will not seek to burden you with blanket orders and overly broad limits on how you carry out your duty. In exchange however I ask that you keep me abreast of any developments that occur and the efficacy of your measures and if a conflict arises between my intended conduct and your security measures, that we work out the necessary compromises as needed."

"That would be, acceptable, your highness," Jonathan said before taking another sip of tea.

The colonel was taking very careful note of exactly what the Princess had said to make sure she did not just doubletalk him into agreeing to give her free reign. He had seen that happen before to another unfortunate soul and the colonel was intent on not falling victim to the same tactic himself, even though he liked to think that the Princess would never use something that underhanded on him. Hoped. If this was the level at which politics was played in the imperial court all the time he did not want to get any closer than he absolutely needed to. Then again he was already thoroughly entwined with the Princess Euphemia so that was probably a vain hope.

"Good," Euphie said, offering a practiced smile and finishing her own cup of tea. "I look forward to catching up after you have had some time to get started on your new duties. Perhaps dinner later this week? And Jane will be there too of course."

Jonathan cracked a smile of his own, his looking just as natural as her highness'. "That would be delightful. I look forward to it with eagerness, your highness."

* * *

"Well, that was faster than I expected," the EU lieutenant remarked dryly. "I presume these movement reports are correct?"

The woman seated next to him nodded. "The Britannians have definitely been shifting forces westward towards the Akaishi Mountains." She snorted. "The so-called Japanese Southern Alps. If they start scouting in force, I have little doubt they will find this base."

The base in question was the headquarters of the Blood of the Samurai resistance group, buried deep under Mount Asayo west of the city of Kofu. The bunker was an old Japanese Army site, one whose records had apparently been destroyed thoroughly enough that the Britannian military did not discover it during their post-invasion sweeps. In the years since the Samurai had turned it into a relatively well fortified position with a variety of camouflaged gun emplacements, traps, and strongpoints that would likely hold against all but the most determined attempts to dislodge them. In other words the Blood of the Samurai had gone to the trouble of preparing their own tombs once the Britannian military decided the gloves were off and dropped the mountain down on their heads.

"Well then Lieutenant Lelouch Lamperouge," the woman said. "Will we be abandoning this sinking ship soon?"

The young man smirked. "But of course, the Samurai leadership is of little use to us. So long as we can preserve at least some of their actual network we will be one step closer to my goal."

Not our, not the EU's, but his goal. Had anyone else been in here they might have found the wording highly suspect. At a minimum it implied a sort of dereliction of duty for a military officer and at worst perhaps even treason. But Lelouch did not care as he possessed neither homeland nor people to be loyal to. As with the EU, the various insurgent groups in Area 11 would serve as weapons with which to strike at the Britannian imperial family.

"We already have copies of all the relevant contact and first tier safe house information," the woman said.

Lelouch nodded. "Excellent work, Charlotte. Now all we just need is for our JLF contact to show up and we can vacate posthaste."

The woman nodded in response to both the praise and the point. While the insurgency in Japan could not exactly be considered united the larger resistance forces did at least keep in touch with each other. As such using the Blood of the Samurai to send a message to the Japanese Liberation Front was not very difficult but already rumors were spreading that the Samurai had become somewhat toxic from the perspective of the other groups due to the hotel attack. While the person of the viceroy was considered a legitimate target by all of the groups, a large majority drew the line at targeting innocent bystanders in the course of any move against the Britannian government. Still the Samurai were fellow freedom fighters and the possibility of establishing a line to the European Union had been enough to get the JLF to send a messenger to negotiate with Lelouch. Of course the young man had no intent to negotiate at all. He rubbed the brow above his glassy left eye. Why ask when you could simply take?

The door opened and the third EU officer entered, though officially he commanded the infiltration team and not Lelouch.

"Lelouch, Charlotte," the man said, lowering his guard ever so slightly in the relative security of this place. "The JLF representative will be arriving within the half hour."

Lelouch chuckled. "Well, I suppose that's that. Do we know who is coming?"

"A lieutenant-colonel by the name of Josui Kusakabe," the man replied.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "Really? Well, we should extend the lieutenant-colonel every courtesy, do you not agree Captain Devigny?"

The Frenchman simply nodded.

"Do we know anything about this Colonel Kusakabe?" Charlotte asked.

"The Samurai leaders say that Kusakabe is something of a hawk in the JLF ranks," André said. "That should work well for us, once he is compromised it will not seem strange for him to advocate for an alliance between the JLF and the EU."

Lelouch nodded. "Excellent. Though we could have done with some more warning about his arrival, captain."

André shrugged. "The entire arrangement between the Samurai and the JLF is ramshackle enough as it is. We should be grateful the JLF responded before the Britannians found this place."

The young man grunted in acknowledgment of the point. His patience was considerable but its limits could still be tested from time to time. Hopefully the JLF contingent would not be too difficult to turn and he could proceed to the next stage of his plans. As regretful as it was that it would be Cornelia and Euphemia whom would fall first in his campaign the order that the Britannian imperial family died mattered little. And though a very small part of him was glad she had survived the Kawaguchi incident another more pragmatic part regarded the entire affair as a lost opportunity. Not only would Euphie's death have removed the need for him to arrange it Cornelia would have almost certainly flown into a rage and cracked down hard on the Elevens in retribution. In that kind of situation inciting a full-fledged rebellion to provide cover for his elder half-sister's own little accident would have been child's play. But with Euphie still alive and apparently intent on continuing her program of reforms whipping up enough fervor to kick start that uprising would be that much harder.

"Well, when life gives you lemons," Lelouch began.

"Add lots of sugar for the lemonade," Charlotte finished with a bright smile.

Lelouch chuckled. Lieutenant Charlotte Dunois really was his greatest masterpiece. The geass he possessed could impose absolute obedience but the problem with that was its inherent inflexibility. Those whose wills were slaved to his tended to be unimaginative and wooden, their responses so unnatural that normal people could immediately sense something was wrong. Thankfully the Lamperouge family was fairly small and inconsequential and Lelouch had been able to mostly sequester them away after he bungled his first forays with his geass. Charlotte however, Charlotte represented the culmination of many years of careful experimentation and theorization.

"Well, we have some time before they arrive," Charlotte said, "let's get any preparations we need out of the way."

Lelouch nodded. There, intelligent will, something that was normally beyond one who had the geass cast upon them. A direct command might be simple and predictable but it robbed the receiver of too much initiative. But by changing Charlotte's perception however Lelouch created a loyal, intelligent, and perhaps most important of all seemingly independent servant able to see and notify him of mistakes that might escape his notice even as she remained incapable of ever betraying him. It was not easy and of his many pawns Charlotte was one that Lelouch was most loathe to lose.

"At the very least we will need to make sure this Colonel Kusakabe has something to take back to his superiors," Lelouch said. "The establishment of a supply line should be of some inducement."

"The problem is getting sufficient arms to Japan from overseas," Charlotte stated. "Smuggling via cargo ships is looking less and less feasible with the crackdown by the viceroy and the marshal."

"Indeed," Lelouch said with a frown. Why was it that his family needed to make everything so difficult. "Still, there are some possibilities. We control the Kuril Islands after all and there are plenty of fishing boats out there from Russia, China, and Japan. If the JLF's network extends as far north as Hokkaido we're in business."

"Assuming the Field Marshal can get the weapons flowing," André remarked.

"I have little doubt he will," Lelouch said confidently. "Otherwise why would he have sent us with explicit permission to make an offer to the resistance groups?"

"I do not doubt the Field Marshal's intents," André said. "The problem is with the bureaucrats and politicians in Paris. After the debacle with the Middle East Federation they're more than likely to pull in their horns and hope Britannia doesn't pay the EU any notice, the idiots."

Lelouch nodded. The tepidity of the EU's political leadership was as much an irritant to him as well, but he had his own plans unfolding that would take care of that soon enough. And even if the civilian leadership was too scared to kick off an actual war with the Britannian Empire it would soon find out that that particular choice was not theirs to make. Soon enough however more immediate matters demanded their attention and their Samurai minder, really at this point little more than a gopher, informed them that they had a guest. Lelouch adjusted glassy contact over his left eye once more. Soon enough he would not need to shield it from the sight of others.

* * *

C.C. rubbed her head. The pressure she experienced last week had receded somewhat but at this point it was pretty clear that she was not imagining things. That could only mean one thing, a previous contractor was in Japan. Just what that meant depended on exactly which contractor this was but the woman was beginning to suspect she would really not like the answer to that. C.C. grimaced. If it really was Lelouch then things were about to get much, much more complicated not only for Kallen but for the members of the Britannian imperial family in Japan as well.

She considered her options. Getting close enough to neutralize Lelouch was likely to be a nonstarter, the boy was meticulous with his personal security and would almost certainly detect her presence if she made an attempt. And once he knew that she was nearby Lelouch would be nigh unassailable short of dropping a very, very big bomb on wherever he was holed up. What to do, what to do. Lelouch might be willing to let her be if he did not consider her a threat to his plans but that was doubtful. The boy knew full well the power of a geass and would not risk the disruption to his own plans that another bearer would bring. He would seek out C.C. and anyone whom she might have formed a contract with, restrain her, and kill the contractor. Kallen was in very grave danger. The question now was how to deal with this threat. She would need to ponder upon this. In the meantime however Kallen was busy with her own plans and would likely need C.C.'s support. The woman glanced over to where the girl was busy conversing with her compatriots.

Kallen leaned over and looked at the crate of clips before letting out an admiring whistle. "How'd you score all this, Ohgi?"

"The Kawaguchi incident has had some major repercussions amongst some of the Samurai's affiliates," the man said. "Quite a few are nervous about getting caught up in the retaliation that all of us know is coming and others think the Samurai overreached when it tried to off the viceroy." Ohgi shrugged. "Things might be different if they had succeeded, but they didn't. This cache is from one of the affiliates that's decided to get out of the liberation business and focus on just plain surviving."

Kallen nodded as she bent down and picked up one of the clips. ".308 Winchesters. Good, we have quite a few rifles that can fire these." She glanced at the several other crates down in the warehouse. "And now we have the ammo to go with them."

"That's not all," Ohgi said. "We also got an ample supply of pistol rounds and even some C-4."

"Really?" Inoue said admiringly. "I can rig up a detonator pretty quickly, if we find a target worth taking out."

Ohgi looked somewhat askance at the woman's apparent enthusiasm but shrugged. "Well, we might just have one."

That got the two women's attention as they diverted their attention from the goodies to him.

"We hit a really lucky break," Ohgi said, walking over to the table where another cell member was working. "Minami, show them what we got."

The bespectacled man smoothed out a map and tapped a location circled on it. "We already suspected that this was the location where the supply convoy we hit picked up the Refrain shipment, but seeing as it's right on the borders with the Concession hitting it is an open invitation to the Britannian military to respond quickly and forcefully. However." The man drew a line from the depot to another spot on the map. "There is another depot outside the concession, also run by KBR, that our convoy stopped at. And this one might be an even better bet for the Refrain distribution point."

"How so?" Inoue asked curiously.

"It's outside the Concession for one," Minami replied. "Refrain is illegal even under Britannian law and while KBR might have been able to buy off any investigators that came sniffing around in the past, the Princess Euphemia's clampdown on corruption definitely has to have the company at least thinking about its exposure. Even if they used the depot next to the Concession before to distribute the Refrain, if I were KBR now I would be seriously thinking about shifting my off the books operations to someplace where the authorities were a lot less liable to poke their noses around."

"There's also another reason," Ohgi added. "That depot's where a lot of black market exchanges happen. KBR likes to offload a lot of what they term surplus gear and supplies there so it wouldn't surprise me if they also did some Refrain trafficking on the side."

"Huh," Kallen said. "Wait, don't we also rely on places like that for our stuff?"

Ohgi nodded. "If we hit it, we might end up screwing up a lot of people's supply chains as it were, which will make us a lot less popular in the short term. But the groups I've talked to are even less happy with the idea of Refrain being out on the streets so I think we can sweat it out, especially if we can get in touch with Kyoto House."

Inoue shrugged. "That'll take a bit of time, but I think you're right. I ignored the place because even with all of the dealings that flow through that place I never once heard a peep about Refrain. Then again, it might just be because they're doing a really good job of keep a lid on it."

"Do we want to do some recon before actually hitting the place?" Kallen asked.

"I know what you're thinking," Ohgi said immediately, "and it won't work. You look too Britannian, Kallen, you'd stick out too much."

Kallen scowled but before she could respond Inoue cut in.

"Ohgi's right on that count, Kallen, especially with your red hair." The woman looked at her thoughtfully. "Although…"

Kallen frowned. "What? Are you suggesting I dye my hair black?"

"That'd be a start," Inoue said as she started drifting away from the table.

Kallen and Ohgi exchanged looks before following the woman leaving Minami at the table.

"We'd need to try to smudge up your face a bit too," Inoue said as she walked. "Maybe fake a scar and it would be great if we could do something about your eye-color, but that might be asking a bit much on such short notice unless you can get your hands on those newfangled contacts."

The woman came to an abrupt halt once they were some distance away from the table and spun about.

"Of course, I'd only agree with bringing Kallen along if the two of you tell me just why it's so important that she go."

Both Kallen and Ohgi froze and stared at Inoue. The woman chuckled.

"Ah, so there is something going on."

Kallen had to admit a grudging admiration for Inoue's intuition. She could not be sure when the other woman's suspicions had been aroused, probably after Kallen's little stunt with the electronic lock at the Britannian outpost, but Inoue was also smart enough to confront her and Ohgi alone instead of in front of the others. Kallen and Ohgi exchanged looks before she shrugged.

"Well, might as well tell her," Kallen said. "Tamaki already knows and Inoue can do a much better job keeping her mouth shut than him."

Inoue raised an eyebrow. "You told Tamaki and not me?"

Kallen chuckled. "Yeah, probably not the brightest idea I've had."

"Let's take this somewhere quieter," Ohgi said.

The trio made their way to the office upstairs and Ohgi shut the door behind them. After they were seated he nodded to Kallen to take the lead. It was her secret after all. Kallen sighed. How to explain this without Inoue thinking she was crazy. She could either go with the truth or try to make up something coherent that was still believable. Ultimately however Kallen decided on the former seeing as lying convincingly was not one of the girl's strong suits, bashing heads was.

"Remember Shinjuku?" Kallen asked.

Inoue nodded but said nothing else.

"The container, I said there was no gas," Kallen said. "What was inside was C.C., the girl you've been calling Cecilia."

The older woman raised an eyebrow, not that Kallen blamed her doubt.

"And what's even freakier is, I saw her get shot in the head," Kallen said softly.

Raised eyebrow turned into wide eyes as Inoue gawked at her. Kallen chuckled ruefully.

"Before she got shot though, she asked if I wanted to live," Kallen went on, unsheathing her knife and drawing a very worried look from Inoue. "I said yes, and the next thing I knew I could do this."

The girl tossed an apple behind her and waited two seconds before sending the knife sailing after without looking back. A thud sounded as the blade impaled the fruit against the side of a desk. Inoue looked at the apple, then at Kallen, then back at the apple.

"What?"

"She can sense the absolute position of everything around her," Ohgi interjected, putting into words what Kallen was trying to explain with her demonstration. "And by knowing where everything is around her, she can strike at it without needing to see it. What's more, she can also predict where it might end up."

Inoue now switched her gaze between Kallen and Ohgi a few times before massaging her temples.

"Wow. That was not what I was expecting."

"So what were you expecting?" Kallen asked.

"I have no idea," Inoue admitted frankly, pinching between her eyes. "Something involving that French girl, sure, things have been getting weirder and weirder ever since she showed up, but this? You being clairvoyant? And this C.C., or Cecilia, or whatever her name is? What is she?"

"A witch."

The three startled and spun about to see the woman in question leaning against the doorframe.

"Thou may calleth me a witch," C.C. said with a mischievous smirk.

"C.C.," Kallen growled. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enow to hear thy confession," C.C. said. "Hast thou decided to seek another for recede?"

"This isn't about getting her advice," Kallen said. "Inoue's like a sister to me, so she of all people deserves to know the truth."

C.C. raised an eyebrow. "Tis a wise woman that knoweth her own kin."

Kallen snorted. "I'll take that as a compliment. Now did you need something?"

C.C. cocked her head aside. "A note of warning. On thy path, yond man has a lean and hungry look."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "He thinks too much; such men are dangerous."

The green haired woman smiled widely as Kallen completed the line. The young woman had understood her.

"Who is this man?" Kallen asked.

C.C. pursed her lip. "Tis not the the many oaths that maketh the truth; but the plain single vow, that is vow'd true."

For a moment Kallen did not quite get what the other girl was saying. Then her jaw dropped.

"Kallen?" Ohgi said worriedly.

"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!?" Kallen exploded, startling her comrades.

"Kallen, what's wrong?" Ohgi asked immediately.

"She-I-he-I mean, she's the one that gave me this power," Kallen said, "but I'm not the only one she's made a contract with."

Ohgi breathed sharply and even Inoue, newly brought into this masquerade, quickly understood what Kallen was insinuating.

"One of her previous, contractors, is here?" Inoue said hesitantly.

"Yeah," Kallen said with a scowl, "and based off what she's said, he's going to be very, very dangerous."

Inoue's expression darkened and she stood and walked over to C.C. "If you've gotten Kallen dragged into some personal mess of yours, you had better be able to clean this up."

C.C. sniffed petulantly. "Tis a sin to swear unto a sin, but a greater sin to keep a sinful oath."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Inoue demanded.

"Something went way wrong with that contractor," Kallen interpreted, "so she cut him loose and left. Isn't that right?"

C.C. acknowledged the veracity of her words with a nod.

"So, what went badly enough that you'd leave, but not badly enough to warrant killing the guy and leaving a loose end like this?" Kallen asked.

The woman grimaced though why Kallen could not fathom. Was she ashamed of that contract? Hard to imagine considering how whimsically she treated everything else. But then C.C. opened her mouth to speak once more.

"But that I am forbid to tell the secrets of mine prison-house."

And closed it with those few words. Kallen blinked.

"Wait, what!?"

"Can you actually make sense of what she's saying?" Inoue said incredulously. "It's like riddles and nonsense."

"It's riddles, yes, but it's not nonsense," Kallen said. "She's quoting Shakespeare, reusing lines from plays that approximate what she wants to say. Oh my gods, you have a geass on you, don't you?"

A sad smile crossed C.C.'s face as her head tilted ever so slightly in confirmation.

"But, how is that possible?" Kallen asked. "I thought you were immune from the powers of your contractors?"

C.C. stroked her chin, likely considering what if any line from the playwright's works might allow her to explain herself. She struck her palm with her fist upon seemingly coming up with you.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Kallen, than are dreamt in your philosophy."

Kallen stared at C.C. for a brief moment. "That doesn't tell me anything!"

C.C. rolled her eyes but said nothing more.

"This is getting very confusing," Inoue said. "Cecilia, or C.C., or whatever you want to be called, are you able to explain this power you gave to Kallen? Its origin and how it works?"

"I knoweth not," C.C. said with a shrug.

"Well that's not going to work," Inoue said. "You two are coming with me to the Keio hospital."

Kallen blinked. "What?"

"I want the two of you to get a complete checkup," Inoue said. "If this power is real, and I'm starting to think that there really is something to all this insanity, I want to make sure that it's not hurting you."

"I'm fine," Kallen insisted.

Ohgi cleared his throat. "Your headaches?"

The girl scowled. "Okay, but besides those I'm fine."

"Headaches?" Inoue said with a frown. "If something's going on inside your head, then it's even more important that we find out what it is. We don't have a CT scanner, but we can still get an X-ray to see if there's any deformation visible with your skull."

"Whoa Inoue, aren't you overreacting here?" Kallen asked.

Inoue bent over and locked eyes with the girl. "Kallen. You now have this weird power that neither you nor the person supposedly responsible for it can explain how it works. And you're now suffering headaches. Do you seriously expect me to believe that absolutely nothing has changed about your health?"

Kallen found herself in the rather rare position of feeling somewhat sheepish. "Alright, I got it. But I could probably arrange for a physical checkup myself back in the Concessions, no need to use up Keio's resources. I know that using that x-ray of yours takes a lot of juice."

When the woman did not seem quite convinced Kallen firmed up her composure.

"Trust me Inoue, now that you've gotten me thinking, I want to know just what's going on in my head as well," Kallen said.

"Alright," Inoue said, "but I'm going to hold you to that, and I want to see the results of your tests."

Kallen nodded. "I promise."

* * *

Suzaku came to a halt as he finished the last lap on the tracks. The young man panted as he caught his breath, feeling his lungs fill and empty as he sucked in the oxygen his burning muscles screamed for. Once he was no longer feeling so winded he walked over to the bench and took a long sip from his bottle. A little under fourteen minutes for a two mile run, his time was improving. After his experience with performing the HAHO jump he had realized that as fit as he previously felt himself to be there were always higher standards to aspire to. Besides, working out helped clear his head.

"Suzaku!"

Looking over Suzaku saw a woman waving at him. He smiled and walked over.

"Captain Croomy. You didn't need to come fetch me."

"I was on my way anyway," Cécile said with a smile of her own. "And you know how Lloyd is about punctuality, if you were late by even a minute and he thought I didn't do my part keeping you on schedule, I'd never hear the end of it."

Suzaku chuckled. "Yes, the Earl can be a bit, colorful."

"And it's Cécile," the woman said, leaning in and staring Suzaku in the face. "Or have you forgotten again, Warrant Officer Kururugi?"

The boy smiled sheepishly. "No Cécile, I haven't. But, we're not exactly at the ASEEC right now, are well."

"But we're also not exactly out in public," Cécile countered. "Now hurry along, I'm sure you'll want to take a shower before sitting in the Lancelot for however long Lloyd thinks he needs you there to run the calibrations."

"Yes ma'am," Suzaku said with a playful smile.

The young man's promotion to warrant officer had come as a surprise to him, not just because of his own relative youth and inexperience. While there were quite a few Honorary Britannians serving as noncommissioned officers in the military, their numbers relative to the military as a whole was still very small. Combined with his relative lack of experience and age, Suzaku had not expected any sort of promotion for many years if ever. In point of fact his promotion was kept fairly low key. Cécile had of course formally presented it to him but the only people present were the men and women of the ASEEC, most of whom he had grown more familiar with and who in turn seemed willing to accept him. Then again seeing how idiosyncratic Lloyd could be all of them probably were less stuffy than the average Britannian when it came to such matters.

"I trust things are going better at school?" Cécile asked as Suzaku wiped his face off with a towel.

"More or less," the boy said dryly. "The Lady Stadtfeld, graciously accepted my apology in the end and the other boys have mostly backed off."

"Still, to think that things would spiral out of control over something so minor," Cécile said. "Do be more careful in the future, Suzaku. I know that you would never stoop to such disgraceful conduct, but others are likely to be farm more judgmental."

That was quite the understatement, both knew, but Suzaku nodded nonetheless.

"I'll be careful," he assured her.

"Good," Cécile said. "Now, shall we get going?"

"So what exactly does the Earl want to do today?" Suzaku asked as they headed for the large hanger the ASEEC occupied at MacArthur Base.

"Don't you read the briefings we provide?" Cécile chided as she gave him a poke on the forehead.

"I try to," Suzaku said with a wiry smile, "but I'm not an engineer and some of the details are a bit beyond me."

"Fair enough," Cécile allowed. "You remember the basic explanation of how a knightmare's bipedal system works?"

Suzaku nodded. "The legs use high powered motors that are geared down so that it has sufficient torque to hold up the rest of the frame."

"Correct. And how responsive a knightmare is depends heavily on how well quickly we can change the torque values. There are various ways of decreasing the required time, but most of them would put additional strain on the gearboxes and draw more power. It's all a balancing act and it requires a lot of data gathering to find the optimal configuration."

"I see," Suzaku said half honestly. He got the gist of it but again, he was no engineer and he was still learning the ins and outs of knightmare operation and maintenance.

Cécile swiped her keycard and punched in a number. The door clicked open and Suzaku quickly opened the door for her, earning a smile of thanks from the woman.

"At the same time Lancelot has a much more manual control system than other knightmares," she continued after making sure the door was properly shut behind them. "That in theory makes for a more responsive system but results in a lot more things to keep track of when piloting. Maybe one day we'll be able to squeeze enough processing power to automatically adjust all of the mechanical systems, but for now there are very few people who can actually pilot the Lancelot, you being one of them, Suzaku."

That last was delivered with an encouraging smile and the boy returned it with one of his own. It was nice to have one's talents acknowledged after all.

"Here we are," Cécile said as they came to the men's locker room. "I'll see you in the workshop, Suzaku."

The boy nodded and watched as the woman departed. Cécile was a remarkably kind and gentle person for all her military commission. It was a reminder that not everyone in the Britannian military were glory hounds or bloody thirsty monsters, there were plenty of people just trying to do their duty. Well, he was going to make sure that no one would be able to fault him on his duties. Suzaku sniffed his shirt. Right after he took a shower.

* * *

The dinner party ultimately saw a total of three guests joining Euphemia for the evening, assuming one ignored the two armsmen that stood attentively against the wall. Brigadier Eyre had wasted little timing increasing the physical screen that protected the Princess and Euphie had caught sight of a few other changes to her surroundings with the man's mark. Today however Jonathan was officially off duty and simply spending a quiet evening with his liege and his niece. There should really not have been any reason for the man to look so grumpy, save perhaps the man that was seated next to Jane.

Edward Rochester, Third Baron of Fairfax, had recovered sufficiently from his injuries to return to limited duty. Nevertheless there was still a slight stiffness to his movements, a stiffness that did not quite explain the attention Jane paid the older man. Euphie found the entire scene more than a bit amusing not least because of how much the Baron was fidgeting. Edward was by no means a timid man but when faced with the father or father figure of the woman he was courting any man might quail a bit. Jonathan for his part alternated between pretending the Baron did not exist to giving him very pointed looks.

"I hear that you are considering applying to Radcliffe College for graduate work," Jonathan said to his niece, "to study mathematics and operational research."

Jane nodded as she sliced into more manageable pieces the steak set before her. "The Radcliffe school would allow me access to courses at Harvard University, which has a well-respected unit on the subject in its business school."

Jonathan grunted. "And will you be taking a leave of absence from your work to attend?"

"Her highness has graciously permitted that I take leaves of absence alternating semesters," Jane said in between bites. "At the same time, my work on her staff should provide me with work credits that I can apply towards the degree."

"Is that so," Jonathan said, glancing over at the Princess who nonchalantly worked through her own steak. "I imagine that such an academic schedule would limit the financial aid you would qualify for from the school."

"It does," Jane said, "but I have saved a considerable sum from my work and I do not foresee much difficulty meeting the tuition."

"Well, let me know if you do need help," Jonathan said before taking a big bite of his own.

"I will be fine, uncle," Jane assured him with a smile. "I do not wish to further impose upon your generosity."

As a soldier Jonathan's pay could not be described as overly generous and the early years of caring for Jane while he was a mere junior officer had tested the man's finances and financial skill. As he rose through the ranks however a certain stability was achieved and Jonathan was even able to pay for his niece's university education without needing to rely on onerous loans. That Jane won several scholarships did not hurt though the Britannian education system, much like Britannian society, was geared towards people paying their own way and so what financial aid was available was limited.

"Nonsense, we're family," Jonathan said. "There is no such thing as imposition when it comes to family."

That everyone here knew was not true, but some families were closer than others and Euphie envied the care Jonathan lavished on his niece. She might not have been spoiled but she was paid attention to, which was more than Euphie could say about her own father.

"Do you have any specific plans after completing your studies?" Edward spoke up, the first since his halting introduction at the start of the meal.

Jonathan raised an eyebrow but Edward did his best to look nonplussed. He was a noble after all and pretending to uphold one's dignity was something he had much practice with.

"I may continue working with her highness if she believes I can continue to be of service," Jane said, eliciting an amused smile from Euphie. "Beyond that, who can say what the future will bring?"

"Yes," Edward agreed. "Who can say indeed."

The two exchanged knowing smiles while Jonathan continued to pretend not to notice the blinding obvious. He might not have been Jane's biological father but he certainly acted the part convincingly enough.

"And I understand that I also owe you for imparting upon Jane the skills that ensured that I still have a future, Sir Eyre," Edward said, speaking directly to the brigadier.

Jonathan raised an eyebrow and regarded the noble for a noticeable beat before responding. "Jonathan will do fine. Colonel if you wish to be formal. I bear no knighthood after all so do not warrant a Sir beyond those that serve under me."

"Jonathan," Edward said with due respect. "Still, I believe that I owe you my thanks for the instruction you provided to your niece."

Jonathan now regarded Jane who did not flinch in the least. In her childhood a spirited girl, that spirit had transformed into a firmness of character that reminded the man all too much of his brother and sister-in-law.

"Before she went to work for her highness Jane and I discussed her joining the Nursing Corps," Jonathan said. "It's honest and important work, I owe my life many times over to their skill. I could only teach her the basics of first aid, I was never rated as a field medic, but I knew some army nurses who would be willing to let a teenage girl her age tag along and pick up a basic understanding of what they do."

"Yes, Jane has told me about that," Edward said, "but you laid the foundation, Colonel Eyre, and I hope you have found pride in the fruit of your efforts."

Jonathan regarded the two seated across from him thoughtfully. "I am proud of my niece, that is true. And I trust her judgment to be mostly sound." The man's eyes hardened ever so slightly. "And should I feel it to ever lapse, I will let it be known."

And just as quickly relaxed as he took another bite of his meal. Edward and Jane also seemed to relax with him and Jane offered her uncle a grateful smile. Yes the colonel would let it be known if he thought she ever strayed, but he was not doing that now.

As the meal proceeded with a lighter mood a knock sounded. One of the armsman cracked the door open a sliver and after a hushed exchange allowed the soldier to enter. The man walked over to the dinner table and saluted.

"I apologize for interrupting you during your meal, your highness, but the Marshal thought you would like to be notified right away. She believes our forces have encountered the defensive line protecting the Blood of the Samurai's main base."

Euphie nodded. "Does my sister wish for me to join her at her command center?"

"No highness, not presently."

"Very well. Thank you for delivering the message, sergeant, you are dismissed."

The man snapped another sharp salute. "Highness."

After the door closed behind the soldier Euphie looked over her fellow diners. "It would seem the days are numbered for the terrorists that dared harm us at Lake Kawaguchi."

All three of her guests nodded in agreement. Euphie took hold of her wineglass.

"Well, I for one will look forward to that day." The Princess raised her glass. "A toast to victory, and too Britannia!"

"Hail Britannia!" came the united response.

End of Chapter 15

Several readers have called to my attention the fact that the shift in dates on the Code Geass wiki is a very recent thing. Based on the history the person responsible is a user named Windywalk. As I am not an active contributor to the wiki, I just use it to look things up that I don't recall the details of from the series, I have no idea who that person is. I also do not know how valid said person's interpretation is. Regardless having started this story based on the original theorized timeline, I am going to stick with said original timeline as otherwise too many things get mucked up. The consequences for this chapter is I'm reverting to the original French agent nominally overseeing Lelouch to the person I originally had before I tried to accommodate the new dates and I'm switching the DGSE to its predecessor organization, the SDECE. As for the wiki, I invite others more, invested, in the place to take a long, hard look to make sure that the shifted dates actually make sense.

Fun fact, the Britannian Empire still uses the imperial measurement system, not metric.

As a note, the way Geass works in my fic is, tweaked a bit. More will be revealed as the story goes on and the general rules of thumb still apply, but there are a few subtle differences that will have an impact on the story. Also, now you all know partially why C.C. speaks the way she does. And I thought I hated writing archaic lines, imagine how much a pain it is to look up lines from Shakespeare's plays.

Knightmares. Mechanically the things as designed shouldn't be able to stay upright, especially with the way the pilot module juts out of the back like that. But, I'm not going to try to justify it so I'll just nibble around the edges. I have some passing experience with robotic systems and so I actually am not completely pulling things out of my ass when it comes to motors, gearboxes, and other such things.

Eyre is a last name. After this chapter it should be pretty obvious where it's from, unless none of you read classical literature which would be a shame since that book is quite a good read.

Well, Lelouch has shown his face. Sort of. Before I talk a bit about him though, I want to answer the questions that one reviewer had.

1) V.V. did force the geass on Euphie, but to be honest I'm very unsatisfied with that scene. I'm liable to go back and rewrite it. Don't worry, I'll make sure that the update goes up simultaneous with a future chapter update and I'll call it out on the later chapter's author notes.

2) Euphie could have really turned out either way, it's pretty justifiable for either outcome. The writers for the anime had a role that needed her to be the way she was and so they made her nice, politically naïve, and etc. I needed her to, not be that, so I made her not, though I did make sure to at least provide a plausible rationale by modifying events slightly. Note that in my case, that Cornelia was powerless to keep her promise to Euphie is important and was not put in purely for drama. It showed the girl that promises were only worth the ability of others to keep them, and to keep some promises you need more than determination or will, you need power.

3) See explanation regarding Lelouch following this.

4) I have the general story outlined in my head but I sure as hell don't have it actually written beyond what's been published plus whatever draft of the next chapter I'm working on. I don't work that fast.

5) Kallen's power is not active all the time. Note that I explicitly mention when she turns it on throughout the story. And in the anime we're never definitively shown that people actually can see if a Geass is active or not, or identify people under its influence by the red shine in the victim's eye. That always seemed more of a visual indicator for the viewers.

Now, for Lelouch. I think it's pretty clear by now that I'm a somewhat unconventional fan when it comes to Code Geass. There were parts I liked but there were a lot of parts that I felt were dissatisfying or did not live up to its full potential. I'm sure the executive meddling did not help, but the characterization especially rubbed me wrong in a lot of ways. I have an active imagination however and so I poked and prodded the Code Geass concept to see what would be interesting. Lelouch in particular caught my attention, primarily because he had moments of impressive brilliance but the moment Nunnally was brought up he would crack. It was, almost painful to watch him back off because he was worried about hurting her when his backing off actually put her in much greater danger than if he had gone all in and succeeded. His hesitation, as endearing as I'm sure some viewers found it, was to me more than a little nonsensical at certain points.

Naturally this led to a hypothetical question. What would happen if Lelouch did not have Nunnally restraining him? What would happen if say, Nunnally was dead and Lelouch did not have anything in the world to cherish? I think most viewers of Code Geass would agree that in such a situation there is a very real risk of the rage within Lelouch coming to a head and setting him on a roaring rampage of revenge, so to speak. Which would have been actually kind of interesting to write since it would have been such a drastically different take on the Code Geass canon, a Lelouch that did not hesitate to exploit others as mere tools to achieve his ends. It would have been bloody, it would have been glorious, and it would have been very unsatisfying in the end. Why? Because there would have been no sense of hope or closure with a main character like that. Well, that's not entirely true, but it would have been extraordinarily difficult to close the story on a, not a positive note, but one that was at least bittersweet instead of downright depressing, cause by the time Lelouch was done or burned out he would have likely ruined a lot of lives, way more than he did in canon.

Still, the idea had been planted and I felt that there was something to it. But if I wanted hope, I would need someone to counter Lelouch, someone that, if not the 'good' guy, was at least a character that readers would root for to stop Lelouch from burning the world. And so I went looking for a character capable of this.

First, most obvious candidate was Suzaku. Hah, yeah, no. Suzaku was a skilled knightmare pilot but that's about all that he has going for him. While he might make for a good tip of the spear against Lelouch, he does not have the charisma, political guile, or strategic cunning to match Lelouch. He got played by both Charles and Schneizel in the anime before Lelouch himself talked him into playing along with the Zero Requiem. Suzaku ultimately is a follower and there is no way in hell he could have gone up against a completely ruthless Lelouch and come out alive much less win.

Second candidate, Schneizel. After all he came closest to defeating Lelouch. He's a savvy politician and he possesses at least some sense of military strategy, though honestly the latter might be more of him employing very competent subordinates than him actually being a skilled commander. Still, we know that Schneizel actually stands a chance. Except, uh, it might just be me but I'm not sure I'd particularly want Schneizel to 'win' against Lelouch, even if Lelouch is a relentless monster. And there's a similar issue in that Schneizel's vision for the world is not particularly nice either, so I'm not sure I could make the conclusion between the two's conflict very satisfying to read. Or the conclusion itself for that matter.

Cornelia. She's a Britannian general, 'chief general,' which is a bloody stupid military title for anyone who follows western rank conventions. She seems less politically savvy than Schneizel but that in and of itself does not necessarily disqualify her from besting Lelouch. It puts her at a major disadvantage, to be sure, but still doable, assuming I wrote her to be an actual general instead of the blood knight she was portrayed as in the anime. The problem with Cornelia however is that she represents the status quo of Britannia. She's an open bigot and racist and her victory would not really change the course of the Empire, something that I feel is important for a lot of Code Geass fans. After all, a lot of us cheered on the Zero Requiem because it offered the possibility of a better tomorrow. Never mind that I give it five years at most before a new major conflict erupts if that world's geopolitics was anywhere remotely realistic. Anyway, Cornelia, while probably more acceptable than Schneizel, does not provide the necessary change at a macro level.

Kallen suffers a similar problem as Suzaku. Personally I would say she's the better pilot, whenever the two meet in comparable machines it's usually Suzaku that's the one being pressured. But as with Suzaku her ability as a pilot is pretty much irrelevant to how effective she would be when facing someone like Lelouch. While she proved a competent squad leader and seemed to have a decent grasp of tactics, she never participated in strategic level decisions in the anime and I'm dubious as to how well she would do. That and we see almost zero awareness of politics on her part. She's very much ruled by her emotions. I could perhaps turn her into someone who could match Lelouch, but not without twisting her beyond recognition, which would defeat the point of using Kallen.

Ohgi, uh, yeah, regardless of whether you're a fan of the guy or not, I think it's pretty clear that he's not a match for Lelouch strategically or politically. An able deputy, but not a leader, or at least not of the caliber needed to successfully face down Lelouch.

Li Xingke, doesn't appear in season one and I'm dubious as to whether he could have beaten Lelouch anyway. And, well, I really did not find him that engaging of a character to be frank. And his own personal goals were extremely limited in the anime as well, which doesn't give me much to work with to 'elevate' a character, so to speak. Not to mention the difficulty of trying to shoehorn him into basically a season one arc.

In point of fact, Euphie as a possibility had occurred to me pretty early on, but I wanted to lay out the problems I had with the other characters first. Euphie was, interesting. In the anime itself I always felt that she was severely underutilized. And in all seriousness, as someone raised in the imperial court she should not have been that guileless with respect to the politics. That just seemed so very unrealistic. But there was an obvious intelligence and will in her character, an intelligence that was shown when she worked out the proposal for the SAZ (I know I've complained about the SAZ before, but it's not really Euphie's fault the writers portrayed it in such a problematic manner) and a will she showed when she revealed herself during the hotel incident. What if those two attributes were, boosted? Enough to make her an actual player in the court politics but not enough to make her unrecognizable. And throw in a Geass from V.V. and we could have a most interesting combination of Kallen, Euphie, and Lelouch come into play, each with their own agenda that overlaps or conflicts in interesting ways. That was how _A Cold Calculus_ came about. Now let's see if I can make this entire damn thing work.

We are as of now, about a third of the way I would say through what might be termed season one. I expect it won't take more than fifty chapters for the first arc. Let's see how long it takes me to complete the entire thing.

Only two lines from C.C.'s dialogue for me to translate this time, all the others are paraphrases from Shakespeare plays.

Long enow to hear thy confession. Hast thou decided to seek another for recede? – Long enough to hear your confession. Have you decided to seek another for advice?

Tis a wise woman that knoweth her own kin. – It is a wise woman that knows her family.


	17. Chapter 16

Snippet spoiler: minor to none

 _Due to the peculiarity of Britannia's imperial protocol it was not until six months after the assassination of Prince Clovis that Princess Euphemia was elevated from her previous position of sixth in line to the throne. By tradition only the sovereign has the power to determine what the order of succession is and even if a contender is removed from consideration due to death or other extreme circumstances the formal order remains as it was until the Majesty decides to release a new imperio successuros designare. Until such time the position previously occupied by the deceased remains simply vacant though in practice all candidates numbered after the deceased are effectively moved up once place._

 _It is also not unheard of for a reigning sovereign to use the opportunity that was presented by the need to update the designare to shuffle about the heirs to reflect the changing of favor and rebalance the power of the various factions at court. Thus the elevation of the Princess Euphemia to fourth in line to the throne over her older sister the Princess Guinevere was not wholly unexpected seeing the favor already shown with her highness' appointment as viceroy of Area 11. For many at court it was an indication that the Princess Euphemia was a person of note, to be watched and perhaps wooed. For the Princess herself it was simply one of many steps on the path to the throne._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 16: Ira furor brevis est

Clouds of dust trailed behind the quartet of bipedal mechs that raced across the desert plains. The squat, compact forms were painted a pattern of dark brown, pale green, and beige to help them blend in with the background while immobile. They approached the target area quickly, a series of bunkers, armored gun emplacements, and even a few tanks sprinkling the mock defensive line. As the squad came into range they leveled the cannon mounted on each arm and opened fire.

Each round flew true, the dual shots let loose by the mechs punching through the concrete and metal. Wooden popups shot up from the trenches before the defensive emplacements and were equally quickly mowed down by the machineguns mounted on the hips of the mechs. Next the rumble of diesel engines sounded and eight T-64 tanks rolled out to meet the attackers. Solid machines, the T-64 was coming on the end of the class' service life and these eight had been modified to be remotely controlled to serve as test targets for today's demonstration. Something needed to be done with the several thousand T-64s made obsolete by the newly rolling out T-72s after all, though if today's demonstration was anywhere near as successful as its organizers hoped the T-72 might become equally obsolete before the day was over.

Without human crews in them their movement was sluggish and there was no way for them to actually fire upon the advancing mechs, but that was not their purpose this day. Instead they served simply as hardened mobile targets, targets that the incoming mechs needed to try to hit while on the move. The crew of each mech had trained long and hard for this day however and represented the best of their respective units. Against targets that could not even shoot back, it was almost child's play. The eight T-64s were quickly reduced to smoldering wrecks after a single salvo from the circling mechs. The opposition destroyed, the mechs rolled to a stop.

In a bunker some distance away, enough to minimize risk of getting hit by a stray shell but close enough to offer a good vantage point, Field Marshal Alphonse Pierre Juin lowered his binoculars and nodded approvingly.

"I must admit, Erwin, that Rheinmetall cannon is quite the marvel. Is there any tank armor it cannot defeat?"

His companion smiled wirily as he lowered his own pair. "As much as I hate to admit the Fatherland falling short anywhere, there have been reports of Britannia working on some sort of advanced composite material capable of defending against any deployed antitank weapon short of extreme close range."

"Hmm," Alphonse murmured. "In development, you say. But not yet deployed and likely won't be for several years, whereas our new Panzer-Hummel is entering serial production. Within the next six months we'll have enough to equip a full division. Within a year, another four."

"That may be so sir, but it will take longer to fully train the crews for the Hummels," Erwin pointed out. "At present projections are that we will need at least two years before we can field an effective force."

"True enough," Alphonse conceded to his deputy. "Still, we are making steady progress to closing the gap between us and the Britannians. If the Empire will just give us a bit more time, they'll be the ones on the receiving end of a nasty surprise instead of the other way around."

"Ask of me anything but time," Erwin quoted.

Alphonse chuckled. "Yes, I suppose I might well be asking too much there, but if things go well in Japan the Empire will be too preoccupied to make an open move against us anytime soon."

Erwin frowned. "You have received news from your agents?"

The field marshal nodded gravely. "It would seem that the attack on the OSEC conference ended up working on our favor. They were able to make contact with the Blood of the Samurai through one of the present insurgents and eventually worked their way up to the Samurai's leadership."

"So we are in contact with one of the larger resistance movements?" Erwin asked.

"Yes, but the Samurai will not be of much use," Alphonse said. "The report indicated, and I agree, that the Britannians will likely be moving against them in full force very soon. In fact considering the delay in getting the message out of the country I would not be surprised if the Britannians were not already hitting them."

"It would be, unfortunate if the Britannians were to discover SDECE agents amongst the Samurai," Erwin said as tactfully as he could manage.

"Agreed," Alphonse nodded. "There should be little risk of that however, the report indicated that they had used the Samurai to make contact with the Japanese Liberation Front and would be moving on to cultivate ties with them."

"Are we certain the Samurai will not be, put off being used as a mere stepping stone?" Erwin asked.

"I have been assured that that will not be a problem." Alphonse shrugged. "And even if they did, there is little either them or us can do about it. We cannot lend them enough support quickly enough to prevent Britannia from crushing them after all. And once they are destroyed, well, they would hardly be in a position to complain, much less receive aid."

"You seem very certain that the Samurai will be defeated, sir."

Alphonse snorted. "Marshal Cornelia is out for their blood, no pun intended, Erwin. They threatened her little sister at the OSEC conference and if there is one thing that all of our various intelligence agencies agree on it is that she cares deeply for the Princess Euphemia."

"I suppose there is something to be said about provoking the wrath of the witch of Britannia," Erwin said dryly.

"But enough about Japan and Britannia," Alphonse said, making for the bunker's exit. "We're here to inspect our new toys after all, so we might as well enjoy ourselves."

Erwin chuckled as he followed. "Indeed sir."

"You've been keeping track of the new developments more closely than I have," Alphonse went on. "Tell me, are our gunners really that good or did they cheat?"

"I'm afraid they cheated sir," Erwin said with feigned resignation. "A shame that they needed to make use of the new fire control system to make those hits while moving."

"Ah, well, I suppose one can't have everything," Alphonse played along. "Though this new fire control, I don't suppose this is the new toy that BAE has been working on for the past couple of years?"

Erwin could not quite suppress his grin. "Why, yes it is sir. They finally managed to squeeze it down to something that can fit on a Hummel and there's even talk of outfitting it on our conventional panzers."

"Fascinating," Alphonse said earnestly before chuckling. "You know, it is rather ironic. A British system that will one day help defend the EU against the Britannian Empire."

"I suppose so sir," Erwin said. "Then again the British are hardly as uncouth as the Britannians. They use the metric system for measurement like any sensible person would."

Alphonse burst out laughing and clapped his friend and deputy on the shoulder. "That they do, that they do. And here is hoping when the chips fall, our sensibility will make sure that it is Britannia and not us that has overreached."

The German officer nodded in wholehearted agreement. And for that purpose they would make sure that the EU would have all the weapons necessary to see off the Britannian juggernaut, weapons like the Panzer-Hummel that they were about to get a close up look at.

* * *

Suzaku finished his systems check and rolled Lancelot off the transport trailer.

"Suzaku, everything alright?" Cécile radioed in.

"Yes ma'am," Suzaku said formally. "The Lancelot's running perfect."

"Of course it would," Lloyd could be heard in the background.

"We can't guarantee a continuous feed of telemetry under combat conditions," Cécile said, ignoring her nominal superior, "so we might not be able to catch any problems that crop up immediately. Be careful, this is only the second time Lancelot has been deployed in the field."

"Understood captain," Suzaku assured her.

Four other knightmares, Gloucesters, formed up around him.

"All units check in," Claudio's voice sounded over the radio.

"Glaston 3 ready."

"Glaston 4 ready."

"Glaston 5 ready."

"Glaston 6 ready."

"Lancelot ready," Suzaku said at the end.

"Alright, remember what we're here for," Claudio said. "We're the point of the spear, the Blood of the Samurai very heavily entrenched defenses covering the approach to Mount Asayo. Marshal Cornelia wants us to punch a hole for the rest of her forces to follow. Alfred, you're on point. Suzaku, watch his back. Bart, take rearguard."

"Sir," came two responses.

"You sure he's not gonna be shooting me in the back instead?" was the snide third.

"Can it Alfred," Claudio snapped. "If you don't think you're up for this, then you can sit out."

No response came from the other man and Suzaku took a deep breath. This was okay, he had expected discontent from others. Arguing with them would do little, he would need to prove himself with deeds. And there were at least some people that he was already winning over with his deeds.

"Alright Suzaku," Claudio said on a private channel. "I know you haven't done any squad based training with a knightmare, so you're going to have to learn quick. Fighting with a group is a lot different than fighting by yourself, you need to know not only what you yourself are doing, you also need to keep track of what everyone else is doing. Don't waste ammo on a target that one of your squad mates is already taking out and when shooting make sure that someone isn't about to cross your line of fire. At the same time, the enemy isn't going to all be gunning for you, if you see someone going for a squad mate, do something about it, don't assume that the other soldier will notice fast enough."

Mostly common sense advice, but Suzaku still appreciated the fact that Claudio was willing to take the time to pass it on nonetheless.

"Got it," the young man said.

There was a pause before Claudio next spoke. "First the HAHO jump and now this. I'm starting to wonder if Father really likes you considering how many fires he keeps throwing you into."

Suzaku smiled wirily to himself. "I suppose I just have to make sure I keep not disappointing him."

Another pause. "Yeah, I guess you do."

Claudio switched back to the squad channel. "Move out, we're on a schedule here."

The five knightmares moved out, leaving the field base the military had set up and heading for Mount Asayo. They were a few kilometers out from where surveillance planes had detected the probable defense emplacements, so long as the Blood of the Samurai did not end up having artillery pieces tucked away as well. If they did, the Glaston Knights plus Suzaku wound be finding out pretty soon. Well, them and the rest of the company of knightmares that were following in their wake. The force of mechs would lead the charge and open the way for the rest of the troops moving up now. There was no way the Samurai did not know they were coming but stealth was not really a consideration for a full frontal attack. The Britannian Army intended to thoroughly curbstomp the insurgents and they were not going to cheap out on the hardware needed for the job.

A beep sounded and Suzaku brought Lancelot to a halt. The others likewise stopped about him.

"Hold position," Claudio ordered, "button down."

All of the knightmares dropped to one knee. Suzaku watched intently as the entire force waited. And then a rumble sounded. The Britannian military had not been idle the past few days as it moved troops and hardware west for the attack on Mount Asayo. Near continuous recon flights had mapped the mountain in great detail and camouflaged bunkers that had managed to escape notice in the past were quickly found and tagged as the military put the entire area under a microscope. That information was now being put to use.

The self-propelled howitzers Cornelia had brought forth for this operation were equipped with 6 inch guns with effective ranges of over ten miles. As far as the Britannians could determine the Blood of the Samurai possessed nothing that could match that range even with their height advantage. Even if they did their limited fire control would have precluded their inflicting any major damage on the Britannian forces before an airstrike or counterbattery fire was called in to neutralize the offending artillery piece. Right now however even that was not necessary as a single shot from each of the artillery batteries let loose. All found their mark and a few seconds later the roar of entire batteries sounded as the other howitzers joined in. The targets that had not been reduced to rubble already by the ranging shot were duly and very thoroughly flattened.

"All units, advance!" Claudio shouted over the radio as the shaking subsided.

With a roar the knightmares rose and began their charge. At first no guns opened up to greet them and the mechs crossed the five miles that separated them from the first line of defenses unopposed. Only upon breaching the enemy perimeter did they finally encounter opposition as machineguns and a few light cannons opened up. The rounds bounced ineffectually off the knightmares and all that the defenders achieved was drawing attention to themselves. Suzaku grit his teeth as he joined the other Britannian knights in returning fire. These people were insurgents, terrorists that had gotten innocent civilians involved in their fight against Britannia. They had threatened to kill the Princess and Milly's little sister. His expression darkened. They had made their choice.

The second line of defenses collapsed as the last enemy gun fell silent. The knightmares stepped over the burning wreckage and began their climb up the mountainside as armored fighting vehicles rolled up in their wake. More artillery strikes followed, knocking out defenses further up with methodical precision. That did not of course eliminate all opposition. Popping out from obscured holes appeared insurgents armed with a variety of weapons. Most supported mere rifles or even handguns while a few popped off rockets that might have actually done some damage had they hit. There was simply not enough of them however to slow the advancing knightmares as they mauled down the insurgents. It was a one sided slaughter, the Blood of the Samurai outgunned and quickly becoming outnumbered. The battle was decided before the opening barrage.

* * *

Cornelia regarded the main display in satisfaction as her forces smashed the feeble resistance put up by the insurgents. With the surface secured more teams were moving up to storm the tunnel network that extended below the mountain. Taking the bunker itself was unnecessary to actually win the battle but simply burying the Blood of the Samurai under tons of rubble would not produce any useful intelligence for going after the rest of their network. The going would be rough and almost certainly less one-sided than the surface engagement had been. Even so the price would be worth it so long as they found something actionable in the Samurai's headquarters.

Andreas stepped beside Cornelia. "Marshal."

"General," Cornelia replied.

A silence lingered between them after the initial greeting before Andreas finally cleared his throat.

"The operation is proceeding to your satisfaction?"

Cornelia did her best to not grimace. While Andreas abhorred politics as much as she did, that did not mean the man was without tact and guile. For that matter she was not without some subtlety herself.

"I have no cause for complaint," Cornelia responded. "Our forces have performed to my standards."

Andreas nodded in acknowledgment of the implicit praise, and the admission that she had no reproach for his decision to use one Suzaku Kururugi as part of the vanguard force. Such honor tended to only be given to knights whom had proven themselves capable of shouldering the responsibility and continued success in the role tended to be a fast track to promotion. Of course as such knights were promoted they needed to be replaced so it was not unusual for promising young knights to be mixed in with a force of veterans to season him or her. Suzaku however was more than just a simple promising young knight. In point of fact he was not a knight at all. Officially the young man was simply the Lancelot's test pilot while the prototype knightmare underwent field evaluation. It was a flimsy fiction but images needed to be maintained. Thus having confirmed that his liege did not intend to take issue with his employment of the young man Andreas moved the topic onto other matters less likely to induce irritation in the Princess.

"Our forces expect to begin assaulting the tunnels within the next ten minutes or so," the general reported. "Heavy weapons fire teams will spearhead the assault, accompanied by engineer units to deal with any traps they encounter."

Cornelia grunted. Impatience was one of her weaknesses, one that the Marshal was at least cognizant of. But her impatience here was not without reason. The longer the assault was forestalled the more time the Samurai leadership would have to destroy their records. Then again the battle had already lasted for half an hour since the opening barrage and if they had any sense the insurgents would have begun destroying their more sensitive files the moment Britannian knightmares were sighted. She could always hope their contingency planning was as sloppy as their haphazard defenses.

"Any sign of attempts to escape?" Cornelia asked.

"None thus far your highness," Andreas answered. "There is always the possibility that they possess a tunnel that leads far beyond our current reconnaissance zone but that is doubtful."

The Marshal frowned. That was a bit odd that the insurgents would not at least attempt a breakout. The battle was effectively decided and there was nothing the Samurai could hope to achieve besides maybe bloodying her forces a bit in the subterranean fighting. It was entirely possible that faced with the inevitability of their defeat the Samurai's leadership had decided to make some sort of valiant last stand. That seemed to fit with the mentality various psychological reports the Inquisitio produced on the more militant sections of the Eleven population. Still, something in the back of her mind nagged at her.

"Order our forces to try to take prisoners from the last ditch defenders," Cornelia ordered.

"Yes your highness," Andreas acknowledged.

That would be a difficult task, both knew, but dead men told no tales. Cornelia had little doubt that the Inquisitio would be able to learn at least something useful from any insurgents delivered into its hands. And maybe, just maybe, she would get an answer that would satisfy that nagging feeling.

* * *

Suzaku let out a sigh of exhaustion as he climbed out of the Lancelot. He had been on duty for close to eight hours now and felt ready to collapse. Even the normally stale MREs issued to soldiers had tasted good when he had found the time to chow down. At this point even some of Cécile's, exotic, recipes seemed appetizing.

"Specialist Kururugi," the woman in question appeared at his side. "Good work."

"Thank you Captain," Suzaku responded with a salute.

Out amongst the regular Knightmare Corps the two maintained a professional distance in their interactions.

"Go freshen up," Cécile ordered, "and be ready to depart within half an hour for MacArthur base."

"Yes ma'am."

As Cécile walked off to see to Lancelot's loading Suzaku found someone else taking the woman's place at his side. Claudio gave the young man a pat on the shoulder.

"Good work out there today Suzaku."

"Thank you sir," Suzaku said with a slight smile. "That means a lot, coming from you."

Claudio chuckled. "Hey now, don't get mushy on me here. Just keep doing your job and I'll have nothing to complain about."

"Yes sir."

Claudio gave him a slight smile before glancing over at Cécile. "Is she a member of the ASEEC?"

Suzaku nodded. "Captain Croomy is Earl Asplund's deputy."

"And she came all the way out here to see you?" Claudio said with a raised eyebrow.

"She's in charge of making sure the Lancelot is field ready," Suzaku replied noncommittedly.

"I see," Claudio said dryly. "Well, do introduce us sometime. I've always been curious about the ASEEC's work, especially after hearing about what you did during the Shinjuku incident."

Suzaku's eyes widened. "I, didn't know that was common knowledge, sir."

"It's not," Claudio said simply. "Father however provided me with a brief when he informed me you would be joining us as part of the vanguard force. And truth be told, it wasn't much. The Lancelot's performance specifications are all classified and we didn't exactly do anything today that required any of us pushing our frames. At the same time people keep talking about your knightmare as if it might be something special, but it's all rumors."

"What, sort of rumors?" Suzaku asked hesitantly.

The older man shrugged. "It's supposed to be faster, more responsive somehow, and also equipped with some fancy new weapons. But as I said, today we didn't really need any fancy tricks to beat down the insurgents so even if the wildest rumors were true you didn't really have an opportunity to show them off."

Suzaku smiled wirily. "I suppose that's true sir."

The boy suddenly felt his legs wobble a bit and he leaned against the side of the trailer.

"Tired?" Claudio inquired.

"Just a bit sir," Suzaku said. "This is the first time I've spent this long in a knightmare in the field. I mean, I've done tests that were almost as long, but well, this feels a bit different."

Claudio nodded. "There's something about actually being in battle, a tension that you're not going to feel anywhere else. It can wear on you if you're not careful. Give it time though, a few more deployments and you'll get the hang of it."

"Yes sir," Suzaku said before pulling himself into a salute. "And, thank you sir."

Claudio smiled once more and returned the courtesy. "Oh, and don't let Alfred bother you too much. He might be a bit abrasive, but give him a little time and he'll get tired of poking at you."

"I will sir," Suzaku assured the knight.

* * *

"-and over a hundred insurgent casualties have been reported. Marshal Cornelia has however stressed that despite the destruction of their leadership, the Blood of the Samurai should still be considered an active threat to the safety and security of all Britannian citizens in Area 11."

Kallen furrowed her brow as she listened to the news broadcast. Of course the Samurai were still a threat, even if their leaders were dead or captured their network was still likely intact. Then again from what Ohgi had said some of that network might decide to meld into the background to avoid drawing further attention from the Britannians. An understandable reaction but one that Kallen was still somewhat conflicted about. Much as Kallen disagreed with the Samurai's methodology she could not take heart in the strengthening of their mutual enemy that the Samurai's defeat entailed.

"Lady Stadtfeld?"

"Yes?" Kallen responded to the prompt.

"The doctor is ready to see you now," the nurse informed her.

"Ah, thank you."

Kallen entered the doctor's office alone, having left C.C. at home for this appointment. The last thing she needed to have happen was her so-called medical assistant have her cover blown by a real practitioner after all. Seeing as this was a hospital inside the Britannian Concession however the risks to her personal safety were pretty minimal.

"Lady Stadtfeld," the doctor greeted politely, "please, have a seat."

Kallen obeyed and waited for the doctor to convey to her the results of her examination.

"I apologize for needing to shift back this appointment," the doctor said as she adjusted her glasses, "but I wanted to consult with a few of my colleagues."

The young woman frowned. That certainly sounded ominous.

"The truth of the matter is Lady Stadtfeld, the neurological sciences is still a young field and our understanding of the human brain limited even as we learn more and more every year," the doctor qualified. "Migraines are one such area where we do not completely understand what the source is though there are some fairly concrete hypothesis floating around. Specifically, it is generally believed that migraines arise from abnormally increased blood flow due to arteries relaxing after a spasm, or rapid contraction. The causes of these spasms is however a matter of open debate amongst neurologists worldwide."

The doctor paused briefly and regarded Kallen, who nodded to indicate she was following along. At this point though the girl could guess that the final prognosis was that the doctor did not know what, if anything, was wrong with her.

"Your case however, seems to fall into a different category altogether."

Or not.

"The CT scans that were taken show, well, a degree of swelling in several parts of your brain. Your optic tectum, that is the part responsible for processing visual information, is one such site of swelling, as is your cerebral cortex."

The doctor paused again though this time Kallen simply stared at her.

"At this point I cannot determine what is causing the swelling," the doctor said. "As far as your other tests have shown you are in good health so we can at least rule out some sort of infection causing inflammation. And even though we do not know the cause, I believe that we can provide a treatment regimen that will mitigate the worst of the migraines and allow you to proceed with your daily routine with minimal disruption."

Kallen took a deep breath. "I see. Thank you for your frankness doctor."

The doctor nodded as she took out a piece of paper and presented it to Kallen. "This is a prescription for a new type of anti-inflammatory drug called ibuprofen. Right now I'm prescribing you 10 grain pills. Take one every six to eight hours as needed but if the migraines do not go away or worsen, come see me, do not take more."

"Yes doctor," Kallen acknowledged the instructions with a nod.

"There is something else that you can do to try to lessen the migraines," the doctor continued. "A cold compress while dipping your feet in warm water will help direct your flow of blood away from your head, which should help with reducing the headaches without reliance on medication."

"Thank you doctor," Kallen said. "I will keep that in mind."

At the same time the girl's mind was racing as she considered the ramifications of the doctor's prognosis. She had expected the migraines to somehow be linked to her Geass but to hear that her brain was actually swelling? Not good, so very not good. She and C.C. would be having a nice long talk once she got back to the estate. Or as long as any conversation with the other girl could get before she got a headache trying to parse her speech. Kallen frowned. Maybe those two things were not entirely unrelated.

* * *

The people seated around the table waited politely for the young woman at one of the ends as she sat there in silent contemplation. It was not the Princess Euphemia's meeting, the conference room was after all at MacArthur base and the session itself had been called by her older sister the Princess Cornelia. As the viceroy of Area 11 however Euphemia's opinion on the present matters were of not insignificant importance. Thus, they waited.

Euphie pursed her lips. "All of the data was destroyed?"

Cornelia nodded. "They were extremely thorough about it as well. From what we could tell, they must have started on burning their documents and trashing their computer systems long before we actually positioned our forces for the actual assault. According to some of ordinance officers they seem to have even used thermite to melt some of their hard drives."

While Euphie was not nearly as conversant on matters related to the military as her sister was she did know what thermite was and raised an eyebrow.

"That seems either very excessive or very thorough," she remarked.

"Agreed," Cornelia said. "And that thoroughness, or excessiveness, significantly reduces our ability to find actionable intel from their base."

Euphie noted her sister's words very carefully. "Reduces, but not eliminates?"

Cornelia smiled slightly at her sister's perceptiveness before nodding to the man to her left.

"Several prisoners were taken over the course of the assault," Jeremiah began, "though all of them were badly wounded. The insurgents were, fanatical, in their resistance as our forces engaged them in the tunnels. I hesitate to call them suicidal but the determination with which they continued to fight even after suffering fatal wounds can be considered little else. The only insurgents we were actually able to take into custody were those whom were knocked unconscious or were too wounded to resist but not too far gone for us to stabilize."

Euphie frowned. "Did the Elevens resist to such an extent during the invasion?"

"No, highness," Jeremiah said. "This might have been an act of desperation, but at the same time they may have had an-"

The man was interrupted as the door opened and a woman wearing the white smock of a base army nurse entered and promptly saluted.

"Your highnesses, my lords, please pardon the intrusion, but there has been a development that might be of import that was felt should be brought to your attention," the woman said with remarkable composure.

"Go ahead," Cornelia prompted.

"Highness. One of the prisoners we have down in the infirmary was delirious and began rambling. Much of it was gibberish, but he made mention of, orders, to die fighting, orders issued by a, and I quote, 'man from the Union.'"

The attentiveness being paid to the nurse turned into sharp interest at her last words.

"The Union," Cornelia repeated.

"Yes your highness."

"Did he say anything else?" Cornelia asked.

"Apologies, highness, but the prisoner has since expired. We, believe that he only spoke at all because of the sheer severity of his wounds. The other, less critical patients have actually attempted to continue fighting, necessitating not only restraints but gags to keep them from biting off their own tongues."

Surprise flickered across faces upon that list bit and Cornelia raised an eyebrow. Euphie however was the next to speak what was on her mind.

"Was there any indication of psychotropic drugs?"

"Nothing in their blood works, your highness."

"Hmm," Euphie mused aloud. "So we can probably rule out some kind of mind altering substance affecting their judgment."

Cornelia regarded her sister. "What would make you think of that, Euphie?"

"Well all of you have just said that the Elevens did not display this level of fanaticism during the invasion. Do any of us seriously believe that an EU agent could have offered them something to drive them to such extremis?"

Heads shook all around the table and Cornelia also found herself more or less in agreement with her sister. Before they went on however she turned back to the nurse standing at the door.

"Thank you for bringing this information to our attention in such a timely manner, captain," she said, "you may return to your previous duties."

The woman saluted once more. "Highness."

As the door closed behind the nurse Cornelia's chair spun back around to face Euphie, the younger woman's face a thoughtful frown.

"I had attributed no higher than a 10% chance of the EU agents actually being agent provocateurs," Euphie said almost offhandedly.

"Feel a need to revise upward that assessment?" Cornelia asked.

"Somewhat, though we are still missing key pieces of information. It now seems highly probable that the operatives made contact with the Blood of the Samurai during the Lake Kawaguchi incident and were smuggled out of the area to meet with the Samurai leadership. Though as I already said what they could have offered the Samurai to get them to fight so fanatically I have no idea."

Cornelia nodded. "The question now is where did they go."

"Our forces may not have been able to recover any information about the Samurai's network," Andreas put in, "but that does not necessarily mean there does not still exist a copy. Seeing as the EU operatives likely evacuated the base beforehand, they may have taken some of the Samurai leadership with them and are seeking to help the insurgents reestablish themselves. Or perhaps form a merger with another of the more powerful resistance movements."

"The Japanese Liberation Front," Euphie said immediately.

"Precisely, highness," Andreas agreed.

"I find myself less than enthused with the thought of a unified insurgency backed by the wealth of the European Union," Cornelia said. "They tried something similar with the Middle East Federation but the sheer size of the region worked against them, that and the incompetence of the Federation's upper ranks. The Eleven resistance fighters however could prove considerably more difficult to put down if they rise up in a full revolt, especially if they gain access to modern weapons."

Euphie decided, again, to not bring up her suspicions about where all those decommissioned Glasgows ended up.

"Margrave," she said instead, "how confident are we that the NAC is actively supporting the resistance movements fighting against Britannia?"

Jeremiah grimaced at the question. "Fairly, your highness, but without firm proof and combined with the integral role they play in Area 11's economy moving against them has always been considered too costly. Has that, assessment changed?"

The man almost sounded hopeful and Euphie suppressed a snort of amusement. The military mind, always looking for direct solutions to all the world's problems. Not that she could really blame him, there was an elegant simplicity to such approaches after all. Unfortunately the real world was neither elegant nor simple.

"For now it has not," Euphie said, "but I think I will be inviting Sir Kirihara and perhaps Dame Sumeragi over for a few, words."

Jeremiah felt an uncharacteristic tremor in his body as he recalled the last time he had been called in for a few, words, with the Princess. In a war of wills he had little doubt that her highness would triumph despite her relative youth.

"Is there anything else regarding the battle that I should be aware of?" Euphie asked.

"One final matter, your highness," Andreas said. "The operation against the Samurai headquarters saw the first deployment of the reorganized Honorary Britannian units."

"Oh?" Euphie said, her attention fully on the general.

"All of the units deployed were composed of troops that had passed the initial vetting we conducted over the past few weeks. None presented any problems during the actual combat and a few even distinguished themselves in their initiative and readiness. It is my belief that your highness will be able to draw from those units the security forces you require for the hospital project."

"That is excellent news, General," Euphie said even as she paid careful attention the expressions of the other officers present.

All of them had a look of polite disinterest on their faces save for Cornelia, who allowed the barest of a frown appear before squashing it. The Margrave was next to have something that could be termed a reaction but the man quickly smoothed it out to assume a blank composure. Lack of outright opposition was good, so long as there was nobody going behind her back because they did not expect to have any success directly appealing to her. Not that they would if they tried on this matter, but Euphie could ill afford to give the impression that someone could get away with discretely undermining her authority.

"And how did the Lancelot perform?" Euphie asked. "I believe this was only its second combat deployment?"

The composure on a few of the other officers actually tracked at the mention of the prototype knightmare, Euphie noted with interest.

"It performed as well as expected," Andreas replied. "The insurgents did not possess the capacity to genuinely challenge our forces to an open battle and so Specialist Kururugi did not need to actually push the Lancelot's performance envelope."

"I see," Euphie said before shrugging. "Well, while I am sure Earl Asplund would have liked to test his prototype's limits, I think I would personally prefer that the insurgency never reaches a point where that be necessary again."

More than a few wiry smiles appeared at that comment.

"That'll be all for today Euphie," Cornelia said after a brief silence.

"Very well." The Princess stood and the others followed suit. "I thank you for keeping me informed of the military situation, Marshal, gentlemen. I leave in full confidence of yourselves."

The officers all snapped a salute while Cornelia simply nodded. Euphie gave them all a radiant smile before taking her leave. There was still other work to be done after all.

* * *

Kallen burst into her home and barely even noticed the woman standing by the door.

"Welcome home mi-"

The maid had just barely begun her greeting before the young woman stormed through the foyer without a word. The maid looked after the girl worriedly but Kallen dwas up the stairs before she could ask after her. Kotone Kouzuki continued gazing after the disappeared figure anxiously until another maid called out to her. She hurried on to carry out her next task but her mind remained, as was often the case, on her daughter.

Kallen burst into her own room to find C.C. lounging on her bed again, thankfully this time without a box of pizza by her side. The first time the girl had eaten on the bed Kallen had chewed her out for getting a very large grease stain on the sheets and thus making much more work for the maids to clean up. The other girl seemed to have read the undertones of Kallen's diatribe easily and had thus far refrained from repeating said mess.

The woman still insisted on making use of Kallen's bed at every opportunity however and even snuck into her room at night to sleep in it with Kallen. After tossing her out the first five times Kallen had ultimately given up and just let her do whatever she wanted in that regard. C.C. ultimately did not actually do anything besides simply sleeping and was always gone early in the morning before a maid came to wake Kallen and so long as she continued being discrete Kallen was willing to tolerate such antics. Besides, attuned to other people's moods as only a woman could be, Kallen was fairly certain that C.C. was almost afraid of sleeping alone. Knowing this Kallen did not have the heart to keep throwing her out. Today however none of Kallen's generosity was visible as she slammed the door behind her and stalked over to C.C.

"You," Kallen stated brusquely. "You have some serious explaining to do."

C.C. turned away from the TV to regard Kallen. "Moi?"

"Oui, vous," Kallen snapped back in French. "I just got back from the hospital and the doctor had some interesting things to say about my headaches."

The other girl's nonchalance dropped and she sat up to actually look at Kallen.

"And what hast thy chymist to sayeth?"

"My brain's swelling," Kallen said. "The increased blood flow is causing my blood vessels to expand and contract and that's what's causing my migraines. And seeing as the places that are swelling have to do with my senses, senses that are being boosted by my Geass, I'd say there's a correlation, wouldn't you agree?"

"Mayhap so," C.C. conceded. "And? What will thou do? Abandon thy gift? Become in breach of our contract?"

Kallen scowled. "Since you won't bloody tell me what our contract is, how do I even know if I haven't already broken its terms?"

C.C. smiled slyly. "Twould be made knoweth."

"Fine, good for you, but my point still stands. How badly is the Geass going to affect me? Have any of your previous contractors died from using theirs?"

The green haired girl started looking rather evasive. Kallen's scowl deepened.

"They have, haven't they?"

"Yea and nay," C.C. said, not exactly reassuring Kallen. "Thy power grants tyme and from tyme cometh matters to heed."

Kallen's head cocked sideways as she picked apart C.C.'s answer. "So you're saying that no one has died due to the Geass itself, but they have died due to the dangers that result from using the Geass."

"Tis so."

"And how much of that danger was because the Geass was affecting their judgment?" Kallen pressed.

"Why does thou think so?"

"Because it's obviously mucking around with my brain if it's causing parts to swell," Kallen said irritably. "You really think that's going to be completely benign?"

C.C. licked her lips. "Tis a matter of will. Whether thou masters thy power or thy power masters thee."

"So in other words either I learn how to control this power or it'll drive me insane," Kallen said flatly.

"Tis aright."

"Bloody lovely," Kallen muttered moodily. "Thanks a lot, C.C."

The other woman regarded Kallen with equal flatness. "Tis for thy prithee our plight be pledged, remember well, Kallen."

Kallen grimaced, C.C. did have a point there. She was the one that had demanded to live back in that tunnel. If she had just given up back then, but no, Kallen was not someone who could ever just give up. She could be laid low, she could be killed, but she would never roll over.

"Fine, I'll make this power my own," Kallen declared. "And I won't whine about its costs to you anymore. I can put up with a little headache in exchange for what I can do now."

C.C. nodded in acknowledgment of Kallen's resolve. A thoughtful expression crossed Kallen's face however.

"Your previous contractor, the one that you're worried about and is here in Japan," she said. "Did you, leave him because he lost control of his power? Because he went insane?"

C.C.'s face turned sullen, all the confirmation Kallen needed.

"What, happened to him?" she asked. "I need to know if he's going to be an actual threat."

C.C. took a deep breath. It was obviously she was struggling with whatever restraint kept her from telling Kallen the full truth.

"The grief that does not speak," C.C. finally said, "knits up o-er wrought hearts and bids it break."

Kallen frowned. A quote from Macbeth if she was remembering her plays right. "Give sorrow words."

C.C. nodded ever so slightly. So it seemed that this previous contractor had suffered a tragedy and became consumed with his loss. Someone who possessed a Geass, driven mad by the power and his own grief. Kallen grimaced.

"Well, hell."

End of Chapter 16

I needed to give Kallen's mother a first name for the simple reason that eventually I will need to call her something besides Ms. Kouzuki. So, Kotone Kouzuki.

Hmm. I think I prefer 'antagonist' over villain. Villain is such a loaded term after all.

Lelouch I always considered to be borderline psychopathic. The only thing that really held him back was his little sister. But if he lost her, if he did not have the moderating effect of her kindness as he grow up, why would he consider it worthwhile to try to change the world for the better? After all, the canon Lelouch developed his goal with the intent of sparing his still living little sister of the pain that the world could inflict upon her. A Lelouch who believes her to be dead and who considers the rest of his family responsible for failing to protect his mother and sister? Well, I guess you'll have to wait and see.

It's kind of amazing that the biological ramifications of the Geass have not been explored much. That people seem so ready to just hand wave its more fantastical elements seems a shame. As should be clear from this chapter, the complications that arise from the Geass will play an important role in the overall story.

The thing regarding the Britannian court is that the cutthroat nature of it more often than not feels like an informed trait. This is a place where the apparent assassination of the Empress Marianne, the favored consort of the emperor, is treated as the sort of power play that members of the court are willing to contemplate in order to advance their own positions. That level of ruthlessness is very much at odds with how the members of the Britannian imperial family that we see in the series get portrayed. The only one whose conduct matches the informed viciousness of the court is Schneizel, not even Cornelia demonstrates the cold ruthlessness to match even though she does seem to possess the drive to succeed needed. This dissonance was one of the things that always irritated me about Code Geass. Yes, there will always be the incompetent and lazy members of the family, that's a given, but those same lazy and/or incompetent members should have been removed from consideration of power long ago if the court really was such a viper's nest.

It was a HAHO jump. A HALO jump would have risked the sound of the parachutes opening up being heard by the sentries on the roof. It was also an evening/night jump, which is difficult as all hell and which Suzaku really should not have been sent on, so without night vision, which the insurgents definitely did not have, it would have been very difficult for the insurgents to see them coming. That and Claudio took out the I think it was four sentries with his rifle before they touched down.

Mao does not exist in this continuity. Or rather, Mao as a former contractor. Assuming it's not obvious already, the time period where C.C. would have been with him overlaps with when she would have been with Lelouch in this storyline.

Hmm, so at current count I actually have three stories recommended on tvtropes at this point. This one, _In Tune_ , and _Bird of Prey_. _Darkness Risen_ would probably have also made it up there but the Diablo fanfic community seems to be rather small to the point of there being no recommendations at all for that franchise. I also should dig up my draft of a Starcraft fanfic called _Ghost of a Chance_. If I can even find the damn thing. Still, makes me wonder what is the current record of fics recommended and franchises covered by a single fanfic author.

Keep the questions coming as you read. And reviews of course.

C.C. translations that I forgot:

And what hast thy chymist to sayeth? - And what did your doctor have to say?

Mayhap so. And? What will thou do? Abandon thy gift? Become in breach of our contract? - Maybe so. And? What will you do? Abandon your gift? Break our contract?

Twould be made knoweth. - It would be made known.

Yea and nay. Thy power grants tyme and from tyme cometh matters to heed. - Yes and no. Your power grants opportunities and from opportunities come dangers.

Tis a matter of will. Whether thou masters thy power or thy power masters thee. - It's a matter of will. Whether you master your powers or your powers master you.

Tis for thy prithee our plight be pledged, remember well, Kallen. - It was for your plea that our vow was pledged, remember that well, Kallen.


	18. Chapter 17

Snippet spoiler: Minor to none

 _The Estates was a series of paintings commissioned by the Princess Euphemia with the first during the fourth month of her reign as Viceroy of Area 11. The collection as a whole portrays the various Imperial palaces, villas, and estates in and around the capital of Pendragon and is renowned these days for the vividness with which the locations are depicted. At the time of their creation however the works were looked down upon by many of the nobility due to the painter responsible being a Japanese woman named Arisu Yamazaki. Ms. Yamazaki had originally come to the Princess Euphemia's attention for her entry into the Prince Clovis Memorial Art Contest, a painting of a simple countryside house. While Ms. Yamazaki did not win a prize or even an honorable mention for her entry, the Princess bought the work outright and commissioned a painting of the Imperial Aries Villa using the duplicate atop the Viceroy's Palace as a model. This painting would be the first of many Ms. Yamazaki would do at her Majesty's behest. Only three of the original twelve survive to this day. Sadly, the painting of the Imperial Aries Villa is not amongst them._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 17: Memores acti prudentes futuri

"And that's about it," Kallen concluded her somewhat lengthy and perhaps blunt explanation.

The young woman had considered how best to break the news to Ohgi and Inoue including trying to hide the potential severity of her condition but eventually settled for the simple truth, if only because she knew she sucked at lying to the people important to her. Ironic that she could put up the frail girl façade in front of her classmates but not lie about potentially having a seizure in the future. The two adults regarded Kallen silently for several moments, causing the girl to shift uncomfortably at the pointed attention. As if in response to the motion Inoue scowled.

"Where is C.C.? I need to wring her neck."

Kallen blinked a few times before bursting out in laughter.

"I'm not kidding," Inoue said darkly, "she did this to you and I intend to hold her to account."

"I know, I'm sorry," Kallen said as she wiped away a few stray tears. "But, blaming C.C. won't really help with anything. I was the one who asked her for power, after all. If she hadn't given me my Geass, none of us would have made it out of Shinjuku alive."

"Maybe so," Inoue said, the scowl not disappearing from her face, "but that doesn't change the fact that you could end up suffering a stroke or a seizure if you keep using this power."

Kallen took out the bottle of ibuprofen and gave it a shake. "I have this, and my doctor has given me some recommendations about how to try and alleviate the swelling. And if this doesn't work I can always go back to her for more help. I am a Stadtfeld after all, I can afford it. And the Geass gives us too much of a tactical advantage for us to just lock away."

The scowl on Inoue's face actually darkened but the woman did not argue against Kallen's point.

"Have they helped?" Ohgi asked. "The medicine, I mean, and whatever else the doctor suggested."

"Yeah, actually they have," Kallen said. "I'm taking one of these every eight hours or so and if I still get hit by a migraine her suggestion for diverting blood flow from my head takes most of the edge off." The girl chuckled. "Wouldn't want to develop a habit with these pills."

"No, you wouldn't," Ohgi said without a trace of humor before sighing. "Alright, you seem to have that under control for now, but if anything changes I expect you to keep us updated about it."

Kallen nodded and glanced at Inoue. The other woman still looked extremely unhappy but a tilt of her head indicated she was as satisfied as she could be under the circumstances.

"I'm actually more than a bit worried about this other contractor," she said. "If he's gone insane, then that means he'll be unpredictable."

Kallen grimaced. Maybe she should have left that bit out. Then again the others would have found out eventually.

"C.C. said she would watch my back," she said instead. "At the same time she doesn't seem able to actually tell me much of anything, whatever compulsion she's under it's preventing her from directly answering any questions about this previous contractor or about the Geass itself."

"Did her previous contractor do this to her?"

Kallen started to answer but after a moment her mouth closed wordlessly as a thought occurred to her.

"You know, I'm not entirely sure," she finally said. "She hasn't outright stated it and I doubt she could."

"Lovely," Inoue muttered. "There has to be some way of breaking the compulsion or working around it."

"That's what she's been doing with her Shakespeare quotes," Kallen said. "It's not perfect and I have to infer everything, but she's able to at least get broad meanings across."

"It's a start," Inoue allowed. "We're still going to need to figure out a way to get more out of her in the long run however."

Kallen nodded in agreement. "Anyway, that's all I've got on that. What about the KBR supply depot?"

Inoue and Ohgi exchanged looks before this time she sighed. Nevertheless the Japanese woman answered.

"I've got a disguise worked out for you, the hair dye was easy enough and we'll be smudging up your face a bit, adding fake scars, cuts, and bruises. It'll all wash out so it shouldn't cause you any problems when you go home." She pursed her lips. "Your hair might be tinted a bit darker than it already is for a few days, but it should revert to its natural color before too long. If you're worried about that, we can always try a wig instead."

Kallen nodded. "I think it'll be fine. And I also got my hands on some contacts that'll change my eye color."

"You did?" Inoue said in surprise. "Well, that'll help a lot too."

"Alright, so what are we waiting for?" Kallen asked.

"Tamaki and Minami are casing the place now," Ohgi said, "looking for spots where we can station backup in case something goes wrong. Once they report back we can start moving."

"The sooner the better," Kallen said. "The longer we wait the longer they can continue spreading that poison out on the streets."

Neither of the others disagreed with Kallen's sentiment but that did not mean they completely agreed with her statement.

"And if we go in half-cocked we could end up losing our only lead," Ohgi reminded the girl. "This is a marathon, not a sprint, Kallen."

The girl nodded. She knew this perfectly well and also understood that from time to time she needed others to restrain her. But this time she was certain was not one of them. They had a target and they had her to ferret that target out. There was no way they could fail.

* * *

"I suppose I should not be surprised," Euphie said with a sigh.

The members of her personal staff looked over at their employer with a mixture familiar amusement. They were gathered in Euphie's other office, the one where her staff did their own work and where Euphie would join them when the Princess was not intending to receive any guests or needed privacy for some special project. The Princess preferred to have her assistants close at hand to minimize the lag between any communication that needed to take place between them and after the initial flurry of one-on-one meetings with the Area's personages she had shifted most of her workday to this room.

Today was no such exception, for the morning at least, as Euphie worked through the latest but most certainly not last of the problems facing her administration. In point of fact the meeting this afternoon would touch upon this very matter.

"I presume the Administratum minister's response was not to your highness' satisfaction?" Jane asked.

"You presume correctly," Euphie said. "The man could at least show some imagination with his excuses, but he has thus far not even managed that much."

The day to day business of running the Britannian Empire was handled by the branch of government formally known as the Administratum. Its members staffed the various ministries and bureaucracies and entry into its ranks was controlled via a set of civil service exams. Officially the exams were supposed to provide for an impartial means of judging the competency and qualifications of each examinee. In practice it was not unheard of for those with means and connections to cheat the system. Back in the homeland such misconduct was usually done with extreme discretion, not that such cheating was in and of itself frowned upon, but being caught cheating was considered a mark of incompetence. After all, if one was going to cheat, one damn well better be good enough to not get caught at it.

In the Areas such misconduct tended to be more blatant though Euphie had been amazed at just how much more blatant it was in her new domain. From all indications test takers were almost expected to offer a bribe if they wanted a decent score regardless of their actual competence. The situation was bad enough that Euphie was sorely tempted to just invalidate all of the scores from the past couple of years and start from scratch. Unfortunately gutting the local Administratum like that would effectively cripple her ability to govern and so she was forced to consider alternatives.

Fortunately the situation was not quite as desperate as it was at first glance. The majority of the bribes were for rather minor score adjustments, a few percentages here and there to get someone on the edge of the next grade bumped up or to keep someone from falling to a lower grade. So far she had only found a few cases of entirely forged scores and in such cases she had already cashiered all those involved, examinees and examiners both. Doing so had elicited some grumbling seeing as one of the examinees was the relative of a rather prominent duke but Euphie had not budged and everyone got the clear message that the Princess was intent on setting an example. The ensuing fallout and embarrassment for the minister ostensibly in charge of the Administratum had not been insignificant and most people were fairly certain the moment Euphie found a suitable replacement he would be sacked. Perhaps that was why the man's explanations for the lapses under his watch seemed so halfhearted.

Euphie was almost beyond caring at this point however and had shifted most of the man's responsibilities over to herself and her staff. All of her assistants were qualified civil servants and Euphie herself had sat the higher level exams and she knew the system more or less in and out from her time at the Imperial Exchequer. Today they were putting together the finishing touches on the first major overhaul of the Area's civil service examination system since Japan's incorporation into the Empire, an overhaul that most everyone would agree was long overdue. Save for those that benefited from gaming the system's existing flaws, of course.

The doors to the office opened and servants entered with trays of food.

"Lunch time, your highness," Rachel called out.

"Already?" Euphie said. Then her stomach grumbled and the Princess' cheeks reddened. "Oh. I suppose it is."

Polite chuckles sounded from her aides as plates of sandwiches and sides were presented to them. At the same time the security detail that had been watching over the Princess saluted to her as they were replaced by their reliefs. Euphie stretched and relaxed into her chair, gazing blankly at the ceiling for a few moments as she let her mind wander. It had only been two months since her appointment as Viceroy of Areal 11 and so much had happened. Despite the loss that presaged all this she had gained so much more in the process, not just in political capital but also on personal terms. How much more would she lose? And where would this journey finally take her? The growling of her stomach once more reminded the Princess that whatever the future might hold the present also had its demands.

As Euphie cut into her sandwich the door opened once more and the grandfatherly figure of her chief of staff appeared.

"Ah, Ruben," Euphie greeted with a smile. "Come to join us for lunch?"

"I would not object, your highness," Ruben said with a kindly smile, "assuming you are willing to let an old man like me into your company."

Euphie was glad that she had yet to actually swallow anything after her first bite.

"But of course," the Princess said after getting the mouthful down and indicated to one of the vacant seats by her desk with a knife. "Please."

As Ruben accepted the invitation another servant stepped forth and placed a plate before him. Drink followed on but neither Ruben nor Euphie paid the staff any mind as they worked beyond making sure not to get in their way.

"I was hoping to remind your highness," Ruben said as he picked up his own silverware, "that you have exams coming up. We should perhaps schedule when you will take them ahead of time to minimize any potential conflicts."

Euphie gave Ruben a beady look as she popped another slice into her mouth and chewed.

"Must you remind me of such matters now, Ruben?" Euphie said after swallowing.

"I am afraid I must your highness," Ruben said with a twinkle in his eye. "I doubt though that you should have any difficulty with the subjects, your grasp of mathematics is I would say beyond even that which is taught in the senior level courses at the academy and history is something that I have little doubt you are well prepared for."

"Which leaves the sciences and languages," Euphie said with a smirk.

"Your highness has always demonstrated an artful use of language," Ruben said with a completely straight face.

A squeaking sound drew Euphie's eyes and as she gazed out at her staff it was quite apparent several were having trouble holding in their laughter. The edge of Euphie's mouth twitched ever so slightly as the Princess soon found herself facing a similar difficulty. Eventually she deigned to be merciful, or finally lost control herself, and let out the laughter bottled up. Others soon joined her and even Ruben allowed for a chuckle or two.

"I suppose I will endure," Euphie said, "though if you could recommend a good chemistry tutor I would be most appreciative."

"Well, we could always see if my granddaughter or a member of the student council was available," Ruben offered. "A study session perhaps?"

"Umm, that would be nice," Euphie agreed. "Please extend an invitation to Milly and the others."

"Of course your highness," Ruben said with a tilt of his head. "Presumably not for today, of course?"

Euphie shook her head, almost eliciting another bout of laughter at the way her stuffed cheeks swayed side to side. This time no one gave in to the temptation however lest their liege realize her less than dignified poise.

"I have a meeting with Dame Sumeragi this afternoon," Euphie said, "to work out the joint announcement of the hospital initiative. The test run at the Keio Medical Campus has been extremely successful thus far and I think it is time that we give it wider public exposure."

"Ah," Ruben said with a nod. "Yes, I have seen the relevant reports. The Elevens that were using the campus before have been extremely helpful as well if I recall."

"Indeed," Euphie agreed. "The community surrounding the campus is also slowly coming to accept the presence of Britannian personnel in the area, even if at present it is mostly members of the Nursing Corps. In time they may come to accept others."

"Something tells me you have a plan in the works already," Ruben mused.

"One could say that," Euphie bobbed her head up and down. "I envision the campus as the focal point for the reconstruction of the Shinjuku district. Far too much of the infrastructure and the buildings have fallen into disrepair. There are roads that need repaving, electricity lines that need replacement, a multitude of problems that together leave the area an almost blighted wasteland. If we can establish a secure zone where we can move personnel and material into the district, we can begin a concentrated effort to reverse the degradation."

"That may be so, your highness," Ruben said, "but where will you get the manpower for all this? I understand that a significant percentage of the labor will be provided from amongst the Eleven population itself, but you will ultimately need qualified managers and supervisors to oversee the work. Do you intend to continue relying on the NAC for this?"

"Yes and no," Euphie said. "The families that make up the NAC will be extremely helpful in providing the initial batch of technicians and engineers to oversee the work, but I hope to entice other Elevens who possess the necessary qualifications to come forth and become Honorary Britannians. Those that do, I intend to put into positions of trust and authority needed to carry forth with the reconstruction."

"A bold plan," Ruben said.

"And not without risks," Euphie said with a smile. "Nevertheless Area 11 will never know peace if the population remains so sharply divided. We must bridge that divide, step by step, until the Elevens become a source of strength for the Empire instead of another liability."

Ruben nodded. "I agree wholeheartedly, your highness."

"Good," Euphie said with a playful smile, "because you will be helping me take every one of those steps."

The old man chuckled. "It would be an honor, your highness."

* * *

Kallen looked about the area, sweeping the four warehouses that made up the supply depot for their objective. The KBR outpost was surrounded by chain link fences topped by barbed wire but it was entirely a closed location. The main gate was halfway open and a semi-steady stream of people filtered in and out.

"Aren't they afraid of getting hit?" Kallen wondered aloud.

"There're a lot of smugglers and black marketers that come here," Inoue said. "Locking it down too tightly would just end up costing them money. And besides." The woman pointed to the watchtowers and the miniguns mounted in them. "Anyone gives them trouble, they're not getting out of here without being thoroughly ventilated."

"I suppose we're have to be careful about what kind of trouble we get into," Kallen said dryly.

The two women proceeded towards the entrance and as they passed the gates Kallen saw that the place was not quite as open as she assumed. KBR had quite a few guards standing watch over the entrance, all of them looking like they were itching to find an excuse to use their rifles. She did her best to avoid eye contact.

"Maybe we should have brought one of the guys with us," Inoue muttered as the gazes of the guards seemed to linger just a bit longer on them.

"We'll be fine," Kallen said. "None of them are looking like they're going to make a move."

"I'll take your word for it."

Fortunately Kallen's senses did not betray her and they passed the guards without incident. Once they got to the main warehouse they ended up standing in a line leading to one of the side entrances.

"This how it always works?" Kallen asked.

"More or less. These places tend to have a few brokers that deal with traders but there's only so many of them so we have to wait our turn."

The waiting fortunately was not for long and eventually they came to the door. A man opened it and glanced at them.

"Buying or selling?"

"Buying," Inoue answered.

He waved them in and another guard began patting them down. His touch lingered just a bit longer than Kallen thought it necessary but he did not try anything too blatant so the girl resisted giving in to the temptation to cave in his skull.

"Alright, follow me," the guard said after he was done searching them.

Kallen had been less than enthused about coming in here unarmed but Inoue had flatly rejected the idea of trying to sneak in weapons of any sort, not even knives. The Britannians might be willing to make some side money on the black market but they were not stupid, anyone that came in armed left in a body bag. Then again Kallen was fairly certain of her ability to acquire a weapon if the need arose.

The two were led to another room where a plain looking clerk was seated.

"Whatcha want?" he asked bluntly without looking up.

"Hardware," Inoue answered, "if you've got it."

The man looked up with a scowl. "Lady, we've got everything. Question is if you've got the dough for it."

Inoue reached into her jacket and pulled out a small wad of bills. It was only about a thousand pounds, not that much money but enough to let the clerk know she was serious.

"Well now we're talking," the man said as he flipped through the stack counting the notes. "So, what sort of hardware? Just so you know, with the Viceroy's clampdown none of the heavy stuff's available."

"I thought you guys had everything," Inoue said with a smirk.

The man scowled at her again. "We've got everything. Doesn't mean it's up for sale to you Elevens."

Kallen's fist tightened but she kept her irritation in check. Best to leave dealing with this prick to the experts. Inoue leaned over and stared the man in the eyes.

"Let's be clear here," she said. "If you aren't selling, we'll find someone who is." Her hand reached over and came to rest on the wad of bills. "And that someone will be the one who gets our money, not you or your bosses."

The man held her gaze silently for a few seconds before finally snorting. "Yeah, I get you. So, what do you want? We can probably come to an arrangement, but the really good stuff's gonna cost way more than this chump change."

Inoue pulled out a piece of paper from her jacket and placed it before the clerk. The man snatched it up and gave it a once over.

"C4, rifles, ammo, damn woman, what are you trying to do, fight a war?"

The question might have been phrased like a joke but all of them knew it was not. Again, KBR might be willing to sell things on the sly but arming the very people with a grudge against them tended not to be very healthy for the bottom line.

"Some other gang's trying to move into our turf," Inoue lied. "We want to make sure we can deliver a message if they push too hard."

"Uh huh," the clerk said without a hint of sincerity. "This other gang of yours have a name?"

"That's our business," Inoue said. "Question is, can you come up with the goods?"

The man licked his lips and looked at the list again. "I can get you the ammo, maybe the rifles. The C4 though, that's gonna be tricky. Real tricky."

"How tricky."

The man regarded Inoue for a moment before naming a figure. A barely audible growl escaped Kallen without the girl even realizing it. The clerk however continued looking at Inoue who was frowning.

"Why the sudden hike? That's three times what the rate was last time I needed the stuff."

The clerk snorted. "Weren't you listening? The Viceroy's cracking down on everyone and the Marshal and Margrave are the ones cracking the whip. If we're not careful they'll start poking their noises here and there goes the whole neighborhood."

Inoue pretended to rub her chin thoughtfully. "I don't have that much cash on hand, at least not for the C4."

"Well tough then," the man said, "cause no one else'll risk letting you Elevens get it for any less."

Kallen tried not to roll her eyes. Back to the insults the moment the deal looked like it would be less lucrative.

"I said," Inoue began more loudly, "at least not for C4. A lot of my cash is tied up in trying to secure inventory of another sort. My usual supplier's proven, problematic, so if you think you could pick up the slack, then we might be onto something."

The man's curiosity was piqued, that much Kallen could tell even without her powers. "And what sort of inventory are you looking to acquire?"

Inoue leaned closer to the man again. "Why, a trip down memory lane."

The man's face remained impassive but Kallen could sense him tense up. It was not out of fear, which was good, simply surprise. He was obviously not expecting someone walking in today to want to be buying Refrain.

"And why," the man said very carefully, "do you think I could provide the, trip?"

Trip, such an innocuous word, yet it was the word the street had settled upon as slang for Refrain. And the clerk's lack of denial combined with his calm breathing was all Kallen needed to know that he really could come up with the goods. Her stomach twisted in disgust at the man. Inoue leaned closer to the man again.

"Because this is where my original source got it from," Inoue said, "before he decided he could get into the street dealing business himself and tried to move in on my turf. Tried, that is."

The man regarded Inoue very carefully while Kallen kept her senses locked on him and on the rest of the building. There was no sign of anyone preparing to storm the room so they were probably okay, for now.

"If he ain't trying anymore, do you still need the hardware?"

"He's not trying, but his former lieutenant still is," Inoue said. "And seeing how unreliable all these middlemen are, I'd rather just deal with the source and be done with it."

Again the man looked at Inoue silently as he considered her words. Finally he shrugged.

"So long as you can come up with the cash, we can deliver the goods. Payment is up front."

"How soon can I take delivery?" Inoue asked.

"How soon can you get your people here?" the clerk responded.

Inoue chuckled. "You've got that much here, huh?"

The man scowled. "Look lady, unless you're her bloody highness herself whatever you've got is chump change. Enough change to buy from us, but still change."

"But even change has a nice ring to it when it clinks in your pockets," Inoue responded. "A small purchase for now, I want to make sure the goods are good before I drop any serious cash on this."

"You think we're gonna cheat you?" the man said with an offended air.

"You're KBR," Inoue said. "It's what you do."

The clerk raised an eyebrow but eventually a wide smile crossed his face before he actually chuckled. "Well it sounds like you've got some brains in that pretty lil head of yours. So, how much ya wanna put down for?"

This time it was Kallen that pulled something out of her jacket, a much thicker stack of bills. It landed with a slight thud on the desk.

"Ten thousand," Kallen declared.

In the grand scheme of things it was not a lot of money. For the cell it represented a significant chunk of their resources even with Kallen chipping in for half of it from her own account. And for Kallen she had basically drained her savings account to come up with the cash this quickly. It would not take her that long to recover assuming she got creative at home but she would still personally be a bit tight for cash in the short term. Thankfully her personal credit card had a very high limit, not that it was any good outside the Concessions.

The clerk diligently flipped through the bills doing a count twice before nodding in satisfaction. "You taking with you now?"

"And the ammo," Inoue reminded the man, tapping the previous wad of bills. "We'll talk rifles and C4 another time."

"Fine by me," the man said and rang a buzzer. A few moments later a guard entered. "Take these ladies to the VIP room."

The guard nodded and stepped aside from the door.

"It'll take a few minutes to get the stuff packed to go," the clerk said. "I assume you have a car or something waiting?"

Inoue nodded.

"Once we're ready you can pull it in and load from warehouse 3. Until then, please enjoy our hospitality."

"You are most gracious," Inoue said with just enough audible sarcasm to leave no doubt.

As the two were led by the guard out of the dealing area Inoue pulled out her cell and punched the speed dial.

"It's me," she said after a single ring. "Deal's done, be ready to come in to pick up the goods. I'll call you then."

As she snapped her phone shut the guard glanced back at them. "Same rules apply, no weapons."

"Of course," Inoue said. "We're all proper businesspeople here, are we not?"

The guard snorted in amusement and stopped before another door and even opened it for them. "Enjoy your stay."

The room Kallen and Inoue entered might have been called the VIP room but it was still pretty obviously part of a warehouse. Not that KBR had not tried to make the place at least somewhat comfortable with a few sofas and a selection of cheap liquor. There was no barkeep of course, that would have cost money, but the glasses all looked clean. Kallen quickly plopped herself down on a chair and began focusing. She needed to find where they would be coming in with the Refrain so that they could head straight for the place instead of having to search the entire outpost. There were lots of workers in the warehouses, well over a hundred. Then there were the mercenaries contracted by KBR to guard the place. All of this meant there was a lot of noise for Kallen to sort through but she pressed on.

The unsecured areas were quickly ruled out, there was no way KBR would leave something that valuable just lying around in a random corner of its warehouses. That did not exactly narrow the possibilities down too much considering the amount of weapons and munitions KBR stored here alongside the more mundane foodstuffs and supplies. Kallen shifted her attention back and forth, spending less than a second on each potential location. Here, a cache of grenades. There, drums of fuel. Radio equipment, medical supplies, spare parts for vehicles, it seemed endless. But then she caught sight of a nervous worker approaching a pair of guards. The worker handed something to one of the mercenaries who after giving it a quick glance said something to his partner. A number, a unit of measurement. Bingo.

Kallen watched as the other guard unlocked the caged off area and headed inside. He spent about a minute or so measuring out the Refrain from a larger barrel into a single jug. Once done he emerged with the gate clanging shut behind him and thrust the container into the waiting worker's arms. The man beat a hasty retreat but Kallen let her view linger. Inside that cage had to be dozens of barrels mounted on racks several layers high. Dozens, maybe even more than a hundred. The street value of all that Refrain had to be in the tens if not hundreds of millions of pounds. Taking it all out would make for a huge hole in the drug's supply and hopefully an even bigger dent in KBR's bottom line. There was only one problem, this place was merely a distribution point, not the point of origin for the drug. The actual manufacturing site was somewhere else.

"Kallen."

The girl reeled in her senses and blinked, only to wince as a massive migraine hammered her.

"Ow," she muttered, clutching the sides of her head.

Inoue was prepared however and pressed a cold wet rag against Kallen's forehead. The cool sensation helped numb some of the pain but Kallen was in no hurry to try moving or even thinking for that matter as she lay slumped against the chair. After a few more minutes the throbbing died down enough for her to lean up again.

"You alright?" Inoue asked.

Kallen nodded and immediately regretted the sudden motion. Still the girl managed to croak out an affirmative grunt.

"Don't push yourself too hard," Inoue said. "If we have to, we can do a second run."

"No, I'm fine," Kallen insisted and took a deep breath. "I'll be fine. Are the others ready?"

Inoue nodded.

"Good. Then let's get this done with so we can go home."

Inoue gave Kallen an unconvinced look but ultimately nodded once more. The girl spent the rest of the time cooling her brain off and by the time a guard came to let them know their goods were ready she was clearheaded enough to be able to tap into her Geass once more. As they were led to the designated warehouse Kallen swept the outpost again, this time with considerably lesser granularity, and noted the positions of the guards. Four were waiting at the loading dock looking more than a bit bored. The danger with falling into a routine was it made one utterly unprepared for any surprises, something these men were about to learn the hard way. Then again it was not as if they would live long enough for the lessons to do any good. Kallen's hand slipped into her pocket and she pulled out a short range radio transmitter. She flipped the switch. Mere moments later a pair of rockets streaked through the air and smashed into the twin guard towers looming over the main gate, turning them into flaming wrecks.

Their escort's head jerked in the direction of the explosion but never caught a glimpse of the burning structures as Kallen's fist struck him on the side of the head. The blow slammed his head against the wall and a trail of blood followed after his slumping form. Kallen grabbed the man's rifle and tossed it to Inoue, claiming the pistol and combat knife for herself.

"Watch my back," Kallen said and charged off without waiting for an answer.

The guards at the loading dock were now fully alert but focused on entirely the wrong direction as Kallen came upon them from behind. Even as they prepared to open fire on the pickup truck charging towards them Kallen got off four shots in quick succession. Four corpses toppled over even as the truck screeched to a halt. The other members of the cell piled out and grabbed the weapons of the dead mercenaries. The driver then sped off, getting out of the line of fire to make sure they would something to escape in when the time came.

"Follow me," Kallen ordered.

More guards were responding to the attack and if they got pinned down not even Kallen's power would be able to save them. On the other hand the six men following Kallen now was not the sum total of their strength. On the other side of the outpost blasts cut through the perimeter fence as more improvised explosives went off. Their attention split, the outpost's defenders found themselves unable to concentrate their strength.

"The Refrain is in the northwest warehouse," Kallen said. "They've only got a couple of guards but I'm betting once they figure out what we're trying to do more will show up."

"Here's hoping the charges we brought will be enough," Minami said.

"Oh they'll be," Inoue said confidently, "I assure you."

As the person responsible for constructing the IEDs she was certainly the best qualified to make that judgment and Kallen had little doubt they would perform as promised. Of course they still needed to plant the things without getting blown up themselves.

"Behind cover!" Kallen shouted.

The others obeyed even as the girl herself waited just long enough to fire off two shots before ducking around the corner herself. One more guard was down but the return fire made quite clear his compatriots were still more than ready to continue the fight. The two sides started trading fire as her team made sure to get the Britannians' attention. Kallen on the other hand slipped through a window in the warehouse and moved to flank their opponents. All of the workers had already fled and the guards were all more or less gathered in the front trying to gun down Kallen's team. Kallen popped the pin of a grenade she had confiscated from one of the dead guards and tossed it into the guards' midst. A few seconds later an explosion sent them flaying about, those whose bodies were still intact enough to do any flaying.

"Clear!" Kallen shouted.

The rest of the team entered through the now thoroughly wrecked main door, weapons at the ready just in case.

"I don't suppose we have time to grab a few things before we blow this place," Inoue said as she glanced at the crates full of supplies.

"Tempting, but we're in the middle of the city," Kallen said. "The military won't take too long to respond. Let's just do what we came here to do and haul ass."

Inoue nodded and began directing the others where to place the charges. The building was big and sturdy, true enough, but taking out a few key support columns would be enough to bring the entire thing crashing down. And just to make sure there would be nothing left of the Refrain itself one of the cell members shot open the cage gate and planted a charge amidst the barrels.

"Countdown set for three minutes," Inoue said. "Let's get the hell out of here."

"We've got incoming," Kallen said, "out through the west windows."

Her team hurried to obey and did not bother with any finesse, throwing themselves through the glass panels. By the time more guards showed up they were out of the building itself but not entirely clear as bullets whizzed past. Kallen popped off one shot, nailing a mercenary in the head. The others were less accurate in their return fire and a few glancing hits were shallow enough for the guards' body armor to mostly absorb. Kallen primed another grenade and tossed it towards the fence in their way, blowing open an exit.

"Move it, move it!"

The others needed no further urging, not least because of the ticking countdown. More bullets chased after them as the guards reached the windows though they seemed singularly unwilling to jump into the open for further pursuit. Not that they needed to however as a cry sounded.

"Inoue!" Kallen shouted, spraying the rest of her clip at the windows as she hurried towards the fallen woman.

It was a nonfatal hit, Kallen already knew that, but caught out in the open like that it would not take much for the Britannians to finish Inoue off. That same thought was shared by the other resistance fighters as they paused in their momentary retreat, concentrating their fire to try to keep the Britannians pinned down. As Kallen started dragging Inoue away towards the fence however their problem was solved as a massive boom sounded. The explosives inside the warehouse detonated, cooking off the ammo and other munitions stored inside, sending a shockwave sweeping out. Kallen threw herself over the other woman and felt a searing heat wash over her back. The burning sensation quickly receded however and when Kallen looked up she saw that the other warehouses were also on fire. And if those flames reached the other stocks of munitions they would likely go up just as violently.

Slinging an arm around her neck Kallen pulled Inoue to her feet. Another resistance fighter hurried over to lend a hand and the team quickly made their exit while the rest of the outpost scrambled to try to keep the entire place from going up into flames. From the explosions that sounded behind them it was clear that they did not succeed.

* * *

Inoue winced as Kallen dabbed the wound on her side.

"Sorry."

"No, it's okay," Inoue said. "I should just be thankful I got out of there in one piece."

Kallen smiled slightly and strained the towel she was using, the blood mixing with the water in the bowel.

"Here, we have some morphine from the medkits we liberated previously," Ohgi said as he walked over.

"Oh thank you," Inoue said in relief.

She accepted the pill from Ohgi gratefully and downed it with a single gulp of water.

"We're going to need to remove the bullet," Kallen said.

"Normally I'd take her to the Keio Campus," Ohgi said, "but with Britannians swarming over the place now, that might be dangerous."

"How's that?" Inoue asked.

Kallen's cellphone rumbled to indicate an incoming call but the girl ignored it.

Ohgi blinked. "Well, won't they ask questions about how you got shot?"

Inoue snorted. "Do you have any idea how many gun injuries we see there? And this is probably the best time to be going, with all of the supplies coming in they'll actually be able to operate on me without worrying about not having enough antibiotics and the like."

"She has a point there," Kallen agreed.

"Yeah, she does," Ohgi said thoughtfully. "Alright, I'll take her down there."

"And besides," Inoue said, "if I do get asked questions, I might be able to use it as an opening to approach Ichijo-san."

"The Sumeragi family representative?" Ohgi said quizzically. "To what end."

Inoue snorted again. "To what end? To hint to him about the Refrain trafficking. I can spin this wound as me having got caught up in a turf war between gangs dealing in the drug, just like that line of BS we fed to the KBR dealers."

"That sounds, risky," Ohgi said. "Ichijo-san does not sound like a fool and if there are any inconsistencies in what you tell him he'll get suspicious."

"He'll already be suspicious," Inoue said. "And besides, we need more support. According to Kallen that outpost was a distribution point, not a manufacturing site, and we just blew it up so we're out of leads. But the Sumeragi family, if they're really part of Kyoto House, they might be able to dig something up if we point them in the right direction."

"It is risky," Kallen said, ignoring another rumble from her cellphone, "but I think it's worth a shot. And not just so we can nail whoever's spreading that poison. Getting Kyoto House's backing would be huge, no more needing to scrounge for supplies, no more feeling our way in the dark for intel."

Both Inoue and Ohgi raised their eyebrow at that.

"Okay, we'll probably still have to do way more guesswork than we'd really be happy with," Kallen conceded, "but the other stuff holds. We've already achieved this much on basically a shoestring budget, imagine what we could do with proper resources."

Ohgi pinched his brow. "I know all of us would love to get Kyoto House's support and I know all of us think that the Sumeragi family is part of Kyoto. But we can't base our actions on our most optimistic assessments, we need to balance it out with a dash of pessimism."

"Oh you and your indecisiveness," Inoue said with just a hint of a slur. "This is why I got together with Naoto, you could never make up your mind about anything, much less women."

Ohgi regarded Inoue with a mixture of bemusement and something other than appreciation for the woman's bluntness.

"Whoops, that was the painkiller talking," Inoue said as her head slumped back. "Uh, I think we should really get me to the hospital now, please. Still have a bullet in me."

Ohgi sighed. "Alright, let's get you down to the Keio campus. But promise me this, you won't make an overt approach to Ichijo-san until we've had a chance to get your story straight and you're not droopy with painkillers."

Inoue held up her left hand. "Promise."

Another sigh escaped Ohgi before he turned to Kallen. "I'll have Minami get you back to the Concession."

"Yeah, that probably'd be a good idea," Kallen said, finally deigning to open up her cellphone.

Ohgi gave her a questioning look and Kallen smirked.

"C.C. seems mildly, irritated, at having been left behind today."

"Ah," Ohgi said. "Well, that's between the two of you."

"Oh it is," Kallen agreed, "oh it is."

End of Chapter 17

The whole Refrain thing will likely take three more chapters to resolve primarily because I intend to actually portray them working to find their targets instead of just having the resistance fighters burst into some building and accusing a Britannian of being the mastermind. Keep in mind though that the way my stories unfold there are always parallel tracks of development going on. Kallen and co might be focused on the Refrain issue but Euphie and Lelouch are also up to their own little projects. My goal is to ensure that none of the events that occur are so completely out of the blue that I can be accused of just pulling stuff out of thin air. Proper foreshadowing and sequencing are I believe essential to telling a good story.

I am, obviously, not going to answer any questions that would obviously spoil what happens later on the story. Note that lack of an answer does not mean no to any particular question, it simply means that it could be yes or no and you all have to wait to find out which it is.

A note regarding Lelouch. I am not going to attempt to preemptively justify anything about him since that would risk letting spoilers leak. I will however point out that the Lelouch we see in the canon anime is one who grew up with Nunnally by his side and despite the pain and trauma he suffered he spent many years in relative safety with the Ashfords and was supported by them, not to mention the friends he would have gained if only because Milly would insist on dragging him out to have a social life. To insist that the mentality that was produced from this upbringing would hold even if Lelouch had not grown up under such circumstances is, in my opinion, a far more generous reading of his basic persona than is necessarily warranted. His stated goal of creating a gentler world is after all not something he conceived of for his own sake or for the world's sake, it was for Nunnally's sake. If she is not present, why should it be assumed he would have the same desire to create said gentler world?

Disregard for non-Britannian civilian lives is standard operating procedure for the Britannian military in canon so Cornelia intentionally killing Japanese civilians doesn't really indicate any sort of ruthlessness beyond what is already inherent in soldiers of the Empire. It's really no different than the anti-insurgency tactics practiced by most authoritarian governments from the ancient Romans down to the dictatorships in the Middle East today. The Britannian Empire is not the United States which at least officially adheres to the Geneva Convention. It's more akin to Nazi Germany in the way it deals with enemies of the state. What we might consider ruthless is normal SOP for them. And ruthlessness in that kind of society is only really notable when measured against that society's standards, not ours. So no, Cornelia killing lots of Japanese civilians does not make her particularly ruthless, it makes her a typical Britannian noble.

Nor does her using her own bodyguards to shield herself in a firefight for that matter. That's technically what they're there for after all, their lives are expendable relative to hers. That's also the way it works for bodyguards in real life. For example, if a driver of say the president's car gets taken out said driver's body is supposed to get shoved out of the car so that the backup can more easily take control of the vehicle. The principle's life is paramount, respect for the dead or dying bodyguards decidedly secondary.

Anyway, thoughts on the chapter are as always welcome.


	19. Chapter 18

Snippet spoiler: Medium to low

 _The relationship between the Sumeragi family and her majesty Euphemia I was more than a little unconventional for its era. The degree of trust the family was shown by the Empress, even during her time as Viceroy of Area 11, was rare those of non-Britannian heritage. The initial steps to the forging of a closer relationship between her majesty and Kaguya Sumeragi, the young headmistress of the family, began when Lady Sumeragi offered her household's assistance in the revitalization project of the Tokyo ghettos. This came in the form of both resources and manpower, the latter especially useful in easing the populace of the ghettos into accepting a growing presence of Britannians in their districts. The relationship also proved useful to the Princess as it developed into a discreet backchannel to certain resistance elements that were favorably disposed to her efforts of improving the lot of the Japanese populace. While no one could have predicted it, the tentative steps the Princess took in establishing a certain level of dialogue with this portion of the liberation movement would prove instrumental in preventing the Black Rebellion from unfolding into an even greater tragedy._

Chapter 18: Primum non nocere

Kaguya sipped the tea and allowed herself to savor it. The old masters might be askance about such a violation of protocol but even when served in a western tea service good green tea was good green tea and the gyokuro that was being served her was very good tea indeed. Kaguya idly wondered who amongst the Viceroy's staff was responsible for this selection.

"One of my secretaries has a hobby of experimenting with various teas," Euphie answered as if she were reading the other girl's mind. "She suggested this, jade dew."

"I must commend her for the recommendation," Kaguya said with a smile, "and her resourcefulness in acquiring such a fine selection."

"Jane can be, most resourceful," Euphie said playfully. "Something to do with her uncle, I think."

Kaguya did not have enough context to understand the subtext of the remark but smiled politely nonetheless. The girl took it as a good sign that the Princess was willing to speak so openly with her.

"I am curious," Euphie said, "how is your education conducted? Are you instructed by personal tutors, or do you attend a school?"

"For my primary education I attended a private school so that I could socialize with my peers," Kaguya said. "After its completion my lessons have continued at home with private instructors."

"I see," Euphie said. "It was much the same for myself, I completed my primary education at a private institute before my instruction was taken over by subject tutors."

"Even now, your highness?" Kaguya inquired politely.

"At present I am officially enrolled in Ashford Academy," Euphie replied, "though I do not sit classes. I have an arrangement with the school to completely coursework and examinations remotely." The woman smiled slightly. "It helps that the headmaster is also my chief of staff."

Kaguya giggled at the Princess' nonchalance. Her Highness really was an easy to get along with person, Kaguya determined. Oh she could be exacting in her standards but beneath it all was a young woman very much like herself. That of course did not mean Kaguya would hesitate to stand against the Princess should the need ever arise, but for now it made working with Euphemia easier to stomach compared to some of the more callous nobles.

"Do you intend to pursue a higher education degree after completely high school, your highness?" Kaguya asked.

The Princess rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I suppose it depends on whether I have the time. My responsibilities are likely to only increase in the future. Still, it would behoove me to arrange for some sort of continuing education." Euphie took a sip from her own teacup. "One can never truly run out of new things to learn after all."

Kaguya nodded in agreement. Oh, some of the old Confucian purists continued to insist that everything one needed to know could be found in the Dialects but most people these days recognized that that work was written in the context of a society thousands of years old. Technology if nothing else would render many of its principles obsolete and if anyone needed a reminder of the power of the sword over the hoe they only needed to look at the dominion Britannia had carved over half the world.

"And yourself?" Euphie asked, returning Kaguya's question.

"I have considered attending a university to learn more about economics," Kaguya said, "and perhaps also law. If I am to fulfill my duties as head of the Sumeragi house I will need the proper education to understand the family business and the, environment, which we move in."

Euphie nodded. "A sound decision. Though I would suggest pursuing a study of statistics first before delving into economics. At times economic theory can become so abstract as to lose touch with the practical considerations of reality."

"Your advice is appreciated," Kaguya said sincerely.

"Speaking of practicalities, I presume you have been kept up to date on the progress of the Keio restoration?" Euphie said.

Ah, now onto business. Kaguya nodded.

"The repairs to the buildings are making steady progress and I believe all structural work will be completed by the end of the month. Work on the interior I am told will take a big longer due to the need to wait for the external repairs to be completed."

"That is so," Euphie said after another sip of tea. "The Nursing Corps has also requisitioned another diesel generator and I have already tasked the Engineering Corps to conduct a survey of the power grid in the area to determine if we can do something about the rolling blackouts."

"If I might make a suggestion, your highness?"

Euphie offered a slight nod. "Please."

"Currently all of the food for the campus is being shipped in," Kaguya said. "My retainers have informed me of sufficient open area on the campus grounds that a small farm could be established. Not large enough to feed everyone, of course, but it could serve as a source of fresh vegetables and the like. And space could also be allocated for community plots, anyone willing to tend to a section could grow what they wished for their own needs."

"An interesting idea," Euphie said, her eyes initially on the swirling teacup before her gaze shifted to Kaguya. "My only concern would be with respect to the access of fertilizer."

The Japanese girl did her best to keep her expression neutral. This was a test, it had to be. The Princess had already demonstrated a willingness to take risks, she would not back down from an endeavor just because of the possibility of resistance fighters getting their hands on ammonium nitrate to craft into improvised explosives.

"I believe that concern can be alleviated by your personnel controlling access to any fertilizer being used on the campus," Kaguya responded.

The Princess continued regarding Kaguya expressionlessly and the girl felt a slight trickle of sweat run down her back. She might need to reconsider the easy to get along with assessment. Finally Euphie smiled and Kaguya let out a very small sigh of relief.

"I will discuss the matter with Colonel Frasier," Euphie said. "The idea has merit, so long as the logistics and any security concerns can be accommodated."

"Of course your highness," Kaguya agreed politely.

"Speaking of security concerns," Euphie continued, causing Kaguya's body to stiffen ever so slightly, "I had an enlightening conversation with Sir Kirihara yesterday."

Kaguya blinked in surprise. She had not been aware of any such meeting between the Princess and Kirihara, which could either be a very bad thing or something completely innocuous.

"The NAC has always been extremely cooperative with respect to ensuring the smooth running of Area 11's industries," Euphie went on, her eyes once more settled on her teacup instead of Kaguya herself. "And while most Britannians are probably not aware of it, I do not doubt that it also has been one of the reasons why civil unrest amongst the Eleven population has not erupted into open revolt."

Kaguya suddenly discovered she had been holding her breath and tried not to sound like she was desperately short of air. It did not help that the Princess was now staring her in the eye.

"I trust that it will continue to not only work to diffuse any potential sources of tension but also keep my administration aware of the general, pulse, of the population?"

The last was said with a perfectly genial smile. Kaguya was not fooled in the least and she doubted her own smile was any more convincing than the viceroy's as she nodded.

"Of course, your highness."

"That is good to hear Dame Sumeragi," Euphie said and lifted her teacup from its plate. "To a long and prosperous future for the Area and the Empire."

Kaguya reciprocated the motion even as she fought to tear her gaze away from the Princess. That turned out to be a lot harder than it should have been especially with Euphie's attention back on her own tea. A polite knock on the door finally gave her the excuse she needed though and she looked over to see a soldier wearing the Princess' seal enter. A member of her royal guard.

"Forgiveness, highness," the man said with a bow, "but the Margrave has requested a meeting with you at your earliest convenience."

"Ah," Euphie said, setting her teacup aside and standing.

Kaguya quickly did the same, it would not do to remain seated when her highness was not.

"Your company has been a pleasure as always, Dame Sumeragi," Euphie said with a nod.

Kaguya executed a prim and proper curtsey. "The honor of your company was mine, highness."

The polite niceties done another armsman stepped forward to escort Kaguya out of the palace. As she took her leave Kaguya found that the aftertaste of tea she had but mere minutes ago been enjoying was now as if of ash.

* * *

While Euphie settled back into her desk the servants cleared away the tea service and brought a fresh pot of black tea for the Princess. The green tea was interesting, Euphie was prepared to concede, but ultimately not to her taste. Jane was still experimenting however and would likely have a new combination for her to try next week. As Euphie sipped from a new cup the door opened and Jeremiah entered with a flourish before bowing deeply.

"Your highness, I apologize for disrupting your schedule but a matter of some urgency has arisen."

Euphie nodded for the Margrave to continue.

"A supply outpost maintained by KBR that is used by the military was attacked and preliminary reports indicate the insurgents managed to level it."

That elicited a raised eyebrow from Euphie. "And they accomplished this how, Margrave?"

"We are still investigating," Jeremiah replied, "but it is likely that they were able to detonate the munitions stored in the warehouses causing a chain reaction that took out the outpost as a whole."

"Casualties?" Euphie asked.

"Over two thirds of KBR's private security contractors perished though a much smaller percentage of workers were caught in the blast, most having begun evacuating once the fighting started."

"Which depot was this?" Euphie asked.

"KBR supply depot 14, located in the Itabashi district of the Tokyo settlement."

Euphie frowned. "That is within the city. Damage to the surrounding area?"

"We are still surveying the extent, your highness," Jeremiah said, "but so far none of the surrounding buildings seem to be in danger of collapsing outright. Civilian casualties also appear to be minimal, most of the buildings surrounding the outpost were abandoned due to the war."

That Jeremiah had made sure to have such answers for her was a positive development, Euphie mused.

"I see," the Princess said. "I presume it is also too early to determine which party might be responsible?"

"I am afraid so, your highness," Jeremiah said. "At present there are still several fires that we are working to put out and until the area has had time to cool down our ability to search for evidence will be severely constrained."

Euphie clasped her hands together and rested her chin upon them. "Tell me Margrave, are attacks of this magnitude common on supply depots like this?"

Jeremiah took a moment to consider the question. "Not as such, your highness. Most such raids tend to seek to make off with the contents of the depots. An attack of this scale on a depot in the city is also unusual."

"Which implies that whichever group it was launched the attack had a specific objective," Euphie said, "and I cannot help but doubt that it was merely to deny its use to us. Or is there something about this particular depot that somehow makes it important to the army's activities?"

"I am not aware of any such importance your highness," Jeremiah answered. "This depot is positioned to support some of our outlying outposts, yes, but there is overlapping coverage between it and several others. Unless this is the start of some sort of coordinated campaign, the loss while significant in material terms is not crippling."

Euphie nodded. "What I thought. And this outpost, you said it was a KBR outpost? Directly managed and even guarded by KBR itself, not the army?"

"Yes, highness," Jeremiah said, and seemed to hesitate before continuing, "one of several established by the company as part of a contract extended to it by Prince Clovis in an attempt to arrest the cost of policing the Area."

"I see," Euphie said slowly. "I see indeed. And of course it would be KBR that was awarded the contract."

Jeremiah kept his face neutral but a flicker of his eyes indicated he too held certain opinions about the company.

"Do you need to oversee this matter or any other business presently, Margrave?" Euphie asked suddenly.

"I left Dame Nu coordinating the response," Jeremiah replied, "and I have nothing pressing that I cannot defer."

"Very well, please have a seat," Euphie said even as she reached for the intercom. "Rachel, please summon Baron Rochester to my office, inform him that the matter is of some urgency."

"Yes your highness," came the prompt response.

The Baron also proved very prompt with his own arrival as not five minutes after Euphie's call he was shown into the room. He bowed hastily, obviously trying to catch his breath.

"Your highness."

"Baron," Euphie greeted, "I understand that I am the cause for your haste, but please remember that you are still recovering. I do not wish to see you bedridden on my account a second time."

"I will, keep that in mind, highness," Rochester said as he caught his breath.

"Good," Euphie said before indicating the other chair before her desk. "Please."

The Baron bowed once more before sinking gratefully into the seat.

"Margrave, if you could please provide the Baron with a precis of what has happened?"

"Of course your highness," Jeremiah replied before more or less repeating the salient points to the Baron.

Rochester remained silent throughout, refraining from interrupting the Margrave and only asking his questions once Jeremiah was done. Once caught up to speed a grimace appeared on his face.

"This is, a decidedly complicated situation," he said at the end.

"Quite," Euphie agreed. "Were it any other company I would not hesitate to have the Margrave search their premises to determine just what could have elicited such a reaction from the resistance movements. With KBR, any move I initiate will be met with obstruction if not outright defiance."

"Surely not even the Duke of Windsor would dare openly defy a command handed down by your highness," Jeremiah protested.

Euphie smiled humorlessly as she responded. "The Duke of Windsor has long believed his standing at court renders him protected from the whims of the royal family. If he believes that I am moving against him he will muster the sum of his resources to resist, regardless of what my actual intentions are. As such Margrave if I do not handle this with care it is liable to become a major irritant."

Jeremiah nodded in deferment to the Princess' political acumen.

"I would not presume to have a firm understanding of military logistics but, was it even necessary to place a supply depot at that location?" Rochester asked.

Two pairs of eyes fell on Jeremiah and the Margrave grunted. "No. Ideally if the intent is to supply our remote outposts the depot should have been sited outside the city. This way supply convoys to the other outposts would not need to travel through the outer districts and the relatively open terrain would make it much harder to sneak up on the base."

"So KBR probably wanted the depot there for a specific reason," Euphie said with growing exasperation. "Lovely."

While Jeremiah's gaze was fixed on the Princess the Baron appeared deep in thought. The silence hung in the room for perhaps a minute before Rochester turned towards Jeremiah.

"Margrave, the supply depots KBR has established are through contracts with the army, are they not?"

Euphie looked up and gave Rochester a curious look as Jeremiah nodded.

"They are. The funding comes from the military's budget after all."

The slight emphasis on that last bit made clear that Jeremiah could think of far better uses for the money.

"Well in that case should it not be the senior military officer of the Area that takes an interest in whether KBR can fulfill the terms of the contract?"

"That is certainly true, but no one would believe that my sister would act without consulting me," Euphie said with a wiry smile.

"I understand," Rochester said, "but what if she did nothing at all?"

Both Euphie and Jeremiah regarded the Baron quizzically and the man licked his lips before offering his explanation.

"I agree that any attempt to introduce oversight in KBR's activity will likely meet obstruction if not outright resistance, if we were the ones to propose it. At the same time KBR does have a contract with the military and it is bound to that contract as much as the government is. If they cannot fulfill that contract then I am certain that there are provisions in it for claw back of payment or even penalties."

Euphie nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, there would have to be, not even KBR could eliminate the statutory conditions since they apply to all contracts issued by the government."

"And while the Duke of Windsor may fear your discovery of whatever it is KBR is up to, I would wager that he fears the short term damage to KBR's finances equally if not more so seeing as KBR's conduct in Areal 11 can be pinned on just the regional management whereas fines and the like would impact the company's yearly dividend."

A wide smile slowly appeared across Euphie's face. "Baron, that is a deliciously devious thought."

"Thank you highness," Rochester said with a grin of his own even as he bowed his head.

"Your pardon highness," Jeremiah said, "but while I believe I understand the broad strokes of the Baron's point I'm afraid the nuances escape me."

"I would be happy to elucidate," Euphie said the smile still plastered over her face. "The Baron here has kindly reminded me that though KBR ultimately has operations across the Empire any side businesses the company engages in in Area 11 are almost certainly the personal brainchild of its regional manager, the Duke of Windsor. KBR's corporate leadership overlooks such activities because they help pad the company's bottom line, much of which is dispersed as dividends to its shareholders, shareholders that include many prominent members of the nobility.

"A significant part of the Duke's standing amongst the nobility is his ability to ensure that his allies continue to reap the financial windfall that is the very generous dividend that KBR pays out to its favored shareholders. Should there be a shortfall or, the gods forbid, fines that eat directly into KBR's revenues, the Duke would lose a great deal of face. In fact he would rather risk me discovering all of KBR's little side ventures than provide me with a legitimate excuse to terminate his contracts."

Jeremiah nodded at the explanation even though his expression was not entirely convinced. "That all makes sense, your highness, but how does allowing the Duke to retain these contracts help in discovering just what KBR has been up to?"

"It is fairly simple," Euphie said. "For the terms of the contract to be fulfilled, KBR has to actually have the means to fulfill them. Does that seem likely if the insurgents continue to strike at KBR's assets?"

The Margrave's eyes widened slightly as he grasped the subtle, devious, and even ruthless tact the Princess was taking on this matter.

"Your highness believes that the insurgents will continue targeting KBR?" Jeremiah asked.

"I suspect that this attack was not incidental," Euphie stated confidently.

"And what course of action will you be advising the Marshal to take?"

"To do nothing save the bare minimum," Euphie answered. "We of course must investigate the attacks that actually take place, but I will recommend that the military not extend any offer to assist KBR in securing its assets. They must be the ones that come to us with a request for assistance."

Jeremiah nodded in admiration at the Viceroy's stratagem. "Understood, highness."

Euphie nodded and glanced over at the Baron who was now the one with an uncertain look on his face.

"You have a concern, Baron?"

Rochester nodded slowly. "I cannot help but feel a bit, well, concerned, about what might end up being indirect encouragement of these insurgents' attacks, your highness."

Jeremiah raised an eyebrow but held his peace, having learned that the Princess preferred a certain frankness from her subordinates. Frankness after all did not always equal rudeness and the Princess was a mature enough person that she did not need others to take offense for her.

"There is a risk, I agree," Euphie responded, her tone certain. "At the same time there is the possibility that this attack is part of a broader shift in how the liberation movements operate."

Jeremiah glanced back at the Princess, wondering just what she meant by that. The expectant look on Rochester's face indicated that the Baron too was not quite following the Princess' thought pattern.

"Consider, my lords," Euphie addressed both, "in the past the resistance movements struck with great vigor against military targets. Since my assumption of the Viceroyalty however, save for the Lake Kawaguchi incident, the level of insurgent activity has fallen to a record low. While I am not so naïve as to declare victory prematurely, I believe we are seeing indications that the insurgency is shifting its priorities away from directly targeting the government and the military and onto other elements that they consider to be exploiting or oppressing the native Eleven population."

Jeremiah blinked and tried to recall the numbers for the past few months. True what the Princess said seemed to be true, the number of attacks on the military was down. So were riots and other acts of civil disobedience now that the Margrave thought about it. But over such a short span of time, was the shift actually there or was the lull as much of an anomaly as the Lake Kawaguchi attack?

"Are you, certain of this, highness?" Rochester gave voice to their mutual uncertainty. "Is the change in numbers actually statistically significant?"

"Not as of it," Euphie replied with no hesitation. "On the other hand, what would happen if some, indirect encouragement, were to make certain targets more appealing?"

Both men sat very, very still as they regarded the Princess. For his part Jeremiah was having more than slightly mixed feelings about all this. There was no doubt in his mind that the Viceroy was very, very sneaky. Not just sneaky, she was outright cunning. But he was a soldier at heart and this sort of backhanded strategy did not entirely sit well with him especially seeing as Britannian citizens, even if they were KBR employees, might get caught in the crossfire. Where was all the talk about being a good shepherd that the Princess had been so full of before? And there was always the risk of the Princess being just a bit too clever and overthinking things. She was still young after all, without experience to temper her intuition.

"Ultimately though I hope that it does not come to KBR's assets actually coming under attack," Euphie continued and Jeremiah let out a breath he did not even know he was holding. "If I have read the Duke of Windsor correctly he will request direct assistance from the military and we will be able to position forces to both intercept these insurgents, assuming they are intentionally targeting KBR, and investigate on the company's activities. If we are very lucky we might even take some of the insurgents alive and interrogate them to determine just why they decided to strike KBR in the first place."

Jeremiah almost felt a smile creep up on his face. By the gods the Princess was thorough in her deliberations. She planned for not only the worst case scenarios but also the likely and best case ones as well, making sure that regardless of which occurred some benefit would be had. It was also abundantly clear that the Princess was not coldheartedly endangering Britannian citizens for this ploy, she had carefully weighed the risks and potential rewards and constructed a plan to minimize the former while maximizing the latter. In a few years' time Jeremiah had little doubt the Princess Euphemia would be a serious contender for the throne, a not bad thought at all. He glanced over at the Baron and saw in the eyes that met his Rochester was likely thinking much the same. After exchanging a brief nod he turned to regard the Princess once more.

"Then by your leave your highness, we shall carry forth your will."

* * *

Kallen was more than a bit distracted as she entered the Stadtfeld residence and perhaps that was why she did not notice the lack of the customary greeting. The source of that distraction was in her room and for once was not lounging around on her bed. In fact it looked like C.C. had been pacing before her arrival. Certainly not out of worry, Kallen was certain, that seemed beyond the other girl. More likely out of irritation if the scowl on her face was any indication.

"Thou," C.C. said, pointing a finger at Kallen. "What hast thou to sayeth for thyself?"

"Nothing," Kallen said as she pushed away the outstretched hand. "There was something needing doing and so I did it."

C.C. sighed in exasperation and Kallen found herself almost enjoying the frustration the other woman was obviously feeling. High time she got some back after everything she put Kallen through.

"Hast thou decided not to hark mine word?" C.C. said. "I be but astonied thou would walketh the streets so fainly with nary a care."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. C.C. was being particular vehement but then again the girl seemed absolutely adamant about staying close to her.

"You trust me so little you feel the need to play chaperone all the time?" Kallen said.

C.C. sniffed. "So wise so young, they say do never live long. Hast thou forgotten that whom has stepped upon this land? He be not a fat, sleek-headed man, and such as sleep o' nights."

Kallen frowned. It looked as if C.C.'s concern was not insomuch as for the risks the redhead normally undertook as a resistance fighter but because of the appearance of this past contractor.

"Just how dangerous is this guy?" the girl asked.

"Danger knows full well that _he_ is more dangerous than he," C.C. replied.

"We are two lions litter'd in one day, and I the elder and more terrible," Kallen completed the line.

C.C. nodded firmly at that to indicate Kallen had made the right inference. The girl sighed.

"Alright, so this guy is that dangerous. But I still don't know anything about him or what his Geass even does. Unless you can tell me that I'm operating completely blind even if you're always by my side."

"Nayless I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm be past."

Kallen did not even bother suppressing her groan at that quote. The strange bedfellows part was already more true than she would have liked.

"There has to be some way to break your Geass," Kallen said. "I refuse to believe that you of all people could get herself stuck in that kind of trap."

C.C. chuckled wirily and gave Kallen a pat on the head only to earn a scowl from the girl.

"Things without all remedy should be without regard: what's done is done."

This time it was Kallen's turn to sniff. "Fancy yourself a queen there?"

C.C. chuckled playfully. "Mayhap thou be the queen and I thy gentlewoman of the bedchamber."

Kallen barked out a laugh at the image that elicited, some of her frustration and tension bleeding away. "You really are something. But don't think I'm going to stop trying to figure out some way to help you, and once we break that Geass I expect you to spill everything you know and in plain English!"

C.C.'s eyes widened ever so slightly before she smiled at Kallen. Not a smirk, not a grin, a simple smile that would have sent the heart of men aflutter. Seeing as Kallen was a woman however she simply smiled back. The moment however quickly passed as a knock sounded on Kallen's door.

"What is it?" the girl called out.

The door opened a slight crack and a maid spoke through it. "Milady, dinner is ready."

"Alright," Kallen said before her a thought occurred to her. "Wait. Where is Ms. Kouzuki?"

The maid opened the door again. "Ms. Kouzuki has been absent for the past few days, milady. I do not know where she is presently."

Kallen frowned. "Alright, that'll be all."

The maid bowed ever so slightly before closing the door behind her. Kallen was already pulling out her cell to see if she had missed any messages from her mother. Nothing.

"Something awry?" C.C. asked.

"I should have noticed it before," Kallen said. "She wasn't there to greet me when I got back, she's always there, somehow."

"Then call upon her," the other woman suggested.

"I'll send her a text," Kallen said, tapping away at the keypad. "For now though let's get down to dinner. If I have to suffer through Lady Stadtfeld's company you do too."

C.C. chuckled humorously. "Unquiet meals make ill digestion."

Kallen grinned as she delivered her parting shot. "Oh does that mean I won't hear a peep from you during dinner?"

* * *

Despite her protests Inoue had been put on anesthetics and knocked out before going under the knife to remove the bullet. Part of that was the woman still instinctively thought of the Keio campus as perennially short of supplies and did not want any wasted on her. Another was her concern about what she might end up saying while under the influence of the drugs. When she woke up in a hospital bed without handcuffs tying her down Inoue presumed that she was still in the clear.

Half an hour later just as she was feeling bored enough to try getting out of bed a trio of guests appeared. The other patients in the ward, those awake at least, all looked over at Inoue. It irritated the woman somewhat that she was so obviously the one they were here to speak with but she could not claim it to be too surprising. The first guest was expected, the second two not so much though they at least had the courtesy to let Inoue pretend their presence was entirely innocuous.

"Inoue-san," Kuroba said, taking her hand. "You gave us such a fright there. Please, for the sake of an old man, do not allow yourself to come to such harm again."

Inoue smiled gently at the doctor. "I try to stay out of trouble, sensei, but well, sometimes trouble ends up finding me."

Kuroba sighed and Inoue's smile turned just a tad sheepish. The good doctor was so used to hearing his patients promise him that that the sigh itself was well practiced.

"Inoue-san," Ichijo spoke up and the pretense ended, "the bullet that was extracted from your body was a .308 Winchester rifle round. Would you be willing to share with us how you came to be wounded?"

Inoue looked at Ichijo and then shifted her gaze to the Britannian woman. Lieutenant Blanche's face was of polite concern but only an idiot would fail to notice the rapt attention in her eyes. The Britannian nurse very much wanted to know if the people that shot at Inoue had been part of the military and what the Japanese woman was doing to draw such a forceful response. Regardless of her willingness to participate in the Viceroy's hospital project to help the Japanese populace Helena was still a Britannian officer sworn to the Empire and the Emperor. Inoue licked her lips. Technically she had promised Ohgi that they would have a consistent story worked out before she tried to spin something to the people here at the hospital but there was obviously no time for that. And they had come to her first anyway. Plus she was not on painkillers anymore.

"I was at the KBR outpost that you've probably all heard got hit," Inoue stated, "and I got caught up in the crossfire."

Helena's gaze was now intent indeed and Ichijo's was not far off. Kuroba however closed his eyes and seemed to be mouthing a silent prayer.

"And why were you at the KBR outpost?" the Britannian officer asked.

Inoue held her gaze for a moment before looking over at Kuroba. "Sensei, could you please step out for this?"

"That is alright Inoue-san," Kuroba said, surprising not only the woman in question but the two that accompanied him here as well. "I know you have worked hard to shield me from your activities but that will not be necessary." The doctor opened his eyes and regarded Inoue gently, even proudly. "The hospital has endured these years because of all the effort you undertook to acquire supplies and equipment. I know that you sought to provide a measure of safety for the rest of us by hiding where the supplies came from, but there is no further need for this." Kuroba once more took Inoue's hands. "So many people were saved due to your diligence, I will not see you bear responsibility alone."

Inoue was stunned. That was the only word to describe her reaction to the doctor's words. Everything he had said was true, she had gone to great lengths over the years to make sure the hospital's equipment was kept running as best as could be managed and whenever there was a shortage of food or medicine she used her contacts as a resistance fighter to buy, bully, or outright steal whatever she could. Yet she felt a not insignificant shame at having the doctor leap to her defense this way because this time that was not what she had been doing. Yes she had been preparing to lie to the Britannian nurse and the Sumeragi household retainer, but to have the doctor also complicit in that lie, even if unintentionally so, felt so very, very wrong. Inoue swallowed, trying to wet her suddenly parched throat.

"Thank you sensei," she said in a husky tone.

Kuroba smiled, apparently mistaking the scratchiness of Inoue's voice for emotion. It was emotion, yes, but not the one the doctor likely thought. Shame and guilt burned in Inoue's chest. She had come this far however, she could not stop, but she did not have to entirely compromise.

Inoue cleared her throat and withdrew her hands. "It is technically true, I have acquired some of the things needed to keep this place running using less than legal means. And I was looking to see if the KBR depot had a certain, product, available. But it was not for the hospital." The woman's gaze fell on the Britannian nurse and hardened ever so slightly. "I was seeing if that KBR depot was the source of the Refrain that's being trafficked in Tokyo."

Helena stared back at Inoue without flinching but the other woman did blink once in surprise.

"Refrain," the Britannian nurse said very carefully.

Inoue nodded and took a deep breath. "A couple of weeks back I stumbled upon someone selling the drug and I've been following the chain ever since. I tracked it to that depot and was trying to see if I could get the clerks there to sell me some by pretending to be a middleman." The woman grinned darkly. "I'd say someone else must have stumbled upon their dealings too, and decided to take more direct measures."

"And were they?" Helena asked.

Their voices were now a hush all the better to avoid the other patients overhearing. Those closest to Inoue were asleep however and the others seemed all too happy to not get drawn into whatever conversation was taking place.

"Yes," Inoue replied. "Yes, they were. I was about to take delivery when things, well, started blowing up. I barely got out alive as it is."

"Inoue-san," Kuroba said softly. "You should never have taken that kind of risk."

"I couldn't just let that poison be spread through our streets sensei," Inoue said without apology. "You know what it does to people. I had to find out where it came from."

And do something about it was the unsaid second half of that sentence.

"Are you certain they could have supplied you with the drug?" Helena asked.

The look in the nurse's eyes was diamond hard, making clear that the lieutenant would not tolerate any deceit. But the biggest lie had already been told and Inoue had nothing to fear.

"I was holding the container in my hands before the shooting started."

Helena regarded Inoue for a few moments before straightening once more. "I will need to take you into protective custody, Ms. Inoue."

Inoue's eyes narrowed coldly. "Like hell."

"Your accusation, and I have no reason to doubt their validity, is extremely serious Ms. Inoue," Helena replied firmly. "The authorities will need your cooperation in their investigation."

"And what makes you think there will even be an investigation?" Inoue countered. "This is KBR we're talking about, they're just going to bribe some bureaucrat and brush this under the rug like always. And guess what happens to the Eleven witness in custody?"

A flicker of anger appeared ever so briefly on Helena's face but she composed it quickly. "I assure you Ms. Inoue, you will be safe, you have my word."

Inoue smiled slightly. "It's not your word I doubt, Lieutenant. You've been very helpful and I think you intend the best. But it's a very different thing trusting your word versus trusting that of all Britannians."

To her credit Helena did not try to argue otherwise, instead simply staring at the Japanese woman. It was obvious that however understanding she was about Inoue's distrust of her fellow Britannians she still felt bound by her duty to the Empire. But to take Inoue into custody unwillingly would destroy much of the goodwill that the Nursing Corps had built up here at Keio, something that would severely undermine the wider mission the lieutenant was charged with. It was effectively a standoff. Ichijo cleared his throat and the others all looked over at him. Or perhaps not.

"May I suggest a compromise," he said. "If Inoue-san were to become a guest of the Sumeragi family, we could ensure that she is available for any questions the Britannian authorities might have. Conversely should it become clear that the authorities do not intend to pursue a case against KBR, then we would guarantee Inoue-san's safe release."

Helena raised an eyebrow but after a few seconds nodded. "That would be acceptable."

The lieutenant glanced over at Inoue and waited for her response. The Japanese woman kept her own gaze on Ichijo however. The man was taking a significant risk on behalf of the Sumeragi family, effectively guaranteeing that Inoue would not run away while their ostensible guest but also promising Inoue herself that they would make sure she could get away if certain Britannian parties decided she was a liability. And seeing as the families that made up the NAC were reviled by many Japanese if it became known that they had gone back on their world here, well, it was hard to think their reputations could sink any worse, but there would still be ramifications. It was all a calculated risk, a cost and benefit equation here. If Inoue refused she would be putting the hospital in a very difficult position, effectively buying her own freedom at considerable cost to many people she cared about. If she agreed there was still the risk that the Sumeragi would not honor their word, but compared to being outright taken into Britannian custody the odds were much more in her favor.

Yet this also offered the opportunity for Inoue to make a connection with the Sumeragi family, perhaps even speak with the head of the household. If the Sumeragi were really part of Kyoto House their sponsorship would change so much for her resistance cell. And maybe the legend of the Red Knight would grow to be more than just a one-off rescue of the Princess Euphemia. When all this was weighed against her own personal safety, there was no choice. Inoue nodded.

"I accept the Sumeragi house's generosity."

Kuroba sighed visibly in relief while Ichijo offered a polite nod, not that the slight smile on his face did not go unnoticed. Helena also nodded, apparently as satisfied as she could be with the arrangement.

"I must report this development to my superiors," the lieutenant said. "I would suggest that Ms. Inoue be moved to the Sumeragi estate before then however."

"Agreed," Ichijo said. "Kuroba-sensei, how best can we move Inoue-san without risking any further injury?"

"We will make the arrangements," Kuroba said firmly.

A few hours later Inoue was well on her way to the Sumeragi family's main house. Few at the hospital knew what had transpired and the near disaster that had been averted and Kuroba was looking forward to getting some rest after a truly hectic day. That reprieve however was once again deferred as a nurse called upon him for a minor issue at the front desk. Tired as he was Kuroba knew he would not have been summoned if the volunteers could not handle the matter themselves and so he trudged down the stairs. As he got closer to the main desk however his ears perked up as a familiar but long absent voice reached him.

"-worked here for several years. I'm not sure what the difficulty is."

The voice was calm and composed and almost a bit carefree. Kuroba picked up his pace.

"Yes, I worked with Kuroba-sensei many times. In fact my last shift was with him, should he not be off rotation?"

The man was now in a flat out run as fast as his aged legs could take him.

"Or is he covering for someone? He was always so kind, willing to help his colleagues out when they faced difficulties."

Kuroba turned the corner and saw the source of the voice, a slim woman with her brown hair tied up in buns standing at the desk. The nurse caught sight of him and waved for him to quickly come over. Following the direction of the motion the woman turned about and smiled as she saw him.

"Kuroba-sensei, I was asked to wait for you," Kotone Kouzuki said. "Are you on shift again today?"

Kuroba's mouth opened and closed soundlessly as he met Kouzuki's glassy eyes. He had seen this before, he had seen this so many times and every time it tore at his heart. Yet to see this woman, a nurse that had shined so when she worked at the hospital, like this, he found it almost too much to bear. But bear it he most for he recognized the severity of Kouzuki's state. The amount of Refrain she must have taken to have been rendered so out of touch he could barely fathom. And when the drug's effects began wearing off the shock to her system could well prove fatal. So he did the only thing he could do as a doctor, he began to treat his patient.

"Yes, I am Kouzuki-san," Kuroba said. "Before you start work do you mind coming with me?"

"Will that be okay?" Kouzuki asked. "The other nurses-"

"They will understand," Kuroba said firmly but gently. "And this will not take long, I promise."

"Very well then," Kouzuki said, giving him that heartfelt smile of hers.

Kuroba felt his own heart nearly break at the sight but he forced his own face to smile. He leaned toward the other nurse.

"I need something for detox and pain relievers readied immediately," he said as quietly as he could.

"Right away sensei," the nurse said with equal discretion.

"Now, come this way Kouzuki-san," Kuroba said, putting a smile back on. "You're actually a bit early for your shift today, you know."

"Am I? I must be losing track of time with how rambunctious Kallen has been. Do you remember the last time I brought her with me to work?"

"Yes, yes I do," Kuroba said with utmost sincerity, recalling the joyful and kind girl.

"Well she is getting better, but she has so much energy that even Naoto can barely keep up."

Kuroba nodded, listening as Kouzuki spoke of her children, of her husband, and of her friends. She spoke of her contentment and her gratefulness to have all these joys fulling her life. And ultimately she spoke of the past, a past that Kuroba relived with her with every word. The doctor had never felt as old as today.

End of Chapter 18

Does this count as a cliffhanger? I'm not sure anymore. And those who want more Lelouch, he'll show up next chapter. I have a policy of trying not to go over eight thousand words a chapter and if I added his scene here I would have been pushing nine thousand easily.

Nothing's more terrifying than honest men applying their skills to kill people? Personally I'd be a lot more worried about honest men trying to help people. Or honest women in the case of this fic.

When I was at my peak writing for _In Tune_ I generally got out two chapters a week, each averaging about seven thousand words. _In Tune_ and _A Cold Calculus_ has been splitting my attention since I started the latter but with the former wrapping up I am technically able to focus more on this fic. I will not guarantee that I'll be updating at the same rate, but I don't expect to be that much slower if only because I want to actually finish the damn story instead of letting it hang for years on end. That pissed me off enough as a reader and I have no desire to inflict that on others. I'm not quite done with _In Tune_ yet, still have two more epilogues to get out, but seeing as they are generally much shorter than full chapters they should be done within the next week or so.

I had intended to talk a bit about this in last chapter's author notes but I more or less forgot. This is in response to a comment about a Lelouch/Euphie pairing in a review.

Pairings in Code Geass are, hard. Part of it is because Lelouch is pretty much unresponsive to any moves put upon him, which creates an impression that he honestly does not care about getting together with anyone. He has shown affection for several girls, yes, but he doesn't seem to show any interest in the kind of romantic relationship and companionship one normally seeks from a significant other. He is for the most part too focused on his wider goal of creating said gentler world for all of his loved ones and the creation of said world is pretty much how he reciprocates the love that others have for him.

Of the women who are with him or show interest in him, C.C. is probably the closest to providing him with the kind of companionship that he needs. I say needs very specifically here since what the two give each other is not the sort of romantic affection of a couple but the companionship of someone who understands and can share in the others' burden. Is that love? Possibly, it might just be as close as something as disinterested in romantic love as Lelouch can get.

Kallen is something of an interesting case. It could be argued that she became passionate about her impression of Zero. She may have grown to see the man behind the mask and retain her passion for him but the possibility of an actual relationship between the two is complicated. Kallen was the one seeking Zero/Lelouch's attention/approval/affection. And Lelouch was in many ways very willing to give it to her as Zero. As himself however it was always more ambivalent. He certainly cared about her but there is a sort of vagueness in just how he was willing to show it. On a personal level I would actually rate a Lelouch x Kallen pairing as one of the less probable ones and certainly one of the harder ones to pull off effectively. I do have a personal soft spot for it however as I tend to have a thing for tsundere redheads.

Shirley's affection for Lelouch is for the most part pretty straightforward and earnest. She saw what she felt was Lelouch's inherent gentleness and sought to have Lelouch show that gentleness to her. Lelouch for the most part was perfectly willing to be kind to her but there was always a reluctance on his part to take it much further. In the canon it's probably due to his immense sense of guilt for causing her father's death and all the trauma afterward. Yet if there was one person who stood a chance of healing his heart so to speak with her forgiveness, it was probably Shirley, simply due to the lack of complexity of her affection for him.

Milly is something of a dark horse as far as the whole potential love interests go. It is hinted at very subtly that she holds some affection for him beyond that of a big sister mentality and I'm sure the Ashford family also considered a possible pairing between their daughter and Lelouch to be potentially advantageous if Lelouch ever regained his royalty. Lelouch himself gave no indication of ever viewing Milly in a romantic light and probably thought of her solely as an irritating big sister figure. Irritating, but still an elder sister that if need be he could rely on a bit and would protect when the cards fell. And while probability wise the odds are near zero for all practical purposes, I actually think that a Lelouch x Milly relationship would be one of the easier ones to pull off if only because the lack of overt affection between the two provides space for a writer to fill it in him or herself. But it's all relative since easier does not mean easy to begin with.

As for Euphie herself, hmm, well, the situation with her is complicated. At a most basic level Euphie wants to be loved. This is technically true of all of the potential love interests but I bring it up with Euphie specifically because she is much more explicit about it than the others. Two things however stand in the way of any relationship with Lelouch as far as the canon references go. The first is obviously Suzaku, and the hordes of Suzaku x Euphie shippers who seem ready to bay for the blood for anyone who disagrees with them, and the other is Nunnally. And I say Nunnally because she is the target of so much affection from Lelouch that she effectively stands as an obstruction to damn near every potential love interest who seeks affection from her dear brother, not that Lelouch harbors romantic inclinations towards his little sister.

One also should remember that Euphie is still Lelouch's sister and they were together during that very important period in their childhood where they would have imprinted on each other and the Westermarck effect would be in full effect. Japanese imouto-con trope be damned. Ahem.

Anyway, assuming we ignored all the issues above there are ways to make a Lelouch x Euphie pairing work. Lelouch is capable of immense affection and Euphie is kind of greedy when it comes to that department and would gobble up everything Lelouch could offer her. The two are also both quite intelligent and seem to grasp that no matter how close they might become there are times when they need to give the other some distance. Nevertheless I would not rate Euphie's chances with Lelouch much higher than any of the other girls if only because Lelouch himself seems so stubbornly disinterested. Figuring out how to realistically write around _that_ problem is a bigger challenge than I am inclined to take on right now.

Note I really don't consider Kaguya as a contender, she was for the most part mostly fangirling over Zero and the show itself never provided enough depth to that possibility to make me ever think much about it.

Now that I have stuck my hand into this particular hornet's nest I think I will take my leave. I should note however that I was around for the shipping wars that took place for the Evangelion series so I know a little something about the fanaticism with which people will defend their preferred ships. It's why I, ahem, borrowed a Firestorm installation from CABAL. For a homicidal AI he's actually quite accommodating.

And to the people who seem to think I should give a damn about a certain single gender pairing, in the eloquent words of the British, bugger off. That was at least an order of magnitude more eloquent than some of the ramblings that have come my way.

C.C. translations.

Thou. What hast thou to sayeth for thyself? – You. What do you have to say for yourself?

Hast thou decided not to hark mine word? I be but astonied thou would walketh the streets so fainly with nary a care. – Have you decided not to heed my advice? I'm amazed you would walk the streets so eagerly without a care.

Mayhap thou be the queen and I thy gentlewoman of the bedchamber. – Maybe you are the queen and I your lady in waiting.

Everything else are either Shakespeare quotes or pretty plain spoken.


	20. Chapter 19

_The Keio Foundation is one of the premier providers of affordable healthcare in Japan to this day and is celebrated by the Japanese people as one of the legacies left to them by the Empress Euphemia. Its origins can be traced to the hospital program started by her Majesty while serving as Viceroy of Area 11, though its true establishment could be said to be a product of the aftermath of the Duke of Windsor's downfall. The exposure of the Refrain and human trafficking conspiracy orchestrated by the Duke saw many parties called to account for either outright complicity or gross negligence for not detecting the misconduct earlier. For its part in the debacle KBR was levied a fine but the Princess Euphemia allowed the company to pay it by surrendering ownership of the shares previously controlled by the Duke of Windsor to the crown. While this avoided the company paying out of pocket, it did result in her Highness gaining control of a significant amount of preferred shares and the dividends ownership of those shares entitled one to. Her Highness would ultimately transfer all of the shares into the newly established Keio Foundation with the stipulation that the dividends earned be used solely to improve access to healthcare for all of Area 11's residents, a mission that is continued by the Foundation to this day._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 19: Caveat venditor

Lelouch pursed his lips as he regarded the sheets of paper laid out before him. No one could ever claim the young man was lazy or inattentive to detail. Still a merely human mind could only focus so intently for so long before exhaustion overtook it. Case in point Charlotte had fallen asleep several hours ago. Captain Devigny had turned in even earlier though his reason was because he needed to leave early the coming morning to begin evaluating the JLF's assets firsthand. Second hand reports could only be trusted so far after all.

Off to the side Charlotte stirred and Lelouch gave her a gentle caress of her head. The touch seemed to draw the girl out of her slumber and she looked up blankly at Lelouch.

"Good morning Charlotte," Lelouch said with a slight smile.

"Good morning Lulu," the girl replied before blinking a few times and looking around. "Oh, right, we're in Japan."

Charlotte yawned, accompanied by a big stretch. Lelouch began gathering up the papers scattered about, an action that elicited a frown from his companion.

"Did you stay up all night again?"

"One of the advantages of not needing sleep," Lelouch said nonchalantly as he continued shuffling papers.

A hand fell upon the scattered sheets and Lelouch looked up at his companion.

"Not needing much and not needing are two very different things Lieutenant Lamperouge," Charlotte said firmly. "You need to take care of your body if you want your mind to be at its peak."

Lelouch regarded Charlotte for a few moments before quirking a slight smile. "Very well, Lieutenant Dunois. But might you let me put my work away before shooing me off to bed?"

Charlotte nodded and removed her hand but continued regarding Lelouch intently, making clear that she was ready to intervene once more if it looked like Lelouch was backsliding.

"So what do you think of our current hosts?" Lelouch asked as he cleaned up.

"Their hospitality," Charlotte replied with a raised eyebrow, "or their assets?"

"The Japanese are well renowned for their courtesy and etiquette," Lelouch said with a smirk. "I think we can forego any critiques thereof."

His companion remained sighing and apparently deciding that indulging Lelouch on this topic was harmless enough.

"On paper the JLF possesses four knightmare battalions and close to an entire division of infantry, mostly composed of former Japanese Army personnel," Charlotte said. "That they managed to scrape together that many knightmares is impressive, but we both have serious reservations about how effective they would actually be in an engagement."

Lelouch nodded but said nothing in response.

"Basic performance stats indicate the Japanese Burai are generally not that much more effective than the Glasgows they are based off of, minus a few customized examples," Charlotte continued. "They would be at a marked disadvantage compared to the Sutherlands currently serving as Britannia's frontline unit in most situations. Of course, that assumes a parity in the quality of the knightmare pilots to begin with. Considering the constraints they are operating under they are unlikely to have had much opportunity to conduct large scale training exercises. They may function well at the platoon level, but unit sizes larger than that will likely be problematic."

"Agreed," Lelouch said as he finished gathering his papers into a single neat stack. "The question however becomes whether despite their deficiencies they would still be able to overcome the occupation force."

Charlotte snorted in a most unladylike way. "I would say no. Even with only two battalions of knightmares the Britannians are at effective parity when it comes to the mechs. Then there is the armored division up in Hokkaido and the mechanized infantry division in Okinawa. If the JLF strikes fast and hard enough they may be able to break into the Tokyo Concession and take out the Britannian forces at MacArthur base, but they would almost certainly be overwhelmed by the remaining Britannian forces in short order, especially without any proper air support."

"Agreed again," Lelouch said.

The young man started to settle back into his chair but dutifully stood when Charlotte's eyes narrowed at him. With a slight chuckle he extended an arm. After a brief moment Charlotte rose and walked over to his side and hooked hers about and together the two headed out of the room, the door clicking shut behind them.

"Short of direct intervention by the EU or the Chinese Federation it is highly unlikely that any uprising would succeed in actually ejecting Britannia from Japan," Lelouch said as they walked. "A good thing that is not our-"

Charlotte shot Lelouch a sharp look and the young man closed his mouth before smiling at her innocently. While Lelouch had compromised the JLF's senior command officers there were still plenty of soldiers not under his thrall and even those that were he was still working on. Suddenly turning General Katase into a wooden puppet would hardly be conducive in keeping a relatively low profile for one.

"Well, we will just have to see what we can do to increase their chances of success," Lelouch said instead.

"After you get at least four hours of sleep," Charlotte said ever so sweetly.

Lelouch chuckled as they arrived at the room assigned to him and André. Charlotte on the other hand got an entire room to herself though truth be told she would have been perfectly happy to have switched with the captain. Out of deference to their hosts' sensibilities however Charlotte restrained herself to planting a simple kiss on Lelouch's cheek before separating. Still she stood there before his door, smiling sweetly as she waited for him to actually turn in. Lelouch chuckled and ruffled her hair before entering his room. Only after she heard the click of the lock did Charlotte head for her own quarters. It was just past 3AM after all and while Lelouch might be able to function on only a few hours of sleep each night Charlotte intended to thoroughly enjoy the four additional hours still waiting for her, not that any amount of sleep would ever get rid of the red sheen just barely visible in her eyes.

* * *

Since first becoming acquainted with her highness Euphemia, Jeremiah had had occasion to witness her open displeasure twice thus far. This time though, this time displeasure seemed too mild a term for the Princess' mood. In fact Jeremiah was having great difficulty coming up with a single word to describe what he was seeing now. The Margrave was fairly certain Colonel Frasier was equally at a loss as the two stood stock still before the Princess in her office. Euphemia herself was equally motionless, her hands clasped before her in a composed posture that was all too easy to mistake for serenity. Even now Jeremiah could not make out any tension in her form, any tightening of her lips or hands. Her eyes however, her eyes burned with a cold light that was impossible to tear one's gaze away from despite feeling as if one's life was being sucked away. And then the Princess blinked and Jeremiah found that he was breathing once more.

"It would appear," the Princess said slowly and carefully, "that I have severely misjudged the Duke of Windsor."

Neither Jeremiah nor Samantha made a sound, instead waiting for Euphemia to directly address them before speaking up. The Princess however fell silent again and remained that way for what seemed an eternity. When it was broken the words that came out of her mouth were not by any means encouraging.

"I am going to wring that mountebank's neck and then see it hung from a noose."

Jeremiah did not know whether to applaud the Princess' firm determination or caution her from too zealous a reaction. Fortunately the woman beside him did.

Samantha cleared her throat. "Your highness, at present we only have an accusation levied against the Duke. Before any punitive action is taken we must obtain proof."

The Princess glanced over at Samantha and the colonel returned the gaze steadfastly. Eventually however Euphemia tilted her head in acknowledgment.

"Proof, yes. That will be necessary. But if the Duke is truly engaged in Refrain trafficking then the previous stratagem will not work, he would rather risk the displeasure of KBR's board than allow any connection between the drug and his person be discovered."

Samantha regarded the Princess quizzically and Euphemia shook her head.

"Apologies colonel, I speak of a slightly different matter." She looked at the woman with a steady gaze. "This woman, Naomi Inoue. She is currently at the Sumeragi estate, correct?"

"Yes your highness," Samantha confirmed.

"Very well. I will send a member of my staff to speak with her."

Jeremiah frowned, a change in expression that did not go unnoticed by the Princess.

"You have a thought on the matter, Margrave?"

The man grimaced. "I find it somewhat incredulous that this Eleven just happened to be investigating the KBR depot at the same time an insurgent force attacked it, your highness."

"Of course it is incredulous," Euphemia agreed. "In all likelihood she was part of the group that destroyed the depot."

Jeremiah blinked. He had not been expecting that blunt a response from the Princess, though then again perhaps he should have.

"Should we not take her into formal custody then, your highness?" he asked.

"Absolutely not," came a most vehement response.

Despite himself Jeremiah flinched ever so slightly.

"Apologies Margrave," Euphemia said in a calmer tone. "At present however this insurgent is more useful to us if she is allowed a certain freedom. If nothing else she will likely be more willing to divulge information to us if she believes she has an exit available for her to take if she reveals anything outright incriminating."

Jeremiah accepted the apology and explanation with a nod.

"In the meantime, continue on with your duties," the Princess continued. "I will consider how best to deal with the Duke."

"Yes your Highness," the two officers bowed at the dismissal and exited the room.

Once outside Jeremiah let out a deep sigh. To his surprise the Colonel gave him a comforting pat on the back.

"Her Highness certainly possesses depth," Samantha remarked.

"Yes, yes she does," Jeremiah agreed. "Tell me Colonel, do you believe this insurgent's claim?"

Samantha frowned thoughtfully. "I would like to discount it but what evidence has been presented indicates that someone at least is dealing Refrain in the outer districts. And if it is a Britannian spreading that poison, I have little doubt the Viceroy will make the guilty party rue ever attracting her Highness' attention."

Once more Jeremiah found himself in agreement with the colonel. He regarded her thoughtfully. Samantha Frasier, the ranking officer of the Army Nursing Corps in Area 11 and in fact senior to all of the other members of the Army Medical Service present as well. That was somewhat unusual as the ranking officer from the Medical Service in an Area tended to be from the Medical Corps, not the Nursing Corps.

"I must confess, I only have a passing knowledge of the drug," Jeremiah said as the two began walking. "It somehow allows one to relive past memories?"

"The exact mechanism through which it works is still not fully understood, but yes more or less," Samantha said as she kept pace with Jeremiah by his side. "It appears to boost the production of endorphins in the brain and while under its influence happier memories seem to come to the forefront vividly enough that a person thinks they are actually experiencing the event itself. The sensation of euphoria is extremely addicting, but that is not even necessarily the worst part about the drug."

Jeremiah frowned. "And what would that be?"

"The crash afterward," Samantha answered. "In addition to the basic withdrawal that occurs with any narcotic Refrain has an additional nasty side effect. There is not a lot of clinical data on it, but simplistically a person experiencing withdrawal sinks into a hysterical state as if they were experiencing their most painful memories."

The Margrave's mouth tightened and Samantha nodded.

"As if it were a reverse of what they experienced while they were experiencing euphoria. As I said, the medical community still does not quite understand just how Refrain is managing to trigger memories, but the preliminary findings were enough for the government to ban it outright."

That really said something about how bad the drug was, Jeremiah understood. The Empire was pretty lax about what one did for their own recreation, but certain drugs and activities that tended to impose a wider social cost were regulated. To be banned outright took something really special.

"If the crash is this bad, why would anyone take the drug?" Jeremiah asked.

"The severity of the crash depends primarily on how large a dose one has taken," Samantha said. "As with many narcotics initially one does not need a large dose to experience a strong reaction. And again as with other narcotics over time the body ends up building a small resistance to it, requiring a larger and larger dose. The few deaths that are on the medical record are not from what would traditionally be considered an overdose, in other words it was not due to any toxicity due to the amount of Refrain in a person's body. It was due to the shock from the severity of the crash."

"I see," Jeremiah said. "And I begin to understand just why her Highness reacted so, strongly to the news." The man's eyes narrowed. "If the Duke of Windsor really is responsible for this, then Niflheim would be too kind a place for him after the Viceroy calls him to account."

Samantha glanced over at Jeremiah. "Temper your anger, Margrave. While I do not disagree with the sentiment regarding the guilty, guilt has not yet been established. It is when we predispose ourselves that we make mistakes, mistakes that see the innocent punished and the guilty free to continue their transgressions."

Jeremiah said nothing for a few moments before finally nodding. "You are right, colonel. I suppose I think too much like a soldier sometimes, where matters are simpler. I kill or be killed, there is no ambiguity or doubt there."

"You give yourself too little credit," Samantha said, eliciting a quizzical gaze from Jeremiah. "One must show measured judgment as much as quick reflexes upon the battlefield, lest one misstep and see not only yourself killed but also your comrades. You are a leader, Margrave, and I have seen no reason to regard you as a poor one."

Jeremiah smiled slightly. "My gratitude, Colonel. Your confidence I find most heartening."

* * *

Ohgi was in way over his head. Not because he was somehow indecisive or hesitant but simply by virtue of the fact that there was literally nothing he could do right now to make things better. At this point all he was good for was helping hold down Kouzuki as she screamed and cried from the nightmares tearing her mind apart. The doctors had already administered as high a dosage of painkillers as they dared, anything more was liable to put the woman into cardiac arrest. Right now the only thing they could do was try to make her as comfortable as possible and pray that she was strong enough to make it out of this. From the expressions of the nurses and doctors, Ohgi could tell that they were not optimistic. But they would try, none of them would give up on a patient until the very end.

Kouzuki collapsed onto the bed, her body momentarily so far beyond the point of exhaustion that she finally fell into a restless sleep. Ohgi sat back, his own face awash with sweat. It was hard, so hard watching the mother of his best friend reduced to this. Even worse was what he was going to tell Kallen and Inoue. There was no way he could hide it from them, that would be colossally stupid. But the reactions of the two women would not be pretty and Ohgi was especially worried about Kallen going on a rampage after finding out her own mother had fallen victim to the Refrain they were busy working on taking out the source of. And Inoue, sometimes Inoue scared Ohgi even more than Kallen. Inoue was more patient, more methodical. If she decided to pursue an open campaign against all of KBR Ohgi had little doubt many of the company's offices would be rubble by the end of the month.

"Ohgi-san."

The call of his name stirred the man from his moody preoccupation and he looked up to see the doctor that had called him in.

"Kuroba-sensei," he rose in greeting.

"I have not had a chance to thank you for coming," the doctor said with a bow.

"No, I should be the one thanking you for calling me," Ohgi insisted. "I've known Kouzuki-san for many years, she's been like an aunt to me. And after everything Naoto and I have been through together, I would not leave his mother alone at a time like this."

Kuroba nodded wearily but the first hints of a smile appeared on the man's expression. They disappeared quickly however.

"She is fortunate to have you with her. Kouzuki-san has, last too much of her family."

Ohgi nodded grimly. And berated himself once more for not trying harder to keep in touch with the woman. He had assumed that with her and Kallen in the same house the girl would be able to keep an eye on her mother but that had obviously not happened. He could not very well blame Kallen for this either, the girl had her own worries and likely would not have noticed the signs even if she was looking. He certainly would have never believed that someone as strong as Naoto's mother would have succumbed to the temptations of Refrain. Now though, now a lot of things seemed less certain.

"Ohgi-san," Kuroba said, directing Ohgi closer to the doorway and away from the bed. "Do you have any way of contacting anyone else in Kouzuki-san's family? Perhaps even her daughter?"

The man blinked in surprise. "Are you-"

"No," Kuroba cut him off quickly and firmly. "No, I am _not_ suggesting we start preparing for the worst. Refrain is an insidious drug, one for which there are few documented treatments for. On the other hand we here at Keio have had more experience than any of us ever would have ever wished for with it and there are a few things that seem to help." Kuroba allowed a pained smile. "Or perhaps we are so desperate now that we are simply grasping for straws. But we must try."

"What are you suggesting?" Ohgi asked.

"The people who take Refrain appear to relive joyful or pleasant memories from the past," Kuroba said, "or at least initially. As the drug wears off they start experiencing the opposite, painful and traumatic memories. But we have observed in a few instances where someone who was present in some of those joyful memories reaches out to a person suffering withdrawal, it can help lessen the intensity of the crash." Kuroba shrugged wearily. "It, is a forlorn hope, but I am afraid that I am at the limits of what my skills can do and pray for a miracle from the gods instead."

Ohgi took a deep breath. "Damn. If only Inoue-san were still here."

Kuroba nodded. "Yes, she too might have been able to help Kouzuki-san weather this. But she is not and I do not believe she is in a position where she could simply return without significant difficulties. Thus I ask of Kouzuki-san's daughter, Kallen."

Ohgi rubbed his chin. He could tell Kallen and she would be down here without hesitation, of that he was certain. But he would need to do this carefully so that the girl did not put herself at risk in reaction to the news.

"I can get in contact with her," Ohgi finally said and the first look of hope that he had seen in the doctor since arriving shone. "It'll take a few hours to get her out here, but I think I can do it."

"That is more than I dared hope for," Kuroba said, head bowed low.

"I'll need to go make some calls," Ohgi said, glancing over at the bed.

"Do not worry, we will keep a watchful eye over her," the doctor assured him.

Ohgi nodded his thanks but lingered. "What about Inoue-san? I think we should at least tell her about this. She, wouldn't take kindly to being kept out of the loop."

"I will inform her myself," Kuroba said. "We have contacts with the Sumeragi family that I can get in touch with."

"I appreciate you doing that sensei," Ohgi said with evident relief. "Breaking this to Kallen is going to be difficult enough."

"I have faith in Inoue-san's judgment," Kuroba said. "I believe she would not do anything that would earn the disproval of one she considers a mother."

From that angle Ohgi supposed that was true enough. Naoto's mother would not approve of the girl that nearly married her son going on a rampage for her sake. Hopefully she would not take out her frustration on him instead.

* * *

Inoue's hands were still shaking when she finally put down the receiver and the servant that had brought her to the phone looked on worriedly.

"Is something the matter, Inoue-sama?" she asked respectfully.

"Yes," Inoue said softly. "Yes, something is, and I can't do anything about it."

"Do you wish to speak with Ichijo-sama?" the servant asked.

Inoue stood there silently before finally shaking her head. "No, that'll be alright, thank you. Other people I trust are looking after the matter and I should let them do so without fretting over it."

"Very well madam," the servant said before bowing. "If there is anything else you require, please do not hesitate to call upon us."

The woman walked off to attend to other duties leaving Inoue alone in the hallway. She remained like that for several minutes, grappling with the news Kuroba had just informed her of. Kouzuki Kotone had appeared at the Keio medical campus seemingly in a daze to report for her shift at work. Work that she had not done for years after the invasion of Japan. Kouzuki Kotone, the woman who would have been her mother-in-law had the invasion not happened, had taken a massive dose of Refrain and was even now fighting for her life, all while she was stuck here in the Sumeragi main estate trying to trick the Britannians into going after KBR. Inoue's fist slammed against the wall.

What was she doing? She had been treating this too much like a game, even after getting shot and nearly killed on the supply depot attack. If she had to sacrifice being there for only mother she had left she needed to drop the slow and steady approach and drop a bombshell that the Viceroy's representative could not ignore. Inoue looked up with a feral sneer. And she had just the thing.

An hour later when Jane Eyre, personal assistant to the Princess Euphemia, entered the room she found a calm and composed Japanese woman seated at the table awaiting her. Inoue did not stand to greet Jane or Ichijo accompanying her, instead holding the woman in her gaze and following her every motion. Jane did not let the other woman's seeming rudeness perturb her, instead taking a seat herself before beginning introductions.

"I am Jane Eyre, a member of her Highness Princess Euphemia's administrative staff."

"Naomi Inoue," Inoue answered blandly.

Jane frowned ever so slightly as she wondered just why the other woman was behaving like this. The report from Lieutenant Blanche had indicated a willingness to collaborate on the part of this Inoue person. Had something happened in between then? Was she reconsidering her accusation? For that matter was there any truth behind the accusations to begin with?

"Her Highness has requested that I interview you to learn what you have uncovered about the trafficking of Refrain in the outer Tokyo districts," Jane said, deciding that the only way to get answers to any of her questions was to ask them. "If you could please tell me what you know about the dealers and their suppliers."

Inoue tilted her head slightly before speaking. "The dealers tend to be petty criminals, gangs, and the like. Some of the larger ones act as middlemen for the people selling on the streets and get their wares from closer to the source, one such being Britannian officers up on the take."

Jane's eyes widened and she glanced over at Ichijo, the Japanese man looking as surprised as she felt. This was apparently news to him as well, something that Inoue had held back when she first revealed knowledge of the trafficking.

"Do you have proof of the complicity of Britannian military officers in this matter?" Jane asked.

"The quarter master of one of the outposts outside of Tokyo proper," Inoue said. "I believe he suffered a most fatal incident. A bomb hidden in his desk."

Jane's breath quickened at what could only be interpreted as an admission of responsibility. How else could an Eleven know exactly how a Britannian officer was murdered? And what could this woman possibly want badly enough to take that kind of risk?

"Are you certain of this," Jane said slowly.

"Midori K, two thousand pounds," Inoue said instead of answering directly, "twenty thousand pounds."

Jane looked at Inoue in confusion.

"Ayane R, five thousand pounds," Inoue continued, "eighteen thousand pounds."

Jane blinked, as did Ichijo as a sense of horror began building within them.

"Naomi M, three thousand five hundred pounds, twenty-four thousand pounds."

Inoue's eyes flickered with the hardness of steel as she gazed at Jane. She continued rattling off names with two monetary values accompanying each. Had there been one Jane would have simply assumed it was the debt that each addict owed to a dealer. Two however, and the fact that all of the names were obviously female, and a sick feeling quickly filled her. She sat stock still for over a minute as Inoue reeled off well over a dozen names. In fact the Japanese woman would have likely continued on had Jane not finally rediscovered her voice.

"Stop."

Inoue's mouth hung open for a moment before it closed quietly. Jane took a deep breath as she tried to compose herself.

"Where did you get those names and figures from?" the Britannian woman asked.

"A ledger that was in his possession," Inoue answered calmly.

Was. Jane fought back a grimace. "You remembered all those names."

Inoue smiled mirthlessly. "I have a photographic memory. I have no need for Refrain to re-experience the joys or sorrows of my past."

Jane's eyes narrowed. She needed to focus, to not be distracted from her duty despite the turmoil in her stomach.

"You have a photographic memory, meaning you remember all the names and figures from the ledger. Could you reproduce it in its entirety?"

Inoue glanced over at Ichijo. "Could I have a pen and some paper?"

The man nodded to a servant and within seconds both were placed before Inoue. The woman picked up the pen and twirled it once before popping off the cap and writing. Jane watched as Inoue filled page after page and the sick feeling threatened to boil over. KBR's reputation for greed was well known even amongst Britannians and it was a given that its executives would resort to unsavory means of bolstering the company's bottom line. Disregard for safety regulations, use of forced labor, the ability to utilize such cost cutting means was one reason why the company sought to do business in Areas still undergoing development. But to sink so low as to engage in drug and human trafficking? That was a new low for even that company as far as Jane knew. But perhaps not, perhaps the rot had always been there and like so many others she simply had been willfully blind to it.

As Inoue finished writing the same servant stepped forth and gathered all the papers together and laid a thick stack before Jane. The Britannian woman looked down at it and then back up at Inoue.

"The risk that you are taking is immense," Jane said.

"Risk? My entire life has been a risk since the invasion," Inoue said coldly, sweeping her arms aside. "I have nothing left to lose anymore, my parents are dead, my fiancé is dead, and one of the few people that I consider to be family is in a bed at the hospital because of this fucking poison. Risk?" Her fists slammed down on the table. The word was effectively spat out. "I have not taken damn near enough risks if this is what my life has amounted to."

Jane was taken aback by the vehemence of the other woman's words. The vehemence, and the bitterness. To be a Britannian was to live in relative privilege and comfort. To be a mere Number however was to suffer under the heel of the Empire, to be deprived of opportunity and even hope. The anger that such people must inevitably feel was a given and something of an existential worry for full blooded Britannians. In some ways fear of that anger was what drove some of the Empire's policies, to ensure that no mere Number would ever have a chance to get back at their oppressors. At the same time it was abundantly clear to Jane that those policies simply led non-Britannians to pursue alternative, far more violent means to avenge themselves, means that one Naomi Inoue was obviously quite capable of if the suspicions about her involvement on the KBR attack and now the murder, no, assassination of the Britannian supply officer were validated. Jane looked at the stack once more.

"I cannot condone anything that you may or may not have done," she said without looking up. "That is beyond my power or authority." Jane raised her head and held Inoue's gaze. "I will however speak truthfully to her Highness about what you have told me this day."

"I do not ask for forgiveness or pardon," Inoue said with a slight smile. "That will come when I meet my family once more."

Jane's head lowered ever so slightly. "There is still someone you consider to be family, no?"

A surprised expression crossed Inoue's face and Jane smiled gently.

"Be there for that person, Ms. Inoue." Jane stood and picked up the large stack of papers. "Should the Viceroy have further questions for you, I trust I will be able to call upon you at the Keio campus, correct?"

The surprise stayed on Inoue's face as she nodded. Jane glanced over at Ichijo.

"The Viceroy's office thanks the Sumeragi family for their assistance in this matter, Mr. Ichijo. If you would please see to it that Ms. Inoue is returned to her residence safely?"

Ichijo seemed as taken aback as Inoue as he uncharacteristically stammered a response.

"O-of course, Dame Eyre."

Jane nodded to both and left without further ado and for a moment Inoue and Ichijo simply sat there motionless watching her go. Only after the door closed did the two stir.

"Well Inoue-san," Ichijo said. "I hope you have enjoyed the Sumeragi family's hospitality."

Inoue smiled weakly. "That I have, Ichijo-san, though I honestly was not expecting it to end so abruptly."

"Neither was I," Ichijo said as he stood. "By the way Inoue-san, I understand that you were, caught up in the attack on the KBR supply depot."

Inoue raised an eyebrow. So they were still going to play along with that fiction.

"Yes, I was caught up when others attacked the place."

"I, no, we are curious," Ichijo emphasized ever so slightly. "Had the place not been destroyed that day, what would you have done after confirming it was a source of Refrain?"

Inoue allowed a hungry smile. "I would have, passed on the news to those I knew could do something about it. Someone like a certain, red knight."

Ichijo kept his face expressionless but Inoue could see it in his eyes, she had his full attention.

"Before you do leave, would you perhaps be interested in speaking with the young mistress?" Ichijo asked.

Inoue opened her mouth to say yes but suddenly found herself without her voice. Her jaw tightened and it was with visible effort that she closed it. This was what she had been working towards, what she came here for, to establish a connection with Kyoto House and launch the resistance cell into the big leagues. All she needed to do was stay here a little longer instead of going to Kouzuki's side. Could she do that? Ichijo seemed to sense the conflict in Inoue and stood, his eyes softening.

"Perhaps I could accompany you to the hospital and we can discuss the matter along the way. Once matters have had a chance to settle somewhat, you could return."

A completely natural smile appeared on Inoue's face as she felt the tension bleed out. She nodded.

Outside an armsman wearing Euphemia's coat of arms opened the car door for Jane and the woman climbed in. She sank into the seat, cradling the stack of paper.

"Is everything alright Ms. Eyre?"

Jane looked over at the woman seated beside her and nodded.

"Yes and no, Dame Nu, yes and no."

Villetta frowned. "Do we need to take the insurgent into custody?"

"No," Jane said quickly. "No, that will not be necessary. I have what her Highness wanted. We should return immediately."

Villetta nodded and tapped her radio. "We are withdrawing."

The armored car rolled out and off in the distance the Ranger team Villetta commanded also pulled back. There would be no bloodshed today, not here at least. Sometimes the Empire could get what it wanted without force of arms. Sometimes, but not always.

* * *

Kallen was feeling more than a little impatient. The call from Ohgi had been sudden and unexpected, requiring her to fake an excuse to get out of school for the rest of the day. Fortunately Tamaki was already waiting for her when she left the Concession with C.C. though the normally talkative man was surprisingly tightlipped about why she had been called. He simply repeated the line that she would see what was going on when they got to the hospital, which they were not even directly going to. First was a stop at Ohgi's apartment where she changed into something much less conspicuous. Now that they were actually here at the hospital she was entering through a side entrance while C.C. waited in the car. It was all overly dramatic in the girl's opinion and she intended to give Ohgi a piece of her mind once she got ahold of him. As Kallen climbed the final stair she saw the man peeking out of one of the rooms. It looked like she would be getting her chance soon enough. Kallen stalked over, and came to a halt at seeing another familiar face, albeit one from long ago.

"Kuroba-sensei?" Kallen said, digging the name out from her memory.

The doctor smiled and nodded. "Kallen-san. It has been a long time."

"Yes," Kallen replied, "yes it has." Her gaze shifted back and forth before the two men. "What's going on?"

Ohgi grimaced. "Kallen, your mother, she's here at the hospital."

Kallen frowned. "What? Why would she be here?"

"She," Ohgi paused. This was much harder than he had imagined it would be. "She, was taking Refrain, Kallen."

The girl's body went rigid. In fact it completely locked up, her chest tightening such that all air seemed to be squeezed out. Thus only a rasp escaped her when she next opened her mouth. With great effort Kallen took in a deep breath but the constriction within her chest did not go away. Her Geass activated and a might roar thundered in her head. She paid it no heed, sweeping through the building until she found a familiar form twisting and turning on one of the hospital beds. A familiar form, whose body screamed in agony. Kallen stormed out of the room and headed towards the ward.

"Kallen!" Ohgi called out.

The girl ignored him. With every step she took she could see more of her mother's condition. The raging heartbeat, the dryness of her throat, the gasping of her lungs. With every step she took the next one came faster until she was full out sprinting. As she closed in she started hearing gasps and cries from the room. Inside were two nurses doing their best, sponging down Kouzuki's body to try and keep her body temperature under control.

"MOM!" Kallen screamed as she charged in.

The nurses looked up in surprise and even in a bit of relief. At this point all of them were praying for a miracle and if anyone might be able to effect one for their patient, it was her daughter. Kallen was at her bedside in an instant and took hold of her mother's hand.

"Mom, I'm here, I'm right here," Kallen said.

"Kallen?" Kouzuki whispered. "Is that you?"

"Yes mom, it's me," Kallen said. "I'm here with you right now."

"Kallen," the woman said, tears streaking from her eyes. "You're happy now, right? You have a proper home, food, you can go to school."

Kallen stiffened and as she did so the grip of her mother's hand tightened.

"I couldn't give you any of that, but you have it now, right?"

The girl felt her own heart quicken. When she was made a Stadtfeld she had resented her mother for leaving her with her father, the man that had abandoned all of them when the Empire invaded. As she matured intellectually she began to understand just why her mother had done this even if emotionally, deep down, she still felt resentment. Yet until now she had rarely given much thought to how her own mother must have felt about giving up her own daughter.

The throbbing of her mother's heart quickened. Kallen looked up at the nurses.

"Can't you give her something to calm her down?" she hissed.

"We've already given her as much as we dare," one of the nurses answered. "Any more and her heart might stop outright."

A frantic look appeared on the girl's face.

"Kallen."

She looked back and saw Ohgi and Kuroba entering.

"You need to stay calm," Ohgi said. "We brought you here because we're hoping your presence will help smooth over the painful memories your mother is experiencing, but if you're too excited and agitated that will only make things worse."

The girl took a deep breath, willing herself to relax. Once certain she was in control of herself she looked down at her mother once more with a smile.

"I'm right here with you mom," she said.

Kouzuki blinked, her eyes glistening with tears. "Kallen? Kallen."

With her mother's bare hands in her own Kallen could sense with almost surreal detail the woman's condition. Her body was exhausted, her system in turmoil as the signals from her brain continued going haywire. There was literally nothing the doctors could do to help her and Kallen felt her own panic rising once more. No, she could not lose control. Kallen focused on steading her own breathing, on the beating of her own heart. As she did so, something else happened.

"Sensei, Kouzuki-san, look," one of the nurses murmured.

The doctor walked around the bed to the other side and looked over his patient. He took the woman's other hand and felt for her pulse.

"Her heartrate is slowing," he said. "And her breathing, it's becoming more regular."

Kuroba looked up at Kallen and saw the girl's eyes closed, her face tight with concentration.

"Kallen-san?" the doctor whispered.

No responses came from the girl as she continued consciously measuring every breath, every beat of her heart. And in so doing she felt another's heart, another's breathing align with hers. She felt her mother's breathing steady and the racing of her heart calm. Kallen opened her eyes and saw her mother's chest rise and fall slowly. The woman's eyes were barely open, but even so she still looked up at Kallen.

"Kallen?" she whispered.

"Rest mother," Kallen said.

"But," her words were cut off with a yawn. "I still haven't done the dishes."

"I'll take care of them mother, you've had a long day," Kallen assured her.

A slight smile appeared on Kouzuki's face. "You're a kind girl, Kallen. Just like your brother. Just like your father."

Kallen nearly started at that list bit but she forced a comforting smile to appear. She leaned over and gave her mother a kiss on the forehead.

"Rest, mother. I will see you in the morning."

With those words Kouzuki's eyes completely closed and the woman's form sank into the bed. Kallen rose back up and almost immediately toppled over before Ohgi managed to grab hold of her.

"Kallen," he said worriedly.

"I-I'm alright," Kallen said. "Just, tired. Really, really tired."

Ohgi guided her into a chair and even before she was seated the girl drifted off. Kuroba walked over and took Kallen's hand, checking her pulse. After a few seconds he placed her hand back down.

"She's okay, right sensei?" Ohgi asked.

"She seems to be," Kuroba said before glancing over at the bed. "I, am not sure what just happened."

Ohgi had an inkling but he was not about to share it, not even with someone he respected as much as the doctor. Some things were best kept a secret after all.

"I think," the man said instead, "we got our miracle."

Kuroba regarded Ohgi for a few moments before finally nodding. Regardless of whether he understood it or not, that was something the doctor was prepared to accept.

* * *

Euphie ignored her headache as she continued to work. She had given explicit orders for her staff to not disturb her, though that was looking less and less necessary. It was turning out to be trivially easy to determine where the source of Refrain being distributed by KBR was, almost laughably so. The Blood of the Samurai had at least tried to obfuscate their movements. KBR however had gotten so cocky and overconfident that it was a wonder no one else had discovered this.

No, perhaps that was unfair, as Euphie had access to much more information than an outside analyst could have called upon. The licenses for import of chemical compounds, for manufacturing of other compounds, all of this was something only someone in the Administratum would have access to, and a high ranking someone if the breadth of data was taken into account. Nevertheless with said access Euphie located the production site for the Refrain with little effort.

The chemical compounds that went into Refrain were not terribly exotic, it was the fine control needed for the processes to actually synthesize the drug that could prove tricky. Even then most of the equipment could be bought on the open market and before the invasion Japan was a rapidly developing nation, one with plenty of companies that engaged in the production of industrial chemicals. It would not have been terribly difficult for some enterprising criminal to gather together some leftover equipment and start turning out the drug. KBR, whether out of laziness or sloppiness, had not even bothered with that level of obfuscation. The Refrain it produced came directly from one of the chemical plants it owned in Area 11, specifically the one in Koshigaya City north of Tokyo, a conclusion Euphie arrived at after collating the flow of chemicals, equipment, soil samples, and a dozen other variables available to her. At this point she was certain of the accuracy of her analysis to within a margin of only two or three percent error. Statisticians might still waffle but for anyone operating in the real world that was good enough.

Koshigaya was not one of the designated development sectors, meaning Britannian law enforcement was thin if not nonexistent on the ground. Keeping law and order was effectively left in the hands of the corporate interests with a presence in the city, interests primarily fixated on the bottom line and not on something as troublesome and costly as adhering to worker safety and health standards. In fact Euphie was almost certain that KBR and the other companies were responsible for some of the soil contamination that was creeping towards Tokyo itself. The problem was how to deal with it.

If all Euphie wanted was to shut down the place she could probably leak this information to the insurgent hanging about the Keio campus. The group she was affiliated with had demonstrated at least a willingness to resort to direct action against those they considered to be mistreating their people. Except blowing up a chemical plant was liable to have all sorts of unfortunate side effects well beyond just getting a lot of people killed in the immediate explosion. The resulting spillage would cost a fortune to clean up and the number of people who would end up poisoned even as the government mobilized could easily run into the thousands if not more. At this point Euphie simply did not know if she could trust this particular batch of insurgents to show restraint.

An alternative would be to order the military in and search the place for evidence, but that would be a large scale operation and the inevitable leaking of the plan would see the companies scramble to cover up their wrongdoing. In which case she would be burning a great deal of political capital dealing with complaints from the companies to the disruption of their operations without achieving anything measurable. And a small, targeted operation was not liable to be sufficient either, she needed to nail all of them or the companies that escaped detection would simply carry on as usual. What to do, what to do.

What Euphie needed was an incident, a contained one that was serious enough to warrant mobilization of the military and lockdown of the area but small enough that there was minimal risk of it setting off a chain reaction that would take out the entire area. Using the insurgents was a no-go, they were simply too volatile to entrust with something this delicate. But in truth she did not have to, Britannia after all had quite a few units that specialized in covert and unconventional operations. In fact there was someone she was personally acquainted with who might be fitting for the task. Euphie pressed the intercom.

"Rachel."

"Your Highness, are you finished?" her secretary asked.

Euphie smiled at the obvious concern in the woman's voice. "Just about. Would you please send for Dame Nu? I believe she should be at MacArthur base right now."

"At once your highness."

As Euphie waited for the woman's arrival she began collating all of the relevant data into a single packet of information. She might be able to hold all the disparate bits of information in her head but Euphie understood that not everyone was so similarly gifted, naturally or unnaturally. Better that all of the information the knight needed be ready for her when she arrived than time be wasted during the meeting organizing it. As she worked Euphie tried not to think about the names and figures on the papers Jane brought back. She tried not to think about the boiling rage that nearly exploded from within her as she read each and every page. And she tried not to imagine personally strangling the Duke of Windsor. That would be left to the noose she intended to see his neck in when all this was over.

End of Chapter 19

I believe I said that I was not inclined to try to write around Lelouch's disinterest in romance. And that is entirely true. Anyone who thinks that his relationship with Charlotte constitutes a romance, needs to go get their head checked. We'll see more of Lelouch later, right now he has even fewer appearances than Suzaku. As his plans start advancing however we'll see more of him.

The numbers I've given out are I would actually say somewhat on the low side for an occupying force that's facing an active insurgency, at least if one approached fighting the insurgency like a western military. I think it's justifiable though, but we'll see.

Info dumps can be handled properly via exposition provided by characters in the story, kind of like how I've done with this chapter with the discussion about the JLF, the Britannian forces, Refrain, and so on. One just has to avoid too blatant a rambling otherwise readers risk getting fatigued reading through all the text.

Hopefully this chapter wasn't too preachy, there were times when I felt I might have gotten a bit too heavy handed. As it is the story should be picking up its pace next chapter a bit, I think. I at least want to get the fireworks out of the way next chapter so that cleanup can be concluded in the following chapter.

So, Kallen's leveled up. Makes you wonder what new tricks Euphie will be able to pull in future chapters.

Hmm, don't be too scared of Euphie manipulating you, the worst she could do is make you believe in her so much you're willing to die in her name. Ahem.

Some people have asked whether Villetta would be paired with someone else since I've made clear I consider her relationship with Ohgi to be extremely contrived. Jeremiah is the easy/obvious choice at first glance, the problem being, besides no indication of any sort of actual attraction between the two in the series, if the Britannian military was at all professionally run it would have regulations regarding fraternization in the ranks. Villetta is in the same chain of command as Jeremiah, she's his subordinate, so that would be a big no no. Yes, I am paying attention to details like that. No, I'm not going to ignore them just to accommodate desired developments. Anyway, whether Jeremiah or Villetta ends up with anyone at all will be subject to the progression of the story, so all of you will have to wait and see.

 _In Tune_ , my other fic of equivalent quality, currently stands at about over 380K words. That was approximately fifty chapters, counting the prologue and epilogues, and covered the 26 episodes of Evangelion. And without a bunch of stuff I either forgot to add in or was too tired to fully develop. While no two fics are alike, I would say that story can be used as a rough guideline for how long _A Cold Calculus_ would be, keeping in mind that Code Geass had two 25 episode seasons.

I like to think of myself as one of the more competent writers on this site. Not the best, but certainly someone who makes an effort in making my work readable. Hint, spellcheck works wonders. While I am not so vain as to claim that others should write like me, I will say that I do hope that others regard my work as one standard that they would like to measure against if only from a technical perspective, proper spelling, grammar, and a certain depth in plot. And for the love of god, spellcheck.

I've toyed around with a variety of concepts since starting this fic, though I doubt I will ever actually get to them. One was intended as a romance set in an alternative universe where the world was not such a crapsack and involved basically the unexpected courtship between the noble daughter Kallen and the imperial prince Lelouch. Provisionally titled _A Most Civil Campaign_. It would have been an interesting experiment to see if I could actually write romance of that nature and still keep the characters identifiably themselves. But as I said, probably not going to get around to it, I'm juggling so many things at the same time that my update schedule is looking like it might suffer.

As a general blanket policy I do not accept story requests. See above sentence for reason.

CABAL has been a perfectly genial AI to work with. He even ever so helpfully comes to clear out the angry fans that get stuck between the two Firestorm perimeters. What he does to the people he harvests is of course not my problem. Ahem.


	21. Chapter 20

Snippet spoiler: major

 _While the Empress Euphemia is remembered for her greatness in many things, her legacy is not entirely unblemished. Perhaps the blackest mark against her involves the heralding of the age of nuclear weaponry under her watch. While the initial steps to developing weapons that harnessed the power of an atom began before she was even born, it was in many ways the Empress who set in motion the final pieces to complete the nuclear puzzle. Her sponsorship of Dr. Nina Einstein would result in the first controlled artificially induced fission reaction, an achievement that would draw the attention of the Prince Schneizel. Continued support from the Prince would see the first application of an uncontrolled artificially induced fission reaction with the detonation of the 'Trinity' prototype at Bikini Atoll._

 _In spite of all this the Empress' contribution to the creation of nuclear arms might well have been overshadowed by her many other more positive achievements. This was not to be however due to one singular event of infamy, for shortly after her ascension to the throne the Empress would become the first, and to this day only, person to order the deployment of an atomic bomb. The immediate fatalities ran into the tens of thousands. Of the deaths that followed in the years after due to radiation poisoning, no definitive number has ever been established._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 20: Crescat scientia vita excolatur

Ichijo was remarkably composed for a man finding himself face to face with someone who claimed to be Prince Clovis' killer. Of course it could be he did not believe the young woman standing before him but he had yet to annunciate any doubt on his part. That or he was trying to understand just exactly what the woman's goals were seeing as she was also apparently the one that saved the Princess Euphemia from the Blood of the Samurai. A seeming contradiction, or was it.

"What is it you seek?" Ichijo asked.

Kallen tilted her head ever so slightly, a slight glint bouncing off her sunglasses. It was the only trace of light in the shadows her upper body was bathed in. She folded her arms nonchalantly and leaned deeper into the shadows, the crimson cut of her outfit melting into blackness.

"To help my people," Kallen said.

"And, how did killing Prince Clovis do that?"

Despite the darkness obscuring her face Ichijo thought he saw a grin appear. "We got the Princess Euphemia as Viceroy, didn't we? And it's thanks to me that we still have her, no?"

Ichijo seemed to consider her words for a few moments before nodding. "A fair statement. And it would appear that you are not hell-bent on simple vengeance."

"Hell-bent? No. But I would not say I am entirely disinterested," Kallen said coldly.

The Japanese man shrugged. "A desire for vengeance is entirely natural, but as long as you do not let it cloud your judgment, well, we can come to an arrangement."

The glare from her glasses shifted once more as Kallen nodded. "Then let us come to an arrangement. What does Kyoto House know about the Refrain traffickers?"

Ichijo raised an eyebrow. "You are remarkably forthright, Akakishi-san."

"I know what I want and I see no reason hide it," Kallen said.

"And yet you hide your face."

That smile again, or at least the white teeth behind it. "Because I know what I want, I also know what I need to do to get it."

Ichijo felt a slight chill run down his spine at those words. This girl, despite her apparent youth, was not to be trifled with.

"Kyoto has been looking into the matter since we became aware of it," Ichijo said, "but we have yet to pinpoint the source of the drug. We do believe we have some leads."

"Any that I can follow up?" Kallen asked.

This time it was Ichijo that smiled. "This work requires a more, delicate touch. But rest assured that we are making progress in our search."

"Tch." Kallen rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Inoue's very good with anything that requires a, delicate touch. And she can make sure I'm kept in the loop about any developments."

Ichijo chuckled as his own words were thrown back at him. "That would be acceptable. Inoue-san has proven to have a sharp mind. I expect we will make excellent progress with her assistance."

Kallen stepped out of the shadows and the lights came on, or more specifically a light. Ichijo raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness but from the cracks of his fingers he could make out the young woman's silhouette. Her face was still heavily obscured however, though the man thought he could make out a hint of red hair. A hand was extended towards him.

"To a new dawn for Japan, Ichijo-san."

Ichijo accepted the offered hand. "To a bright future for our people, Akakishi-san."

* * *

"Akakishi?" Ohgi said as Kallen entered the room.

"The Britannians call me the Red Knight," Kallen said as she took off her sunglasses, "and the Japanese call me the Akakishi. Though I wonder which kanji for red that guy was thinking of?"

Ohgi sighed and instead glanced over at Inoue. "Are you okay with going back to the Sumeragi estate?"

"Sure," Inoue replied, "a warm, soft bed, good food, real tea, what's not to like?"

Kallen chuckled and even Ohgi found himself smiling slightly in response.

"I suppose there are worst places to be a guest of," the man said. "Still, be careful. The Sumeragi have been level with us so far, but there's no telling if they might suddenly decide we're a liability and try to tie up the loose ends we would represent."

"I've thought about that," Inoue said, "and I think when the time comes for Kallen to show her face, we use the same disguise we had her in when we hit the KBR depot."

Kallen sighed. "And I had just gotten the dye out of my hair."

"We'll probably want a wig if we need to parade you around as much as I think we will," Inoue said.

The girl nodded, then caught the grimace on Ohgi's face. "What."

The man sighed. "You already know what. I'm not sure I'm happy with the idea of you exposing yourself. If your civilian cover gets blown, you stand to lose a lot more than any of us."

"We've been over this," Kallen said firmly. "I think the risk is worth taking and I'm going to take it."

"I am well aware," Ohgi said, "but think about it from another angle. Right now you're our best source for entry permits, ration tickets, you're effectively our reserve in case things go really south on us out here in the ghettos. But if you get discovered because of the Sumeragi, then it's not just you that would suffer the consequences, the cell would also lose access to all the resources that Kallen Stadtfeld could bring to bear."

Kallen frowned but when she looked over at Inoue she found the other woman actually nodding.

"Ohgi does have a point, Kallen," Inoue said. "I don't think the danger is that great that we shouldn't risk it, but it's also not something we can just blatantly dismiss or ignore. If we're going to win this fight we have to be smart, be aware of as many angles as possible and have lots and lots of redundancy. Let's be honest here, we've been one of the luckier cells thus far. We're pretty well equipped, none of us have ever really faced starvation, and we've scored some pretty major victories." The woman chuckled. "Well, you've scored some pretty major victories."

Kallen cracked a smile but otherwise kept her face serious.

"What I'm getting at is, we shouldn't get too complacent just because it looks like we've made contact with Kyoto House and they seem willing to support us. They already know probably way more than they should about me, but if we can keep a few things in reserve, like Ohgi's warehouse and your connections as a Britannian citizen, then I'd feel a lot better about getting into bed with them."

"Fair enough," Kallen said. "Though if Kyoto House's intelligence network is any good at all they probably stand a good chance of digging up anything we've held back from them."

"True," Inoue conceded, "but at the same time they have a vested interest not to pry too much. It's a give and take relationship, after all, they provide us with support and we fight Britannia. But their support is not worth so much that we would accept getting compromised by the Empire for it. They know that, and they know that if we think they're sniffing around too much, we would rather cut ties than let them dig up too much info."

Kallen nodded. "Alright, that makes sense. So it's sleight of hand then, we show them a Japanese Akakishi instead of a Britannian Red Knight."

Both Inoue and Ohgi nodded.

"I can live with that," Kallen said agreeably.

"Good. Now that that's settled, if you two would excuse me," Inoue said as she stood, "a certain Akakishi has volunteered my services to the Sumeragi."

The redheaded girl cracked a grin. "Enjoy the warm bed and real tea Inoue."

"Oh I will," the woman assured her.

* * *

"Is Kallen absent again?" Milly asked her friends.

Rivalz nodded. "She left yesterday because of some big emergency, it wasn't quite clear what the fuss was."

"I think it might have something to do with her family," Shirley added. "She looked fine herself."

"Hmm, well I suppose that's fine," Milly said. "It'll give her some more time to think before having to deal with Euphie again."

"I wish I had some more time," Rivalz grumbled.

Milly smiled and gave the boy a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Still haven't figured out what you'll ask Euphie for?"

"I just, I mean, what am I even supposed to ask for?" Rivalz said tiredly. "This is like one of those once in a lifetime opportunities that if I blow it I'll always regret it. I mean, I could ask for money, but that just sounds so crass. I don't want her Highness to think I'm some sort of philistine."

Milly chuckled. She wondered if Euphie ever considered the anxiety her actions could cause in others. On reflection Milly decided that it probably was entirely intentional on the girl's part, a way of testing people's character to try to find those that could aid her work. Rivalz was a good, hardworking guy, but Milly doubted he would have the fortitude required for what would be demanded of him if he signed on with the Princess.

"Well you could ask for a scholarship," Milly said. "It's technically a monetary reward but one that is geared towards your own self-improvement."

"Oh come on Prez," Rivalz said with a playful smile. "I know I work a lot of part-time jobs but I'm not that hard up for money. And my family don't exactly need the help to put me through university."

"Perhaps not, but this way you can impress both your parents and Euphie," Milly said. "And you can stop agonizing over what to ask her for."

Rivalz scratched his head. "Maybe. I'll think about it. She won't be here until this afternoon after all, so I still have a few hours."

With that the boy went back to munching on his sandwich. Milly shrugged and did the same. She had given her advice and it was up to Rivalz to make a decision.

"A scholarship would be nice," Nina suddenly said.

The others looked over at their friend curiously.

"What do you mean by that Nina?" Milly asked.

The girl certainly did not need the financial aid either seeing as the Ashfords considered her as much one of their own as Nunnally.

"Well, not necessarily a scholarship," Nina said, "but a research grant."

Milly's mouth opened into an understanding ah. "Still working on the atomic fission problem, Nina?"

The girl nodded. "I have the math worked out, I think, but to actually test any of it would require a lot of really expensive equipment."

The older girl nodded in understanding. The Ashfords were rich, though how much so Milly was only beginning to get a grasp of as she learned the ropes of actually managing the family's affairs from her grandfather. Even they however did not have the money necessary to fund a large scale experiment like that needed to validate Nina's research. At one point they did before their exile from court and perhaps one day they would again, but not now.

"What if," Rivalz began talking around the mouthful of food, only to earn a bop on the head from Milly. He chewed for a few seconds before finally swallowing. "What if I asked for a research grant from the Princess for you?"

Nina's eyes went wide. "But, it's your boon, Rivalz! I couldn't ask you to do that!"

The boy smiled slightly. "Yeah well, there's not really anything I want, and at least this way it will help a friend of mine. And while I don't really understand exactly what your theories are about, if they work they could change the world, no?"

"Well, maybe," Nina said uncertainly.

"Definitely," Milly said, shooting the other girl an encouraging smile before looking back at Rivalz. "But Rivalz, we're talking about a lot of money here. This is way beyond just a simple scholarship."

The boy scratched his head. "Well, I could at least ask her Highness to hear you out, Nina. That'd at least give you a chance, no?"

"It would," Nina said, sounding more confident herself. She smiled brightly at the boy. "Thank you Rivalz, I really, really appreciate this."

"Don't worry about it," Rivalz said, flashing a smile of his own. "It always feels good to help a friend. And if you feel you owe me anything, well, just remember me when you become famous."

Nina nodded, her expression completely serious. "I will."

Milly chuckled but before she could say anything else the bell rang. Rivalz quickly proceeded to stuff his face and doing his best not to choke on the found while the girls calmly wrapped up their lunch boxes.

"Alright, remember everyone, be here promptly after classes end tonight," Milly said. "In addition to Euphie Suzaku will also be joining us, officially to also study for the exams so treat him as you would any other student, got it?"

The others nodded and Milly smiled. Yes, these were her cherished friends alright.

"Then I'll see you all after school!"

* * *

"I didn't think I'd be back so soon," Inoue said wirily.

"Things are certainly moving quickly," Ichijo agreed, "but Akakishi-san was a most, insistent, young woman."

Inoue chuckled. "Don't I know it. Alright, so what do we have on KBR?"

Ichijo waved at all the papers laid out before them. "Quite a bit, but it's all raw data. We have not had time to distill it down to the essentials."

"Alright, fair enough, so let's start filtering. The chemicals that go into making Refrain are pretty straightforward but based on the amount of the drug that's out on the streets they have to be creating it on an industrial scale, which means getting the inputs on an industrial scale as well."

Ichijo nodded. "Much what we thought as well, hence why we have been digging out the shipping records for chemical plants owned by KBR."

"Well," Inoue said as she reached out for a sheet, "let's get started then."

Four hours later Inoue's initial spirit had been stomped flat even as the scattered papers built up into neat stacks. The woman's eyes were a bit hollow at that point though they brightened as a cup of tea was slid before her.

"Oh thank you," Inoue said, perking up a bit.

"I must say, I am impressed, Inoue-san," Ichijo said as a cup was placed before him. "Your grasp of chemistry is, remarkable. And your memory, well, suffice it to say if you ever wish to take formal employment with the Sumeragi family we would be all too happy to have you."

Inoue chuckled. "Tempting, ever so tempting, especially with the good quality tea you serve."

Even as the servants set down the teacups they picked up the stacks of power, making sure to keep them clearly separated.

"The Britannians unfortunately do not seem to appreciate good green tea," Ichijo said as he nursed his own cup. "The majority prefer the black tea of India."

"Not sure why," Inoue said as she took a sip and watched the servants retreat. "I've had black tea and it doesn't come close to the flavor and fragrance green tea has."

"Ultimately to each their own," Ichijo said with a slight smile. "I do not begrudge the Britannians their tea so long as they do not complicate me getting mine. Sadly, the Empire does not reciprocate the mentality."

"Indeed," Inoue said, a thoughtful look crossing her face. "It is telling though, the current viceroy's approach is so different than Clovis' but her ultimate goal is still to tie Japan more firmly to the Empire."

The smile widened ever so slightly. "It might be expecting a bit much to ask for a Princess of the Realm to support granting independence to an Area."

"I would rather ask for an Empire that was less imperialistic," Inoue said before sighing, "but I get your point. I suppose I'm just a bit tired is all, sometimes it feels like the fight against Britannia will go on forever."

"You and your comrades have been on the frontlines of that fight," Ichijo said, "whereas I have been fortunate enough to hide in the shadows in relative comfort, so this may not sound very convincing, but I believe we are at a turning point."

"What makes you say that?" Inoue asked with a curious look.

Ichijo clasped his hands together. "For many years the Britannians showed no signs of ever changing. They squeezed our people and our land of its blood and wealth without any consideration for the damage being done. Does that remind you of anything?"

"Strip mining," Inoue answered immediately.

A corner of Ichijo's mouth quirked up in a half-smile. "Quite. And once they were done nothing would be left of Japan except a ruined pit. That above all else was something the Sumeragi family and the other houses have sought to avert. For a long time, the relative inattention of the Britannians in anything but their own immediate interests meant that despite their disregard for the welfare of our people we could get away with certain things, resettling people whose land was seized, diverting resources to clean up after industrial pollution, and so on."

Inoue smiled mirthlessly. "That must take a lot of money."

Ichijo acknowledged the point with a tilt of his head. "Indeed, it does. But now we have a viceroy that shows a personal interest in the plight of the Japanese people. In the long term, assuming her concern is genuine and she gains the power to actually effect change, then we might achieve genuine prosperity as part of the Empire. Perhaps even greater prosperity than Japan could achieve alone."

"Prosperity, huh?"

The Japanese man regarded Inoue. "Do you disagree?"

Inoue set down her teacup. "Do you know why the Sumeragi family is loathed by much of the general population?"

Ichijo blinked in surprise. "Because they think the Sumeragi betrayed Japan by siding with the Empire, no?"

A dry chuckle sounded. "A lot of people sided with Britannia after the Empire invaded. We might hate them or pity them, but we don't really loathe them. The members of the NAC though, you lot, things are different."

Ichijo frowned. "What do you mean, Inoue-san?"

"You speak of prosperity," Inoue said, running a finger around the rim of her cup. "Has there ever been a point where the Sumeragi have not been prosperous?"

"I, am not sure I understand," Ichijo said.

Inoue tapped the edge of her cup. "How long have you worked for the Sumeragi family, Ichijo-san?"

"My family have been retainers to the Sumeragi for generations," Ichijo answered, though the expression on his face made clear he still did not understand what Inoue was driving at.

"And have you ever wanted for say, a cup of proper tea?"

"Are you saying," Ichijo said slowly, "the people loathe us because we have not had to suffer the same deprivation they do?"

Inoue looked up at Ichijo once more. "Would the Sumeragi ever face deprivation for the sake of Japan?"

"Of cour-" Ichijo's jaw hung open as the man's protest died in his throat. He closed his mouth and regarded Inoue in silence for a minute or so. "The people think the Sumeragi only have their own self-interest in mind, regardless of whether they are helping Britannia or their own countrymen. Is that what you have been getting at?"

"Are the people wrong?" Inoue asked.

Ichijo found himself unable to deny or even respond to the question. He could not dismiss the point entirely now that he was finally confronted with it. A part of him was surprised the thought had never occurred to him before. Perhaps it was a sign of his own blindness due to being part of the Sumeragi household, a bias in favor of the family that had raised him. He was of firm belief that the Sumeragi were good people and despite Inoue's words that opinion remained unchanged. But again, he could not dismiss her viewpoint entirely. Fortunately he did not need to come up with an excuse or defense. The man suddenly stiffened and shot up before bowing deeply. Inoue looked at him in confusion before turning about to see a teenage girl dressed in a traditional hazama enter the room. She cocked her head to the side quizzically.

"Sumeragi-ojou-sama," Ichijo said, identifying the woman in his greeting.

Inoue's eyes widened. She had heard rumors that the headmistress of the Sumeragi family was still a minor but as the saying went, seeing was believing. Inoue stood and offered a bow of her own. No need to be impolite after all.

"Sumeragi-sama, I thank you for your hospitality."

Kaguya smiled. "I should be the one thanking you, Inoue-san. You and your Akakishi have certainly, livened things up considerably the past few months."

Inoue raised an eyebrow. "Livened things up, Sumeragi-sama?"

Kaguya nodded. "Though you might not see it yet, the changes that you have effected will be felt all throughout Japan."

"But for the better or the worse?" Inoue responded.

Kaguya clasped her hands over her chest. "I have hope that it will be for the better, Inoue-san. And while I understand that hope alone will not change the world, hope combined with strength is another matter entirely."

Inoue chuckled. "Maybe so, Sumeragi-sama. But as you said, I do not see it quite yet."

"I understand," Kaguya said genially. "I also understand that there are many things you see that I do not. Would you care to join me for dinner, Inoue-san? There is much I would like to ask of you."

Inoue glanced over at Ichijo and saw that the man was as surprised by the offer as her. Apparently this was not a setup, at least not on Ichijo's part.

"It would be my pleasure, Sumeragi-sama," Inoue said.

* * *

Euphie regarded the sheets of practice problems before her with an amusing wariness, Milly mused. The Princess' grasp of mathematics was absolutely phenomenal and the Ashford daughter wondered at her intuitive ability to perform computations in her head. Where everyone else relied on calculators, Euphie simply glanced at a problem and a few seconds later wrote down an answer. Even more stunning, she had yet to make a mistake tonight. Which made the fact that she seemed so wary of the chemistry problem sets so much funnier.

"Ah c'mon Euphie," Milly offered in encouragement, "you got through the math problems without breaking a sweat. Chemistry is just math using slightly different equations, no?"

"I suppose," Euphie said, "but being able to solve the equations does not mean I understand what is actually happening, or why this equation works and why this other equation is not applicable. There is a great deal of memorization as well."

Milly supposed that was fair enough. Mathematics was abstract after all, while it could describe nearly everything that did not mean the description was easy to translate into things ordinary people found to be tangible. She swept her gaze across the table to see how the others were doing. While neither Rivalz nor Shirley could be termed unintelligent, their level of academic achievement was at best above average and it was with determined effort that they worked through the problems that Euphie had blazed through. Nina was the only other person seemingly able to keep up with the Princess. In fact, she actually seemed to be doing better seeing as she was already making good headway into the chemistry problems. Suzaku was at least keeping pace with the others, though it was clear from the boy's face he did not particularly enjoy working numbers.

"Well, we've been at it for about an hour," Milly said, "so why don't we take a short break?"

The girl clapped twice and from a side door Sayoko and Nunnally entered bearing drinks and snakes. Euphie smiled at the girl, who positively beamed back.

"I think that would be an excellent idea," the Princess said, even rising and walking over to Nunnally. "Here, let me help you with that."

"Thank you Euphie," Nunnally said.

"Does the middle school also have exams right now?" Euphie asked as she walked to Nunnally's side.

The younger girl shook her head. "Nope, no exams, though we do get tested on a pretty regular basis. Just nothing big like what the high school has."

"Oh? Maybe I should have attended Ashford when I was younger, the school I went to had exams at the end of every quarter."

"Ouch," Rivalz winced, nodding in thanks to Sayoko as she placed a drink before him. "Not sure I would have liked middle school nearly as much as I did if I had to do that."

"That does seem a bit stifling," Milly remarked, grabbing a glass for herself. "When would you ever find time to just play and enjoy yourself?"

"I suppose," Euphie said with a slight chuckle as she placed the snacks on the table. "Though I am certain you would have found some way to liven up your environment regardless, Milly."

"It is a skill that has been passed down the Ashford family for generations," Milly proclaimed proudly.

"And you intend to pass it on yourself, I'm sure," Rivalz said with a teasing grin.

"But of course!" Milly's eyes took on a mischievous light. "Are you offering to help me with that, Mr. Cardemonde?"

Rivalz nearly choked on the cookie he was in the midst of swallowing and it took a hearty smack from Suzaku to get the boy breathing again.

"My, I did not know you held Mr. Cardemonde in such high regard, Milly," Euphie said playfully. "Does this mean Nunnally will be getting a brother-in-law soon?"

Milly burst out laughing. "I'm sure Rivalz here wouldn't mind, just as I'm sure he'll turn into a tomato if we keep talking about him like this."

That certainly looked to be true, though whether that was due to the boy nearly asphyxiating versus simple embarrassment was an open question. The look on Rivalz's face made clear he had no intention of answering it either.

"A-anyway," Rivalz said as he cleared his throat. "Your Highness, there was something I wished to speak of with you."

"Ah," Euphie said understandingly. "Please, Rivalz."

"Umm, I've thought quite a bit about your very generous offer," the boy said, obviously trying to sound as polite and composed as possible, "and umm," with emphasis on trying, "I wonder if you might actually listen to a proposal from my friend, Nina?"

Euphie blinked in surprise and glanced over at the bespectacled girl. Nina for her part flushed but did not avert her gaze.

"A proposal?" Euphie repeated.

Rivalz nodded. "Nina's been working on this physics theory for years now, and she's gotten to the point where she can actually test it now. I was wondering if you would be willing to hear her out, to see if it's something you think would warrant a research grant?"

Euphie nodded in understanding as her gaze shifted back to Rivalz. "I see, I see indeed. I would be happy to listen to her proposal, Rivalz, but first, are you certain this is what I wish from me?"

"Yes," Rivalz said firmly. "I thought a lot about what I could possibly ask of you, your Highness, but when it comes down to it, I don't really want for anything. I have my family, I have my friends, and I'm pretty happy where I am. And one of the reasons I'm still alive is because my friends kept their heads when I got shot and took care of me. And Nina, I don't really understand her work, but I'm certain that it could change the world."

Euphie raised an eyebrow and looked back over at the other girl once more. Nina's face was an even deeper shade of crimson than before but again the girl returned Euphie's gaze. Euphie offered a comforting smile.

"Very well then, Nina. What is it that you wish to achieve?"

Nina shot a grateful look to Rivalz before taking a deep breath and began her explanation.

"The work is based off of a model my grandfather derived but one that he never finished before his death. It was originally intended to serve as the primary power source for the prototype knightmare the Ashford Foundation had developed."

By now it was not just Euphie paying close attention, Suzaku's ears also perked up.

"It was before the Yggdrasil drive was developed," Nina went on, "and my grandfather was trying to develop a compact and mobile power system so that the Ganymede prototype could operate untethered. He sought to harness the power from atomic fission into such an energy source."

Euphie pursed her lips thoughtfully. "I am afraid I am not familiar with the concept."

"Do you know what atoms are, your Highness?" Nina asked.

The Princess nodded. "Of course. The fundamental building blocks of, well, everything."

"Atoms themselves are composed of several things, an electron shell and a central nucleus made up of neutrons and protons," Nina explained. "It is possible for the nucleus to decay, to split, and this split is theoretically capable of producing vast amounts of energy. In fact, the energy density of fissionable sources is effectively unparalleled."

"Do you have a number?"

Nina chewed her lip somewhat nervously. "I believe it to be in the millions, if not billions of megajoules per liter, your highness."

Megajoules per liter, units of measurement based on the metric system instead of the Imperial one used by Britannia. Euphie could quite understand the appeal of such a simplistic system of measurement and sometimes felt a pang of envy for those in the scientific fields who got to use it on a daily basis. As it was however the Princess was still more intuitively familiar with the Imperial system and so did a quick conversion in her head. Her breath caught as a number crystalized.

"Billions," Euphie said.

Nina nodded firmly. "Yes your highness."

That seemed absolutely insane, not even Sakuradite had that energy density despite its high efficiency.

"Do you have your calculations with you?" Euphie asked.

Nina pulled out a thick stack of papers stuffed in an overflowing binder. Euphie regarded the other girl.

"You did all this by hand?"

Nina blushed slightly again. "Umm, yes, your Highness. I've, always been good at numbers." The girl's voice trailed off. "It's about the only thing I am good at."

Euphie smiled gently and extended her hand. "I myself have a bit of a head for math. May I take a look?"

Nina thrust the papers forward as her head bobbed up and down. What was supposed to have been a break turned into anything but as Euphie looked over the calculations page by page. Even with her mind sharply focused on processing the numbers however she was still mindful enough to accept the cookies Nunnally offered to share with her. On another piece of paper the Princess began jotting down notes of her own, keeping track of minor errors and discrepancies. To the amazement everyone present, not least Nina herself, after a good twenty minutes Euphie finished going over all of the notes and was circling a very, very large number on the latest sheet of paper she had been filling up. The Princess tapped the number thoughtfully several times with her pen.

"The underlying math is sound," Euphie said, eliciting a hopeful look from Nina. "The few errors I found in your calculations were all minor and do not effect the final result much if at all, certainly not to the order of magnitude needed to suggest any fundamental problems."

Euphie set down the pen and massaged one hand using the other. Nunnally offered up another piece of a cookie and Euphie happily let the girl pop it into her mouth.

"The problem," Euphie said after swallowing, "is that though I can grasp the math, I do not understand the physical principles that underlie them. As such determining whether there is merit in pursuing this work to the experimental stage is beyond my personal level."

Nina sank back a bit, trying to keep both her hopes and disappointment in check.

"May I take these notes, or at least a copy?" Euphie asked. "I wish to consult with someone that I believe would understand the actual concepts beyond just the math."

"Umm, I uh, think so, your Highness," Nina said somewhat nervously.

"Are you thinking of Ll-I mean Earl Asplund, your Highness?" Suzaku spoke up.

Euphie nodded. "Or Captain Croomy. And if neither of them can offer a confident second opinion on the matter, then I think that by itself indicates that the work merits further development."

Nina's eyes widened and Euphie smiled at the girl.

"To do all this by hand is extremely impressive," Euphie said. "I have a hunch that you may well be right about the potentials offered by this, atomic fission, and I look forward to seeing you prove it, Nina."

The girl's eyes seemed to shine behind her glasses and she smiled. "Thank you your Highness, I promise I won't disappoint you!"

Milly chuckled and gave her friend a comforting squeeze of the shoulder. "Well now that that's settled, maybe we should go back to studying for the exams. Though if what you just did there was any indication, I don't think you'll have any trouble with the physics test."

Euphie smiled ruefully. "I may just surprise you yet, Milly." The girl suddenly glanced over at Rivalz. "Well Mr. Cardemonde, you have certainly surprised me this day."

"Uh, thank you, your Highness," Rivalz said with a nervous smile.

"Please, Euphie will be fine," the young woman said with a most charming smile. "And I look forward to what you ultimately decide your boon will be."

Rivalz blinked though he was hardly the only one taken by surprise.

"Huh? But, I just asked you to listen to Nina's proposal," the boy said in confusion.

"Indeed you did, but having seen her work I am of the firm opinion that it is I that have come out ahead this evening," Euphie said with a most beatific smile. "If anything you have placed me even further in your debt."

Rivalz's jaw worked soundlessly as the boy tried to figure out something to say in response to that.

"And besides," Euphie said almost mischievously, "what fun would it be to let you off that easily?"

Milly burst out laughing and was soon joined in by the others. Rivalz was the last to do so, his own noticeably more nervous as he sank into his chair. One thing was made perfectly clear though, the Princess really was something else. Rivalz wondered just how long she would be able to string him along with this boon of hers. And whether he would ever be able to actually enjoy it.

* * *

Kallen woke to the sound of her cellphone ringing. She did not answer immediately however, instead checking on the sleeping figure on the bed beside her chair. Her mother's breathing was still even, her heartbeat steady. Only after having confirmed the woman's condition did the girl check the incoming number. It was Inoue.

"What is it," Kallen said without preamble.

"We've found it," Inoue replied equally curtly.

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "Where."

"A chemical plant run by KBR up in Koshigaya," Inoue answered. "I'm at least 80% positive it's the place."

"Does Kyoto have anything on the place?" Kallen asked.

"Quite a bit," Inoue said. "Look, they're willing to provide support for a hit, but they have a couple of conditions."

The girl frowned. "What sort of conditions?"

"Just blowing up the plant's going to end up poisoning the surrounding area with all the chemicals stored onsite," Inoue said, "not to mention the likely secondary explosions we'd trigger at the other chemical plants in the area. Kyoto doesn't want that happening, and I agree with them on this."

"Me too," Kallen said. "All that'd accomplish is get a lot of people killed and destroy all the evidence in the process."

"Exactly. So they're recommending a more subtle approach."

"Which is?"

A brief pause passed before Inoue continued speaking. "They want to discuss it in person. Meaning you and the, other, leaders here."

Reflexively an eyebrow rose on Kallen's face despite Inoue obviously not being around to see the expression. The ramification of the older woman's words was not lost upon Kallen however, or rather ramifications. The most obvious was that with the core leadership of their cell gathered together, if the Sumeragi family intended to betray them this would be the perfect opportunity to do so. Kallen doubted there was much risk of that however and so did not spend any time worrying about it. The really interesting bit was Inoue's reference to the 'other' leaders. Practically speaking Ohgi was the defacto leader with Inoue acting as his deputy. Kallen tended to be their ace in the sleeve in the field, but operational command was almost always in the hands of Ohgi or Inoue. On the other hand it appeared that the Sumeragi family at least was assuming that she as the Red Knight was the one truly in charge and Ohgi and Inoue were her deputies instead. Whether this was a good or bad thing she could not tell just yet, but they would need to get their story straight before meeting up with the Sumeragi representatives.

"And you think we can trust them like that?" Kallen asked.

"Well so far everything's been above the water."

Above the water. A code phrase to indicate that Inoue was not under coercion.

"Alright, I'll take care of things on our end," Kallen said. "Are they coming to give us a ride?"

"Yes," Inoue said, "they should be there in about an hour, so be sure to be dressed by then."

Kallen smirked and gave a strand of her red hair a slight tug. "Roger. See you soon."

Kallen flipped her phone closed and after another glance to reassure herself left the room. Ohgi was camped out in one of the offices, commuting back and forth between his warehouse and the hospital and effectively letting Tamaki have the apartment more or less to himself. C.C. was kept more out of sight, her exotic features all too likely to invite unwelcome questions. She would insist on coming along to the meeting however and Kallen was resigned to making sure the girl did not get too out of hand.

As she entered the office Kallen found Ohgi's feet propped up on a desk and his head resting against his chest. The girl unceremoniously poked him on the cheek, causing the man to start.

"Who-wha-where?"

"It's me," Kallen said.

"Oh, Kallen," Ohgi said before letting out a big yawn. "What time is it?"

"Six in the morning. Inoue called, she says they've found the source of the Refrain."

That fully woke Ohgi and the man looked at her with widened eyes. "Where."

"Koshigaya," Kallen answered as she proceeded to repeat the information Inoue had relayed, including the Sumeragi family's conditions for cooperation.

Ohgi nodded as he listened and an eyebrow quirked up at the last bit. "They think you're in charge."

"And I think we should let them keep thinking that," Kallen said.

"Why."

"I've already established a reputation for the Red Knight, if we keep everyone's attention on me they'll be less liable to pay attention to the rest of you. That'll provide some obscurity for you guys to hide behind if anything goes wrong."

"Are you sure it's not because you do want to be in charge?" Ohgi asked.

Kallen snorted. "Oh please, what makes you think I could do nearly as good a job as you?"

The look of surprise on Ohgi's face made abundantly clear that was not the answer he had been expecting.

"I've given you a lot of crap over the past few weeks Ohgi," Kallen said, "and you know why. But you're also the one that kept us alive and together after Naoto died. Do you _really_ think I could have done that?"

Ohgi chuckled humorlessly. "No, no, I don't think you could have."

"That's right." Kallen folded her arms across her chest. "As much as I complain about you trying to coddle me, Ohgi, you do know how to put together a plan and execute it. If we're going to make anything of this, we'll need that as much as my Geass, probably even more so. So, are you in?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "I was not aware I was ever not in."

This time Kallen chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes then."

Ohgi offered a slight smile, one that even if it lacked zeal also lacked hesitation. "So, next stop, the Sumeragi estate." He stood and smoothed out his clothes. "I suppose I should let Kuroba-sensei know that we will be away for a bit."

Kallen nodded. "I'm going to check up on Mom before we head out."

The girl returned to the ward Kouzuki rested in and found the woman still peacefully asleep. A part of Kallen earnestly yearned for her mother to wake while another was reluctant to see the peace this sleep offered her disturbed. Kallen gently caressed her mother's head, running her hands through the older woman's hair. A slight moan escaped Kouzuki's mouth and her eyes flickered.

"Mom?" Kallen said, kneeling down at the bedside.

Kouzuki turned her head slightly to regard her daughter. "Kallen?"

"I'm here Mom," Kallen said as tears started welling up in her eyes.

The woman smiled, her hand crawling forth before Kallen quickly took hold of it and squeezed gently.

"I'm here Mom," the girl repeated.

"Kallen," Kouzuki whispered. "You're my light, my treasured daughter. Please, be happy."

Kallen smiled weakly. "I am happy, Mom. I'm happy with you."

Kouzuki sighed contentedly and her held sank into the pillow once more. With another flicker her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep. Kallen reached out and placed a hand on her mother's cheek.

"I am happy Mom, and I won't ever let you be alone again."

End of Chapter 20

I seem to have a very quiet group of readers.

I really was intending to have the raid on the chemical factory be this chapter but the scenes kind of ballooned. Next chapter then. And with any luck I'll be able to even squeeze in the resolution. Or at least the start of the resolution.

So, any more of you scared of Euphie yet?

Not much to say in the author notes, didn't get any questions since last chapter.

Drop a review with your thoughts or if you have questions. Feedback is after all always appreciated.


	22. Chapter 21

Snippet spoiler: medium

 _Fifty-eight KBR employees formally charged, convicted, and sentenced. Thirty-six commissioned officers court-martialed and stripped of rank. Eighty-seven enlisted court-martialed and dishonorably discharged. Of the guilty eighteen were deemed to have played critical roles in the Refrain and human trafficking operations and handed death sentences. As the direct representative of her father the Emperor, the Princess Euphemia held the power of high, middle, and low justice, which was usually delegated out to the court systems. In this instance however her Highness was directly involved in the prosecution and sentencing of the civilian defendants while her sister the Princess Cornelia personally oversaw the panels that tried the members of the military. With their signatures undersigning the sentences avenues for appeals were limited and most of the guilty simply consigned themselves to their fates. None of the deaths however were as much of a spectacle or as dramatic as that of the Duke of Windsor and his son respectively._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 21: Ex turpi causa non oritur actio

The industrial district of Koshigaya seemed to be perpetually overcast, likely a byproduct of all the fumes gushing out from the various factories. Even though it was the weekend a continuous stream of trucks flowed through, bringing in supplies and carrying away products. With so many workers willing trying to scrape by a living there was no need for the factories and plants to shut down over the weekend, so long as there was a market for their products of course. And when times were hard, the workers could simply be dismissed without having to worry about any sort of severance pay. It was a win-win situation for the various companies with facilities here. And if a certain Red Knight had it her way, before the day was out that would change into a lose-lose.

The truck that rolled into Koshigaya looked like countless others, though it was definitely on the larger side. Inside its trailer Kallen did a final check on the Sutherland's systems.

"Everything okay?" Inoue asked over the radio.

"Yep," the girl replied. "Power's at optimal levels, with this I could fight for hours without running dry."

One of the first things Kallen had asked for was a proper energy filler for the Sutherland. The old one they had for the Glasgow was incompatible and while Inoue had managed to jerry-rig something that could trickle charge the Yggdrasil drive its efficiency was extremely low, never mind the risk of accidentally frying the Core Luminous if there was an unexpected current spike. Now though with the assistance of the Sumeragi family the Sutherland was in close to peak condition and ready to strike at the very powers that it was built to fight for.

"Alright, one final review of the plan," Inoue said. "Your objective are the security checkpoints and the administrative offices of the KBR factory. Those can be safely destroyed without risking detonating any volatile chemicals in the plant. If security forces respond with enough firepower to actually warrant a fight however, you are to pull back to point 3B. The factories there are all engaged in manufacturing machine goods, so in theory there is not any risk of you accidentally blowing something up."

"So long as the records Kyoto has are accurate."

"Indeed. But so far everything's checked out. And we're running out of time as well, don't you need to get back to school soon for exams?"

Kallen growled. "This is much more important than exams."

"And what did we say about needing to maintain your cover?"

Kallen grumbled but kept the mic muted. Apparently satisfied that her point had gotten across Inoue continued with the briefing.

"We've got three extraction points for you to use to get out of sight. Try to stay within ten kilometers of them, otherwise we might not be able to warn you quickly enough if the military shows up."

"Gotcha."

The truck came to a stop behind several buildings. Kallen closed down the system checks and powered up the knightmare's appendages. The whine of motors filled the trailer and Kallen felt her blood quicken at the thought of once more riding her stead. A grin slowly formed on her face. The door rose.

"Begin operation!" Inoue's voice sounded.

With a roar the Sutherland rolled down the ramp and shot out into the streets. Kallen did not need to look back to know that the truck was already making its retreat. Her attention was focused on the gate three blocks down and closing. Countless bystanders gawked at the Sutherland as it thundered past. Many of them stopped gawking and began scrambling away when the knightmare raised its rifle. The guards that were peering curiously at the oncoming mech did much the same and it was the only thing that saved them as a burst of rounds smashed through the checkpoint.

Screams now filled the air but Kallen paid them no heed. She cut through the lot of the KBR facility and took aim at the second guard post. This time someone was actually crazy enough to shoot back at her but the rifle rounds simply bounced off the knightmare's armor. Such courage, or insanity, deserved note. Kallen continued her charge and still the guard kept shooting. The expression on his face though made clear he was probably pissing his pants. At the last moment Kallen swerved about, a burst of pressure hitting the man and sending him sprawling onto the ground. He was still alive, probably, and Kallen headed for the third guard post. This was also the closest one to the administrative building and Kallen had left it for last to give the people inside more time to evacuate. She watched in satisfaction as people streamed out before physically smashing the last guard post. That ate up a few more seconds and as Kallen took aim at the building she was satisfied that most everyone was out. Not everyone who worked for KBR was guilty and she would rather not have the blood of innocents stain her hands if she could help it.

Concrete crumbled and windows shattered as Kallen blasted apart the second floor wall. The girl then proceeded to do the same for the first floor, exposing the beams that held up the building. From her view the inside was empty of people and so Kallen began shooting out the supports. Within a few minutes the entire structure began shaking and more and more pieces collapsed on their own.

"Akakishi," the radio sounded, "we've got incoming, pull out."

"Tch, that's rather fast. What direction are they coming from?"

"Northwest. Get to extraction point 8E."

"On my way."

Kallen glanced at the building. It was still standing, barely. The girl focused her senses once more. Could she find where the load bearing beam was, take it out and bring the entire place toppling down? Kallen scanned the area. She could make out all the people fleeing, a few security guards panicking and trying to figure out what to do, but the building remained just that, a building. Steel, concrete, and glass, nothing more.

"Tch. Hell of a time to figure that out," Kallen murmured.

After taking one last shot she turned her knightmare about and began heading for the extraction point. As she rode off a rumble sounded. Kallen did not bother glancing back to see the cause but she was pretty certain the building had finally come down. Apparently sometimes plain old luck could still trump magic powers.

* * *

The svelte figure danced about as she tried to move outside of her opponent's attack line. The thrust that came at her showed that she had not quite succeeded in the endeavor but the beat parry succeeded in pushing away her opponent's épée. The counter attack the young woman launched aimed high but her opponent recovered just quickly enough to parry the blow. The second thrust was met by a mirror of the attacker's own previous defense as she saw her blade batted aside. Her opponent did not take the opportunity to renew her attack however, instead retreating and recovering her defensive line.

The two fencers circled one another, looking for openings to exploit. The first fencer advanced once more, driving forth with her thrust. Her opponent met her blade with her own, maintaining contact while retreating ever so slightly. Apparently sensing an opening the young woman pressed her attack, only to have her opponent stop her retreat and angle her own blade upward. The attacker's blade suddenly found its foible sliding against the defender's forte and was easily pushed aside. The young woman tried to step to the side and execute a hasty retreat but her opponent gave her no such opportunity. A quick lunge landed a score on the young woman's shoulder but a wild flaying of her épée prevented her opponent from turning the initial hit into a complete rout.

Finally able to withdraw, the first fencer tried to quickly reform her defense. Again her opponent declined to grant her such an opportunity, dropping low and stabbing at her legs. The young woman executed a circular parry, managing to push aside the other blade and carrying into an attack of her own to keep her opponent from rising once more. The other woman's blade relaxed ever so slightly and broke contact with the first fencer's. Sensing another opportunity, the young woman pressed her apparent advantage when suddenly her opponent lunged forward. Once more forte met foible and the young woman found her blade pushed completely of the way. This time she had no angle for even a wild attack and her opponent's épée bent into a curve as it scored on the center of her jacket.

The match concluded the two combatants disengaged and saluted each other. Stepping out of the match grounds, both women pulled off their helmets. Euphie gave her head a shake, the bun her hair was tied into swaying slightly from the motion.

"You are improving, your Highness," Jane said, cradling her helmet under her harm.

The Princess smiled ruefully. "But apparently not enough. You still seem able to find holes in my defenses all too easily."

"Your Highness has a tendency to overcommit on the attack," Jane remarked. "It leaves you more vulnerable than you ought to be."

"So you and everyone else I fence keep telling me," Euphie said with a slight pout. "I cannot seem to help it though, when I see an opening I instinctively reach for it."

"You do not necessarily have to train yourself out of that," Jane said. "If you take care that you are always angled to parry a counterattack, that would also eliminate the weakness of your stance."

Euphie regarded her epee thoughtfully. "Perhaps so. I suppose I am letting the fact that fencing with an epee is a first touch scoring system lull me into too aggressive a stance. Perhaps I should try foil more often, where I actually have to worry about right of way."

Jane smiled. "I am sure my uncle would be more than happy to demonstrate to you the proper techniques, your Highness."

Euphie chuckled. "Oh come now Jane, I can't even defeat you, what chance do I have against the Brigadier?"

"One never knows without trying," Jane said playfully.

That elicited another chuckle. "True enough. Well, shall we see if my trying will finally allow me to win a bout against you?"

The woman glanced towards the clock. "Ah, should your Highness not spend a bit more time preparing for the upcoming exams?"

The Princess sighed. "Must everyone keep reminding me of them?"

Jane smiled gently. "We but do our duty, your Highness."

"Very well, very well," Euphie said with feigned capitulation. "But first I intend to spend a good while in a nice hot bath."

The two armsmen standing watch over the Princess did their very best to keep from openly smiling. The pointed gaze from Jane simply reinforced that they had best show proper restraint. As it was the two were getting quite a view with Euphie in the form fitting fencing outfit. Little wonder that this particular shift had no shortage of volunteers for.

As the two women arrived at the sword rack the door to the gym opened and a soldier entered and snapped a salute.

"Your Highness, an incident has arisen in Koshigaya."

Euphie immediately latched onto the city name.

"What?" the girl hissed.

"There has been a terrorist attack on the industrial district," the soldier explained. "Reports indicate a red Sutherland was responsible, though the extent of the destruction is still unclear."

Euphie's eyes narrowed dangerously. A red Sutherland. A red knightmare. A Red Knight.

"Is there any risk of detonations of any volatile chemicals stored in the area?" Euphie asked.

"At present we do not believe so your Highness," the soldier answered.

"Very well." Euphie dropped her epee into its scabbard and let the sheathed sword drop into its slot before glancing over at one of her armsmen. "Get me a secure line to General Darlton and Dame Nu."

"Yes your Highness," the guard said before speaking into his radio.

"Dismissed sergeant," Euphie turned back to the soldier.

The man saluted and took his leave. Jane similarly bowed before doing the same, leaving Euphie to handle the latest crisis of her administration. If the Princess found need for her she would be called upon again but for now Jane got out of Euphie's away.

It did not take long to get Andreas or Villetta on the line and the guardsman handed Euphie his radio once they were ready.

"General, are your follow-up forces ready?" Euphie asked without preamble.

"Only two platoons were in position, your Highness," Andreas replied. "The rest of the company had not been reassembled yet and what elements are ready for deployment are here at MacArthur base."

"And the engineering elements?"

"They'll need at least another two hours to finish prepping, right now they're grabbing chemical warfare gear from other units."

"Then this will have to do for now," Euphie said. "Dame Nu, have you finished reviewing the data on the KBR chemical plant?"

"Yes your Highness."

"I want you to take operational command of the platoons and deploy them around the site to keep anyone from getting back in," Euphie ordered. "Take custody of anyone who is still onsite. General, get the rest of the company concentrated as quickly as possible. Once the engineering teams are ready, I want them to go over the site with a fine comb, leave no stone unturned."

"Yes Highness," Andreas acknowledged. "And what of the insurgent that launched the attack?"

"Were you able to track the knightmare?" Euphie asked.

"To a degree," the general replied. "It disappeared into the service tunnels leading out of the city but we have drones in the area on the lookout for anything big enough to haul a knightmare."

"Keep at it," Euphie said.

Though this Red Knight might have provided her with an excuse to go after the KBR facility, Euphie was loathe to let a renegade knightmare move about as it pleased. And whatever personal gratitude she owed the woman for saving her and Nunnally's life, that did not outweigh her responsibility as viceroy to clamp down on the insurgency.

"I will be joining you at MacArthur base shortly General," Euphie said into the radio.

"Acknowledged your Highness, we will await your arrival. Darlton clear."

Euphie handed the radio back to her armsman and headed for the locker rooms. It appeared she would not have time for a bath after all.

A little over forty-five minutes later after a very quick shower Euphie stepped off the helicopter and was greeted by a saluting Claudio Darlton.

"Your Highness, the general is waiting for you in the situation room."

"Thank you lieutenant."

With her customary pair of armsmen trailing her and Claudio himself at her side Euphie hurried over to the command center. Soldiers all along the way snapped to attention as she swept past, cutting quite the figure with her austere business dress. The Princess herself had a stern visage on her face, one of steely and uncompromising determination. When she entered the situation room those that glanced in her direction all instinctively shot to their feet and saluted. Only Andreas did not look like an awestruck youth, his motion crisp and measured as always.

"Your Highness."

"The current situation, General," Euphie said as she walked to his side.

"I have one platoon on the ground already your Highness," Andreas answered, "with a second expecting to arrive within the next half-hour. The other two platoons are concentrating now on-base and will be leaving within the hour along with the engineering teams, estimated travel time to Koshigaya is approximately twenty minutes."

"And has anyone attempted to enter chemical plant since the attack?"

"No Highness, in fact there is a steady stream of people fleeing the district even as we speak. I expect within the next few hours the place will be effectively deserted."

"Good. And have we received any word from the corporations?"

"Some panicked inquiries and requests for the military to do something about the attack. Nothing we did not expect before."

"And Dame Nu, there is not any difficulties with the unit under her command?"

"The Captain is carrying out her duty," Andreas said. "Thus far there has not been any complications with the units under her command."

Euphie nodded. "If she performs to expectations, I will have other duties that have need of her."

And if she did not, would the Captain find the Princess having less use for her, Andreas considered. The Princess had a ruthless streak, that much the General was certain of. But to what degree Andreas was still not certain. A certain ruthlessness was necessary in a leader, hard decisions could not be made by the squeamish after all. But an excessive degree of ruthlessness was simply wasteful and a proper leader could not afford to be wasteful. Did the Princess already know this, or was she still too young to have learned that lesson.

"General, Captain Nu is on channel 6 with a report sir."

Back to his duty. Andreas picked up a headset and presented it to Euphie. The Princess put it on and nodded to the General. She at least knew to delegate responsibility.

"Captain, this is General Darlton," Andreas said into his own headset.

"Sir, my forces have secured the perimeter and are awaiting further orders."

"No one has attempted to enter the plant, Captain?"

"No sir, and my own troops have remained at their stations."

"Very good Captain-"

"Sir!"

Andreas and Euphie both looked up as an operator shouted back.

"We're seeing movement! An unidentified force!"

Andreas frowned. "Hold one Captain." Then to the operator. "Feed to main monitor."

The video from the drone was shifted to the large monitor at the front of the room and Andreas studied the huddle of men and vehicles that were approaching Villetta's position.

"More insurgents?" Euphie asked.

"No," the General said, "no, I do not believe so." He tapped his radio again. "Captain, we have incoming approaching your position, they appear to be a Britannian force."

A pause. "I see them sir. They look to be PMCs."

This time it was Euphie that frowned and she glanced over at Andreas. "Private military contractors?"

Andreas nodded. "Mercenaries in all but name. And the fact that they are approaching the Captain's position can only mean one thing."

"They are under contract with KBR," Euphie agreed before tapping her own radio. "Dame Nu."

"Highness?" Villetta said, only a hint of surprise audible in her tone.

"This is a direct order from your Viceroy," Euphie said. "You are not to permit anyone not directly authorized by myself or General Darlton to set foot within the factory. You are also granted authorization to use lethal force to stop anyone who attempts to defy my directive. Am I understood?"

"Yes, your highness!"

Euphie keyed off her pickup and looked back at Andreas. "Is there any way we can get reinforcements to her more quickly, some air support, anything?"

"We can have gunships in the air in five minutes, but they will still need another twenty or so to reach the Captain's position."

"Do it," Euphie ordered. "Unless I'm mistaken that many mercenaries could actually stand a chance of breaking through Dame Nu's cordon."

Andreas nodded grimly in agreement. Normally it would be unthinkable for mere mercenaries to openly challenge the Britannian military, but considering the forces under Villetta's command and if KBR was desperate enough they might try it.

"Captain," the General spoke into his radio again, "we are scrambling reinforcements, ETA twenty-five minutes. Hold until then."

"Understood sir, Nu clear."

As Andreas turned to issue the deployment orders another voice cut in.

"Excuse me my lords and ladies," a jovial voice said, "but might I offer the assistance of the ASEEC for this matter?"

Euphie immediately identified the voice and felt her jaw drop at the sheer audacity of this interruption. Andreas was certainly no less surprised but his reaction was more measured.

"Earl Asplund, if you have been tapping the command channels again you and I will be having words."

"But how else am I to know when you might have need to call upon my masterpiece?"

"Earl," Andreas began.

"General, see to the deployment of our forces," Euphie cut in. "I will handle this."

To the General's credit a mere second passed before he nodded curtly and began issuing deployment orders once more, after one final aside.

"Earl Asplund, switch to channel 17, her Highness will discuss the matter with you there."

Euphie quickly made to switch herself. "Earl Asplund, are you there?"

"Please, just Lloyd is fine."

"As I was saying Earl Asplund," Euphie repeated pointedly, "this is a military operation, not a field test for the convenience of the ASEEC. The force composition was selected based on the requirements of the mission and Lancelot was not included because its capabilities were not needed for the mission parameters. Am I clear, Earl?"

"Yes your highness," a female voice responded instead of Lloyd, Cécile apparently deciding to cut in before her nominal superior dug himself into an even deeper hole, "I apologize for Earl Asplund's disregard for military protocol and I promise it will not happen again."

A muffled protest in the background carried through before being abruptly cut off by a strangled sound and Euphie resisted the urge to snort. She had laid down the stick and it was now time to dangle the carrot.

"So long as in the future the ASEEC remembers to go through proper channels when offering to deploy the Lancelot I do not foresee any further difficulties," Euphie said before turning to Andreas and making sure her own pickup was still on. "General, how quickly can we get a carrier for the Lancelot ready to go?"

"I believe the ASEEC has one dedicated to their knightmare," Andreas said, switching his own headset to the appropriate channel. "I have a slot already allocated for them in the takeoff sequence in five minutes. If they cannot make it, they will need to wait until the end of the queue."

"We will be ready," Cécile assured both of them immediately. "Thank you for your confidence in us, your Highness, we will not disappoint, Croomy clear."

"You had better not," Euphie muttered under her breath.

Andreas politely refrained from any indication that he overheard her as he went back to overseeing the troop deployment. The seconds counted down and soon a quartet of helicopters lifted off from the base carrying another platoon to reinforce Villetta. Right behind them were an equal number of attack helicopters to add some teeth to the force. At that point Andreas looked down at his watch, all the indication Euphie needed to know that this was the slot he was prepared to provide the ASEEC. Except, no plane rolled forth onto the runway.

"Perhaps five minutes was a bit tight to complete their preflight checks?" Euphie suggested.

"If they really had come forth that quickly I would have probably grounded them to make sure they had not cut corners," Andreas stated before addressing the operators. "Prepare to deploy the engineering-"

"Sir, look!"

The General's head snapped in the direction of the voice and quickly locked onto the screen above said operator. Euphie was not far behind and actually gasped at the sight.

"What in the world is that?" the Princess exclaimed.

Andreas' eyes narrowed. "That, looks like the Lancelot. And, some sort of additional module."

"Some sort of additional-wait, is that some sort of flight system!?"

"I have no idea," Andreas said completely honestly. "I've never seen the like before."

The consternation was obviously shared by everyone else present as hushed murmurs spread through the room. The operators manning the control tower likely also faced similar confusion if the amount of time the Lancelot simply stood there on the tarmac was any indication. Finally however the signal came through that the next departure from MacArthur base was cleared and the knightmare began moving. It picked up more and more speed and as it crossed the runway a pair of boosters ignited and lifted the Lancelot into the air. Somehow, and Euphie was not going to even pretend she understood how, the knightmare remained airborne and even began gaining altitude. Soon enough it was a mere speck in the sky, racing for Koshigaya.

"That's why he wanted to deploy the Lancelot," Euphie sad as she massaged her forehead. "He wanted to test out this new system."

"Evidently so," Andreas agreed.

"I will need to have words with the Earl," Euphie concluded.

That Andreas was also in agreement with. For now however he needed to get the rest of the forces on their way and so the General returned his attention to the task at hand.

* * *

Villetta kept her face composed as she watched the approaching vehicles. The eight Humvees, even assuming they were stuffed with soldiers, did not quite have numerical parity with the platoon under her command. At the same time there was the issue of the troops nominally with her right now, for all of its enlisted and a not insubstantial percentage of its NCOs were Honorary Britannians, all Elevens at that. Then again this platoon and the ones ostensibly on their way to reinforce her had been put together personally by General Darlton so Villetta was less dubious of their worth than she would have been otherwise. The mercenaries stepping out of their vehicles on the other hand looked as disdainful as she herself might have been in their shoes. Villetta let her hand rest on her sidearm, a motion not lost upon the mercenaries or her own troops. Everyone started gripping their weapons tighter.

"Dame Nu," the ostensible leader of the mercenaries greeted. "I must say, your presence here is most unexpected."

Villetta scowled. Of all the inbred noble brats she might have run into, it had to be the Duke of Windsor's own son. The man, not that he was much of one, was well known in Area 11 for his arrogant swaggering and ostentatious extravagance. For all the man's boasting of martial prowess he had never actually served in the military, instead simply playing soldier as a supposed officer in KBR's security division. And now Villetta would have the dubious pleasure of dealing with the man.

"I am here at the Viceroy's order, Lord David," Villetta responded civilly, "and her orders stipulate that none without her direct authorization may enter the premises of this facility."

The ostensibly friendly smile on the man's face disappeared as he regarded Villetta.

"This facility is KBR property. What right do you have to keep me from entering?"

"Any 'right' that you have is trumped by the Viceroy's authority," Villetta said coldly. "If you wish to protest this, take it up with her Highness."

The man sneered. "So you hide behind your orders?"

"I hide behind nothing, Lord David," Villetta replied. "I carry out my duty without hesitation."

The young lord continued staring at Villetta for several seconds before smirking. "Even the Princess has to follow the correct protocol when exercising her authority. Do you truly wish to be associated with such impolite conduct?"

It was all Villetta could do not to snort. This was too rich coming from Duke David's son seeing as he would not know tact or etiquette if it bit him in the ass. Nevertheless losing her temper or being overly snide with the man would not do any good seeing as she just needed to stall long enough for reinforcements to get here, at which point none of his posturing would be of any relevance.

"The politeness of her Highness' order matters not," Villetta instead replied. "She has issued them and as a loyal daughter of the Empire I will carry them out as I have sworn to do."

The young lord sneered. "If you say so, Dame Nu."

To Villetta's surprise the man turned away and walked back to his Humvee. He took hold of a radio and said something into it that Villetta could not make out but the way he continued glancing in her direction with that smirk did not set her mind at ease. And then the smirk turned into an outright grin. Villetta however had no time to continue worrying about it as a shrill whine sounded. A shrill, very familiar whine.

"Take cover!" she cried.

Her soldiers quickly obeyed, hunkering down behind their positions. The mercenaries did likewise, save for the duke's son who simply continued grinning. The pitch of the whining flattened before an explosion sounded behind them. Villetta spun about to see the trail of smoke rising up from the factory. Another whine sounded and she gripped the fence as the ground rumbled once more.

"Locate where that mortar is!" she yelled.

"Yes ma'am!"

"It looks like you're having a bit of trouble there Dame Nu!" the young lord called.

Villetta turned back and glared at the man. "Lord David, are you absolutely insane!?"

"Whatever do you mean?" the man called back.

"This facility has volatile chemicals, you know this! If you accidentally detonate it, we will all be caught in the blast!"

"Oh dear, oh dear, perhaps that is what those terrorists who attacked this place were originally after," the man said in feigned shock. "Perhaps they wanted to lure us out here to kill more of us."

Villetta's mouth twisted into a grimace of disgust but she did not waste her breath trying to respond. "Command, the chemical factory is being hit by a mortar! Do you have a location!?"

"We do," the operator on the other end replied.

"Forward me the coordinates, we'll respond with our own mortar."

"It's, Captain Nu, it's located in another chemical factory. You can't hit it without risking a detonation of the chemicals there."

Villetta's jaw tightened and her eyes seemed to blaze as her glare fell upon the mercenary captain. The man's grin had turned more capricious as if he was enjoying this farce.

"It looks like you know where the mortars are coming from Dame Nu, should your forces not go take care of these terrorists? My men and I would be happy to remain here and keep out any terrorists that might return for another attack on KBR's assets."

It was with utmost difficulty that Villetta did not pull out her sidearm and put a bullet in that smirking face. She restrained herself however, knowing that the military could not be the ones to openly escalate this standoff. They did not have positive identification of the people mortaring the factory after all, the KBR mercenaries could and would deny any involvement and claim that it was insurgents launching the attack.

"Captain."

Villetta was momentarily distracted from her anger as one of her subordinates approached her. She tried to keep her temper down, blowing up when talking to one of her Eleven NCOs would not help the situation.

"What is it?" she asked as calmly as possible.

"Ma'am," the man said in a hushed voice, "we might have an alternative. One of the contingencies we were equipped for was if a mob might attempt to force their way back into the factory. Our orders were to try to minimize civilian casualties so we brought along crowd control munitions, including a flashbang round."

Villetta's eyes widened but for a second before she nodded. "Do it. Command, forward us the coordinates of the enemy mortar, we have a means of suppressing it without risking detonation of the chemicals at the location."

Static filled the radio for a few seconds before an acknowledgment came back and the coordinates were relayed. The soldiers wasted no time however and already had the mortar ready to go as Villetta watched. Her attention was so focused on them that it took her a moment to notice someone approaching from behind. Turning about, she saw that it was the young lord. The smile on his face was gone now.

"Dame Nu, just what do you think you are doing?" he demanded.

"Carrying out my duty," Villetta responded coldly. "Fire when ready."

"Ma'am!"

The man's face twisted in consternation. "Are you mad!?"

"And why would you think that?" Villetta replied. "Or do you perhaps know the location of the attackers? Surely then it would be in your company's best interest that you go and stop them from further damaging KBR's assets?"

Consternation turned into anger as the young lord glowered at her. This time it was Villetta that was smirking however.

"Fire in the hole!"

The thud of the mortar launching never sounded so sweet to Villetta. It took a few moments before loud banging sounds echoed in the distance. The duke's son listened into his radio and Villetta could just barely make out the cries of men momentarily blinded and deafened by the charges her men and launched. She was wrong, this was even sweater a sound than when they were launched.

"You bitch," the man snapped, dropping all pretense of civility. "You think you're so clever? You think you're going to get away with this!? I'll have you thrown out on the streets without the clothes on your back! You'll look back on this day when all you were good for was commanding a bunch of dirty Elevens as paradise!"

Before anyone could muster a response the man cleared his throat. The next moment Villetta felt something wet splash onto her face. Villetta reared back in disgust and swept the spit off her face. All about her the sound of weapons clicking filled the air as her subordinates as one took aim at the young lord. The mercenaries responded in kind, bringing their own weapons to bear. Villetta's eyes burned in anger as she regarded at the man who simply returned the gaze with a glare of his own. The standoff remained in tense silence before a whirling sound filled the air and all eyes were drawn toward the sky. Villetta's eyes widened as the familiar form of a knightmare soared towards them. A flying knightmare.

"That's impossible," she managed to utter.

Apparently not as the ground shook from its landing. And then she recognized the knightmare, a white unit that she had seen only a few times before. The ASEEC's Lancelot, piloted by one Suzaku Kururugi. Villetta smiled humorlessly. First she was sent here in command of a platoon made mostly out of Elevens, now another was riding to her ostensible rescue in a white knightmare. The irony was almost painful for the former second of the Purist faction.

"All non-military forces drop your weapons," Suzaku's voice sounded over the Lancelot's speakers. "Any who do not comply will be regarded as hostiles and engaged accordingly."

The sounds of rotor blades soon drowned out nearly everything else as several helicopters appeared. Two moved off in the direction of the mortar attacks while two others hung in the hair as the soldiers in them rappelled down. The attack helicopters floated ominously, their chain guns spinning up as they pointed towards the mercenaries. The previously cocky KBR operatives were now looking considerably more contrite and quite a few quickly threw down their arms. Others at seeing their comrades give in followed suit and not even the glaring of the duke's son could stop them.

The young lord spun back towards Villetta, his teeth visibly grinding.

"Don't think this is over," he screamed. "My father will have you under the lash before the week is out you bitch!"

Villetta felt her temper flare once more. This man really did not know when to cut his losses, at this point he was simply digging a deeper grave for himself.

"Lord David," a frigid voice spoke, "you have insulted both myself and the soldiers under my command in manners unbecoming of your so-called station. Your conduct is an affront not only to myself and my soldiers, but also to the oaths we swore to the Empire and to her Highness whom issued our orders. If you apologize now I will consider the matter settled. If you decline to do so, I will demand satisfaction."

For a brief moment doubt and even panic crossed Edward's face. But then the man's overwhelming arrogance reasserted itself and he glared back at Villetta.

"You are the one that has shown discourtesy, Captain," the young lord exclaimed, pointing rudely at Villetta. "You dare trample upon the dignity of the nobility with your highhandedness and expect us to simply accept it!? You are the one whom should apologize lest you suffer OUR united displeasure!"

This time it was not just Villetta that stared at the man in stunned silence, even Edward's men looked as if they thought the young lord was insane. If Edward actually expected Villetta to back down however, he was sorely disappointed by her response.

"Very well. Settle your affairs Lord David, for in one week's time we shall see whom the gods hold in their favor. I would suggest you pray, my lord, for the satisfaction that I demand will see your blood personally spilled."

With that Villetta turned her back to the man and headed back to her troops. She did not care a wit whether the Duke's son would construe this as another insult, in fact she hoped he would. That would make what would come in one week's time all the sweeter. As she came before her subordinates it took a moment for Villetta to realize that all of them were saluting her. At first the woman was at a loss of how to respond as she saw that the looks on all their faces, even that of the Elevens, was a profound respect. It was strange to say the least to have people she previously persecuted and even mistreated now accord her with such respect. Yet Villetta found that she could still take comfort in their respect, there was nothing undignified about accepting the opinion of an Eleven. As Villetta saluted she idly wondered if that might have been another reason for her Highness assigning her to this mission. A slight smile appeared on her face. Best not to think too much on that lest she accidentally think the Princess was omniscient.

* * *

Suzaku watched as the KBR mercenaries withdrew, making sure that his guns remained trained on them until they were out of sight. Only then did he relax a bit and start responding to Lloyd's increasingly incessant queries about his knightmare's status.

"The Lancelot is doing fine," the young man said. "The landing does not seem to have worn down on any of the motors."

"So no performance degradation?" Cécile asked.

"None ma'am," Suzaku replied.

"Of course there wouldn't be," Lloyd said proudly over the radio. "We took into account the strain from the force of impact when we programmed in the landing sequence after all."

"The real world often has a different opinion than what simulations produce," Cécile remarked before continuing with Suzaku. "What about the power levels? Our remote probes indicate charge is at only 10%."

Suzaku glanced at the diagnostic display. "Same here, but the Lancelot doesn't seem to be any less responsive or slower even with the power this low."

"Still, watch your energy expenditure," Cécile cautioned. "We're about an hour out and until we get there you're on your own."

"I will Cécile," Suzaku assured her. "But it really is amazing, you actually figured out a way to let the Lancelot fly."

"It's still a work in progress," Cécile said. "The drain on the power supply is too heavy for practical deployment, if you had been dropping into an actual combat zone you would have had only a few minutes of running time."

"Nothing that we will not surmount over time my dear Cécile," Lloyd said chipperly. "The important thing is that the test was a success and we can move onto the next stage of the Lancelot's deployment."

"Well, I look forward to seeing what else you come up with," Suzaku said. "Kururugi clear."

The young man leaned back and relaxed as he watched the activity about him. While the newly arrived soldiers apparently all had orders of one sort or another and hurried about to carry them out, Suzaku really had nothing to do but wait until the ASEEC staff arrived. He wished he could have done something to help but it was pretty clear this entire operation required a rather delicate touch. A part of him was still amazed that the Princess had agreed to send him in the first place. Now that he thought about it, he wondered if her Highness had even been aware of the Lancelot's flight pack. In fact the more he thought about the whole thing the more he was starting to realize that the Princess and quite possibly the rest of the military might not have appreciated Lloyd butting in on the operation. Her Highness could not have been that mad otherwise she would have grounded Lancelot, for that matter she might not have been mad at all. Best not to take her approval for granted however, Suzaku decided.

As Suzaku looked about he saw that as they passed the Lancelot quite a few of the soldiers were saluting him. Not just the other Japanese Honorary Britannians, even some of the regular Britannian NCOs. Suzaku quickly gripped the controls and raised his knightmare's arm in response. These people were courteous enough to respect him thusly, he would at least return it. Maybe one day they would also be as willing to extend that courtesy to him outside of Lancelot as well.

End of Chapter 21

This chapter took a while to get out because I took a bit of time to mentally choreograph the fencing match between Euphie and Jane. I wanted it to be realistic and somewhat fun to read. I'd appreciate feedback on it as well, I'm not sure how well I'm doing the fighting scenes.

I had considered having Euphie be the one to call out the duke's son, but decided that that would have been too heavy handed. Not that she won't have something to say about Villetta's challenge, but for a variety of reasons she can't directly intervene/interfere. But I think you guys will enjoy how the affair ultimately plays out.

Technology in the Code Geass universe is really lopsided. By all rights some of the commercial products they showed imply a pretty sophisticated understanding of physics, materials science, and so on. You don't get cellphones for example without being able to produce integrated circuits and have a very strong grasp of digital signals. Then there are the very large flying ships. The power supply for those things might be sakuradite cores of some kind, which might explain the lack of interest in exploring atomic fission as a source of energy. But the idea that they had never bothered figuring out fission as late as the 60s is a bit hard to swallow. Nevertheless I'm going with it because it's convenient for the story development and it's already in-universe. We're also never given an explanation on sakuradite beyond that it's radioactive and is a high temperature superconductor. There are a few problems with its properties in terms of how its usage is portrayed. I've worked out what will hopefully be a fairly coherent portrayal for my own interpretation that will be revealed over the course of the story. Having said that, it is _not_ going to be playing much of a role in the development of fission weapons. I have something entirely different in mind for what it will play a role in.

Euphie's rate of progress is, well to be frank she's making progress but she's still nowhere near to being considered a serious contender for the throne. The canon series had a tendency to screw characters over, though it did so in what I feel is a somewhat sloppy way. Very little foreshadowing in a lot of cases and some pretty dumb reasons for why a character would randomly get shafted. Thus far I've tried to make sure there is plenty of foreshadowing for events. Kallen's mother for example, quite a few of her appearances before she showed up at the hospital was to indicate the increasing strain she was feeling and so on.

The other thing is that even though Euphie is succeeding, she is not doing so without cost. Recall that from her perspective the reason she began taking an active role in the court was due to losing Lelouch and Nunnally. Granted she has rediscovered Nunnally, but as far as she knows Lelouch is dead. Then her ascension to viceroy of Area 11, paid for in blood by the death of her brother Clovis. As much of a pompous ass as Clovis could be towards non-Britannians, he was still her brother and someone she was relatively close to. Then there was the Lake Kawaguchi incident. Euphie got out of that alive, yes, but she did so only because Kallen intervened. She also nearly ended up losing Nunnally a second time and now has to worry about keeping the girl hidden and out of the line of fire. Not to mention her industries minister got shot. She ultimately might have benefited from the aftermath, but the cost, well, it's taking its toll. Anyway, my point is Euphie's successes and failures will all be measured and make sense instead of only being there for drama or to make up plot. And ultimately the woman that emerges will truly earn the title the Iron Heart of Britannia.

Anyways, drop a review if you're enjoying the work or if you have questions. I'm perfectly willing to explain things that are unclear or if I feel people might have missed something.


	23. Chapter 22

Snippet spoiler rating: High

 _The Knights of the Round assembled by the Empress Euphemia were a mixed lot, ranging from pure-blooded Britannians to those of mixed heritage to those with not a trace of Britannian blood in their veins. Several only made her Majesty's acquaintance upon her assumption of the Viceroyalty of Japan. One such individual was the future Countess of Agravaine, Villetta Nu. An ambitious woman whom joined the Purist Faction as a means to advance her military career, Countess Nu was already a knight by the time she entered the Viceroy's service. For someone whom ostensibly believed in the superiority of pureblooded Britannians, the Countess would demonstrate a highly tolerant willingness to command and fight alongside the people of the former Areas, most especially those of Japan._ _She would also become renowned as the best swordsman amongst the Knights, a not minor achievement by itself._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 22: A posse ad esse

Villetta walked down the halls of MacArthur base's main administrative building with visible calm. Underneath the surface however turmoil boiled within the woman as she headed towards the conference room she had been summoned to. Hushed whispers followed her everywhere she went and Villetta tried to ignore them. What was done was done and the woman was determined not to let regret or doubt cloud her mind.

"Villetta."

The woman's form froze as a familiar voice called out to her. She turned about and reluctantly confirmed that it was Jeremiah walked over.

"You return in success," the man said as he fell in next to Villetta.

A nod as she began walking once more. "I believe I completed my mission to her Highness' satisfaction."

Jeremiah nodded in turn. "A most creative solution to the attempt by KBR's hired dogs to draw you away from the factory."

"I thank you for your graciousness, my lord, but it was really one of my NCOs that came up with the idea."

"Is that so," Jeremiah said quietly before smiling wirily. "Well, I suppose we should not expect any less than the soldiers General Darlton had readied."

Villetta held her peace. This small talk was simply dancing around the edges of what the two were really thinking but the woman was not quite sure how to bring the matter up. She did not doubt the Margrave's faith in her remained unwavering even with her brusque challenge of the Duke's son. The few times Jeremiah ever made mention of father or son the man had been dismissive of both and whatever the Margrave's pride in his own nobility possession of a noble title was but one of the many ways in which he measured others.

"Incidentally," Jeremiah said, breaking the silence between the two. "I have checked my schedule for the next week and find that I have nothing pressing that requires my attention. Should the need arise, please do not hesitate to call upon me."

A stunned gaze was all Villetta could manage as her body went on autopilot. Had she taken much longer to recover the woman might well have walked right into a wall as they reached a corner and turned right. By the time they were before the doors to the conference room however the look of shock was replaced by a heartfelt smile.

"I thank you, my lord."

Jeremiah nodded cordially but offered a slight smile of his own. And then he opened the door for her in a gentlemanly manner and Villetta dipped her head ever so slightly in acknowledgment of his courtesy. As she entered Villetta felt a calmness despite the august personages present. She presented herself with no sign of hesitation and saluted crisply with the Margrave.

The other attendees were already gathered and seated around the table. Cornelia was at the end with Euphemia to her immediate right and Andreas her left. In a seeming inversion of precedence Colonel Frasier sat next to the viceroy, then Captain Croomy, whereas Earl Asplund was at the end.

"Apologies for making everyone wait," Jeremiah said.

"It is quite alright," Cornelia said. "Please, be seated."

"Ma'am," both Jeremiah and Villetta said before obeying.

"It would appear that some very extraordinary developments have occurred over the past day," Cornelia began the meeting, her eyes sweeping across the room at the other attendees. "I would like to establish an understanding of what we currently do and do not know."

Cornelia glanced over to Andreas and the General began speaking.

"The engineering teams have completed a preliminary survey of the site."

Andreas picked up the remote and with a click brought up photos on the monitors around the room. The setup allowed people on all sides of the table to see without having to turn about and everyone's heads rose ever so slightly as they gazed at the images.

"These were taken in the area of the factory dedicated to Refrain production. The technicians working there did not have time to sabotage or really destroy any of the equipment before they were forced to flee and so everything was secured intact. At this point chemical analysis has definitively confirmed that the compounds in the various tanks and chambers are Refrain or Refrain precursors."

The smile on Euphemia's face was far too satisfied to be mere triumph. It looked very much like a predator after having sank its fangs into a choice prey. Andreas clicked the remote again and the displays now showed a pile of rubble, albeit a very large pile. The smile morphed into a thoughtful expression.

"The factory's administrative building was demolished by the insurgent knightmare relatively quickly," the General continued. "While it generally does not take military grade weapons long to destroy civilian targets, this was still a multistory building that was brought down in a matter of minutes. Whomever this Red Knight is either had detailed plans telling her where to shoot or she was very, very lucky."

"She?" Cornelia raised an eyebrow.

"It is, at present mostly conjecture," Andreas said somewhat reluctantly, "but some of the analysts believe that the person piloting the rogue Sutherland has some connection or even is the insurgent that aided in Princess Euphemia's rescue."

This time Cornelia's gaze fell on her little sister expectantly. Euphemia however simply shrugged.

"I cannot say," the girl said. "The red knight motif is a similarity, certainly, but that seems a rather tenuous link."

"I agree," Cornelia said and looked over at Andreas again. "Unless the analysts can come up with some concrete evidence to support such a connection, I do not want them wasting their time on hearsay and speculation.

"Noted, Highness," Andreas said and continued on. "At present the engineering teams are still sifting through the rubble. A few documents and computers have been recovered so far and we have other analysts going over them. If we are lucky we may even find detailed records about the Refrain trafficking such as customers and middlemen."

"Especially customers and middlemen," Euphie said emphatically. "The rot has already gone deeper than we initially thought and we cannot let it continue to fester."

Heads bobbed up and down in agreement, though Lloyd's only did so after a seeming grimace replaced the look of disinterest previously on his face. The way Cécile's posture shifted ever so slightly certainly had nothing to do with it.

"General," Euphie continued, "how would you rate the performance of the platoons deployed to Koshigaya?"

A frown just barely arose on Cornelia's face before the Marshal assumed an expression of passive interest.

"Very well, your Highness," Andreas said, "though I believe Captain Nu is better suited to providing that assessment as she was directly in the field with them."

"Oh?" Euphie said as hers and everyone else's gaze for that matter fell upon Villetta. "Very well then, would you please provide us with _your_ assessment, Captain Nu?"

Villetta swallowed, not that her throat was really that dry, and nodded.

"Yes your Highness. The platoon that I took command of had already secured the immediate area by the time I arrived. At no time during the operation did I see any indication of slackness and carelessness. When we were approached by the KBR mercenaries they demonstrated fitting resolve in standing their ground. And when the factory was mortared in an attempt to draw us away, one of the NCOs came up with a most clever counter to the tactic."

"A Sergeant Kurosaki," Andreas said with a nod. "You mentioned him in the dispatches."

Villetta nodded in turn. "I believed his ingenuity in the face of the attack merited note."

"It has been noted," Euphie said with a slight smile, "as has your own conduct. Please, continue."

Villetta resisted the urge to ask just what exactly the Princess meant for the latter. "Yes your Highness. Even upon the arrival of reinforcements and the withdrawal of the KBR mercenaries, the platoons remained on alert. Until I was ordered back to MacArthur, not once did I witness any conduct that would have been wanting of a soldier of the Empire."

An approving nod came from Andreas while the Princess' was more thoughtful. The Marshal did not display any open reaction but the lack of disapproval was probably about the best Villetta could hope for. Jeremiah was also equally impassive, though Villetta already knew that there was more to the man than blind intolerance of Numbers.

"If that is all on that matter?" Euphie asked and seeing no objections she turned towards Cécile and Lloyd. "Very well then. Earl Asplund, perhaps _you_ could explain the nature of Lancelot's deployment during the Koshigaya operation?"

The Earl's face was now plastered with a wide grin. "I am glad you asked, your Highness. The float system that we debuted has been in the works for many years now and promises to revolutionize knightmare warfare."

Euphie raised an eyebrow. "An audacious claim."

"But of course," Lloyd said enthusiastically. "Imagine the advantages the flexibility of flight would offer. Is not mobility one of the greatest tactical assets on the battlefield?"

To this Euphie glanced over at her sister and Andreas, both of whom nodded ever so grudgingly.

"It is true enough," Andreas spoke for both, "being able to move about the battlefield at will would provide significant advantages if the enemy did not possess similar mobility. Having said that, I do not recall seeing this float system before Lancelot's deployment to Koshigaya."

"It was its maiden flight," Lloyd said proudly before Cécile could intervene.

Eyes narrowed all around the table from the professional military officers to even Euphemia herself.

"The float system has undergone extensive testing indoors," Cécile said hastily, even as Lloyd flinched from a seeming unseen jab under the tables. "We have clocked hundreds of hours with it in wind tunnels and while it is true that the Koshigaya operation was its first field deployment, we would have never sent it out if the system was not ready for it."

"I would hope not, Captain Croomy," Euphie said somewhat frostily for most everyone else present. "A military operation is not the time to be taking risks with new, untried equipment."

"That is a bit unfair your Highness," Lloyd said. "We of Camelot take pride in the engineering perfection of our work. To have it fail out in the field is both an affront and a matter of deep shame."

The Princess shrugged. "Murphy cares not for whether you are offended or not, Earl Asplund. To disregard it would suggest a less than perfect application of engineering principles."

"But that is my point," Lloyd pressed on, apparently oblivious to the less than approving gazes directed at him. "We do not field machines that we are not absolutely confident in, and that confidence is born of the rigor with which we test and verify their readiness."

Euphie sighed again and waved a hand to move the conversation along.

"Regardless of the success of its initial deployment," Andreas said, "how practical is this, float system, for actual usage in a combat situation?"

"That is something we are still working on," Cécile said quickly before Lloyd could respond. "The power draw of the float system means that it cannot be used for long distances, though for short hops the can perform without depleting a knightmare's energy reserves should still provide for a tactical advantage if employed properly."

Euphie once more looked over at the professionals.

"We will need time to develop doctrines and tactics that incorporate the float system," Andreas stated, and added almost as an afterthought, "and counters for when our enemies develop comparable capabilities."

Lloyd sniffed. "It will be some time before then."

"War is not won by an overreliance on exotic weapons and technology," Andreas said flatly. "It is won by understanding the limits of what you and the enemy possess and exceeding theirs while remaining within yours."

"Nevertheless we of the ASEEC would be happy to consult with your staff about ways that the Lancelot's capabilities might be of use," Cécile spoke up for her nominal superior once more. "If you are to best use the Lancelot to its limits, you must be made aware of what its limits are."

To that Andreas acknowledged with a curt nod. "I will see to it that the necessary effort be made."

"We appreciate it, General," Cécile said respectfully.

"I would also like to be kept appraised," Euphie put in. "While I may not understand the nuances of military matters, I wish to remain up to date on the Lancelot's development and integration into the regular military."

"Of course your Highness," Andreas said and Cécile nodded alongside.

"Good." Euphie glanced over at Cornelia. "Are there any other matters we need to discuss regarding the Koshigaya operation?"

"Not at this time," Cornelia said. "The remaining military matters my staff can handle. The judicial aspects fall within your purview as Viceroy."

Euphie nodded. "Very well." She beamed a wide smile to everyone present. "Then I thank all of you for taking the time today."

Most of the others attending could not help but return the smile as they stood to leave. Villetta did not know whether to be relieved or not the Princess had not deigned to bring up the matter with the Duke's son. If the matter had been settled here and now she could perhaps relax, even if it was disapproval that was meted out. Silence however let the tension simmer, a less than pleasant sensation to put up with.

"Dame Nu, Captain Croomy, Earl Asplund, a moment please."

Villetta froze up a moment before registering that she was not the only one that had been asked to remain. Yet as quickly as she realized this she was also certain that whatever the Princess wished to discuss with the ASEEC members she herself was to remain for another matter entirely.

"Dame Nu," Euphie said. "Brigadier Eyrie asked to speak with you. He should currently be in the second gymnasium."

Villetta exchanged a brief look with Jeremiah who nodded before she offered the Princess a salute.

"Understood your Highness, I will go speak with him immediately."

Euphie watched the others leave before turning back to Lloyd and Cécile, whom had sank back into their seats.

"Have the two of you had a chance to review Ms. Einstein's notes?" the girl asked, cutting to the chase without preamble.

An excited grin crossed Lloyd's face and he nodded. "Indeed we have, your Highness. And I must say you have discovered quite the diamond in the rough."

Euphie raised an eyebrow in amusement at the Earl's turn of phrase. She had never taken the man for someone who cared for such language.

"So you believe her work has merit?" the Princess asked.

"Very much so your Highness," Cécile said. "I did a review of the publicly available research on the subject and there has not been measurable advancement on achieving artificial atomic fission for the past decade. The last major experimental results were published over ten years ago on an experiment in Berlin and the results were, disappointing to say the least. Comparing the numbers however it would appear that the Germans did not have sufficiently enriched uranium to achieve fission."

Euphie held up her hands. "I am afraid the nuances of atomic physics are also beyond me, Captain." The Princess put her hands down. "But you believe that there is no reason for Ms. Einstein's proposal to not work?"

"Based on our current understanding of atomic physics, that is correct your Highness," Cécile said. "That however is different from saying that it is guaranteed to work. As far as we are aware no one else has succeeded in an attempt to initiate a fission reaction, but Ms. Einstein's basic math checks out and it is ready to take to the next step of designing an actual experiment to test her hypothesis."

"I see," Euphie said. "Well then, I suppose I will need to look into allocating a budget for this. I don't suppose you have also come up with a preliminary estimate for the cost of this experiment?"

At that Cécile actually grimaced. "This, will be extremely expensive, your Highness. To obtain uranium sufficiently enriched for the experiment will require substantial industrial capacity."

At this Euphie herself frowned. "Oh? And how expensive do you believe this will be?"

"In the billions of pounds, your Highness," Cécile said quietly.

Euphie's eyes widened ever so slightly. She had expected a cost of millions, a hundred million on the outside, but billions, plural?

"And how much would be needed for an exploratory effort, laying the groundwork so to speak?"

"Significantly less," Cécile said, "but the costs will ramp up quickly your Highness."

Euphie tapped the table thoughtfully. "Tell me Captain, what exactly is the advantage of atomic fission? How does achieving it advance us as a nation, as a people?"

The older woman blinked uncertainly. "Umm, that is hard to predict, your Highness. But at a practical level, if a means could be found to generate power from the reaction, well, you already know the power density numbers. While we might not be able to miniaturize it to replace sakuradite energy sources, it could still be extremely economical for large scale power generation."

"I see," Euphie said with a nod.

Cécile glanced over at Lloyd, a motion that did not escape the Princess' notice.

"Is there something else?"

If anything the grimace on Cécile's face was even darker than when she brought up the matter of the budget.

"There, has been some literature about what might result if an atomic fission reaction were to become uncontrolled," the woman said softly. "The belief is that it would result in a massive exothermic reaction, easily in the kiloton range. Perhaps even the hundreds of kilotons."

There was nothing slight about how wide Euphie's eyes were now. The girl might not be terribly familiar with all the details when it came to military matters but she had at least a passing knowledge of things like explosive yields. Bombs were less common means of assassination than a knife or a bullet in the Imperial court, but they were not unheard of either.

"How firm are those numbers?" Euphie asked, her voice showing no trace of hesitation.

"The, numbers are sound, assuming there is not some sort of fundamental error in our understanding of atomic physics," Cécile replied.

"I see," Euphie said, her eyes no longer focused on the two before her. Instead they seemed to be gazing at something far away. "I see indeed."

Cécile and Lloyd remained silent as the Princess seemed to sink deep into thought. A minute or so passed before the Princess' gaze fell back on the two.

"I am hereby classifying Ms. Einstein's research. I want you two to meet with her and determine, discretely, if she is aware of the military applications of her work. If she is not, do not bring it up with her. Am I understood?"

Lloyd nodded blandly while Cécile's was more reserved.

"Work out a preliminary assessment of resources and manpower you will need with Ms. Einstein," Euphie continued, "and I will see about providing what I can to at least begin the project. For now this information does not go further than the four of us. I will discuss this matter with my brother myself."

In other words, Euphemia would take it very poorly if Schneizel learned about this before she had a chance to tell him directly, his sponsorship of the ASEEC be damned. This time nods from both the two adults had a nervous edge to them. The last thing any sane, or even insane, Britannian wanted to happen was to get dragged into the crossfire that could erupt when two members of the Imperial family did not see eye to eye.

"Do not worry," Euphie said with a flat and completely not reassuring smile. "I will make sure to discuss the matter promptly with my dear brother."

* * *

There were several gymnasiums at MacArthur base, with the second numbered one being for the use of commissioned officers. As such it had far fewer pieces of fitness equipment and much of the floor was rubber to facilitate certain martial drills. When Villetta entered the gym was mostly empty save for the Brigadier and two of the Princess' armsmen. The woman walked over and saluted.

"Captain Nu, reporting as ordered sir."

"Captain," Jonathan said, returning the salute and looking over Villetta from head to toe. He then glanced over at one of his subordinates and nodded.

The armsman unclipped his sword, stepped before Villetta, and presented it to her. The woman looked down at quizzically.

"Sir?"

Jonathan unsheathed his own blade and Villetta's eyes were drawn to its form. At first glance it appeared to be a straightforward court sword but the width of the blade was just a bit too thick. As she watched Villetta caught a glint on the blade's edge. One side was definitely sharpened, indicating the sword was capable of cutting as well as stabbing with the point that was now directed at her.

"On your guard, Captain," Jonathan said, his gaze flat and clearly considering where on Villetta's body he would plant his blade.

The knight quickly grabbed hold of the sword offered to her and pulled it out, leaving the scabbard in the armsman's hands. She assumed a ready stance of her own, feeling the weight of the weapon. It was most definitely heavier than a fencing saber and was even a bit heavier than the dress sword all Britannian officers were issued. And that was all the time Villetta was given to acclimate to the weapon.

The armsman beat a very hasty retreat and a moment later Jonathan advanced with a powerful thrust. Villetta barely parried the attack, forcefully pushing aside her opponent's sword only to find the Brigadier was not so easily brushed off. Another thrust came with blinding speed, slicing through where Villetta's head was just a second before. The knight swiped upwards, twisting Jonathan's blade about before launching a thrust of her own. The Brigadier calmly met the attack with his own blade, angling it to catch the tip of Villetta's sword with his forte and deflecting the strike with casual ease. Jonathan flipped his blade about and launched another thrust, again forcing Villetta to physically dodge. The knight retreated a few steps, trying to open up the distance to allow herself time to reestablish her guard. The Brigadier declined to allow her that time however, closing in rapidly and turning the dodged thrust into a slicing sweep.

Metal rang as the two blades clashed and Villetta found herself on the losing end of a contest of physical strength. She held on for a second, then another, before finally Jonathan powered through and batted her blade down. The Brigadier's own sword bounced right back up and this time there was no retreat, no time to reestablish her guard. Villetta gasped and stood stock still as the tip of Jonathan's sword came to rest against her throat. The two remained frozen in that stance for several seconds, Villetta not daring to even swallow with the sharp point pressing against her skin. Finally the Brigadier withdrew his blade and the knight let out a heavy sigh in relief.

"It is my understanding that you have called out the Lord Edward David Jr, son of the Duke of Windsor," Jonathan said as he sheathed his blade.

Villetta simply nodded, returning her own blade to the armsman that had offered it to her. "That is correct, sir."

Jonathan regarded the woman, the palm of his left hand drumming on the pommel of his weapon. "And do you believe yourself prepared to cross blades with the man?"

"If he possesses as much skill as yourself, Brigadier, then no," Villetta stated honestly.

Jonathan snorted. "Then why did you issue the challenge?"

The woman frowned. "Sir?"

"A battle is not won by fighting an enemy you are not certain you can defeat," Jonathan stated. "You are a soldier, an officer of the Empire, responsible for leading others to victory. Can you claim to be qualified to lead them if you cannot pick your own personal battles with such care? Can you claim to stand as an example for them to follow if you fall and thus deprive the Empire of your further service?"

Villetta pursed her lips and tried to convince herself that the Brigadier was simply testing her. Or was it the Brigadier?

"Whom am I answering sir," Villetta replied, "yourself or her Highness?"

Another snort. "Why does that matter?"

In truth it really did not, yet Britannia remained a society that ingrained deference, up to a point, to the nobility. But despite serving a member of the Imperial family Jonathan Eyrie was obviously not someone as steeped in such deference and so Villetta found need to give a proper answer.

"The Lord David offered insult not only to my person but to the soldiers under my command," Villetta stated. "To slander my person, that is a private matter which does not warrant my depriving the Empire of my service should I fail to avenge the insult. But to slander those that followed me into the field, those who risked their lives for and because of me, that I cannot let slide." Villetta's face tightened. "I _will_ not led that slide."

Jonathan regarded the Villetta with what could easily be construed as a smirk. Yet as Villetta stared at the man, she found that there was nothing snide or condescending in his eyes. In fact, he almost looked impressed.

"There are some things worth risking your life for," the Brigadier said, clasping the grip of his sword with one hand while folding the other behind his back. "My schedule will see me at MacArthur base in the afternoon for the next week. Should you have need, you will be able to find me here at fifteen hundred hours."

The edge of Villetta's mouth quirked up in a slight smile. Her face was however of the appropriate solemnity as she saluted.

"Thank you Brigadier."

* * *

When Cécile and Lloyd returned from the debriefing Suzaku thought the former looked a bit weary. Lloyd had his ever present smirk plastered over his face but as Suzaku looked more closely there was some strain in even the normally unflappable man's expression.

"Is, something wrong?" the Japanese boy asked.

Cécile tried to smile reassuringly. "No, nothing. Her, Highness and the other officers were just a bit, concerned, about our deployment of what they consider to be an untested system on what might have turned into a combat operation."

"Eh? But, we've spent weeks testing the float system," Suzaku began.

Cécile held up a hand, stopping the boy before he went further. "We tested it, yes, but that was the first time it actually flew in the open air at altitude for such a long distance and time. They are not entirely wrong to have been, concerned, about its deployment."

"Not that there was any real need for concern," Lloyd said. "We had already accounted for all of the variables that make up the equation."

"That we knew of," Cécile countered. "There is always an unknown variable, one whose effect may have a greater impact that we expect."

"Perhaps so, but unless we push the limits of what we build we will never conquer that unknown," Lloyd said, his grin widening. "Is that not what science is for? Why we seek out ever greater challenges?"

Suzaku found himself smiling slightly. The Earl certainly had his quirks but there was a certain clarity of purpose in his goals. He sought to create, to overcome. And even if at times he seemed aloof about the consequences of the technology he created, Suzaku felt that ultimately Lloyd was a decent person. Especially with Cécile keeping a tight leash on him to keep the Earl from going too overboard.

"By the way Suzaku," the woman in question said. "Would you happen to know a student by the name of Nina Einstein?"

Suzaku nodded blankly. "She's the student council's treasurer, I think she's also very close to Milly Ashford."

Cécile nodded and took out an envelope. "Could you pass on a message to her? And escort her here to meet us."

Suzaku looked at the extended envelope with palpable hesitation before finally accepting it.

"I will do so ma'am."

Cécile raised an eyebrow. "Is there a problem, Suzaku?"

The boy smiled wirily. "I don't think Ms. Einstein likes me very much."

A frown appeared on Cécile's face. "Suzaku, did you get another girl at school mad at you?"

"No, no!" Suzaku, said, frantically waving his hands in denial. "No, it's just, I don't think she likes Japanese, Elevens, in general."

At that Cécile's mouth opened in an ah of understanding. "I see. Then, perhaps I should have someone else deliver the message?"

"No," Suzaku said firmly. "No, I can do it. I shouldn't just avoid something because it might be unpleasant, after all."

A smile crossed Cécile's face and she nodded. "That is right, Suzaku Kururugi."

Suzaku smiled back at the woman in assurance.

"Oh, there is one thing," Cécile said. "The reason for Ms. Einstein's invitation is classified. Make sure that she understands this, and that she also understands you are not cleared for the matter as well."

The boy's eyes widened.

"No, she is not in trouble," Cécile assured him. "The matter however is very important to the Viceroy."

That seemed to do it and Suzaku nodded firmly in understanding.

* * *

"Ms. Stadtfeld?"

Kallen shot out and looked about frantically, her groggy mind taking a few moments to register that she was in class.

"Are you alright Ms. Stadtfeld?" her literature teacher asked.

"Umm, sorry Ms. Miller," Kallen said. "I, must have dozed off."

The teacher smiled with patient understanding. "Perhaps you should go down to the nurse's office to get some rest? You have already finished your exam after all."

Kallen fought a losing battle to suppress a yawn. "No, no, I should stay here. I still have the history exam after this."

Ms. Miller glanced at C.C. whom was sitting off to the side reading a book and the ostensibly French woman looked up. She smiled wirily and stood, walking over to Kallen.

"Mayhap milady hast forgotten, a willing spirit doth not ensure willing flesh."

The teacher returned C.C.'s smile and Kallen reminded herself that her literature teacher was probably one of the few people who enjoyed listening to the woman's archaic speech. Or maybe it was C.C.'s ability to quote Shakespeare at will. Regardless Ms. Miller was probably one of the few people who could understand C.C.'s speech without a headache. Kallen was almost certain that C.C. herself was more than a bit loopy due to having to come up with the speech in the first place.

"Well, I can't very well disobey my assistant's advice," Kallen said with a dry smile. "If you do not mind then Ms. Miller, may I be excused?"

"Of course Kallen," the teacher said with a kind smile.

As Kallen rose a thought occurred to her. "Umm, Ms. Miller, I think I will get some rest in the student council room. Is that alright?"

"I don't see why not," the teacher said, the smile taking on a bit of humor. "I'm sure the sofas there are much nicer than the beds in the nurse's office."

More than a few snickers sounded and Kallen smiled in agreement with her teacher. She waved to Shirley and Rivalz and then took her leave with C.C. right by her side.

"Thou intendeth something?" the girl asked.

"Not really," Kallen said with a yawn. "The student council office is just more comfortable."

"Thou intendeth to while away thy time?"

"At least until lunch," Kallen said. "I could use a proper nap."

"Hmm, thou hast tilted with many a matter recently."

"Not least of which being you," Kallen said with a smirk.

Said expression was returned.

"Nayless, art thou any closer to thy goal?"

"A little bit," Kallen said as they reached the student council office. "We now have the support of Kyoto House and we managed to orchestrate the downfall of KBR." The girl's face tightened ever so slightly. "That's something at least."

Ever an observant individual C.C. noticed the other girl's tension immediately. Conversely that same observant trait meant she knew not to tease Kallen at this very moment.

"What doust thee intendeth next?" she asked instead.

"Lay low for now and watch the fallout," Kallen replied as she plopped onto the couch. "The Viceroy seems to be pretty hell-bent on tearing KBR a new one, which suggests that she might really be serious about cracking down on abuse and exploitation. And if she is, well, I'm sure we can find other individuals and groups deserving of her attention."

"Hmm, that be so?"

Kallen smiled dryly. "We're a long way from trusting her implicitly, but at least now it looks like we might actually achieve something instead of beating our heads against a Goliath." The girl regarded C.C. "You're not gonna bail on me now, are you?"

C.C. grinned teasingly. "Not whilst thou art making good on our contract."

Kallen sighed. "If only you would tell me what that bloody contract is."

The young woman slumped over and let her eyes close. Perhaps she was more tired than she had thought as she drifted off soon after. Even so it was not a deep sleep and as the doors opened to the large room Kallen rose almost immediately. C.C. was huddled up on another chair facing the door, ostensibly reading but the alertness of her form made clear she was also standing watch. And while the other girl did not rise from her seat she did not ignore the newcomer either. That was enough to let Kallen know that even if the person entering was not an overt threat whoever it was was not a member of the student council or some other regular student. Kallen sat up and turned about. She grimaced.

"Oh, you."

Suzaku smiled wirily. "Good afternoon, Lady Stadtfeld. Might you know where Nina is?"

Kallen looked at her watch and saw that it was indeed past noon, if only just. An hour nap was not bad, though she could have gone for more.

"No, I don't," the girl replied brusquely before turning back around.

Suzaku was undeterred and walked around, seating himself in another chair.

"Does she usually eat lunch here?"

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "And why do you care?"

"I've been asked to pass along a message to her," Suzaku said.

"What sort of message?" Kallen asked suspiciously.

"It was given to me in confidence," Suzaku replied and said no more but his gaze remained on Kallen.

The girl returned it for a few moments before snorting. Seeing as the boy had yet to report her to the authorities, she needed to give his sense of integrity some credit.

"She should be here soon," Kallen said simply and left it at that.

Suzaku smiled ever so slightly only to elicit a scowl from Kallen. He cleared his throat in an attempt to mask it but it was a bit too late for that. Still his gaze did not leave the girl.

"It was you, wasn't it, at Koshigaya," Suzaku finally said.

The scowl turned into a full on glare.

"We are at school," Kallen hissed. "I expect you to not bring it up ever in a public place like this."

Suzaku looked about. "I wouldn't call this very public, Kallen."

"And how do you know someone won't walk in on the middle of you blurting things out?" Kallen demanded, even as her own senses flared up and she swept the surrounding area to make damn sure that would not be happening.

Suzaku grimaced, understanding full well that Kallen still did not trust him. She might never, but he was growing increasingly convinced that despite her brusqueness she was not a bad person.

"I just wanted to say, well, thank you for being careful in Koshigaya. For making sure as few people as possible got hurt."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "Do not presume that I agree with your beliefs, Kururugi, and do not expect me to limit my future actions for the sake of your own self-satisfaction."

Suzaku grimaced. "You still think that's all I care about?"

The girl snorted but said nothing more, apparently considering the topic closed. Suzaku opened his mouth but closed it wordlessly. Words would not move her, only actions would. For now he needed to be patient. He could afford to wait, at least as long as Kallen did not do anything that would trouble his conscience. The boy grimaced. How easily he had excused her for that.

Before Suzaku could mull over it more the doors opened and the cheerful chuckle of Milly and Shirley sounded.

"Aw c'mon, it can't have been that bad?" Milly teased.

"Well excuse me for not having a head for math like Nina and the Princess," Shirley said with a pout. "Oh? Suzaku, what are you doing here?"

The young man stood and bowed politely. "Apologies for the intrusion, Milly, Shirley. I'm here with a message for Nina."

The mousey girl's eyes widened but instead of meeting Suzaku's gaze she looked over at Milly. The older girl raised an eyebrow and extended a hand.

"Alright."

Suzaku pulled out the letter but made no move to hand it over. "I was given very explicit orders by Earl Asplund and Captain Croomy that this message was only for Nina. And that the contents of this message are to be kept strictly private."

Milly frowned and glanced over at her friend. "Nina?"

The girl still refused to look Suzaku in the eye as she stepped forward and extended a hand. Suzaku placed the envelope gently into her hand but did not let go right away as she tugged.

"Nina," he said, causing her to flinch ever so slightly. "I do not know what the message says, but I really meant it when I said that the message is to be kept private. You are not to talk about it with anyone save the Earl and the Captain."

Nina's jaw tightened and she finally met Suzaku's gaze. For someone who seemed so timid there was a firm conviction in her eyes. Suzaku's grip loosened reflexively and Nina pulled back with all due speed. Suzaku glanced down at his empty hand for a second before withdrawing it. Now for the hard part.

"I have also been ordered to escort Nina to MacArthur base at her convenience to discuss the, contents of the message with the Earl and the Captain."

Nina's eyes widened and she shot a surprised look not at Suzaku but at Milly. The older girl regarded Suzaku thoughtfully as she rubbed her chin.

"And what exactly is so important that they need to discuss the matter at the base?"

"I don't know," Suzaku admitted. "As I said, I do not know what the message says."

Milly looked back over at Nina who gingerly opened the letter and began reading over it. Her own curiosity piqued Kallen narrowed her eyes and activated her Geass. She felt a bit guilty about peeking like this but the way Suzaku was treating the matter this was a lot more serious than just a simple personal message.

 _To Ms. Nina Einstein,_

 _We have examined your proposal in detail and have determined that there is merit in taking the work to the experimental stage. Due to ramifications of your work, we ask that you refrain from discussing it openly with anyone outside of the team that will be assembled to conduct the experiment with you. We invite you to come visit us at MacArthur base at your earliest convenience so that we may discuss your participation and how best to proceed. Warrant Officer Kururugi has been ordered to escort you here at a time of your choosing. We of Camelot look forward to working with an individual of such exceptional talent and intelligence._

 _Captain Cécile Croomy_

A fairly brief message that made very little sense to Kallen seeing as this Captain Croomy had elected not to mention exactly what Nina's work was. Whatever it was, they must have thought it was really important.

"Nina?" Milly said.

The girl looked up and nodded to her friend. "This, is it."

Milly frowned. "But why would they want you to not talk about it with anyone?"

Now that was interesting, Kallen noted. Apparently Milly at the very least did know what Nina's work was.

"Umm, I can think of one reason," Nina said, growing increasingly nervous. "The reaction, if it was not contained properly…"

Milly's eyes narrowed and when she looked over at Suzaku there was none of her usual good humor.

"Suzaku. If you would be so kind to take a message back to this, Earl and Captain?"

"Uh, yes ma'am," the boy said instinctively, wondering just where Britannian noble daughters learned how to sound so imperious. Maybe there really was something in their blood.

"If the Earl and the Captain wish to discuss the matter of Nina's project, they are welcome to come to Ashford Academy to do so. I am afraid that otherwise it will be quite some time before she otherwise would have the time to make the trip down to MacArthur base."

Suzaku opened his mouth to say something but the way in which Milly regarded him made him shut it wordlessly. He finally nodded.

"Good," Milly said, concluding this discussion with a firm finality.

End of Chapter 22

Life has been busy. Very, very busy.

I am curious, who is everyone's favorite character so far in this fic besides Euphie and Kallen.

I'm not sure if it was definitively stated whether Nina's grandfather was Albert Einstein, but I believe that was the implication in canon. I'm just running with what I remember.

Kallen's plan was basically what Euphie herself was planning, make a big fuss that would provide an excuse for the military to move in. As everyone with a working brain in this fic noted, blowing up the chemical factory was liable to get a lot of people killed and simply end up destroying all the evidence.

I'm not sure how closely the characters in my fic could be compared to those of the Honorverse. Elizabeth Winton has a pretty fiery temper whereas when Euphie's pissed you're more likely to feel like you're freezing than burning to death. And as far as Villetta and Honor, hmm, I'm not sure there is much of a similarity right now beyond both receiving less than welcome attention from the son of an overfed inbred son of a noble. Though in some respects David Jr is likely an even bigger idiot than Pavel Young, as hard as that might be to believe.

Anyway, bottom line is any similarities at this point are entirely unintentional. There are things I'm drawing direct inspiration from, but the Honorverse is not one of them.

I try to make sure my writing is grammatically correct and avoid spelling errors, but mistakes do slip in, usually from me typing too quickly. As I notice such issues I correct them in my master draft and for the most egregious ones I uploaded cleaned up versions. Much as with _In Tune_ I'll probably post a 'director's cut' some time after I'm done with all the things cleaned up along with additional scenes that I either forgot to add in in the original run or did not have time to put in.

I know that I have at least one reader who is a Frenchman and so I have a question. Napoleon is reputed to have said, "Ask of me anything but time" at the Battle of Waterloo. What would the French language version of that have been? I know enough French that I could do a direct translation, but I'd like to get this right and I haven't had much luck finding the direct quote in French.

Anyway, drop a review if you're enjoying so far. And please do tell me more about how much I am a fiend for addicting my readers to polished writing. :P


	24. Chapter 23

Snippet spoiler: Medium to low

 _The various resistance movements fighting the Britannian occupation were not a united force. Coordination and cooperation outside of those group under the direct sponsorship of the Six Houses of Kyoto was spotty at best and it was not unheard of for different resistance cells to even end up fighting each other over territory and resources. Ideologies amongst the resistance cells was also extremely varied with some focused on seeking vengeance on the Empire while others simply sought to protect the Japanese people from Britannian predation. These differences did not go unnoticed by the Princess Euphemia and as Viceroy her Highness made a concentrated effort to exploit them. Her ultimate goal was disarmament of the various resistance cells and while she preferred peaceful reintegration back into civil society she also did not hesitate to reach for the stick that was the Britannian military to force the issue._

 _Needless to say progress on this effort was slow to bear fruit and for the first several months of her reign even those resistance cells that might be inclined to cooperate with a more benign Imperial government, such as the one led by the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki, continued to operate against Britannian authority. As testing as these occurrences were however, the next genuine threat to the Viceroy's own personal safety came not from the Japanese resistance cells but from the SDECE agents that were in the process of fomenting what would become known as the Black Rebellion._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 23: Agere sequitur credere

Milly Ashford received five minutes warning before a team from the Princess Euphemia's security detail arrived at Ashford Academy to secure some of the premises. The soldiers were courteous, professional, and obviously feeling more than a little harried seeing as not ten minutes later the Princess' own armored limousine rolled onto the school grounds and came to a stop before the student council building. Needless to say there was some heavy breathing as the soldiers took up positions around the perimeter. Milly was caught between amusement and pity, seeing as the Princess' armsmen probably had about as little warning as she about Euphie's impromptu visit. Then again she was not quite sure whether that pity was for herself or for the soldiers. When she had sent Suzaku back to his superiors with her message, this was not the reaction she was expecting.

Milly watched very carefully as Euphie exited the car. The smile that Euphie greeted her with was calm and composed. Her eyes though, there was a hard glint to them that Milly could not recall ever seeing. Quite the unexpected reaction indeed.

"Your Highness," Milly greeted with a slight curtsey. "This is quite the unexpected surprise."

"I apologize for dropping in like this," Euphie said, holding up a stack of papers. "I thought I should return Nina's notes and drop off my exams at the same time."

That was not exactly what Milly would have called subtle, but then again this way there was no mistaking the point the Princess wanted to make.

"You didn't need to come all the way here in person to do that," Milly replied.

Euphie's eyes regarded Milly unwaveringly. "Some things one cannot delegate."

Milly nodded. Indeed, some things one could only do oneself.

"Well seeing as you took the trouble of coming all the way here, would you at least stay for some tea?"

"I believe I have some free time this evening," Euphie said, "yes, I do humbly accept your invitation, Milly."

Milly refrained from snorting, not just because of the four armsmen standing around. From what she had seen thus far the Princess Euphemia was fair and could be very open minded, but humble she was most definitely not. She was a Princess of the Realm and well aware of what that meant, both in terms of the privilege and the responsibility that position entailed. At times she seemed too cognizant of the two, sometimes having someone take their responsibilities too seriously was even worse than someone simply ignoring those same responsibilities.

As the two girls entered Euphie came to a stop at the threshold.

"Wait for me out here."

The two armsmen immediately tensed up.

"Your Highness!"

Euphie glanced back at them. "That is an order, corporal."

When faced with a direct command from a member of the imperial family it took someone of considerable fortitude to even consider disobeying. To the man's credit even faced with such an order he did not forget his primary duty.

"Begging your pardon Highness, but the Brigadier is liable to shoot us himself if we leave you alone, even here."

The smile that that earned the soldier was a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

"I will apologize to Brigadier Eyre myself. The matter that I wish to discuss with Ms. Ashford however is of a private nature, thus I must _insist_ that all of you remain outside."

The armsmen exchanged looks all around before deciding that maybe, yes, Ashford Academy's security might just be sufficient such that they could risk letting the Princess leave their hearing. Their sight however, well, that was not a question of if but where the Brigadier would shoot them.

"We will be posted at the windows, your Highness," the sergeant said. "If you move out of line of sight, we will force entry."

That earned the soldier a raised eyebrow from both girls but he returned their gazes unflinchingly. Euphie finally nodded and followed Milly inside. True to their word the armsmen did not attempt to follow them inside. The soldiers did however take up positions so that at least two of them had a clear view of the Princess at all times.

A tea service with a warm pot was indeed waiting for them inside and as Euphie took a seat Milly poured her a cup. Euphie took a single sip to be polite before setting it aside.

"You are concerned that I intend to weaponize Ms. Einstein's work," Euphie opened.

"Your bringing it up means you've thought about it," Milly replied.

"Of course I've thought about it," Euphie said, "and in the process I've learned more about atomic physics than I ever wanted to. And what I have learned scares me, Milly, because what I have learned is that we still have gaping holes in our understanding. Ms. Einstein's work might create an incredible source of energy beyond even sakuradite. It might also unleash Pandora's box by creating a weapon of untold power. Or, and this is a long shot, all it might do is reveal that we have a fundamental misunderstanding of atomic physics."

"Huh, you know I think that'd be the best option of the three," Milly said, "Nina proving all those boffins wrong."

"To be perfectly frank, so do I," Euphie said. "But the problem is that no one knows for sure which of the outcomes it will be. The only way is to try and, well, see what happens."

Milly regarded the Princess quizzically. "Try and see what happens doesn't exactly inspire confidence, Euphie, especially with how freaked out both you and Nina seem to be over the destructive potential of what she's been working on."

Euphie massaged her brow. "I am well aware, Milly. And if there was some other way to get this information, I would have done so already. The fact of the matter however is that this is still a field undergoing active research, and your friend is not the only one working on it. In fact I look a quick peak at government expenditures over the last couple of years and I'm pretty sure there is already an official program running."

"One that you _weren't_ aware of," Milly noted.

"Quite. While I certainly do not know about everything the government does, my access to the Exchequer's records mean I can generally find the financial black holes classified projects tend to be. And this one is a very, very big hole."

"Wait, stop," Milly said with an upraised hand. "Should you really be telling me all this?"

"Strictly speaking no," Euphie said, "but I have enough faith in your good judgment to trust that you will not be leaking this, and that you will make sure that your friends who already know about Nina's work are equally discreet."

Milly gave the Princess a cool look. "Sometimes you really worry me, Euphie."

"Yes, I suppose I might," Euphie said softly. "If only things were simpler and the Imperial court was not such a, how did your grandfather describe it, a snake pit?"

"But you're hoping to change that," Milly said. "And while I don't begrudge you that ambition, I do wonder at the cost."

"You believe the cost will be high?"

Milly pursed her lips. "I remember my history, Euphie. Of the last six emperors, four of them were deposed in what amounted to military coups. If you're really going for the throne, there _will_ be blood."

Right on cue an eyebrow rose. "You believe I am aiming for the throne."

"Well that's what all of you imperial scions are supposed to do, no?" Milly responded.

The Princess considered the words for a very brief moment. "Point. But do you honestly believe I stand a chance at winning the throne?"

"Does it matter?" Milly countered. "You're a Princess of the Realm, regardless of whether you stand a chance or not, whether you even want the throne or not, everyone else's expectation is that you're going to go for it. And since everyone expects you to want the throne, they're going to treat you accordingly and either try to push you to make a play because they think they can get in your good graces or kill you to eliminate a rival to whomever they're aligned with."

"All valid points," Euphie conceded. "But the question still stands. Do _you_ believe I stand a chance, Milly?"

The other girl smiled wirily. "I don't really have a choice but to believe otherwise at this point. You've dragged us back into the limelight after all."

Euphie grimaced ever so slightly at that. Yes, that was certainly true, and in so doing it was not only the Ashfords that were suddenly at risk but also Nunnally. But then again, these days Nunnally was more an Ashford than a Britannia.

"Everything you have said thus far has truth behind them," Euphie said. "Nevertheless, this partnership, alliance, whatever you want to call it, will _not_ work if your belief in me is not genuine. So I ask again, _do_ you believe I stand a chance if I made a play for the throne?"

A scowl darkened Milly's as she answered. "You don't, unless you can come up with an ace in the hole."

"And you are afraid that I am hoping that this, atomic weapon might be that ace."

The Ashford girl regarded Euphie silently and pointedly before nodding. Euphie on the other hand took a deep breath.

"What I am about to tell you, you cannot repeat to anyone, including Nunnally or Ruben."

Milly grimaced. "Is this something I am going to regret hearing?"

"I hope not," Euphie said. "Tell me, if the unthinkable was to happen and his Majesty were to pass away right this moment, whom do you think would succeed him?"

Milly gave the younger girl a flat and very unamused look. Euphie smiled coyly back at her.

"I know, my question and any answer you give could be misconstrued and twisted by others, but we are alone right now and I promise that anything you say will be in confidence."

The Ashford daughter knew that she could probably trust the Princess' word. That did not stop her from staring at the girl for another few seconds with a renewed scowl before finally answering.

"Prince Schneizel."

"Not Prince Odysseus. "

The scowl deepened ever so slightly.

"Apologies," Euphie said, holding up her hands. "I do not mean to press you. And I happen to agree, were my father to pass away now, it would be Schneizel whom would ascend the throne, for obvious reasons."

Obvious indeed, for despite Odysseus being officially Heir Primus the man did not possess the personal authority to go along with his positional authority. Others of the court, including Schneizel and Euphemia herself, deferred to him because he was the crown prince, but should the matter of succession actually become an issue Odysseus possessed few means with which to defend his position. Schneizel on the other hand was the prime minister and therefore the head of government, a position that provided him with many levers of actual power. The only one that could directly challenge him was Cornelia due to her control of the military, something that most everyone at court was cognizant of.

"And what would happen to me and the other Imperial scions after Schneizel ascends the throne?"

"Based on past precedence, a purge," Milly stated flatly. "His rivals, anyone that supported them, and anyone close to any of the above would be exiled if they're really, really lucky and completely ancillary to the actual court, or more probably lined up against the wall if he's feeling generous. If he's not, they're handed over to the Inquistio for questioning."

"And you believe that Schneizel would repeat the actions of previous Emperors."

"You tell me, you're the one who actually knows the Prime Minister," Milly responded somewhat testily.

As disrespectful as the older girl was starting to get Euphie did not hold it against her. In fact it was probably a good thing that Milly was venting right now seeing as it was obvious the girl was feeling more than a bit stressed about how her life was getting turned upside down.

"Then allow me to be blunt. There will be no purge, no interrogations, and no executions. When Schneizel ascends the throne he will do so with the support of the politicians via his own position as Prime Minister, of the military through the support of Cornelia via her position as Marshal of the Empire, and the Gods willing, of the bureaucracy through my support via my position as Cabinet Secretary."

Milly made a slight choking sound. The position of Cabinet Secretary sounded fairly innocuous. It was however the highest ranking position in the Empire's civil service and the de facto head of the Administratum. Officially the Prime Minister was listed as the formal head, but the day to day management of the Administratum was carried out by the Cabinet Secretary.

"It will be a few years yet before I can assume such a position without inciting a mutiny within the civil service's ranks," Euphie said with a wiry smile, "but those few years are likely to be past before we even realize."

"You're-you're talking about," Milly stuttered. "Oh Odin, you really are planning a coup."

A somewhat put-off look crossed Euphie's face. "Were you not listening?"

"I was," Milly said. "And I heard you when you said there weren't going to be arrests or executions. But Euphie, what you're talking about _is_ still a coup even if it's bloodless. You're going to be concentrating the power of effectively the entire government in the hands of you three."

This time it was Euphie that grimaced. She should not have been surprised that Milly would see that potential problem, the older girl's whimsy was after all more a product of boredom due to her intelligence than a lack thereof.

"You are again correct," the Princess said. "We would be concentrating power into our hands. But the current system is structured such that such concentration is a necessity. If power is decentralized too much, we run a major risk of the Empire fragmenting due to the individual ambitions of the nobility. There is no substitute for a strong Emperor, a strong central government, and the only way to ensure that a smooth transition occurs when the next Emperor ascends the throne is to ensure that the right of the new Emperor to the throne is unquestionable." Euphie shrugged resignedly. "And for that, the instruments of rule must be firmly in hand, if not his, then those whom he has invested trust in. They cannot be allowed to remain in the hands of those who would pursue their own personal ambition over that of the good of the Empire."

"And just how certain are you that what you want _is_ for the good of the Empire?" Milly questioned.

Euphie smiled sadly. "Is it for the good of the Empire that an Empress can be slain by her political rivals? That an Imperial Princess be forced to discard her name and heritage and live in the shadows? That an Imperial Prince be driven to such despair as to take his own life?"

Milly's face twisted in an unhappy frown. At both a personal and civil perspective Euphie was right, that ambition could inflict such costs was more than a little unhealthy for any society. Yet if the Princess' desire to basically seize power with her siblings was being primarily driven by her sense of grief over Lelouch and Nunnally's death, could that desire be considered any healthier? Still, not once did Milly consider asking whether the flaws in governance that Euphie brought up were fundamental to the Empire's social hierarchy. And not once did Euphie herself ever consider that possibility.

"I'm going to need to sleep on this," Milly said before massaging her temples. "Assuming I can get any sleep after all this."

The smile Euphie now gave Milly was of genuine sympathy.

"In the meantime, and back to what first brought you here," Milly continued, "I just need a straight and simple answer. Are you interested in Nina's work solely because of its military applications?"

"Solely? No. But it is not something that I can ignore. For reasons that should be quite obvious, I absolutely need an understanding of just how potent an atomic weapon might be. But it is my sincere hope that the only fruits of Ms. Einstein's work is a new source of energy that surpasses sakuradite-based systems."

Milly licked her lips. "Alright, I can live with that. But if Nina gets cold feet about helping you, I expect that you'll let her drop out without trying to pressure her to continue. She's as much a sister to me as Nunnally."

"Then I shall consider her the same," Euphie said with a solemn nod.

The Ashford daughter in turn nodded and the two girls reached an understanding on at least one matter this evening. Many others would need to wait before similar resolution.

* * *

When Euphemia arrived back at the viceroy's palace she found a stern looking figure awaiting her. With hands clasped behind, the figure of Brigadier-General Jonathan Eyre was sufficiently imposing that there was just the slightest hesitation as the Princess stepped out of her car. Nevertheless she had an image to maintain and so approached the man with her usual composure.

"Brigadier," Euphie greeted.

"Your Highness," Jonathan replied courteously.

"Was there something you wished to discuss with me?"

Jonathan's eyes wandered over to the armsmen that had accompanied the Princess and there was the distinct sound of shuffling boots. The words he next spoke however were directed to Euphie.

"I understand well that you have secrets that you feel a need to keep from even the members of your royal guard. I have no intention of asking that you stop doing so, that is ultimately your prerogative as our liege. I simply ask that you remember two things. The first is that every single member of your guard is there to die in your stead and I sincerely hope that you trust us enough to perform that duty should the need ever arise. The second is that all of us are sworn to you, meaning that we will follow you to Niflheim to slay Hel if you so ask, and that anyone whom seeks to do you harm or stand in the path of your ambition is our enemy be they commoner, noble, or the Emperor himself."

Euphie gazed at the Brigadier flatly, her face completely expressionless. She recalled once more that the man really did consider tact to be an optional skill in life.

"You obviously intend for me to draw some sort of conclusion with those two points," Euphie said. "I hope you will forgive me if it eludes me right now, it has been a somewhat long day."

Jonathan snorted, his mustache flickering ever so slightly. "The conclusion is simple. We _will_ die in your service, your Highness, regardless of whatever secrets you believe we are better off not knowing. It is not your responsibility to try to shield us from any fatal consequences of your actions, it is our responsibility to shield _you_."

The gaze with which Euphie regarded the Brigadier now was most pointedly not expressionless. Surprise was mixed in with a palpable guilt in those eyes. The guilt however had nothing to do with the likely sacrifices that her armsmen would make in the future. Even if only at an intellectual level Euphie had understood that she would likely see the men and women whom wore her coat of arms lay down their lives in exchange for hers. No, the guilt was for the fact that it would be for the sake of her own personal ambition, not her own personal safety, that her armsmen might fall. That was turning out to be a bit more troubling to her conscience. Euphie felt her chest tighten ever so slightly.

"That look tells me you're about to have an anxiety attack," Jonathan said dryly.

Before Euphie could respond, or start said panic attack, the Brigadier clapped his hands on her shoulder and stilled the trembling. If it had been anyone else laying a hand on their liege like that the armsmen surrounding the two would have had weapons trained. As it was several hands did drift towards holsters before conscious thought caught up to instinct.

"Your Highness," Jonathan said as he bent over to level his eyes with Euphie's. "Your ambition is worthy of us. Do not doubt that for a moment."

Euphie stared into the calm eyes of her protector. After a minute or so she finally took a deep breath. The tightness in her chest was still there but the tremors were subsiding. She offered Jonathan the sincerest smile she could manage.

"Thank you Brigadier. I'm, thank you. Your words are more comforting than you could know."

Jonathan straightened and snapped a crisp salute. "Then by your leave your Highness, I return to my duty."

* * *

"It's not enough."

Quizzical looks were directed at the speaker though it was a young woman of similar age that responded verbally.

"Is something wrong Lelouch?" Charlotte asked.

The young man rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Our assets. They are not enough if we want to actually stand a chance of getting to the Viceroy and the Marshal and killing them before Britannian forces are able to turn the tide."

Charlotte frowned. "Why do you say that?"

"Two things," Lelouch responded. "The first is the Britannian air superiority. The liberation movements can't put anything meaningful in the air, which means Britannian forces will have effectively complete domination of the sky. The anti-air weapons that are available will help, to a degree, but we do not have enough of them and what we do have is not good enough to offset the advantages the combat jets like the F-15 and F-18s stationed in Japan offer Britannian forces." The French lieutenant tapped the map. "And then there's the naval taskforce stationed at Nimitz base."

Grimaces appeared around the room, at least on the faces of those JLF officers whose minds had not been completely overridden with obedience to Lelouch. The Britannian Pacific Fleet was actually composed of two distinct fleets, the Third and the Seventh. Seventh Fleet was the one that mattered to the Japanese resistance fighters as its assets were the ones actually stationed in and around Japan. The fleet's principal battle forces were concentrated in two carrier strike groups, one currently anchored at Nimitz base in Yokosuka and the other on patrol between Japan and the Philippines. Every six months the strike groups would rotate with the departing unit drawing upon elements from other taskforces as needed to supplement its numbers.

Even a single carrier wing had over eighty planes however, the majority of which were F-18 Hornet multirole combat jets. Add to that the firepower of the destroyers, cruisers, and even the single battleship attached to Seventh Fleet, and any force that sought to attack the Tokyo Concession would have a very rough time of it if the Britannian military decided to forego restraint and just flatten the opposition. And if an attacking force was not able to breach the Concession's defenses and got bogged down in the ghettos, few were of the illusion that the Britannian navy cared enough about the people living there to hold back. Then again, there was that wildcard that was Euphemia. The Princess seemed intent on winning the hearts and minds of the Japanese people so perhaps the Britannian military might for once actually try to eschew massive collateral casualties in their operations. And that by itself was a problem all on its own.

"The second is the Viceroy," Lelouch continued. "While it would be premature to claim that her attempts to win over the population are working, that may well change in the time it takes us to prepare for our assault. Time is our enemy and the longer we take to marshal our forces, the longer Euphemia has to carry out her reform program. We need to slow her down or, if the opportunity presents itself, remove her from play outright."

"Do you have a plan, Lieutenant Lamperouge?" General Katase asked with unnatural deference.

"A plan? No, merely problems in search of solutions." Lelouch began pacing around the table. "We will need to bolster our forces somehow to offset the material advantage Britannia holds, but for the moment my concern is with Euphemia. Right now the Viceroy enjoys a great deal of public support, not just amongst the Britannian population but also a fair degree amongst the Japanese. The way in which she is publicly eviscerating KBR over the drug and human trafficking is playing well with both groups and if she keeps this up she is liable to severely undermine support for a popular uprising. If that support is absent when we make our move, we might see active obstruction by the general Japanese population and any resistance cells that are not under our direct control."

"Then we undermine her," Charlotte said. "Force her into no-win situations where she cannot satisfy one party without angering the other. And if she attempts to forge a compromise she will simply leave both sides unsatisfied."

"Assuming we cannot orchestrate a successful assassination, that would be the next best thing right now," Lelouch said before smiling wirily. "So, do you happen to have such a situation up your sleeve, Lieutenant Dunois?"

Charlotte shook her head. "I believe we must rely upon our gracious host for such convenience."

Lelouch regarded the officers present with a raised eyebrow. A few simply stared back blankly while others actually looked thoughtful. One in particular however seemed uneasy.

"Is something the matter, General Katase?" Lelouch asked.

It was with visible effort that Katase began speaking. "The Viceroy. Her actions have been of benefit to my people."

And that was all the General was able to get out. It was enough however for Lelouch to sigh. The leader of the JLF possessed a strong will and if Lelouch was not careful in how he remade the man's mind it would snap outright. An unimaginative slave had its uses, but the rest of the JLF would find any such change in demeanor extremely suspicious. As such Lelouch's only option was to shift Katase's perspective little by little until the man was convinced that Lelouch's own objectives were exactly what he himself wanted. Until that transformation was complete however there remained the risk that if something sufficiently conflicted with Katase's original principles the General might be able to reassert himself.

Lelouch walked over to the general and stared him in the eyes, deftly removing the contact that clouded his own left. "General. We both seek the restoration of Japan as an independent nation, do we not?"

"Yes," Katase said without a trace of emotion.

"And that cannot happen so long as Britannia remains in control here, is that not so?"

"That is correct," the General replied once more in his flat tone.

"And the Viceroy represents Britannia's dominion over Japan. No matter what she does for your people, allowing her authority to go unchallenged is tantamount to accepting Britannian rule. Do you not agree, General?"

This time Katase did not respond immediately, but his jaws slowly widened nonetheless.

"Yes, I agree," he said slowly.

The tension in the man's features seemed to bleed away as Katase finally succumbed. Lelouch smirked in triumph and stood back, inserting his contact once more.

"Very good General, I am glad that we are all in agreement." The young man looked about. "So, does anyone here have any suggestions for how to undermine Euphemia?"

Those officers that still retained their imaginations exchanged looks.

"The political prisoners," one spoke up.

Lelouch turned to face the man. "Explain, Lt-Colonel Kusakabe."

"In the early days of the occupation some people attempted non-violent protest against the Britannians. They learned at great cost that Britannia does not distinguish between those that take up arms against their rule and those that pursue non-violent means of protest, anyone that they find agitating for independence is dealt with harshly. The lucky ones are granted a quick death, the unlucky ones have been languishing in Fuchu prison ever since. That is also where the Britannians are holding various respected intellectuals and former politicians that they do not want to make martyrs of by killing outright."

A hungry grin crossed Lelouch's face. "You don't say." He looked over at Charlotte. "I think we have our no-win scenario, my dear Charlotte. And perhaps it is time we begin making use of Kyoto House's other assets."

* * *

The thrusting sword was met with a parry that just barely succeeded in pushing it aside. The attacker was not perturbed however and was withdrawing his blade for another attempt even before the swords broke contact. Villetta advanced, launching a counterattack to prevent any such attempt from being made. She slashed at the Brigadier and the sound of metal clashing rang in the gymnasium. Jonathan twisted his wrist about, forcing his blade atop Villetta's and regaining control of the engagement. The knight angled her own sword downward and away from her opponent to prevent him from sliding his forte down to her foible. Despite the awkward slant her hand was forced into Villetta still counted this as a gain seeing as allowing the Brigadier to gain any sort of leverage over her blade was an open invitation to get stabbed.

The two remained locked together with their swords but Villetta was again slowly being forced to concede ground. Despite his age the Brigadier was still the physically stronger of the two and used that strength to the utmost. A great many lessons on swordsmanship had been imparted upon Villetta from the numerous duels fought this past week. Foremost amongst them was to never let your enemy play to their strengths. The second was the necessity of taking advantage of your enemy's strengths to predict their likely responses.

Villetta began withdrawing, allowing her blade to slide downward. The Brigadier pressed down on her sword as expected in preparation for pushing it aside outright before lunging in for the kill. Instead Villetta closed the distance until her entire body was nearly pressing against the locked blades and for a moment managed to offset Jonathan's physical strength. That moment was enough for her to drive the Brigadier's blade against the ground even as her own rebound into a horizontal sweep. That came to an abrupt halt as Jonathan let go of his sword and seized Villetta's wrist with his right hand. His left snatched up the blade sticking into the rubber flooring and Villetta suddenly found a very sharp edge pressed against her side as the Brigadier's right leg hooked behind her own while he pulled her physically closer even as his grip kept her own sword pointed away from him.

"New lesson for the day Captain," Jonathan said. "A sword is not your only weapon in a duel."

The Brigadier released her but let his blade linger against her side until he was physically too far away to poke her with it. Villetta regarded the man with a rueful smile as she sheathed her sword.

"I will take that lesson to heart sir," she assured him.

"You have improved," Jonathan said as his own sword was returned to its scabbard. "You at least now understand how to use the edge of a sword in addition to its tip."

Villetta nodded. On the second day of her lessons she had asked the Brigadier why he and the rest of the Princess' royal guards used spadroons as their ceremonial weapons instead of court swords. The Brigadier's response was to demonstrate his mastery of the weapon by effectively shredding the jacket she had been wearing that day. It was an embarrassing but ultimately instructive lesson and Villetta herself came to appreciate the extra tactical flexibility having multiple ways to hurt someone with a single weapon offered.

"I have had a good teacher," Villetta said as she surrendered the sword she was using to its original owner. "I hope you have found me to be a worthy student."

Jonathan snorted. "Your worthiness can only be determined by yourself, Captain. No lessons I teach can truly prepare you for the actual battlefield. When you face that pompous ass tomorrow you will do so alone. Your victory or defeat will also be yours alone."

This time the nod was solemn. Villetta understood well that in his own way the Brigadier was trying to make sure she was mentally prepared for the duel. One would have thought that was beyond doubt after all the battles she had fought, but duels were intrinsically different. With modern weapons it became possible to inflict death on one's enemies with impersonal detachment. A rifle might be more efficiently lethal than a sword, but one cannot feel a bullet sink into an opponent's flesh as one would with a blade. A duel was a one on one affair with one's attention focused solely on the opponent and their attention on oneself. The kill would also be direct and personal and any hesitation to deliver the final blow was a weakness that a desperate enemy would exploit.

Villetta took a deep breath. "I will not waver, Brigadier."

The smirk reappeared on Jonathan's face. "No, I don't think you will."

That was perhaps the first compliment the Brigadier had paid her since their training began and Villetta felt her cheeks color ever so slightly at hearing them. She coughed to cover it up and moved the subject onto one other matter.

"Brigadier, for the past week I have been training extensively with a spadroon and my body has grown used to the nuances of such a blade. I do not personally own such a weapon and the armory does not carry them as part of its standard complement. May I, borrow one from her Highness' royal guard?"

Jonathan tilted his head as if considering the request. Then before Villetta's widening eyes the Brigadier reached to his side and unclipped his own blade. She was still gapping as Jonathan stepped before her and presented the sword.

"S-sir!?"

"I expect this back in person or not at all."

Villetta swallowed and accepted the weapon with a low bow. "Thank you, sir."

* * *

The members of the Numbers Administration Council were from both a Britannian and Japanese perspective extremely wealthy. Much of that wealth was tied up investment in sakuradite mining so the amount of liquid assets at their disposal was but a fraction of their total wealth. Of that fraction, a significant portion was funneled to the various liberation movements that dotted Japan. Only a few select groups received direct support from the Six Houses, the vast majority benefiting only indirectly via the odd disbursement of equipment and supplies by third parties or the bribes paid to Britannian officials and soldiers to look the other way from certain activities. Sometimes these small tokens were the difference between freedom and death, other times they made no difference at all.

The most recent direct beneficiaries of the Six Houses, or more specifically of the Sumeragi family, was at present enjoying the hospitality of their patrons. The room they were all gathered in was quintessentially Japanese with everyone kneeing around a large table. Only five people were present, ignoring the servants/guards hovering in the background. The hostess herself was at the head of the table, her face unveiled for all to see. It was a measure of trust, this revealing of her true identity, not that hiding behind some curtains would have served as anything more than a formality. Still, appearances served a purpose and Kaguya's direct and personal appearance served as a clear enough message to Kallen and the others.

"You have been most gracious in your generosity Sumeragi-sama," Kallen said politely.

The half-Britannian half-Japanese girl was in her disguise again, her hair shaded a dark brown and the blue of her eyes muddled by a pair of contacts before being outright obscured by shaded glasses.

"And you performed most admirably in Koshigaya, Akakishi-san," Kaguya said with a smile. "The Viceroy reacted as we hoped and is even now dismantling the leadership of KBR's Japanese branch."

Kallen pursed her lips. "How certain were you that the Princess would actually move against KBR? Was there not a risk that she would have stood idly by and let the company brush things under the rug?"

"If you truly believed the Princess was of such a character, would you have spared her at the Kawaguchi resort?" Kaguya asked back.

The fake brunette shrugged. "At the time she had not done enough for me to get anything more than a passing read of her character. As far as I was concerned letting her live was a gamble. She seemed to be more capable than Clovis, but that capability could have cut both ways."

Kaguya nodded. "A point. And to answer your question, it is because our agents learned of plans on the part of her Highness to create an opportunity to investigate KBR. On the day of your operation the Princess was already marshaling forces to secure the chemical factory."

That elicited a raised eyebrow from all three resistance fighters.

"You're saying the Viceroy was planning a false flag operation of her own?" Kallen said.

"Indeed," Kaguya said with a nod.

"So why did you bother supporting my raid?"

Inoue cleared her throat before Kaguya could answer, drawing the attention of the others.

"I believe it was intended as a test, Akakishi-san," Inoue said, addressing Kallen by her alias, "to determine whether we were capable of operating with finesse. Is that not so, Sumeragi-sama?"

Kaguya mouth widened into a smile. "Very astute, Inoue-san." She then looked back over at Kallen. "You have very able seconds, Akakishi-san."

Kallen held her face impassive. The way the young mistress of Kyoto House worded that sentence sounded like yet another test.

"There was however another purpose," Kaguya continued. "We wanted to send the Viceroy a message."

Compression appeared on Inoue's face almost immediately while it took Kallen a few moments to make the inference.

"You wanted to let the Viceroy know that we Japanese are not solely dependent on her to deal with those who would harm us."

The smile sharpened and took on a slightly predatory air. "Correct, Akakishi-san. Our ultimate goal after all remains independence from Britannia. It would be unwise to allow the Viceroy to start believing that it is at her discretion are Japan's problems resolved."

Kallen chuckled. "Whatever happened to obtaining prosperity as part of the Empire?"

"Pursuit of both goals need not be mutually exclusive," Kaguya stated. "We can work to improve the lot of our people even as we work to ensure the continuation of the Japanese identity and eventually the reemergence of a Japanese state. To treat the two as some sort of zero sum game would be a major strategic error."

That was a pretty audacious claim from Kallen's perspective. The young woman did not entirely dispute it, but the level of complexity inherent in Kaguya's position made the problem as much a philosophical one as it was a political one. It was all too easy to take a direct view of Japan's situation, to regard all Britannians as oppressors and any Britannian initiative as anathema. Black and white, no shades of gray. But the real world was not that simple and to try to treat it as such would simply result in missed opportunities to advance the greater cause of independence, or worse, do active damage to it by overreacting to Britannian maneuvers.

"And I presume dispatching us to Koshigaya was a means to ascertain whether we would make that error?" Kallen asked.

"In part," Kaguya said. "We also needed to determine your technical competence."

"Seeing that you're allowing us to meet in you person, I presume we passed," Kallen said dryly.

Kaguya smiled playfully. "Indeed, Akakishi-san. And having witnessed both your intelligence and your capabilities, I feel confident that there are many ways in which your cell can contribute to the wider liberation campaign."

Kallen regarded Kaguya levelly. "We will help in the greater fight, but we will not be pawns."

"Of course," Kaguya agreed, the smile still on her face. "You are after all already a knight."

Kallen snorted at the wordplay. She supposed she had made it a bit too easy for Kaguya to play off the chess imagery.

"Was there something you wished to discuss specifically then, beyond informing us that we had passed your test?" Kallen asked.

Kaguya nodded and glanced over at Ichijo.

"Are all of you aware of Fuchu prison?" the man asked.

"It's where the Britannians stuck all of the political prisoners they took after they seized control of the country," Inoue answered for the trio, and then some. "Are you thinking of a prison break?"

"That is one of the options on the table," Ichijo said. "Several, prominent Honorary Britannians will soon be petitioning the Viceroy to release the prisoners held at Fuchu. Many have been there since the occupation began. All of them are civilians. Politicians, intellectuals, normal everyday civilians. While some were active resistance members, the majority are simply people that dared raise their voice against Britannian tyranny and brutality."

"So you want us to break them out if the Princess refuses to release them," Kallen said.

"If it comes to it," Ichijo said. "We must after all maintain a certain degree of pressure on the Viceroy. While her effort to raise the standard of living for our people is admirable, that does not change the fact that her ultimate goal is for the full integration of Japan into the Empire. If we are to keep the dream of independence alive, we must be willing to test the limits of the Princess' magnanimity on matters such as this."

Kallen glanced at Ohgi and Inoue and received ever so slight tilts of their heads.

"I think we can get behind that," she said as she looked back at Kaguya and Ichijo. "So long as the operation doesn't end up getting those same prisoners killed in the process."

"Keeping them safe both during the extraction and afterward is of paramount importance," Ichijo assured them. "We will make any arrangements necessary to see it through."

Kallen nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Then let's get to it."

End of Chapter 23

Hmm, no love for the Brigadier?

Inoue's relation with Naoto was something I made up. Nevertheless there's not really anything in the anime itself that contradicts it as far as I can remember, but then again it's been a while.

God damn it, I wanted to get the whole KBR thing dealt with this chapter, but it's just dragging on and on. Hopefully none of you are getting arc fatigue, I'm starting to suffer it a bit myself. By the time this is done I'll have dedicated at least five chapters to the immediate situation around the Refrain plot, more if you count all the setup. Anyway, the next chapter will positively conclude the Refrain arc, minus some a scene here or there talking about the judicial sentences or the portrayal of the carrying out of said sentences. The duel between the noble asshole and Villetta will be the first scene next chapter.

It's actually been somewhat tricky to put Euphie and Kallen on opposing sides. At a basic level what the two want complements each other quite well. Of course that does not mean that there will be no conflict between the two, far from it, but any point of contention between them has to be something the two would have genuine cause to disagree over instead of me arbitrarily making one of them too pigheaded to be reasonable about something that they can work out a compromise on.

Looking through my own references, it looks like the quote "Ask of me anything but time" was not necessarily something he actually said at Waterloo, but more of a 'general' quote attributed to him that he said to his generals and marshals. At this point I'm almost wondering if the English sources I'm looking at are misquoting him or something. This is, mildly irritating to say the least. Oh and apparently I have at least two Frenchmen actively reading this story. I hope I'm doing the predecessor to your DGSE proud.

A note on technology that I forgot to add last chapter. The rate of development for new weapons systems is going to be on a much more realistic timescale than it was in the anime. In the anime they supposedly went through three or four generations of knightmares in the span of a year, maybe two years if we're being generous. That, is not realistic, at all. Over the course of the six years of WWII the Germans only went through about four 'generations' of tanks, assuming we treat the Panzer IV, the Panther, the Tiger, and the Tiger II as distinct 'generations.' What this boils down to is, don't expect these massive leaps and bounds of technology to happen in my story. If you're lucky you just might see the Gareths and Vincents starting to roll off the production lines at the _end_ of the story, but the majority of the Britannian knightmare forces will be good old Sutherlands slowly being supplanted by Gloucesters. Oh and the whole float system is so not going to become standard issue. It is and will remain a neat trick for certain deployment scenarios, but it will never be for general purpose combat. If you want to fight in the sky, get in a damn fighter jet like any real air force would use.

Anyway, on that note, the majority of the military tech Britannia uses is obviously based on American gear. Most of the stuff is from the 1970s, but seeing as they have commercial technology that wasn't widespread until the late 90s at the earliest, I think I'll be forgiven. For the most part I'm also using a lot of American units and historical figures, mostly for convenience reasons. That and the irony quota. Can't forget about that. Any bets on which battleship the Britannians are keeping anchored at Yokosuka?

Sidenote: the notion that Suzaku could lose an entire naval taskforce to the Black Knights and not suffer some pretty major blowback in the Code Geass anime is pretty stupid, regardless of his position as a Knight of the Round. At a minimum his credibility as a commander would have been massively shot after that kind of screwup and the trust and opinion of your subordinates is not something that political cover can save you from.

All of the Latin phrases I've been using for chapter titles can be found on Wikipedia. No, really. I'm literally copying them directly from the site's list. You could do a search on the page and find them verbatim. Today's translates to 'action follows belief.' There was one a couple chapters back that I modified to be 'bread and medicine' instead of the more standard 'bread and circus' but otherwise I just copied them wholesale.

Anyhow, keep the questions (and reviews of course) coming. At this point I am starting to seriously question whether I'll be able to finish the R1 storyline within fifty chapters. We're, maybe, a third of the way through it. Maybe. I know what the next two/two and a half major crisis will be and I need one more before I kick off the Charlie Foxtrot that caps off R1.


	25. Chapter 24

Snippet spoiler: Low to nonexistent

 _Up until the reign of the Empress Euphemia, the constitution that governed the Holy Britannian Empire was decidedly slanted in favor of the nobility. Those checks and balances that did exist were geared more towards ensuring the peerage could not easily move against the sovereign and while protections did exist for the common citizenry, most legal scholars would not regard them as very robust. This of course did not mean the nobility had free reign and in fact a far more informal system of checks and balances existed where the formal one lacked sufficient teeth. This informal system rested on two points, the first the fact that the House of Commons' approval was required to pass appropriations bills through Parliament, even if they could only originate in the House of Lords. As such despite the superior position of the upper house of Parliament the nobility was not in a position to outright ignore the views of the commoners._

 _The second point of this system was the power of high, middle, and low justice possessed by the Emperor. While there existed a formal judicial system in the Empire, the Emperor could at his sole discretion rule on a case himself. These rulings supersede any precedent set by the courts themselves and may only be overturned if the Emperor changes his mind or a successor makes a new ruling to reverse the previous one. This authority can to a limited extent also be granted to the Emperor's agents. In fact officially this was what granted the Britannian judiciary their power. The Knights of the Round also possessed a remit to exercise this power, as did Viceroys such as one Princess Euphemia._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 24: Auctoritas facit legem

The viceroy's palace was in addition to being the seat of government a major aggregation of noble interests. There was prestige in being invited to its halls for the various social events hosted here. Conversely to be issued formal summons to the palace generally portended unpleasant tidings. As Captain Villetta Nu stepped into the building however she felt eminently calm. Perhaps it was because of the noble whose steps mirrored hers on her right. Or perhaps it was because of the sword strapped to her left. Whatever the cause, Villetta was at peace with both her past actions and whatever fate lay in store for her this day.

The two officers were escorted through the palace by a pair of the Princess' armsmen, which in and of itself was not that surprising. Euphemia's royal guard was after all responsible for the security of their liege's residence, though their still small numbers made Villetta wonder why two would be assigned to play tour guide for herself and the Margrave. When the four emerged on the roof garden however, the Captain's serene composure lapsed momentarily as she caught sight of the Princess herself with Brigadier Eyre and General Darlton standing by her side. The butterflies that Villetta had thought absent started fluttering in her stomach. The Brigadier's presence was nerve-wracking enough, but to have General Darlton and the Viceroy herself to witness the duel was far beyond her expectations.

The knight however was soon out of time to stew over the unexpected development as from another entrance came the Lord David, accompanied by someone wearing his family's colors and two more of the Princess' armsmen. Villetta frowned. One look at how the man was dressed made clear that he was not intending to fight this duel himself, not with that flouncy getup he was currently sporting. The one getting his hands dirty was obviously going to be his escort.

The four soldiers took up positions at the four corners of what would serve as the dueling ground and each made the motion of momentarily resting their hands on their holstered side arms. The message was clear enough. If any threats to the Princess emerged over the course of the duel, the armsmen would cut down the source without hesitation.

"Calm yourself," Jeremiah said at her side.

Villetta realized that her breathing had become more labored. She took a deep breath and tried to settle her nerves. Her hand was already itching, eager to tighten over the grip of her sword and commence with the duel. The forms had to be obeyed however and so she forced herself to wait patiently.

Andreas positioned himself on the side between the two parties and regarded each group.

"Blood and honor," Andreas began. "Those are the measures of a noble of the Britannian Empire. To lose honor is to become unworthy of the blood. And to spill blood one must take care that it is done in honor. Lord Edward David the Younger, you have been accused of slandering the honor of the Dame Villetta Nu. In accordance with her standing as a Knight of the Empire, she has demanded satisfaction in blood. Will you seek her pardon before bearing your arms?"

Edward sneered. "This entire affair is a farce. Captain Nu has no standing to demand satisfaction from one of the blood. She should be stripped and put to the lash for such impudence."

Villetta felt anger boil within her but Jeremiah's hand came to a rest on her shoulder before she could respond. Looking over, she saw the man shake his head. The knight took another deep breath. The Margrave was right, allowing herself to be baited like this was probably exactly what the Duke's son was hoping for.

Andreas raised an eyebrow at Edwards' words. "Lord David, I remind you that Dame Nu's petition for satisfaction was submitted and cleared by her Highness herself. I offer you this chance now to withdraw that remark, otherwise I will allow her armsmen to exact their own satisfaction for your slander of their liege."

Edward scowled but had enough sense not to keep digging his own grave. "Apologies, your Highness," he said with a bow in Euphemia's direction. "I do not presume to gainsay your judgment."

The Princess made no visible response, instead continuing to watch with cool composure. Seeing no decline of the noble's retraction, Andreas shifted his gaze over to Villetta.

"Dame Villetta Nu. The Lord Edward David the Younger has declined to offer amends for his insult. Do you still demand satisfaction, or will you withdraw your accusation of slander?"

The question was a mere formality. In the history of the Empire only once had an accuser ever come this far only to withdraw. That individual had disappeared the following day, only for his headless body to turn up a week later. Villetta had no intention of set a second such precedent and drew her sword. She then unclipped the scabbard and tossed it aside.

"I will not, Lord Darlton," Villetta said firmly. "I will see satisfaction this day or I will die defending my honor."

Andreas regarded Villetta with tightened lips before moving onto the next formality. "Who will champion your cause, Dame Nu?"

"Myself," Villetta stated, "and the Honorable Margrave Gottwald has deigned to serve as my second."

Andreas looked back over at the Duke's son. "And who will champion your cause, Lord David?"

"Why, my loyal servant Sebastian, of course."

The sturdy looking man accompanying the noble drew his own blade, a more traditional fencing sabre. Villetta frowned. So she had been right. For all the younger David's playing at soldier with KBR's mercenaries there had been little indication the man possessed the stomach for getting bloodied himself. Edward had also likely guessed that Villetta would take the field herself. By having someone else fight for him, he could minimize the chances of being personally harmed while also increasing the chances of Villetta being cut down. And if Villetta did defeat his champion, he would still have one last chance to plead for his life by apologizing. Rejecting such a final apology was not unheard of but there were significant risks in doing so, especially with Villetta being a mere knight and Edward being a Duke's son. Of course with Duke Windsor's current legal troubles his son might not have long to hide behind his pedigree, but right now at least he remained a blooded noble.

"Then seeing as no recourse to avoid bloodshed remains, champions, step forward."

Villetta came forth and stopped the prerequisite number of paces from the center of the field. Her would be opponent did likewise.

"Salute."

The two did so, both knowing that it was a false courtesy they were extending the other.

"On your guard."

The man named Sebastian adopted a crouched stance befitting his fencing sabre while Villetta shifted to a side stance.

"Begin!"

Villetta waited for a single second before taking the offensive. She advanced with a powerful lunge, slashing downward diagonally with her sword. The stiff blade of the spadroon easily bent her opponent's sabre but Sebastian did not allow her to keep their weapons engaged. He let his own sabre slide up the length of Villetta's sword before breaking contact, the tip of his blade flicking back as the pressure on it suddenly disappeared. Villetta jerked back, just barely getting nicked by the point of the sabre. She would need to take care, whatever advantages her spadroon afforded her against a more flexible blade could be turned against her if she gave Sebastian an opportunity.

The two combatants circled one another as both sought such opportunities. Sebastian was the first to seemingly find one, lunging forward in an attempt jab Villetta in the chest. The knight batted aside the sabre but Sebastian let his blade bend until it sprang straight inside Villetta's guard. Villetta just barely managed to reverse her own sword to parry the renewed thrust, this time stepping in to force contact between their respective fortes. The maneuver was not without some risk as she narrowly dodged being skewered in the neck but with blades now locked once more she was able to reassert a measure of control over where Sebastian could shift his weapon.

The man withdrew, opening the distance to try and break off contact once more. Villetta allowed him to just begin his retreat before twisting her sword about and slashing downward. The motion did not quite catch Sebastian off guard but when the two separated the tip of Villetta's spadroon began staining the ground red. The knight smiled ferociously. First blood was hers.

Sebastian flexed his shoulder but otherwise ignored the cut. It was a shallow wound and so long as he did not allow further such touches he could live with letting Villetta land the first strike. Conversely if he did end up with more such wounds the loss of blood if nothing else would do him in. Death did not need for a thousand cuts to set in. The man hefted his sabre and began circling about once more.

Villetta considered her options. She could go for Sebastian's left again, try to draw him with a feint before hitting him on the other side. If she could get the man's sword arm the duel would be as good as finished. The knight shifted the angle of her blade. The next moment she went for a vertical slash. Sebastian's sabre came in from the side to meet her blade, a motion that made no sense to Villetta. And then she recalled an earlier maneuver where the man bounced his more flexible blade off hers and used the backlash to get under her guard. The direction of Sebastian's parry would not allow for a repeat of the move, but it would allow for something else. The sabre's blade curved away from Villetta as it just barely deflected her sword before snapping back like a whip. The flicker was just fast enough to cut across the Villetta's right arm and leave a shallow trail of red in its wake.

This time it was Villetta that retreated. The knight looked down at the trickle of blood that now ran down her arm. Much like her own strike the wound was not deep, just enough to break the skin and draw blood. Sebastian's strike however had the potential to be more serious seeing as he had managed to wound her sword arm. She needed to end this quickly before her opponent found some way to take advantage of this.

The two continued circling with Villetta waiting for Sebastian to press his advance. Instead the man hung back, keeping his guard tight and seemingly content to remain on the defensive. That made no sense but Villetta soon grew tired of waiting for an attack and launched one of her own. This time she aimed low, stabbing at Sebastian's legs. Her opponent parried her strike but instead of trying to repeat his whipping maneuver pulled back. Villetta frowned. She lunged at his center, not expecting to actually get through, and sure enough Sebastian once more blocked. And once more her opponent did not deign to counterattack.

Villetta blinked. That last attack seemed to take a lot more out of her than it should have. As she leveled her sword against Sebastian she noticed a slight tremor in her hand. That was not right, she had not lost that much blood from the wound, in fact the cut should be basically coagulated at this point. Villetta spared a quick glance at her arm to confirm this but the sudden shift caused her vision to blur in that moment of transition. Her footing seemed to shift from out from under her and Villetta forced her body to freeze long enough for her sense of balance to stabilize. She looked back over at Sebastian once more to see a wide grin on his face. That was when it struck her. Poison. She had been poisoned.

Villetta took a deep breath, fighting the tightness in her chest. Officially there were no rules regarding the use of poisoned weapons in a duel. Unofficially such deception was frowned upon, assuming one got caught. The complication with that however was once a duel was commenced, it could not be stopped without one side conceding. That was probably what the Lord David was aiming for. If Villetta halted the duel to get treated, she would basically forfeit. And if she continued fighting, either the poison or Sebastian would kill her. Villetta's grip tightened. She needed to end this fast.

The knight launched another attack, once more aiming for Sebastian's center. Her opponent prepared to parry her attack but as their blades touched Villetta threw the weight of her body against her sword. The added force caused Sebastian's sabre to bounce instead of deflecting Villetta's blade and the man backpedaled hurriedly, trying to get away. Had Villetta been at her best, he would have failed. As it was her blade sank into the top of his right shoulder and left a deep gash. Sebastian cried out in pain, lashing out with his foot and kicking Villetta away. The knight just barely managed to stay upright, taking a few moments to reestablish her guard.

Sebastian glared at her as he cradled his bloody shoulder. This was not a wound he would be able to shrug off but it was apparent in the man's expression that he still believed he held the advantage. And as it was Villetta shared that belief. The poison was taking its toll and she did not expect to last much more than another minute or so. She either needed to finish this or figure out something to counteract the poison. And then Villetta's eyes fell upon her own blade. That just might work.

Sebastian still seemed intent on waiting her out, apparently preferring to play it safe than take any further risks in their duel. That lack of daring was now going to bite him however as he simply watched as Villetta stopped threatening him with her sword. Instead the woman ran her left hand along the edge, slitting her own hand and letting its blood coat the blade. A sharp pain shot through Villetta and she felt her mind focus. She had bought herself perhaps another minute, but now it really was all or nothing. And the way Sebastian eyed her blood soaked blade was telling in and of itself. After all, her blood had to be full of the very poison he had gotten her with.

Villetta took a deep breath. And then she charged. This time Sebastian was ready for any attempts to power through and positioned his footing accordingly. All that accomplished however was to leave his left leg exposed as Villetta delivered a hard kick to his shin. The man howled once more in pain, a cry that was abruptly cut short as and then replaced by Villetta's own as she slammed her sword into his chest. The blade slipped between the ribs and a gush of blood erupted from the wound as a hole was torn in Sebastian's heart. The man stared at Villetta in shock for a few seconds before his eye glazed over and his body crumbled. Too weak to hold herself up, much less the corpse her sword was buried in, Villetta fell with him. Her sight was becoming fuzzier and fuzzier and it took her a few moments to realize that Jeremiah was at her side.

"Villetta, can you hear me!?" the man said frantically.

"My lord," Villetta heard her voice say. "I-I believe I've been poisoned."

And that was the last thing Villetta's senses passed to her before she blacked out.

Jeremiah grabbed hold of the woman as he looked up at Andreas.

"Sir, she's been poisoned!"

Andreas' face darkened into a scowl as his gaze fell upon Edward. "Armsman, first aid, now."

Technically Andreas had no authority to be issuing orders to members of Euphemia's royal guard. Today however he was serving as master of the grounds and Euphemia had explicitly ordered her armsmen to obey any order he gave in that capacity. As such the two armsmen on Villetta's side of the grounds immediately rushed over to the woman. They pulled her off of the still bleeding Sebastian and as one checked her pulse another pulled out a flashlight and pried upon an eye.

"Dilated pupils," he said, pulling out a syringe from his poach. "We need to get her down to the medical ward immediately."

The soldier injected Villetta with the emergency antitoxin all armsmen carried in case their usual charge was ever poisoned. Once done he and the other man picked Villetta up as gently as they could managed and hurried off. Once they were gone Jeremiah's gaze turned to the Lord David, the scowl on his face easily matching if not surpassing the one on Andreas'.

"Edward David," Jeremiah said, not even bothering with any courtesy titles. "You are a miserable worm unworthy of the privileges and dignity accorded your title."

Edward snorted derisively. "Insult me however you wish Margrave, it changes nothing for this affair is settled. Your precious knight has spilled the blood needed to satisfy her vanity." Edward adjusted his clothes. "Now if you will excuse me, I have more pertinent matters to attend to."

"Those matters will have to wait, Lord David."

Heads turned towards the speaker. Jonathan stepped onto the dueling ground, his sword already drawn.

"Lord Edward David, you are accused of complicity in the manufacturing and trafficking of Refrain and the abduction and impressment of her Highness' subjects." Jonathan glanced over at Euphemia. "Your Highness, have you considered the evidence before you?"

"I have, Brigadier Eyre."

Edward's jaw dropped.

"Your verdict, your Highness."

"W-wait just a moment!" the Duke's son exclaimed. "I am a noble of the blood! I demand my due before a proper court of my peers!"

"As his Majesty's duly appointed Viceroy, her Highness holds ius gladii within Area 11," Jonathan said with a sneer. "Her authority is all that is necessary to judge any subject within her domain." He looked back over at the Princess. "Your verdict, your Highness."

Euphemia's eyes hardened. "The defendant is found guilty of the accused crimes."

"This, this is a farce!" Edward screamed. "You won't get away with this, my father will see you drawn and quartered!"

"Sentence, your Highness," Jonathan asked, ignoring the whimpering noble brat.

The Princess regarded the Lord David coldly. "Death. You may proceed with the execution, Brigadier Eyre."

"By your command, your Highness."

Jonathan now turned toward Edward and directed his sword towards the man. The lordling looked about frantically, seeing no hint of pity in any of the others. The two armsmen that stood at the corners on his side of the field stepped away as they drew their side arms and leveled them at the Duke's son. Backed into a metaphorical corner with no options left, Edward frantically drew his own sword and faced Jonathan. With a mad cry he charged the Brigadier.

Jonathan Eyre was regarded by those familiar with the man as a highly competent swordsman. This regard did not come from his winning of any prominence in formal fencing tournaments, in fact the last time the man had fenced in a scored match was back when he was a cadet at West Point. And with his casual disregard for such fencing niceties as right of way, Jonathan was absolutely merciless when it came to creating and exploiting openings in his opponent's guard. Edward David was regarded by most people as the overfed and pompous ass of a son of the Duke of Windsor, someone who liked to imagine himself as a warrior but did not possess the discipline or competency to serve as an officer in the Britannian military even with his father's influence backing him. And while Edward was a decent shot with a rifle or pistol, he had never bothered putting in the sweat and blood needed to forge his own body into a proper weapon.

As the swords of the two men met, Jonathan casually twirled his wrist and in one smooth motion used his blade to wrench Edward's weapon from the astonished noble's hand. The man's eyes were still wide when Jonathan reversed his swing and brought the tip of his blade clean through Edward's neck. A muffled gurgle sounded before being abruptly cut off as the Brigadier twisted and severed the noble's head. As Edward's vision spun with the fall of his head the last words he ever heard reached his ears.

"Thus die all traitors to the throne."

* * *

When Kallen arrived at school the student body was already abuzz with the latest news. It was only yesterday that the charges and execution of Edward David the Younger, son of the Duke of Windsor, had been released to the general public. The severity of the man's crimes, along with their sheer depravity, ensured that few people even amongst the Britannian populace harbored any sympathies for him. A few nobles did wring their hands and make noise about the importance of members of the peerage receiving proper consideration even for matters as severe as the crimes the late Edward was accused of.

Most of those same peers knew when to take a hint and wisely kept their mouths shut if they could not find anything approving or respectful to say about the very permanent defenestration of one of their members. The company of soldiers that stormed the Duke of Windsor's estate at the same time his son was being executed probably had as much to do with their sudden discretion as said execution. More arrests would certainly be made over the matter and no one wanted the Viceroy's eye to be drawn in their direction.

By the time lunch rolled around Kallen was getting more than a bit tired with all the hushed whispers. It was mostly the boys that were doing the whispering, the majority of the girls seemed fairly squeamish about the thought of someone getting decapitated. Still it was with some relief that Kallen made her way to the student council building with C.C.

"Thou art of ill humor," her companion remarked. "What ails thou?"

"Ill humor? Not really. I'm just trying to figure out what the Princess' angle in all of this is."

"Thy Princess hast confound thou?"

"Sort of. The manner with which she arranged Lord David's execution was unexpected. As Viceroy she does have the authority to order summary executions but that authority is very rarely exercised these days, or at least exercised so publicly and against such a prominent member of the aristocracy. Now, what sort of person would just outright execute someone without even bothering with a formal trial?"

"Tis obvious, no? A despot."

"Exactly. Oh, most everyone that's talking about the execution publicly support the Princess, especially with how nasty the crimes were, but the thing is, it was an open and shut case. The Princess had all the evidence she needed to successfully convict them already, she didn't need to bypass the courts. That she did so anyway, it's a message."

"A reminder of her stature?"

"And a warning," Kallen said as they reached the student council building. "Anyone that crosses her or attempts to undermine her authority will end up on the chopping block, whether you be a Japanese commoner or a Britannian noble."

With that closing remark Kallen opened the door and entered the building. Milly and the others were already there and with her classmates about any conversation would have to move onto safer topics.

Milly waved at Kallen with a wide smile. "Yo Kallen, are you feeling better?"

"Much, thank you," Kallen replied with a smile of her own. "My apologies for my absence."

"Aww, don't worry about it," the student council president said. "Just be sure to take care of yourself, you don't want to miss what's coming up this weekend after all."

Kallen blinked. "This, weekend?"

"Yep, it's the big dance!" Milly said with good cheer. "We've been planning it for months now. All the catering is arranged, the decorations bought and paid for, we just need to dragoon some of the sports clubs to provide the manpower to put them up."

"Oh," Kallen said with muted enthusiasm. "I think I heard some of my classmates mention it a while back, I had forgotten about it."

"Well it's a good thing I warned you," Milly said. "At least this way you won't be taken by surprise by all the guys lining up to ask to escort you to the dance."

This time Kallen did not even bother trying to hide her displeasure as she sighed. "Oh. Lovely."

"Hmm, no one you'd be interesting in letting take you?" Milly asked.

"Not really," Kallen said. "To be honest I haven't really thought much about that. What about you?"

"Ah, well I'll be busy coordinating everything so I'm afraid I officially will not be looking for a date," Milly said before giving Rivalz a pat on the shoulder. "I'll have my trusty vice-president with me though, so I guess he could count."

"Thanks prez," Rivalz said with a wiry smirk.

A slight chuckle escaped Kallen as she took a seat. "I believe you'll need to go one round on the dance floor with Rivalz to make it count." She then looked about. "By the way, where's Nina?"

"She's, working on a special project," Milly said.

Even breathing and a calm heartrate. At the very least Milly was not lying about that.

"Oh? Sounds interesting," Kallen said as nonchalantly as she could. "What's it about?"

Rivalz and Shirley were not quite able to keep their bodies from tensing up, not that anyone without Kallen's enhanced senses would have noticed without knowing exactly what to look for. Milly on the other hand looked completely composed. Were it not for the slight quickening of her pulse not even Kallen would have noticed the other girl's wariness.

"I'm afraid I've been asked to not discuss it too much," Milly said with a genuine looking disarming smile.

Kallen was not fooled in the least but her instincts warned her to back off from the topic. This almost certainly had something to do with the message Suzaku delivered last week but if Kallen wanted to find out more she would need to pursue alternate paths, the rest of the student council was obviously not prepared to share what they knew. For now Kallen tried to shift the topic as gracefully and innocently as she could.

"Hmm, so is she going to be too busy to attend the dance?"

While the loss of tension was more subtle on Rivalz and Shirley's part Milly chuckled openly.

"Hmm, not sure she would have gone unless I dragged her along. Nina's not that, social." A mischievous smile appeared on Milly's face and Kallen felt a chill run down her spine. "What about yourself, Milady Stadtfeld?"

Kallen regarded Milly ruefully. She probably should have seen that segue backfiring that way.

"As I said, there really aren't any guys at the school that I'm particularly interested in," Kallen said.

"Ah, so you are free for the evening?" Milly said, her grin widening with every word.

"Uh, I suppose that is the case," Kallen said warily.

"Then you would perhaps be free to help me and Rivalz manage the dance?" The grin was starting to remind Kallen of a certain fictional cat.

"I think so," Kallen said. "I don't have anything scheduled for this weekend."

"Excellent," Milly said. "And this way you have an excuse to use to dodge all those guys who'll try asking you out. Win-wins are the best, no?"

This time it was Kallen that chuckled. "Yeah, yeah they are. And if I'll be there so will Cecilia, so make sure she also gets her fair share of work."

Milly regarded the ostensibly French girl. "You won't mind, Cecilia?"

"Twould be mine pleasure, Mademoiselle la Présidente. Will the occasion warrant formal attire?"

Milly nodded. "It is a dance after all."

"Hmm, tis so," C.C. said with a sly grin. "Then might I commend thee to grant thy rede to mine charge."

Kallen's head snapped over with a look of consternation. "What!?"

"Tis most regrettable but Mademoiselle Stadtfeld payeth little mind to her clout. Surely a woman of thy quality could see to the rectification of that lack?"

The smile that was now on Milly's face was making Kallen very, very nervous.

"No, that's fine," the redhead said hurriedly, trying to head off the inevitable storm even as she shot an irritated look at C.C. "I have plenty of dresses to choose from, I'll be fine."

"Plenty you say?" Milly said. "Well I'm afraid plenty just won't cut it this day, Kallen Stadtfeld. For an event of this importance we must find you an outfit that will see you positively shine!"

"But-"

"Nahaha," Milly cut her off. "I will hear no protests. Clear your schedule for this afternoon, Kallen, for we will be going shopping!"

"But-"

"Oh don't worry, it won't just be you and me, Shirley needs a new dress too, and we can test out our selections on Rivalz and have him carry the bags."

Shirley smiled comfortingly at Kallen while Rivalz's was accompanied with a shrug.

"But-"

"And there's Cecilia too, did you bring any formal dresses with you from France?"

If C.C. was taken by surprise by the question she did not show it.

"Nay, Mademoiselle la Présidente."

"Well then, we'll need to get you something as well. You know, a lot of the guys have been eyeing you as well. Might as well strut what you've got."

The headache Kallen was now feeling had nothing to do with her Geass.

"Twould be a merry time for all," C.C. smirked.

"I certainly hope so," Milly said. "Honestly, it takes a lot of work to make sure everyone has a good time, never mind all of the security arrangements that just make things more complicated."

Kallen's ears perked up. "Security arrangements?"

The older girl nodded. "I was running an errand for my grandfather yesterday at the viceroy's palace and ran into the Princess. She's been, busy, but I managed to convince her to come and take a break from her duties."

Now that piqued Kallen's interest. She had only ever exchanged a handful of words with the Princess, as either the Red Knight or as Kallen Stadtfeld, but it was becoming increasingly clear that she needed to get closer. The Princess was obviously planning something and her position as Viceroy of Area 11 meant that whatever she intended Japan and her people would be impacted. She already had a foot in the door thanks to her joining the student council, now she just needed to step all the way in.

"Huh, I see," Kallen said aloud. "It would be nice to speak with her again. She seemed like a very nice person."

Milly was no fool and her eyes narrowed ever so slightly before the girl's face assumed a genial mask.

"I'd like to keep the evening business free, Kallen, you know, give Euphie a chance to unwind."

Kallen nodded. "I understand. I'll be on my best behavior and try to make sure that the Princess can enjoy herself as just another student of the academy." The girl tilted her head thoughtfully. "Huh. You might need to arrange a date for her."

Milly blinked at the seemingly random remark. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if the Princess is coming by herself, how many guys are going to want to ask her to dance, irregardless of whether they already have a date? And somehow I _don't_ think it'd help the Princess enjoy the evening if she's surrounded by a bunch of jilted teenage girls."

Milly rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "You know, that's actually a very good point. The problem is finding a guy that I'd trust to not screw this up."

"We could just have one of her Highness' guards play the role," Rivalz suggested.

"No," both Kallen and Milly simultaneously shot him down.

"You don't want to create any emotional entanglements between a primary and the person they're protecting, especially not romantic ones," Milly further elucidated. "Even if the armsman would be 'playing' at it, yeah, no."

"Alright," Rivalz said, holding up his hands. "I get the picture."

Milly's eyes were still on him. "Actually…"

The Cheshire grin was back in full force. Rivalz's eyes started bugging out.

"Oh no. No, no, no."

"But it's perfect," Milly said. "You still have your boon from Euphie and I _know_ you won't try to do anything inappropriate with her."

"If I bring the Princess to the dance, every guy in the school is going to be after my head the next day," Rivalz said. "And no girl here would ever give me the time of day again."

"Aww, is there someone you're sweat on here?"

"You-I mean, gah, Milly that is not funny!"

Flippant and irreverent as the girl could be, Milly Ashford was not insensitive and knew when she crossed a line. In fact the Ashford daughter generally could sense where such lines were and which ones not to cross. On those rare occasions when she oversteps however she knew better than to try to deny or cover it up with more inappropriate humor.

"Sorry," Milly said with clear sincerity. "I didn't mean to put you on the spot like that."

Rivalz nodded curtly, his anger still a bit raw but he knew Milly well enough to understand she had not meant any harm. The boy sighed.

"I can offer to escort the Princess to the dance," he said, "so long as we make it clear to her that I'm just a stand-in. If her Highness has someone else she would rather go with, she should feel no obligation to me."

The smile that reappeared on Milly's face was one of sincere gratitude. "Thanks Rivalz."

"But," the boy said, "the next time we have a dance, I get off from student council duty so that I can go enjoy myself with a date _I_ pick. Fair, Prez?"

The smile even widened. "Fair, Rivalz."

* * *

On the first day Villetta had drifted in and out of consciousness as her body was flushed of the poison that had coated her opponent's blade. By the second day she was lucid enough to feel bored even with the selection of premium cable channels her private suite afforded her. Fortunately she would only be here for another day before being discharged, assuming that word still applied even when she was not formally admitted to a hospital. Not surprisingly the viceroy's palace had plenty of rooms that could be converted into a makeshift ward and Villetta was prepared to provisionally interpret the Princess' seeming generosity as a good sign.

A knock sounded and Villetta turned off the TV, not that she had really been paying attention to the show.

"Come in."

Villetta had been expecting a palace servant, none of the doctors or nurses that had attended to her the past two days bothered to knock, hence why she was leaning back lazily against the pile of pillows. When the door opened however the knight shot straight up as she watched first Margrave Gottwald, then General Darlton, and finally Brigadier Eyre enter.

"Sir-Sirs," Villetta spluttered.

"As you were Dame Nu," Andreas said with an upraised hand. "We would not want you to undo the healing you have managed this past day."

Villetta relaxed, just a bit, but remained sitting upright as three of the most powerful men in the Area positioned themselves around her bedside.

"Dame Nu," Jeremiah said. "You are recovering well?"

"I am my lord," Villetta replied. "Thank you for your concern. And once again thank you for standing by my side."

Jeremiah smiled and nodded politely. "It was the least I could do for an officer as talented as yourself."

Villetta returned the smile before looking over at Jonathan. "And thank you as well, Brigadier, for taking the time to instruct me. Were it not for your tutelage, I would have fallen victim to the Lord David's machinations."

Jonathan raised an eyebrow. "And do you still believe in the worth of calling out the late Lord David?"

Villetta nodded firmly. "I do, sir." And then she grimaced ever so slightly. "Had I known of his intended duplicity however, I would have been more careful in seeking satisfaction."

Jonathan smirked. "So long as the lesson was properly imported."

The remark was a bit vague but Villetta was pretty certain she understood the gist of it.

"On that note," the woman said as she reached for the sword hanging from the bedpost. She presented it to Jonathan. "Thank you for the loan, Brigadier. As per your condition, I return it to you in person."

Jonathan looked at the offered blade, then up at Villetta herself. Instead of taking it however he glanced over at Andreas and Jeremiah. Both men nodded and after nodding back in turn Jonathan returned his gaze to Villetta.

"What say you to keeping the sword?"

Villetta looked at the man in confusion. "Sir?"

"I have gone over your record Dame Nu," Jonathan said, "and it is impressive. Graduated third of your class from West Point and served a tour of duty as part of the pacification campaign in Area 14 before transferring to Area 11. Since your arrival here your record has been impeccable and it is also my understanding that you commanded the forces that stormed the Kawaguchi resort."

Villetta's expression was just a tad rueful. "I am afraid on that last count I did not act with enough haste, sir. I was responding instead of forcing a response in that instance."

"Yet the fact remains that you did respond instead of dithering," Jonathan countered. "I reviewed the ops plan you put together and considering how little time you had to get everything organized, everything was superbly coordinated. So superbly in fact that I feel just the slightest guilt of potentially depriving General Darlton and Colonel Gottwald of your services."

Villetta's breath caught as the final pieces clicked into place.

"Sir," she choked out. "Are you?"

"Indeed I am," Jonathan said, the smirk back on his face. "Should you be willing, I have a place within her Highness Euphemia's royal guard for you. And considering your obvious competency and dedication, I see no reason why in a short time the Princess herself would not take notice of you personally."

And make her a Knight of Honor, was the unspoken intimation. Villetta was now finding that the tightness in her chest came from something else entirely.

"I-sir, this is a tremendous honor," she managed to say despite the shallowness of her breath.

"It is a tremendous responsibility," Jonathan said dryly. "As you may have noticed her Highness tends to be somewhat willful. That willfulness no doubt makes her an effective leader, but it also sets her against a variety of interests. It is our job to protect her Highness from those interests, to lay down our lives if necessary. If you sign on, I will hold you to the same expectation as I do for everyone else in the guard, not excepting myself." The smirk returned. "And it will only be when you meet that expectation that we may speak of tremendous honor."

As recruitment speeches went the Brigadier's would not have been rated as particularly inspiring. It was however very frank and Villetta found herself oddly moved by that frankness. For all the pomp and livery that went hand in hand with the upper strata of Britannian society, it was sometimes difficult to see clearly where the lines were drawn. The Brigadier on the other hand dealt with that particular problem with his usual brusqueness by simply ignoring all the pageantry and focusing on what really mattered, the safety of his liege. And that was the sort of dedication that Villetta could find inspiration in.

The woman looked over at the other two officers present. "My lords?"

"The Brigadier discussed this matter at some length with myself and the Margrave," Andreas said. "It is true that I am loathe to lose the services of as fine an officer as yourself, Dame Nu, but I am in agreement with the Brigadier on all the salient points. The ultimate choice is yours, and whichever path you choose you shall have my full support."

Villetta's gaze was now solely on Jeremiah. The Margrave smiled wirily.

"I have little to add to the General's remarks," he said, "but I will say this. I am slightly envious that it was you whom the Brigadier considered capable of shouldering the responsibilities and worthy of the honor of being recruited into her Highness' royal guard. And worry not about the matter of your duty to Britannia, by helping ensure her Highness' safety you are performing a service that has few equal within the Empire."

Villetta nodded and smiled gratefully in return to both men. She then looked back at Jonathan.

"If you will have me Brigadier, I wholeheartedly accept."

Jonathan's mouth quirked up again into his habitual smirk. "Rest well, Dame Nu, for you will not be getting much time for it once you report for duty." His eyes fell on the sword Villetta still clutched. "And make sure your sword is properly sharpened. We of her Highness' royal guard have no weapons for the sake of ceremony."

"I will sir," Villetta said, gripping the sheathed weapon tightly. "I will."

* * *

The smile that was on Schneizel's face as it appeared on the monitor was probably as genuine as her brother could manage. The same could be said for the one Euphemia returned.

"Good evening Euphie, I hope you are doing well?"

"Well enough, thank you brother," Euphie replied. "And yourself?"

The smile became somewhat strained. "Much as always. There is a small uproar in the House of Lords at present, but then again there always is."

"Ah. I hope you are not at risk of losing your majority on account of me?"

"Far from it, many of the peerage are hoping that remaining within my good graces will offer some protecting from my inexperienced and," there was genuine humor in the smile now, "capricious, younger sister."

Amusement colored Euphie's expression. If there was one trait that was genuinely shared by every member of the Imperial family it was a notably irregular sense of humor. Distinctive personality quirks were a dime a dozen amongst the peerage in general but when it came to the Britannias comment tended to be hushed lest a member of the family decide someone needed a demonstration of said humor.

"In all seriousness Euphie, you have ruffled quite a few feathers," Schneizel said. "While I agree with the necessity of putting down this trafficking ring, in the future please at least give me some warning, even if you must do so via our secure lines."

"Having seen the deftness with which you are handling the bewailing, yes, I believe I can provide my dear brother advance warning the next time I have need to put to the sword a noble," Euphie said, her own smile disappearing as she paused. "I expect to sign the Duke of Windsor's death warrant in two weeks' time."

"You have sufficient evidence?" Schneizel asked, not a challenge, merely a confirmation.

Euphie nodded. "Some of his inner circle have already confessed, in detail, to their crimes and the Duke's complicity. There is no doubt."

"Very well then," Schneizel said. "I will deal with any issues that arise here in the homeland. Would a writ from his Majesty sanctioning the execution be of assistance? It is likely the Duke is already preparing an appeal in expectation of his conviction."

The smile returned as Euphie bowed her head ever so slightly. "If you could arrange such, I would be most grateful."

Schneizel nodded. "Consider it done."

And so the back and forth continued. Euphie's trust in her dear brother was not unconditional, much as Schneizel's own faith in his beloved sister. It was not simply a matter of confidence that either would not be willing to inflict harm on the other for the sake of their own advancement, there was also the concern of how well each handled the power already at their disposal and how they responded when limits to that power appeared. As Viceroy, Euphie actually possessed some powers that Schneizel lacked as Prime Minister, the ability to circumvent the judiciary being one of them. On the other hand Schneizel was one of the few people in the Empire to have direct access to the Emperor, even more so than the rest of his siblings, and that access translated to another type of power. Softer perhaps than the delegated authority a Viceroy possessed, since Schneizel at least needed to convince his father of the merit of any proposal he made, but when he succeeded it was an absolute authority that he could wield. And in this way the two siblings tested each other, giving and taking in turn to what all involved hoped was in a mutually beneficial way, for in those instances where such equilibrium was disrupted the end result tended to be very bloody.

"Incidentally, I intend to visit Area 11 within the next month," Schneizel said. "The Camelot Institute is preparing to test a new knightmare prototype they have been working on and there is another research project I have over there that is beginning to bear fruit. And seeing as both you and Cornelia are in the Area, I thought I could also use the opportunity to meet with the two of you and discuss Gimlé."

A polite smile remained on Euphie's face as she replied. "That is an excellent idea, brother. And I hope you do not mind if I also squeeze in some occasions of state that would benefit from your presence?"

Schneizel chuckled wirily. "So long as you arrange for banquets to accompany them, I think I could be persuaded to put in an appearance."

"I shall arrange for a veritable feast," Euphie assured him. "Oh, before I forget, there was one other thing I believe we should discuss when you arrive."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"I have potentially found something that would be of help to Muspelheim."

Schneizel's expression did not visibly change and his voice when he responded was its usual levelness.

"I see."

Its brevity on the other hand made clear his surprise.

Euphie smiled innocuously. "I suggest you speak with Earl Asplund and Captain Croomy for the details. Though please do note that I have given my word that the asset must be voluntarily offered."

Schneizel smiled wirily. "I see indeed. Well, that is certainly something for me to ponder on. I almost fear that I might not have the patience to see me through this next month."

"I am sure you will endure, dear brother," Euphie said, her expression softening ever so slightly. "And it will be good to see you again."

This time there was no hidden depth behind Schneizel's own expression.

"And I as well Euphie. Stay safe until we meet again."

End of Chapter 24

No, I am not setting up Rivalz with Euphie. Who I do end up setting her up with is a not so minor problem, seeing as there really weren't that many impressive guys around her age that match her caliber in my version. Or in canon for that matter. I'm almost certainly going to need to come up with an original character. And what is that lovely music? Oh, it's the screeching of the Euphie x Suzaku zealots. In all seriousness though, don't take it as a given who she will end up with. And she is going to end up with someone, if only because of her sense of obligation in the necessity of leaving an heir behind. Love need to have nothing to do with that.

The next one or two chapters will be breathers. I think a lot of my fatigue was just from having to try to maintain the overall tension. Though then again a breather for the main set of characters doesn't necessarily mean the side characters will be getting off nearly as easily. There are a couple of plot points that I really need to start laying prep work for.

We're only about 30%, on the generous side, of the way into the R1 arc. Which means that we're only at about 15%, on the generous side, of the overall story. Meaning we're still in the setup and preparatory stage and not really that far into the story. Meaning there isn't enough of a foundation for anything to be left if I drop in a development that does 'permanent' damage this early. On the other hand from the snippets that I've released thus far you all know the Black Rebellion is coming and you all know that sometime in the near future things go balls up enough that Euphie ends up dropping a nuke somewhere. I think you can all take it as a given that both events leave 'permanent' damage. Oh and there's still the EU to consider, I didn't give them scenes for nothing.

All those events however need to have the proper setup. The Black Rebellion is not going to be happening in a vacuum, same with the nuke. When they come about, I fully intend for their occurrence to actually make sense instead of dropping them in arbitrarily for the sake of creating 'drama.' Doing otherwise is just sloppy writing and by all rights any one of the major setbacks that Lelouch ran into in the canon anime should have ended him. One does not succeed by relying on the stupidity or carelessness of your enemy, one wins by making sure that your enemy can't win even if they make no mistake at all. That said, that doesn't mean the world won't burn a bit by the time I'm done. What am I saying, it's going to burn a lot.

At the same time, let's keep Euphie's successes thus far in context. When she became Viceroy Area 11 was a giant mess. It doesn't take much to start making things a little bit better, but she is nowhere close to actually getting the place integrated into the Empire. Euphie's own timeline for this little project is measured in years. She is competent, she is not a miracle worker.

Note that while I am open to questions, I am _not_ going to respond to any questions whose answers would constitute spoilers beyond those already planned in the snippets.

C.C. lines because this time they might actually not be the most straightforward to decipher. I've been lazy the last few chapters.

Thou art of ill humor. What ails thou? – You seem somewhat down. What's bothering you?

Thy Princess hast confound thou? – Your Princess is confusing you?

Tis obvious, no? A despot. – Isn't it obvious? A dictator.

A reminder of her stature? – A reminder of her authority?

Twould be mine pleasure, Mademoiselle la Présidente. Will the occasion warrant formal attire? – It would be my pleasure, Madame President. Will I need formal wear for the event?

Hmm, tis so. Then might I commend thee to grant thy rede to mine charge. – Hmm, it is so. Then might I ask you to give some advice to my charge?

Tis most regrettable but Mademoiselle Stadtfeld payeth little mind to her clout. Surely a woman of thy quality could see to the rectification of that lack? – It's most regrettable but Lady Stadtfeld pays little attention to her clothes. Surely a woman of your station could see to remedying that?


	26. Chapter 25

Snippet spoiler: Medium to low

 _The 100_ _th_ _Infantry Battalion was formed by General Andreas Darlton as part of the reorganization of Britannian forces in Area 11 after his and the Marshal Cornelia's arrival. The rank and file of its constituent companies was composed of primarily Honorary Britannians with only the senior NCOs and commissioned officers being native Britannians. It would go on to become one of the most highly decorated combat units within the Britannian Army, fighting for the Empire across the world over the course of the Great War. Many of its members would go on to serve as members of the personal detachments of the various Knights of the Round that served the Empress Euphemia while others would become direct armsmen of her Majesty._

 _The latter is especially fitting seeing as the first major engagement the 100_ _th_ _fought in after its establishment was the First Battle of Tokyo, the opening of the Black Rebellion. Two of the battalion's companies was stationed at or around the Keio hospital campus when it came under attack by Japanese Liberation Front units seeking to assassinate the then Princess Euphemia. The 100_ _th_ _fought alongside the Princess' royal guards under the direct command of Brigadier-General Jonathan Eyre, losing a third of their numbers to casualties in the desperate defense of the campus. For the valor they demonstrated that day the 100_ _th_ _was granted permission to emblazon the battle on its colors, only the fifth predominantly Honorary Britannian unit in the Britannian unit to be accorded this honor._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 25: Ante festum

"The military's reorganization has seen quite a few people move up and down the ranks," André said. "Quite a few officers that were overly slack in their duties have been kicked out of the military outright and the units they commanded handed to more, energetic officers. The Marshal Cornelia and General Darlton know what they're doing though, they are making sure that the commissioned officers taking over the units are backed up by seasoned NCOs as well."

"So attempting to subvert those units would likely be difficult," Lelouch stated.

"At least not without attracting considerable attention. As unreliable as those units might have been, their new COs are getting them into shape and if they suddenly 'decided' to go rogue, questions would be raised."

"C'est dommage," Lelouch said. "Comme on dit, attendez pas la coopération de votre ennemi en la création de votre enclenchement idéal ."

André chuckled. "It might be more profitable to attempt to suborn the PMCs that the Viceroy is in the process of dismantling. They are likely hold some enmity towards the Britannian government in general and the Viceroy in particular. Fewer people would find it suspect if they were to go on a rampage in the ghettos and indiscriminately murder civilians."

"Hmm, suspicions would still rise if entire companies engaged in such bloodletting. But it is a good idea, we just have to be a bit creative in pulling it off."

Before André could say anything else a knock sounded. As befitted his nominal subordinate rank Lelouch was the one that walked over to answer it and when he opened the door to the hallway he was greeted by a beaming Charlotte.

"Mademoiselle Dunois, you seem remarkably upbeat," Lelouch said jokingly.

"Indeed I am, Monsieur Lamperouge," Charlotte responded as she held up a thin packet of paper. "I have found something that may aid us in offsetting the force disparity between the Japanese resistance fighters and the Britannian military."

An eyebrow quirked up on Lelouch's face. "Well then, by all means come in and share with me your discovery."

It was with a noticeable skip to her step that Charlotte accepted the invitation and once the door was closed she wasted little time pressing herself against Lelouch. And then she caught sight of André and blushed ever so slightly. Nevertheless Charlotte made no move to separate herself from Lelouch. The young man chuckled and wrapped an arm around the girl and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"Captain Devigny, would you mind giving me and Charlotte some time alone?"

André chuckled dryly as he stood. "And I thought the two of you would have had plenty of time to share while I was away."

"The, Japanese were surprisingly prudish," Lelouch said. "Charlotte here had to remain on her best behavior-erk"

Charlotte withdrew her elbow even as she smiled brightly.

"Well, I will see about making myself useful elsewhere," André said. "I trust whatever idea Lieutenant Dunois has brought, you will brief me on it later.

The older Frenchman gave Lelouch a knowing grin as he closed the door behind him. Lelouch himself chuckled and gave Charlotte's shoulder a squeeze.

"Before we become too distracted, why don't you tell me what you found," he suggested.

"Very well," Charlotte was an exaggerated sigh before holding the papers up to Lelouch's face. "I was reviewing the intelligence the JLF has on prominent Honorary Britannians and this caught my attention. You remember who Suzaku Kururugi is?"

"He was awarded a medal for participating in the rescue operation at the Kawaguchi resort," Lelouch answered almost immediately.

Charlotte nodded. "Full points. Here's something that escaped our attention though, he's also a test pilot for the Advanced Special Envoy Engineering Corps."

"A bit of a mouthful," Lelouch remarked before his eyes narrowed. "A test pilot? Meaning knightmares?"

Another nod. "According to our intel during the Shinjuku Incident the ASEEC deployed a prototype knightmare to take down the insurgents that had managed to seize several Sutherlands. It was successful too."

"So successful that Prince Clovis was still assassinated?"

"Well, that one's not exactly the ASEEC's fault, since they were hardly responsible for the Prince's personal security."

Lelouch grunted. "True enough." The two were at his bed and took a seat. "So, did you have any specific ideas regarding the ASEEC and this Kururugi?"

"Indeed, for one of the details in this report is that he is currently enrolled at Ashford Academy as a regular student."

Lelouch's expression turned pensive. "Is that so."

"At present we are only aware of the single prototype knightmare the ASEEC possesses," Charlotte continued, "but assuming the reports have any accuracy to them this Lancelot is a very impressive machine and represents the next generation of Britannia's knightmare technology. If we can compromise them and get the design specifications back to the EU, I'm sure our own militaries could put the technology to good use."

"That may be so, but while that may help offset one of Britannia's advantages in the long term, how does it help with our more immediate and local problem?"

"Well, what would happen if this Kururugi were to pilot the Lancelot for the JLF instead of the Britannian military once they begin their assault on the Concession?"

Teeth was bared in the savage smile that appeared. "Je suppose toute bonne nouvelle n'est pas action ennemie."

"Maxime quarante," Charlotte replied. "Bien que je préfère maxime un."

Lelouch burst out laughing. "A woman after my own heart."

Charlotte feigned a pout. "And here I thought I already had it."

The laughter subsided into a dark chuckle and he favored the girl with a quick kiss on the lips. "We will need to find an opportunity to compromise him."

"We know at least one place where he can be found and where we can gain access to with relative ease," Charlotte said as she pressed herself more forcefully against Lelouch. "Ashford Academy."

"Perhaps, and perhaps not," Lelouch said as he was pushed down onto the bed. "The Ashfords are liable to recognize me if I put in an appearance."

"That may be the case for you," Charlotte said as she began to literally climb atop the young man, "but they will have never seen me before."

Lelouch frowned ever so slightly. "You may have to make an approach to trick Kururugi to follow you to someplace where I can work on him."

Charlotte leaned over until she could almost see her own reflection in Lelouch's uncovered eye.

"Are you worried that I might fall for a mark?"

A hand rose and caressed Charlotte's face almost gently. "I would rather you not need to resort to such tactics."

Charlotte chuckled dryly. "Tactics. Such a clean, sterile word. Well, have no worry Lelouch, I know that you will still hold me dear regardless of how I might be sullied."

"You could never be sullied in my eyes Charlotte," Lelouch said as his own arms wrapped around her. "You will always be the light of my life."

Charlotte smiled before touching her lips to Lelouch's once more. This time they did not part for a very long time.

* * *

When the bell rung Kallen had barely finished putting her things away when a brightly smiling Shirley was at her desk. The girl smiled wirily as her hand was taken hold of and the brunette almost dragged her back to the student council building with an amused Rivalz trailing them. Apparently her fellow student council members were under orders to make sure that she did not make a run for it. Milly was not long in arriving though she did not come alone, Nunnally's wheelchair rolling alongside her.

"Good afternoon Nunnally," Kallen greeted the girl with a smile. "I hope you have been well?"

"Very, thank you Kallen," Nunnally did likewise in response. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much," Kallen assured the girl. "So, will you be joining us on our little, shopping expedition this afternoon?"

Nunnally giggled. "Milly seems to think I too am in need of new clothes."

"A girl can never have too many," Milly proclaimed cheerfully.

"Yet all things in moderation," Kallen countered.

"Life is meant to be enjoyed," Milly replied.

"The simple things in life."

Milly chuckled. "If only life were simple."

Kallen sighed. "Quite."

The two girls smiled at each other in mutual sympathy, neither likely grasping fully the extent to which their trials and tribulations paralleled the other's.

"Well then, shall we get going?" Milly said.

"Where exactly are we going?" Kallen asked.

"Why, to Ginza of course," Milly said. "Where else would we find such a concentration of fashionable clothes and delicious snacks all in one place?"

C.C. chuckled. "Thou hast thy needs well ordered."

"Life's too short to dither and hesitate," Milly said. "If you don't know what it is you want from life, you will never find happiness. But, enough with the philosophizing. Let's get going!"

"And where do you think you're going?" a voice cut through Milly's exuberance.

The others looked about to see a young man with a beatific albeit less than reassuring smile in the black of the Ashford uniform standing behind them.

"Oh, Cole. Did ya need something?" Milly asked.

The student extended a sheet of paper at Milly. "Your signature. Nina's been absent for the last week and every time I try to find you or Rivalz you two are off dealing with another minor crisis or whatever it is, apparently forgetting that if I didn't have your signature by the weekend you won't have any food at the dance."

"Ahaha," Milly laughed nervously as she took the paper. "Sorry about that, things have been more than a bit crazy with all the millions of things that we needed to get nailed down. I guess this one must have slipped my mind. Now, here's a pen."

"Here prez," Rivalz said, offering one from his book bag.

"Thanks Rivalz, such a dutiful vice president," Milly said. "Now if you would be so kind as to lean over a bit?"

The boy sighed with feigned exasperation as he obeyed and let Milly use his back to write on.

"There," Milly said as she put her name down with a flourish. "That do it Cole?"

The boy raised an eyebrow as he accepted the paper back. "You're not going to even bother looking over the invoice?"

"If I ever thought you would try to cheat me, I wouldn't have let you draft it in the first place," Milly replied.

"If you say so," Cole said, folding the paper and stuffing it into his own book bag. He then leaned over, this time his smile a more genuine one as he faced Nunnally. "Be sure to drop by the club sometime with your friends, Nunnally, we have a new brownie recipe for all of you to try."

"I will, thank you Cole," Nunnally replied brightly.

The student straightened, nodded curtly albeit politely to the others, and walked off. Once he was out of earshot Kallen looked over at Milly.

"Who was that?"

"Cole Kraft," Milly answered, "a classmate of mine."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "Kraft?"

Milly nodded. "Yep. His old man is currently serving as Euphie's Exchequer."

"Huh, I didn't realize Sir Kraft had a son," Kallen remarked. "Didn't know he went here either."

"Cole's the head of the culinary club," Milly said. "He has a good head between his shoulders so I, recruited him to help with the dance's catering."

Kallen snorted. "Recruited, like you recruited me for the student council?"

"Are you complaining?" Milly said with a mischievous grin.

That caused the redhead to blink and she looked over the others, Rivalz, Shirley, and even Nunnally. With a rueful smile of her own she shook her head.

"No, I'm not complaining. Though from the looks of it Cole is also, not complaining about helping you."

A mixture of chuckles and giggles sounded from the others, Milly included.

"Well, shall we get going?" the class president suggested.

No further interruptions delayed their departure and not too much later the group were in a comfortable and comfortably roomy car being whisked to the Ginza district. The ride itself was uneventful and was spent mostly with the girls discussing what types of clothing they would be on the hunt for this day. Even Kallen found herself drawn into the conversation despite her usual apathy for such things due to Milly's sheer exuberance. That and if she remained silent there was no telling what overblown outfit the girl would end up choosing for her with C.C.'s help.

* * *

The Viceroy's palace was filled with many a conference room, all finely furnished so as to leave no doubt to the wealth and power of its resident and the Empire she represented. Euphie could have cared less about the ostentatious furniture and decorations, what she valued was genuine comfort and basic utility. That was perhaps why the rooms that were reserved for her convenience had most of their furniture switched out. Gone were the overly pretentious paintings and busts, instead the walls were covered with monitors or projector screens. The aged oak tables were switched out for more modern ones that were specifically designed to run wires and cables through, allowing for terminals to be placed at each seat without creating a massive tangle of cords. And the chairs, instead of the old Victorian-style chairs that might have looked regal but were ungodly uncomfortable, office chairs designed to properly support the backs of whomever sat on them were swapped in. All in all the working environment within these rooms were now considerably more comfortable.

Not all of the conference rooms were so refurbished of course, the ones that Euphie rarely if ever even set foot in were left as they were. On the other hand Euphie's cabinet took their cues from their Viceroy and several of the ministers had gone about refitting the rooms in their own sections of the palace along similar lines after having experienced just how much nicer the new arrangements were. Three of those cabinet members were presently in such a conference room, along with Euphie herself and a representative from the military. The four men together were widely considered to be Euphie's inner circle, entrusted to both carry out her will as well as advise her on matters of policy.

"And that is the broad overview of our current fiscal situation," Lawrence concluded. "We are seeing a slight uptick in revenue thanks to increased tax receipts, but spending is still outpacing income. I expect we will be running a deficit for at least the next three quarters."

"A good percentage of the increased expenditure is from the recent military operations," Ruben added, "but if things continue on their general trend of stabilizing we should be able to pay off our debts within the next five years, ten on the outside."

Just a few short months ago Jeremiah would have taken immediate offense to a perceived insult against the military from a bunch of paper pushers. Now though he understood that Ruben and Lawrence were simply stating a fact, not passing judgment.

"About what we expected," Euphie remarked. "Still, we are making some progress. Policing costs in general are trending downward and economic activity seems to be picking up." The Princess smiled slightly. "Though I suppose I should not obviate your role, Edward."

Rochester smiled wirily. "It would be appreciated, your Highness."

"Then please, Baron," Euphie said with a nod.

The Baron nodded in turn. "Yes your Highness. The rebuilding project in Shinjuku is just getting started, the initial set of surveys having just been completed. Nevertheless several construction companies have taken cues and are hiring on Elevens, both Honorary Britannians and otherwise, in preparation for the surge. And as Lawrence said, they are also doing the hiring formally with all the accompanying documentation and paperwork, so we should be seeing income tax on the wages, along with some payroll tax.

"A lot of this is driven by government spending, but the hope is that with more money being injected into the wider population we'll see an uptick in consumption as basic necessities take up a smaller percentage of more Elevens' incomes. Another positive note is the number of Elevens whom have applied for business licenses at the Keio campus. That was an, inspired idea, your Highness, and combined with the less complex paperwork we are seeing quite a few people try their hand at entering the formal economy."

"I'm afraid the credit for the former will need to go to Dame Sumeragi," Euphie said with a slight smile, "though I will gladly take credit for trimming down some of the red tape."

"I see your Highness," Rochester said with a grin of his own. "Nevertheless, the combined effects are promising and if we can get more people out of the informal sector, we should see a measurable increase in tax revenues, which I'm sure will help Lawrence with meeting his budgets.

"Moving on, sakuradite production remains on target. As per your instructions we have been diverting two percent of the current profits into a sovereign wealth fund managed jointly by my ministry and Lawrence's. It's still a trifling amount relative to the wider budget, but with prudent investment and assuming continued production levels, within a few years I expect it will be substantial indeed."

At that Lawrence nodded. "Siphoning off the revenue like that is going to put some additional pressure on the budget, but I agree with your Highness' position that we should not become overly reliant on the income generated by the sakuradite mining in order to balance the books. It may be decades away but eventually the sakuradite veins in Japan will run dry, best that we make sure we can live within our means now and invest the coin earned for the future."

"Manufacturing is more subdued than I would like," Rochester continued. "The industrialists I've spoken with have generally cited two issues holding them back, infrastructure and Japan's relative paucity of raw materials aside from sakuradite. Infrastructure we are already working on, and as we reestablish law and order in more districts outside the Concessions we should see fewer instances of sabotage and attempts at electrical theft. The raw materials issue is more complicated since the closest source is the Chinese Federation and as a non-domestic source there is a rather high tariff in place."

Euphie pursed her lips. "That is a matter of foreign policy and not something I can affect directly."

"Indeed your Highness," Rochester smiled slightly. "Hence why it is a complicated issue."

"As loathe as I am to further reduce tax receipts, one option is to offer a rebate to companies to try and offset some of the tariff costs," Lawrence suggested. "This is less than ideal as tariffs go directly to the central government so we have few means of offsetting our revenue. And of course there is the concern that companies would in the long term become dependent on what amounts to a subsidy."

"We will have to see if there are ways to offset the increased costs by improving efficiency in other areas for now," Euphie concluded.

Rochester nodded. "My staff is already performing an analysis, your Highness. While I doubt we could ever completely offset the effect of the tariffs, I think that there are definitely improvements to be made in areas like the rail system, handling of freight at the ports, and so on."

"Then I leave the matter in your capable hands," Euphie said before looking over to the oldest of her advisors. "Moving on, you had several matters to discuss, Ruben?"

"Yes your Highness," the elderly man said. "The survey of the current public and private schools in the Area has been completed and while the final conclusions are still being drafted, I can provide you with a precis now."

"Please."

"The quality of the schools in the Area is, as might be expected, extremely uneven. While the schools inside the Concessions do not have any major deficiencies, the ones that are supposed to serve the Eleven population suffer from chronic underfunding and general neglect."

Euphie wished that came as a surprise but she was too honest a woman to claim such. And as much as she loved Clovis, she knew that her deceased brother had played his own part in letting such rot permeate throughout the Area.

"I presume your remedy for this problem is to make sure that these schools are no longer chronically underfunded," Euphie said dryly.

"More or less, your Highness."

The Princess sighed. "Very well, how much will we need to increase the funding levels of these schools?"

"My current proposal would see the effective funding they receive increased by 40%, your Highness."

The only thing that stopped Euphie from reflexing letting out a gurgle from her throat was years of practice stifling anything that might detract from her imperial dignity. As it was she spent perhaps a minute simply staring at Ruben. After that minute passed her gaze shifted to Lawrence, where she immediately noted the relative lack of reaction on the man's face.

"Am I to presume," Euphie said to her Exchequer, "that Ruben already sounded you out about his proposed budget, Lawrence?"

"He has, your Highness," Lawrence said after clearing his throat. "And while the increase appears substantial on paper, there are several factors at play that reduce significantly the actual increase in expenditures the treasury would have to shoulder."

Euphie raised an eyebrow and looked back and forth between the two men. "And these factors would be?"

"Graft and waste, your Highness," Ruben said. "There was, and to an extent still is, significant amounts of both interfering with the proper distribution of funds to the schools serving Elevens. My staff and I however have made significant headway tracking down expenditures and instituting proper controls to make sure the money that is spent actually pays for products and services the schools need instead of lining some bureaucrat or contractor's pockets."

"Ah. And with the elimination of such wastage, how are the actual increases in out of pocket expenditures?" Euphie asked.

"Between twenty and twenty-five percent, your Highness," Ruben stated.

Euphie's eyebrow arched upward ever so slightly at that number. It was another way of saying that previous to Ruben's audits approximately twenty percent of the budget allocated to schools for Eleven students was being diverted and wasted. That, was a _lot_ of money.

"Do you have enough evidence to bring cases against those responsible?" Euphie asked coldly.

"To an extent," Ruben said, "which brings us to another issue."

"Oh?"

"Your Highness has been overseeing the case against KBR and its affiliates personally," Ruben said. "Would that be the case if you had any confidence in your present attorney general?"

Euphie pursed her lips. "Point. I have however not been able to find a replacement for Mr. Dancer."

The three men minus Jeremiah exchanged glances again, a motion that did not escape Euphie's notice.

"What."

This time both Lawrence and Rochester looked over at Ruben, seemingly deferring to the older man.

"Would your Highness be open to a recommendation for the position?" the elderly man asked.

"Why not? I did not hire all of you just so you could listen to me talk after all."

This time it was Lawrence that came under the gaze of the others.

"Jeremy Finch," the exchequer said. "He is a lawyer that practices criminal law in the private sector. He also has some experience in commercial law. His conduct has been unimpeachable and his record in court is also respectable."

Euphie's head tilted aside. "An acquaintance of yours, Sir Kraft?"

"We went to university together, your Highness," Lawrence stated.

"And you believe his integrity to be beyond reasonable doubt?" the Princess asked.

"Yes your Highness."

"Why."

"Because of the father that raised him, your Highness," Lawrence answered without hesitation.

That gave Euphie pause as she regarded the man.

"Explain," she finally said.

"Jeremy's father was also a lawyer, one who practiced in a relatively small town in Alabama. When Jeremy was a child during the Depression, his father was called upon to serve as a public defender for a person of color accused of rape. The man was innocent, but because his accuser was not of color, it was near impossible to assure him of a fair trial. According to Jeremy, a crowd even attempted to lynch the man, but his father kept a watch outside the jailhouse with a shotgun to make sure his client would survive to be brought before the courts."

A corner of Euphie's mouth quirked up ever so slightly at that last bit, nor was she the only one to react so. Jeremiah himself found the account more than a little remarkable, not least the fact that it was a lawyer that stood his ground so firmly. But then again, one need not be a soldier to possess such iron will.

"His father was the one that inspired him to take up a career in law," Lawrence continued, "and from what I have seen of his work since he received his license, he is living up to his heritage."

Euphie nodded. "And did his father succeed in getting his client acquitted?"

Lawrence's mouth tightened. "Not, exactly your Highness."

The silence from the Princess was all Lawrence needed to know that she required a more detailed answer.

"The man was convicted, after several hours of deliberation by the jury apparently, and Jeremy's father was working on an appeal when news arrived that the man had been killed in an apparent escape attempt."

Euphie nodded very slowly. "I see."

The Princess sat there for several moments in silent thought, her advisors waiting patiently for her to arrive at a conclusion.

"And you believe that this Mr. Finch would be willing to accept a position in my administration," Euphie said, "even after what happened to the Lord David."

"Ah well," Lawrence covered up a cough with a clearing of his throat. "I believe so, yes."

Euphie smiled thinly. "I am not going to take offense simply because you do not agree with all of my actions, gentlemen, nor will I become less willing to heed your advice in the future. I am aware that there is some disquiet about my decision to summarily execute the Duke of Windsor's son. I know that some of you question the necessity seeing as the evidence against the Duke and his son is incontrovertible. If you so wish we may discuss my rationale for my actions at a later date. For now, I ask simply that you perform your duties as your conscience demands."

Lawrence licked his lips nervously before once more glancing over at Ruben. The old man however retained his composure and nodded.

"Very well, your Highness, we will discuss that matter at a later date."

Euphie nodded in turn before looking back at Lawrence. "Do you have a dossier prepared for Mr. Finch?"

"Yes, your Highness," Lawrence said, pulling out a folder with a not excessive but still measurable number of pages held within and setting it on the Princess' desk.

"I will review it and arrive at a decision next week," Euphie stated and looked over to Ruben herself. "Was there anything else regarding the education budget you wished to address today?"

"No, Highness."

"Very well." And now it was Jeremiah that was held in Euphie's gaze. "Your report, Margrave."

"Highness. At present the reorganization of our forces is proceeding on schedule. The initial upheaval from the dismissals and replacement appointments has been settled and General Darlton is satisfied with the overall readiness levels of the troops."

"And morale?"

"Uneven, but we're making progress on that your Highness," Jeremiah answered. "There were quite a few units that had become too slack under General Asprius and were resistant to the increased readiness stance the Marshal and General Darlton insists upon. The truly bad apples are being plucked out and discharged but it will be some time before we fully flush out the indolence amongst those that remain. On the whole however morale is quite high, the operation against the Blood of the Samurai has helped significantly in allowing the military to recover its confidence after the debacle that was Shinjuku."

Euphie nodded. "That is good to hear."

"Quite, your Highness," Jeremiah agreed before clearing his throat. "There is one other matter, your Highness. General Darlton has a proposal for the organization of the companies composed primarily of Honorary Britannians. At present the companies are nominally attached to other battalions. He believes that it would improve morale and efficiency if these companies were amalgamated into a single battalion instead."

"That is technically a matter at the discretion of the military, is it not?" Euphie asked.

"In an ideal world, it would be," Jeremiah said, as surprised as anyone else that he was saying any of this. "There however is no precedent for battalion-level units to be composed primarily of Numbers from an Area that has not obtained satellite status."

"Is that so?" Euphie said thoughtfully. "Then, is the general requesting permission, or simply asking for input?"

"He has indicated that he will defer to your recommendation on this instance," Jeremiah stated.

The Princess seemed to spend a moment considering it before addressing Jeremiah once more.

"And do you have an opinion on the matter, Margrave? You are after all one of my military advisors."

Jeremiah had been expecting the question and so answered without hesitation. "I believe the general's position to have merit. These are the same companies that deployed under Dame Nu's command to Koshigaya and their members demonstrated both ingenuity and discipline. And with the officers and NCOs that have been selected, I believe that any risk of disloyalty can be managed."

Euphie smiled ever so slightly before nodding. "Then please inform the general that I share his confidence in his selected units."

"Yes, your Highness."

The Princess' gaze widened to all of the men assembled before her. "Are there any other pressing matters that we need to discuss this day?"

Heads shook unanimously.

"Very well then, I thank you gentlemen for your time. Let us all be about our way to doing some _real_ work."

Subdued chuckles answered Euphie's little joke and the men all bowed respectfully before taking their leave. Only after they were out and the doors to not just the office but also the waiting room closed that Lawrence let out a long sigh. This earned the man a pat on the shoulder from Rochester.

"See, there was no need to worry. The Princess is an inimitably reasonable young woman."

"For the most part, I agree," Lawrence said as he began walking. "Nevertheless, I cannot help but feel a certain anxiety regarding how she handled the matter with the Lord David. While the man certainly deserved his fate, to have him summarily executed like that seems, rather unnecessary. The case against him and his father is airtight, why did the Princess not simply convict them in a formal court?"

"There is something to that," Rochester conceded and glanced over at Jeremiah whom was keeping pace on his left. "What say you, Margrave? You were there during the duel, did her Highness give any indication at all what she was planning to do?"

Technically this conversation could have been construed as second guessing their Viceroy behind her back. At the same time Jeremiah could understand the unease even the most loyal of subjects could feel when their liege did something, unexpected. Thus he answered and became a participant in said conversation.

"None whatsoever. In hindsight it is obvious that the Princess did not intend to let the Lord David leave the palace alive. At the same time, as much as I feel a certain satisfaction in seeing that fool cut down, I too am baffled as to why her Highness chose that course of action."

Lawrence sighed once more. "The Princess always struck me as someone who respected the word of the law. To have her resort so openly to an extrajudicial execution is, well, discouraging."

"In point of fact," Ruben's voice rumbled, "her actions that day were completely legal."

The other men all looked over at the elderly man, a mixture of confusion and surprise on their faces.

"What do you mean by that?" Lawrence asked. "Are you talking about the prerogative of the throne and its agents to hold court and issue rulings?"

Ruben nodded.

"But even in that case there are procedures, protocols that need to be observed," Lawrence protested.

"And they were," Ruben said. "Tell me Sir Kraft, what constitutes the absolute minimum of a formal judicial court? Not what the norm is, but what the absolute minimum for a court to be legally recognized."

"A defendant, a prosecutor, and a judge," Lawrence answered without hesitation.

"Correct. And it should be quite obvious to all of us just who the defendant was." Ruben raised a finger. "That is one. The judge is also obviously her Highness herself." Two fingers. "All that leaves is the prosecutor, and in Areas that have not achieved satellite status, that role can be fulfilled by an officer of flag rank." Ruben now looked over at Jeremiah. "And who formally accused the Lord David of his crimes that day, Margrave?"

Jeremiah sucked in his breath. "Brigadier Eyre."

A thumb rose, joining the other two fingers. "Correct. And because the basic requirements to hold court was fulfilled, her Highness' verdict that day also constitutes a formal judicial decision." Ruben lowered his hand. "The Princess did not order an extrajudicial execution, Sir Kraft, her conduct that day was completely legal, according to the letter of the law. The spirit in the other hand, well, that brings us back to the question you raised already. Why did her Highness orchestrate the Lord David's execution in such a manner?"

The others fell silent, only their footsteps sounding in the hallways as they walked.

"Her Highness," Rochester finally said, "she offered to discuss her rationale at a later date."

Ruben nodded. "And discuss it with her I will. And I would suggest all of you do the same as well."

"Then should we be approaching her together?" Lawrence suggested.

That earned him a shake of the head from Ruben. "No. Something tells me that this is something we must each shoulder by ourselves. Her Highness has made clear that she is willing to take us into her confidence on a most sensitive matter. The Lord David's execution was not done arbitrarily, there was a reason that he needed to die then and there. Once we are made aware of that reason we will be bound even tighter to her Highness, and _that_ is a decision that we must each make ourselves."

And that was all Ruben had to say on the matter. None of the others could put to words their own thoughts at this moment and it was in silence that they parted for their respective destinations. There was much to ponder on after all and all too few hours in the day to do so.

* * *

"Ah, that was great!" Milly said happily as she plopped into the chair.

Kallen regarded the other girl with a rueful smile. The Ashford girl was energetic in the extreme and had dragged the rest of them through half a dozen stores in the space of two hours. Not all stores were of course treated equally, one they spent a scant minute or so inside before something else caught Milly's fancy and she shepherded them out. In the end though the afternoon's mission was nominally achieved as all of the girls managed to acquire a new outfit for the upcoming weekend's dance. New shoes too in the case of Shirley and Milly. That had probably taken more time than choosing a dress, Kallen mused.

"Satisfied?" Kallen asked the older girl.

"You bet. It's nice to let loose once in a while and let all the stress flow away."

Kallen chuckled. "Once in a while?"

The snickers from the others echoed Kallen's sentiment and Milly smirked.

"Yes, once in a while," the blond girl stated primly. "Anyway, we should probably get ready to head back, so if there's any last minute whims you'd like fulfilled, hop to it."

"Oh, I want to go get some of that fruit tea," Nunnally said, pointing to a line coming off of a kiosk. "My classmates said that they have some really tasty combinations."

"Alright then, I'll get some with you Nanna," Shirley said.

"Thanks Shirley," the girl beamed as she rolled off with the older student.

"I'll be right back myself," Rivalz said. "The call of nature and all that."

All three of the remaining girls snorted in a mixture of amusement and something other than admiration. With Rivalz away however Kallen found herself left alone with C.C. and Milly. The older girl was soon regarding her intently.

"You seem, rather interested in Euphie," Milly said even as she glanced over at C.C. ever so briefly.

Kallen got the hint. "Cecilia, could you go get one of those fruit teas for me as well?"

C.C. raised an eyebrow but nodded and walked off. Milly smiled wirily and waited for Kallen to properly respond.

"I've given some thought to what you said before," Kallen said once C.C. was out of earshot, "about needing to be careful about letting the Princess draw me into her circle. She's done things that in the long run will make Area 11 a genuinely better place. She's also done things that make people much more wary of her."

"You mean the execution of the Lord David," Milly stated.

Kallen nodded, her face twisting into a grimace. "He deserved what he got, considering the crimes he was guilty of. But for the Princess to simply have him cut down like that without trial, that sort of capriciousness is disturbing. It is almost as if the Princess either does not respect, or does not trust, the legal system, and neither possibility is particularly pleasant."

"Agreed," Milly said. "But if you remain interested in Euphie despite how she worries you, you obviously want something from her that you think is worth the risk."

Kallen reminded herself once again that for all the airiness of Milly's attitude, the girl was very, very sharp.

"I suppose that is true enough," Kallen said. "But what I want is not something for myself personally. What I want is a proper ruler for Area 11. This place is not just my home, it is also home to all the people I care about, and I do _not_ want to see it torn apart by further upheaval."

The smile on Milly's face this time lacked her usual mischievousness.

"I'm glad to hear that Kallen," she said, "I really am. And if you're still serious about getting to know Euphie better, I can probably arrange for you to have a little chat with her."

This time a smile crossed Kallen's face. "I'd appreciate that, Milly. Since the moment I met you and Nunnally, your sense of humor notwithstanding, I've felt that you were a good person. I'd like to think that that is also reflected in the trust you hold for the Princess."

Milly chuckled. "I don't want to worry you too much Kallen, but me too."

* * *

"Suzaku, are you ready?"

The young man straightened. "Uh, yes ma'am."

Cécile sighed. "What have I said before, Suzaku?"

The boy smiled sheepishly. "Sorry Cécile, force of habit."

"Well, I suppose we'll just have to keep working on training you out of that habit," Cécile replied with a slight smile. "Anyway, let's get going."

"Yes, uh, Cécile," Suzaku said as he picked up his duffel.

The two walked through the hangar used by the ASEEC. Without the Lancelot laid up the main chamber felt surprisingly empty. Outside the majority of the technicians and engineers were piling into an armored bus. Suzaku and Cécile however joined Lloyd in what was likely a significantly more comfortable motorhome. Rank did indeed have its privileges, though once in the field Suzaku would be camping out with the rest of his unit instead of hanging out in here.

"Sorry you have to miss your school's dance for this Suzaku," Cécile said.

"That's alright," the boy said. "I wasn't exactly planning on going anyway."

Cécile frowned and gave him a poke on the forehead. "That's not the attitude you're supposed to have, Suzaku. You're at school to both learn and also socialize. You can't let just one bad experience turn you off from trying to get to know girls better."

Suzaku smiled wirily seeing as Cécile had no idea the true extent of the animosity one Kallen Stadtfeld held against him. And so long as the arrangement between him and Kallen held Cécile would never find out, or at least not until Kallen was brought around to their side. Or something occurred that would set the two of the implacably against each other. Suzaku sighed inwardly. As optimistic as he was in even giving Kallen a chance like that, he was realistic enough to understand that he was taking a very big risk. If Kallen ended up deciding for whatever reason that Japan was better served by her taking out the Princess, then he would be partially at fault for not having nipped that threat in the bud the moment he discovered the girl.

"Something wrong Suzaku?" Cécile asked.

"Huh? Oh, no, nothing at all," Suzaku said quickly.

"Well, try to get some rest while we're traveling," Cécile advised. "Once we get to the exercise location we'll all be very busy."

"I will Cécile," Suzaku assured her.

With that the boy settled down into one of the chairs and let his mind drift a bit. The training exercise had been in the works for over a month, ever since the defeat of the Blood of the Samurai. From the after action reports Marshal Cornelia and General Darlton had identified a series of issues, major and minor, and formulated a series of steps to resolve them. One of the two knightmare battalions along with two battalions of mechanized infantry would be participating in the exercise and as part of the effort to better incorporate the Lancelot into tactical doctrine the white knightmare would be operating as part of the platoon commanded by Claudio Darlton once more.

Suzaku had no particular objection to serving under the knight's command once more, in fact he was even looking forward to it. That enthusiasm was tempered somewhat by the fact that one Alfred Darlton would also be present, but Suzaku was as always determined to not let the other man get under his skin. The opportunity to get some more experience piloting the Lancelot as part of a proper unit was too important to let it be so easily ruined. For the most part all of his previous training and simulations had been with him operating the Lancelot solo. That was fine for making him a better pilot, but being a better pilot in and of itself did not necessarily make him a better soldier.

Modern war was won not by acts of individual valor, no matter how glamorous and inspiring those acts might be, but by the application of overwhelming force against an enemy. As powerful as the Lancelot was, it could still be buried by sheer numbers if an enemy was intent enough on destroying it. For that matter a single sufficiently large yield explosive would also do the trick if the Lancelot got caught in the blast zone. Thus as effective as Suzaku might be alone with the Lancelot, that effectiveness would be multiplied many times over if he could work well with a group of other soldiers, whether they also be in knightmares or not. And the more successful he became as a soldier, the more he would force Britannians to reconsider their preconceptions about the Japanese.

It was perhaps a naïve approach to take, and Suzaku was prepared to admit that some of the things he was forced to do in service of Britannia was distasteful, but his present position served as a testament that what he was doing was not futile. He may not have been a knight, but he was a knightmare pilot. And despite his youth he had been promoted to a non-commissioned officer rank. These facts meant that effort would be rewarded in the Britannian military regardless of one's heritage. Perhaps those of non-Britannian blood would need to work harder to earn those rewards, but the possibility was there. For now, that was good enough. And for the future, he could hope for much, much more.

End of Chapter 25

Well, this took a lot longer to get out than I was expecting. Then again I've been obscenely busy.

I took three years of French back in high school. I don't remember much of it. Some of the above French I got with a reader's help, other bits I worked out with a combination of Google translate and what French grammar I remember. Figures of speech are really hard to translate. Anyway, consider the snippets in French to be a kind of Easter egg. The person I asked for help translating them figured out where they were from right away.

The story is, unfolding rather slowly, to be honest. I need to pick up the pace a bit to avoid getting bogged down too much. The problem is that I could easily double the number of chapters to give more scenes to the bit players, so I need to pick and choose who I give emphasis to. Might need to basically stop publishing for a month or so, write two or three chapters ahead, and from there figure out if I'm getting too bogged down with the characters or if I can continue as is. At this rate I'm actually somewhat afraid that this will be three times as along as _In Tune_ and I'm not sure I have the endurance to pump out something of that length.

Whether Kallen or Suzaku is the better pilot pretty much comes down to personal preference, we never see a controlled setting where the two fight in knightmares of equal caliber while fully aware of who they are fighting. The argument could be made that Kallen held a decisive advantage with the upgraded Guren in their last battle, but a counter argument could also be made that Suzaku's live command should have more than offset that advantage, seeing as he was able to short-circuit Bismarck's geass with it. Anyway, it's all ultimately a moot point since I'm not treating the knightmares as some sort of literal deus ex machina that decisively tips the edge all by themselves.

The religion of the Britannian Empire is Nordic. I'm not going to bother going into the rationale of why Christianity did not successfully take root in the British Isles, it's already an alternate history in the anime so I'm just exploiting that for my own purposes.

Anyway, a few more literary references and guest appearances. They should be pretty obvious. I was really tempted to just use Atticus himself, but by this time he'd be an old man. Fortunately his son would be at about the right age.


	27. Chapter 26

_The abolishment of the numbers system by the Empress Euphemia is often heralded as one of her majesty's great reforms. The process was not without difficulty as a great many laws and regulations needed to be revised or rescinded outright. It must be remembered that the numbers system was not some singular thing that could be dismantled with a single stroke of the pen, it was in fact a cumulative effect of countless restrictions and limitations that permeated Britannian civil society and government._

 _Many commentators and historians however consider the Empress' initial act of emancipation to be incomplete, for the removal of restrictions does not necessarily equate the legal guarantee of freedoms. Laws to enforce the equal treatment of all peoples in the Empire were slow to work their way through Parliament and the courts were reluctant to infer the existence of such protections based solely on the lack of laws restricting freedoms. Combined with a prejudicial mentality amongst large swathes of the Britannian population, even with the removal of formal restrictions on the activities of former numbers informal ones still permeated society. It was only after the introduction of a new constitution enshrining the rights of the Empire's citizens that the tide truly began to turn._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 26: Leges sine moribus vanae

The day of the dance Kallen and C.C. arrived four hours early to help with the preparations. They were promptly handed a stack of paper by Milly and asked to go over all of the items listed and make sure there were no problems. Without further explanation and certainly not hanging around long enough to let Kallen get a word of protest in edgewise Milly dashed off, an equally thick stack in her own hands. For several moments Kallen simply gazed after the student council president with a sinking feeling in her stomach. There was no way that Milly had waited until the last minute to make sure everything was ready, right?

Two hours later Kallen collapsed in the student council office, silently cursing her nominal senior. While there were not outright problems in the preparations, and really the list of things she was asked to look into was just a final checkup, the sheer quantity meant Kallen ended up doing a lot of running around. And of course the few things that did turn out to be problematic ate up a disproportionate amount of time relative to those things that did not need last minute fixes.

"Thy liege be most demanding," C.C. said dryly as she sat down next to Kallen.

Kallen snorted. "And here I thought you were getting on merrily with her."

The other girl smirked. "Tis so, but this and that art not the same."

"Well whatever," Kallen said. "At least we still have a few hours before the dance itself." She sank into the chair. "I could really use a nap."

A knock sounded on the door, causing Kallen to scowl.

"What now…"

Despite her irritation the girl dutifully rose and walked over to the door. When she opened it however she was greeted by a delightful aroma. Looking out she saw Cole standing outside pushing a cart.

"Ah, good afternoon, Kallen was it?" the young man said. "Are Milly and the others back yet?"

"Not yet," Kallen said before looking down at the cart. "What's this?"

Cole picked up the cover to reveal a stack of sandwiches. "Some snacks. I know all of you have been running around all day to get everything ready. I don't want you to ruin your appetite for dinner, but this should tide all of you over until then."

Kallen smiled gratefully. "That's very thoughtful of you Cole, thank you."

She opened the door wider to allow him to push the cart in.

"It's just some leftovers from all the ingredients for tonight's menu," Cole said as he entered. "It wasn't much trouble to put together."

"Maybe so," Kallen said, "but you still took the effort to begin with."

Cole gave Kallen a sincere smile of his own in acknowledgment of her gratitude.

"Oh, vittles," C.C. said as she noticed the food. "And a lovely spread."

Kallen rolled her eyes. "This is Cecilia Clermont, my personal medical assistant. Cecilia, Cole Kraft."

"A pleasure, Ms. Clermont," Cole said politely.

"And thou as well, Monsieur Kraft."

Cole tilted his head aside as he regarded C.C. quizzically.

"Cecilia is French," Kallen tried to explain away.

"I see," Cole said before chuckling dryly. "Well, I hope tonight's fare will meet your expectations, Mademoiselle Clermont."

C.C. grinned. "Now good digestion wait on appetite, and health on both."

"Not sure a quote from Macbeth is suggestive of confidence in my cooking," Cole said playfully as he took a seat himself.

Both Kallen and C.C. chuckled at the remark.

"I would presume you are head of the culinary club on merit," Kallen said. "Isn't that why Milly seems to be so remarkably generous with your club's budget?"

"Well, I'd like to think I got the job because I'm a decent cook," Cole said with a chuckle. "Though getting money out of Milly is sometimes kind of like trying to squeeze blood from stone."

"Not sure she's quite _that_ stingy," Kallen said as she helped herself to a sandwich.

"Stingy? No. Hard to pin down to get her to sign the paperwork? Well, you were there when I finally got ahold of her."

Kallen chuckled and proceeded to take a bite. The bread itself was warm and crispy and the cheese that covered the meat was at just the right temperature to basically melt into the slices of meat without being so hot as to drip and make a mess.

"This is really good," Kallen proclaimed after swallowing. "This, it tastes like it was made by a pro!"

C.C. 's agreement was more muffled albeit also more enthusiastic as she happily munched away at her own selection.

"I'm glad you two are enjoying it," Cole said with a smile.

"Are you thinking of becoming a professional chef?" Kallen asked.

"No, probably not," Cole said. "This is really just a hobby, something I do for fun."

"Oh? That almost seems a waste," Kallen remarked.

Cole regarded the girl thoughtfully. "Why do you say that?"

The girl blinked. "I mean, you're so good at cooking, don't you want to share your achievements with other people?"

Cole shrugged ever so slightly. "Honestly? I'm not sure I want to cook for random strangers. I mean, what is the point of having my cooking be praised by them?"

"And yet you're helping cater for the dance," Kallen pointed out.

"True," Cole agreed, "but that's a personal favor for a friend, and technically a club activity." The young man smiled wirily. "And besides, if I have to constantly deal with the logistics that go into running a large kitchen, when am I going to find the time to just enjoy the actual cooking?"

Kallen chuckled. "True enough. And something tells me that this is so good because you enjoyed making it."

She finished the sandwich and looked pensively at the others on the tray. It was tempting, oh so tempting, to grab another one, but as Cole had said there was still the dinner to look forward to this evening. And if the young man had put anywhere near as much effort into that as this snack Kallen was certain she would regret spoiling her appetite now. C.C. on the other hand seemed to have no such reservations and grabbed a second sandwich.

"Make sure to leave some for the others," Kallen chided.

C.C.'s response was probably an affirmative, at least as far as Kallen could make out from the muffled sounds of a full mouth. The girl shook her head in resignation while Cole chuckled.

"Well, I'm glad you two seem to like them," Cole said as he picked himself up. "Give Milly my regards."

"I will, and thanks for the snacks," Kallen said as she rose to see him out.

Before either of them could actually take a step towards the door however they were flung open and an exuberant Milly marched in.

"I heard there's food!"

Kallen felt a very strong urge to massage her forehead but settled for simply giving the older girl a reproachful look. Not that Milly was at all moved by her half-hearted disapproval, of course.

"Thanks for all your hard work Cole," Milly said with cheer as she bound over and gave her classmate a pat on the shoulder.

"You are most welcome," Cole said with just the right mixture of wiry humor and exasperation.

"How did you even know Cole had brought something for us?" Kallen asked.

"Oh, I dropped by the kitchen to check up on how things were going and one of the chefs mentioned that he had put together some sandwiches with the leftovers," Milly answered, cradling her chin with one hand. "After that it was elementary, my dear Kallen."

Kallen's response was a snort and shake of her head. It looked like Milly's whimsicalness was directly related to the amount of work the girl had on her plate.

"Well then, I shall take my leave," Cole said. "I'll see you Monday, Milly."

"You know you could still come to the dance," Milly said in a singsong tone. "I know of five girls you could ask right now to accompany you."

It was a good thing Kallen had already finished her snack as otherwise the girl was certainly she would be choking right now. There was no way, no way that all of this was just Milly trying to set her up on a date with Cole. Or herself. Kallen looked over at a highly amused C.C. She was pretty sure Milly's sense of humor was not that deranged. She looked over at the girl in question to see a very wide smile. On second thought, perhaps it was.

"You have a very strange way of coming onto people," Cole said with a raised eyebrow before both brows furrowed thoughtfully. "Wait, five? There's you and Shirley, then Kallen and Cecilia. I know Nina's not here, so who's the fifth?"

"That would be I."

Cole went stock still. He was not the only one for that matter as Kallen herself locked up as she caught sight of the figure that now stepped through the doorway. It was with a radiant smile that Euphemia li Britannia entered, her features framed almost perfectly by the pink and white dress. Before either student could recover Euphie dipped into a polite curtsey, the act of which immediately prompted Cole and Kallen to bow.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Cole," Euphie said. "Your father has been of great aid to me."

"You-you honor me, your Highness," Cole spluttered out.

"And Kallen," Euphie said, shifting her gaze to the girl. "It is good to see you again."

"Likewise, your Highness," Kallen said with significantly greater composure.

Euphie glanced back at Cole with a reassuring look. "Fret not, Cole, Milly's sense of humor is not so unbound that she intended for our meeting to be so contrived a social event." A telling pause accompanied a most thoughtful expression on the Princess' face. "I think."

"Ah, don't be like that Euphie," Milly protested. "I just think that Cole should hang around and enjoy the fruits of his labors. Even if he doesn't have a date, he could hang out with the rest of the student council."

"Well, that seems eminently reasonable," Euphie said with a nod. "I do hope you find the time to join us this evening, Cole. At the very least the guests should have the opportunity to express their gratitude for all your hard work."

"Exactly!" Milly agreed enthusiastically.

"Umm, I will make every effort," Cole said.

Euphie gave him another disarming smile. "That is all that anyone can ask."

The young man looked like he would soon succumb to a panic attack and Kallen felt a pang of sympathy for him.

"Anyway, thank you for taking the time to drop by with the sandwiches," Kallen said to him, "I know you're busy with making sure everything is going smoothly in the kitchens."

"Hu-oh yes, of course, you're very welcome Kallen," Cole said.

To his credit he was quick to see a lifeline when one was thrown. Cole turned about and bowed once more to Euphie.

"If you would please excuse me, your Highness, I need to get back to work if there are to be any, uh, fruits to be enjoyed this evening."

"Please, I would not want to keep you," Euphie said with a dip of her head.

Cole's parting was not in any way hurried. Nevertheless there was a fleetness to his steps that could not be denied. Once the doors closed behind him Milly gave Kallen an amused look.

"Why Kallen, I didn't know you and Cole were that close."

"Your overactive imagination is going to get you in trouble one of these days Milly," Kallen retorted.

"Maybe, but not today," Milly said as she took a few sandwiches, put them on two plates, and then covered up the rest of them. "Cecilia, could you help me bring this to Rivalz and Shirley?" The girl winked at Kallen. "They're in the main hall taking care of a few last minute things."

Kallen's eyes narrowed before she nodded over to C.C. The other girl gave Kallen and Euphie a quick glance before nodding and following Milly out the room. This left Kallen, not quite alone with the Princess, as an armsman remained hovering just close enough to be within easy reach of the Princess but far away enough that he was not quite breathing down her neck.

"I sometimes wonder whether Milly is so subtle that she ends up looping back and becoming, unsubtle," Kallen said dryly.

"Whether she possesses a guile hand or not, Milly gets results," Euphie said as she took a seat. "That is an ability to be valued."

If Milly's subtleness was of a backhanded sort, the Princess' was of the more traditional definition. Kallen took a deep breath before seating herself.

"Many people look for the opportunity to display their value," Kallen said. "Some have genuine ability, others do not. But it is a shame when those that do are deprived of the chance to shine."

Euphie's face revealed nothing save for polite interest. "Yet what need for a chance, those with genuine ability? Life is not fair, after all. If you cannot play the hand dealt to you, then you have no place at the table."

That was a classically Britannian response, one which Kallen was coming to the conclusion that at a fundamental level the Princess did believe in. That however did not mean the Viceroy was completely literal in her own interpretation of that viewpoint.

"Life's unfairness is not excuse or reason for one's failings," Kallen replied. "It should however teach one the importance of, economy."

"Oh? In what way?"

Kallen glanced over at the sandwiches. "Well, how long would you say it would take you to make yourself a meal, your Highness?"

Euphie laughed and clapped her hands together. "Oh, you would not want me anywhere near a kitchen, Kallen. The horror stories that my staff could tell."

Kallen allowed herself a smile of her own. She could take it as a good sign the Princess was being that familiar with her.

"Well then might I recommend you sample some of Cole's handiwork? He really does seem to have a skilled touch."

"Is that so? Well, one should not ruin my appetite for the evening," Euphie said as she reached out for a plate.

"Still, the main point stands," Kallen said as the Princess made her selection. "Time you would spend trying to make a meal for yourself is time not spent performing other duties. The same can be said for all peoples, whether they be of note or not. There are so many hours in a day and we mere mortals can only do so much in those hours. Image if each of us not only needed to make our meals, but needed to work the earth to grow the ingredients as well."

"You are saying that all people are interdependent," Euphie said before sinking her teeth into the sandwich. After chewing and swallowing she nodded approvingly. "This is good. My, but I think my appetite will be well worked up in anticipation for this eve's fare."

Kallen chuckled. "I concur on both counts, your Highness. And because we are interdependent, should that not mean we ought to strive for ensuring those around us have their needs met, so that they are all the better prepared to meet our own needs?"

"Hmm, that is certainly the first time I have ever heard someone put it that way," Euphie said before taking another bite. "And I presume that you believe that there are those whose needs are not being met right now," was the follow up after she swallowed.

"Yes, your Highness."

Euphie wiped her hands and mouth with a napkin as she finished the sandwich. She then regarded Kallen coolly.

"And why do you personally care whether the needs of the Elevens are met?"

Of course capacity for subtlety did not equate a mandate to use it all the time.

There were several possible answers that Kallen could offer and out of those possibilities some were measurably worse than others. Claiming that the Japanese people had intrinsic rights was one of them. Even though she was not some fervent social Darwinist Kallen understood that ultimately those with power would always possess an advantage over those without, and no amount of moral platitudes would protect those without if those with decided to abuse that power. Life, as the Princess had said, was not fair.

"I care, your Highness, because the Area is my home. I was born and raised here, but when I look out at the city what I see today does not compare with the greatness and vibrancy of my childhood. The Empire has been stewards of Area 11 for coming on seven years now, yet the land and its people are poorer than before the responsibility became ours." Kallen's eyes hardened ever so slightly. "We do not enrich Britannia by starving a significant portion of its people, even if they are numbers. Where her people should be her greatest strength, instead they become Britannia's greatest liability."

"It sounds like you are not much of a fan of the number system in general," Euphie said in a light tone.

Kallen did not let the Princess' seeming nonchalance catch her off guard. In fact it was when Euphie feigned obliviousness that Kallen felt a tingle run down her spine. Danger did not always provide obvious signs.

"I am not," Kallen answered bluntly. And sometimes to make progress one needed to face said danger. "I think the entire policy is a mistake, that its existence is an admission of weakness instead of a proclamation of strength."

That seemed to get a rise out of the Princess as she raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Please, elucidate."

Kallen took another deep breath. Euphie had yet to shut her down outright. That was probably a good sign. Probably.

"The numbers system serves to deprive people that are considered non-Britannian a variety of rights and privileges. Without those rights and privileges, numbers are further deprived of opportunities to rise within society. This greatly benefits regular Britannians by protecting them from competition for things like jobs, promotions at work, and so on. But this very removal of competition is problematic in at least two ways. Firstly, by reducing competition there is the risk of complacency setting in. After all, why put in your best effort if there is no one else about that could threaten your current position? And secondly, this institutionalized restriction and limitation of opportunity makes us look like we are afraid. Why impose restrictions on others if we are truly in control and our claim of superiority is genuine? If we did not fear being shown up, would we need the numbers system at all?"

Euphie tilted her head aside. "Interesting points, both. But they are also easily counter-argued. A full Britannian that becomes complacent becomes a target for other Britannians. Your example, while intellectually sound, falls short when we consider that with two hundred million full Britannians, statistically there will be competition even if numbers are restricted from providing it."

Kallen grimaced but she did not interrupt. That would have been rude, and one displayed rudeness to a member of the Imperial family at one's own peril. Especially when said member seemed perfectly willing to resort to the sword to get her point across.

"Your second point rests on the notion that the purpose of the numbers system is solely for the benefit of full Britannians."

It took a few seconds for those words to penetrate. When they did, Kallen found herself blinking rapidly in mild confusion.

"I'm, afraid I do not understand, your Highness," the girl admitted.

"The idea is simple, though perhaps nonobvious," Euphie stated. "The Empire believes that only when faced with adversity can the full potential of a person be brought out. Too much and obviously you are more liable to kill the person than to bring out his or her potential. Too little however and you end up coddling the person, making them soft. If an individual can overcome the limitations imposed upon them because they are a number, what depths must they have plumbed that they might never knew they possessed in less trying conditions?"

It was probably a good thing that Kallen's first reaction to the Princess' point was sheer surprise. That surprise served as a very useful mask for the anger that began boiling up in the girl. Despite the raging emotions however Kallen kept her face as neutral as possible.

"That, you are right, that is a rather nonobvious idea, your Highness," Kallen managed to get out without sounding like she was gnawing at every word.

"You sound unconvinced," Euphie noted.

Apparently she had not kept her tone as impassive as she thought. Having been so called out Kallen dropped any further pretense as she shook her head.

"I do not, your Highness. The entire concept seems wasteful in the extreme. It sounds like nothing more than window dressing, to distract people from the true purpose of the system, which is to benefit a select few at the expense of the many."

Technically Kallen had just not so subtly insinuated that the entire system that underpinned the Empire was wrong. She had also done it to a member of the Imperial family, those that could be considered to be benefiting the most from said system. Kallen found that she really did not give a damn however. If this ended up forcing her to burn her bridges with her Britannian persona, then so be it. She would be answered about the Princess Euphemia's character at least and there would be no ambiguity or doubt when she put a bullet through the young woman's head.

"I see," the Princess said simply, giving no hint as to what her own thoughts on Kallen's position were. "And is this your own personal opinion, or that of the Stadtfeld family?"

The edge of Kallen's mouth twitched ever so slightly. There were countless reasons for why Euphemia would ask that question, too many for Kallen to think through before responding. As she often did when tight on time, the girl went with her gut.

"My own."

"I see," Euphemia repeated with a nod. She then rose. "Well, this has certainly been an enlightening discussion, Kallen, but I think you'll want to have some time to freshen up for the evening's festivities."

Kallen stared at the Princess in surprise for a few seconds before glancing down at her watch. Euphemia was right, there was only about an hour left before the dance started and she still needed to take a shower before changing into her dress.

"I look forward to seeing you again later this evening," the Princess said with a slight tilt of her head.

Kallen rose and offered a respectful bow. And with that Euphemia turned about and headed for the door, her armsmen trailing behind her. It was with a not insignificant sense of relief that Kallen slumped back into her chair. She had emerged from her meeting with the Princess, though it was too early to say what the consequences would be. One thing was for certain however, Euphemia was not easily moved by impassioned conviction. The Princess seemed coolly analytical and logical, a stark contrast from their first meeting at the Kawaguchi resort. The question now was, which was the true Euphemia. Which one could Kallen trust. Those questions promised to distract Kallen for the rest of the evening.

* * *

Lawrence Kraft was widely regarded as a prudent, even frugal man. Many claimed this was due to his experiences during the Great Depression as a child and Lawrence himself did not dispute this. Perhaps not surprisingly the woman that he ultimately married was also one that shared his thriftiness, though that his wife was so prudent with her money might have surprised others seeing as she was a noble daughter. Prudence and providence were after all not what Britannian nobility was known for.

As a consequence despite the relative wealth the Kraft family possessed their home in Tokyo was an understated affair. True it was in one of the nicer neighborhoods in the city and considering the inflated property values in Area 11 even a house as modest as theirs cost a pretty penny, but compared to the estate of one Edward Rochester or even the family house of Ruben Ashford, the Kraft residence was downright humble.

Another seeming quirk of the Kraft family was that despite their wealth and fairly busy schedules they retained only a single servant to assist with the housework. Meals tended to be a collaborative effort between Hannah, the maid, and Cole, Lawrence's son. Dishes too for that matter, with Lawrence claiming that one should see through something from start to finish, though in this case there was a rotating shift between who assisted their housekeeper. And while keeping the house as a whole clean was Hannah's responsibility, the Krafts were not so pretentious as to have her do something as mundane as answer the phone for them. One advantage of his wealth that Lawrence had not been stingy about was making sure that only people he actually wanted to talk to would be able to connect to his personal home line. As such it was with no hesitation that he picked up the phone when it began ringing.

"Hello?"

"Oh, hey Dad?" an uncharacteristically nervous sounding Cole replied, "is Mom there? I could use some advice, from both of you."

Lawrence frowned slightly but responded calmly. "Alright, give me a second." Pressing the receiver against his shoulder he shouted out. "Eve! Cole wants to speak with us! Could you get on another phone?"

A mere moment passed after Lawrence put the receiver back up to his ear that a noticeable click sounded.

"Yes?" a clear yet comforting voice sounded over the line.

"Uh hey Mom," Cole greeted. "Umm, I need some advice."

"Alright, go ahead," Eve gently encouraged her son.

"Well, I had a run-in with the Princess a short while ago," Cole began.

Lawrence felt a spike of anxiety shoot through him and he was certain his wife was experiencing much the same, not that she would have allowed anyone to notice.

"And uh, she, suggested, that I should stay for the dance."

The worry that was welling up crumbled into a palpable relief as Lawrence began to divine just what his son was so anxious over.

"Suggested?" Eve asked.

"She, uh, said that I should be there so that people could thank me for my part in preparing for the dance…"

"And why not?" Eve said. "You certainly put a lot of time and effort into all the dishes."

Lawrence tried not to sigh. Eve was a loving mother to both their children, but sometimes she was a bit more forthright than comforting. And while Cole was not exactly antisocial, there was a definite hesitancy on his part to engage too deeply in the commingling of Britannia's upper class, a hesitancy that Eve had on more than one occasion tried to push him out of. Cole humored his mother, but both sides knew that that was all he was doing. Still, this time it was Cole himself reaching out for advice, and Lawrence thought Eve could be just a bit more reassuring about the whole thing.

"That's not it," Cole responded. "It was, well, I think Milly was trying to drop hints. She said that there were, five girls that I could ask to accompany me."

"Five?" Eve said quizzically.

"Four of them are part of the student council," Cole explained. "Well, more or less. The fifth, she was including the Princess."

And there was perhaps the real reason for Cole's anxiety, Lawrence mused. Courtship and pairing of members of the Imperial family was a very serious matter seeing as it played such an intrinsic role in the politics of the court. For a third party to even insinuate the possibility required a great deal of confidence, or a great deal of gall. Little wonder that Cole was more than a bit nervous about the encounter. Still…

"Cole," Lawrence interjected before his wife could pour more fuel on the fire by actually encouraging the boy to make an approach, "haven't you said that Milly tends to tease a great deal?"

"If she was just teasing that'd be great," Cole said. "The problem is I think I ended up promising the Princess that I would go to the dance."

"With her?" Eve pounced immediately.

"No! Of course not! But I said I'd, well, try to make an appearance."

"Well in that case it sounds like you had better not disappoint," Eve said. "I'll have your sister bring over a proper suit for you."

Cole sighed and Lawrence was tempted to join his son. This was probably not quite the help he was hoping for from his parents.

"Cole, who else besides Milly and the Princess were the girls she was referencing in that count of five?" Lawrence asked.

"Umm, there's Shirley, she's the council secretary, and a new member, Kallen Stadtfeld. She's Baron Stadtfeld's daughter. The last girl is Cecilia Clermont, she's Kallen's, assistant."

Assistant? For what?

"Well, putting aside this Cecilia," Lawrence said instead of satisfying his own curiosity, "and Milly too I suppose, do either of the other girls interest you?"

"Not really," Cole said. "I mean, I've met Shirley several times before. She's nice, but she never really made much of an impression on me. And I can't say I know Kallen or Cecilia at all."

"Well then this should serve as an opportunity to get to know the Baron Stadtfeld's daughter," Eve said.

"Eve," Lawrence began.

"Oh hush you, there's nothing wrong with Cole getting to know the daughter of a noble."

"That's really not why I would want to go," Cole said tiredly.

"Perhaps not, but if you're worried about Milly trying to rope you into something with the Princess, then making clear that your attention is on the Lady Stadtfeld instead should act as a deterrent," Eve responded.

And just possibly kick start some sort of relationship between her son and the Lady Stadtfeld, Lawrence did not say aloud, even though both he and Cole knew that was what was running through Eve's head now.

"I'll think about it," Cole said noncommittedly.

"Just follow your instincts Cole," Lawrence said before his wife could try to badger their son more. "We'll support whatever decision you make."

"Yeah. Thanks Dad, Mom. Anyway, gotta go now."

"Take care Cole," Eve said. "And remember, the dance is something to enjoy, not worry over needlessly."

With that the click marked the end of the call and Lawrence set down the receiver. With a sigh he headed over to where his wife was. Perhaps not surprisingly she was already in Cole's room looking over the formal clothes their son had along with their daughter Nora.

"You know Eve," Lawrence said as he leaned against the doorframe, "I think Cole might have been looking for a way out of this without needing to flirt with another girl."

"On the contrary," Eve responded, "I think that's exactly what Cole was hoping to be able to do."

Lawrence raised an eyebrow. "You're going to need to explain that one."

"You and I both know that Cole's been approached by more than one girl since he started high school," Eve said. "He's turned all of them down, not because he isn't interested in general, but because he knows exactly what kind of girl he's actually interested in. You heard how quick he was to discount that Shirley girl, but he didn't do that for this Kallen Stadtfeld."

"Are you sure you aren't reading too much into it?" Lawrence asked after thinking it over for a moment.

"Perhaps, but a mother's intuition is rarely wrong. And besides, I'm not suggesting that he might actually like Kallen, I'm suggesting that she's someone he doesn't know enough about, yet at least, to make that kind of assessment. The dance offers him an opportunity to do so, and by attending with her he can also find some excuse for whatever it is he thinks Milly is trying to rope him into with the Princess."

"And do you _really_ think the Ashford girl is actually plotting something like that?" Lawrence asked.

"Doubtful, but Cole's obviously worried enough that she might be that he came to us looking for reassurance." Eve took out a dark blue suit and held it up to her daughter. "Hmm, how about this one dear?"

Nora nodded approvingly. "Yes, Cole will look quite sharp in that. Now, where are the pants that go with it?"

Lawrence sighed once more. It was clear that he was outnumbered here what with his own daughter also seemingly enthusiastically trying to shoehorn her younger brother into what might amount to a date with the Stadtfeld daughter. Then again Nora might be helping because this offered to distract her mother from her own relationship status, or absence thereof. Having been happily married for many years Lawrence knew when it was necessary to make a tactical retreat. Hopefully Cole would not hold it against him.

* * *

When the time finally came and Kallen prepared to leave for the dance hall, she found to her surprise Cole once more in the main room of the student council building. The young man was not alone, the rest of the student council plus the Princess was also present, along with a young woman futzing over Cole's outfit that Kallen did not recognize. Everyone was in their formal evening attire, from Milly's indigo dress to Rivalz's black suit. Kallen's own deep crimson dress was more than on par with the others', even the Princess', though something told Kallen if Euphemia really wanted to she could have upstaged all of them. That she had chosen not to could be seen as indicative of the young woman's restraint.

As Kallen joined her classmates Cole cleared his throat and nodded.

"Kallen. You look, lovely this evening."

The girl smiled slightly. If Cole had the courtesy of paying her a compliment, she would return the courtesy of accepting it.

"Thank you Cole. And you yourself look quite sharp."

The older woman next to Cole beamed at the young man as his cheeks colored ever so slightly. Kallen turned to her.

"I do not believe we have been acquainted," she said with a slight dip of her form. "I am Kallen Stadtfeld."

The woman curtsied politely in turn. "A pleasure to meet you Kallen, I am Nora Kraft, Cole's older sister. After his, belated decision to attend the dance, Mother requested that I bring him clothes suitable for the occasion."

"I see," Kallen said with an amused tone.

Cole cleared his throat. "Umm, shall we get going? The dance can hardly start without the master of ceremony there."

Milly chuckled. "Yes, let us depart, once we work out who will escort who that is."

Kallen blinked. "I, beg your pardon?"

"Well this is a dance after all," Milly said. "It will not do at all for us to enter alone."

"You just made that up now prez," Rivalz said with a sigh.

"I resent that insinuation," Milly said with a feigned huff. "This is simply normal social decorum."

"Perhaps so, but there are five of us and only these two gentlemen," Euphie said in a remarkably composed tone. "Quite the imbalance, no?"

"True, true," Milly nodded seriously with arms crossed. "But the imbalance is not quite as great as you think, Euphie. After all, we have two strapping men hovering over your shoulder even now."

The two armsmen in question stiffened as they suddenly became the center of attention. Their duties often called upon them to perform a myriad of odd tasks but being asked to escort in teenage girls to the school dance was not one either had been expecting. Not that they would necessarily complain, seeing as the young women in question were quite comely. So long as the Princess was not one of them. The Brigadier was putting on a remarkably uncanny facsimile of an overprotective father these days.

"Hmm, that might work," Euphie said, "though we would still be short one."

"Thou need not fret," C.C. spoke up. "I but be milady's faithful attendant, there be no need for me to stand forth."

"You sure about that Cecilia?" Milly asked. "I'm sure we could rope one of Euphie's other armsmen for the a few minutes."

"Quite," C.C. said with a playful smile. "Nayless best that her Highness' retainers not face too many a distraction."

Milly shrugged. "Alright then. Well, we're matched up then. I'll take that hunk on the left there, and Shirley here doesn't mind the guy on the right, right?"

"Prez," Shirley said resignedly.

"Now the question is, whom amongst our fair gentlemen will escort her Highness, and whom will see to the Lady Stadtfeld," Milly said with a wide grin.

Both boys looked more than a tad askance and Kallen felt more than a slight pang of sympathy for them. It was, to be frank, a no-win scenario for both. For them to choose one girl could be construed as a slight against the other. And while Kallen's social standing was nowhere near that of a Princess of the Realm, she was still a noble's daughter so offending her was not without some risk. Not that she was so capricious as to actually hold it against either of the boys of course, especially seeing as this was all due to Milly's machinations. Still, better to have some mercy on them. She had already lent Cole a hand earlier today so it was only fair that Rivalz get it now. Besides, Cole's father worked directly for the Princess so the older boy was likely to be just slightly less out of his element than poor Rivalz would be. As Kallen opened her mouth however a hand was extended to her. Her mouth stayed open as she gaped at the person extending it.

"Milady Stadtfeld," Cole said. "Would you grant me the honor of escorting you this evening?"

Had Kallen not been so busy staring at Cole she would have seen that everyone else in the room was doing the same. As it was it took her a few seconds to get her jaw working again so that she could stop looking like a gaping idiot.

"Of course Sir Kraft," Kallen responded with as much dignity as she could muster.

A relieved smile appeared on Cole's face as Kallen accepted his arm and the girl could not help but smile back at him. A giggle however interrupted her thoughts and Kallen found herself scowling slightly at Milly. The older girl did not seem fazed however and instead shifted her gaze to Rivalz. The young man sighed and smiled wirily before stepping before Euphie.

"Your Highness," he said. "Would you grant me the honor of escorting you this evening?"

As might be expected Euphie did not spend several seconds gaping at Rivalz.

"It would be my pleasure, Sir Cardemonde," the Princess responded gracefully as she accepted Rivalz's hand.

With this minor drama resolved, and after a few moments to arrange the order in which they would enter, they were off. Before Cole and Kallen made their exit Nora gave her younger sibling a quick hug and to Kallen an expectant smile. Kallen found herself caught between amusement and a slight exasperation. Technically she had not been railroaded into this and technically she had no objections to letting Cole escort her to the dance. Nevertheless the fact was that she did not truly know him and she doubted Cole knew her either. This evening's pairing was a matter of convenience, nothing more. Hopefully everyone else also remembered that.

"I apologize if I put you on the spot there," Cole whispered to her as they crossed the school grounds to the main building.

"Hmm? Oh, it's alright," Kallen said. "Though I am a bit surprised that you, well, chose me."

Cole smiled wirily. "I mean no offense when I say this, Kallen, but you're a bit less intimidating than the Princess."

"Oh really," Kallen drawled.

"Less intimidating, but no less lovely," Cole followed up quickly. "By no means did I ask you because the alternative was to be at the Princess' side, that would be rude to the both of you."

Kallen waited a few moments for Cole to elucidate. When the young man remained silent she prodded him.

"So why did you ask me then?"

The look on Cole's face was either uncertainty of how to respond or uncertainty in general.

"You weren't planning on attending the dance before Milly roped you into helping with the organization," Cole finally said.

"How do you know that?"

"She mentioned it offhandedly while we were discussing a few last minute catering details," Cole explained. "I wasn't planning on attending either, even with my mother and sister nagging me to do so. I guess, I became curious as to why you also did not plan on attending. From what I've heard there would have been a long line of guys trying to ask you out for it had Milly not enlisted you to help with running everything."

There still had been a line, though with her readymade excuse Kallen had managed to deflect all but the most determined. Those that persisted had ultimately met with a flat-out rejection.

"And why would that make you curious?" Kallen asked somewhat pointedly.

"I suppose, I wanted to know if you were simply uninterested, or if you were someone who knew exactly the kind of person you would want to take you to the dance."

That was not the answer Kallen had been expecting and as she thought it over she became more than a little surprised at the complexity of the reaction it was inciting in her. At a basic level Kallen had declined all the other invitations because she was for the most part indifferent to the whole affair. She had more important things to worry about after all than the school dance, like running an insurgency against the Britannian occupation. On the other hand for the first time in perhaps, ever, Kallen was actually forced to think about just what kind of man she would be interested in. Perhaps not surprisingly, the girl was drawing a near blank.

"And what of yourself," Kallen asked more gently. "Why were you not interested in the dance?"

Kallen felt his muscles tense ever so slightly before quickly relaxing.

"I suppose, there was no one I wanted to go with," Cole responded frankly.

Kallen chuckled and gave the young man a pat on the arm. "Well, that sounds like there were people who wanted to go with you. Am I going to have a bunch of jealous, heartbroken maidens baying for me after this day, Sir Kraft?"

Cole smiled wirily. "I could ask you the same thing, Lady Stadtfeld."

That earned Cole a heartier laugh from Kallen, a sound that did not go unnoticed by the other pairs about them.

"Well I suppose we shall have to see," Kallen said.

"Indeed," Cole agreed.

They were at the main building now and quite a few other couples were also present. More were being dropped off by their parents but everyone made way as Milly led her little procession to the main door. Several other armsmen were also visible and there was an almost jealous look on their faces as they watched their two comrades walking alongside Milly and Shirley. Kallen reached out a bit to get a general feel of the mood. There was a lot of anticipation and excitement. There was also a lot of attention focused on the Princess, hardly surprising given her station. There was also a fair amount on her, more so than on Cole. Hopefully that attention would be short lived and the evening would end up as something she would actually enjoy instead of feeling like a forced social event. Still, if nothing else there was dinner to look forward to, the young man whose arm her own was hooked around had made sure of that at least.

End of Chapter 26

This was a surprisingly difficult chapter to write. I had originally planned on actually depicting the dance itself, but we're already over 7000 words for the chapter and so I decided to cut it off there. And so much for a lighthearted breather. Though I suppose Cole's minor panic attack over being potentially asked out by Euphie counts.

Keep in mind at this point that as far as Euphie is concerned the Red Knight and Kallen are two separate people. She has no reason to suspect they are one and the same and the way she interacts with them is reflective of that.

Lawrence has no relation whatsoever to the food company. At this point it should be fairly obvious as to which franchise I borrowed him and his family from, assuming one is familiar with said franchise. Of course I didn't borrow them wholesale, there are tweaks abound.

I forgot to answer this question/comment last chapter, but the Chinese Federation is silent primarily because I have no perspective characters for them at this point. They're obviously doing something, but none of the current characters are paying them much attention or have any direct involvement with the Chinese so the audience is equally in the dark. And I likely won't until the R2 sequence.

Anyway, leave a review if you're enjoying the story thus far. We'll be back to the whole political intrigue bit soon enough, though hopefully I'll be able to intermingle the slice of life stuff a bit more cleanly than the last two chapters.


	28. Chapter 27

_It has been argued that much of the Princess Euphemia's popularity as Viceroy of Area 11 was directly due to the failings of her predecessors, including her late brother Prince Clovis. This line of thought is not entirely unreasonable as under past viceroys Area 11 suffered from years of mismanagement. To attribute the Princess' success solely to past incompetence however is to give her Highness too little credit. None would dispute the Princess' innate intelligence or diligence and the reforms she enacted during her reign of Area 11 were longsighted even as they corrected past mistakes._

 _Perhaps the greatest achievement by the Princess however was the way in which she managed to convince the Japanese population of Area 11 to begin identifying more and more with the Empire. This was by no means a quick process and opposition to this integration came from both Britannians and Japanese. Nonetheless the Princess' approach of offering inducements and benefits to those who integrated while simultaneously demonstrating her malignity by not exerting pressure on those who declined her generosity proved extremely effective at swaying a large portion of the population. Of course this success only caused the true hardliners to become ever more extreme in their rejection of Britannia and likely served as one of the levers with which the Black Rebellion was launched._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 27: Ex gratia

The knightmares stomping over the plains made no effort to hide their approach. The operational parameters of the exercise did not really have anything that would warrant trying to sneak up on their target, but any properly run exercise would have plenty of surprises that the briefing did not include. And seeing as the person who planned the exercise was one Lieutenant-General Andreas Darlton, widely considered one of the Empire's best strategists, then it was more than simple prudence that motivated his subordinates to remain alert.

An explosion ripped through the field and one of the forward most knightmares toppled over. Live fire, that was one of the other reasons the soldiers were wary. The general was of the school of thought that simulated weapons did not truly test soldiers, hence the use of live ammo in not just the loadouts carried by the troops but also in the traps and automated defense emplacements used for targets. Of course Andreas was not actually trying to get his troops killed on a training exercise, the fallen knightmare only had a foot blown out instead of getting its main body perforated by a proper anti-armor mine. The pilot that had fallen victim to the trap would suffer no worse than a few bruises to body and pride, and maybe also get docked some pay for not being careful enough.

Suzaku took a deep breath as he looked over the Lancelot's sensor telemetry again. As far as he could tell there was nothing in his path, but the other knightmare pilot had likely thought the same thing before getting knocked out of the exercise. If he did step on a mine, he just might be able to redirect the Blaze Luminous system to deflect the blast. Then again he might not. The only way to be sure he got through this stage of the exercise unscathed was to not fall victim to a mine at all. The infrared suddenly lit up and Suzaku raised the shield. A low yield HE round splashed off the green barrier and Suzaku responded by nailing the offending turret with a single shot from his railgun. Even stepped down his own projectile was able to punch cleanly through the armor and Suzaku was rewarded with the fiery death of his attacker.

"Nice shot Suzaku," Claudio's voice sounded over the radio.

"Thank you sir," the young man replied.

"Beginner's luck," a snide voice cut in.

"Whether it be luck or not, only the Norns know," Claudio said. "The result however is the same, the enemy is dead and we are not, and that is all that matters."

Suzaku made a mental note to thank his superior sometime again. Claudio did not need to stick up for him, especially against his own brother, but the lieutenant was doing it none the less. Alfred also mercifully decided not to make an issue over this and so Suzaku was left to focus on his task.

A few other knightmares were targeted and two more of the company were soft killed. With only seventeen knightmares to begin with, that represented a remarkable achievement for the op force.

"Lieutenant Darlton," a voice sounded over the radio. "Your platoon is taking point."

"Yes sir," Claudio replied to the company commander before switching to the unit channel. "Alright, you heard the captain. Suzaku, you're up. Let's put that fancy shield of yours to use."

"Roger," Suzaku acknowledged as he moved with the rest of the Glaston Knights to take up the forward position.

The terrain before them appeared innocuously empty but Suzaku proceeded cautiously. The range finder built into the Lancelot's head was able to actually take depth scans along a 2D plane, mapping discontinuities in the ground and flagging them. The pilot did not know entirely how they worked and the last time he asked for an explanation all he got back was a bunch of technical babble. Slightly wiser now, he would trust the boffins to know what they were doing and just hope none of this fancy technology would fail out in the field. Then again, Lloyd's eccentricities aside, the man was highly intelligent. And there was always Cécile's diligence to count on.

A beep sounded and two spots on the ground were highlighted by Lancelot's display overlay. Suzaku leveled his rifle and fired off two quick rounds. The first slammed into the ground with a thud and did little more than digging a shallow trench. The other however triggered a mildly energetic explosion as the round punctured the anti-armor mine buried there. This repeated for another few minutes, the Lancelot successfully identifying eight more mines while registering six more false positives. All in all it was a respectable performance and no more losses were suffered traversing the plains.

"We're clear," Claudio announced. "Enemy defensive positions in sight."

The hills that lay before them had a variety of turrets, gun emplacements, and barriers sprinkled about. Most of them were made of wood and were nothing more than showpieces. One or two guns could be seen traversing however, indicating that the general still intended for them to remain on their toes.

"Platoons 2 and 3, take positions along the north and south flanks," further orders came down. "Platoon 4, front and center, platoon 1 will be right behind you."

A frontal assault against a fixed defensive position was generally a poor tactical decision. On the other hand, these days fixed defensive positions only lasted as long as it took for air support to be called in. On the other hand the knightmare company was about to launch such an assault without calling in air support. A casual observer might question the value of such an exercise and hence the competency of the officers that planned it. Said questioning would however reveal only the ignorance of the person asking it.

The Glaston Knights marched forward with Suzaku again in the lead. The young man held his fire, instead waiting for the enemy to shoot first. The first two rounds slammed harmlessly against his shield even as his platoon mates returned fire, demolishing the enemy guns. Weapons fire sounded all about the enemy position. The fake outpost was not too heavily defended and with attacks converging upon it from three directions even if the place had been manned by actual insurgents they would have had little chance of slowing much less stopping the surviving knightmares from rolling right over them. As it was a few minutes later the Glaston Knights and Suzaku were standing in the rubble of the makeshift base.

"Objective secured," Claudio reported.

"Good work," the company commander said. "Reform at point beta 9. We're moving onto the next target."

"Yes sir."

And here was the true purpose of the exercise. Without any time to rest, the still operational knightmares fell back from the outpost and made for the main road. Once there they deployed their landspinners and made best speed towards the next objective of the exercise.

* * *

In the relative comfort of his command unit Andreas surveyed the movement of his forces. The first objective, capturing an enemy convoy seeking to escape the Britannian advance, was achieved efficiently and without losses. The second, assaulting the outpost that the convoy had been seeking to reach, saw a few knightmares disabled by the traps and defenses. Losses in battle were inevitable, though Andreas still intended to grill the knights sloppy enough to let themselves be taken out like that, and otherwise the company was making good time.

Time, that was the true purpose of this exercise. The primary advantage possessed by knightmares beyond that of conventional tanks was their increased mobility. Driving a tank over long distances put immense wear and tear on the treads, which required that they be pulled off the field for maintenance lest they end up breaking down in the field. Time spent in maintenance meant time not engaging the enemy or advancing into their territory. The knightmares, despite their relative mechanical complexity, actually did not suffer too significant wear and tear from travel. Yes their fuel needs were higher than tanks and yes there were more points of failure in a knightmare frame, but simply going from point a to point b, even over rough terrain, was generally not a problem. To properly take advantage of this mobility however required proper planning and knightmare pilots able to stand the strain of a high combat tempo. Humans, in this case, broke down much faster than the machines they rode upon.

"Hmm, I suppose this will do," a somewhat petulant voice sounded behind Andreas. "Ack."

The general glanced back to see Lloyd nursing his shin. The reproving look on his assistant made quite clear who was responsible.

"Is there a problem, Earl Asplund?" Andreas asked.

"Not at all general," Cécile began.

"My question was directed towards the earl, captain," Andreas stopped her before she could excuse her superior. "I believe as a grown man he can answer for himself."

The manner in which Cécile pursed her lips suggested the captain had some doubts in that regard. Nevertheless she could hardly argue the point with a general and so Cécile kept her mouth shut and prayed that Lloyd would not end up with his foot stuck in his mouth.

"It's quite simple general," Lloyd said, doing a most stellar job of crushing any hope of that with the first words of his response. "None of your exercises have been straining the Lancelot very much. Unless the machine's limits are properly tested, we will not get any proper data to improve it. And if we don't get any decent data, then there was little point in bringing the Lancelot out here in the first place."

Andreas regarded Lloyd levelly for several moments before giving Cécile a brief look of sympathy. His expression hardened back into a slight scowl however as he addressed Lloyd.

"Earl Asplund, as the viceroy stated so pointedly the last time this issue arose, the battlefield is not a laboratory for you to run experiments in. If you wish for your Lancelot to be employed by the military, we will employ it to win battles. And battles, earl, are won by achieving an asymmetric balance of power that produce only one result, the complete and utter decimation of the enemy."

"Perhaps so, but no plan of battle ever survives contact with the enemy," Lloyd countered. "Is it not also prudent to plan and practice for contingencies where an opponent is able to spring a surprise of some sort?"

"Such as the possibility that the Eleven insurgents might possess knightmares capable of actually challenging your Lancelot?" Andreas said dryly.

"Doubtful," Lloyd said dismissively, "at least on a one-on-one basis. Should they bring sufficient numbers to bear however, well, quantity is a quality of its own."

"And yet with sufficient quality they need not bring to bear overwhelming numbers," Andreas said. "There are rumored aces within the ranks of the insurgency. This, Red Knight, for one. And then there is the Four Holy Swords of the Japanese Liberation Front. Four knightmare pilots of supposedly exceptional prowess, equipped with the best machines the JLF can muster. Do you believe your Lancelot would be a match for them, Earl?"

"Without a doubt," Lloyd said with a wide grin.

"Then you should have no cause for concern."

Lloyd and Cécile both blinked.

"I, beg your pardon?" the earl said in confusion.

"I have scheduled an additional training exercise for Specialist Kururugi tomorrow," Andreas explained. "We will be testing its worth in knightmare combat, against seasoned opponents instead of petty insurgents." A slight smile crossed the general's face. "I expect that the Lancelot will be sufficiently, challenged, when facing the Glaston Knights."

Lloyd gave a nervous laugh. "Of course, such an exercise should prove most, illuminating, general."

"I am glad you agree," Andreas said before turning back to regard the situation monitor.

Behind the general Cécile was feeling a distinctive sinking feeling in her guts. It was pretty evident that this exercise had been in the works for some time and was not just some spontaneous thing the general had come up with in response to Lloyd's complaints. Still she felt just a slight tingle of guilt for what Suzaku was about to get thrown into. The Glaston Knights were considered the cream of the Princess Cornelia's royal guard, each trained to the exacting standards of their adoptive father and extremely capable both individually and as a group. Combined with their considerably greater experience of actual battle, Suzaku would be in for a hell of a fight. Cécile just prayed that the young man would come out unscathed. And that the Glaston Knights would remember that the Lancelot prototype did not yet have an ejection system to carry its pilot to safety should the unthinkable happen.

* * *

"Good morning your highness."

Euphie smiled as the door opened to reveal her chief of staff. "Good morning Ruben."

"I trust you had an enjoyable weekend?" the elderly man said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Yes, I had a splendid time," the princess replied with a slight laugh. "Please pass on my gratitude to Milly, it has been so long since I was able to just enjoy an evening and not worry about the duties of state."

"I will do so your highness," Ruben said. "Still, a new week begins and I am afraid reality must reassert itself."

"Reality is not so bad," Euphie said. "Without sorrow there would be nothing for us to find joy in. Anyway, I presume there was something you wished to discuss with me?"

"Indeed your highness."

"Then please," Euphie nodded to the chair before her desk. "Have a seat."

"Thank you highness," Ruben said as he did so. The man opened his folder and placed a sheet of paper upon the desk. "The first is a civil matter. A petition was delivered to the viceroy's office late on Friday. You had already left for the day and the person delivering it indicated that there was no rush for a response."

"A petition?" Euphie said with a raised eyebrow.

"Indeed, highness, and the person making the petition is an Honorary Britannian."

The eyebrow stayed up. "Oh?"

"I would recommend that you read the petition yourself, your highness," Ruben said. "Its basic premise is not very long."

The Princess was sufficiently wise to know full well that whatever the petition was it was no simple matter, otherwise it would have been part of Ruben's daily briefing. Her eyes scanned the page quickly. The letter was not very long and was composed in precise albeit at times overpolite English. That was a common habit for many Elevens that had learned English as a second language. The formalism however did not get in the way of the central point. Once done Euphie set the piece of paper back down with a thoughtful expression.

"Interesting."

Ruben's mouth quirked up in subdued amusement but he made no comment, letting the princess gather her thoughts.

"Who exactly is this, Kochiyama person?" Euphie asked.

"She is a journalist, your highness," Ruben said, "working for the Asahi Newspaper, presently the only Area-wide newspaper that still prints editions in Japanese."

"Ah," Euphie said with a nod. "If I remember correctly they are a leftist newspaper that espouses citizen rights."

"Quite, your highness," Ruben said. "Though, if I may be frank, I am often surprised that the company has been allowed to continue operating."

"Hmm, well I suppose there is no harm in telling you this, so long as you do not spread it around," Euphie said with a shrug. "The Inquisitio uses its subscription records as one of its means for identifying potential insurgency sympathizers."

Ruben's eyes widened ever so slightly. "I see. I am, uncertain as to how effective such a stratagem would be, but then again I am not an intelligence analyst."

The princess shrugged again. "It serves as a useful pulse on the general mood of the Eleven population. All articles have to pass through the censors and based on the type of articles are submitted, we can get a read on the concerns of the people, or at least what the Asahi reporters think the people care about. From time to time a provocative article is let through to give the impression that they can sneak things past the censors, which then motivates the reporters to continue in their diligence. In effect however the newspaper serves as another set of eyes and ears for the Inquisitio. Unofficially of course."

This time Ruben nodded. "Clever. I had known the Inquisitio could be subtle, but I never even suspected their reach extended in this manner."

"Nor should you have if they were doing their job correctly," Euphie said with a sweet smile.

"Point taken, your highness," Ruben said wirily. "But we seem to have diverged from the matter at hand."

"Quite." Euphie regarded the letter again. "An interesting petition." The young woman's eyes narrowed. "And a daring one."

"Ms. Kochiyama is assuming a certain amount of risk in asking for the release of these prisoners," Ruben agreed. "The risk however, is calculated."

"Hmm, yes, I suppose it is." Euphie sat back into her chair. "Tell me Ruben, do you believe this petition to be spontaneous?"

"No, your highness," Ruben said immediately. "At least not in the direct sense. The list of prisoners and details regarding them is too thorough for it to have been put together quickly, even if we assume Ms. Kochiyama assembled it personally."

"And where is the list?"

"My staff is working on digitizing it now, your highness," Ruben explained. "As a hardcopy, it is rather voluminous."

"Have you had a chance to get a basic impression?"

Ruben nodded. "Yes, your highness. Assuming the information is accurate it is as the letter says, all of the individuals are people arrested for protesting Britannia's rule of Area 11 in some nonviolent manner. The range of their activities is quite wide, from attending demonstrations to leading rallies. A few even submitted similar petitions to past viceroys and military governors."

"Much as this one?" Euphie said dryly.

"Yes, your highness."

"Hmm. Quite the conundrum indeed."

"I do not mean to presume, highness, but does that mean you do not intend to grant Ms. Kochiyama's petition?"

The princess smiled thinly. "You know as well as I, Ruben, that the petition in its current state is a nonstarter. While Ms. Kochiyama is correct in that all of these people are in jail because they are prisoners of conscience and not because of any actual physical harm inflicted upon others, they still cannot simply be released without consequence. Advocating for the independence of an Area is after all anathema to Britannian policy and even in some cases law."

"That is certainly true, your highness," Ruben agreed. "Nevertheless a symmetrical problem occurs if you reject the petition outright. Certain segments of the Eleven population is slowly forming a positive opinion of you. That opinion may yet be turned depending on how you handle the petition."

"And that, I think, is the true purpose behind this petition," Euphie stated confidently.

Ruben nodded. "I am in agreement, your highness. And I can already see that you have a plan in mind."

Euphie smiled ruefully. "Am I really that transparent?"

"With old age comes at least some wisdom," Ruben said with a playful smile.

"Well, I suppose I can only hope that my mind ages as gracefully and wisely as yours," Euphie responded before a more serious expression came over her face. "And you are correct, I do have a solution to this problem, one that will allow me to control this conversation instead of letting an outside party dictate its terms."

"I see," Ruben said slowly.

The princess regarded her chief of staff. "Something worries you."

The old man smiled slightly. "Am I so transparent, your highness?"

This time Euphie chuckled. "Call it a woman's intuition."

"Something to be ever wary of for us mere men," Ruben quipped before responding more seriously. "The matter that concerns me, your highness, has to do with the Lord David's execution."

"Ah. And you are here to see that I make good on my earlier promise."

Ruben simply nodded.

"And you understand that, once I reveal to you this information, there will be no backing out."

Another nod.

Euphie smiled thinly. "Then are you absolutely, completely certain, Ruben?"

"Yes, your highness," came an answer without a hint of hesitation.

"Very well. Before we begin, I just want to make clear that you are not to share this with anyone, not even Milly, at least not yet. When the time comes she will need to be informed, but that is not yet here."

Ruben acknowledged the order with a tilt of his head.

The princess pursed her lips and sat back into her chair once more. "What have you heard about the Directorate?"

Ruben's face tightened ever so slightly. "Whispers and rumors, but nothing to indicate it actually exists, your highness. Yet."

"And if I told you that I have personal confirmation that it exists?"

The man's expression was now, to put it mildly, very unhappy. Euphie smiled sympathetically.

"You are aware that I worked as an auditor in the Exchequer before my appointment as viceroy. During that time I found a very subtle divergence of funds from the various state budgets. The sum total, Ruben, is on the order of billions of pounds a year."

"And you believe this money is being funneled to the, Directorate."

"I know it to be, for when I started poking about I attracted both their attention and the attention of others. One of my nominal superiors at the Exchequer issued me less than subtle warnings about leaving well enough alone." Euphie shrugged. "He ultimately learned that however much indirect authority the Directorate might wield, it was not sufficient to protect him from the ire of an imperial scion."

Ruben narrowed his eyes. "Are you insinuating that the Lord David was not the first person you have had summarily executed?"

"Of course not," Euphie said with a snort. "The Inquisitio was preparing to interrogate the man, however someone else managed to silence him first. That was the first inkling that I had stumbled upon something serious enough to warrant the loss of life, something beyond the petty power plays of court. I was not the first however, Schneizel and Cornelia had stumbled upon concrete indication of the Directorate's existence because of another matter entirely, the assassination of the Empress Marianne."

There was no wavering in Ruben's gaze, only a firm intensity that Euphie found almost reassuring. It appeared that wisdom was not the only thing the elderly man possessed, an iron will also lay at his core.

"You suggest that the Directorate murdered the Empress Marianne," Ruben said slowly.

"It is a possibility," Euphie said carefully. "My siblings invested a great deal of time and effort in investigating the Empress Marianne's murder, Ruben. What they found however was the complete and total absence of a culprit. As far as they could determine none of the Empress' rivals at court was responsible for her death, nor was this a case of her being betrayed by one of her allies. In the course of the investigation however, they stumbled upon, footprints and ripples, so to speak, left behind by the Directorate's actions. They were, a bit more discrete in their inquiries than I was, and so had built up a considerably larger body of documentation and when they realized I was starting to get an, inkling of the Directorate's existence, well, suffice it to say that there was a rather lengthy discussion."

Ruben frowned. "I do not intend to rush you, your highness, but what does this have to do with your execution of the Lord Davis?"

"In due time," Euphie said. "As I was saying, my siblings had a long talk with me regarding the Directorate and what it might be. Since then all three of us have spent a great deal of effort trying to indirectly determine the extent of the Directorate's influence and its ultimate objectives. To do so, we have poked and prodded what we suspect to be ancillary assets, observing the responses to our actions and seeing to what length the Directorate will tolerate interference in its plans. Suffice it to say, all three of us have been burned at times over the course of our investigation, though my siblings more so than myself." The princess smiled sadly. "They continue to insist that I try to avoid drawing too much attention to my person even now."

Seeing how willful the princess was Ruben was not surprised in the least. Then again the princess seemed quite intent on ignoring those wishes.

"All that I have said thus far is more or less background," Euphie continued. "Important background that you are not to repeat to anyone else, but background nevertheless. There is however another piece of background that you need to be aware of before I can answer your question. Before the death of my brother Clovis, I had uncovered a flow of funds not dissimilar to what I discovered at the Exchequer. Not two days after I made him aware of the diverted funds, he was murdered." The princess' eyes hardened. "What would you conclude in such circumstances, Ruben?"

The elderly man pursed his lips. "I would take care not to jump to conclusions, your highness, especially in the immediate aftermath when my own emotions are high."

Euphie's eyes flared ever so slightly but the princess kept any anger or irritation in check.

"I understand quite well the point you seek to make," she said instead. "Nevertheless since my arrival I have dug deeper into the finances of the Area, trying to trace the routes the money took and where it ultimately ended up. One such endpoint was KBR."

By now Ruben was looking more than a bit worried. "You believe the Duke had a hand in your brother's death?"

"Unlikely," Euphie said confidently. "There is however a high probability that he has at least an indirect connection to the Directorate. And if that connection exists, there is also the possibility that he is a bit, higher up in the chain, so to speak, in the ranks of their associates than a mere senior clerk in the Exchequer. If that is the case, then the Directorate might be prepared to react if I directly struck at him, such as ordering the execution of his son and charging the Duke himself with crimes against the crown's subjects." The young woman's eyes darkened. "And if the Directorate did arrange Clovis' assassination because he was poking at something they did not want disturbed, then the Lord David's execution serves as a message to them about the consequences of such conduct."

Ruben grimaced. "That is a very dangerous stratagem you are pursing, your highness."

Euphie smiled slightly. "Those were Brigadier Eyre's exact words when I asked him to participate in my plan."

"The brigadier is a seasoned soldier," Ruben stated. "His counsel is well worth heeding."

"I have been heeding it," Euphie replied with equal firmness.

It was with some effort that Ruben suppressed a sigh. The course of action the princess was taking was not, unreasonable. It was however as he said extraordinarily dangerous, especially if this Directorate was really as dangerous as she was implying. Yet that there was the rub.

"I trust that I do not offend, your highness, when I say that I will need to see what evidence you possess of this Directorate before deciding whether I believe your actions are warranted."

"Of course," Euphie said genially. "For something of this magnitude skepticism is well warranted. It will take a great deal of time to go over the evidence however and matters of state cannot be left undone in the meantime. Shall we set up appointments over the next week or so?"

"That would be acceptable," Ruben acquiesced. "For now though, you said you had a solution to the issue of the political prisoners?"

"Ah yes," Euphie nodded, a wolfish smile appearing. "Yes, I do have a potential solution. And I hope you will have fewer reservations about it than about the matter with the Directorate."

As Ruben listened to the proposal, the elderly man found that he did indeed have fewer reservations. Some still lingered, that was perhaps inevitable, but the princess' solution was an elegant counter to the political mess the petition was threatening to spiral into. Of course there was some risk involved in the viceroy's intended course of action, but as was plainly evident risk alone was hardly sufficient to deter the young woman. That however was both a positive and negative. Only time would tell which side of the coin would land.

* * *

"Kallen's absent?" Milly remarked idly as the student council settled down for lunch.

Shirley nodded. "She wasn't in class this morning. Maybe she's feeling a bit under the weather after running around so much helping organize the dance."

"Huh, well that's certainly possible," the older girl said, "though I would hope that she would let us know if she was feeling any strain. Or at least Cecilia would."

"Maybe have Cole cook up some brownies or something for her," Rivalz suggested. "Those two seemed to be hitting it off really well at the dance."

A wide smile appeared on Milly's face. "They did, didn't they. I wonder if that will actually get anywhere."

The rest of the student council regarded their nominal leader with an amused wariness, for what the girl really meant was how she could help make sure things went somewhere. And while Milly had not come right out and said it, all of them were pretty certain that she had intentionally arranged for the princess and Cole to bump into each other. One of these days someone was going to turn the tables on her and set the girl up with a guy, but seeing Milly's practiced experience in dodging marriage interviews set up by her parents, that day was likely long in coming.

"I was a bit surprised though," Rivalz commented. "I mean, I think the first time the two met was when Cole was chasing you down for your signature."

"Ahaha," Milly laughed with uncharacteristic sheepishness. "Yeah, and they didn't even talk back then."

"Maybe it was love at first sight," Shirley said with a smile.

"If only that actually happened outside of romance novels," Rivalz said almost wistfully. "And not as setup for heartbreak."

"My, but aren't you the romantic," Milly said with a chuckle. "Still, if Kallen was to take off for a bit now would actually be a good time for it. We don't have any major work in the near term, and the semester will be wrapping up soon enough."

"Umm, Milly, are you forgetting about something?" Nina spoke up.

"Hmm?"

The girl picked up the manila folder and presented it to her senior. "The new transfer student."

"Oh, I didn't forget about that," Milly said with a smile, "but since she'll also be in Rivalz and Shirley's class, I thought I'd delegate."

Rivalz sighed wearily. "Well, whatever. So, who is she?"

"Charlotte Dunois," Milly said as she opened up the folder.

"Dunois? Sounds French," Shirley remarked.

Milly nodded. "Her family was probably one of those that fled the French Revolution to Britannia."

There was a surprising number of people with similar lineages in the empire, though these days they were so integrated they were considered as Britannian as those who traced their ancestry to the British Isles.

"Her parents apparently work in the sakuradite industry and have been here for a few years, but they didn't send for her until they felt that Area 11 was more stable and that she was old enough," Milly continued. "Huh, well, I guess Euphie's reforms are having an effect even faster than I thought."

"When is she starting?" Shirley asked.

"Tomorrow," Milly said. "I think, yeah, the paperwork's dated from last week, but it looks like our copy got lost in the shuffle with everything that was going on."

"It is important to keep on top of the things the office sends us," Nina pointed out.

"Yeah, I know," Milly said with a slight smile. "Still, things should be calm enough that we can work through anything that's in our backlog." She handed the folder over to Shirley. "Mind helping Charlotte around until she's acclimated to the school?"

"Of course president," Shirley said with a nod. "Part of the job after all."

"Hmm, speaking of job, there is one last thing we need to take care of before the summer break starts," Milly said. "Gotta get the student council elections organized. Right, Rivalz?"

The last was said with a blink but both word and deed only elicited a sigh from the young man. "Yes, Milly, I'll have my candidacy papers in." He looked over at the others. "So long as no one is planning on jumping ship next year and leaving me all by my lonesome."

"Awww, we wouldn't do that Rivalz," Shirley reassured him. "If you want our help, you have but to ask."

"Oh good," Rivalz said with a grin. "Then I look forward to working with you, Vice-President Fenette."

"Eh? You've already planned the roles?" Shirley said. "And shouldn't Nina get the vice-president slot? She's the treasurer this year after all!"

"Umm, I don't know how much time I'll have next year," Nina said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it," Rivalz said. "I know your atomic work is important."

"Sorry," Nina said nonetheless, though she did smile gratefully at Rivalz's words.

"Well, Nunnally will be in entering high school next semester," Shirley said. "Maybe we could have her become a formal member instead of just an honorary one then?"

All eyes fell on Milly and the girl pondered over it. The student council was a very visible presence on campus and so having Nunnally take an active role would expose her to more attention. Of course that alone should not preclude her participation, but it was always something that hovered in the background unfortunately.

"That should be fine," Milly said before smiling slightly. "And who knows? Maybe in a few years she'll even be able to inherit my seat."

The others also smiled. For that to happen quite a few things would need to change in Britannia, but that did not mean they needed to discard such a possibility. The future was, after all, unknowable.

* * *

Inoue sneezed, rubbing her nose to get rid of the itch that had elicited it.

"You okay?"

"Fine, fine," the woman said. "Let's get this done so that we can get out of all this dust."

The man chuckled as he nodded. The room they were in had spent the last few years storing many boxes filled with broken down equipment that the clinic could not afford to throw away but had not yet gotten around to fixing up or stripping down for parts and a fine layer of dust had accrued on all the boxes. Now with the revitalization of the Keio medical campus picking up steam however it would soon be repurposed as another properly equipped ward. Before said repurposing could happen though everything needed to be hauled out, sorted, and more likely than not tossed. Fortunately there were plenty of warm bodies about to help with all the work.

A steady procession of people filed in and out with boxes on their shoulders as Inoue supervised. Each person would crack open their box before leaving to let the woman examine it, after which she would determine the ultimate fate of the contents.

"Keep. Toss. Toss. Toss. Good god, we still had that? Toss. Keep."

And so it went. Amongst the people helping was a somewhat slender but otherwise quite fit brunette. In truth there was no real need for Kallen to be here helping out as not only were the usual volunteers and campus staff all pulling long shifts to get the work done, workers from the Sumeragi family and even members of the Britannian Army Engineering Corps were also pitching in. Kallen was originally only here to consult with the Sumeragi representatives but after seeing everyone else so hard at work the girl found herself unable to just sit around. C.C. on the other hand had no such reservations and as such was lounging about in one of the private offices. That was probably for the better, the girl's exotic features would have been nearly impossible to disguise like Kallen's and her visible presence would have raised all sorts of questions.

With so many hands available the room was soon completely emptied and then wiped down. Windows were opened to let the room air out, after which others would be in here to apply a fresh coat of paint. Only after that was done could beds be brought in. Still, every journey was the sum of its steps and Inoue was satisfied with the progress thus far.

"C'mon," she said as she gave Kallen a pat on the shoulder, "let's go get something to eat."

"Lunch is on me," Kallen said. "I brought some of the leftovers from the dance."

"Oh? Well, this should be good," Inoue said with a grin.

As the two walked through the halls they passed a flurry of activity in the halls and other rooms. The entire building was crawling with people working on its restoration which once completed would house all of the campus' patients while work then shifted to the other buildings. It was heartening in many ways to see all these people moving with purpose once more.

That purpose was of course not entirely driven by spirit or will, it was also fueled by cold hard cash. Before the infusion of resources by the Britannian government the staff at the Keio community clinic made do with very meager wages with most performing more than one job for even that little pay. Since the viceroy's project began however everyone's pay had seen bumps. Inoue herself had actually received two. The first was part of the general pay raise everyone at the campus got. The second was the result of the Britannians finding out that Inoue knew more about the campus' electrical systems than anyone other single person. She was promptly appointed head of maintenance with another pay raise to go with the title.

Of course Inoue was not the only one to benefit from the sudden largesse by the Britannian government, nor were the benefits restricted solely to the original Keio staff. While some of the initial preparatory work in fixing up the campus had been done by employees of the Sumeragi family, more and more of the workers were being drawn from the local community. The sudden availability of decent paying jobs was injecting a not insignificant amount of cash into the local economy, with more and more people no longer living day to day or even week to week. Old debts were cleared, new things were bought, and some money was even being set aside for the future. That was not to say there were no downsides to this sudden surge of prosperity however.

The most obvious one was the upswing of prices in the area around the hospital. Now that people could afford things, businesses could actually charge higher prices. That was in and of itself not that big of a problem since the resulting cash made by the businesses allowed them to get higher quality supplies, hire workers themselves, and invest a bit in new equipment and the like. So again, it was a net gain for the community at large.

A more subtle downside was also on display in the flurry of activity for Inoue had been utterly unable to get away from the campus for the last week as she coordinated parts of the restoration. Even Tamaki had been dragged into the work. At this rate the resistance movements might end up falling apart just because all of their members were too busy working and earning money. It was a means of combating the insurgency that Kallen and her comrades had to admit a grudging respect for.

The outside grounds that the two emerged onto was slightly less chaotic, though trucks hauling supplies regularly passed through. It was also where the third potential downside to the restoration project was visible in the form of the soldiers with MP armbands standing about. All of them were Honorary Britannians serving in the Britannian Army who under normal circumstances would have been taking considerable risk being here so lightly armed. Their arrival, though heavily forewarned, had elicited a tense wariness from the campus staff and those living in the area. The soldiers themselves were well aware of this and took great effort to be courteous and professional. And then it somehow became known that these soldiers had participated in the raid on KBR's Koshigaya chemical factory and a keen curiosity began displacing the barely concealed hostility.

"My, how things have changed," Inoue said with a wiry smile.

Kallen nodded. "I should be happy about this. Yet the best I can manage is ambivalence."

"I know what you mean," Inoue said. "When I first drifted onto the campus, it was rundown and there were breaks in the wiring all over the place. Now? We're actually getting properly insulated mains and leaky pipes swapped out. That's all great, but we're paying a price for it."

Both women glanced over at a pair of soldiers patrolling the grounds. The platoon was spread out quite a bit with most of its numbers simply walking around. The two squads that were concentrated on the other hand were sitting tight in an armored truck in full gear, ready to respond on the off chance someone seriously wanted to take a shot at their comrades. It was an interesting balance between sensitive discretion and prudent caution.

"Has Kuroba-sensei said anything to you?" Kallen asked.

"He's optimistic," Inoue replied. "And it's pretty obvious that he hopes to keep me busy enough that I won't go jaunting off on another misadventure like what happened at the KBR depot."

Kallen nodded. That was quite understandable on the doctor's part. He was ultimately trying to do what he thought was best for those he cared about.

"Have you had a chance to see mom?" Inoue asked, referring to Kotone Kouzuki as if the woman was indeed her own mother. Sadly in a way, she was the only one Inoue had left to call that.

"Yeah. She's getting better," Kallen said. "She's still drifting in and out of the past, but that's happening less and less." The young woman smiled. "I think she'll beat this thing."

"She will," Inoue said with a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder.

The two entered into the main building and headed for the small office that had been set aside for Inoue after her abrupt promotion. Beyond a small fridge and a TV it had few amenities, every other piece of furniture was purely functional. That of course had not stopped C.C. from managing to lounge about in the chair while she watched TV.

"Ah, thou art returned from thy labors."

"I'm starting to think I should send you back to Ohgi's, at least there you won't have any excuse to not do some heavy lifting," Kallen said with a smirk.

C.C. returned the expression. "Ye gods, thou thinketh of me little more than a cottier?"

"If only you did enough labor to qualify as one," Kallen said as she pulled out the leftovers from the fridge.

The other girl noticeably perked up at the sight of the food and Kallen shook her head in resignation. If nothing else C.C. was fairly transparent about what she did and did not enjoy.

"Methinks thou could find worse a man than one so able to grace a table with such fine vittles."

Kallen snorted. "Is that how you judge all guys?"

"Tis as reasonable as any other measure."

"Says you," Kallen retorted before turning to Inoue. "We'll need to heat this up somewhere."

"We can just use the kitchen," Inoue suggested. "Though, hmm. If that smells as good as it already looks, we might need to beat off everyone else in there."

Kallen chuckled. "Bring it on, I'm not afraid."

Inoue gave the younger woman a playful ruffle of her hair before walking with her for the kitchen. Despite how busy things had become, there was fortunately still a spot open on the stoves and after a bit of prep work the food was soon in a warming pot. Before it was ready, but well after a most appetizing aroma began drawing attention, a voice called out.

"Inoue-san?"

Inoue turned about. "Yes?"

"Ichijo-san would like to speak with you," the man said. "He is waiting for you in his office."

"Alright, be right there," Inoue said before glancing back at Kallen. "Just leave my portion on my desk."

"You sure you want to risk it being eaten?" Kallen said.

"I'm sure that you'll make sure it doesn't happen," Inoue replied with a playful grin.

Kallen seemed to think over her response. "Come by mom's room when you're done, we'll all eat together."

The smile took on a more affectionate air as Inoue nodded. "Alright. I won't be long."

The Sumeragi family representative's office was in a considerably nicer room than Inoue's, not that the woman really cared. It was also soundproof and had been swept for bugs so in theory it was one of the safest places to hold private conversations at the campus. Not that a request to meet Ichijo in his office meant every conversation needed such privacy, but Inoue's instincts told her that this was one of them. As such she wasted little time making her way to the room and showing herself in.

"Ichijo-san," she greeted.

"Inoue-san," the man replied. "Please, have a seat."

Inoue did so. "Has something happened?" And cut right to the chase.

The man pursed his lips. "The viceroy has formally received the petition regarding the Fuchu prisoners. We have learned that she intends to make a public statement about it later this evening."

Inoue's eyes widened. "That, was remarkably quick. Any hints at what she will say?"

"No," Ichijo said with a shake of his head. "The various news agencies have also not been given copies of the statement for transcription. Whatever the viceroy intends to say, she intends it to be a surprise to the general public."

"And none of your usual sources within her administration have been able or willing to leak the statement details to you?"

"That is correct," Ichijo said. "This is causing a certain degree of concern."

"I can imagine," Inoue said. "So, was this information purely a courtesy or does the Sumeragi family have something they think Akakishi can help with?"

"At the moment it is merely a courtesy," Ichijo said. "Until we know what the viceroy intends it would be premature to try anything. And seeing as it is highly unlikely that she would order anything so drastic that it would endanger the lives of the prisoners, we likely do not need to put into action any emergency contingencies."

Inoue nodded in agreement. While there was little doubt that the Princess Euphemia could be ruthless, even with her summary execution of the Lord David it seemed doubtful she would order the same against a bunch of harmless intellectuals whose only crime was to speak up against Britannia. Doing so would wreck beyond any hope of recovery the goodwill she was establishing with the Japanese people and the princess did not seem nearly foolish enough to do that.

"Still, I presume our own plans for freeing the prisoners will remain on track unless the princess actually accedes to the petition?" Inoue asked.

"That is so."

"Alright, I'll pass on the news to Akakishi and the rest of my associates and we'll be sure to watch the broadcast this evening. Thank you for the consideration, Ichijo-san."

* * *

The media staff took only mere moments to finish adjusting the recording equipment and after that it was just a matter of waiting. Fortunately Euphie had had a lot of practice looking regal while sitting about doing absolutely nothing. It could still be trying on her patience of course so she was almost relieved when the cameraman began counting down with his hands. And then the light blinked red and her image was projected across every TV in Area 11.

"Citizens and subjects of the Holy Britannian Empire," Euphie began with proper solemnity. "I speak to you this day to address a matter that has been overlooked for far too long. Shortly after Area 11's incorporation into the Empire, demonstrations by the people of the Area occurred demanding the Britannia's withdrawal and the restoration of the Area as a sovereign nation. Many of the instigators and organizers of these demonstrations were arrested and consigned to the Fuchu prison and have remained there since the early days of Area 11's formation."

There was a bluntness, a frankness in Euphie's speech that struck many people as uncharacteristic for a public figure. Some approved of it while others felt a disquiet. All however paid their full attention to the princess.

"Late last week my administration received a petition from one Yuriko Kochiyama, a reporter for the Asahi Newspaper, pleading on the grounds of mercy and compassion for the release of those so imprisoned. I have given careful thought to the petition and I have arrived at a decision."

That attention was now rapt as all waited impatiently to hear what that decision was, for it was becoming clear that this moment might well end up defining the Princess Euphemia in her capacity as Viceroy of Area 11.

"It is true as Ms. Kochiyama stated in her petition, that these men and women have made no physical transgression against Britannia. It is equally true that they have likely suffered greatly, both physically and mentally, as they languished in prison for simply espousing an idea. Many would suggest that such suffering is disproportionate considering their actions. Many would also suggest that none of these people so imprisoned posed any sort of danger to society and social order." The princess' eyes hardened visibly on TV screens everywhere. "Many would also forget that an idea can be far more powerful than any single action, for an idea can serve to spur countless actions."

A slight optimism had been building up in the Japanese viewers, just as an anxiety was surfacing in the Britannian ones. Almost immediately emotions were flipped and mixed with confusion as all those watching tried to figure out just what the princess' roundabout statements would finally result in.

"The notion that Britannia's dominion over her territory is violable has long been considered tantamount to sedition," Euphie continued. "This has been true regardless of who advances such a notion, be they a full-blooded Britannian or a Number. As decreed on the founding of our great nation the Empire is a sacred union, indivisible and singular. To doubt this is to doubt the entirety of the Empire, and such doubt is a greater danger to Britannia than any other force that might be arrayed against our great nation. As such, a simple idea is far from harmless."

The princess' expression softened.

"Nevertheless."

Once more across the area, breaths were caught and emotions swirled. With just one word Euphemia had turn her subjects into turmoil and confusion again.

"Nevertheless," she repeated, "to divide the subjects of the Empire in so callous a manner is an unbecoming thing. To deprive all possibility of hope or opportunity, an unworthy act. Mercy and compassion is often derided as weaknesses by many of noble blood. They forget however that only those with genuine strength can dispense either. And though a great measure of my strength comes from the authority vested in me by my honored father, I choose to believe that I still possess enough to show those worthy of it mercy and compassion."

Euphemia smiled. It was a smile that echoed through the hearts of almost everyone that saw it. Almost.

"The acts committed by the prisoners held at Fuchu cannot simply be ignored. Those acts however can be balanced in the eyes of the Empire. As such, I hereby proclaim that any person currently interned by the government for nonviolent protests against Britannian governance will be granted their freedom on condition of their swearing allegiance to the Empire as Honorary Britannians."

Silence hung in the air for a singular moment as the full meaning of the princess' words percolated. And then all across the area people exploded as a whirlwind of emotions swept through them. Shock, disbelief, anger, relief, it was all mixed in across the entire spectrum of society. What the princess was decreeing was unprecedented. Even unthinkable for a notable portion of Britannians and Japanese both. But she had done it, and once more the Princess Euphemia li Britannia had caused a storm to erupt in her domain.

* * *

Back at the Keio campus inside Inoue's office three women had been watching the broadcast intently. Outside the room shouts and cries could be heard as people reacted to the princess' declaration. Inside, the responses were more muted. C.C. regarded the image of the princess thoughtfully. Kallen scowled. Inoue chewed her lip. She was ultimately the one that summed up the situation.

"I think we just got outmaneuvered."

End of Chapter 27

Hmm, rather quiet. Not enough action in the dance chapter?

The word count on this chapter is almost 9000. I'm getting the feeling that I actually am going to need to bang out more chapters of such length if I'm to keep this story from breaching two or three hundred chapters at the rate the plot is progressing.

I have gone back and revised the scene where Euphie got her geass from V.V. at the end of chapter 3. I believe it produces a greater sense of mystery and helps set the stage much better for a couple of developments I have in the pipeline.

To the observant reader it should be fairly clear that Euphie has made a mistake. Based off of the information she has, her conclusions are actually quite reasonable. Because of information she does not have however, those conclusions are completely wrong. Consider it an example of the limitations of her power. There will be ramifications but they will take a bit more time to percolate to something that is reader visible.

The British school system is, from the perspective of someone who went through a Prussian-based model like what the US has, weird. There's not what I would consider a necessarily clean-cut and straightforward mapping between the elementary/middle/high school model versus that of the numbered forms in the UK, at least in my own personal opinion. If someone could actually provide a straightforward explanation, that would be appreciated. Wikipedia is surprisingly, unhelpful on this subject.

On the topic of schools, this is another place where it's pretty blatant in the anime they were basing Ashford Academy on the Japanese school system without even bothering trying to inject elements from an actual western or British school. It's, more than a bit jarring, to be frank. And it's more than a bit depressing just how little the production team seemed to put into actual world building.

I'm not sure if I agree with me actually having a conversation pattern that I use a lot. The dialogue I write I try to construct their flow in as natural a manner as possible. Some exposition by dialogue is almost inevitable due to the sheer complexity of some matters, but infodumping everything via dialogue can get really tiresome for readers, so I try to spread it out into narration and internal character thoughts as well. In the last chapter a big chunk of the conversations were either characters learning about each other or basically a defacto debate on ideology. Those by virtue will get pretty wordy and is reflective of the imperfection of speech as a communication tool. That being said, there have been times when I do use dialogue to convey strictly information. I just literally have no recollection of trying to do that last chapter.

It looks like the world history page on the Code Geass wiki is undergoing a minor edit war with a guy trying to, umm, sell, his notion of how the Code Geass timeline lines up with the Common Era years and other editors not entirely happy with his reasoning.


	29. Chapter 28

_Considerable debate remains to this day as to the Empress Euphemia's personal viewpoints on the issue of race. As sovereign it is an undisputed fact that her majesty treated all with equal measure, never denying a subject their due and never extending leniency selectively. Nevertheless it is also generally accepted that her majesty did consider the Britannian people to possess a mandate to impose order upon an otherwise chaotic world. The question that is often asked is what the empress' own definition of Britannian was, whether it included only those of western European descent, or whether all subjects of the Empire were Britannian regardless of heritage. Those that argue the former point to what they consider to be the very gradual pace of the reforms that lifted restrictions on Numbers. Those that argue the latter counter with the fact that several of her majesty's most trusted advisors and confidantes were of mixed heritage or not of Britannian blood to begin with._

 _Requests to the imperial family for access to the empress' personal journals have continued to be rebuffed and those private records that have been revealed to the general public have remained utterly silent on the matter. Until such time as the imperial family is willing to release further records, it is unlikely the matter will ever be settled._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 28: Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea

"Merde."

That singular word summed up quite succinctly the reactions of those present in the room.

"The princess is proving a remarkably adaptable opponent," Charlotte remarked before glancing over at Lelouch. "More than that, she is demonstrating a daring that would be beyond most in positions of authority. Though considering her heritage, perhaps such strength of will should be expected?"

The two were in an apartment in Tokyo, arranged by Kyoto House to serve as Charlotte's official residence under her false identity. Tomorrow would after all see her enter Ashford Academy as a formal student.

"As important as it is to not underestimate an opponent, overestimating one can be equally dangerous," Lelouch stated. "We will simply have to account for this repost and formulate our own response appropriately. At a minimum however the response that Kyoto House musters should serve to distract Euphie and the rest of the Britannian government long enough for us to receive the packages arriving in Hokkaido."

Charlotte regarded the young man. "The second wave of shipments are on their way?"

"Indeed," Lelouch responded. "André should be in the process of acquiring them now. Assembly of the weapons will take a bit of time, but the JLF should have ordnance technicians sufficiently skilled for the task. The captain should also be able to handle anything that is too complex for them."

"Well, they will certainly come as a surprise to the Britannians," Charlotte said. "Especially if we can take them by surprise."

"A shame we will only have half a dozen or so," Lelouch said. "Used properly we just might have enough to be able to knock out the airfields at MacArthur and Nimitz. If we are very lucky we will also be able to neutralize whichever carrier is parked at Nimitz."

"But if we are able to compromise the ASEEC that offers alternatives in neutralizing MacArthur base's airpower," Charlotte pointed out.

"Very true," Lelouch agreed, "though that does require quite a few things to go right. Highest priority should be to take that Lancelot knightmare out of play."

Lelouch regarded the young woman.

"What is it?" Charlotte asked.

"Nothing, just, it has been a while since I last saw your hair down," Lelouch remarked.

Charlotte glanced over at the tuff of her ponytail resting on her shoulder and smiled. "Yes, I suppose so. Regulations in the field generally requires that I wear it in a bun or get it cut but, well, I just can't quite bring myself to cut it."

Lelouch stroked the length of the hair. "You look, better like this."

"Why thank you," Charlotte said with a chuckle. "Hopefully this Kururugi will think much the same and allow me to maneuver him into a position where you can work on him."

An uncharacteristically pensive look appeared on Lelouch's face. "It would be so much simpler to just have the man assassinated than to carry out this charade."

Charlotte smiled gently and took hold of Lelouch's hand. "Not all things worth doing are easy."

Lelouch grunted. "I suppose not. Still, I will take immense pleasure in paying back this, Japanese, for any slights you may suffer because of him."

Charlotte chuckled and planted a kiss on Lelouch's cheek. "My own prince charming."

* * *

Kallen was once more in her Akakishi disguise seated in one of the many receiving rooms of the Sumeragi estate. The young headmistress sat opposite of her and both had their respective attendants and assistants on hand.

"The viceroy's decree has come as something of a surprise," Kaguya stated. "Of all the possible courses of action she could have taken, this was not one we were expecting. And in many ways this was the worst thing she could have done from our perspective."

Kallen nodded. That was certainly true enough.

"What does Kyoto House intend as a response?" Kallen asked.

"Our contingency remains unchanged," Kaguya said. "We still intend to liberate the prisoners at Fuchu."

"And demonstrate to the viceroy that it is not solely by her discretion that a person's freedom is determined," Kallen stated.

Kaguya smiled slightly. "Indeed, Akakishi-san. Her highness' intent is obvious, to entice our people to trade their freedom for a modicum of prosperity. It is they whom we must also remind that the princess and the Empire does not dictate their destiny."

"Right then, how are we on putting together a plan for the jailbreak?" Kallen asked, glancing over at Inoue.

"We have schematics of the prison itself and maps of the surrounding area," Inoue said. "The trick is going to be how fast the Britannians respond. Since Fuchu is on the outskirts of the city they can't get reinforcements from MacArthur very quickly unless they deploy by air, which would preclude any armor, but conversely since they are on the outskirts there's an outpost just beyond the city limits that might be able to reinforce quickly."

"Onsite security?" Kallen asked.

"None of the guards are, as might be expected, carrying firearms," Ichijo answered that one. "There is a police station less than a kilometer away that has a rapid response team, but they are not equipped to take on heavy opposition."

"So they probably won't have any proper anti-armor that could harm a knightmare," Kallen noted. "Still, that won't matter much if we don't have a proper means of extracting all the prisoners held at Fuchu. How many people are there?"

"Approximately three hundred," Ichijo stated. "And you are quite right, safely evacuating all of them will be no easy task. We are preparing several plans. For one, the North Fuchu station is almost right next to the prison. We can position our own operatives at the station with special train cars with clothes for the prisoners to change into. Once they arrive at the next station, they can disembark and disappear into the general population."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. That was actually rather clever, assuming they could pull it off.

"And the other plans?"

"They are more conventional. We will have a few trucks and other vehicles that can discretely hide a number of people be passing through as well. The Britannians may be able to stop some of them, but they won't be able to stop all of them."

The fake brunette nodded. That really was the best they could hope for in such a complicated environment.

"What's our timetable?" Kallen asked.

"We will be ready to execute within the week," Ichijo stated. "To be frank, the sooner we break open Fuchu, the better."

"You worry that some of the prisoners will take up the viceroy's offer?" Kallen said

"It is inevitable," Kaguya spoke up. "Some of these men and women have been imprisoned for a long time. That they might succumb to the temptation is not a mark against them, it is simply a measure of how much suffering they have endured."

The young Sumeragi headmistress was surprisingly pragmatic and realistic, Kallen noted. Though she held true to the principle of restored sovereignty to Japan, she seemed cognizant of the fact that achieving this goal did not require a scorched earth approach that precluded any and all compromises. That flexibility marked her as an effective leader despite her youth. It also marked her as someone Kallen would need to remain wary of in the case that flexibility resulted in Kaguya deciding she and her cell were expendable for the greater good. Turning on Kallen and her cell after having revealed her identity as a member of Kyoto House would be extremely risky, which meant any betrayal would need to be very final and very thorough to prevent that identity from reaching the Britannian authorities.

"Well in that case then we should get our own plans ready," Kallen said with a slight bow. "We will keep you informed, Kaguya-sama."

Kaguya nodded and so concluded the meeting, the respective parties heading off to whatever was next on their agendas.

"Kyoto House is actually pretty worried about any prisoner accepting the viceroy's clemency," Inoue remarked as they left the estate.

"Is that so surprising?" Kallen asked. "If enough of the prisoners accept it, it might convince a lot of regular people that becoming Honorary Britannians isn't such a bad thing after all. And if those numbers reach a critical mass we'll never regain our independence."

"True," Inoue agreed. "And breaking free all those people will put a lot of pressure on the viceroy. She really flatfooted us with that announcement of hers. We need to regain the initiative."

"To think, getting a more competent viceroy would cut both ways," Kallen remarked. "Everything she does to make the lives of our people better, the more they'll become willing to accept Britannian rule."

"So, as my deputies, any ideas of how to orchestrate the prison break?" Kallen asked.

"A few," Inoue said. "In fact I think this might call for another appearance by the Red Knight."

Ohgi frowned. "Operating in the city with a knightmare is risky. We'll need to have a very good exit strategy to get it out."

"Don't worry, I have an idea for that," Inoue assured the man. "And the prison is far enough away from MacArthur base that we should be able to get Akakishi out of there before the Britannians can respond with their own knightmares."

"Sounds good to me," Kallen said.

As confident as the girl was in her piloting she also knew not to push her luck. If they could avoid another running battle against half the Britannian army she was all for it. And getting clean away would take the Britannians down another notch, show the Japanese people that their oppressors were not invincible and that their sufferance was not needed. That was the real danger behind the Princess Euphemia's decree, the risk that the Japanese people would get used to letting her define their limits. It was when that happened that the chance for independence was truly lost.

* * *

The field of battle was a wide open field with no places to hide and plenty of space for maneuvers. In theory that meant a knightmare like the Lancelot should have a clear advantage over any opposition thanks to its considerably improved speed and maneuverability. In practice when said opposition was four Gloucesters piloted by the cream of the Princess Cornelia's royal guard, the movements of the white knightmare looked more like desperate scampering about than the graceful motions its sleek form usually produced. And even practice rounds could do a lot of damage if they hit in the right spot.

"What is he doing?" Lloyd all but whined. "Suzaku should be able to run circles around a Gloucester, why can he not control the flow of the engagement?"

"He's fighting four of them Lloyd," Cécile admonished her nominal superior. "Surely you're not seriously expecting him to be able to do so without some difficulty?"

"Well there's nothing in the raw specs that would indicate the Lancelot isn't a match," Lloyd responded. "Of course the part with the most variability is the pilot."

Cécile sighed in exasperation. As intelligent as Lloyd was, no, perhaps it was that very brilliance that made the earl so insensitive as a person.

"Aha!"

Cécile looked back at the monitor to see the Lancelot deftly sidestep a sword swung by one of the Gloucesters before swiping the purple knightmare's legs out from under. The other three Gloucesters however were not idle and as the Lancelot prepared to finish off its opponent they opened fire, forcing Suzaku to withdraw.

"Why did he pull back?" Lloyd protested. "The Blaze Luminous can handle at least that much fire."

"At considerable power expenditure," Cécile said. "Really Lloyd, what do you think would happen if Suzaku lost power in the middle of the exercise?"

"Why do you believe he will not?" Lloyd asked. "I do happen to agree, Cécile, that fighting four Gloucesters like this may be beyond the limits of what the Lancelot can do now, but Suzaku should at least be able to defeat one or two of them before that happens."

Cécile sighed, not sure why she even bothered at times. Lloyd could be extremely haphazard in his thought process. Instead of trying to deal with her superior's whimsicalness she focused on the battle that was unfolding on the monitors. She personally had faith that Suzaku would put on a good showing and might even be able to outlast his four opponents. Some things after all were more than the sum of raw numbers.

* * *

Suzaku zigzagged away from the three knightmares trying to thoroughly ventilate his own and succeeded in avoiding the need to bring up the Blaze Luminous. Conversely they also succeeded in keeping him from taking down Bartholomew's knightmare and the Glaston Knight was already getting back on his feet. That was unfortunate, with the way the four knightmares were supporting each other Suzaku was not sure if he would get another chance like that again. It was looking more and more like he would need to pick them off at range, which was easier said than done.

The Lancelot spun about as Suzaku tried to get on the flank of the Glaston Knights. If they managed to catch him in a crossfire he would be well and truly screwed but if he could get them to interfere with each other's' line of fire he could lessen the amount they could pour on him. His opponents were however not stupid and two of the knightmares moved against Suzaku's flank in opposite direction of the white knightmare's movements. Suzaku grimaced as he ever so slowly fell into their trap. There was not much he could do to get out of it at this point, but perhaps there was a way to make the relative positions work to his advantage.

Abandoning his previous plan, Suzaku charged straight towards one of the knightmares without bothering to strafe. The end result was predictable as his target let loose, splattering rounds against the Lancelot's green shield. Suzaku responded in kind, the stepped down shot from his railgun still more than fast enough to preclude any hope of dodging, assuming he was on target of course. The first shot went wide, expected as it was a ranging shot. The second nailed the opposing knightmare in the leg and sent the appendage flying upward. The Gloucester lost control and crashed into the ground in a sprawling mess. That was most definitely a mission kill seeing as one leg was snapped clean off and an arm was twisted at a most unnatural angle.

His target neutralized, Suzaku resumed dodging and just barely avoided meeting a similar fate as the Blaze Luminous system cut out. Looking at his power levels the young man saw he was down to a little under a third. He was not going to win at this rate. Bringing his knightmare about Suzaku carefully studied the relative positions of the other Glaston Knights. They were in a triangular formation now, one that was trying to center around him. It was a sound strategy and the only reason he got out of the last attempt was because of his shield. If they did manage to surround him again he was as good as dead. Maybe he would get one more of them in the process, but that would be-

An explosion rocked the Lancelot and Suzaku was thrown about in the cockpit.

"Gah!"

The young man looked down to see a small crater to his left where some sort of charge had apparently gone off.

"When had that?"

There was no time for further confusion as the other three knightmares sprayed his position with gunfire. The time it took him to regain balance was time spent under the withering fire. The shells fired by the Glaston Knights were training rounds that at worst might cause the armor to buckle if enough were pumped into a target. Impacts from them however were still felt by the knightmare and its pilot and every hit caused the mech to wobble. At this rate Suzaku's defeat was effectively assured and the few shots the young man was able to return were badly off mark thanks to how destabilized his knightmare was.

"Well, no guts no glory," he muttered.

Bypassing the usual protocols Suzaku dumped a good chunk of his remaining power into the Blaze Luminous system and used it to absorb the incoming fire for a few seconds. That nearly completely drained his battery but he still had enough power for one last maneuver. Suzaku locked onto the closest Gloucester and charged. The maneuver put him into the very crossfire position that he had been trying so hard to avoid before but Suzaku did not care. With a roar he unloaded everything he had, expending the last of his rifle's ammo to keep his target from maneuvering too freely. Tossing aside his spent weapon Suzaku brought the Lancelot's sword to bear. He thrust at the Gloucester's center, certain that his speed combined with the power of the white knightmare's systems would preclude any chance of the Gloucester from dodging or deflecting the blow. He was wrong.

The Gloucester dropped to the ground, the Lancelot's sword scrapping its head but otherwise inflicting no measurable damage. Suddenly the white knightmare tumbled as the Gloucester tackled its legs. While the Lancelot's landing was not quite as messy as that of its last opponent, it still came down hard and Suzaku was devoutly thankful for the crash webbing that kept him from slamming his head against the cockpit's interior. By the time he had reoriented himself error and warning messages blinked all over Lancelot's displays.

"Ouch," was the first coherent sound the young man was able to get out.

"Exercise concluded," a voice sounded over the radio. "Lancelot neutralized. Glaston 3 also neutralized. Glaston 2 remains operational."

While his throbbing head was already a pretty good hint, the operator's statement made clear that his last ditch attack had failed.

"You alright there Suzaku?" Claudio queried over the radio.

"Yes sir," Suzaku replied. "Just, getting my bearings again."

The Lancelot shifted about as Suzaku tried to right the knightmare. Claudio moved his own unit back to give the young man some space.

"You had a good run," Claudio said. "Kept us on our toes, even took down Bart."

"It felt more like I was constantly on the ropes sir," Suzaku replied.

Claudio chuckled. "It was four on one, Suzaku. Those aren't the kind of odds that you can let your fancy machine carry you through. Now that I've had a chance to go head to head with it I can see that the Lancelot is a very impressive machine. As you get more experience with it I'm sure one day you might actually be able to match the four of us in Gloucesters, but right now you're not taking advantage of the Lancelot's capabilities enough to pull that off."

"Really?" Suzaku said quizzically. "What am I doing wrong?"

"Ah, now that would be telling," Claudio said lightly. "Anyway, I'm sure you'll figure some of it out yourself in the after action reviews. The rest, well, you have to work them out yourself to make them stick."

"I see sir." The Lancelot oriented upward as its balance was restored. "Still, thank you for the lessons today. I did learn a lot."

"Anytime Suzaku," Claudio said cheerfully. "And hey, maybe if we put on a good enough show the ASEEC will give us Lancelots too."

A strained expression appeared on Suzaku's face. "In that case sir, I hope you understand if I demure on another four on one match."

* * *

"Welcome to Ashford Academy Charlotte," Shirley said cheerfully to the blond girl. "I'm Shirley Fenette, secretary for the student council."

"A pleasure," Charlotte said. "Thank you for taking the time to help me get settled, Shirley."

"Oh, no problem, it's always nice to be able to meet new people," Shirley assured the girl. "C'mon, let's get you checked in at the office and then we can get to homeroom."

Charlotte nodded and fell in alongside the brown haired girl.

"So you lived in the homeland before?" Shirley asked.

"Yes," Charlotte replied very carefully, "in the state of New York. That's where my family originally settled after leaving France and where the rest of my relatives still are."

"Ah, I see," Shirley said with a smile. "So while your parents were working in Area 11, were you staying with other family?"

"Exactly. My parents did their best to visit for holidays and the like, but now that I'm old enough and the Area is settling down more, it was decided we could all be together again."

"That's good to hear. It's not much fun having parents constantly away because of work."

Charlotte regarded the other girl. "Are you speaking from experience, Shirley?"

The brunette smiled mirthlessly. "Sort of. Not too long ago my dad was caught up in some big project for a couple of months and we didn't see him home for weeks on end. It's over now, but while he was so busy I began to realize just how much I had taken his presence for granted."

Charlotte nodded in sympathetic understanding. "But he's not busy anymore, so I'm sure you're making him feel appreciated at home, right?"

Shirley chuckled. "I suppose I am."

The two arrived at the main office and Shirley guided Charlotte to their homeroom teacher.

"Ah, Charlotte," the man in question greeted. "Welcome to Ashford, though I suppose Shirley here has already extended that to you."

"Yes she has," Charlotte said agreeably.

"As expected of our school's future vice-president," the teacher said with a playful smile.

"Jeez, shouldn't people wait for me to actually make a decision?" Shirley protested halfheartedly.

"Some things are just meant to be. Anyway, where were we? Ah yes, introductions. I am Mr. Mansfield and I teach mathematics here at Ashford. Which, actually means that you will likely not be in any of my classes beyond homeroom."

Charlotte smiled politely. The specific subjects that had been chosen for her cover had needed to balance her ability to actually competently pass as a student studying for the respective A-level certifications and also make sense as a group. As such the three primary subjects that Charlotte would be taking during her brief time here at Ashford was philosophy, history, and Latin, topics that thanks to her own education in the French school system she was fairly well equipped to deal with. The mandatory physical education would be a piece of cake thanks to her training as a SDECE operative and the combined workload should be within her ability to manage. And anything that she could not do quickly enough she could always get Lelouch to help her with.

"Now, you are transferring in at a somewhat awkward time," the teacher went on. "The semester is more or less wrapping up and transferring in the middle of your sixth form does disrupt your preparations for your A-levels somewhat."

"Yes sir," Charlotte agreed. "Nevertheless I expect that I should be able to make up any differences in the curriculums between Ashford and my old school."

"Well, considering your transcript, I believe your confidence is warranted," Mansfield said with a slight smile before glancing over at Shirley. "I believe next up was showing Charlotte around the school grounds and where her classes will be?"

"Yes sir," Shirley said with a bob of her head.

"Then I won't keep you. Ms. Dunois, once more, welcome to Ashford and I hope you find your time with us rewarding."

"As do I Mr. Mansfield," Charlotte replied with a radiant smile."

The two left the office after that and Shirley directed them towards the classrooms.

"He seems rather nice," Charlotte remarked.

"Oh he is," Shirley agreed before wrinkling her nose. "He also grades really strictly. Until the last set of exams no one had ever scored a 100% on his tests."

Charlotte chuckled. "Really? Are they that hard?"

"There's always at least one question on his exams that is multi-step and requires that you apply multiple principles to solve it," Shirley explained. "The problem comes however if you don't remember some of the tricks or shortcuts and end up doing the calculation the long way, which can be really error prone."

"Hmm, I see," Charlotte said with a nod. "Though, you said until the last set of exams. That means someone did get full marks?"

Shirley's head bobbed up and down. "Uh huh, it was the viceroy."

Charlotte's eyes widened. "The viceroy? Her highness?"

"Oh, right, you probably didn't know this, but the princess is enrolled at Ashford," Shirley explained. "She doesn't sit classes here, but she does the coursework and takes the exams. Mr. Mansfield was going over the answers for the exam and for the last question, the really tricky one, he said he basically just copied the princess' answer for the explanation. He sounded really impressed."

"If he decided to use her answer as an example, that sounds quite understandable," Charlotte said. "Huh, are there any other such interesting personages here at this school?"

"Well, I'd say Milly counts," Shirley said with a mischievous smile. "She's the headmaster's granddaughter and the current student council president."

"Ah, and so our nominal boss," Charlotte said with a grin of her own.

"Quite. She's always organizing various social events for the school, though I think it's mostly been a way for her to blow off steam for studying for her A-levels."

"She somehow finds the time to do that?" Charlotte said incredulously.

Shirley nodded. "Don't ask me how. She's also been serving as an understudy to her grandfather as part of his work for the viceroy too."

"Wow," Charlotte said with completely genuine amazement. There were few people that she could think of that could maintain that kind of pace without cracking completely under the strain. Her own Lelouch happened to be one of them. "Ashford has quite a few amazing people."

"Yep." Shirley's expression flickered for just a brief moment. "Sometimes they're too amazing."

Charlotte regarded the other girl quizzically. "What do you mean?"

The brown haired girl shook her head. "Nothing. Just, never mind."

The French girl kept her own expression neutral though a part of her suspected what was bothering Shirley. Unfortunately there was no way for her to pry too much and it was also apparent that bringing up the Japanese boy Kururugi would only make things awkward. Unfortunate, but she would need to wait for another opportunity before she could begin digging for more information.

"Anyway, let's get on with the tour," Shirley said with a slightly willful cheerfulness. "We'll go to them in the order or your schedule. Let's see, what's your first class?"

"Latin," Charlotte answered.

"Ouch, first thing in the morning?"

The blond girl chuckled. "It's not that bad. What about you, Shirley?"

"Oh, I have literature," the girl said. "I think they actually put it first in the day so that you can't procrastinate on the reading assignments and do them in other classes or during lunch."

"Huh, that's very, practical."

"Hmm yes, that does describe Ms. Miller." Shirley chuckled. "C'mon, let's not dawdle. Best that you know where all your courses are before the first bell rings."

* * *

Suzaku yawned as the RV entered the city limits. The last few days had been hectic and while he had learned a great deal, both in the large scale exercises and in the battle against the Glaston Knights, he was actually looking forward to going back to school. The coursework at Ashford might be difficult but he genuinely found the philosophy class interesting. The physics class less so but Cécile had insisted that he take at least one hard science course. At least he was getting homework help from the ASEEC staff, many of whom were apparently capable of performing differentiation and integration in their heads. It would still take him a few days to catch up on the coursework he had missed but seeing as it would also take that long to get the Lancelot fixed up after it was banged around that should not be a problem.

The RV shook as the rumble of an explosion sounded. Suzaku bolted up and peered out the window to see a plume of smoke rising not too far away.

"What's going on?" he exclaimed.

When no one answered Suzaku looked over to see Lloyd staring blankly at the scene in equal confusion while Cécile had her hand to her ear, apparently listening in on the radio. Deciding that was the quickest way to get some answers Suzaku pulled out his own headset and began scanning the channels.

"-what's going on-"

"-where did that come from-"

"-there anyone in range-"

"-under attack, repeat, this is Fuchu prison, we are under-"

A hiss of static cut off the transmission. There, the last one.

"Cécile, it's Fuchu prison," Suzaku said. "They're-"

"Under attack by insurgents," Cécile finished for him. "But this isn't an attack, this has to be a jailbreak." She went silent again for a few seconds as she listened intently to something. "Gods, they brought a knightmare along!? A red Sutherland!"

Suzaku's eyes widened. That had to be Kallen.

"Is the Lancelot still able to fight?" he asked.

Cécile looked over at him. "What? Suzaku, you're not seriously thinking of intervening?"

"Who else is close by enough to be able to take on a knightmare?" Suzaku insisted. "I know the Lancelot's banged up, but it should still be able to take on a Sutherland without too much difficulty."

"That it should," Lloyd agreed.

"Lloyd!"

"Please Cécile, we have to stop this."

Cécile's expression remained more than a little conflicted. "Suzaku. All indications are this is a jailbreak, not an attempt to actually get people killed. And the prisoners that they are trying to free are political prisoners, Japanese political prisoners. Are you sure you want to be the one trying to stop this?"

Suzaku grimaced but quickly put on a determined visage. "I appreciate your concern, Cécile. And you're right, on a personal level I don't think these people should be imprisoned. But I swear an oath to Britannia, and the princess has even offered a legal way for these people to obtain their freedom. A crime is still a crime no matter the moral justifications and if I stand by and let it happen, then I am as complicit as the actual criminals. So please, let me go out there in the Lancelot."

Cécile regarded the young man before sighing in weary acceptance. "Alright Suzaku, go. But please, remember that your life is not worth sacrificing over an ideal."

Suzaku smiled sadly. "Some ideals are."

Before the woman could respond Suzaku flung upon the door and made a dash for the trailer carrying the Lancelot, leaving Cécile with a worried expression on her face. Some ideals might well be worth a life, but not everyone agreed on which ideals were.

* * *

The painting before Euphie was fairly small, the princess herself could have picked it up with little difficulty. It portrayed only a simple country cottage but the young woman lingered as her eyes traced how the colors seemed to melt into one another with barely any hint of the brushstrokes that must have placed them there. The result was a subtle realism whose illusion was only shattered if one looked very, very closely.

"What do you think of this entry, Jane?" Euphie asked her assistant.

"It is well done, your highness," Jane answered. "I feel a faint nostalgia when I look upon it."

"As do I," Euphie agreed as her eyes fell upon the title of the work and its artist. " _A Country House_. Hmm, I suppose that is descriptive enough. Oh? An Eleven entered this work."

Jane followed the other woman's gaze and saw that that was the case. Certainly no full-blooded Britannian would be named Arisu Yamazaki.

"Well done indeed," Euphie said as she moved onto the next work. "Please invite Ms. Yamazki to come speak with me before the awards ceremony."

"Yes your highness," Jane said, making a mental note. Seeing as there were thus far no other entries from other Elevens finding the woman should not prove difficult.

"Hmm."

Jane's attention shifted to the next painting as her liege regarded it.

"Classically Britannian," Euphie remarked.

Once more Jane was in agreement with the younger lady. The massive painting was of the emperor with fist raised high and likely meant to convey a sense of majesty and power. The colors were vivid and forthright and while there were no technical flaws in the work there was nothing terribly distinctive about it either.

"Ah, this is by the son of the Marquis Nicolai," Euphie said. "Hmm, I suppose this is as good an entry as any other. We will have this entry be the winning one."

"Yes your highness," Jane said.

The sad thing was besides the painting by the Eleven woman and a select few others the princess was quite correct in her assessment of the entries. Most had been submitted by members or relatives of the nobility and while none were outright bad the majority lacked any notable vividness or vitality. Still that did not mean the princess would not be granting at least some tokens of acknowledgment to the few works that truly merited it, though thus far only the Yamazaki woman had been marked for a meeting with her highness.

With the last details sorted out final preparations for the awards ceremony commenced. As one of Euphie's senior assistants Jane had been entrusted with making sure all the little details were attended to, which meant while the princess went to have a tea break the older woman was running about coordinating with the serving staff, checking that the security personnel had completed their sweeps, and countless other things that went into these events. Jane did not begrudge her liege for taking a break right now, in fact it was almost a relief that the younger woman was even allowing herself such a moment of inactivity. There had been times in the past where the princess' staff had felt obligated to literally force the girl to stop working, such was her sense of diligence. To see Euphemia proactively finding time to rest was welcome progress on the girl's part and none of her subordinates were in the least worried that she might become indolent.

As the time of the ceremony approached Jane set out on one last errand. Finding Ms. Yamazaki amongst the guests was not terribly difficult seeing as she was perhaps the only person with distinctly Asian features. The man accompanying her was Britannian on the other hand and the way in which he held her arm suggested an intimate relationship. The shared expression of anxious hope further supported that supposition.

"Ms. Yamazaki?" Jane said as she stepped next to the pair.

"Umm, yes?" the woman said nervously.

Jane offered a reassuring smile. "My name is Jane Eyre, the coordinator for the ceremony. Your entry has drawn the attention of certain parties and they wish to speak with you. Would you please come with me?"

The worry on the other woman's face became palpable and she exchanged looks with the man accompanying her.

"Your companion may also come along," Jane said.

"Umm, thank you, Ms. Eyre," Yamazaki said. "Umm, please, we are in your hands."

Jane nodded. "This way."

Due to the sheer size of the viceroy's palace it took a few minutes to reach the palace garden. Throughout the walk Jane could detect a hesitancy in the footsteps of the two people trailing her, a hesitancy that seemed to grow the further away from the hall they got. Once they emerged onto the roof slight gasps could be heard as the two found themselves amidst an abundance of greens. An even louder gasp sounded when they caught sight of just whom Jane was leading them to.

"Your highness," Jane said with a bow. "Ms. Yamazaki and companion."

The two quickly emulated the woman.

"Thank you Jane," Euphie said. "I will see you at the ceremony proper."

"Yes highness," Jane said before taking her leave.

"Ms. Yamazaki," Euphie greeted. "And?"

The man coughed roughly as if he were choking. From his complexion he might well have been.

"Henry Olsen, your highness," the man said. "I'm Alice's fiancé."

Euphie tilted her head slightly. "Alice?"

"It's what I go by, your highness," the woman said quickly.

"I see," Euphie said. "Well then Ms. Yamazaki, Mr. Olsen, please, have a seat."

"Thank you your highness," Henry said with a bow before accepting the invitation.

Once the two were seated a servant stepped forward and poured cups of tea for both. Henry and Alice both politely took sips as they waited for Euphie to speak again.

"Tell me, what do you think of this garden?" Euphie asked.

The two blinked in surprise and exchanged confused looks with the other. Eventually however Henry nodded.

Alice took a deep breath. "It's, beautiful, your highness. It's widely known that there is a garden atop the viceroy's palace, but this is the first time I've ever seen it."

"My brother modeled it upon the Imperial Villa at Aries," Euphie said. "It is a place of many fond memories for both of us."

To this neither of her guests had any sort of response and so they remained respectfully silent.

"Your entry into the memorial contest," Euphie said after a few moments. "The style reminds me of the Hudson River school. Are you familiar with it?"

"Yes, your highness," Alice said with a firm nod. "I, studied the style while in school. I always loved the expansive grandeur that was captured in paintings of that style."

Euphie nodded. "One can almost imagine that one is actually there. There is a lushness to the color even when at the same time they blend together with such subtlety."

"Exactly," Alice said, her eyes seeming to light up before she caught herself. "Ah, pardon me, your highness."

The princess smiled. "What need is there to pardon genuine enthusiasm." She took another sip of tea. "Which brings us to your work. I am interested in purchasing it, assuming you are willing to sell it."

Alice gaped at Euphie, perhaps somewhat rudely but the woman could be excused for her reaction.

"I, I beg your pardon, your highness?" she finally got out.

"It is as I said," Euphie said with a shrug. "I wish to purchase your work. For me to do so however, it must be available for sale. At present however, it is not."

With that last statement Alice began to understand just what the princess was getting at. All of the entries to the Clovis Memorial Art Competition became property of the state to be displayed in the viceroy's palace regardless of whether one won an award or not. Combined with the entry fee it might even be argued that the true purpose of the competition was to get would be artists to pay to get their art displayed. That was of course not the case for everyone as some of the entrants, like Alice, were genuinely hoping for an award. But entering the competition was still something of a gamble as unless the award was enough to offset the entry fee plus the material cost of producing the painting, it would still end up as a negative. Intangibles such as publicity from getting one's work displayed was ultimately just that, intangible and no guarantee of future commissions from those that might see the work.

What the princess was offering now however was a guaranteed payment, one that was likely to be relatively generous and certainly sufficient to recoup all of the costs involved. All of the costs save perhaps one regarding pride, for the unstated point was that if Alice did not withdraw her painting from the competition she was guaranteed to win nothing. As an artist, as a person, that stung despite the very enticing consolation prize the princess was offering.

Alice's expression trembled but she eventually nodded. "It, is for sale, your highness."

Euphie nodded, her solemn expression making clear that she was aware of the turmoil the other woman was facing. "And your price, Ms. Yamazaki?"

A deep breath preceded the answer. "Seven hundred pounds, your highness."

The price was not exorbitant, certainly not for something of the caliber of Alice's work. In fact Euphie would have personally considered it on the low side. She glanced back and forth between Alice and her fiancé.

"If I may, a personal question," Euphie said. "When do you and Henry plan on holding your wedding?"

Her two guests looked at the princess in confusion at the seeming non sequitur but Henry eventually answered.

"We were hoping to have a ceremony early next year, your highness."

Another nod from the princess. She reached over to her table and picked up a not too thin envelope and presented it to Alice. The other woman accepted it reverently with head bowed.

"Enclosed is twenty-five hundred pounds," Euphie said, eliciting gasps from the two. "One thousand as a refund of your entry fee, and fifteen hundred for purchase of the painting." The princess smiled. "I hope that it will go a small way to helping the two of you be able to hold that ceremony come the new year."

Tears were starting to well up in Alice's eyes and Henry was not much better.

"Thank you," the woman said as she bowed deeply. "Thank you very much, your highness."

Henry stood and followed Alice's example as he offered his own gratitude.

"You are most welcome," Euphie said.

As the two sat down there was a noticeable lessening of tension on their faces, replaced by what could only be described as looks of hope. And wide smiles.

"Incidentally," Euphie said after another sip of tea. "Would you happen to be available for further commissioned work, Alice?"

Alice blinked once more in surprise. "Umm, yes, of course your highness."

"Ah, excellent." Euphie set aside her teacup. "I myself am a great fan of the Hudson River style of painting, I even have a few pieces in my personal collection. I was hoping that you might be able to add a few more examples."

The smile that appeared was even wider than before. "I would be honored, your highness."

"I am glad to hear it."

Before Euphie could continue however one of her armsmen stepped forth.

"Your pardon, highness, but a matter has arisen that requires your immediate attention."

Euphie frowned but nodded before turning back to her guests. "My apologies, but it looks like we will have to discuss the details of the commission at a later time."

"Of course, that's no problem at all your highness," Alice said as she bowed once more. "And, thank you once again, your highness."

Euphie nodded with a smile. "Corporal, please escort Mr. Olsen and Ms. Yamazaki to see Rachel. She can make some preliminary arrangements for the formal contract."

The armsman clicked his heels. "Yes your highness."

Both Alice and Henry bowed once more before they were shepherded away. Once the two were gone Euphie turned to the first armsman.

"The matter, sergeant."

"Highness, there has been an attack on the Fuchu prison by a red Sutherland," the man said. "It appears to have been a prison break."

"A red Sutherland," Euphie said with a raised eyebrow. "The Red Knight."

The armsman wisely did not offer his opinion.

Euphie sighed. "Call Jane. It looks like she will need to serve as the master of ceremony for the awards as well."

"Yes your highness," the armsman said before stepping back to carry out the order.

Euphie picked up her teacup and took another snip. There was no doubt now. The red Sutherland had to have been piloted by the insurgent responsible for the Shinjuku incident, the same person that had come to her rescue during the Kawaguchi incident, and the same person that had precipitated the Koshigaya matter. It certainly appeared that the mysterious woman was being true to her word, striking against the aspects of Britannia that she considered abusive of her people. In some respects Euphie could even respect that. In others though, not so much.

As viceroy of Area 11 it was ultimately Euphie's responsibility to see to the order and stability of her domain. Yes there were problems, but she was slowly resolving them. Allowing an Eleven insurgent to conduct her own brand of vigilantism in so cavalier a manner was not only dangerous, it was unbecoming. Whatever Euphie might have owed her for saving her and Nunnally's life did not outweigh her responsibilities. No, this Red Knight needed to be brought to heel, Euphie decided. She looked down at her teacup and the reflection of her steely determination. The edge of her mouth quirked up. Still, this Red Knight had gotten her out of a tedious ceremony. Once the woman was brought in, there might yet be room for mercy.

* * *

The jailbreak was going surprisingly well. Taking down the walls to the prison was a trivial matter with a knightmare and the armed men and women that stormed the place did not encounter any significant resistance. Getting all of the jail cells open turned out to be a very manual process with the need to open each cell one by one. That not so minor issue also meant the place was a deathtrap if a fire ever broke out and so Kallen did her best not to set off anything potentially incendiary, the guard post at the main gate notwithstanding.

A steady stream of prisoners were now starting to flow out, some heading for the rail station while others piled into trucks as they managed to get through. The tap into the Britannian military net made clear that the authorities were still in a state of confusion as to what exactly was going on beyond the obvious of the prison coming under attack. Kallen had not been quite fast enough in taking out the guard calling for help, but without eyes on the ground the Britannians seemed unclear as to what other forces besides Kallen's knightmare were participating in the attack.

"Akakishi," Inoue's voice sounded over the radio, "we've got incoming. It's the Lancelot."

Kallen frowned. "Here?"

"It looks like they were just passing through. Bad luck on our part."

"I'll take care of him," Kallen said.

"You just need to stall him," Inoue stated. "Don't take any unnecessary risks here, the Lancelot has considerably better performance than a Sutherland."

"Don't worry," Kallen assured the older woman. "Now that I know what the Lancelot is capable of, I won't be caught off guard."

The girl's senses were already extended and she could see the Lancelot making its approach. Upon closer examination the white knightmare looked a bit beat up, likely a result of it participating in the field exercises. Whether its performance was at all degraded from the wear and tear was another matter entirely so Kallen played it safe. The last time she fought the white knightmare it had demonstrated some sort of protective screen that could deflect at least a single burst from a standard knightmare rifle. Combined with the very powerful rifles the Lancelot itself sported trying to fight it at range would only put her at a relative disadvantage. The Sutherland hefted a large knife as Kallen maneuvered to get closer to the white knightmare.

The Lancelot's movements made clear Suzaku did not have her location, just a general direction. Kallen on the other hand was not so handicapped and brought her knightmare to a position that would allow her to ambush her opponent. As the Lancelot passed the corner the red Sutherland leapt out and drove its blade at its side. Despite the complete surprise she had achieved the Lancelot was twisting about even as Kallen made her leap. Suzaku might not have a geass but his situational awareness was phenomenal, likely the reason why he had been selected as the Lancelot's pilot.

Kallen however did not stumble like the last time someone had somehow reacted faster than they should have. In fact her follow up was already in motion on the assumption that Suzaku would pull off another impossible stunt and her knightmare's pistol was already leveled at the Lancelot. Two quick shots nailed the white knightmare in the side, causing it to stagger even as it failed to actually breach the armor. Nevertheless with the Lancelot off balance Kallen twirled the knife about and slashed upward against the knightmare's shoulder joint. The blade sank into the metal and with a forceful jerk Kallen succeeded in nearly wrenching the arm off. The appendage and the rifle it held dangled from the frame as Suzaku threw his knightmare back.

A wild swing of his sword was easily sidestepped by Kallen and she unloaded another pair of rounds from her pistol. A green light flared on the still attached arm and the bullets bounced harmlessly. The light disappeared almost immediately but Kallen had not waited for her follow up as she slammed her Sutherland into the white knightmare. The two mechs tumbled but it was the Lancelot that failed to maintain its footing. Kallen however did not press her advantage, instead sliding back as suddenly the Lancelot's slash harken shot out. The hook just barely missed her before sinking into the building behind and immediately beginning to retract, pulling the Lancelot back up.

In theory Kallen could have attempted to slice the line with her knife. In practice however in order to hold up under the weight of a knightmare the material that composed the lines on a slash harken were some of the strongest material known to man and cutting it was no easy task. In situations where a knightmare needed to quickly detach a harken it was easier to jettison the entire reel on the frame. Kallen thus took aim at where the line connected to the Lancelot and opened fire. Unfortunately the location of the reel made it a very hard spot to hit even with her geass, especially when her target was not feeling obliging.

Suzaku deployed his landspinners and swung to the side in an attempt to ensnare the Sutherland with his harken. Kallen was already on the move but in this case the Lancelot's faster speed meant she could not keep ahead of the line even with her preemptive action. The Sutherland wobbled as the harken's line began exerting a force against it. Kallen mentally cursed. Despite her total surprise, despite the advantage her geass provided her, Suzaku had still somehow managed to entrap her. At this rate she was going to get slammed into the building and become pinned. Trying to brake would not work either, the rate at which Suzaku was closing on her as he reeled himself in meant the two were on a collision course no matter what she did. And with the way the Lancelot was hefting its sword it was clear that was exactly what Suzaku intended.

Kallen quickly came to a decision. Suzaku had outmaneuvered her, again, and the Sutherland was effectively a loss. That being the case, she would make sure that she would not be the only one walking away without a knightmare. She stomped her knightmare's feet into the ground, just barely avoiding being dragged down by the force of the Lancelot's harken. As expected the white knightmare snapped about and barreled down upon her, its blade angled to take any shots Kallen might get off with her pistol. The girl did not bother, instead charging forth to meet the other knightmare and causing the line to slacken for just a brief moment. That moment was enough to force the Lancelot to slow ever so slightly to regain its balance. Kallen threw the Sutherland at her opponent, dropping her weapons and seizing hold of the other knightmare with the freed hands. She punched the eject button and her cockpit shot away from the tangled mechs. A second later an explosion consumed the two knightmares.

Kallen's cockpit shook as it hit the ground but the crash webbing kept the girl from getting banged around inside. After a seeming eternity the module ground to a halt and Kallen popped open the hatch.

"Akakishi!?" Inoue's frantic voice sounded over the radio. "Are you alright!?"

"I'm fine," Kallen responded. "The Lancelot is neutralized. Have we gotten all of the prisoners out?"

"Yes," Inoue said. "Yes, we have. Get out of there, more Britannian forces are inbound and they include more knightmares."

"Got it," Kallen said as she hopped out of the cockpit.

The girl regarded the mangled mess that was her Sutherland and the slightly less mauled Lancelot. To her surprise Suzaku was still in the knightmare, alive but from the lack of movement unconscious. Kallen would have expected someone with his instincts to have been able to eject before her knightmare exploded but perhaps this time it was Suzaku that had gotten unlucky. Still this was no time to be worrying about her enemy seeing as she still needed to get out of here. After all, the boy was still alive and assuming he was not held responsible for the Lancelot's near destruction they would likely meet again. Hopefully next time she would have a knightmare that could actually match the Lancelot's performance.

End of Chapter 28

Oh hey look, I breached the 200 review count.

One should keep in mind that the characters in the story do not have complete, perfect information. A course of action that might seem irrational to a reader is not necessarily irrational once the limited information available to a character is considered. There is also the fact that a character may have access to information that a reader does not, because I as the author have not revealed said information to my readers.

God, I really hope that I'm at the point where the pace can pick up a bit. The past two chapters have been something of a slog.

It would appear that I have at least two active readers from the UK. Thanks for the explanation about the British school system. It still looks really messy from the perspective of an outsider, but that might just because of my personal unfamiliarity.

That being said, while I will try to make Ashford appear to function along British lines, there are some practical limits to what I can do thanks to the original setup. As I already complained about in a previous author note, Ashford is pretty obviously based on the Japanese school system because the Code Geass writers didn't bother trying to actually inject any sort of realism in that regard. As such the best that I can do is try to retain a baseline consistency. It won't match 100% with the modern British model, but it'll at least be recognizably British instead of a blatant superimposition of the Japanese school system, and hopefully I can keep things consistent enough that it won't get confusing.

I had originally considered having Kallen and Suzaku yelling at each other spouting stuff about their respective ideologies. I then started writing the actual battle scene and realized that being in the middle of a fight for your life is not a place where you have the luxury of discussing politics.

Conservatively speaking I'm hoping to finish the R1 arc by chapter 60 at the latest. I'd still prefer to keep this arc within 50 chapters and with a recent reshuffling of plot elements I just might pull that off. But if I'm unlucky and end up needing more time to flesh out various developments, yeah…

Anyway, drop a review if you're enjoying the story. Or if you have questions.


	30. Chapter 29

Snippet spoiler: medium

 _The ruthlessness of the Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage and its descendant organization the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure is well known. The lengths its field agents are willing to go in order to neutralize enemies of the Republic rivals that of the Britannian Inquisitio. Nowhere was this ruthlessness more clearly demonstrated than the attempts by the SDECE to eliminate the Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki once she was marked as a potential threat to the agency's plans to incite an open revolt in Area 11. Though the French government continues to deny ever sanctioning the operation fairly conclusive evidence was produced by the Britannian government and verified by third parties that Le Roi Noir, Lieutenant Lelouch Lamperouge, was responsible for the first direct attempt on the Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki's life. The number of innocents that were caught in the attack marked an especially ugly escalation in the run-up to the Black Rebellion. It would also ironically serve to undermine popular support for it when the liberation elements coordinated by the SDECE began their assault on the Tokyo Concession._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 29: Acta non verba

"-and we've only picked up a small number of the escapees," Jeremiah stated. "Regrettably the majority managed to disperse and at present we have effectively no leads as to their whereabouts."

As the margrave finished speaking glances shifted over to the figure at the head of the table. A thoughtful expression was on the princess' face as she rested her chin on her clasped hands.

"And does my sister still discount the existence of the Red Knight?" Euphie asked.

Jeremiah grimaced. "The marshal, said that she was seriously reconsidering her position, your highness."

Euphie's head tilted ever so slightly in acknowledgment of the point. "And did she have any suggestions for how to neutralize the Red Knight?"

"We are working on identifying just who this Red Knight actually is," Jeremiah replied. "We are pursuing a number of leads, including a possible connection with this Naomi Inoue at the Keio campus."

Euphie blinked. "Oh?"

The margrave cleared his throat. "It has been suggested that considering the involvement by the Red Knight in the attack on the Refrain production site and Ms. Inoue's involvement on the attack on the KBR outpost used to traffic the drug, the two may be in contact or active collaborators."

The princess adopted a somewhat pensive look. "Naomi Inoue. If I recall correctly she was recently appointed head of maintenance for the Keio campus and has been actively involved in its restoration."

"The investigation is still preliminary," Jeremiah assured Euphie. "If we believe there exists enough circumstantial evidence for more thorough inquiries, the marshal has ordered that you be informed first."

Informed, but not necessarily consulted before action was taken. While she might be reading too much into it Euphie made a mental note to speak with her sister on the matter. Keio was simply too valuable to let it all fall apart because the military charged in to arrest one of its apparently crucial members.

"We also intend to debrief Specialist Kururugi again, at least once he wakes up," Jeremiah continued, "and we will be sending inquiries to some of the hostages that this Red Knight helped free at Kawaguchi." The man grimaced slightly. "That is however something of a long shot."

Euphie nodded. That was certainly true enough, gratefulness to the woman for saving their lives might well outweigh their willingness to assist the government in tracking her down. Even for Euphie deciding to eliminate this Red Knight was not a decision made lightly but her responsibility as viceroy demanded she take action. The princess blinked as the first part of Jeremiah's statement fully registered.

"Is the specialist's injuries that severe?" Euphie asked.

"Not as such," Jeremiah said. "My understanding is that there was concern he might have suffered broken ribs or a concussion. The only major injury noted in the after action report was a broken arm, which should mend in a few weeks. The Lancelot is purportedly in considerably worse shape, though I do not have the specifics."

"I see," Euphie said. "This is troublesome, the Red Knight possessed only a Sutherland but was able to fight the Lancelot to effectively a stalemate. Was not the Lancelot supposed to boast far superior performance?"

"It is your highness, but in this case the specialist had something of a handicap," Jeremiah said, feeling more than a bit strange defending the Eleven. "The ASEEC had just returned from the training exercise conducted by General Darlton, during which the Lancelot participated in a skirmish against four of the Glaston Knights. My understanding is that the damage it incurred as a result of the exercise had not yet been repaired and so it was not performing at its best."

"Ah." Euphie's eyes narrowed. "Still, it is becoming increasingly evident that this Red Knight possesses a substantial support base. I do not doubt she will return to bedevil us regardless of whether she manages to replace her stolen Sutherland." A thin smile appeared. "She best not appear with a red Gloucester next."

Jeremiah grimaced once more. "I assure you highness, we will do our utmost to ensure that such never occurs."

"Good." The princess glanced over at her chief of staff. "Quite the turn of events."

"That it is," Ruben agreed as Jeremiah took a seat. "Setting aside the matter of the Red Knight however we still must determine what to do about the escaped prisoners. I presume though that you already have a response in mind?"

"More or less," Euphie said. "Attempting to actively re-arrest all of the escapees is an exercise in futility and to attempt and fail at it would only undermine the government's authority. We also however cannot simply overlook their escape, but…" An ominous smile appeared on the princess' face. "This actually provides the opportunity to set an interesting precedent."

"And what would be, your highness?" Ruben asked with raised eyebrow.

"It is quite simple. The jailbreak was not actually perpetrated by the prisoners, it was instigated by an outside party. While it is true that the prisoners did defy us by escaping when the opportunity arose, that is an understandable reaction considering their condition and situation. Therefore the offer of parole remains, their legal situation can be normalized assuming they are willing to swear to the Empire and become Honorary Britannians and their past crimes, including the jailbreak, will be forgiven. But to be eligible they must surrender themselves to the authorities first."

Muffled coughs and clearing of throats were the only sounds after the princess finished speaking. Unlike in past meetings where the majority of the attendees were holdovers from Clovis' administration however it was not long before the uncertainty that these people were sharing was given voice.

"Are you certain about this, your highness?" Ruben asked. "There are several potential ways in which your clemency could be manipulated to our detriment."

"Such as?"

"Well for example, what happens if one of the escapees makes known his location but also makes clear that he will not swear allegiance to the Empire?" the elder man proposed. "Leaving him or her be would be interpreted by some as an admission of impotence on the matter, but ordering the police or even the military to forcibly re-arrest the escapee would almost certainly inflame the Eleven population."

Euphie pursed her lips. "That, is certainly a point. Well, are there any other suggestions?"

The room once again fell silent. And once again it did not remain so for very long for the silence was one of thoughtfulness, not hesitation.

"What if, we did the opposite?" Lawrence said suggestively.

The Exchequer immediately became the center of attention. While some might have found it odd that the man responsible for the Area's finances would be sitting in on what amounted to a security and judicial matter, Lawrence was rapidly becoming one of the princess' most trusted advisors and so his opinion was sought on an ever widening range of matters.

"Explain," Euphie prompted.

"Your highness suggested that your offer of a pardon remain open to any who comes forth and surrenders to the authorities. Perhaps instead we do the opposite, make the presumption that all of the escapees accept the conditions of the pardon and are therefore from this point forward Honorary Britannians unless they come forth to repudiate it officially."

It was with wide eyes that Euphie regarded Lawrence and after a few moments of simply gaping an amused smile appeared as the girl shook her head ruefully.

"And here I thought my own response was bold," the princess said. "Yours truly requires a great deal of mental flexibility."

"At the risk of revealing my lack thereof," Rochester said, "how would that even work? I can't think of any legal precedent and it feels, well, somewhat unnatural, to be honest."

"It does," Lawrence agreed with a slight grimace, "but something deep in my gut keeps pushing it. I'm not sure how else to describe it."

"I think I understand both perspectives," Euphie stated. "Many people will question the validity of such a roundabout method and others will dismiss it outright because it is so outside their usual line of thought. At the same time Lawrence's proposal possesses the possibility of turning the greatest problem we face with the escapees into an advantage, namely the fact that these people will likely go to ground and do all they can to avoid drawing any attention by the authorities. And the longer they remain at large, the more impotent the government looks. On the other hand if the government was to declare that these individuals would not be hunted, that as far as we are concerned their situation is normalized, what sort of message does that send?" The princess' face firmed. "It sends one of confidence, but also one of mercy."

"The advantages that we might reap are immense," Ruben said thoughtfully. "Nevertheless so are the risks, even more so than your own proposed response, your highness."

"Indeed so," Euphie agreed with a nod. "But risk should not bind us to paralysis. With proper care it can be managed and even reduced, but we must never require its absence before making a decision."

The men assembled in the room all nodded solemnly. For the princess' relative youth she showed a marked intelligence that many of more years lacked. Yet with age did come a modicum of wisdom through experience. They would yet see whether the princess possessed enough such wisdom to temper the edge of her intelligence.

* * *

As consciousness returned to Suzaku he felt a slight numbness throughout his body. The young man opened his eyes and blinked a few times as his vision stabilized. When it did he found himself staring at a plain white ceiling. As he tried to rise however he noticed his right arm in a cast and sling over his chest.

"What?"

A shuffling noise sounded and a nurse appeared at his side. "Specialist Kururugi?"

"Yes?" the boy responded.

"I am Lieutenant Celeste," the woman said. "You are currently at MacArthur base's infirmary. Do you remember how you got here?"

"Umm," Suzaku said as he searched his memory.

And then he bolted up, or at least tried to. Apparently anticipating such a potential reaction the nurse's hands were immediately pressed against his shoulder keeping the young man down.

"The attack," Suzaku blurted out. "What happened?"

"Try to stay calm," Victoria said. "You were injured when the Lancelot was disabled. The battle is over."

"I, see," Suzaku said, relaxing ever so slightly as he let himself sink back into the bed again. "Umm, what happened after I was injured?"

"The insurgents left you alone," the nurse answered. "They seemed more focused on getting all of the prisoners away. The ASEEC was able to pull you out of your knightmare without any interference."

"That's, good," Suzaku said with palpable relief.

"I will inform your superiors that you are awake," the woman said.

The nurse walked away leaving Suzaku to his thoughts. He remembered going out in the Lancelot to engage the red Sutherland and getting ambushed, losing one of the white knightmare's arms in the process. Just how exactly Kallen, and he was certain it was Kallen, had managed to sneak up on him like that was a mystery. If he ever did end up fighting her in a knightmare again he would need to be much more careful about his surroundings. The boy frowned. That felt like a very big enough. According to the nurse the Lancelot had been disabled and Suzaku could faintly remember the Sutherland exploding before everything went black. It looked like for the time being both of them were without machines and while Kallen should in theory have greater difficulty acquiring another one, there was also the open question of whether he would be allowed to pilot the Lancelot again after screwing up like that. Suzaku sighed. The nurse had said that she would be notifying his superiors, which probably meant Cécile and Lloyd. He probably would not need to wait long to learn his fate with the ASEEC.

A few minutes later Suzaku's ears perked up as he heard multiple footsteps as the door to the infirmary opened. He could definitely pick out Cécile's voice as she exchanged a few words with the nurse. And then those footsteps closed in on his bed. Suzaku tried to rise.

"Now none of that specialist," Cécile commanded as she approached. "You are a patient under Lieutenant Celeste's care and you are not to unduly strain yourself."

"Yes ma'am," Suzaku said softly. "I'm, sorry about the Lancelot."

Cécile frowned. "Suzaku. The Lancelot is a machine, it can be rebuilt. You are a person however and if you die your life is forever lost. You need to understand the relative value between the two and treat them accordingly, do you understand me?"

"Yes ma'am," Suzaku repeated. "And, sorry."

The woman sighed but decided not to press the issue further. "It'll take a few weeks for you to mend, but that should be fine since we'll need at least that long to build a new frame for the Lancelot."

Suzaku blinked. "What? Was the Lancelot damaged that badly?"

A pair of beady eyes stared at Suzaku and caused the boy to cringe ever so slightly. He was obviously not doing a very good job with that relative value thing.

"No," Cécile said, apparently deciding her point was made. "General Darlton has however, insisted, that the Lancelot must have an ejection system before he will allow it to be deployed into the field again."

"Adding that in is going to require us to redo all of the dynamics calculations again," Lloyd said almost glumly. "And just when we finally finished calibrating the PID values."

"We'll just have to do it again," Cécile said shortly. "And with Suzaku to help us once he's recovered, it shouldn't take nearly as long as last time, wouldn't you agree Lloyd?"

The earl rubbed his chin. "Hmm, it is as you say." A most eerie grin appeared on his face. "And it is as Cécile has said, building a new Lancelot is simply a matter of time and money. If I must replace the part that you represent however, well, neither of the two can offer a guarantee that I would find a replacement of equal quality, so _do_ take care of yourself, Suzaku."

The manner in which the earl spoke was not likely to be of great comfort to most people. Suzaku had gotten used to the man's idiosyncratic value system however and understood that in his own way Lloyd was saying that he did care about the young man.

"You'll be kept under observation for another day just to make sure we didn't miss anything," Cécile said. "After that you should have a few weeks where you can attend school uninterrupted, which should let you catch up on anything you missed."

"Oh," Suzaku said, not quite succeeding in maintaining good cheer. "That's, good."

Cécile chuckled and gave the young man's hair an affectionate ruffle. "Enjoy the moments of tranquility that you get, Suzaku. And remember that that is what you're fighting for."

Suzaku smiled more naturally. "I will Cécile. And, thank you. Both of you."

* * *

"Here we are back again," Kallen said lethargically as she entered the school grounds.

"Thou findeth these grounds be lacking?" C.C. teased.

The girl yawned. "Not really. For now though we'll just have to wait and see how the government responds. And I still have a cover to maintain, so here we are again."

"Hmm, indeed so."

The nuance was subtle but Kallen caught a slight change in the tenor of C.C.'s tone. As she glanced over at the other girl she saw that C.C. was seemingly staring off into the distance.

"Something wrong?"

When C.C. looked back at Kallen the red haired girl was mildly surprised at the lack of a smile, even a snide one.

"A sense renewed," C.C. said flatly. "Nay, fortified."

"What? You sense something?" Kallen blinked and the next moment her geass was sweeping the grounds. "I don't see anything."

The other girl pursed her lips. "The distance yet be some lieue away. But he draws nearer than we should wont."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "Is he looking for you?"

C.C. slowly shook her head. "I be not yet in his sight."

"Well we should be fine for now then," Kallen said as she reined in her geass. "It's not like Ashford is open to the public and if we're quick about it we should be able to get back home without you getting spotted. But you and I are going to have a talk about this past contractor of yours is, and just what precautions I'm going to need to take. We're actually making some progress in the fight here so I'll be damned if one of your ex's decides he feels jilted and mucks things up."

There it was, that snarky smile again. "Oh? Art thou a jealous paramour, or perhaps the beau?"

Kallen snorted. "Oh don't you even start with that nonsense. Anyway, c'mon, Ms. Miller might like you but that doesn't mean she'll forgive us if we're late."

* * *

The first few days at Ashford had been less than productive from Charlotte's perspective. Apparently Suzaku had been involved in the incident at Fuchu prison and even gotten injured in the skirmish, resulting in his absence. Still the affair did provide Charlotte with an excuse to make some discreet inquiries about the young man without arousing any suspicion. Little of what she learned was likely to be useful in her mission but in an intelligence operation one never knew when some seemingly inconsequential tidbit might prove to be the last missing piece of the puzzle.

Unfortunately those pieces that she had managed to gather were rather sparse. As might be expected Suzaku did not really have any friends at school. While he apparently was responsive when approached he otherwise kept to himself, not joining any clubs and leaving immediately once classes were over. He also lived at MacArthur base, which was quite the commute. Otherwise the most notable thing about the boy was a degree of enmity between him and a girl named Kallen Stadtfeld over his apparently seeing her unmentionables. That he demonstrated a complete lack of tact in how he apologized for it probably explained the continuing disdain he was apparently held in by Kallen, at least that was as reasonable an explanation as Charlotte could contrive. All this would actually make it a tad more difficult for Charlotte herself to approach the boy, at least without resulting in her own ostracization from the school's social circles, not that she really cared, but maintaining a relatively low profile was important for preserving her cover.

As Charlotte turned the corner for her philosophy class however she saw what had to be a sign of providence. There Suzaku was, bent over picking up some scattered papers with his left hand while his right arm was in a sling. Considering the pace he was going Suzaku was obviously having a bit of trouble. None of the other students passing by were stopping to help, which did not surprise Charlotte in the least. She on the other hand did not hesitate.

Suzaku looked up in surprise as the blond ponytailed girl knelt down and began gathering his things.

"Thank you," he began, before frowning. "Umm, miss."

Charlotte gave him a natural looking smile. "The name is Charlotte. And you must be Suzaku."

"Yes," the boy said as they both rose. "Thank you, Charlotte."

"No problem," Charlotte replied as she handed him his things. She glanced at Suzaku's arm. "If you need help with anything, do not hesitate to ask. You should not be inconvenienced due to an injury earned through service to the Empire."

The young man cracked a slight smile. "That's kind of you to say, Charlotte. I will keep it in mind."

The two proceeded to enter the room and it was evident that Suzaku was more than a bit surprised that Charlotte was even in his philosophy class. As for Charlotte it looked like the other half of her rationale for signing up for the class was finally coming about. Timing as always was everything and to have had Suzaku be absent for her first week was somewhat vexing. The class itself was also proving less stimulating that she might have hoped. Whereas back in her native France a philosophy course would explore a wide range of ideas ranging from transcendental idealism to philosophical pessimism, the Britannian education system focused almost exclusively on analytic philosophy. More specifically, the symbolic logic that underpinned the philosophy. As such the class was turning out to be more of a mathematics and logic class than one built around ideas, much to Charlotte's irritation.

After a week of reading selections from the _Principia Mathematica_ and working through logical proofs Charlotte was beginning to suspect that the Britannian Empire's social structure was actually a result of the Britannian people's rigidity of thought, a mentality that demanded a neatly ordered world and which revolted against anything that disturbed that world. Or perhaps that was entirely intentional on the part of the upper class, instilling within the general population a mode of thought that better aligned with Darwinian doctrine. The end result was in Charlotte's opinion a stale mimicry of true philosophy. She was, in other words, bored out of her mind.

"-and ultimately there is the question of the division between the body and the mind," the teacher lectured. "Descartes proposed that there exists a duality between the two, wherein the mind and body are distinct with the body being physical, the mind not."

Charlotte's ears perked up. It was sounding like they might actually be discussing a genuine philosophical question. Maybe today really was a turning point.

"Descartes postulated that though the mind controls the body, feedback from the body via whatever connected it to the mind could also influence the mind's decisions. Rational thought gives way to passion and emotion, which then results in the mind willing the body. This feedback cycle is how Descartes sought to define the relationship between the material physical word and the immaterial mental one.

"For many years this Cartesian duality was regarded as canon with few if any contradicting ideas. Nevertheless recent advances in the neurological sciences have prompted some philosophers to reexamine this concept. And when objective fact presents a discrepancy in a scientific theory or hypothesis, the theory or hypothesis must be modified accordingly to account for the new data."

The girl suppressed a groan. Back to that dogmatic reverence for cold, hard numbers.

"For our last unit this semester we will be taking a look at the work of Gilbert Ryle, a philosopher of the ordinary language school of analytical philosophy. We will be reading his _The Concept of Mind_ , which discusses some of the problems with dualist systems like the one formulated by Descartes."

Charlotte frowned and searched her memories. She had no recollection of reading any of Ryle's works during her own schooling, which meant she would actually need to put in measurable effort to complete the coursework. It looked like she really would be needing Lelouch's help.

The rest of the class went by with the teacher giving a basic introduction into ordinary language philosophy and then assigning some readings. Then came physical education where the girls were doing volleyball and the boys track. Lunch was fortunately after that and Charlotte was able to enjoy her meal with a hearty appetite. It was during the meal that a few of the girls remarked on Charlotte's seeming benevolence in lending a hand to Suzaku. Charlotte downplayed it all, spouting a few platitudes about how Suzaku's injuries were marks of honor from his serving the Empire. She almost certainly was antagonizing a few of her classmates though a good majority seemed to regard those words as mostly superficial. Suzaku was an Eleven after all, genuine respect was a long ways off whatever his supposed contributions to the Empire.

After lunch was her history class, the last of her primary subjects. History was fortunately relatively straightforward, remember one's dates and names, make sure not to refer to French military achievements as such, do not call Napoleon the Marshal, and actually sound proud of the Empire's rampaging around the world when answering questions about it. Straightforward but it could still be trying on Charlotte's patience so it was not with any particular enthusiasm that she headed to class. When she entered there was a small cluster of girls around a desk by the windows. Charlotte frowned. She did not recognize the red haired girl. And who was that green haired woman-

The French girl's thoughts abruptly chopped off as she caught sight of the other woman's face. It took all of her self-control to not simply freeze up, instead she forced herself to look away and walk to her own desk as naturally as possible.

"Oh, Charlotte," Shirley greeted with a wave.

Charlotte turned and glanced over to see the brown haired girl motioning for her to come over. She obeyed, hoping that her face was just the right amount of curiosity.

"Yes?"

"Allow me to introduce Kallen Stadtfeld," Shirley said. "She's also a secretary with the student council. And this is Cecilia Clermont, her medical assistant. Kallen, Cecilia, this is Charlotte Dunois, she transferred in while you two were absent."

"A pleasure," Charlotte said with a broad smile.

"Likewise," Kallen responded with a similar smile before tilting her head. "Huh, a very interesting time to transfer in."

"My parents work here in Area 11, and I was finally able to join them," Charlotte said brightly. "They thought I should at least finish the semester at my old school but, I wanted to be closer to them no matter what."

Kallen nodded in acceptance of the response and Charlotte allowed herself to relax ever so slightly.

"Well, I hope you find your time here at Ashford enjoyable," Kallen said. "If you have any problems, well, I'm sure the rest of the student council will be able to help even if I'm not around."

To Charlotte's surprise Shirley suddenly wrapped an arm around Kallen. "You'll be fine. I'm sure you'll make it through the rest of the semester."

The redhead smiled wirily. "That's a lot of pressure there Shirley. And I can't exactly just order my body to not get sick."

"Maybe, but I know you'll do your best to not make a liar out of me," Shirley said with a wide smile of her own.

The history teacher chose that moment to enter and the students all scattered to their respective desks. Charlotte's mind was racing however as she considered this very unexpected development. Only a single faded photo existed of the woman that had brought Lelouch to France and looked after him for several years but there was absolutely no doubt. This, Cecilia, was the C.C. that had both gifted and cursed her Lelouch. Charlotte had never met her in person, she only met Lelouch after the boy was abandoned by his ostensible caretaker, and that was turning out to be a very good thing. This way Charlotte could get news of C.C.'s presence back to Lelouch without the other girl realizing it and the initiative would be theirs. Charlotte snuck a quick peek at the girl seated in front of C.C. This Kallen had to be working With C.C. somehow, which made her another direct threat to Lelouch if his presence was discovered. And like any other intelligence operative that was faced with the discovery of a new threat, Charlotte considered how best to dig up more information. Only after one knew an enemy could one neutralize her after all.

* * *

Milly Ashford was having a somewhat troubling day. It had nothing to do with her upcoming A-levels, though perhaps she should be worrying about it a bit more, not that she was at any risk of failing them. Her trouble lay in a certain junior, someone that in truth she was only really relatively recently acquainted with, someone whom she had taken a calculated risk in getting to know based on a gut instinct that the girl was at heart a decent person. That instinct might still be correct but that did not mean Kallen Stadfield was all that she appeared to be. Or her companion Cecilia Clermont for that matter.

The problem was simple and went all the way back to the Kawaguchi incident. Throughout pretty much the entire affair Kallen and Cecilia had somehow managed to stay hidden from the Eleven terrorists, only joining up after everything was pretty much over. At the same time two mysterious women had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, taking on the terrorists and saving not only the hostages in the dining hall but Nunnally and Euphie as well. At the time Milly had not really even considered that the two were Kallen and Cecilia. That possibility had seemed so remote that it was not worth any consideration. Then however had been Kallen's absences, all of which overlapped with the actions of this Red Knight.

For all her energetic playfulness Milly was no fool and the pattern that was appearing was simply too strong to ignore. Unfortunately proving or disproving her suspicions was far from straightforward for so many reasons. If Kallen really was the Red Knight then she was technically an enemy of the state, an enemy that knew of Nunnally's existence even if she did not know the girl's true identity. And while Milly's instincts insisted that Kallen was not so callous as to threaten her family just to keep her secret safe, assuming there was any validity to her concern in the first place, those same instincts were what had raised the possibility of Kallen being the Red Knight. And the darndest part of it all was that these two conclusions did not contradict each other.

Thus far the Red Knight had not actually done anything to hurt innocent people. In fact most of her actions could be argued to have done the complete opposite. Her trashing of the perimeter of the KBR chemical factory had led to the Britannian military storming it and uncovering the Refrain manufactory, though that bit had been heavily downplayed by the government and the media. Her freeing of all those political prisoners was, well one's opinion on that really depended on whether one earnestly believed in the Britannian system or not. For Milly's part she could see why the Red Knight would have carried out the jailbreak but she also understood the dangerous precedent it could set if the government simply let it slide.

Milly sighed. She did not know enough and she was not sure how she could go about getting that information without arousing Kallen's suspicions. She could go to Euphie with her concerns but that was liable to end up with Kallen dragged in for questioning by the Inquisitio. Even if the other girl was the Red Knight that was not something Milly wanted on her conscience. Yet Milly had to admit that she really did not know the extent to which Kallen would go to preserve her cover, or her freedom. There had to be some way for her to discretely make some inquiries. Someone that could provide some further insight into Kallen's character.

The girl blinked. Suzaku Kururugi. There had been that friction when the young man first enrolled into Ashford. The official reason was because Suzaku had somehow gotten a peak of Kallen's panties, something that Milly thought was a ridiculous thing to get so worked up over. Now though, now she could not help but wonder whether that was all just a cover, a sideshow to hide the real reason for the conflict between the two. A reason that both of them had made a conscious decision to hide if she was right about the whole panty thing.

Milly grimaced. This line of thought had the potential to develop into an even more troubling conclusion if all of her suspicions were proven. Thanks to her relative closeness to Euphie and her work with her grandfather she knew that Suzaku was the test pilot for a prototype knightmare frame, one that was supposed to be superior to anything else the Empire had deployed. If Suzaku really did know who the Red Knight was and had kept that information from his superiors, what did that say about his own loyalties. The girl massaged her forehead. This was turning into such a tangled mess with every possible solution only turning into more problems. There was no path that was not without risk and any course she chose would have consequences. Milly took a deep breath. She could not simply do nothing, inaction was by itself the greatest risk here. And so the young woman made a decision and prayed to the gods that she was doing the right thing.

* * *

Kallen yawned again as she headed towards the student council room. She was not sure why she was feeling so tired, it was not like she had been pulling all-nighters or anything after the Fuchu operation. A voice at the back of her head kept nagging at her that it might be an effect of her using the geass but Kallen squelched it. Even if it was right the geass provided too great a tactical advantage for her to stop relying on. If the cost was being tired then so be it, she would just have to figure out ways to get more sleep.

Whether it was because of her exhaustion or she was simply being inattentive Kallen walked smack into another student turning the corner.

"Gah!"

"Ah!"

The two did not end up toppling over, the other figure grabbing hold of her and steadying her. Not that that was really necessary, Kallen's balance was good enough to at least see her through a minor bump like this.

"Ah, sorry," she said.

"Sorr-oh, Kallen."

The girl blinked and found that the one holding her was someone whose arms she had been in before.

"Cole?"

The young man chuckled. "This is a surprise. I didn't know you were back to school."

"Oh, I just got back today," Kallen said as Cole released her arm.

Cole nodded. "I hope you are feeling well?"

"Well enough, thank you," Kallen offered a smile. "And you?"

"Well enough," Cole responded with a smile of his own. "Now that the dance is over, it's back to hitting the books."

Kallen nodded in understanding. "A-levels are coming up, aren't they. Which subjects are you taking?"

"History, math," smile turned into a smirk, "and economics."

Kallen chuckled. "I see. All very, practical topics."

"So my parents said," Cole said as he fell in step alongside Kallen. "We'll see whether any of it is actually useful once I go to university."

"Do you have a place you're aiming for?" Kallen asked.

"Hmm, well I was actually thinking of Berkeley," Cole said.

"Oh? That sounds like you do have something you want to study if you've already picked out a school," Kallen noted.

"Kind of," Cole said, scratching his chin. "Berkeley has a large agricultural school and I was thinking of trying my hand in the field."

"Hmm, is that so?"

Cole smiled wirily. "Doesn't sound like me?"

"Well I couldn't really say," Kallen said with a smile of her own. "As you said, your cooking is just a hobby. It would not surprise me in the least if there was something that you would like to achieve that had nothing to do with it."

The smile softened as Cole nodded. "My family, well, let's just say my parents ingrained in me an appreciation for food. Not just cooking it, but also the time and effort that goes into cultivating it. My mother's side of the family has some landholdings and they have quite a few orchards. I remember summers as a kid running about the trees picking apples, peaches, all sorts of fruits."

"That sounds wonderful," Kallen said.

"It was," Cole said. "Anyway, I'll never be a farmer, that's not my strength. But I thought I might be able to do something productive in the field. There's a surprising range of subjects, everything from genetics to operational planning. I'm sure I'll be able to find something that I can apply myself towards."

"I'm sure you will," Kallen agreed. "You might not know exactly what you want to do, but you have the drive to pursue a dream. That's the important bit."

Cole smiled at Kallen. "Thank you." The young man took a deep breath. "And what of yourself? Do you have a dream of your own?"

Kallen's pace slowed for a moment before she recovered. "I'm, not sure." The girl tilted her head thoughtfully. "I think, I want to make the world a better place. A place where, well, peace might be overmuch, but at least someplace where we don't just shrug at the suffering of others but are moved to act when we see it."

The look Cole gave Kallen could be termed thoughtful. It could also be termed many other things. Finally the young man nodded.

"That's ambitious." And smiled. "And truly worthy of the word dream."

For reasons that Kallen was entirely unsure of the girl found her cheeks heating up. Perhaps it was the honesty that was evident in Cole's voice. Perhaps it was something else entirely. Kallen quickly pushed those thoughts aside as she cleared her throat.

"Anyway, were you headed to the student council office?" the girl asked.

Cole nodded. "Needed to speak with Milly. She had some, interesting, requests for the graduation party."

Kallen's eyes widened. "You're helping with the catering for that as well? And you're working on it already"

"Well, it serves as a nice distraction from the exam prep," Cole said with a chuckle. "And I thought I'd get a head start, make sure all the i's are dotted and t's crossed so that I don't have to hunt Milly down at the last minute. Again."

To this Kallen responded with a chuckle of her own. "I see. Well, don't push yourself too hard Cole. You do have the final set of exams after all."

"I will be ever so prudent," Cole assured her as he reached for the door handle to the student council office.

Before he could grab hold of it however the door suddenly flew open and nearly whacked Cole's hand aside. The boy's reflexes were fortunately sufficient to avoid contact and Cole and Kallen blinked as Milly nearly burst out.

"Oh Kallen, Cole." The blond girl looked about. "Where's Cecilia?"

"Restroom," Kallen said. "Something wrong?"

"No, no, nothing," Milly assured the girl with a wide smile before looking at Cole. Then back at Kallen. The smile for some reason got wider.

Kallen felt another headache starting.

"Anyway," Milly said before Kallen could say anything. "I need to go run a quick errand, so mind holding down the fort until the others arrive, Kallen?"

"Oh, sure," Kallen said, mildly curious as to what her senior was up to but at the same time grateful that the older girl had decided not to tease.

"Are you going to be gone long?" Cole asked. "I wanted to talk to you about the graduation catering."

"Oh, right," Milly said. "Actually, that works. When Rivalz gets here, tell him that I'm delegating organizing the entire thing to him and he can parse out the work to Shirley and Kallen as needed." The girl winked at Kallen. "Seeing as I'll be taking part in the ceremony, I think it's time to pass the torch onto the next generation."

Kallen tried very hard not to groan. She succeeded, mostly. Milly however took everything in stride and after a quick wave dashed off.

"I don't know whether that was her being irresponsible or demonstrating great trust in others," Cole said as she watched the girl disappear.

"With Milly is there a difference?"

The two exchanged smiles of wiry agreement.

* * *

It came as a mild surprise when Suzaku found himself called to the headmaster's office. For that matter he was not even aware the headmaster was at Ashford today seeing as the man was supposedly busy serving as the viceroy's chief of staff. When he entered the office however it was not Ruben Ashford that sat at the desk but his granddaughter, Milly. The young woman's hands were clasped before her mouth and her eyes were locked on Suzaku's. Somehow there was no doubt whatsoever of the aptness of Milly being in that seat.

Suzaku cleared his throat. "Were you the one that called for me, Milly?"

"I was," the young woman said. "Have a seat."

It was both an order and an invitation and Suzaku moved quickly to obey. Once seated a silence lingered between the two but Suzaku kept his mouth shut. He had enough empathy to sense when the other side was trying to broach a difficult topic and so he declined to make the matter even harder.

"Is Kallen the Red Knight," Milly finally spoke.

Suzaku flinched. The response was completely involuntary but the sheer suddenness of the question had caught him off guard. The way Milly's eyes narrowed was all Suzaku needed to know that she had noticed and interpreted his reaction.

"How long have you known," Milly asked next.

Suzaku chewed his lip. "Before I answer, may I ask a question of my own?"

Milly fell silent again but after a few seconds nodded once.

"You're obviously coming to me instead of going to the authorities for a reason, and I don't think it's because you're worried about your suspicions being wrong. So, what is it that you really want to ask?"

The young woman's eyes narrowed again. Nevertheless she deigned to answer Suzaku. "I have allowed Kallen to get close to my family and friends. I will not tolerate a threat to them."

To Milly's surprise Suzaku actually let out a sigh of relief at that.

"She won't hurt them," the young man said firmly. "Kallen believes strongly in justice. She won't get innocent people caught up in her fight."

"And is that why you haven't turned her in to the authorities?" Milly asked.

Suzaku nodded and smiled thinly. "I could be court-martialed for this, but I think Kallen can be brought around. She fights against inequality and oppression by directly, well, fighting the system." The smile disappeared. "In some ways she and I want the same thing. We just chose very different paths to achieving it."

"And what exactly is that goal?" Milly asked.

"To bridge the gap between Britannians and Numbers," Suzaku stated. "To reach a point one day where there is no distinction between the two."

Milly blinked, seemingly realizing something. What it was however she did not share with Suzaku.

"So, now that you know," Suzaku said, "what will you do?"

The girl rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Why do you think she can be brought around?"

"Because there are Britannians that are also working towards the same end," Suzaku said. "If Kallen can be convinced that she doesn't need to resort to force of arms to effect change within the Empire, I'm certain that she will lay down her arms and employ legal means to make the Empire a better place."

Milly regarded Suzaku. "You're quite the optimist."

The boy smiled wirily. "I've been told that."

Milly's eyes flickered ever so slightly. "You've convinced me that Kallen intends no harm to my family or my friends. But if the choice comes down to us or her own people, who do you believe she would side with?"

That was what Milly had figured out earlier, Suzaku realized, Kallen's mixed heritage. The Ashford heiress was truly someone to be reckoned with, and not someone one could attempt to lie to lightly.

"I think she would choose her people," Suzaku answered. "But I think with time she would choose both."

The expression on Milly's face did not change. "In that time however there is a very real risk."

"Few things worth doing are without," Suzaku replied before allowing a slight smile to quirk up. "And besides, didn't you take a risk asking me about this alone?"

For some reason a cheerful smile erupted on Milly's face. "Oh I'm hardly alone in here. Sayoko, why don't you come out of hiding?"

The hair on the back of Suzaku's neck seemed to stiffen and the boy's head jerked back to see a Japanese woman in a western maid outfit appear from a door he was not even aware existed. Sayoko bowed politely.

"As the son of Japan's last prime minister, I'm sure you know something about the Shinozaki clan," Milly said.

As Suzaku looked back at the young woman he noted that the smile was a lot thinner now. The one that Suzaku gave in response was much more rueful.

"You are a very thorough and careful person, Milly."

"When it comes to my family and friends, I do not accept risks beyond my control," Milly stated. She leaned back into the chair. "But I count Kallen as a friend, and someone to whom I owe a great debt. I will take precautions, but for now I stay my hand."

This time Suzaku allowed himself a much wider grin. "You won't regret it Milly, I promise."

Milly's eyes wandered ever so slightly over to Sayoko. "We shall see."

End of Chapter 29

Quite a few British readers it seems. Which means I have to be much more careful about my portrayal of school life at Ashford. Crap.

There were two other scenes that I wanted to include for this chapter but I decided, screw it, I'm getting tired so they'll go into the next one.

To my French readers, assuming any of you even care to remember back this far, when you guys were studying for the BAC, which philosophers were part of the course material?

Lelouch's ability to hide his real identity was predicated on a lot of things going right for him, including his use of doubles for Zero. Kallen has not been quite as careful about her operational security and there have definitely been enough coincidences that people who are paying close attention might have their suspicions aroused. Case in point, Milly. She's not an idiot and she directly interacted with the Red Knight at Kawaguchi. She also has access to the attendance records for the school and so it should not be surprising in the least that she put two and two together. The only reason Euphie hasn't is because at present she doesn't have anywhere near as much information on Kallen as Milly has. How much longer the masquerade can continue will be an interesting plot point, I think.

I hope you're all enjoying the various bit characters and the roles they play. It is after all the ways the actions of the different characters interact that make for an interesting story. When Euphie or Kallen or Lelouch do something, they set off ripples that influence others to act.

I think another three chapters to wrap up this current arc. There will be one more arc before the capstone to R1. And the next arc is going to be, well, I'll shut up now.

Drop a line if you're enjoying thus far or you have general comments or questions.


	31. Chapter 30

_Major-General Samantha Frasier was one of several officers whose careers were catapulted by the actions of the Princess Euphemia during her time as viceroy of Area 11. A member of the Britannian Army Nursing Corps, Dame Frasier had served in a number of threatres before being posted to Area 11 as the ranking officer of the Army Medical Service. While there Colonel Frasier was recommended to the Princess Euphemia to manage the restoration of the Keio University Medical Campus, a responsibility that she shouldered with dedication befitting her calling. Within a few short months the Keio campus was once more a functional hospital with a quality of service comparable to any of the hospitals that serviced native Britannians in the Tokyo Concession._

 _Colonel Frasier was present during the attack on the Keio campus in the opening stages of the Black Rebellion and immediately took command of the hospital, setting up triage and coordinating both the civilian and military medical practitioners. She is widely credited with having saved countless lives, including that of the Princess Euphemia herself. Dame Frasier would continue to loyally serve her majesty for many years to come in such capacities as superintendent of the Army Nursing Corps as a brigadier-general and ultimately Surgeon General of the Britannian Army as a major-general._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 30: Collige virgo rosas

"Lelouch, we need to-"

A risen hand cut Charlotte off as she entered the room and the young woman saw that Lelouch's attention was focused on the TV, on a press conference of some sort.

"-and until an individual reports to an accredited official to renounce their acceptance of her highness' clemency, they will be considered an honorary Britannian with both the privileges and conditions that entails," the woman on the screen said.

The moment she stopped talking the room erupted in a furor of questions, none of which could possibly be coherently understood.

"One at a time," the woman said into the microphone, cutting through the cacophony and restoring a slight semblance of order. "Yes?"

"Jeanette Adams with BBC, Ms. Eyre, how can this decision be construed as anything but the government admitting that it is impotent to actually recapture the escaped prisoners?"

"No admission is necessary," Jane replied. "Attempting to track down and arrest such a large number of people whom have dispersed into the wider Eleven population is infeasible and any serious attempt would be extremely expensive. The government has in light of the lack of actual physical threat posed by the escapees determined that such an expense would be wasteful considering the other priorities it faces."

Voices rose again to get the woman's attention before settling down once more as Jane pointed at a male reporter in the front.

"Diethard Reid of the Fox Broadcasting Company," the man said. "Are we to understand then that the government does not consider keeping dangerous criminals off the streets?"

Lelouch snorted and from the expression on Jane's face it was clear the woman shared in the disdain at the question. Unlike the BBC the FBC was more a tabloid than a proper news broadcaster, an opinion shared by basically everyone not part of its target audience. They did possess a license however and thus could not be outright barred from public press conferences.

"The only danger these individuals present is one of ideas," Jane replied, "though I suppose I can understand why FBC might feel threatened."

Muffled laughter rippled through the audience of other reporters though to his credit Diethard kept his expression relatively impassive.

"The government ultimately determined that seeing as all of the escapees were political activists with no prior record of violence their present liberty does not present an immediate danger to the citizenry. Any danger that might arise is more likely to be from any extremism they might feel driven to in order to maintain their freedom. As such the most prudent and effective method of neutralizing that potential threat is to normalize the situation of the escapees."

The voices barely had time to start up before Jane pointed to another reporter.

"Jack Riley with CBS. Is there not concern that unilaterally granting this clemency might encourage more misconduct by the Eleven population? How can this not be seen as a reward for basically participating in a jail break?"

Finally a relatively intelligent question.

"The government believes that the timing of this jailbreak was intentional, coming only a week after her highness' announcement of her offer of parole. The intent was likely to prevent any of the prisoners from having enough time to consider and accept the parole offer. It was thus decided that as the condition for their freedom was the acceptance of honorary Britannian status, the possession of their freedom by the escapees warrants the assumption by the government of their acceptance of the parole's conditions. As such should the government's attention ever be drawn to them or should they interact in any way with the state, they will be held responsible for their conduct as any other honorary Britannian would be."

More hands and shouts rose but Lelouch muted the TV, apparently having gotten what information he required.

"There are times when I think the members of my family suffer delusions of grandeur even greater than mine," the young man remarked.

Charlotte frowned. "Was that what I think it was about?"

Lelouch nodded. "The government has decreed that all of the Fuchu escapees are considered honorary Britannians unless they surrender themselves back into custody and explicitly reject the viceroy's clemency." He clucked his tongue. "And it appears intent on enforcing their treatment as honorary Britannians. While in the short term that may not mean much, in the long term dear Euphie has thrown a spectacular wrench into the gears. I wonder how Kyoto House will react." The man shook himself. "Anyway, it can wait. You had something you wished to discuss?"

Charlotte nodded firmly. "I encountered C.C."

For a moment Lelouch was completely still. In fact Charlotte was not even sure if he was breathing. Then an eyebrow quirked up.

"At Ashford?"

Charlotte nodded again. "And she was not alone, she was accompanying another student named Kallen Stadtfeld, supposedly as her medical assistant. She's also going by the name Cecilia Clermont."

Lelouch grunted as he took a seat on the couch. "Unimaginative but straightforward." He frowned. "Medical assistant?"

"Kallen supposedly has rather fragile health and is often absent from school," Charlotte said. "Her last absence also overlapped with the Fuchu prison break."

The young man's eyes narrowed. "Was she also at Kawaguchi?"

"I believe so," Charlotte said as she settled down next to Lelouch. "There was mention made of the student council, of which this Kallen is a member of, getting caught up in the terrorist attack. The details are I am afraid somewhat sparse."

"So," Lelouch mused. "We have a Red Knight whom is likely C.C.'s latest contractor. The question is how her geass has manifested."

Charlotte said nothing seeing as she had nothing to really add to that remark.

"Were you able to get any additional information on this Kallen?" Lelouch asked.

"Just general background. She is the only child of the Baron Stadtfeld, she is very intelligent, apparently able to score well on exams despite her absences," Charlotte paused, "and she apparently was escorted to the school dance by Cole Kraft, the son of Sir Lawrence Kraft, the Princess Euphemia's Exchequer."

"Really," Lelouch said thoughtfully. "Then there is very much the possibility that she has some sort of contact with Euphie. Perhaps even an alliance." The man pursed his lips. "If that is the case then I have severely underestimated my dear sister."

Charlotte regarded Lelouch. This was the second time during the conversation that Lelouch had referred to Euphemia as his 'chère,' indicating that despite his general disdain and even hatred for his extended family he still held some slight affection for the girl. That affection however would not stop him from pursuing his ultimate goal.

"What do you intend?" Charlotte asked.

"Kallen will need to be eliminated," Lelouch said, "but we will need to do it in such a way as to also neutralize C.C. I will make some inquiries, see if it is possible to put a tail on them to track their movements. Find out what else you can at school, but your primary objective remains Suzaku."

"Understood," Charlotte said with a nod.

"C.C.," Lelouch said softly before a smirk appeared. "So you have resurfaced and found another pawn. Well, I best make sure you do not have the opportunity to turn her into a proper queen." A thoughtful expression crossed the young man's face. "I will probably need explosives."

* * *

The squad of soldiers were in a flat out run as they charged through the halls of the viceroy's palace. That did not mean they were barreling through the place blindly, whenever they came to an intersection they took the appropriate turn without hesitation. Nor were they so intent on their destination that they ran into opposition headlong. Out of the corner of her eye Villetta caught sight of shadows flickering around the next corner. She waved two quick signals to the other soldiers before grabbing a flashbang and tossing it ahead. It bounced against the far wall before landing around the corner and a blinding light filled the hall. Villetta pulled the shades off as she hugged the wall, listening to the groans from the stunned defenders. A quick spray from her MAC-10 submachinegun turned those groans into cries as bodies toppled over. The threat neutralized Villetta and her squad charged onward.

A few minutes later globs of paint splattered the floor at Villetta's feet. The woman pulled back just in time to have the wall next to her previous position get similarly plastered.

"We're not charging through that," the soldier behind her noted aloud.

"Agreed. We'll flank. Armstrong, with me. The rest of you make them keep their heads down."

"Yes ma'am," the others responded.

With the hefty lieutenant on her heels Villetta doubled back and took another hallway. The viceroy's palace was full of side passages that connected the various main hallways. As a consequence there were only a few locations that could serve as chokepoints against an invading force. The position they were bypassing was not one of them and within a very short few minutes Villetta and Alexander were peering out at a group of soldiers trading fire with the rest of Villetta's team. That soon ended as they were sprayed by a hail of paintball rounds.

"Clear!" Villetta shouted. "Golf Kilo Oscar!"

Upon hearing the authentication letters the other soldiers hurried out.

"Alright, that cost us five minutes," Villetta said. "We'll need to hustle if we want to beat Beta team's record."

"Hah, best of luck there," one of the downed soldiers quipped.

Villetta grinned at the man before pumping one more paintball round into his chest plate. "The deceased doth protest too much." She spun about. "Let's go."

The exercise officially only had two teams serving as opposing forces. No one in Villetta's squad doubted for a moment that the brigadier would not throw some sort of wrinkle in their way. That suspicion was confirmed as a steel blade shot out from behind a corner and punctured the side of Villetta's armor. It was a testament to the brigadier's control that the blade did not so much as graze her skin even as she twisted about trying to free herself. Despite what had to be an exceedingly awkward grip angle the brigadier succeeded in turning Villetta about so that she faced her own squad. A pistol appeared to the left of her head and thundered, causing Villetta to try to jerk away. With the woman effectively forced to act as a human shield the rest of her squad could not get a clear shot. Their hesitation proved costly as Alexander's front armor was soon splattered and the man was forced to keel over as a mission kill. The other soldiers returned fire but all of their shots went either high or low.

"Just shoot me-"

Villetta's cry was cut off as she felt the impact of a few paintballs on her own back. The brigadier had apparently decided that any benefit Villetta offered as a human shield was now outweighed by her continued resistance and her ordering her troops to ignore her. Before she had toppled over however something flew over her shoulder. Villetta immediately recognized it as a flashbang and instinctively covered her eyes and ears. Light still managed to leak through her tightly squeezed eyelids and at this close a distance plenty of the boom was still audible. Her ears were not quite ringing however and Villetta thought she heard the distinct roar of a pistol firing several more times.

A few more seconds passed before Villetta's head stopped pounding and she tentatively cracked one eye open. Before her stood the rest of her squad, equally dazed and with globs of paint splattered on their chest armor. As they too recovered they gave each other confused looks.

"Exercise complete," the brigadier said as he pulled out what Villetta realized were earplugs. "Mission failed."

Villetta looked back at the brigadier. "Sir, how did you do that?"

"Do what?" Jonathan asked.

"The, shots after the flashbang."

The other soldiers looked down at themselves and one or two started gapping.

"I had all of your relative positions before I tossed the flashbang," Jonathan replied. "After it went off I fired at those positions."

"You fired blind," Villetta said disbelievingly.

The brigadier shrugged. "If I missed then the survivors would have had a good shot getting past me. If I didn't mess, then I win." Jonathan sheathed his sword. "Go get cleaned up, we'll debrief in thirty."

"Yes sir," all of the soldiers said as their commanding officer walked off.

"Shot at us blind," one of the soldiers muttered. "The brigadier's crazy."

"It worked," Villetta stated firmly. "And if it works, it doesn't matter if it's crazy."

"Umm, yes ma'am. Sorry ma'am."

Villetta sighed. "Let's just go get cleaned up. You heard the brigadier, we get to hear about how we did in the exercise afterward."

The squad made their way out of that section of the palace and were soon amidst the regular flow of servants and staff. None gave the paint splattered soldiers more than a passing glance, at least amongst the staffers. The servants on the other hand shot them reproving looks seeing as they were the ones that would need to clean up after the exercises. Then again seeing as they had failed their objective Villetta and her squad would be right there with them scrubbing the walls and floors.

The regimen the brigadier put the Princess Euphemia's royal guard through was thorough and challenging. Mornings saw Villetta going over and memorizing the blueprints and layouts of the various places that the princess might go to along with lots and lots of drilling of procedures like what to do if the princess was poisoned. Afternoons were spent running exercises like the one just concluded or visiting the places that she had spent the morning looking at blueprints of. The brigadier was a great believer in direct firsthand experience, a mentality that Villetta wholeheartedly agreed with.

Thus far Villetta had not actually stood a watch over the princess but that was understandable seeing as she was still being trained up. The brigadier's standards were as exacting as one might expect from someone charged with the safety of an imperial scion and Villetta was determined not to disappoint him.

As Villetta walked down the halls a very familiar face approached from the opposite direction. A wide smile appeared on the woman's face, an expression returned by Jeremiah.

"Villetta," the margrave said as he came to a stop.

"Margrave," Villetta replied with a crisp salute to both officers. "Colonel."

The two returned it in kind as Samantha Frasier greeted her. "Major Nu. I had heard that you were selected for her highness' royal guard. Congratulations, on that and on your promotion."

"Thank you ma'am."

"And a belated congratulations from me as well," Jeremiah said. "It was well deserved."

"Thank you my lord," Villetta replied. She regarded the two as the viceroy's schedule flashed through her head. "The two of you are here for her highness' weekly briefing?"

The other two officers nodded though Jeremiah was the one to formally answer.

"Indeed. The increasing audaciousness of this Red Knight has unsettled large portions of the population, Britannian and Eleven alike. While there are no indications of an overt threat right now, the military has stepped up its alert."

"Ultimately the best way to settle them is to demonstrate that whatever antics this Red Knight might pull off, the only actions that bring true effects are those of the Empire," Samantha stated. "It is why we must be diligent in our duties."

Jeremiah grimaced but nodded nonetheless. "That is so. Nevertheless it galls me that this Red Knight is getting away with her open defiance of her highness and the Empire. I feel an urge to act, to do _something_ beyond what my current duties entail."

Villetta smiled understandingly. Back when she had served under Jeremiah the man was always eager for action, to make his mark upon the world. Over the past few months that brimming will had become more tempered, more focused. In Villetta's estimation the margrave was always a capable warrior. Now though he was exuding an aura of competence that was truly befitting. Villetta tried not to consider how it made his bearing even more dashing.

"But enough about such irritants," Jeremiah said. "I hope that you have found your new duties fulfilling."

"I have, my lord," Villetta answered with complete frankness.

And it was true. Despite being run into the ground every day both mentally and physically the last time Villetta had felt so alive was when she was undergoing Ranger certification. Back then she could not remember how many times she felt like she would literally keel over and die but in the end there was an immense sense of achievement, of pride, in overcoming all of the challenges set before her. And when she emerged she was a new woman, far deadlier a warrior and far stronger a person. When she completed her armsman training she did not doubt she would make a similar ascension.

"The brigadier is demanding," Villetta said before grinning and pointing at the splotch of paint on her back, "but he demands no less than what he himself gives. I hope that one day I will measure up to that caliber."

Both colonels chuckled at the sight.

"I have no doubt you will, Villetta," Jeremiah assured her.

And here it was that their paths diverged. Villetta offered a courteous salute, one returned by the other two officers. As she walked away there was no way that Villetta could have known that Jeremiah's gaze followed her for a few moments longer.

Samantha smiled in amusement. "She is a strong woman."

The margrave cleared his throat. "Yes, Villetta is a most competent soldier. She will serve the princess well."

"Not what I meant," Samantha said teasingly, "and from the way your eyes lingered I think you know it too."

Jeremiah cleared his throat once more. "Any such thoughts would be highly inappropriate?"

"Oh? But neither you nor the major are in the same chain of command now," Samantha remarked. "As such the regulations regarding fraternization does not apply, no?"

The only response that Jeremiah could muster was to gap at Samantha. The woman chuckled and gave him a somewhat reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"No need to think too hard on it margrave, some things your feelings should make clear with perfect unambiguity."

With that Samantha resumed her pace towards the conference room once more. Jeremiah spent a mere moment regarding the woman before ruefully deciding that perhaps there was an overabundance of strong women around him. Not that he would ever publicly assert that. He was a man, and the opinion of the fairer sex notwithstanding, not an idiot.

* * *

When Jeremiah and Samantha entered the conference room Euphie thought she saw a slightly flushed complexion on the margrave's face. It disappeared quickly but the girl's curiosity was somewhat piqued. It might have seemed somewhat childish but the thought of some juicy gossip involving two of her subordinates was ever so tempting. Still the princess had enough tact to not pry outright. Maybe the two would let something slip if she prodded just right.

"Your highness," Jeremiah said as the two bowed.

"Margrave, colonel," Euphie replied a polite smile. "Please, the both of you be seated."

Instincts honed by long years of service in the military flared though Jeremiah was not quite sure why. The smile on the princess' face was fairly innocuous and one he recognized as her simply being courteous. The margrave glanced at his companion and noted an apparent lack of wariness on the woman's part. He decided that the wisest course of action was to follow her lead and seated himself.

"Let us begin," Euphie said. "Margrave, your report?"

"Highness," Jeremiah said. "Marshal Cornelia and General Darlton have completed the reorganization of the area's standing forces to their satisfaction. The training exercise General Darlton conducted last week has further tightened operational efficiency. At present the general intends to pay an inspection visit to our marine garrison in Okinawa, armored division up in Hokkaido, and the two battalions stationed in Kyushu, Shikoku, and western Honshu over the next month."

Euphie nodded. While the Britannian forces in and around Tokyo represented the largest concentration of troops the Empire did have significant forces stationed elsewhere in the Area to exert control. At the same time the forces Jeremiah had just listed were generally regarded as deterrents to keep the Chinese Federation and European Union from trying anything overt. Thus far the Chinese Federation had been remarkably subdued beyond a few remarks about the importance of respecting the will of the people at the time of Euphemia assuming the position of viceroy, which was rich considering despite its name the Chinese Federation was as much of an authoritarian state as the Britannian Empire and possessed an even longer history of military conquest. Then again the internal unrest the Federation suffered from could very well be why it seemed relatively uninterested in openly contesting the Empire despite Britannia's encroachment upon its traditional area of influence.

"Does the general have any immediate concerns regarding the security of the Concession in light of recent developments?" Euphie asked.

"Not as such, your highness," Jeremiah answered. "While the Red Knight's agitations will make for some increased tension within the population she has yet to directly strike directly at the military. All of the actual battles fought against this insurgent was either accidental, as in the case of the Lancelot engaging her at Fuchu, or was the military itself responding to an incident, as with Shinjuku. Despite her successes however none of the Red Knight's actions endanger our ability to maintain military control over the area, the effects are primarily of civilian consequence and the general maintains confidence in your highness' ability to counter and manage those effects."

"I will endeavor to not disappoint," Euphie stated.

Jeremiah nodded. "That sums up the salient points on my part, your highness."

"Very well," Euphie said as her gaze shifted to Samantha. "Speaking of managing the civilian mood, your reports regarding Keio have been very promising, colonel."

"Yes your highness," Samantha said. "At present the hospital is back in working order with most of the facilities required to hit your bed count milestone restored. They are still dependent on generator power from time to time but the engineering corps is making steady progress on their survey of the area's infrastructure and performing what repairs they can. I believe Major Kaminsky is preparing a report for what works will need to be contracted out to proper construction companies or handled by the utilities themselves."

"Do you know when the major intends to submit that report?" Euphie asked.

Samantha pursed her lips. "I would prefer not to make any promises for other people, your highness."

"Very well," Euphie accepted before smiling playfully. "I suppose I will just have to extract one from the major himself."

For some reason both Jeremiah and Samantha grimaced visibly. The princess tilted her head as she regarded the two quizzically.

"Is there something I should know about this Major Kaminsky?"

"The major has an, eclectic sense of humor," Samantha allowed charitably. "He is however very competent at his work and keeping the spirit of his troops up."

"Huh," Euphie allowed.

"I will speak with the major," Samantha said somewhat firmly.

The princess shrugged. "Very well, I defer to you in this matter."

"Understood your majesty," Samantha said. "There is, one other matter that I wanted to bring to your attention."

"Yes?"

"As part of the audit of all military resources we discovered a strange discrepancy in the inventory of the Medical Service, your highness," Samantha explained. "It would be entirely innocuous save for the cost of the missing piece of equipment as well as its rarity."

Euphie frowned. "Could it be used in a harmful manner?"

"That would be difficult," Samantha said, "and I doubt that would be the intent of whomever currently has possession of it. The piece of equipment is called a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imager and its intended use is to image the internal organs of a body without the need for invasive surgery. It is a very recent development, there are only two in the area. Or rather, were. The one that is supposed to be at MacArthur base is marked as removed for maintenance but that was several months ago and thus far I have been unable to track down where exactly it went."

"Could it have been stolen?" Euphie asked.

"That would have been difficult," Samantha stated. "The NMRI system is very large and takes up most of a room. I was able to find the work orders and even some of the workers that participated in the dismantling but none of them have any idea where it was taken afterward."

"So only a formal order could have authorized the NMRI's removal," Euphie noted.

"Yes your highness."

Euphie pondered the rather strange incident. The colonel's response to her question did not outright discount theft but the princess found herself generally agreeing with the unlikelihood. While possession of such a cutting edge piece of medical technology would be worth much to the right people, the risks entailed by stealing one from the Britannian military probably outweighed any benefits of actually having the machine. At the same time the removal of the machine was almost certainly conducted through legal means even if the transport afterward ended up disappearing the NMRI. Euphie's eyes narrowed. There were still those assets that she had not been able to track down in her quest to unravel the fund diversions that led up to Clovis' death. Could there be a link?

"Please forward me the documentation that you have uncovered this far," Euphie said firmly. "I will look into the matter personally."

Samantha seemed taken aback by the princess' tone but nodded quickly. "Yes your highness. And, one additional note on the matter, this may not lead to anything but I just wanted to note that there are very few people qualified to even operate a NMRI. For that matter at MacArthur when we have used it in the past we would call in civilian specialists. If the NMRI was removed to be used somewhere else in the city, unless whomever removed it had their own dedicated personnel, they may have been similarly restrained.

"Is that so," Euphie said thoughtfully before nodding. "I will keep that in mind colonel, thank you for bringing it up."

"Highness," Samantha dipped her head.

"Was there anything else that needs immediate addressing?" Euphie asked the two officers. At seeing their shaking heads the princess nodded once more. "Very well, then onto the next matter. My brother the Prince Schneizel will be arriving in Area 11 next week for a mixed state and personal visit. I believe the military chain of command was informed of this a week or so ago. I have a preliminary schedule of public appearances that he will be making. My understanding is that the military, my royal guards of myself, Cornelia, and Schneizel have already been coordinating on the necessary security arrangements. While I have no intention of trying to micromanage something I am not qualified to oversee I would still like to schedule briefing for my own benefit when those arrangements are finalized."

"Of course your highness," Jeremiah said. "I have been acting as the liaison for the military and can provide at least a preliminary summary if you would like."

"That would be appreciated," Euphie said with a slight smile.

The weekly military briefs generally lasted the full two hours that were allotted in the viceroy's very busy schedule. Today's looked to be no exception.

* * *

For the past few days Kallen had been instructed not to bring a lunch to school by Milly. The girl had obeyed, somewhat dubiously, but on the first day she did so she was greeted by the sight of Cole and Sayoko, the Ashford family's maid, carrying in trays of food into the student council room at lunchtime. Kallen's initial confusion gave way to bemusement as it was explained to her that before major school events that Cole helped cater for the student council would act as taste testers for various recipes the culinary club came up with to help select the final menu for said event. From Kallen's perspective it felt a bit like the culinary club was getting the short end of the stick but then she recalled the remarkably generous budget the club got and she put it down to one of those little mutual backscratching that helped grease society's wheels. And besides, it was rather hard to decline such good fare.

Kallen coughed and reached for a glass of water as her mouth suddenly felt like it was on fire.

"Ah, I should have warned you about that one," Cole said as he handed something to Kallen. "Here, try this."

Kallen was not immediately sure of what she had been handed but by that point she did not care and chugged the beverage without hesitation. To her surprise it was chocolate milk. To her even greater surprise the burning pain was actually subsiding. After she had downed the entire mug she let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Cole," she said as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. "And yes, a warning _would_ have been appreciated."

Cole chuckled. "Sorry, the others have already experienced Axel's cooking, so I kind of forgot."

Kallen gave her classmates a beady look even as the refrained from meeting her eyes. "Is that so."

Milly gave a hearty laugh. "Consider it a rite of passage, Kallen. And Axel's in fifth form so you can carry on the tradition with whomever Rivalz recruits next year."

"You have a most peculiar sense of humor Milly," Kallen said dryly to the older girl.

"I like to think it's my duty to spread good humor," Milly replied with a grin.

Kallen snorted but then allowed a chuckle of her own. The student council president did seem to have a self-appointed mission of making sure people had a good time.

"So, any thoughts on the dish?" Cole asked. "Besides the fact that it's probably too spicy."

Kallen quirked an eyebrow but then considered the question more seriously. Before she could come up with an opinion, besides it being too spicy, her eyes were drawn to C.C. Or rather, the pile of food that C.C. was chowing down on, the same dish that had nearly rendered Kallen mute from the searing of her tongue. Kallen's gaze drew the others and soon everyone was staring at the French girl in no small amount of wonderment as she seemingly put away large spoonfuls of the curry without the slightest ill effect.

"Tis a shame a single flavor overwhelms so," the woman remarked after swallowing. "There verily be a subtle texture yearning for notice neath. Care was there in the cuts chosen for this hotchpotch, wherefore has the receipt been so addled?"

Kallen looked at her own portion. "Hotchpotch? Was there actually mutton?"

"There was," Cole said, clearly impressed. "And to be frank I don't know why Axel likes his food so spicy. He based the curry off of an old Irish recipe and used it as a base for curry. I can attest that it tasted just fine before he started dumping sauce in it."

"Tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers," C.C. remarked, eliciting chuckles all around.

"Huh," Kallen said as she prodded a chunk of what was presumably mutton. She then glanced at C.C. "How is it you're not burning your tongue?"

The way the others all glanced over at the woman was clear indication that they too were interested in her secret.

"Tis a trivial matter for one whom knoweth her form," C.C. said, for some reason looking intently at Kallen. "Knoweth thy senses and sensibilities and become master of all sensations."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. The other girl was trying to tell her something. A hint about her powers? Kallen focused and her heightened senses swept through the school once more. C.C. was of course still a void but she could make out everyone else, not that Kallen was really paying them any attention. Instead she tried to focus on herself, feeling the beating of her heart, the slight swaying of her strands of hair, the touch of metal from the fork she held in her hand. Kallen looked down at another chunk of curry slathered mutton. Her rational mind screamed at her not to put it into her mouth. Her curiosity and stubbornness were tag teaming to drown it out. To the wide-eyed surprise of the other students Kallen placed said chunk of meat in her mouth and began chewing.

Time seemed to slow down for the girl as she felt her tongue ignite again. She fought against the blistering pain however, feeling the folds of her tongue where the spices were touching and willing them numb. And to her utter amazement, it worked. The burning sensation receded before disappearing outright, yet with them went any taste at all. She could feel the texture of the meat as it came apart in her mouth but not the flavor. Kallen swallowed and glanced over at C.C. And that was when she experienced her second surprise as she felt the girl's presence, not simply the void that was the absence thereof. It lasted only for a second as Kallen's concentration broke but in that singular second she felt the blood coursing through the other woman, the beat of her heart, and perhaps most importantly the binding that surrounded her. And then C.C. became once more an empty hole and the burning in Kallen's tongue returned full force.

The girl's hand thrust out in search for another glass of milk and Cole quickly obliged. When she finished downing it Kallen grimaced ruefully.

"Yeah, not going to try that again."

The others burst out in laughter, C.C. included, but Kallen could see the glint in her eye. The self-proclaimed witch had felt Kallen's senses finally reach within her and was pleased. Kallen would need to investigate that, and just what it was that bound C.C., further.

"Still, you held out for pretty long," Cole said. "For a second there I thought you weren't even feeling the burn."

"Hopefully I haven't burned out all sense of taste by actually listening to Cecilia," Kallen said with a smirk as she pushed aside what was left of the curry on her plate to make room for something more edible.

"So I take it I can not put this on the menu," Cole said with bemusement. "Though if you have any specific requests, let me know. The more I get from the rest of the student council, the more excuses I have for not going with some of Milly's."

The blond girl stuck her tongue out at Cole but ended up with a bark of laughter. Kallen on the other hand made a thoughtful expression as she took a bite out of some roast beef. Cole's culinary skill was undeniable and it was clear he did not limit himself exclusively to Britannian cuisine. There had been a really, really good German meatloaf as part of the dance's menu the memory of which could still cause Kallen to salivate. But Germany was a western European country and had also supplied the majority of the mercenaries the old British Empire used to put down Washington's Rebellion. Now to see if Cole was open to exploring the culinary traditions of other, less charitably regarded cultures.

"Have you ever heard of tempura?"

To Kallen's surprise Cole actually nodded. "Sure, food battered and then deep fried. The batter is usually not mixed too thoroughly so that there are lots of lumps, which creates a fluffy appearance after frying. Did you want them on the menu?"

"Umm, that would be nice," Kallen said, caught slightly off guard. "I, didn't expect you to actually know how to make them."

"More theory than practice," Cole said with a slight smile. "I've never actually made them myself but at the basic level it's not too different from a lot of other deep fried recipes. Though then again, we don't actually have a deep fryer in the club so I haven't done much of that either."

"I'm sure something can be arranged," Milly said with a grin.

"I'll add it to the list," Cole said with a more genial smile. "Was there anything specific you wanted?"

"Welllll, I know for a fact that there is a budget so you don't have to go to too much trouble," Kallen said demurely. "Some fish tempura would be fine."

Cole cocked his head aside. "A seafood theme then." He grinned playfully. "I shall endeavor not to disappoint."

Kallen chuckled. "Thanks Cole, I'll be looking forward to it."

And that was the earnest truth as Kallen finished up the rest of the food, minus the curry, on her plate. Despite already eating such fine dishes she still felt a hum of anticipation at the upcoming graduation dinner. As a student council member she would be expected to be there to help and it was only natural that she would partake in the meal afterward. Kallen allowed herself a wistful smile. It had been years since she last had any tempura. Years, since her mother had been able to make any for her.

* * *

"WAAAIIIIIT!"

Suzaku looked out the subway door and saw a student in the familiar Ashford uniform dashing towards the car. The doors were starting to close and though he knew better he stuck out his good arm and blocked it. The doors opened back up, delaying the departure of the subway just long enough for the blond-haired girl to dash in.

"Whew, thank you Suzaku," Charlotte said between panting breaths.

"You are welcome Charlotte," Suzaku responded politely.

The doors shut once more, this time closing completely, and the subway began rolling away. After one final deep breath Charlotte straightened and grabbed hold of a handle.

"Headed home?" she asked nonchalantly.

"More or less," Suzaku said with a slight smile. "I live in the barracks at MacArthur base."

Charlotte's eyes widened. "That's quite the commute. Isn't the base halfway across the Concession?"

"Yeah, but it's not too bad," Suzaku said. "The mass transit is pretty reliable so I'm never late for class."

Charlotte's head tilted aside. "Is that so."

Her eyes then narrowed as she regarded Suzaku's form. The young man was leaning against a pole, using his feet to help brace himself. With one arm in a sling his free hand was stuck carrying his schoolbag, leaving him more or less unable to easily grab onto something to further steady himself on the subway. The car was also quite full but Charlotte was quite certain that had Suzaku been a pure blooded Britannian someone would have given up their seat to help an injured person. How fortuitous Britannian bigotry was.

"Here," Charlotte said, extending a hand.

"What?" Suzaku replied quizzically.

"Your bag," Charlotte elucidated. "It's not safe for you to be standing there like that, especially with a broken arm."

"No, that's fine, I-"

"Suzaku," Charlotte said with an eerily disarming smile. "When a girl offers to hold something for you, you're supposed to politely accept instead of declining and making her look foolish."

For a guy that technically had no romantic entanglements Suzaku had been on the receiving end of that smile from far too many women to be foolish enough to keep declining and so he cracked a wiry smile and held up his schoolbag.

"Then, thank you Charlotte," he said.

"You are welcome, Suzaku," the girl replied as she took it. "Though, considering your injury couldn't you arrange for alternate transportation? Or take a cab."

"I'm just an ordinary soldier," Suzaku said. "I don't really warrant that kind of treatment, and I don't really get paid enough to-well, uh…I mean taking a cab to school every day isn't really the best use of money."

Charlotte regarded Suzaku with a curious expression but refrained from pressing him on the latter point, though there was a twinkle of amusement in her eyes from the young man's apparent backtracking. That he was actually paid very well for a non-commissioned officer, much less a Number, was something Suzaku was still getting used to himself. There was however no need to sound like he was bragging even as he tried to remain honest.

"It is important to take care of your body," Charlotte said. "Your diligence in doing so is a reflection of your own sense of self-worth. Are you not proud of yourself, Suzaku?"

That elicited a slight grimace from the boy and he looked away. "I try to do my best. I'm not proud of everything I've done, but I've chosen a path and I will see it through."

When Suzaku glanced back at Charlotte he saw that girl's smile was surprisingly gentle, almost comforting.

"If you believe in your path, then that is good," Charlotte stated. "Don't let anyone make you doubt yourself."

Suzaku allowed a slight smile of his own. "You are very understanding, Charlotte. That's, and I mean no offense, a nice surprise."

"I suppose our other schoolmates have been their usual selves," Charlotte said dryly.

"Not all of them," Suzaku said quickly. "Rivalz and Shirley have always been polite, even helpful. Rivalz got a lot of the guys off my back before, well, an issue was settled."

"Hmm, you and Kallen's little tiff?"

The boy winced ever so slightly. "You heard about that?"

"It seemed a mite of an overreaction," Charlotte said. "If that were to happen to me I might give the guy a good kick in the shin to make sure he doesn't try it again, but I wouldn't let it get as far as all of the other guys trying to beat up on him."

"I'm, not sure Kallen was really aware of that part of it very much," Suzaku said. "She was, sick for a bit of that and after she got back I was able to apologize." The young man smiled ruefully. "She didn't kick me, but she did slap me."

"Still, it seems like that matter was allowed to get rather out of hand," Charlotte remarked.

Suzaku shrugged. "It was, but it's over thankfully. And at this point there's not really much I can do to change the past so I try not to let it weigh me down."

"A most enlightened line of thought," Charlotte said approvingly. And then she glanced up as the next station was announced. "Ah, this is my stop."

The subway slowed to a halt and the doors opened up. Charlotte returned Suzaku's schoolbag.

"I'll see you tomorrow Suzaku," Charlotte said with a parting smile.

"Yeah, see ya," Suzaku smiled back in return.

He watched as Charlotte stepped off the train and headed towards the escalators up. He was still gazing in that direction when the subway pulled out of the station. With a sigh Suzaku leaned harder against the pole. He really did not know why a girl like Charlotte would show an interest in him. Maybe she thought him exotic, seeing as she was from the Britannian mainland. Maybe she was really just that friendly and was willing to extend her friendship regardless of his heritage. If so then he would not do anything to make her regret her kindness. After all, he already had examples of Britannians willing to treat him with courtesy and even respect. Surely it was not that unlikely that he would meet another such person at school.

Suzaku tried not to dwell too much on the matter as he rode the rest of the way back to the base. He also pointedly ignored the looks some of the other passengers were giving him after seeing him being so familiar with Charlotte. Still it was something of a relief to be back on the base. The salutes he received from the soldiers at the guard posts were also less and less grudging, which was nice. One step at a time.

Despite not really having anything to do while the Lancelot was being rebuilt and his own arm healing Suzaku still headed towards the ASEEC's hanger. As expected the place was a bustle of activity and Suzaku smiled as he saw the form of a white knightmare slowly taking shape. And then his eyes fell on another machine, one that had not been here yesterday.

"Huh?"

The gold trimmed black knightmare was three times the height of any other frame Suzaku had seen before, an imposing sight all by itself. The main chest piece jutted forward into a point, as did the shoulders. Even stranger looking were the six spines that sprouted out of the back. Suzaku wandered over to get a closer look and caught sight of Cécile and, Claudio standing at the foot of the knightmare.

"Oh, Suzaku, you're back from school," Cécile greeted him.

"Yeah," Suzaku said. "Umm, hello sir."

"Yo," Claudio said with a grin. "Arm mending well?"

"Yes sir, thank you for your concern."

"No need to be that formal Suzaku," Claudio said with a chuckle.

Suzaku smiled slightly. "Maybe not sir." He glanced over at the new knightmare. "Is this the ASEEC's new project?"

"Ah, no," Cécile said immediately. "It's actually another of Prince Schneizel's projects, a testbed frame for a couple of different technologies."

"Oh?"

"You know that the ASEEC is officially under the prince's purview?" Cécile explained. "He's coming next week and wanted to conduct a field test of the Gawain while he's here."

"The Gawain," Suzaku repeated the name. "I see." And looked at Claudio. "Is that why you're here sir?"

"More or less," Claudio said with a nod.

"I see," Suzaku said, unconsciously shifting his right arm ever so slightly.

The motion did not go unnoticed by the others and Cécile smile comfortingly.

"The Gawain is actually a two-seater," the woman said, "so we originally thinking of asking Lieutenant Darlton here to assist in the test because you and he have worked well together in the past."

"Oh," Suzaku said in mild surprise. "I see." And smiled somewhat ruefully. "It's regrettable that I'm missing a chance to work alongside you again sir."

"There will be others Suzaku," Claudio stated confidently. "Of that I am certain."

Suzaku pursed his lips thoughtfully. "May I ask who will be serving as your copilot this time?"

"Ah, that would be me," Cécile said.

The young man's eyes widened. "You, Cécile?"

"Yes, me," Cécile said with a slight pout. "I _do_ know how to use the machines I work on, Suzaku."

"Uh no, I didn't mean, I mean-" Suzaku stammered.

Cécile giggled and gave the boy a pat on the shoulder. "I know what you mean. Though ultimately we won't really be doing anything strenuous in the Gawain, just show off its systems, take out a few practice targets, that sort of thing. It doubt it would have been much of a challenge for you or the good lieutenant."

"Challenge or not I look forward to playing with some new toys," Claudio said with a grin. "And I look forward to working with you as well, Captain Croomy."

"Boys and their toys," Cécile said playfully. "First Lloyd and now you." The woman leaned over towards Suzaku. "Don't you end up disappointing me too, Suzaku. I expect you to turn into a proper adult."

Claudio erupted into laughter and Suzaku was not far behind. Cécile joined them a few moments later.

"I'll try," Suzaku said as he calmed. "I'll try."

End of Chapter 30

I don't know if I'll get another chapter out before the new year, I have a lot of stuff piled up that I need to do. I am, perpetually busy as it were.

I have a pretty firm outline of what leads up to the Black Rebellion now. I think it makes sense and is consistent and everything that happens during the Black Rebellion will also be sufficiently foreshadowed that people can't accuse me of pulling things out of my ass for the sake of drama and etc.

In retrospect I should have had Charlotte at least use a different last name when she infiltrated Ashford. If I ever do an editing pass over this story like I'm doing with _In Tune_ I'll rectify that.

I will take it as a good sign that I have not had anyone throw a tantrum at the way character relations are developing in the story and that people in general are finding the way I craft them believable or at the very least tolerable. It's also possible that those truly fanatical about a particular ship have already dropped the story. Relationships are important to the series to help balance out all the drama and fighting, but I find it important that one doesn't try too hard to force a relationship to occur. It's why I've tried to take a relatively light touch with all of the interactions between potential pairings in the story. I count seven potential relationships that I've dropped in shipteases for, I think, at this point I'm having trouble keeping track. I've also definitively sunk several ships, those I recall a bit more clearly. Either way there's still quite a ways to go and hopefully how things develop will feel realistic and satisfying.

Note: feel free to lobby for a particular ship, but my overriding priority is to make sure that the plot remains coherent, not break the story to satisfy a personal fantasy, mine or anyone else's.

Anyway, leave a review with your thoughts.

C.C. translations because for once it's not 2AM when I'm writing up the author notes.

Tis a shame a single flavor overwhelms so. There verily be a subtle texture yearning for notice neath. Care was there in the cuts chosen for this hotchpotch, wherefore has the receipt been so addled? – It's a shame a single flavor overpowers everything else. There's definitely a subtle texture yearning to be noticed underneath. The cuts of meat chosen for this hotchpotch were chosen with care, for what reason was the recipe messed up like this?

Tis a trivial matter for one whom knoweth her form. Knoweth thy senses and sensibilities and become master of all sensations. – It's trivial for someone who knows her form. Know your senses and sensibilities and become a master of all your sensations.


	32. Chapter 31

Snippet spoiler: Low

 _The codified forms of capital punishment prior to the Empress Euphemia's enactment of a new constitution provided simple guidelines for how a convicted prisoner were to be executed. Commoners guilty of crimes such as murder or rape and sentenced to death would usually be hung. Soldiers found guilty by a formal court martial of crimes sufficiently severe would face the firing squad. Members of the peerage whom had such a sentence befall them generally met their end at the hands of a headsman._

 _The prescribed methods are however not set in stone and it was not uncommon for alternate means of execution to be used. Sometimes this is done as an act of mercy, wherein the Emperor Alexander allowed a former favored concubine to drink poison instead of being beheaded after she was discovered to have been plotting against him. Other times however the method is selected to convey a point, as was believed to be the case with the execution of the Duke of Windsor ordered by the then Princess Euphemia._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 31: Stipendium peccati mors est

Coincidence was not something the Princess Euphemia believed in. Chance and probability she accepted, these could be reduced to a statistical value and with her newfound powers it was almost trivially easy to do so. The possibility that the Norns had a sense of humor was far less comforting but there were times when Euphie ran across something that strongly suggested that to be the case. On such occasions the princess' emotions ranged from amusement to irritation as the respective situations warranted. In this particular instance Euphie was more inclined towards irritation considering what the conclusions were pointing to.

Dr. Richard Fenette was a respected neuroscientist, one of the few researchers engaged in that field in Area 11. In addition to his research the man was also a licensed doctor of internal medicine, specializing not surprisingly in neurology. As part of both his clinical duties and his active research Dr. Fenette was one of the few specialists who knew how to use an NMRI, which meant his time was in high demand even for cases not related to his usual field. As such any absence by the doctor was plainly evident in the hospital's records through the way schedules and appointments were shifted about, shifts that overlapped nicely with the period of time where the NMRI at McArthur base had gone missing. It seemed that Colonel Frasier was right, whomever had appropriated the NMRI had needed to call upon outside experts to actually make use of it.

At this point Euphie could simply order that Dr. Fenette be brought in for questioning and the Inquisitio would have the information she needed at her desk in short order. The problem however was the fact that Richard Fenette was not entirely unknown to Euphie, or more specifically his daughter was not. It went without saying that quite a few people, from Milly to Nunnally to probably even Ruben would be very displeased with Euphie if she ordered the father of one Shirley Fenette questioned, no matter how gently, by the Inquisitio.

Still there was a high probability that the doctor was not an active conspirator, merely someone called in for his specialized skills. If that was the case then there was no need to involve the Inquisitio or anyone outside of Euphie's trusted circle, both for Dr. Fenette's sake and also to keep anyone from realizing that Euphie was making progress in her investigations. Her course of action decided Euphie pressed her intercom.

"Rachel, please summon Jane for me."

"Yes your highness."

The princess' assistant did not keep her liege waiting long and a few minutes later the woman bowed before Euphie.

"You called highness."

"An errand," Euphie stated. "I need you meet to Dr. Richard Fenette but it must be done in a discreet manner. Schedule a medical consultation or the like, something that would not suggest your meeting with him has anything to do with your official duties."

Jane nodded to indicate her acknowledgment.

"You are to inquire on what Dr. Fenette knows about the NMRI that was removed from MacArthur base. If the doctor is reluctant to answer, you have my permission to extend him and his family the offer of my protection."

"Does your highness wish for discretion or haste in the matter?" Jane asked.

The princess considered for a moment. "Discretion."

"Understood highness," Jane said. "I shall see to this matter with care."

Euphie nodded her dismissal and Jane took her leave. Things were ever so slowly falling into place. Now she just needed to weather whatever new crisis was inbound. There always was something lurking over the horizon.

* * *

"I'm back," Charlotte said somewhat listlessly.

Lelouch looked over as the French girl crossed the living room and flopped down on the couch. "Rough day at school?"

"I swear Britannians can suck the fun out of anything," Charlotte said with a pout before pounding the armrest. "How does one make even Descartes boring!?"

"Not terribly difficult," Lelouch muttered, "all of those philosophers are rather stuffy."

Charlotte was immediately on her feet and very much in Lelouch's face, causing the young man to lean back.

"None of that now Lelouch," Charlotte said with a completely serious face. "Philosophy is integral in instilling in a person the mental tools with which to answer the questions that arise in life."

"That might be giving philosophy a bit more credit than warranted," Lelouch said as he gently pushed aside the finger in his face. "Though if you do find the philosophy material at Ashford too dull, perhaps this will help stimulate your mental facilities sufficiently."

Charlotte's eyes fell to the piece of paper on Lelouch's lap. "Hmm?" She picked it up and gave it a quick one-over. "A message from the marshal?"

"I just finished deciphering it," Lelouch said. "It presents, an interesting problem that we will need to overcome."

Charlotte said nothing as she began reading more carefully. Soon enough she was in agreement with Lelouch about the existence of a problem. Interesting however something she could have lived without.

"Well, this is unfortunate," Charlotte summed up as she took a seat next to Lelouch.

"Indeed." Lelouch leaned back into his seat. "I had hoped that the marshal would have been able to provide some level of force to threaten Hokkaido, but it seems that just positioning the units needed for the Middle East offensive without letting on what he's doing to the politicians is proving difficult. As such we are unfortunately on our own."

"If the Britannians are able to bring that armored division to bear we'll be in a lot of trouble," Charlotte said somewhat needlessly. "We're already cutting it pretty close with our inability to stop the Britannians from shifting those forces in western Japan east."

"Quite," Lelouch said as he flipped through the other papers he was working on. "On the other hand if we can take MacArthur base out of play entirely, the chaos should allow for completion of my primary objectives regardless of what happens to the Japanese resistance."

"Do you really think a single knightmare, even one as powerful as the Lancelot, could do that?" Charlotte said, eyebrow raised.

"Much like the JLF the ASEEC are simply a means to an end," Lelouch said. "Compromising it will give us access to the base and once we have access, well there are plenty of ways in which I can undermine the personnel there once that happens."

Charlotte watched as Lelouch flipped over another page. True the geass allowed him to basically coerce obedience from anyone he used it on, but doing so without arousing the suspicion of third parties was not a simple matter. To do it properly took time, which was one reason why the timetable for preparations was what it was. Not that getting the JLF readied for the assault was any less time consuming but for now that headache was André's, not theirs.

"Oh?"

The sound drew Charlotte's attention back to their immediacy as she looked at Lelouch quizzically.

"What is it?"

"A message from André," Lelouch said. "There has been a most interesting development with the JLF."

"The good kind of interesting this time?" Charlotte said with a smirk.

"Indeed." Lelouch handed the deciphered message to the girl. "See for yourself."

Her Lelouch did certainly seem to enjoy his theatrics, Charlotte mused as she took the paper. Nevertheless she humored him and read through the message herself. At the end of it the thought in her mind had nothing to do with her lover's quirks.

"Is this for real?"

"I assume we'll find out soon enough," Lelouch said as a hungry grin appeared on his face. "But if it is, I'd say our little problem with western Japan has just been dealt with most adequately."

Charlotte frowned. "This seems a bit too convenient. Just when the marshal sends word that he cannot provide us assistance, the Chinese Federation appears with an offer?"

"True, but the Federation's offer is not directed at us, it is directed at the Six Houses," Lelouch said. "They are likely hoping to achieve the very thing that the marshal fobbed off to the others on the general staff as his rationale for sending us here, to have a newly liberated Japanese state be indebted to them for helping eject Britannia."

"It seems a rather daring gambit for the Chinese," Charlotte remarked. "Are they perhaps finally waking up to the threat that the Empire represents to their own borders?"

"Hard not to considering the effective encirclement of the Federation's territory since Britannia began expanding across the Pacific." Lelouch rubbed his chin. "I can work with this. The loss of Japan and the deaths of two Imperial scions, especially Cornelia, will throw the court into chaos."

"Aren't you jumping the gun there?" Charlotte cautioned. "We don't know the details of the Federation's offer, what assets they're willing to commit. Unless they're able to actually land troops on Kyushu or Honshu the Britannians will still be able to move at least their forces in western Honshu towards Tokyo. And with the air combat element that the Okinawa marine division has, the Federation will need to send a lot of firepower our way to break through."

Lelouch pursed his lips as Charlotte demonstrated yet again why the time and effort he had invested in ensuring she retained independence of thought was worthwhile.

"You believe that the Chinese will not have the resources to actually perform an amphibious invasion."

"That kind of operation requires substantial preparation. Would the SDECE really have missed indications of such an effort?"

Charlotte again had a point and what the SDECE knew Lelouch also had access to thanks to his geass.

"So the Chinese effort will be at best a sideshow," Lelouch said. "Then the best course of action would be to trick the Britannians into thinking it is a serious effort to prevent them from deciding that moving their forces east is an acceptable risk."

"I am sure that the senior JLF leadership is also capable of realizing the limits of Chinese assistance," Charlotte said. "I am equally certain that they are the best suited to determine how to most effectively exploit the offer of assistance."

Lelouch nodded. "You are right. I will have André direct the JLF leadership in that direction and trust that he will keep them on track."

Charlotte nodded in turn at Lelouch's decision.

"In the meantime, how progresses your efforts with Kururugi?" Lelouch asked.

"He's now used to the fact that we both take the same subway after school," Charlotte said before cracking a slight smile. "And that I hold his schoolbag for the part of the trip before my stop. He is now primed to accept as accidental a switching of bags."

"And on a personal level, is he prepared to come find you to return your bag?" Lelouch asked somewhat stiffly.

Charlotte gave the young man's hand a squeeze. "I believe so. And once you meet with him the conditioning should preclude any further need on my part to feign interest or affection."

A growl sounded from Lelouch's throat but he squeezed back. "You are not being unduly inconvenienced at school due to your supposed closeness to Kururugi?"

"Thankfully no," Charlotte said. "Thus far none of the other students seem to have noticed my riding with him on the subway."

"Good," Lelouch said with surprising force.

"And what of Kallen and C.C.?" Charlotte asked in turn. "What of your progress in tracking them?"

Lelouch grimaced. "All indications are this Kallen only stays at the Stadtfeld residence intermittently. For the past week she has only been at home twice. Time will tell if there is a pattern to which days she is there, but it is looking more and more likely that we will need to strike her at Ashford."

A frown crossed Charlotte's face. While the girl did not particularly care for her ostensible classmates, that did not mean she necessarily wished them overt harm.

"And what exactly do you have in mind?" Charlotte asked levelly.

In response Lelouch stood and walked to the spare bedroom they were using for storage. When he emerged he was carrying a very large case. Charlotte's eyes widened as she recognized it.

"Lelouch," she said flatly. "You cannot be serious."

The young man set down the case and popped it open to reveal a long cylinder. "C.C. cannot be neutralized via conventional means. Even a bullet to the head will only slow her down for a few minutes. The only way to take her out of play long enough to intercept her is to destroy a significant portion of her body. Fortunately, we can also remove the Stadtfeld girl from play at the same time."

"Lelouch," Charlotte repeated. "That is a high explosive missile meant for taking out bunkers. You fire that off you're going to take out not only Kallen and C.C., you'll kill everyone in the classroom and probably quite a few people in the adjacent classrooms."

"Any attempt to neutralize the two will see significant collateral casualties," Lelouch replied matter-of-factly. "We do not have the manpower for a more narrowly scoped attack and we will only have a single attempt before the two are alerted to someone targeting them."

"And have you considered what the consequences of launching this kind of attack will have on our other plans?" Charlotte said. "Once it happens I will need to pull out, my documentation will not withstand close scrutiny by the Inquisitio and you can be certain they will put _everyone_ under a microscope afterward."

"Which is why I will not execute the operation until after my hold on Kururugi is secured," Lelouch replied. "I have also considered the effect such an attack might have on both the Britannian and Japanese populations. It should help increase pressure on the authorities considering the sheer audacity of it and the resulting casualties. With any luck it will see some of the less rational Britannians to decide to take matters into their own hands and further inflame tensions between them and the Japanese. All in all there are several advantages that this operation will bring us and there are few noteworthy downsides."

Except the scars this would etch on their souls, Charlotte did not say aloud. But as she looked Lelouch in the eye she saw that her lover really was prepared to go to such lengths.

"You do not approve," Lelouch more stated than asked.

"I do not," Charlotte responded with equal firmness.

"I see," Lelouch said as he shut the case. "Well, if you so desire, I will find an alternative course of action, regardless of the risk."

Charlotte's expression quivered. Several years ago shortly after first meeting Lelouch the young man had made her a promise, a symbol of his dedication to her. Charlotte could make one request upon the young man that he would fulfill without debate or hesitation. Thus far Charlotte had doggedly refrained from calling upon that promise no matter how cruel or callous she found some of Lelouch's action. There would come a time when Lelouch's vengeance would be set upon its last victim and Charlotte was determined that the promise still be available to avert it. And so despite the distastefulness of Lelouch's plan Charlotte shook her head.

"I disapprove, but I do not desire it be changed," she said.

Lelouch's mouth tightened before the edge of his mouth quirked up into a very slight smile. He walked over and took Charlotte into his arms.

"The greatest gift you have given me is simply staying at my side," he whispered into her ear. "Thank you."

* * *

Kallen took a deep breath, eyes closed. A cacophony of activity soon flooded her senses nonetheless and she could pick out all of the men and women flowing through the hospital, patient and staff alike. There was a child crying as he received his immunizations. Kallen felt the prick as the needle pierced his skin. She withdrew. There, an elderly woman talking about her aching knees as she was helped along by a politely nodding nurse. The nurse offered to get the patient a wheelchair but the woman chuckled, declining but thanking the nurse for her consideration.

Yet none of that was what Kallen actually cared about. She reined her senses back into the office she sat in, back to the void seated across the desk from her. Except it was no longer just a void, there were flickers of a form that Kallen could pick out if she focused hard enough. The void was an absence, true, but now it was more like seeing the shadow cast by a figure instead of merely an empty space. And in that shadow Kallen saw hints of something else, something more than just the strange woman calling herself C.C. Something that she really, really did not like.

Kallen opened her eyes and cringed from the pounding migraine. In fact she was so busy cringing from it she did not even notice as C.C. rose and walked over. The other woman placed a cold rag over Kallen's forehead and began to massage her temples. The redhead's surprise quickly gave way to relief as the throbbing in her head began subsiding.

"Thou art beginning to blossom," C.C. remarked. "Thou may as yet bear fruit."

Kallen snorted. "Thanks, I think." She sighed. "I saw it, whatever is binding you."

C.C. said nothing as her hands continued ministering to Kallen.

"It binds you, like a chain. But a chain can be cut or broken if sufficient force is exerted."

C.C. chuckled. "Mayhap so, but the breaking of so great a thing should make a greater crack."

In other words the force needed to break the chain might well break C.C. herself. Kallen grimaced unhappily. She owed the woman, not just for the power of the geass but also for her support in the fight against Britannia. And even if C.C. was in this for her own sake, there was no denying that she was capable of expressing tenderness as she did now. And that in Kallen's estimation meant that deep down C.C. was a kind person who did not deserve to be so bound.

"I'm feeling okay now," Kallen said. "Thanks."

"Thou art most welcome," C.C. said with a slight smirk as she returned to lounging about in her own chair.

Kallen regarded the woman levelly as she set aside the rag. "So this previous contractor of yours. You can't directly tell me anything about him. But can you at least answer yes or no to any questions I ask?"

"Tis possible," C.C. allowed. "Some secrets be guarded more than others."

"And I presume his identity is one of them."

A single and clearly effortful nod was C.C.'s response.

"Fine," Kallen said. "So this contractor is dangerous and possesses a geass. I presume that's because he'll consider you and me a threat to his own plans?"

Another nod.

"But are we actually actively working against him?"

This time C.C. shook her head.

"Ah. So he's just being overly thorough because another person possessing a geass _might_ interfere with his plans."

"It is war's prize to take all vantage."

"Lovely, so he's ruthless as well as psychotic."

"And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough,'" C.C. quoted another.

"Yes, yes, all is fair in love and war," Kallen said with a sigh. "Okay. So he's dangerous, but he would still need access to resources to represent a genuine threat. Do you believe he'll be able to get those resources?"

C.C. snorted, all the answer Kallen needed.

"Alright, fine. I guess you wouldn't be that worried about him if he couldn't get whatever he needed." Kallen pursed her lips. "So, what are the chances that he knows you're here?"

"Tis a matter of chance therein," C.C. stated.

"Just chance? You can apparently sense when one of your contractors is in proximity. Can we do the same?"

"Nay, least not in so forthright a means."

"But I can sense, well, not you, but a hole where you're supposed to be."

"That be thy boon, thy geass," C.C. stated. "That has naught to do with our plight."

"Alright, I guess that makes sense." Kallen frowned. "When I tried to read the princess all I got was an empty blank. Would that also happen if I tried to read this other contractor?"

"Mayhap," C.C. allowed.

Kallen tilted her head back in thought. That the princess apparently possessed a geass was one of those details that, though likely important in the grand scheme, was having surprisingly little impact on her day to day planning. Seeing as she did not actually know what the princess' geass was, there was simply no way to account for it. Then again so long as the other girl was not clairvoyant so long as Kallen was careful she could likely get by without ever knowing what the princess' power was. Kallen frowned.

"You already told me that the princess isn't one of your past contractors," she said. "Then who gave her a geass? Is there someone else out there like you?"

C.C.'s mouth thinned but the woman said nothing, no nods or shakes of the head either. From the expression it was pretty clear that this was another topic that whatever bound her was keeping her from revealing.

"Alright, let's try it this way. Is whoever that likely gave the princess her geass in Japan?"

A very slow shaking of the head was C.C.'s answer, which was good enough for Kallen for now. But there were still too many unknowns, too many secrets. Another frown crossed Kallen's expression.

"This link we have, the one that lets you sense your contractors. What else does it let you sense?"

A strangely mischievous smile appeared on C.C.'s face, causing Kallen to narrow her eyes.

"Well?"

"Our bond looks not with the eyes, but with the mind."

Kallen cocked her head aside as she tried to interpret the response. And then her eyes widened. It was probably a good thing that the room they were in was one of the soundproofed ones in the hospital. That did not stop those that passed by from giving the door curious looks as it seemingly shook.

* * *

The three men that appeared at the Keio campus were haggard looking, clearly malnourished and sporting obvious injuries. One's hand looked broken in several places while walked with a very obvious limp. The third seemed the sturdiest of the trio and was lending a shoulder to the limping man but there was likely a reason that one of his eyes was closed shut. All three were quickly ushered into the hospital and brought to a treatment ward. Kuroba himself arrived once the name of one of the arrivals reached him. As he entered the one-eyed man cracked a sad smile.

"Kuroba-sensei," he greeted respectfully.

"Makabe-sensei," Kuroba said as he walked over. "I-I had thought you gone forever."

"Nearly so," the other man said. "Nearly so. But I was given a second chance by the one they call the Akakishi."

Kuroba's eyes widened. "You were being held at Fuchu?"

"Indeed," Makabe said as he touched his closed eye. "Ever since the protest, after the Britannians rounded us up." A bitter smile appeared. "They treated us like dogs, the savages."

"My friend, you have been through much," Kuroba said. "Rest. We will help you and the others in any way we can."

"Thank you, sensei," Makabe said. "I, did not know where else to go. After what I heard the Britannians were doing to Keio…"

Kuroba shook his head. "You have no need to worry about that, the Britannians might be providing us with resources but all of the staff are Japanese, even those providing security."

"Japanese," Makabe said somewhat bitterly. "Can they really be called that? Those that discarded their heritage to suckle at Britannia's teat?"

"Makabe," Kuroba said somewhat sternly. "I will not tell you how you should think, nor will I try to offer false words of comfort after all the suffering you endured. But Keio remains a place of healing, not strife. I hope that that at least was not striped from you over the years."

Makabe regarded his old friend for a few moments before taking a deep breath. "No. The Keio of my heart still remains, a place where people are offered solace in times of need. But an anger has also grown in my heart. Look at these men with me, Atsuko will never walk properly again and Saito, he will never hold a pen with that hand."

Kuroba nodded. "We may not be able to return to you what you have lost, but we can at least strive to make sure you lose nothing further."

At that Makabe nodded sadly. "Would that we have not lost it at all. But I fear that the future still holds more loss for us."

"What are you saying?" Kuroba asked. "You are here now, safe. We will see you treated, and over time you might even rejoin us to help others."

The other man chuckled wirily. "Have you forgotten, old friend, that I am now a fugitive? Simply being here at Keio brings risk to everything you have done, but I simply did not know who else to turn to. But for the sake of the hospital I will leave if my presence becomes a danger. Just, seeing this place, even if it is a mere shadow of its former glory, is enough."

"Makabe-sensei," Kuroba said with a frown. "Have you not heard of the viceroy's clemency?"

Makabe's eyes darkened. "Kuroba-sensei, do you truly expect me to accept such an offer? To betray my people and my heritage and swear allegiance to those that did _this_ to me?" The man shook his head. "No. If a Britannian comes forth and demands that I swear to the Empire, I will say no, even if it means being thrown back into hell."

Kuroba pursed his lips. "It is not so simple, Makabe-sensei. The viceroy's position is that the government will assume by default that every prisoner held at Fuchu that escaped are accepting of the parole offer."

"That is ludicrous," Makabe spat. "I swear no oath, how can they presume I hold any loyalty to them?"

"Yet that is exactly what the viceroy has done."

"Then I spit upon that presumption," Makabe said vehemently. "I REJECT ANY CLAIM THAT I WOULD SWEAR TO THE EMPIRE! I AM JAPANESE! NOT BRITANNIAN!"

"Makabe," Kuroba hissed.

"Is something the matter?"

Kuroba stiffened as the last voice he wanted to hear sounded from behind. Turning about the doctor found one Lieutenant Helena Blanche standing at the door way

"Is there a problem, Dr. Kuroba?"

"You!" Makabe snapped. "Tell your princess that I will _not_ become a dog of the Empire! My heart is Japanese! My soul is Japanese! And I will die as such!"

"Makabe, settle down," Kuroba snapped before looking over at the Britannian nurse. "My apologies, lieutenant. He has been through much and is delirious."

Helena frowned. "No, I would say he is completely serious. And the clothes he is wearing is not civilian dress."

"That is right!" Makabe shouted. "I have worn this garb for years, ever since the Empire threw me into Fuchu. And I will continue wearing it than be called Britannian!"

"Makabe," Kuroba nearly yelled himself. "Please, lieutenant. He has been through much."

"Doctor, you know her highness' proclamation," Helena stated. "All of the inmates were given the benefit of the doubt, but if they explicitly reject the parole offer then they revert to being prison escapees."

"Lieutenant, Makabe is my patient," Kuroba said emphatically. "Would you allow one of _your_ patients to be taken away before he could be treated?"

"I don't need your protection-"

"Makabe," Kuroba roared. "Silence."

The other man stared blankly at the doctor, his mouth slowly closing. With that momentarily dealt with Kuroba turned back to the Britannian nurse.

"Lieutenant," he repeated once more. "Please."

Helena regarded the doctor for a few more moments before sighing. "He is your patient, doctor. You may treat him. However he will not be allowed freedom of movement within the hospital and will have a guard posted on him at all times. And that is _not_ negotiable, doctor."

"That is understood, lieutenant," Kuroba said with a slight bow. "Thank you."

The lieutenant nodded in turn before walking away, pulling her radio out in the process to issue the relevant orders. Kuroba turned back to his old friend, who simply stared at him.

"Rest," Kuroba instructed. "We shall see to your injuries and that of your companions."

Makabe continued staring at Kuroba. "You didn't need to do that. You could have gotten arrested right alongside me."

"The Britannian nurses here understand the duty that a healer has to their patients," Kuroba stated. "Perhaps you too will one day see them as sisters in that regard."

* * *

"Afternoon Suzaku," Charlotte said with a smile as she stepped next to him and extended a hand.

"Good afternoon Charlotte," Suzaku responded with a wiry smile as he handed over his schoolbag. "I see you still haven't joined any clubs."

Charlotte shrugged. "The term is coming to an end. I think I'll start fresh after the summer vacation."

"But won't you be busy preparing for the A-levels?" Suzaku pointed out.

"And just why would you think that considering all the antics the student council president gets up to?" Charlotte countered.

Suzaku began opening his mouth but the response that came out was not the one that had initially flashed through his head. "Fair. So which clubs were you thinking of trying out for?"

"Umm, I used to fence back in the homeland. Was pretty good at it too. I might pick that up again. Oh, and I heard that the culinary club here is really good, their club leader apparently helped cater for the dance."

"Really?" Suzaku said. "I didn't know that."

"You didn't go?" Charlotte said nonchalantly.

Suzaku smiled thinly. "I wouldn't have had anyone to go with. And besides, the dance happened to overlap with an exercise with the military so I was out of town."

The boy momentarily considered whether he should be telling Charlotte that, but decided that on balance it was probably harmless to do so. And the exercise itself was not classified anyway seeing as it was mentioned in the news.

"Ah. Well you'll just have to see about getting that remedied next year," Charlotte said.

"I'm not sure I can control the military's schedule like that," Suzaku decided to discuss the safer issue.

"I'm sure there are ways," Charlotte responded with a beatific smile. "After all, what kind of gentleman would be so boorish as to stand up his date over something so trivial as his martial duties?"

Suzaku felt a slight chill run down his back at the girl's expression. It looked hungry, almost predatory even. Yet despite the hints he was still reluctant to actually consider the possibility that Charlotte was actually genuinely interested in him. It felt, off for some reason. But there was no denying the fact that she was somewhat going out of her way to talk to him and was even polite and courteous to him at school. Suzaku hoped she was not getting any flak from the other students because of that.

"Ah, here's my stop," Charlotte said as the doors opened and she handed a bag back to Suzaku. "I'll see you tomorrow."

With that she dashed off and Suzaku watched her disappear. As the doors closed he sighed and looked down at the schoolbag. He could still feel the tingle of her touch on his hands. He blinked. And then his eyes widened. On the handle was the yellow cat toy that he had seen so many times dangling off Charlotte's schoolbag, which could only mean that the girl had accidentally handed hers to Suzaku when she got off the train.

"Crap, what am I supposed to do?" the boy wondered aloud.

He had only the vaguest idea of where she lived with the subway stop Charlotte got off his only real clue. Perhaps there was something in her bag that would point him to her address, but did he dare pry into her belongings like that? Suzaku swallowed nervously. He would take a very quick peek, see if he could find something that would let him get in touch with her, and that was it. Before he could do so however the subway vibrated slightly. Suzaku frowned. Probably best to do this not on in a moving car.

At the next stop Suzaku got off and made his way to a relatively out of the way spot in the station. With care he opened up the schoolbag and examined its contents. Charlotte had several of her books, including the same philosophy text as Suzaku, but she also had what appeared to be a Latin textbook. And then the boy's eyes fell on the planner issued by the school. It was folded open to today's date and Suzaku caught sight of quite a bit of writing. Silently apologizing to the girl Suzaku pulled it out and gave it a very quick look before grimacing. Charlotte was obviously a diligent student seeing as she had noted down all of the assignments that were due tomorrow. If her bag was not returned to her, she would have some explaining to do in at least three different classes and Suzaku felt depressingly certain that if the truth came out Charlotte would end up getting ostracized by the other students. The young man's jaw tightened. That would not happen on his account.

Flipping to the front of the planner Suzaku found what he wanted. There was a spot that students could fill in their addresses though Suzaku had no idea how many actually did. Charlotte had however, which was all that mattered. The address was not too far from the subway station, which was convenient. With a destination target Suzaku hopped onto another subway heading back and got off at the next station. From there it was a few short blocks to his classmate's residence, a nice looking apartment complex. As Suzaku stood outside the main door he suddenly found his heart pounding. He could not recall the last time he had ever visited someone his age, much less a girl. But he had come this far and a real man did not back down. Suzaku allowed himself a slight chuckle. Or at least that was probably what Charlotte would say. He pressed the doorbell for the apartment in Charlotte's planner.

A few seconds passed before the intercom hissed.

"Yes?"

"Umm, Charlotte?" Suzaku said.

"Oh Suzaku! Umm, is this about the schoolbag? I'm really sorry about that, I should have been paying closer attention."

"That's alright," Suzaku assured the girl.

"Here, I'll open the door, you can come on up."

"No that's-"

A buzzing sound rang, cutting off any further words from the young man. With a sigh Suzaku pulled open the door. He really had just intended to ask Charlotte to come down so that they could swap bags, but once again the girl had seized the initiative. She really was good at that and Suzaku wondered idly whether that was a trait shared by all women. The princess certainly seemed to possess it, as did Milly. Even Kallen for that matter.

Such idle ruminations ended as Suzaku found himself before the apartment. He knocked twice but only because the door flew open to reveal a beaming Charlotte.

"Hey Suzaku," she said. "Sorry again for this mess."

"It's alright," Suzaku assured her again. "You've been a big help these last couple of days and this is the least I could do."

Charlotte's smile deepened. "That's sweet of you to say. Though I'm surprised you were able to find my place."

Suzaku's smile took on a nervous air. "Umm, yes, about that." He bowed. "My apologies, Charlotte. I had to look inside your bag and your planner to figure out your address."

"Inside me? Oh, that's okay Suzaku, you were just trying to help!" Charlotte insisted. "You don't need to bow like that."

Before Suzaku could respond another voice inside sounded.

"Charlotte, what's going on out there?"

The voice was male and it sounded too young to be the girl's father. Suzaku's head rose to see a man about their age walk over to the door. His pitch black hair was a stark contrast to Charlotte's shining blond but he shared the girl's purple eyes.

"Oh, Lelouch, this is my classmate Suzaku. Suzaku, this is my cousin, Lelouch," Charlotte introduced.

Her cousin, Suzaku thought with a strange sense of relief. The boy caught himself. Now why was he relieved? Surely he was not seriously thinking of Charlotte that way, they had only really met.

"Ah, Suzaku," Lelouch said and extended his left hand. "Charlotte has told me much about you. Thank you for being there for her at school."

"No, I haven't really done anything," Suzaku asked as he shook the other man's hands. For some reason he was finding it impossible to avert from Lelouch's gaze. "I should be the one thanking Charlotte."

Lelouch smiled. "Such modesty. But where are my manners, why don't you come in? You went to all this trouble to return Charlotte's belong, you must allow us to express our gratitude."

No, that's quite alright, were the words that Suzaku was thinking of.

"Alright, if you insist," was what came out of his mouth instead.

Suzaku blinked as he stepped through the threshold into the apartment. His head was feeling a bit fuzzy, his body increasingly stiff.

"Please, have a seat," Lelouch said.

Charlotte hopped over to the side to pull out a chair and Suzaku obediently sat down.

"Thank you," he muttered, his eyes never leaving Lelouch's.

"Charlotte, please get Suzaku here something to drink," Lelouch said, also never shifting his gaze. As the sound of liquid being poured echoed in the background he continued speaking. "My cousin tells me that you're actually a soldier in the Britannian army. Is that so?"

"Yes," Suzaku said reflexively.

The boy blinked and for a brief moment a tiny voice cried through the veil that something was very, very wrong. And then his mind seemed lost once more in the shroud and he simply sat there staring at Lelouch. The other man smiled once more.

"Would you care to tell me what is it you do?"

And so Suzaku did. He told Lelouch about the ASEEC, about his work as a test pilot for the Lancelot, and about the people that he worked with from Lloyd and Cécile to Claudio. He answered every question that followed, details about MacArthur base's security, the ASEEC's various projects, and everything he might know about the people of note in the Britannian hierarchy. He did all this and would remember none of it once he left the apartment that night, nor any of the other nights that he would be visiting in the future.

* * *

A viceroy's duties were many and varied, from setting policy via executive decisions to enforcing the will of the sovereign that had invested their authority within him or her. Sometimes however the one whose will was being enforced and the one doing the enforcing were one and the same. For the men marching to their fate this was had especial relevance as the signature on their execution warrant was of the very same person whom oversaw the trials that had consigned them to this fate. And as the one responsible for condemning these men to their fates Euphemia would not shirk the obligation of bearing witness to the consequences of her actions. Standing by her side was the Brigadier Eyre and behind the two the customary pair of armsmen that now accompanied the princess almost everywhere.

Several other guards were also present, scattered about the sterile room to make sure the prisoners did not attempt anything too foolish. Men facing certain doom were never entirely rational and despite the odds might make one final desperate grasp for life, or seek a more dramatic end than the one consigned to them. The gallows at the center of the platform only had four nooses dangling so the so the seven men to be executed this day would be dealt with in two groups. The seven here were however only a part of those facing execution but the rest were soldiers and so their sentences would be handled by the military.

The first group of four was marched into the room, each their heads bowed in resignation. Each knew that at this point no mortal hand was likely to stay their deaths and a divine one was unlikely to be lent to those such as them. The four were lined up on the platform facing the princess. Euphemia stood.

"We stand here as witness to the judgment that has been handed down for crimes so heinous as to warrant it. The forfeiture of your lives will not restore that loss which you have inflicted upon others, but that is not the purpose of this judgment. The fates that you have been handed marks Our conclusion that your effort and your issue have fallen short of the standard set upon us by the Gods. We thus deliver you unto the Gods so that they may render a final judgment upon you. If you have final words to speak, then speak them and We shall bare testimony to them."

One by one the prisoners did so, a mixture of far too belated regrets and prayers to the Gods to grant them an opportunity to redeem themselves in death. With that formality concluded the nooses were fitted around the necks of the convicted. And then the platforms dropped out from under them and a sickening crack sounded. All four bodies dangled limply the execution having been performed to perfection. For these four there would be no lingering death at least, the only mercy that Britannia would grant them.

Time seemed to pass so slowly as the deceased were cut down and checked. Then the last three men were brought in and placed upon the platform. Two were as downcast as those that preceded them but the rotund man in the center mustered enough will to glare at the princess. It seemed the Duke of Windsor still had some fire left in his hefty belly. Euphemia repeated her declaration and offer and the two men on the duke's sides spoke much as the others had. When it came the duke's turn however the man erupted.

"Bear witness to this, Euphemia li Britannia. I spit on the name of your family, you who presume to stand so haughtily above. You think your self so mighty while you hide behind the folds of your dress and rely on men of callow blood for your authority. The world will see you for what you truly are, a sniveling brat who knows not her limits even when she has overreached. I curse you, wench, and I curse your family in turn. May you all suffer as rent hearts as mine before they draw their last breath!"

A still silence hung in the room as most of the other occupants, including the two men aside the duke, gaped at the man. The reaction of others was more nuanced. A single eyebrow was risen on Euphemia's expression while the brigadier and both her armsmen had hands resting on their holsters just waiting for an excuse to draw and blow off the impudent noble's head. The princess however declined to surrender to that particular temptation. That did not mean she would be letting the duke have the last word here.

"Lieutenant," she called out to the head executioner. "Remove the duke from his position. I would not have others have to suffer his company in their leave."

"Gladly, your highness," the officer said and he signaled two of the other men down by the gallows

The duke was hauled back, not without shouting, or attempting to, more abuse at being manhandled. A fist to the noble's pudgy gut soon left him unable to utter anything but groans of pain. The execution of the other two prisoners proceeded with due efficiency and only after they were cut down was the duke placed back in position. As the noose was fastened Euphemia conveyed a few final parting words for the duke.

"I once promised myself that I would see your neck wrung from a noose for your crimes against my subjects." The princess' expression morphed into a chilling smile. "I thank you for your part in seeing that promise fulfilled."

The duke glared at Euphemia but made no response of his own. He stood there for a moment, all along on the platform. And then the floor dropped out and his body fell through. No crack sounded however and in fact the man's form could be seen fidgeting.

Euphemia frowned. "What happened?"

"The force of the fall was not enough to break his neck," Jonathan explained. "Could be for any variety of reasons. The noose might not have been properly tightened or his neck was simply too thick for a clean break, so instead he's left to suffocate." The brigadier regarded the princess. "Shall I put him out of his misery, your highness?"

Euphemia regarded the frantically flaying form for a few seconds coldly. A part of her whispered no, the Duke of Windsor deserved no such mercy for what he had done. But another part winced at the sight, imploring her to end this macabre display immediately instead of waiting it out. Faced with this decision, Euphemia fell back upon her conscience.

"End this brigadier," she ordered.

"Your command, your highness," Jonathan said with a slight tinge of approval.

The brigadier drew his sidearm and took aim. The crack that sounded this time was much, much louder.

End of Chapter 31

In retrospect, this was probably a really morbid chapter to be putting up right before Christmas. Then again, how many of you are really going to be complaining about getting another chapter in only six days? Apparently being on vacation works wonders for writing productivity.

I wonder how many of you thought I had forgotten about the Duke of Windsor. It all came down to scheduling, making sure enough time passed that his execution would not feel like it happened too quickly after the whole Refrain affair blew up. And I suppose this finally explains why the Duke of Windsor's death was a 'spectacle' as mentioned in chapter 21's opening snippet.

Ah, Fuchu. The gift that just keeps on giving. One thing people should keep in mind is that whatever machinations and maneuvers by Lelouch, Euphie, Kallen, or any of the other major players, they cannot completely control the responses and actions of all the other people in the world. As such there will be times when someone will do something that was completely outside of the scope of what a major mover was expecting. Sometimes this helps, sometimes it doesn't. We shall see whether Makabe's actions cause headaches for any of the main characters.

Forgot to mention this last chapter. I don't know if I'll be using Diethard again. I'm still not quite sure why the original series writers came up with him, they obviously had a role/niche they wanted him to fill, but he was one of those characters that I found did not actually fulfill a role that measurably advanced the story. I only used him in the last chapter because I needed basically a tabloid reporter for a rightwing 'news' company to ask inflammatory questions.

Any oddity in the flow of sentences boils down to me writing my stream of thought and all of you are being exposed to that without any major effort at editing on my part. For short to moderate length sentences that usually works fine. For longer sentences that can be hit or miss, specifically if my train of thought gets interrupted while typing a sentence. A big part of _In Tune's_ editing run that I'm doing now is to do the necessary editing so that I don't have any incoherent run-on sentences.

We're slowing down a little again, but unfortunately the amount of stuff I'm trying to jam in kind of requires it. Every scene I have thus far is intended to justify things that happen at a future date so even if they seem superfluous now they should make sense in context later on. That doesn't make writing them any easier or faster. The way this current arc has unfolded it is not quite as clean a break from the previous arc, the point where the two connect is somewhat muddled. In my mind however the current 'arc' will be wrapping up in about three or four more chapters. After that, uh, hey, I might actually not breach my self-imposed limit of 50 chapters for the R1 arc. That'd be a pleasant surprise.

C.C. dialogue

Thou art beginning to blossom. Thou may as yet bear fruit. – You are improving. Your efforts may yet bear fruit.

Mayhap so, but the breaking of so great a thing should make a greater crack. – Maybe so, but breaking something that tough might break something else.

Tis a matter of chance therein. – That's down to luck.

Nay, least not in so forthright a means. – No, at least not as directly.

That be thy boon, thy geass. That has naught to do with our plight. – That's because of your gift, your geass. That has nothing to do with our contract.


	33. Chapter 32

Snippet spoiler: Medium to low

 _Baron Henry Stadtfeld was a minor noble during the reign of Charles II, originally noteworthy only due to his success as a commodities trader. Those that knew the man regarded him as quietly competent but very private, rarely talking about his family life. Most attributed this to a distance between himself and his wife, the Baroness Catherine Stadtfeld née Walker, a not too uncommon situation for many noble families. Rumors also floated about regarding the paternity of his daughter, the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld. Her age after all did not line up with the baron's marriage and it was widely assumed that the Lady Stadtfeld was born out of wedlock from a previous lover. That the Baroness Stadtfeld never produced an heir gave rise to further rumors that she was barren, which made the Baron's actions in taking in his illegitimate daughter more understandable from the perspective of polite society._

 _None of this was of course ever discussed in the baron's presence and most of his fellow peers pretended to be as oblivious of the baron's home situation as he did of theirs. Most assumed that though the baron, his wife, and daughter shared a name, that was all the three shared. This assumption was thoroughly overturned in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on Ashford Academy. The baron was in the homeland on a business trip but upon hearing news of the attack and that the Lady Stadtfeld had been caught up in it, he raced back to Area 11 to be at her side. What followed was a superlative demonstration of the lengths that a father would to for their child, up to standing his ground against the three imperial scions and even a Knight of the Round._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 32: Ex turpi causa non oritur actio

"He said what?"

"Dr. Fenette has indicated that he is willing to cooperate with the inquiry," Jane answered, "but he has insisted that he can only speak of the matter directly with you, your highness."

"Did the doctor give a reason for this?" Euphie asked.

"He claims to have been sworn to secrecy at the highest level of government in the area, which implies an oath to Prince Clovis himself. If that is indeed the case then it stands to reason that the only person who could override previous oath is someone of similar or greater standing, which would be yourself, your highness."

"I see," Euphie said thoughtfully. This was turning out somewhat differently than she was expecting. She checked her schedule. "I have an hour opening this afternoon. Inform the doctor that I expect his presence."

Jane bowed. "Understood your highness."

That hour arrived quickly and a bookish looking man was soon ushered into Euphie's office. He was not of course allowed into the princess' presence alone, though for this matter Euphie had elected to dismiss her usual complement of armsman and instead rely solely on the Brigadier Eyre for her personal safety. As the doctor entered Jonathan kept an alert eye on the man's every moment even as he otherwise blended into the background. Richard bowed deeply as he came to a halt.

"Your highness."

"Dr. Fenette," Euphie responded. "You possess knowledge regarding the military's missing MNRI, knowledge that I require."

Richard grimaced. "I do, your highness. But in answering those questions I will be breaking an oath. In fact I'm already breaking it just by revealing its existence."

"But you have chosen to break it nonetheless," Euphie observed.

"I have, your highness, because I believe that this is something that the imperial family should know."

Euphie cocked her head aside. "Then why not approach us directly? Your daughter is fast friends with Milly and you should be well aware that the Ashfords are quite close to me."

Richard grimaced. "I do not wish to involve my family in this affair your highness, for their sake."

That Euphie could accept and so nodded. "Very well. Please, be seated doctor."

"Thank you your highness," Richard said as he accepted the invitation.

"Now, let us begin with the nature of this oath you swore," Euphie prompted.

The doctor licked his lips. "It was to your late brother, Prince Clovis. I was approached by a member of the military, a General Asprius, to work on a secret project. I only met the prince once, where he commanded me to lend my aid and made me swear never to disclose what I saw. In exchange, well, he paid me a generous commission for my time, but he also made, insinuations, about what would happen to me and my family if I broke my oath."

Euphie nodded, a glint flashing in her eyes at the mention of Clovis discretely threatening the man's family. She could understand the need for secrecy but that seemed excessive. But her brother was gone now so the Fenettes were unlikely to suffer such consequences. And Euphie herself was not so crass as to resort to such distasteful methods.

"And the nature of the work?" she asked.

Richard frowned thoughtfully. "There, was this person, I believe it was a woman, that General Bartley was studying. I was tasked with taking NMRI images of her body, but I never actually saw her directly."

"A woman?" Euphie said quizzically.

"Yes, your highness. I'm sorry, but I can't really describe her features, at least her external ones. All I really saw of her were her NMRI scans."

Could this be the woman that Suzaku had said was in the supposed gas capsule, Euphie wondered.

"You never saw her face?" she pressed. "Hair color, skin tone, anything?"

"I believe she was Caucasian," Richard replied, "but that was just from a very quick flash of an arm I caught sight of." The man frowned. "I, don't think she was being studied willingly, your highness."

Euphie frowned. This was sounding more and more unpleasant of an affair. Human experimentation of the unwilling variety was always a vile affair. To learn that her own brother might somehow be involved, the princess was far more shaken than her current composure might suggest.

"Do you have any conjectures on what exactly they were trying to achieve with their, experiments?" Euphie asked.

Richard's lips tightened. "I, can only speculate, your highness, and to be honest it's more along the lines of a, pardon the language, wild ass guess, than anything I could claim to be backed with firm proof."

"Then guess," Euphie instructed.

The doctor took a deep breath. "I think, they were studying some sort of accelerated regeneration of the human body. Some of the NMRI scans I took showed indications of severe internal trauma but, a scant few hours later new scans would show a completely healthy body."

The look on Euphie's face was now of open confusion. "Accelerated regeneration?"

"Yes your highness," Richard nodded. "Whoever this woman was, she seemed to have been subjected to, considerable physical abuse. Nevertheless within a short period of time she would be restored. It was, quite frankly, unnatural, and the one time I raised this point I was instructed to keep my observations to myself and not discuss them with anyone."

"Are you certain it was the same woman?" Euphie asked.

Richard shrugged. "Unless she had countless completely identical twins, I am at a loss as to what other explanation there could be. And as improbable as it is that the human body could recover so quickly, I have no understanding of the mechanisms through which her body did so, whether it was a natural ability she possessed or whether the regeneration was somehow artificially induced."

"I see," Euphie said thoughtfully. "Then one final matter, doctor. Do you know where the NMRI was moved to?"

Richard nodded and rattled off an address. "We were in the basement, likely to lower the risk of any prying eyes."

Euphie punched in the address and an eyebrow rose. "This is fairly close to the Shinjuku ward."

"Yes, your highness," Richard said softly. "I, hesitate to speculate too much, but my instincts tell me that the events of that day had something to do with the experiment."

The princess agreed, though she did not say so before the doctor.

"Your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated doctor," she said instead. "Should you ever find yourself or your family in difficulty, my doors are open."

Richard nodded, understanding the conclusion of his interview. "Thank you, highness."

"You will of course continue your discretion and not discuss this affair with anyone else," Euphie continued. "If however some untoward fate should befall me, I ask that you seek out my sister Cornelia or my brother Schneizel and reveal to them what you have revealed to me this day. They will be able to offer you and your family greater protection in that case. Can you do that for me, doctor?"

A slight hesitancy flickered over Richard's face but ultimately the man nodded. "Yes, your highness."

Euphie smiled gently. "Thank you again for your time, doctor."

With that final dismissal Richard stood and bowed before taking his leave. Once he was gone Euphie leaned back into her seat and sighed.

"This, has become considerably more complicated."

Jonathan snorted at the understatement. "I presume you will wish to have the site investigated?"

"Yes. I want a thorough but discreet sweep. If there is anyone left involved in the project, I do not want them to realize that I am closing on their trail."

The brigadier nodded. "Then by your leave your highness, I will assemble a team to discretely look into the matter."

With a bow of his own the brigadier took his leave and the armsmen that had been dismissed for the meeting returned to their posts. For her part Euphie was left with a great many things to ponder, including the unsettling realization that she might have been wrong about the circumstances that led to her brother's death. If Clovis really was directly involved in this matter did that mean her brother was somehow entangled in the Directorate's affairs? That was what the patterns were implying but she needed to consider the possibility that the Directorate was not involved at all, that Clovis was the one behind the strange activities in Area 11. Euphie frowned.

In previous instances connections to the Directorate tended to be discovered via a chain of association between its agents and the way resources were shuffled amongst them. The manner in which resources were transferred and disposed of to support Directorate operations tended to follow a pattern, one that Euphie and her siblings had managed to use successfully to identify such operations and even some of the operatives involved after the fact. Euphie had expected that the situation in Area 11 would be no different, that as she narrowed in on the culprits behind Clovis' death she would link them to known Directorate affiliates back in the homeland.

This hypothesis had however already suffered a myriad of minor blows. The first was the discovery that the person actually responsible for Clovis' death was from all appearances a Japanese insurgent. A very skilled one at that, but her modus operandi was so different from that of other known Directorate agents that she either represented an entirely different subdivision or she was genuinely and completely unaffiliated. The latter's probability was increasing to near certainty with every action she took from her rescue of Euphie herself to the jailbreak at Fuchu.

Another point against the hypothesis was that thus far Euphie had not been able to actually link any of the recipients of the diverted money to Directorate activities in the homeland. All of the money seemed to have been spent locally within the area, procuring supplies and equipment of a medical nature. At first this simply confused the princess but after hearing from Dr. Fenette the rationale for the procurements became evident. But even as one piece of the puzzle fell into place the mystery as a whole, an entirely new mystery at that, remained heavily veiled.

Euphie considered her options. There was no going back and undoing the Lord David's summary execution, not that she felt any real regret over ordering it. Nevertheless Euphie had learned long ago to be economical about her actions, to not be wasteful. As an imperial scion, and one relatively high up in the order of succession, her actions were always watched and judged. The Lord David's death was intended to send multiple messages to a variety of parties, from the imperial court to the peerage to finally the Directorate on the assumption that he, or at least his father, was in some way tangentially affiliated with them. If there did not exist a connection however that meant the last message would never reach its intended recipient, in which case the Lord David's death could have been employed more profitably if arranged in a different manner.

The princess was not used to missteps of such a nature. Then again her position as viceroy was seeing her take on responsibilities far beyond her past experiences so perhaps such mistakes were inevitable. Nevertheless it would be prudent for her to see that such mistakes were not repeated in the future. How fortunate then that Schneizel would be here soon. She looked forward to seeing what advice her elder brother might be able to offer.

* * *

They called him Tohdoh of Miracles in praise of his actions those fateful days at Itsukushima. With only an infantry company and a few mobile artillery pieces under his command Tohdoh had managed to disrupt the Britannian attempt to land in Hiroshima Bay for two days despite near constant bombardment of his positions by the Britannian cruisers covering the landing crafts. On the third day the Britannians were sufficiently fed up with Tohdoh's interference that they diverted a portion of their invasion force to root him out of Itsukushima the hard way. To make certain that he would be crushed two knightmare platoons were dispatched as part of the force.

Tohdoh knew that his position was hopeless from the start, there was no way he could actually defeat the Britannian forces without support for his own navy or air force. Unfortunately the bulk of Japan's military resources were concentrated in the east so the best Tohdoh could hope to achieve was to buy enough time for the civilians in the area to evacuate. And then the impossible happened. First, his forces succeeded in drawing one of the knightmare platoons into a trap and buried the machines under a landslide. The effect on morale was perhaps an even greater factor than the slight rebalancing of power between the Japanese defenders and Britannian attackers.

A few short hours later, with his artillery pieces almost out of ammo, Tohdoh attempted another gambit that succeeded far beyond any measure the man could have hoped or expected. One of the Britannian cruisers had drawn close enough to the island for Tohdoh's guns to range on, why the Japanese man still did not know to this day. The opportunity however was too good to pass and so he ordered his guns to expend their last salvo on the cruiser. He had expected to maybe chase it away, or at least get the cruiser to waste a few shells of its own taking out his now useless guns. Instead a lucky hit on one of the turrets detonated the magazines and tore the cruiser in half. The ensuing chaos provided Tohdoh the opportunity to withdraw his surviving forces, reduced to a third of its original number, from Itsukushima in a mostly orderly retreat. On the fourth day the Britannians had worked up their nerve again and pushed into the bay unopposed. Tohdoh's forces were long gone however and the time he bought had allowed a substantial portion of the civilian population to escape as well.

The battle was celebrated as a victory by the dispirited Japanese military. Tohdoh however held no illusions about the miracle of his would never have happened had he not been fighting what was effectively a diversionary attack instead of the full onslaught the Britannians ground down eastern Japan with. That did not stop his peers from showering him with adulation and when the Japanese Liberation Front was formed from the tattered remnants of the defeated Japanese Army he was appointed to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and given command of the insurgency's burgeoning knightmare force. Tohdoh's reputation and position meant that his input was often sought and almost equally often acted upon, one reason that the man preferred to take measured approaches to problems instead of charging headlong into them. The attention paid to his opinions however had as of late decreased and Tohdoh was finding himself in the somewhat unfamiliar position of having to offer those opinions unsolicited. It was a strange feeling but he did not let it stop him from performing his duty.

"We should be extremely wary of any offer by the Chinese Federation that involves their forces setting foot upon Japan," Tohdoh stated.

The man seated across from him, Major-General Katase, was the highest ranking officer of the Japanese Army to have escaped death or capture following the Empire's invasion. As such it was only natural that he would assume command of the JLF when it was established, much as it was equally natural that Tohdoh would go to him with his concerns. In the past however Katase would have solicited those concerns already, something that the general was doing less and less since the arrival of the European agents.

"You believe that they will use it as an opportunity to gain a foothold in Japan to further their own ambitions," Katase stated.

Tohdoh nodded. "The Chinese dream of empire as much as the Britannians. I fear that the purpose of their offer is to see the realization of adding Japan to their domain."

Katase nodded. "It is a concern that has occurred to me as well. Nevertheless we are not in a position where we can reject the offer out of hand. A message arrived very recently from our European guests' superiors. The EU will not be able to threaten Hokkaido and thus pin the Britannian armored division there. If the Britannians are able to bring the fullness of their forces dispersed across Japan against us when we strike the Tokyo Concession, we will be crushed."

Tohdoh grimaced, but seeing as that was also something he had reservations about he might as well take advantage of Katase bring it up.

"General, what is the strategic objective that an attack on the Concession is supposed to achieve?" Tohdoh asked.

The elderly man blinked. "The goal is to eliminate the viceroy, her administration, and the senior officers of the Britannian military. With their leadership decapitated, the Britannians will become uncoordinated and the confusion will provide us an opportunity to initiate an uprising across the country to retake Japan."

Tohdoh's expression did not convey confidence.

"You have concerns," Katase stated.

"I do general," Tohdoh said.

"Then share them, do not keep them to yourself," Katase instructed.

Tohdoh frowned. The General Katase that he knew, while wholeheartedly devoted to Japan's liberation, was not so reckless as to gamble his country's fact on a single operation like this. At least he was not before those intelligence operatives from the French SDECE appeared with an offer of weapons and support. That support was even now manifesting in the steady stream of modern weapons being smuggled in via Hokkaido. The small arms the JLF already could get thanks to the support of the Six Houses. Some of the bigger light weapons saw greater appreciation with the AT4 anti-tank weapon and Mistral man-portable surface-to-air missile especially instilling within the troops greater confidence in their ability to stand against Britannian air and armor superiority. And then there were the heavier weapons that had to be shipped in in pieces. Assuming the JLF was able to make proper use of them the Britannians would be in for a very painful surprise. Painful, but short of fatal.

"General," Tohdoh began again. "Our attack on the Tokyo Concession presumes a material disadvantage to begin with. Risks are inherent in war, but we should not take them lightly and for an uncertain gain. The plan as originally set out when the JLF formed was to build enough strength for us to defeat in detail Britannian forces in a single region and then use that region to reconstitute the state. After all these years we are nearly at a point where we have that strength. Why then are we preparing to expend it against Tokyo, the most heavily defended of the Britannian positions? Even if we win the JLF will be a spent force, unable to withstand the counterattack that the Britannian forces left unscathed in other parts of the country will surely mount."

"What you say is true," Katase said in a gravely tone. "But never before have we faced so dangerously competent opponents in the Britannian leadership. The past viceroys have always proven incompetent or tone deaf to the suffering of our people. As much as it pains me to say, this worked to our advantage as they created within our people a longing for Japan's restoration as an independent nation. Now however, we have a viceroy who is actively working to improve the lot of the Japanese. Given enough time, she may well succeed in seducing them with the idea that life within the Empire as second-class citizens is preferable to continued resistance and the deprivation that goes along with it."

That Tohdoh could not disagree with for the general's points were as valid as his own. When the JLF first learned that the new viceroy replacing the deceased Clovis was his younger sister they had all scoffed at the young woman. Euphemia however soon proved to be cut of a different cloth and the JLF was reminded pointedly that ultimately all of the imperial scions were sired by one Charles zi Britannia, a man that had gained the throne by orchestrating a coup against his own father. At least some of his children had to have inherited his intelligence and mettle and it was just their misfortune that one of them now ruled Japan. Still, the question remained as to whether the situation was so dire that the JLF absolutely needed to commit itself to a do-or-die, or rather a do-and-die attempt to assassinate the viceroy.

"Then perhaps we should consider a different approach," Tohdoh finally said. "The viceroy's actions are intended to make active armed resistance increasingly difficult and unpalatable for the populace. We should adapt our own strategies accordingly. She has managed to parry quite skillfully the Fuchu gambit but there is a limit to how far she can deny reality, and reality is that Britannians do not regard persons of other races as equals and will treat them accordingly. If we continue to apply pressure upon that point, we can expose the Britannian hypocrisy for what it is and eliminate the viceroy's greatest weapon, her popular support. Then we can carry through with our original plan, one that does not risk the outright destruction of the JLF."

Katase's eyes flickered in a stranger manner but Tohdoh could not quite pin down why that was the case. When the general responded the colonel thought he could hear a certain strain in the tone.

"Time is running out, Tohdoh, for all of us. We have been in hiding for so long, many of the men despair at ever being able to take the fight to Britannia. You know who they are."

Tohdoh nodded grimly. There were always firebrands in any organization and despite the JLF's relative success in maintaining discipline recent events were sorely testing that discipline.

"Still," Katase began, and this time Tohdoh was certain that the general was straining to get his words out. "It would not do to commit ourselves on a forlorn gambit without taking measures. Select a small group. Your most trusted warriors. Seek out Sumeragi-dono and arrange with her a, contingency. One not reliant on the JLF."

At this point Katase was visibly sweating and Tohdoh was doing all he could to not gap at his superior. Of all the possibilities that he had contemplated for the JLF's shift in strategy, his own general being under some sort of coercion had barely even entered Tohdoh's mind. Now though it was obvious that Katase was under some sort of pressure and consequently the JLF itself was effectively compromised. Tohdoh wanted to protest, to demand to know who dared to suborn the JLF from its sacred mission of liberating Japan so that he might cut them down. Yet the burning light in Katase's eyes gave Tohdoh pause, as if the general was desperately trying to warn Tohdoh of the reach of this adversary and urging him to withdraw from the battle. No, not withdraw.

Tohdoh took a deep breath and nodded. "I will see it done, general."

Some of the tension on Katase's face bled away though there was no way to regard the older man as calm. With clear effort the general nodded.

"Go," he commanded softly.

Tohdoh bowed and quickly took his leave. His instincts told him he would need to act fast, that Katase could only provide him with a very short window of opportunity. It would not be wasted.

* * *

The laughter came unbidden and Kallen was helpless to keep it back. Not that she tried very hard but it was a while since she had been able to laugh in so carefree a manner.

"And so when I got back to the clubroom that damn cat had completely shredded the turkey we had spent a couple of hours roasting," Cole continued. "It was too full to run away but it still managed to take us on am merry chase. By the time we finally caught it everything was a right mess, especially after it tipped over a container of flour that someone forgot to seal shut. There was a fine coat of powder all over its fur and the thing kept sneezing. The rest of us weren't much better off, all of us were still in our uniforms at that. But we'd finally caught the thieving little rascal that had been snacking on the dishes we left out to cool, or so we thought."

"You thought?" Kallen said. "You mean you were victimizing a completely innocent kitty?"

"Innocent nothing, that thing still ruined a perfectly good turkey," Cole said though there was no malice behind his wide grin. "It was then that we all heard a squeaking sound and lo and behold, scampering across the floor through the flour was a damn mouse. A big one too, I almost thought it was a rat. We just stared at it at first but the cat began squirming in my hands. It was starting to bare its fangs when I dropped it and off it went after the mouse. The little critter tried to get away but maybe the flour had made the floor too slippery and it kept falling over. Next thing we know the cat's all over it and, uh, maybe I should stop there."

"Maybe you should," Kallen agreed. "Still though, so there was a rodent infestation in the building?"

Cole nodded. "And that stray had actually been keeping the mice in check, though maybe if it hadn't been doing such a good job we'd have realized there was a mouse problem earlier. The school called in some pest control and thoroughly fumigated the place and so far we haven't had any more problems."

"So what happened to the cat then?" Kallen asked.

"Oh, we looked after it for a little while, but then it got adopted by Nunnally. She's also the one who gave it its name, Arthur."

"Well it certainly showed itself an able warrior," Kallen said with a playful smirk.

"It even proved that Excalibur has some real teeth," Cole replied.

Kallen snorted.

"Bad joke?"

"Not one of your better ones," Kallen said. "I think you're better off sticking to stories."

"Oh I have plenty," Cole said. "Though I think I can be excused if the next one I tell does not involve my own personal humbling."

The young man stood and stretched a bit. "Well, I should probably get going, if I dally any longer my club might send out a hunting party."

"Considering the, prowess, demonstrated against Arthur, are you actually worried?" Kallen teased.

"It has been two years since then," Cole said with a smile of his own. "And we've gained a few members who do their way around a hunting rifle. Something about ensuring absolute freshness for the dishes they prepare."

"Now that is what I call dedication," Kallen chuckled.

Cole nodded before seeming to think of something. "Say, would you happen to be free this weekend, Kallen?"

The red haired girl took only a moment before nodding. "I have no prior engagements."

"I'll be visiting a few places where I usually source ingredients from," Cole said. "Would you, perhaps like to join me?"

Kallen's mouth opened. And then closed without a word leaving. She bit back the temptation to peek at Cole's condition and instead tried to approach this as a normal high school girl would. The girl found herself more or less floundering however.

"Would this be a, social outing?" Kallen inquired.

Cole smiled somewhat sheepishly. "If you have no objection to it being so."

If she had no objection. In fact Kallen could think of quite a few, not least of which was the simple fact that she was in the eyes of the Empire an insurgent, a rebel. A day would come when she would not be able to hide this fact from those that knew her as Kallen Stadtfeld and everyone she was close to would come under suspicion. Some like her benighted stepmother Kallen was almost looking forward to seeing her squirm. Others like the rest of the student council she was genuinely contrite over the attention that would fall upon them, though Milly's closeness to the princess would likely help shield them from the worst of it. Similarly Cole's father would likely be able to keep the young man from any actual danger. But there was one thing that no one would be able to shield him from. Could Kallen do that to him? Or to herself for that matter?

Before she could answer however the doors to the student council office swung open and Milly and C.C. entered. The Ashford girl was chatting excitedly about something while C.C. nodded along. When Milly caught sight of Cole and Kallen she came to an abrupt halt and began grinning.

"Well, fancy seeing you here Cole," the blond girl said cheerfully. "I hope you're enjoying the student council's hospitality?"

"As always," Cole said with a dry smile before nodding to Kallen. "Umm, I'll see you later Kallen."

Kallen began nodding but before she realized it her mouth opened one more.

"Wait."

Cole froze and glanced over at Kallen. The girl's mind race as she frantically tried to figure out what to say. Finally she found something that she hoped would not sound too much like an excuse to Cole.

"Let me consult with Cecilia about whether she thinks I'll be able to handle an all-day outing right now," she said with as gentle a smile as she could manage. "I'll let you know tomorrow."

Cole smiled back, seemingly satisfied, and nodded. "I understand, that was somewhat inconsiderate of me to not take that into consideration. Then I shall await your reply, Kallen."

Kallen watched as Cole left, a sense of regret already filling her. She was not some shallow girl looking for a high school fling, but she was not so heartless as to not wonder what it might be like to have someone to hold dear. As the doors closed behind Cole Milly took a seat next to Kallen.

"So, Cole finally asked you out huh?"

Kallen looked over at her ostensible friend. "Finally?"

"The rumors have been swirling for weeks since the dance," Milly said, her smile not quite one of amusement but still bearing a hint of it. "And I've known Cole for a long time. He's polite and courteous to every girl he meets, but he's never gone out of his way to get to know them. Until you."

"And that makes you think he's interested in me?"

"I know he's interested in you," Milly corrected. "Just as I know that you're more interested in him than you're letting on."

Kallen blinked, taken aback slightly by the other girl's forthrightness. "You think I'm interested in Cole."

"Would you be hanging out with him so much at school if you weren't?"

"But I'm not-" and then Kallen stopped herself as she actually thought about it.

There were the lunches last week, true most of the student council was there save Nina for a couple of days, but she was always the one that seemed to linger the longest. Then there was the planning of the actual menu, which Rivalz had informed Kallen she was being assigned to. That saw Kallen spend even more time with Cole. And of course there were the times when she and Cole simply ran into each other in the hallways. At first it seemed like that was happening more often than before but in actuality it was simply the two noticing each other more whenever their paths crossed. Kallen's head began to spin.

"I-I-" Kallen stuttered.

Milly sighed. "Kallen. Cole is a good friend of mine, one of my first after I moved here from the homeland. I care about him. You're also someone I consider a friend and even if I've only known you for a few months I can already see that the two of you would be good for each other. So why are you so hesitant?"

Kallen grimaced. She could hardly tell Milly her real concerns, but how could she get the girl off her back otherwise?

"Sometimes," Kallen began, "sometimes ideals come with costs."

A pensive look crossed Milly's expression but it disappeared quickly.

"That's ultimately something for you to decide," the older girl said. "As I said, I think the two of you would be good for each other. Cole is very levelheaded and also very kind. I see that same kindness in you, Kallen, and I have no doubt that whatever ideals you aspire to Cole's strength can only help you in shouldering them, so long as you are sincere to both him and yourself."

There was a slight emphasis on that last bit, an emphasis that Kallen could not quite pick out the subtext of. Was it possible Milly was finally suspecting her to be the Red Knight? Kallen momentarily focused her geass on the older girl but just as quickly reined it in as Milly turned about to leave. But if so why then encourage Kallen to become closer with Cole? The older girl was still in many ways an enigma but she seemed to have her heart in the right place. And so Kallen began pondering on the actual issue at hand, whether she should accept Cole's invitation or not. She glanced over at C.C. who seemed utterly disinterested in the freshly concluded conversation.

Kallen grimaced. "I'm probably going to regret this, but what do you think, C.C.?"

The ostensible French girl stopped mid-stretch and looked at Kallen. And then she grinned. Yep. Kallen was regretting opening her mouth already.

* * *

"Merde."

Charlotte looked over at Lelouch as he shut his cellphone.

"A problem?"

"That was André. It would seem my hold on General Katase was not quite as full-proof as I had hoped. He's dispatched Colonel Tohdoh on some contingency mission and Tohdoh's taken with him his Four Holy Swords, their knightmares, and a platoon of infantry and support personnel."

Charlotte's eyes narrowed. The infantry would be missed but were not absolutely critical to their plans, there were always other ways to recruit more fodder after all. The knightmares on the other hand, and to lose those five knightmare pilots specifically, that was going to hurt.

"Do we know where they went?"

"To the Sumeragi," Lelouch answered. "And no, I don't think we can get them back, at least not easily. According to André Tohdoh approached Katase with some concerns and that's when the general managed to work around my restrictions enough to get Tohdoh out of there. The colonel's suspicions will obviously be aroused and any attempt to recall him will likely be ignored."

"Are you going to write him off?"

"For now yes." Lelouch began pacing. "The problem is the rest of the JLF. I need to get back there to tighten up my control over them before the rank and file start getting nervous." He turned to Charlotte. "We need to take out C.C. and eliminate her current contractor."

Charlotte frowned. "Are you certain your hold over Suzaku is enough?"

"It will suffice to further prime him later," Lelouch said. "And as nice as it would be to have the ASEEC's resources when we begin the attack I am prepared to settle for just neutralizing the Lancelot via more direct means."

The girl nodded reluctantly. "Then, when do we move?"

"At the earliest opportunity. History has Kallen and C.C. at window seats. The next time they are in class, signal the attack."

"Understood," Charlotte said flatly.

"We should be able to track where their bodies get taken." Lelouch went back to pacing. "If we're quick enough we'll be able to either intercept them en route or get past whatever security is at the location. We will then retrieve C.C. and secure her until I can extract her Code." Lelouch grinned. "And with that Code I would have one of the two pieces needed for Ragnarok."

Charlotte tried not to frown at the hungry expression on Lelouch's face. Instead she focused on more immediate conditions.

"This is extremely short notice," she pointed out. "Will our contingencies hold up under such a rush?"

"Il faut marcher quand le diables est aux trousses," Lelouch replied.

"That is not encouraging," Charlotte said darkly.

The chuckle from Lelouch matched the girl's mood. "Non, mais la fortune sourit aux audacieux."

Charlotte sniffed. "Je pense que le quarante-troisième maxime est plus applicable."

* * *

The basement was filled with a fair amount of equipment, including the NMRI that had gone missing from MacArthur Base. Villetta surveyed the place carefully, looking out for any traps. Mercifully there were none and the soldiers under Villetta's command spread out.

"Be on the lookout for any photos of the subject," Villetta ordered.

Affirmatives sounded in response and Villetta herself began rifling through one of the desks. There was a surprising amount of paper documentation despite every workstation having a computer. That suited Villetta just fine however as there would be no way to examine the contents of the computers until they got the harddrives back to the actual experts. Not that the numbers on these pages meant much to the major either. All indications were they would need a proper doctor to decipher all of this gibberish.

"Ma'am."

Villetta turned about and looked up at the hulking man serving as her second.

"Yes lieutenant?"

"These seem to be, surgical records," Alexander said.

The major frowned. "Is something wrong, lieutenant?"

Visible disgust twisted Alexander's face. "The, procedures they describe. They are abhorrent, vile. I would have words with those who call themselves practitioners of medicine who would sully their hands so."

Her curiosity, and wariness, peaked, Villetta took the binder and opened it up. She almost wretched then and there.

"By the gods, what is this!?" she hissed.

"These, men, tested the limits of this person's regeneration in the most direct ways they could think of," Alexander nearly spat.

Villetta forced herself to leaf through the binder, if only to make sure there was not anything actually that actually depicted the subject's face. All she saw however were shots of the woman, and she was certain it was a woman, cut open in various fashions. Some even portrayed various organs being removed from her body. Villetta had never felt the need to be violently sick as when she finally snapped the binder shut.

"I think there will be little doubt that the princess will deal with these cretins once she learns of their crimes," Villetta stated firmly. "For now however we need to focus on our mission, to find something we can use to identify this woman."

Alexander nodded ever so slightly and returned to his search. Villetta set the binder aside, giving it one last disgusted look before doing the same. After that shock she was almost hesitant to have someone report another find to her. The next few minutes passed in merciful silence but eventually one of the other armsman would find something else.

"Major!"

Villetta straightened and frowned at the somewhat frantic look on the other soldier's face.

"What is it corporal?"

"Ma'am," the soldier said as he rushed to Villetta. "I found a photo of the subject."

"Let me see."

The soldier thrust a manila folder at her. Villetta took it and opened it up to reveal a profile shot of a green haired woman. She blinked.

"She, looks familiar," Villetta said as she searched her memory.

"Ma'am, she was at the dance held at Ashford Academy," the soldier said. "We all got profiles of people that her highness might come into contact with as a precautionary measure. She's supposedly some sort of, assistant, to one of the student council members."

Villetta's eyes widened. Their target had been that close to the princess?

"What was her name?" she asked brusquely.

"Cecilia Clermont ma'am."

Villetta wasted no time tuning her radio to the command channel. "I need to speak with the brigadier immediately."

And prayed that she was not too late.

* * *

Kallen was finding it a bit harder than usual to concentrate in history class. The material itself was not that difficult and her teacher was generally more than able to engage the interest of his students. Today however Kallen's thoughts were elsewhere, specifically on a young man whom she was only recently became acquainted with. It felt weird in the extreme to find her mind occupied by a guy, especially considering the life or death struggles she had faced over the past few months. Yet the more Kallen thought about it the more she was starting to miss those fights. At least on the battlefield she had perfect information with her geass and did not end up second guessing herself at every turn. How was it then that one man could drive her to such frustration?

The girl sighed. Cole was a nice young man, of that Kallen agreed with Milly on. And he did seem interested in her, that was also pretty blindly obvious now that it had been pointed out to her. But did she like him back? Or at least like him enough to make an effort? Had her situation been more normal Kallen was rapidly coming to the conclusion that yes, Cole was the type of person she could see herself dating. But her situation was not normal and because she did like Cole as a person she could not bring herself to entangle him in the very real dangers she faced. It was for the best that she head off any further deepening of their friendship, or so she kept telling herself. Yet Kallen found that a part of her was pained at losing this possibility. A part of her wanted the potential for love to blossom. The part of her that she hid under all of her iron will to keep it from getting hurt anymore after her family was rent asunder by the Britannian invasion of Japan. Another sigh escaped her.

"Is my lecture not stimulating enough for you, Ms. Stadtfeld?"

Kallen started and looked up to see her history teacher regarding her with a playful grin.

"No, of course not!" Kallen said. "I mean, sorry Mr. Taylor. I'm just, a bit tired."

The teacher chuckled. "Well then, allow me to stimulate your mental faculties. Would you be so kind as to explain to the class, in your own words, the political consequences in London of Washington's Rebellion?"

"Yes Mr. Taylor," Kallen said. "Before the colonists began their rebellion that had been discussion within Parliament as to whether representation should be offered to the colonies. The outbreak of fighting however hardened political sentiment in London and resulted in the passing of several Acts of Parliament that stipulated that the Petition of Right, Habeas Corpus, and Bill of Rights applied only to those of proper English descent. The definition of this descent was initially that of those born in the British Isles as it was felt that influence by those who immigrated to the colonies from other European countries was partially responsible for causing the schism between Great Britain and her overseas territories. After the pacification of the colonies and restoration of the Crown's authority the definition of English descent eventually came to also include those of British stock born in the Americas. These policies would serve as the foundation of the Numbers system instituted following the formation of the Holy Britannian Empire after the fall of the British Isles."

The same system that was even now causing untold misery amongst her people, Kallen tried not to dwell on.

"Very good," Mr. Taylor said. "Now Ms. Dunois, could you-oh, hmm, she has yet to return from the restroom." The man frowned. "She does seem to be taking her time." And turned to Shirley. "Ms. Fenette, could you please go check up on her?"

"Yes Mr. Taylor," Shirley said and left the classroom.

Kallen paid only half a mind to all this, instead letting her own thoughts wander back to the question originally laid down at her. Before the colonial uprising politics and civil society in Great Britain had actually been trending towards liberalism, respect for human rights, and public participation in government. What might have happened had the colonies not rebelled? Or even succeeded? Would the world have turned into a better place? There was sadly no way of knowing and dwelling on what-ifs would not make her own task-

A glint caught Kallen's eye and she looked out the window. Her geass had just activated when she recognized what was headed her way.

"LOOK OU-"

The girl's world was consumed in fire and blood.

End of Chapter 32

Yes, I just left all of you with a cliffhanger. No, it's not much of a cliffhanger.

There was a lot of ground that needed to be covered and I was left with a choice of either shifting the attack on Ashford back another chapter or re-sequencing everything else around it. As you can see I've decided to do the latter. Hopefully that doesn't end up screwing me.

The situation with Tohdoh felt a bit forced but I needed him set up for a few things down the line. Hopefully his actions don't seem too out of character. Though to be frank Tohdoh was one of those characters whose, character, felt flanderized over the course of R2 and so it was very hard to pin down a set of characteristics for him.

Let's see, I'd say that I have firmly established just on which side of the moral line Lelouch is on. Though really his actions shouldn't be of a surprise to anyone who has been reading this story thus far. And we still haven't seen the full lengths he's prepared to go to fulfill his objective.

The conversation between Kallen and Milly was originally far more involved but I ended up cutting it because I couldn't convincingly work out how to connect it to the conduct of the characters after they spoke. So that was about an hour or so of work down the drain. It happens.

Kallen's father. For someone who is supposed to be fairly critical to how the girl turned out so embittered he doesn't show up and barely gets any mention even in the side materials. Which means that I am completely free to use him how I see fit, and boy do I have a use for him.

C.C.'s first line last chapter was intentionally written to allow for misinterpretation. What did I say about her trolling everyone?

I had this discussion with another reader but when a character refers to Alphonse Pierre Juin as marshal, they are referring to his distinction of Marshal of France, not his military rank. He does also hold the rank of field marshal, though I'm fudging it a bit by associating that rank with his position as head of the general staff of the combined European military, much as Rommel also holds that rank due to him being the chief of staff of the general staff's head. He could also hold it due to the German government not wanting Rommel to be too outranked by Juin for political reasons. There are a lot of ways I can spin it to sidestep the usual requirement that the rank be only for during time of war. This is actually one of the points where I waffled a bit about whether I wanted to have the two as generals instead of field marshals. I decided to stick with field marshal due to their very senior positions in the military combined with the fact that even if there isn't, yet, an active war between the EU and Britannia, the geopolitical climate is about as close to a war as one can get short of active and open hostilities.

I think I can wrap up the Ashford arc in another two chapters. After which things will be calm for a bit. And then the real fireworks start.


	34. Chapter 33

Snippet spoiler: medium to low

 _Thirty-three students and two instructors perished, twelve others wounded in the immediate strike, twenty-eight police officers killed in the subsequent attack. The Massacre at Ashford Academy is to this day the deadliest terrorist strike to have occurred in Japan. While the Britannian military was guilty of inflicting greater number of civilian casualties on numerous occasions while pacifying the country, the insurgency against the Empire's rule had never until that day deliberately caused such bloodshed amongst the Britannian civilian population. In point of fact several medium sized liberation movements openly denounced the barbarism of the attack, creating perhaps the first visible schism between the factions that would aid the Japanese Liberation Front during the Black Rebellion and those that sided with the Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki._

 _Most historians believe that left to their own devices the JLF would have never orchestrated such an attack and that the principle mover was Lieutenant Lamperouge. If the lieutenant's intention was to eliminate the Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki as a potential opposing rallying point the gambit backfired in a spectacular manner. In killing so many of the Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki's friends and classmates the Black King created an implacable enemy in the Red Knight, and may have in effect set into motion her ascension to becoming the Red Queen in the following months._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 33: Homo homini lupus est

The arrival of the Prince Schneizel, Heir Secundus and Prime Minister of the Holy Britannian Empire, to Area 11 was accompanied with the appropriate pomp. An honor guard composed of the best units awaited on the grounds of MacArthur Base and a line of knightmares from Cornelia's royal guard stood opposite them. The Lancelot was regrettably not present to represent the Camelot institute as it was still being rebuilt but its absence was more than made up for by the massive black and gold Gawain.

The manner in which the prince had been conveyed to Area 11 was equally impressive. The _Avalon_ was a one of a kind, a prototype to demonstrate the viability of the float system to create airborne warships. As a prototype it suffered from a variety of issues that precluded it from ever being used in combat, not least of which was its relatively thin armor due to weight considerations. The configuration of its float system was non-optimal, limiting the total weight that could be lifted and such forced the ship to have relatively thin armor compared to its naval counterparts. Then there was the bridge, which while likely offering a spectacular view for those inclined, was badly exposed to fire from below. One would have thought a flying ship would have at least put its bridge on top where an enemy on the ground would not be able to directly hit it. The ship did however possess an abundance of electrical power generation, allowing for the mounting of a single railgun under its bow chin and installation of a Blaze Luminous system that helped slightly offset its thin armor. The lack of any other armaments or defenses however made the _Avalon_ hideously vulnerable without support, which was why a squadron of F-15 Eagles had escorted it for its journey across the Pacific.

Ultimately _Avalon_ was only a test platform and not terribly suited to actual combat. Officially that was also the opinion of the Britannian military with respect to the entire notion of flying ships. Whatever their tactical flexibility they were too expensive, too lightly armored, and ultimately too maintenance intensive to employ in the field. As such _Avalon_ would remain the only example of its kind for the short term, a white elephant that was just ostentatious enough to serve as a glorified shuttle for an imperial prince fond of esoteric pieces of technology, and just powerful enough to ensure his personal security if properly screened, but otherwise a boondoggle that would have been scrapped to save on the maintenance costs. Unofficially, well that was another matter entirely.

"Another year," Cornelia said at Euphie's side, "just another year and the Empire will stand insurmountable."

Euphie nodded. Considering the amount of money she had helped Schneizel and Cornelia funnel into the military's black budget Britannia better damn well be insurmountable once the project was complete.

As Schneizel walked down the stairs the soldiers all snapped to attention and presented arms. As close family Cornelia and Euphie were excused from such bowing and scraping and Euphie favored her brother with a warm embrace. Schneizel squeezed back.

"It is good to see you well Euphie," he said earnestly.

"And you as well brother."

As the two withdrew Schneizel cracked a grin at his other sister. "Cornelia."

"Schneizel," Cornelia returned it along with a nod. "Welcome to our little corner of the Empire."

"Little perhaps, but lively nonetheless," Schneizel said as he fell in step next to his siblings and glanced at the two armsmen and Gilbert trailing behind him. "There is considerable anxiety in Parliament about the level of activity by the insurgency."

"And is that anxiety going to translate into attempts at active interference?" Euphie asked.

Cornelia snorted. "Area 11 is still in developing status, which means a military and imperial mandate overrides any political one. Parliament has no authority or jurisdiction here."

"Direct authority, not as such," Schneizel said. "Nevertheless the budget does need to be approved by the politicians and, sidelining them too often is not necessarily wise."

Cornelia grunted in concession of the point but said nothing further.

"And as to your question, no, the level of anxiety is not yet at that level," Schneizel said to Euphie, "and I am confident that under your administration it will not reach that level either. In many respects you have achieved more in the past few months than every other viceroy combined when it comes to extending actual rule of law beyond the Concessions."

"I but built on the foundations of my predecessors," Euphie demurred.

"More like solidified them and then started digging new ones," Schneizel said and came to a stop as they reached the armored limousines. "In all seriousness Euphie, many in the homeland recognize that the recent insurgent activity reflect their concern that your programmes are working. You are generally regarded as a competent administrator, your, capriciousness aside."

Euphie raised an eyebrow. "Is that what they are calling it?"

"So my sources tell me," Schneizel said with a flat smile.

A most unpleasant smile appeared on Euphie's own face. "To presume that another's patience is limited more than your own is to set the stage for great disappointment. I look forward to witnessing that disappointment."

Schneizel chuckled dryly. "I see your humor is still in fine form."

The three climbed into the vehicle while their respective escorts quickly boarded theirs. The streets that the motorcade passed through were lined with cheering crowds and Schneizel even lowered his window to wave at them. He glanced over at Euphie.

"I think some of these people are here to see you as well. Should you not indulge them?"

The princess chuckled. "I suppose there is no harm to playing to the crowd."

From Cornelia's expression it was clear that at least one of the three siblings thought otherwise but she kept her peace and simply watched as Euphie rolled down the window on her side of the car and waved. The increasing volume of cheers seemed to prove Schneizel right.

"So what did you have in mind for the afternoon?" Schneizel asked as they pulled into the viceroy's palace.

"I thought I would give you a chance to rest from your flight over," Euphie responded, "and get used to the time difference."

"That is considerate of you Euphie, but I assure you that I am well freshened. I was able to catch a nap on the _Avalon_ and while I cannot claim to be completely switched over, generally it is easier going from west to east than the other way around."

"True enough," Euphie said with a smile. "In that case I believe introductions to my cabinet would be the first order of business. I believe you remember Ruben Ashford?"

Schneizel nodded. "I heard he agreed to be your chief of staff. An astute selection."

"Yes, despite his age Ruben has managed his duties splendidly." The door opened on Euphie's side and she stepped out. "The others I do not believe you have met before."

"That is indeed the case," Schneizel agreed, "though the reports that I have reviewed from the area has given me some confidence in their competency."

"I am glad to hear it," Euphie said with a smile before turning to her armsman. "Please pass on to Jane that I would like those ministers not presently engaged to meet in the Lancaster conference room."

"Yes your highness," the soldier said before speaking softly into his radio.

"I will also have to commend Brigadier Eyre," Schneizel remarked as he entered the building proper with his siblings. "He seems to have your security arrangements well in hand."

"That he has," Cornelia put in. "And he has even scouted a prospective knight for Euphie."

"Ah yes, a Dame Nu," Schneizel said.

Euphie chuckled. "Does nothing not reach your ears, dear brother?"

"When it comes to matters of family I try to stay abreast of any relevant matters," Schneizel replied playfully.

The three continued exchanging bits and pieces of news mixed with pleasantries as they walked the halls. Euphie and Cornelia had not been home for months and not surprisingly there was much for Schneizel to catch them up on. Now that they were within the relative security of the palace he could be a bit more forthright about developments at the court. Most of the news was of neutral tone to the two sisters though Cornelia grimaced at hearing of the possibility that more suitors might attempt to call upon her soon despite her being overseas. Euphie tried not to find too much amusement in her sister's irritation seeing as she would be dealing with such matters soon enough. Then again being responsible for the defenestration of two dukes might act as a deterrent to the more venal members of the peerage. One could only hope.

Servants were already waiting at the designated conference room and opened the doors as the three approached. As they stepped through the threshold however the sound of a boot hitting the hardwood floor caused Euphie to start and glance back. Her eyes widened as her two armsmen and Gilbert made as if to draw their weapons. That ultimately did not happen but neither did the men remove their hands from their holsters. From the side doors leading into the conference room two more of Euphie's armsmen appeared and took up positions covering the princess.

"What is going on?" Euphie demanded.

"Your highness, there's been a terrorist attack," one of her guards said. "Ashford Academy has been hit."

Euphie's face paled. The princess was frozen where she stood as her mind completely locked up. No, it was not locked up, instead her geass erupted in a fount of numbers as she tried to compute the probability of Nunnally being a victim. It was an exercise in futility as the princess had no information on the size and scope of the attack. The margin of error rendered any calculation meaningless yet Euphie found herself unable to stop trying nonetheless. In fact she could not stop at all. Her geass was rampaging out of control, generating garbage values that then fed into a completely chaotic model that spewed forth more gibberish. She was locked in a negative feedback loop and Euphie had no idea how to break out of it.

"-phie!"

The princess latched onto that sound. Someone was calling her.

"Euphie!"

She forced herself to focus on the voice, to find its source.

"Euphie!"

And she was back, the sight of Cornelia's frantic expression in her face.

"Euphie, snap out of it!"

Euphie blinked and with great effort nodded. "I-I'm okay."

Her voice trembled, giving lie to her statement, but she was slowly getting her bearings again. And then she became aware of the noise behind her. Spinning about Euphie saw an elderly man lying on the floor, his pale hands clutching his chest.

"Ruben!" Euphie cried.

The young woman forced her way to the man's side. Ruben's ashen face turned to look at the princess.

"My granddaughters," Ruben uttered, one shaking hand rising.

Euphie took hold of the hand and felt her own body quiver with it. "I'll make sure they're safe, I promise you."

The elderly man's eyes seemed to calm ever so slightly.

"Highness, please step back," the medic attending to Ruben said.

Reluctantly Euphie obeyed and released the man's hand. "Will he be well?"

"I will do everything in my power your highness," the medic said. "Now please, allow me to focus."

Euphie nodded and stepped back. The rest of her cabinet gave way for her, waiting for her instructions. The princess took a deep breath.

"Get me a line to the brigadier," she ordered.

Cornelia and Schneizel looked at their younger sister in surprise.

"Euphie?"

Before either could speak any further words however the figure of one Brigadier Jonathan Eyre, Captain of the Guard of Her Imperial Highness Princess Euphemia li Britannia, entered. The brigadier stepped before his liege and dipped his head.

"Your orders, highness."

"Dispatch a team to Ashford Academy immediately," Euphemia commanded. "They are to ascertain the safety of Melinda and Abigail Ashford and ensure their continuing wellbeing." The princess' expression darkened. "And should they find that task to be beyond their reach, they are to determine whom has so invited my wrath."

Jonathan regarded the young woman before him for a brief moment. There was a light in her eyes, a light that burned with furious will. He clicked his heels.

"Your will be done."

* * *

The JLF soldier that Lelouch had suborned to launch the missile had made a mistake. Hard to blame the man as despite his theoretical understanding of the weapon now used his actual hands-on experience with it was effectively nil. For simplicity's sake the Mistral missile was thus set to detonate on impact instead of proximity. Still the soldier managed to fulfill the letter of his orders and put his missile through the open window into the classroom. As a consequence it detonated on the opposite side of the classroom from one Kallen Stadtfeld, blowing through the wall and floor and spraying shrapnel and debris into a total of four classrooms. If the intent was to maximize casualties then it was a superb shot and combined with the Tungsten balls that were part of the explosive payload the weapon's lethality in such a confined space should have been more than adequate to guarantee neutralization of its intended targets. That it was not entirely successful had more to do with the preternatural abilities of those targets than any failing on the part of the weapon.

Conversely the mistake could have been on the part of one Lelouch Lamperouge. After all his order to the JLF soldier was to shoot the missile _into_ the classroom upon being signaled by Charlotte and so the soldier was technically entirely successful in fulfilling his mission. For someone with as much experience with the subtleties of his geass as Lelouch there was little excuse for that kind of oversight. Ordering the man to shoot at Kallen's position would have had a far greater chance of killing the girl and maybe even reduced the number of bystanders killed. Then again considering the secondary effects that had been predicted from a higher body count wording of Lelouch's order might well have been entirely intentional. Either way the consequences were the same. Dozens of innocents were dead but one Kallen Stadtfeld yet drew breath.

Kallen's lungs rasped as she tried to breathe through the smoke and soot. Her mind was still reeling as it tried to grapple with what had just happened. Tried, but failed. Her body was wracked with pain and as she uncurled herself she felt the floor seemingly shift.

"-llen!"

The girl's head rose slowly and her sight cleared at a similar pace.

"Kallen!"

Her ears stopped ringing and she thought she recognized the voice. She blinked and that seemed to finally get her vision to focus.

"Kallen!"

"Cole?" the girl whispered.

"Hang in there," the young man urged. "Gods, Kallen, please be okay."

Her body shifted again and this time Kallen was aware enough to realize that she was being very gently carried.

"The-the others," Kallen muttered.

"Worry about yourself," Cole said with a weak smile. "We'll take care of the others."

That Kallen was constitutionally incapable of doing. Without even consciously willing it her geass activated and gave her a detailed and expansive view of the gaping hole burned into the side of Ashford Academy, of the embers that flickered, and of the bloody carnage carved into the grounds. Kallen's stomach twisted about.

"Oh gods," the girl whispered. "Oh gods, make it stop, make it stop, make it stop…"

"Kallen, it's okay, it's over," Cole tried to assure her.

He placed the girl down on a bed and Kallen immediately curled up again reflexively.

"Make it stop make it stop make it stop…"

Again and again her mind was assaulted by the bloody streaks staining the rubble, the broken bodies scattered amidst the broken rooms, and finally the lifeless stare of his classmates and teachers.

"Kallen, it's okay now, you're okay, please, calm down!" Cole pled frantically.

"Make it stop make it stop MAKE IT STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"

Kallen's eyes snapped open and an unseen fountain of light erupted from her left eye, unseen by all save a select few. Back in the viceroy's palace Euphemia winced as her vision was seemingly swamped by a blinding glare. Some distance away Lelouch shielded his eyes as if he was suddenly trying to stare into the sun. At the same time Kallen felt the presence of these two minds as if their thoughts were an echo in a dark and empty chamber. She could not quite make out where they were but that moment was all she needed to know who they were. One mind sang of sorrow and grief mirroring Kallen's own. The other was a black vortex of pain and hate that raged just beneath a still surface devoid of a trace of empathy or compassion.

As Kallen gazed at this singularity she felt as if some of the anger was bleeding over into her own mind. No, that was not what was happening, the rage that now ran through her in un-distilled purity was her own. This was the mind that had orchestrated the attack on the academy, the mind that so casually slaughtered her classmates and teachers just to get at her and C.C. And this would be the mind whose blood would spill to quench her desire for vengeance.

"Kallen?"

Another mind now reached out to her, another echo. Kallen lingered for just a moment longer, burning into her memory the taste of her adversary. And then she allowed her consciousness to be drawn once more back to the mortal plane.

"Kallen?" Cole said once more, his voice filled with concern.

Kallen looked up at the young man and took a few moments to realize that his arms were once more holding her. A part of her drew comfort from his proximity. Another grieved at the simple fact that she could never, ever truly embrace him back. Their worlds were simply too different, hers soaked with blood while his devoid of such senseless violence. But right now, right here, Kallen allowed herself to linger in Cole's arms. Just this once she would allow another to soothe her pain, for soon enough the path she would embark on would close off any such comfort.

On the other side of the school, amidst the rubble and broken corpses, a single flame nearly extinguished flickered. Ever so slowly it began to burn once more.

* * *

Today was turning out to be a very shitty day from the perspective of one Jonathan Eyre. True it was not his own charge so suddenly endangered but there was no telling just how much worse things might get before the day was over. As he finally found time to respond to an urgent call from Villetta Jonathan decided that, yes, things could get worse.

"Understood," Jonathan said. "Keep that place locked down until we can get more manpower there. Try to find all copies of any identifying photos and secure them."

That dealt with Jonathan approached his liege to make his own report. As he came to her side however he hesitated. The princess' eyes were narrowed as if she were looking at a distant object. Jonathan followed her gaze but there was nothing save a wall in that direction. The brigadier then mentally mapped the room they were in in relation to the palace as a whole and then the palace to the Concession. He frowned. Ashford Academy was indeed in that direction though he could not fathom how the princess would know that. That mystery would need to wait however as there were more pressing matters to deal with.

"Highness," Jonathan said.

Euphie blinked and looked over at the man. Whatever she had just seen would have to wait.

"Brigadier. Any news?"

"Not yet highness, but Dame Nu has reported some disturbing developments from her investigations."

The princess frowned. "What developments?"

"Dame Nu's team managed to find a photograph of the subject Prince Clovis was having studied," Jonathan explained. "The woman was recognized by one of the guardsmen that accompanied you to the school dance at Ashford. She has been tentatively identified as Cecilia Clermont, personal assistant to the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld."

Euphie's eyes widened. Cecilia Clermont, the green haired French girl that served as a medical assistant to Kallen, a girl known for her frailty and the newest member of the student council. Her mind began racing as the pieces fell into place. The item stolen by the insurgents during the Shinjuku incident was not a poison gas container as officially reported but something holding a green haired girl. The insurgent that piloted the Glasgow and then utilized a hijacked Sutherland to lead a devastating counterattack against the Britannian forces was a red haired girl likely of mixed heritage. Then another data point, the terrorist attack at the Lake Kawaguchi resort where two mysterious women completely routed the Blood of the Samurai, rescuing not only the hostages but also saving Euphie's own life. Throughout the entire thing both Kallen and Cecilia had somehow managed to hide and evade the Samurai until they were neutralized. As improbable as that was it was still more likely than the alternative, or it had been more likely.

The princess' head began throbbing as her geass seemed to take on a life of its own and crunched the numbers. She did not even need her powers for confirmation however, it was so bloody obvious now that she actually considered all of the coincidences as a whole. The question now however was whether Kallen, no, the Red Knight had anything to do with the attack on Ashford.

Her attention returning to the brigadier Euphie saw that the man was listening to his radio again.

"Acknowledged," Jonathan said and then directed his words to the princess. "Preliminary report from the academy, the Ladies Ashford are both safe."

"Thank the gods," Euphie said in relief.

"An initial casualty count has also been compiled," Jonathan continued. "The room where the attack directly hit was a fifth form history class. The explosion also affected three other classes." The brigadier frowned. "One of the injured was the Lady Stadtfeld. And, Ms. Clermont is reported as having perished, shielding Lady Stadtfeld from the blast."

Euphie's mind raced. This was sounding less and less like an attempt on Nunnally or Milly. In fact it was starting to sound like someone had just tried to kill Kallen and Cecilia. The question was why. Was it because of Kallen's identity as the Red Knight, or was someone trying to eliminate any trace of Clovis' project by killing Cecilia? There were too many unknowns and even with her impressive powers of mental computation Euphie could derive no answers.

"Can you dispatch more armsmen to Ashford without stretching your available manpower?" Euphie asked.

Jonathan grimaced but nodded. "I can send one more four-man team, your highness."

"Then do so," the princess ordered. "Secure Cecilia's body and put a protective detail around Kallen. If we're going to get any answers we need to make sure no further harm befalls her."

"Yes your highness."

"Make sure that Kallen understands that your men are there for her protection, brigadier," Euphie added. "She is _not_ being taken into custody."

Jonathan regarded the princess for a brief moment before nodding. "Understood, your highness."

As the brigadier stepped back to issue his orders Euphie's own thoughts continued to swirl around the implications of Kallen's secret identity. Or rather, the fact that the girl had somehow managed to keep her persona of the Red Knight a secret for so long when she walked the halls with the one person in Britannian service to have seen the Red Knight's face and lived. Numbers flitted through Euphie's head again as she unconsciously computed the probability that one Suzaku Kururugi never crossed paths with Kallen at Ashford. Again there were a great many unknowns including her complete ignorance on what the two's core subjects were, but Kallen was a member of the student council and thus would have been a relatively public persona on campus. Suzaku on the other hand would be known at the school due to sheer notoriety if nothing else so the possibility that Kallen was not aware of him was as near zero as any statistician would admit to. Combined with the encounter at Kawaguchi and Euphie was completely certain that the two were perfectly able to recognize each other from even a passing glance in the halls of the academy.

All this raised a very interesting, even disturbing, question. If Suzaku was indeed aware of Kallen's identity as the Red Knight then unless the Inquisitio had gotten to him first with a gag order the young man had deliberately withheld this information from his superiors. He had even withheld it from her despite revealing to her what happened down in Shinjuku when he confronted the Red Knight. If this really was the case there arose serious questions about Suzaku's reliability and even loyalty. At a minimum his suitability to pilot the Empire's most advanced knightmare needed to be seriously reconsidered. In the worst case there was even the possibility that he was a deep cover sleeper. Either way the matter could not be ignored.

"Brigadier," Euphie called out.

Jonathan turned about. "Yes your highness?"

"Specialist Kururugi should be at Ashford presently. Have him brought to the palace and placed under protective custody."

If the orders surprised the man he gave no indication thereof.

"Acknowledged your highness," Jonathan replied instead and proceeded to relay the princess' newest commands.

Suzaku would be given a chance to explain himself, Euphie determined. There was always the possibility that he really had not been derelict in his duties and was the victim of extraordinarily bad luck. But in the far more probable case that he really had chosen to withhold such important information Euphie would not hesitate to make clear her disappointment. The princess frowned thoughtfully. And he had shown such promise. Still if he proved unsuitable for the original task Euphie had in mind for him he would serve in some other manner, if only as an example of how not to serve the Empire. Euphie was if nothing else economical in her usage of resources, be they things or people.

* * *

Lelouch frowned. That light was unlike anything he had ever experienced before but he was fairly certain that it was a purely mental manifestation. From the timing and direction it was pretty obviously a reaction to his attack on Ashford Academy. If that was the case it was equally obvious that the attack had failed in removing C.C.'s newest contractor, a truly disappointing development. And if that flare truly did indicate an, evolution, of Kallen's geass then he had greatly miss-stepped.

Kallen's condition was not the only issue, there was also C.C. to worry about. If Kallen had survived then his plan might have also failed to inflict enough injury on C.C. to neutralize her long enough to intercept her. And if Kallen had any inkling of C.C.'s importance she would also be making an effort to extract the other girl. Time was not on Lelouch's side but he could not let impatience push him into committing greater errors.

The door opened and a harried looking Charlotte entered the room.

"Well?" the girl said without preamble.

"She survived," Lelouch answered with equal bluntness.

Charlotte's eyes narrowed. "What."

"Kallen definitely survived," Lelouch clarified. "I do not know what C.C.'s status is."

The French girl did not bother asking how then could Lelouch know that Kallen was still alive. That did not mean she had nothing to say on the matter of course.

"Damnation Lelouch, this op was bad enough but it didn't even achieve its primary objective!?" Charlotte almost roared.

"I will go and assess the situation," Lelouch said. "If the opportunity arises I will secure C.C.'s body. Without her guidance we can wait for another opportunity to neutralize Kallen."

Despite her anger the overriding priorities embedded in Charlotte's psyche kept her on task. Of course so long as venting her anger did not distract from her duties she had no difficulty doing both.

"Understood," the girl spat out. "Do you want me to prepare for extraction or assault?"

Lelouch considered the question for a moment. "Assault. C.C.'s code is far too valuable to be allowed to slip away. She likely already was aware of my proximity and after today she will know that that awareness is reciprocated."

"The authorities will be on high alert," Charlotte said. "We won't be able to carry any weapons on our person without undue risk."

"We won't need to," Lelouch said. "The police officers that I have compromised will do just fine." He pulled out a cellphone and tossed it to Charlotte. "That has all of their numbers. I specifically selected ones from the nearby precinct so there should be no difficulty in finding excuses for them to gather around Ashford. And if the need arises one of them can provide you with a weapon as well."

"Understood," Charlotte said.

Without another word she left the safe house, already punching up the numbers. Lelouch spared a moment to watch her depart. It seemed he had tested Charlotte's loyalty and obedience a bit more than he probably should have with the Ashford attack. He would need to see about reinforcing her conditioning in the near future. Perhaps a romantic dinner on the banks of the Seine when they got back to Paris.

* * *

Few were the people that dared call upon Charles zi Britannia after he had turned in for the night and none could do so without consequence. For some however the consequences rarely amounted to anything more than irritation on the emperor's part for whenever they did disturb him they always had a good reason, as was the case this night when V.V. appeared in Charles' bed chamber.

"Charles," the figure called.

The emperor was a light sleeper thanks to those turbulent years of his youth wherein one really did need to worry about being smothered while sleeping. Out of habit if nothing else Charles still kept a pistol hidden in the frame of his bed within easy reach. Also out of habit his hand felt for it before he recognized the voice.

"V.V." Charles rose from his bed. "What is it."

"An unexpected dividend from the leash I put on Euphie," V.V. said with a grin. "She's found C.C."

That got Charles' attention. "In Area 11?"

"Indeed. And what is more it appears that C.C. has fallen victim to some kind of terrorist attack." The childish looking figure appeared almost giddy. "She will likely be incapacitated for at least a little while."

"Then time is of the essence," Charles rumbled as he climbed out of bed. "She must be secured before she can slip away again."

"She has a new contractor," V.V. added. "A young woman by the name of Kallen Stadtfeld. Indications are this Kallen survived the attack."

Which meant the potential for another geass wielder to interfere. Of course once aware of the danger Charles had a ready answer.

"I will dispatch Monica to retrieve C.C."

V.V. nodded. "Good." And grinned. "Soon Charles, the world free of lies that we envisioned will come to pass."

The emperor nodded. "Indeed brother."

Satisfied, V.V. retreated. Once the doors closed Charles allowed a sneer to cross his face. Indeed that new world would come, but there would be no place in it for those cloaked in deceit. Charles picked up his phone and had to wait but a second for it to connect.

"Yes your highness?"

"Summon Dame Kruszewski to my chambers."

"Yes your highness."

Without another word Charles hung up and proceeded to make himself look somewhat dignified. It would hardly do to meet with one of his knights while still in his pajamas. Still it being the middle of the night there was no need to don his traditional greatcoat or wig.

By the time Charles arrived his study Monica was already there and even in formal dress. She bowed as her liege entered.

"Your majesty."

"C.C. has been found in Area 11," Charles said without preamble. "She has formed a contract with a girl named Kallen Stadfeld. Go to the area, kill this contractor, and secure C.C."

Monica bowed. "Your will be done, your majesty."

Indeed his will would be, Charles mused. His, not his brother's. As Monica took her leave a blue glint was for the briefest of moments visible in her left eye.

* * *

More students were brought into the infirmary and the beds were soon all occupied. The flow of bodies did not stop there however. Emergency services were still mobilizing and the few ambulances that had arrived were already ferrying the most critically wounded to hospitals. The school nurse and some of the paramedics left behind were working to stabilize those waiting but the school infirmary was never designed to handle a disaster of this magnitude.

"The student council room," Kallen said.

Cole looked back at her. "What?"

"We have, couches there," Kallen explained in between coughs. "They, some of the people can be made more comfortable there."

"Alright, I'll get to it," Cole said.

He gave the girl's hand a squeeze before leaving to confer with one of the paramedics. Kallen could have easily listened in on the conversation but the girl had other worries on her mind. Her senses swept her own body and she noted the various bruises covering her. Mercifully there were no fractures and as far as she could tell there was nothing wrong with her head. She was battered but not quite out of commission and there was still work to do. Kallen expanded her senses, scanning the campus. She forced herself to examine the broken bodies that were being bagged as she tried to determine which one was the witch. It was not easy, especially as she recognized so many of them.

Kallen's chest tightened. So many people dead. She would never hear Mr. Taylor call her Ms. Stadtfeld. She would never be able to tease Sophie about her interests. Yet amidst this carnage Kallen caught sight of Shirley, standing by the side talking with a policeman. The girl was in tears and Kallen soon saw why. She was helping identify all of the deceased. Kallen's own heart ached. This was not a burden her friend should have to bear, especially as it was only chance that saw Shirley escape the same fate.

Kallen forced aside her own grief and focused once more on the task at hand. She continued scanning the bodies until finally, her senses settled upon that eerie yet familiar emptiness. Kallen felt for her cellphone. In another minor miracle it had survived the blast and was even still working. She fired off a brief text message to Inoue.

 _Hermia. School. Eggshell._

After snapping her phone shut Kallen slowly pushed herself off the bed.

"Whoa, Kallen, what are you doing?" Cole said as he rushed to her side.

"I have to find Cecilia," Kallen said.

Cole grimaced. "Kallen. I'm-I'm sorry. Cecilia-"

"Didn't make it," Kallen said softly. "I know. But I still have to find her. She, stood by me through so much. I have to, be there for her now."

"And what would Cecilia say about you pushing yourself like this?" Cole said firmly.

Kallen smiled mirthlessly. "She'd tell me to suck it up and not let a few bumps stop me."

The young man blinked in surprise but quickly reached out as Kallen wobbled slightly as her feet hit the floor. The two simply stared at each other for a few moments.

"Are you sure about this?" Cole finally said.

Kallen nodded before giving Cole a gentler smile. "I could use someone to lean on though."

Cole sighed but did not release Kallen. "Just a little bit, and then we get you on the next ambulance to the hospital."

With Cole at her side Kallen made steady progress out into the halls and then onto the school grounds. Emergency services personnel were all about and there was even someone in a bomb disposal suit. The usual patrol officers were also reinforced with quite a few officers in tactical gear wielding assault rifles. If nothing else their presence should prevent any sort of follow-on attacks, not that that would do any good for the many victims laid out on the field, Kallen thought bitterly.

As they approached those bodies Shirley caught sight of them and quickly excused herself from the police officer she was assisting. She rushed over and enveloped Kallen in a tight hug.

"Kallen, thank the gods you're alright," the girl said through her tears.

Kallen returned the embrace as Cole released her arm. "Thank the fates you weren't in the room, Shirley."

"But I should have been!" the girl protested. "Why was I spared when all my classmates weren't!?"

Kallen's grip tightened. "Don't say that Shirley, don't. You're alive. I'm alive. We should be grateful."

Shirley sniffed. "I know, but-but I can't get it out of my head. When I got back to the classroom, everyone, everyone was…"

Kallen took a deep breath. Yes she was alive, but a lot of her classmates weren't. This would leave a deep scar on her soul, of that the girl had no doubt.

Shirley slowly disengaged from Kallen and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I'm sorry, going to pieces like that."

Kallen took Shirley's hand and gave her a tight squeeze. "There's nothing to apologize for, Shirley. If you need to cry, cry, alright? We're all hurting and keeping it in won't make anyone feel better."

The other girl nodded before taking a deep breath of her own.

"But, why are you here?" Shirley said as she glanced over at the man beside Kallen. "Last I saw you, Cole was taking you to the infirmary."

Kallen favored the young man with a faint smile before looking back at her friend. "I need to see Cecilia."

At that Shirley winced. "You, shouldn't."

"Shirley, please," Kallen said. "She was, like a sister to me. I can't just leave her out here like this."

The expression on Shirley's face remained unhappy but she ultimately nodded.

"Alright. I'll talk to the police officer. Wait here a sec."

With that Shirley walked back and left Kallen in Cole's care. The girl wobbled again and Cole quickly took her arm.

"Are you sure about this?" he whispered.

Kallen nodded resolutely. "I have to. I owe her this."

Before Cole could say anything further the sound of footsteps closed in on them. When Kallen turned about she found herself face to face with two men wearing the coat of arms of one Princess Euphemia li Britannia. The girl's eyes widened.

"May we, help you?" Cole asked quizzically.

One of the soldiers regarded Cole but when he spoke his words were directed to Kallen.

"Lady Stadtfeld, I am Sergeant Hughes of her highness the Princess Euphemia's royal guard. Her highness has ordered that a protective detail be assigned to you for the immediate future. We will be accompanying you until further notice."

Kallen stared at the two armsmen. There could only be one reason for the princess to send her own armsmen to watch over Kallen and it was not because of her friendship with Milly. One word ran through Kallen's head.

 _Crap._

* * *

Lelouch grimaced. From his vantage point he could just make out the girl that had to be Kallen standing before two of Euphie's armsmen. And the young man standing with him was Cole Kraft, the son of Euphie's Exchequer. It seemed his suspicions about his suspicions about a relationship between the Red Knight and Euphie was now confirmed, which made achieving his current objectives even more complicated. If Euphie was directly intervening then his chances of intercepting C.C.'s body effectively dropped to zero. His only option now was to get ahold of it before the armsmen took it into their custody.

"Rafale, status," Lelouch said into his cellphone.

"Personnel are in position Roi," Charlotte responded. "But some of the tactical officers are mixed in with uncompromised officers."

"Some or all?"

"Some."

Lelouch frowned. That did make things somewhat more complicated. Then again, that could work out to his advantage.

"Alright, the armsmen are likely to try to retrieve C.C. themselves. Once they identify which body is hers, we move in. Give me the channel our forces are using."

"Channel twelve, no one's on it right now."

Lelouch pulled out the radio that he had borrowed from a police officer and tuned into the appropriate frequency. Time to issue some orders.

* * *

"Accompanying me," Kallen said very carefully. "May I ask for what purpose?"

"We were not given an explanation," the sergeant said, "only that we are to ensure your safety."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "And does ensuring my safety include placing any restrictions on my movement?"

The sergeant smirked. "Not that I have been told, Lady Stadtfeld."

Now that was unexpected. If Euphie had truly discovered her identity as the Red Knight Kallen would have expected the princess to order her immediate arrest. It was clear however that that was not what the armsmen had been instructed to do. So what then was the princess trying to do?

"Kallen, what's going on?" Cole asked.

"I, don't know," Kallen said with a fair degree of honesty. After all, she really did not know.

"Kallen!"

Both the girl in question and Cole turned about to see Shirley waving frantically.

"Kallen! They're taking Cecilia!" she cried.

Kallen's eyes widened and she followed where Shirley pointed to see two more armsmen picking up the bag that C.C. was wrapped in.

"What are you doing!?" Kallen screamed.

"Lady Stadtfeld, please," the sergeant began.

Kallen however was not paying attention as her geass flared up. It took a single moment for her to confirm that yes, that was the bag C.C. was in. But then she felt something else. Another shadow, another void, except that that void was not so empty. Or rather, it was empty of everything save rage. Kallen's head snapped in the direction of the void. And then she heard a voice ring in the ears of some of the police officers.

"Engage."

"Get down!" Kallen screamed.

End of Chapter 33

Yeah, no, it's not over. In fact it's probably going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Remember those three/four chapters that comprised the Kawaguchi incident? The Ashford incident is something along those lines.

It is important not to rely too heavily upon what happened in the anime series to try to explain motivations or work out intents. Namely, what Lelouch intends with C.C.'s code and associated elements cannot be inferred from what they were used for in the series. We're never given an explanation for what the geass and the Code is. Therefore don't try to prescribe definitions based on the anime to what they are in my story. And yes, I actually do have a fairly concrete idea of what both are in my version and I intend for that explanation to be provided in a more coherent and consistent manner as the story progresses. A few of such tidbits were revealed this chapter, hinthint.

Also, as far as Lelouch is aware of Nunnally is dead. So not sure what consideration of her is supposed to do, beyond being a driving force for his quest for vengeance.

There have been a lot of spin-offs to Code Geass of which I've barely paid any attention to. I am, to be honest, not _that_ invested in the franchise. One thing I have noticed however is that basically everyone gets a geass in these spinoffs, which after a certain point dulls the mystic and allure of the geass. I know the series is called Code Geass, but at times it feels a lot like the writers can't come up with anything to make the characters interesting without giving them a geass. Anyway.

Thus I have revealed the existence of three geasses, Kallen's, Euphie's, and Lelouch's. I have not shown Charles to have one, though I think it's a given. I've now shown Monica to have something. It's up to all of you to make up your minds on whether it's a geass or not, at least until I get around to the reveal myself. Ultimately though I intend to limit the number of people who possess a geass if only so that they don't get overused as deus ex machinas like they were in the anime. The appeal of first season Lelouch was the fact that he refrained from relying on it as a crutch. About when he starts just blasting everyone with it is when the series got, umm, annoying, I suppose is the best way to describe it.

As I have said before all of the titles you can find on Wikipedia. They are taken more or less verbatim and generally serve as kind of a theme for the chapter.

The French dialogue isn't any more meaningful in English than they are untranslated unless you are familiar with what Charlotte and Lelouch keep referring to. Hint, they're talking about maxims. Hint, there are seventy of them.


	35. Chapter 34

Snippet spoiler: High to medium

 _To serve in the royal guard of an imperial scion is regarded as a great honor by those in the Britannian military. Of course the degree of that honor is often directly proportional to the respective dangers each scion faced and the more prominent the prince or princess the greater the danger indeed. In the case of the Princes Odysseus and Schneizel their positions as heir primus and prime minister respectively meant they were automatically the target of a variety of plots at court. The danger that the Princess Cornelia faced was of a more direct nature seeing as she was often on campaign leading the Empire's forces in battle._

 _In the case of the Princess Euphemia she did not originally possess an active royal guard as her security arrangements in Pendragon were mostly handled by her sister's armsmen. Upon assuming the viceroyalty of Area 11 however it became quickly apparent that the insecurity of the area demanded greater measures be taken. To this end her highness named Colonel Jonathan Eyre as captain of her guard and charged him with recruiting others to her banner. Before long the princess had a cadre of highly competent and very loyal armsmen. This was to prove fortuitous as the dangers the princess faced over the next year or so would test the abilities of her guard sorely. Of the initial thirty armsmen Brigadier Eyre recruited only a third would see their liege ascend the throne. To her majesty's immense sorrow the brigadier was not amongst them._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 34: Nemo me impune lacessit

"Specialist Kururugi."

Suzaku turned about and found himself face to face with two men wearing the colors of the Princess Euphemia.

"Yes?" he said quizzically.

"I am Lieutenant Mustang of her highness' royal guard," the soldier said. "The princess has ordered that you be brought to the viceroy's palace."

"What? But-there are people here that need help!"

And broken arm be damned Suzaku was determined to lend a hand. That however did not seem to terribly move the soldier.

"Her highness' orders were explicit," the lieutenant stated, "as were ours."

In other words if Suzaku resisted they would not hesitate to resort to force, in which case his arm would be a consideration even ignoring the fact that these men had passed the rigorous standard set by one Brigadier Eyre. Grimacing Suzaku nodded.

"Alright."

"This way please," Mustang said courteously.

One of the armsmen took the lead and the lieutenant trailed behind Suzaku himself. The two were just emerging in the courtyard when suddenly gunfire erupted. All three men were soldiers and so reacted instinctively, hugging the wall for all the good that would do. Peeking out Suzaku caught sight of several tactical officers shooting across the courtyard at, more armsmen. The boy gaped at the sight. What were police doing shooting at the princess' guard?

One of the armsmen went down while another managed to take cover behind the armored vehicle that had brought them here.

"Report!" Mustang shouted into his radio. "Why the hell is the gendarmerie shooting at us!?"

The answer was obviously not to his liking if the man's expression was anything to go by.

"New ROE, any officer that points a gun your way is a hostile! Take them down with extreme prejudice!"

That did not sound good.

"Sir, give me a weapon," Suzaku hissed. "I can help!"

The lieutenant spent perhaps a single second considering the offer before pulling out his pistol and handed it butt first to Suzaku.

"Stay low and cover us," he ordered.

Suzaku nodded and began scanning for targets. That was when he caught sight of another two armsmen and an apparently unhostile police officer trying to get some people under cover. One of them was a red haired girl.

"Kallen?"

And then bullets peppered his position and Suzaku rolled aside just as holes punched through the wall he was crouching behind. He needed to find some real cover and quick.

* * *

The only reason any of them were still alive was probably due to Kallen's warning. The armsmen were highly trained professionals and once made aware of a danger wasted no time carrying out their duty. In this case, they had been charged with Kallen's own safety and that was the first thing they focused on. Cole was also ushered along for his own sake and Shirley could be seen shepherded out of the line of fire by the policeman she was speaking with. As it was, finding someplace safe not a trivial task at the moment.

"-don't know," one of the armsmen shouted into his radio. "They just started shooting at us!"

With her geass active Kallen could actually hear the other side of that conversation. The orders that were issued, while ruthless, were probably the only ones that would see them through this alive.

Presently there were a total of eight armsmen of her highness Euphemia at Ashford. Four had originally been dispatched to see to the safety of the Ashford family while another four were here for Kallen and C.C. Six were in the vicinity when the suborned gendarmerie and regular patrol officers started shooting. As there were over thirty officers in total on site, if they were all compromised then the odds were stacked very, very heavily against the guardsmen and their charges. Of course not all of the officers present were puppets but there was no way for the guardsmen to know this. And even those officers not suborned had no idea who or what they were dealing with so they were of no help anyway. The armsmen however had come to Ashford with field tactical loadouts, meaning body armor and assault rifles. No helmets, though after this day the brigadier would be remedying that particular oversight posthaste. In the meantime they just needed to stay alive long enough to benefit from that change.

"This is Sergeant Hughes to command, local police units and gendarmeries compromised and making attempts at secondary packages, requesting immediate assistance, I repeat-"

Bullets punched through the wall above Hughes' head, showering the man with rubble.

"Hels," the man cursed. "We need to find better cover!"

Kallen swept the area. Thus far she had identified twenty enemies actively going after her and the other guardsmen. Four of them were trying to approach the armored van that the guardsmen had been preparing to load C.C.'s body into.

"Through here," the girl said. "This'll let us cut across the building and get around to where your van is parked."

Without waiting Kallen scrambled down the walkway, making sure to stay below the brick wall.

"Kallen!" Cole hissed before going after her.

"Bloody Hel, what is that girl thinking," Hughes muttered. "Private, after her. I'll cover you."

"Sir."

The man rose and took careful aim before letting off a single burst from his rifle. One of the advancing gendarmerie toppled while the others slowed to return fire. Hughes was however already moving and the shots hit nothing but air after punching through the pillar he was previously hiding behind. One down, a lot more to go. The sergeant kept moving.

* * *

The sound of gunfire reached the Ashford residence and the two armsmen within immediately unslung their rifles. As they listened to the radio chatter looks of confusion appeared on their faces.

"What's going on?" Milly demanded.

One of the soldiers looked at her. "The, gendarmerie are attacking us. And the police too."

"What? That doesn't make any sense!"

The soldier said nothing for a moment before grimacing. "They're going after the Lady Stadtfeld."

Milly's eyes widened. "Kallen!? Well what are you two waiting for! Go help her!"

That elicited a grimace from the two men. "Lady Ashford, we have explicit orders to ensure the safety of yourself and your sister."

The girl ground her teeth. "And what happens if those people come after us after gunning down all of your comrades!? What is it they say, a good defense is a good offense!"

It was actually the _best_ defense is a good offense and there was more to that adage than just that, not that the armsmen did not see Milly's point. Nevertheless they were clearly torn between their stated duty and what their instinct was yelling at them to do.

"Do not fret," a female voice spoke up.

All eyes in the room fell upon a Japanese woman in a maid outfit. The soldiers had actually forgotten she was even in here with them, so well had she blended into the background.

"I will see to the safety of the Ladies Ashford," Sayoko said.

One of the soldiers coughed. "Umm, ma'am-"

And promptly felt himself unable to shut his jaw as from under the woman's sleeves a large pistol dropped into one hand while a very long knife appeared in the other.

"Do not fret," Sayoko said with a very cold smile. "I am well able to meet my charge."

The two armsmen spent another second or two staring at Sayoko before deciding that yes, she probably could do just that. They also began to wonder just why they had even been dispatched to protect the Ashford family in the first place.

"Satisfied?" Milly interrupted them. "Now get a move on it!"

The two exchanged looks before nodding. Their comrades were in trouble and there really was the possibility that the Ashfords would be next. In that case it was better to meet this threat while there were still other armsmen in the fight than to try some sort of holding action with just the two of them. Well, three counting the maid. Their course of action decided they quickly made their way towards the sound of gunfire. Hopefully that meant there were still people fighting back.

* * *

With only a pistol Suzaku was limited in what he could do. Then again with a still mending arm it was not like he was that much use to begin with right now. Still Suzaku was a good shot and the lieutenant had also tossed him two spare magazines. That would hopefully be enough. Then again there was no such thing as too much ammo on a battlefield.

The gendarmerie were spreading out, trying to flank them. It was a sound strategy considering how badly they were outnumbered. Of course Suzaku and the armsmen had no intent on just sitting idly by and let themselves be surrounded. The two sides traded fire, the armsmen picking off a target every time they popped up to take a shot. Stellar marksmanship was obviously a prerequisite for the princess' guard. Suzaku was not quite as successful, merely clipping the arm of his target. The gendarme stumbled but quickly turned to shoot back. And then a shot from across the courtyard hit him dead center. The burst was enough to punch through his armor and the man dropped.

"Armor-piercing rounds," Suzaku muttered. "Handy."

Another attack broke cover and tried to advance on their position. Suzaku ducked out and nailed the man in the chest but besides staggering slightly the gendarme was able to keep going. He even sent a few rounds back Suzaku's way.

"Guess it's too much to ask for my pistol to also have AP rounds," Suzaku muttered under his breath as he crawled under the barrage of bullets.

"Fire in the hole!"

"Really!?" Suzaku cursed as he pressed down against the ground and clapped his hands over his ears. And then he realized that he recognized the voice.

A deafened boom sounded, marking a flashbang going off. The distance of the burst served as further confirmation that it was indeed Kallen that had tossed the charge. Suzaku peaked up to see a few of the gendarmerie staggering about, dazed. Without hesitation he opened fire and was quickly joined by the armsmen. More of their attackers fell and then from the corner of his eye Suzaku saw two more armsmen appear, rifles blazing as they joined the fray. This was starting to look a little less hopeless.

* * *

Lelouch clucked his tongue. It seemed he had severely underestimated the Red Knight and indirectly his dear sister. If this was the caliber of people she was attracting to her banner killing Euphie might prove just a tad more challenging than he originally thought. He was however not defeated just yet.

"P4, smoke. P7, P10, grab the body and fall back to point 3."

In the distance one of his pawns tossed a smoke grenade. In truth he should have done this first instead of focusing on killing Kallen. Then again seeing as the girl was proving to be one of the biggest challenges his pawns were facing that might not have worked out any better. No time for regrets however, he still had an operation to try to salvage.

* * *

Cole tentatively opened one eye, and then the other. Only after that did he remove his hands from his ears. Kallen was already on the move again after tossing what looked like an explosive she had taken off one of the downed attackers.

"Interesting girlfriend you've got there," Hughes said with a smirk as he ushered Cole along.

The young barely heard him over the ring of gunfire and shook his head in a daze.

"She's, not really my girlfriend," he responded.

If anything that seemed to amuse the sergeant. "Oh? Well that's a shame, girl like her is someone you want to keep close.

When this day first started Cole had thought much the same. Now he had absolutely no idea what was even going on besides the fact that he was getting shot at.

Up ahead Kallen was doggedly working her way towards the armored van where one of the other armsmen was taking cover. Seeing as that was probably the most bullet resistant thing about that was a not too bad idea that Kallen was working on emulating, if she could get to the van without getting shot. Then again with her geass she was able to predict the trajectory of the bullets coming her way from how the barrels pointed and thus far she had been quick and nimble enough to keep from getting hit. Thus far.

Through her geass Kallen immediately caught sight of one of the gendarmerie pulling the pin from a grenade. The man was out of line of sight however so she had no shout.

"Incoming!" Kallen shouted.

The gendarme tossed the grenade, towards C.C.'s body. Kallen cursed under her breath as smoke began hissing out. Her suspicions were confirmed as two more officers rushed forward into the haze. With her geass Kallen had no difficulty picking them out and she opened fire. Again her rounds failed to penetrate their armor and the two succeeded in grabbing the body and began their retreat.

"Oh no you don't."

If there was one advantage to the smoke it was that the obscuration worked both ways. Taking a chance Kallen dashed out from cover, pausing just long enough to grab the rifle from a fallen armsman. Their weapons did not seem to have any trouble penetrating the tactical armor worn by the gendarmerie after all. Kallen took aim and put a burst into one of the fleeing officer's back. He careened into the ground, pulling the other officer with him. The man was just getting back onto his knees when another burst put him down for good. Kallen scanned the battlefield. There were still a couple of other officers taking shots at the armsmen. They however did not matter.

Kallen took aim at a gendarme across the courtyard and pumped out a third burst, her rounds hitting just below the man's chest. She had been aiming just a bit higher. Now aware of the effective range of these weapons Kallen raised her rifle and took aim at the figure in the distance. She squeezed the trigger.

* * *

Years of operational experience, far more than someone his age should possess, had honed Lelouch's instincts to a fine edge. As such the moment Kallen began pointing her rifle in his direction Lelouch was already backing away. That was probably the only thing that saved his life as bullets smashed the pair of binoculars in his hands. The young man tumbled back, rolling as he hit the ground to put further distance between himself and the window.

"Roi!?" Charlotte's panicked voice sounded over the radio.

"I'm alright," Lelouch responded. "Maintain radio silence. If Kallen was able to pick me out she'll almost certainly be able to identify you as well."

A click of the mic was Charlotte's only response.

It seemed nothing was going to go right today, Lelouch mused ruefully. With his position compromised his primary priority was escaping capture himself, retrieving C.C. was no longer feasible. Lelouch felt a flicker of irritation. He could not remember the last time he had been so thoroughly outmaneuvered. Maybe after some time passed he would even regard the experience as instructional. Right now however he needed to keep calm and not let his anger get the better of him. Fortunately one of his exit strategies did offer the opportunity to exact a measure of retribution.

"Operation is scrubbed," Lelouch radioed Charlotte. "Fall back to the safehouse."

Another click. Satisfied that Charlotte would get out safely, Lelouch switched back to the command channel he was using.

"Execute last resort."

With those last words he tossed aside the radio and beat a hasty retreat himself. The best place to view fireworks was from afar after all.

* * *

"Execute last resort."

Kallen frowned. "That can't be good."

Indeed it was not. The surviving gendarmerie began pulling out the pins on their remaining flashbangs and smoke grenades and tossed them all about. To Kallen's surprise the cacophony was enough such that even her geass was having trouble making out anything, at least within the courtyard. At the same time this provided an opportunity she would likely not get again so Kallen tossed aside her rifle and scrambled to C.C.'s location. Pulling the other girl out of the bag she hauled her onto her back and made a run for it. For some reason she could still make out in crystal clarity everything outside of the smoke and flashes. Even better, Kallen could see Inoue and Ohgi in a car a few blocks away. She just might get out of this after all.

"Bloody Hel, what are they doing!?" Hughes shouted.

For his part Cole was less concerned with what they were doing and more on how long they were going to keep doing it. The young man was amazed that he could actually hear the soldier over all the explosions. Then again the real wonder was that he was not completely deaf from all the weapons going off around him. The bangs finally stopped and with it so did the gunfire. After a few seconds Cole tentatively looked up. He quickly wished he hadn't.

If the carnage of the bombed classroom was bad, this was many times worse. Scattered across the courtyard were countless bodies, all wearing the colors of either the local police force or the gendarmerie. Most of the fallen had bloody holes in their chests or stomachs. A few though, a few had shattered jaws or caved in faces.

"Bloody Hel," Hughes repeated. "I think they took themselves out."

That was it. Cole could take no more. The young man began retching out his stomach.

From behind whatever makeshift cover they were using the surviving armsmen emerged, some slightly more unscathed than others. Hughes winced as he leaned against a wall.

"Sergeant!"

The man looked over and gave his friend a smirk. "Yo LT. Nice of you to show up.

"Don't give me that crap," Mustang said in exasperation. "Where were you hit?"

"Ah, it's just a flesh wound," Hughes tried to wave it off. "Besides, we've got more important things to deal with."

The lieutenant seemed ready to say something else but bit it back. Instead he pushed Hughes back down and took out a field dressing and got to work on the man's wound.

"Yes, yes we do. Starting with finding out just why the gendarmerie decided to shoot up the place."

"I don't think they were shooting up the place," Hughes said with a wince. "Ow, go easy there. I think they were after the Lady Stadtfeld and her companion."

Mustang frowned. "What? What for?"

"Why were we sent to protect her?" Hughes replied. "And to retrieve Ms. Clermont's body?"

Mustang grimaced as he finished tightening the bandage. "That'll hold until we get you to a hospital." He straightened and surveyed the impromptu battlefield. "Now where the blazes is the Lady Stadtfeld."

Hughes blinked. "I saw her disappear into the smoke field. You don't see her?"

The lieutenant groaned. "Damn it, this has _not_ been a good day."

* * *

Suzaku walked over to Cole and gave the man a pat on the back.

"You okay?"

Cole shook his head as he continued emptying his stomach. Eventually there was nothing left and he straightened.

"What in Hel's name even happened?" Cole exclaimed.

"I don't know," Suzaku admitted frankly.

A pained look crossed Cole's face as he gazed at all the broken bodies once more. And then his eyes widened.

"Wait. Kallen! Where's Kallen!"

Suzaku followed the other student's gaze but had no better luck.

"Wasn't she with you?" he said.

"She was running all over the place," Cole said. "She, it was like she knew exactly what to do with a gun."

Suzaku bit his tongue. In truth that was exactly right, but he could not tell Cole that. Even if he did Suzaku doubted it would be of any comfort to him. And so Suzaku found himself powerless to do anything but save stand at the man's side. It was not a feeling he enjoyed.

* * *

Jonathan Eyre was feeling a mite frustrated with the mess that this day had spiraled into. First the terrorist attack on Ashford Academy, then the discovery of Cecilia Clermont's past, followed by the gendarmerie detachment assigned to the same district as the school seemingly going rogue and starting a small battle with his troops, all capped off with Kallen Stadtfeld disappearing with the body of her so-called assistant. About the only thing that had not gone completely awry was the guard successfully taking Suzaku Kururugi into custody. Somehow Jonathan suspected that that only worked out because the young man had come willingly, broken arm or not. The brigadier was not one to find solace in drink but times like this he was sorely tempted to try. Then again being under the influence while drafting a letter of condolence to the family of one of his subordinates was probably a very bad idea.

While it was little consolation to the brigadier he was not the only senior officer in the Britannian armed forces feeling more than a bit stressed. When reports first came in that the gendarmerie was attacking the princess' guardsmen the immediate reaction of the Britannian military was to send helicopter gunships to provide support for their besieged comrades. They were ultimately too late to make a difference in the battle but the sudden upheaval and apparent treachery of the police force needed to be thoroughly investigated and, if need be, suppressed. Disarmament of one of the branches of law enforcement the Empire relied upon to maintain order in the area was not a simple task for a variety of reasons, but if the matter was simple it would not have landed on the plate of one Jeremiah Gottwald.

Since there was no quick and easy solution to this matter Jeremiah opted to confine the gendarmerie to their barracks until such time as their loyalties could be verified. In their place two battalions of the regular army was deployed, one of them being the newly formed 100th infantry battalion. Ironically their time spent playing police for the Shinjuku ward made them better qualified to this task than any other unit at the Margrave's disposal. Jeremiah would have preferred more manpower, the two battalions would be spread thin, but there were other considerations that took precedence.

Those other considerations were the responsibility of Andreas Darlton. Seeing as the most serious terrorist strike in the history of the occupation, at least in terms of civilian fatalities, was followed immediately but what amounted to a mass mutiny by elements of the gendarmerie, there was a very serious possibility that there was a wider campaign in the works seeking to undermine Britannian rule. If that was the case Andreas had no intention of allowing the military to be flatfooted, which was why he had placed all Britannian forces in the area on high readiness. Fortunately thus far the mobilization was proceeding without any major issues and even more fortunately thus far there were no signs of follow-on attacks. Nevertheless the Empire's forces remained on high alert with units ready to deploy by ground or air to any hotspots that cropped up.

Ultimately the military response was actually relatively straightforward compared to the amount of scrambling the civilian authorities were forced to do. Despite the bloodbath that was the battle between Euphie's guardsmen and the gendarmerie the majority of the fatalities this day was still civilian. Even worse most of them were students on the cusp of adulthood but not quite there yet. Grieving families demanded explanations of why their sons and daughters were stolen from them, fiery pundits decried the government's seeming impotence in preventing such tragedies, and all across the area people waited with bated breath on how the viceroy would respond to such a direct challenge of her authority. Would she continue with her magnanimous treatment of the elevens? Or would the gloves finally come off?

One would presume that this very matter would be the focus of the meeting between Euphie and her two siblings. This presumption would be in error however as the three discussed another, equally pertinent matter.

A still silence hung in the air after Euphie finished explaining everything she knew about Clovis' project, how she mistakenly assumed all of the money laundering was Directorate related, and ultimately the still unclear connection to Kallen, the Red Knight. It was a great deal to digest and not easy at that.

"I don't like this," Cornelia said, finally breaking the silence. "Some of these claims reek of sheer fantasy."

"And yet there appears to be extensive documentation supporting them," Schneizel said calmly. "This would explain some of Clovis' recent conduct as well."

"But why bother trying to keep it a secret?" Cornelia said. "Clovis has never had any experience trying to run a black project, he couldn't have expected to actually have hidden it from us for long. According to Euphie's investigations the charade only held up for six months before she noticed the money trail."

"Conversely perhaps because of his inexperience he thought he could keep us unaware," Schneizel countered. "Still you raise a point, why keep all this a secret from us?"

"You mean besides the fact that he was sanctioning torture and mutilation of a living person?" Euphie said coldly.

That elicited grimaces from her two siblings.

"That is another point," Schneizel said. "Such direct methods seem, excessive. There are far less primitive ways to examine a person's physiology."

Cornelia sighed. "So, what now? This Cecilia is dead and her body removed by the Red Knight. It would seem we have no firm leads to follow."

"No firm ones, but there are many potential avenues for us to investigate," Schneizel said. "Some basic elements can be established. First, this Cecilia, or Subject C, came into contact with the Lady Stadtfeld during the Shinjuku incident. Based on Specialist Kururugi's testimony Cecilia's presence was as much a surprise to the Lady Stadtfeld as it was to him, so in all likelihood the operation was not intended as a rescue even if it turned out that way. Second, despite what she was subjected to Cecilia does not appear to bear Clovis' family, or at least Euphie, significant animosity, if her participation in the counterattack against the Blood of the Samurai at Kawaguchi is any indication."

"That might be a bit generous," Cornelia remarked. "Her actions there might have been entirely motivated by self-interest."

"True, but I have interacted with Cecilia," Euphie countered, "and she was never anything but courteous and civil. She was even respectful."

To that Cornelia conceded the point with a slight tilt of her head.

Schneizel allowed himself a slight smile before continuing. "Third, someone else aware of Cecilia's, abilities, discovered her presence at Ashford. That would explain the use of what all indications was a missile for an assassination attempt."

This time thoughtful expressions appeared on the faces of both his siblings.

"If that is the case," Euphie began, "then did the attack actually succeed in killing Cecilia?"

"I thought she was a confirmed fatality," Cornelia said.

"Yes, but what are the limits of her regeneration?" Euphie pointed out. "We do not know. And based off of what my guardsmen have said the gendarmerie that attacked afterward were trying to kill Kallen _and_ seize Cecilia's body. That implies they have a use for her body, or perhaps Cecilia herself."

"That suggests someone involved with Clovis' project," Schneizel said. "Have you had any luck tracking down the researchers involved?"

"We're still sorting through the seized documents," Euphie replied, "but it should be just a matter of time."

Schneizel nodded. "Then we will need to be patient."

"What about the Red Knight?" Cornelia said. "We should also focus on bringing her to heel."

It took measurable effort for Euphie to not sigh, not that she did not understand her sister's concerns.

"I have already sent someone to speak with the Stadtfeld family," Euphie said instead. "Unfortunately the baron himself is back in the homeland on a business trip and the baroness has been, less than helpful. The only thing she could tell us was that Kallen would often go out into the wards, even staying out there overnight. Where she stays however the baroness is ignorant of."

"The baron obviously had his daughter's records altered," Schneizel said. "Such alteration might have left a trail."

Euphie nodded. "Jane is looking into that for me. That may allow us to identify who Kallen's biological mother is, which might allow us to track her down. Though, there is a distinct possibility that she passed away during the invasion."

Her sister grimaced, acknowledging the point.

"Then the only matter left to deal with is Kururugi."

"I will speak with him," Euphie said firmly. "Once I have my answers I will determine how to proceed."

"This is a disciplinary matter Euphie-" Cornelia began.

"It is also a policy matter, sister," Euphie cut her off, an act that took Cornelia aback. "Specialist Kururugi decided to withhold the information regarding Kallen not because he did not regard her as dangerous or because he wanted to cause harm to the Empire. On the contrary, he kept her secret because he believed that allowing her to continue to operate would be of benefit to the Empire. Considering many of the things Kallen has done since then a convincing argument could even be made that he was right."

"You can't be serious-" Cornelia started again.

"No, I am not," Euphie again cut her sister off. "Nevertheless I cannot ignore the fact that I owe my life to Kallen and indirectly to the specialist because it was his decision that allowed Kallen to continue moving about freely. At the same time I am not ignoring the fact that at best Kallen is a vigilante and vigilantism implicitly undermines the authority of the government."

The look on Cornelia's face was now more measured. "It sounds like you're arguing for leniency for Kururugi."

"Leniency? I suppose that will depend on whose definition you are using that word. The specialist has most certainly made a mistake, perhaps even a grave one. But no one is perfect, not least you or I, dear sister. The issue you should be considering is whether there is worth in allowing him to make amends for his error instead of treating this as an opportunity to make an example of him because he is a number. And if the latter is what you intend, I will have no choice but to object seeing the effect on morale of the Honorary Britannians whose records are unblemished thus far."

Her sister had a point, as much as Cornelia hated to admit it. Granted under other circumstances it was not a point Cornelia would have cared in the least about seeing as she was no great admirer of the notion of non-Britannians being trusted to bear arms for the Empire. But she had promised Euphie that she would align her military policies with her sister's civilian ones and so Cornelia needed to care.

"This mistake by Kururugi is not a minor one," Cornelia finally said. "Regardless of what answers he may have for you, the severity of his infraction requires that he face a panel."

"So long as its members are fair," Euphie responded.

"Andreas, Margrave Gottwald, and Colonel Frasier," Cornelia said immediately. She had seen that particular requirement coming the moment she insisted on a formal court-martial.

Euphie thought over the selection before finally nodding. Of the three only Jeremiah was liable to let his prejudices influence his decision but the man's sense of duty would in all likelihood keep that from happening. And then Euphie frowned.

"Commissioned officers for the court-martial of a warrant officer?"

"Regardless of whether he holds his rank due to a commission or a warrant Kururugi is held to the same expectation as any other officer," Cornelia responded.

"Very well," Euphie conceded.

That matter settled Schneizel decided that he could remind his sisters of his presence and cleared his throat. The two looked over at him and he smiled wirily.

"If that was indeed the last matter, might I suggest that we all get some rest? It has been a long day and frankly tomorrow promises to be even busier."

Both sisters let out sighs though only Cornelia nodded.

"I have a few last errands that I still need to run," Euphie said instead.

That drew questioning looks from the other two siblings but Euphie kept her expression firm. Finally Schneizel nodded.

"Try not to stay up too late, Euphie."

The princess favored her brother with a smile. "Of course."

With that Schneizel stood and after a nod took his leave. Cornelia lingered however and closed to give Euphie a hug. The young woman allowed herself to sink into it.

"You don't need to shoulder all this yourself," Cornelia said. "You can lean on us from time to time, you know?"

"I'll try to keep that in mind," Euphie said. "It's just, sometimes I end up stumbling into something bigger than I expect."

"That you do," Cornelia said with a chuckle as she released her sister. "Still, don't push yourself too hard, Euphie."

Euphie nodded and gave her sister a heartfelt smile. Cornelia returned it before she too took her leave from the conference room. Left with only her armsmen Euphie took a deep breath. Now onto those errands. The princess grimaced.

The rooms that served as the barracks for her armsmen was in the same wing as her quarters and so were relatively close, though in a building the size of the palace relative truly was the word. Ultimately it took her about five minutes to reach them at her admittedly leisurely pace. In addition to the rooms that actually housed the armsmen there was a fully functional infirmary staffed by members of the Army Medical Service. The place was also where Euphie herself went to for her checkups so she knew the general lay of the rooms.

Today however Euphie came not for herself but for those that were bloodied while carrying out their duty to her. One armsman had been killed in the initial surprise attack by the gendarmerie and another was wounded in the subsequent firefight. To these men the least Euphie could do was pay her respects.

To the princess' surprise the sound of laughter was audible from the infirmary. She slowed, trying to discern the cause.

"Aww it's not that bad Gracia," a man's voice was heard saying. "Just a flesh wound, nothing to be fussing over."

"If it was nothing to be worrying about then why are you confined to the infirmary?" a woman countered. "Honestly, you need to take better care of yourself."

"Hey, I try my best! But sometimes the bad guys aren't so obliging."

"Well perhaps you could be equally un-obliging when it comes to getting shot."

Despite herself Euphie felt a smile creep up on her face. While some people, like the men under her command, might find such a position unreasonable, the princess herself was alike in mind with the woman doing the admonishing. Seeing this as good a time as any to make her entrance Euphie entered the infirmary.

"An excellent suggestion," she said in the process. "I hope you take it to heart sergeant."

The occupants of the infirmary all came to attention in some form, or at least tried to. The wince on Hughes' face emphasized the tried to on his part.

"As you were," Euphie said. "This is a place of healing and I would not undo that by my mere presence."

The young woman walked over to the man sitting up on a bed. "Sergeant Hughes. I hope you are comfortable?"

"Eminently so your highness," the man said promptly and crisply.

Euphie allowed another smile of humor. "Calm, sergeant. I will not think lesser of your dedication if you deign to relax while bedridden."

"Yes ma'am!"

The woman standing next to him sighed in affectionate exasperation before smiling and bowing to Euphie.

"Your highness, it is an honor. I am Gracia Blake, Maes' partner."

"Partner!?" Hughes exclaimed. "C'mon Gracia, don't be so cold! We've been dating for a year now!"

Euphie chuckled. "A pleasure. I apologize for getting your Maes hurt in carrying out my orders."

"One cannot predict the future, your highness," Gracia replied cordially, "and while I would prefer that Maes return to me undamaged, I know that he takes great pride and joy in serving as your armsman. I would not deny him that."

The two women exchanged smiles of mutual understanding while Maes simply looked on.

"I feel like decisions are being made for me without my input again," he muttered.

"Did you say something dear?" Gracia said, turning her smile towards her boyfriend.

"Nothing, nothing at all!" the sergeant quickly pled innocence.

Euphie allowed herself another amused giggle. "Well, it is good to see that you remain in high spirits sergeant." And then her expression took on a solemn air. "Now if you will excuse me, there is someone else I must pay a visit to."

The smiles also disappeared from Maes and Gracia's faces and the sergeant nodded. "Please give him my regards, your highness."

"I will," Euphie assured the man.

In addition to a fully equipped infirmary the palace also possessed the other half of the necessities when its services failed or was too late. The morgue was of course not on the same floor as the infirmary but in the basement, which did not help make it any less foreboding. Nevertheless Euphie forged on and entered the room. To her surprise someone else was already there. Then again perhaps the presence of this man should have been expected.

"Brigadier," Euphie said respectfully.

Jonathan glanced back and nodded to his liege. "Highness."

Euphie walked over to his side and joined him in regarding the object before them. The autopsy had already been completed and the body was encased in a polished wooden casket with the Britannian flag draped atop it. Within a few days it would be shipped back to the homeland where Private David Prendergast would be laid to rest.

"The private served under you before you accepted my offer," Euphie half asked and half stated.

The brigadier tilted his head in affirmation. "Fresh out of boot camp, green as any grunt I ever saw. But he was dedicated, driven, and insightful."

The princess pursed her lips. "And his family?"

"Parents and an older brother," Jonathan replied. "His brother is an engineer if I recall correctly, like his father."

When Euphemia first formally established her guard and selected Jonathan to command it the brigadier's first task had been to select the fifty soldiers that would form it. He was still short of that number but the thirty that transferred with him were all people he considered of sound character and judgment. Euphie herself had taken the time to learn the names of all her armsmen and even a little bit about their background. She was still working on the latter however and Private Prendergast was one that she was still relatively unfamiliar with. Now, the princess would never have the chance to know him beyond his name and face.

"I will send a letter," Euphie stated.

"That is technically my responsibility your highness," Jonathan said with a twitch of his mustache.

"Nevertheless," Euphie replied, "I will send a letter. His family deserves that much for the loss of their son."

Jonathan said nothing further. While the princess tried not to show it she was also feeling some strain from the day. Her decision to write a message to David's family was likely as much about dealing with that stress as it was to offer her genuine condolences. And if the brigadier was just good enough and lucky enough, this would be the last time his liege would be given need to express them. Somehow Jonathan could not quite convince himself that he would be that good or that lucky.

Euphemia stepped forward and placed a hand on the casket.

"Thank you for your service, private." The young woman's eyes hardened. "I will see your death answered."

* * *

"Ow."

Kallen winced again as Inoue applied more of the salve over her bruised back.

"Try to hold still," Inoue urged her.

Easier said than done but Kallen fought down the pain. One thing that served as a good distraction was letting her anger flare. The attack on the school had been aimed squarely at her and C.C. and the bastard responsible was the same contractor that C.C. had cut loose because he was apparently insane. Recalling the whirlwind of grief and anger she felt Kallen could see why the other girl had cut and run.

Running was however not in Kallen's repertoire. A tactical retreat, yes, but simply conceding the field to an enemy? Never. The problem now however was finding the son of a bitch and making him pay for killing so many of her classmates.

"There," Inoue said. "Now just to bandage you up."

Kallen took a deep breath, letting her anger subside slightly as she turned to regard Inoue.

"I still think you should pull out of Keio."

"We've gone over this," Inoue said. "I'm fine for now. There's nothing connecting me to Kallen Stadtfeld and any records that connect me to Kallen Kouzuki probably went up in flames when the Empire invaded. And once Ohgi gets your mom out of there the Britannians will have no leads to follow even if they were able to track her down."

Kallen grimaced. She had not wanted to pull her mother out of the hospital while she was still recovering but at this point they had little choice. It would only be a matter of time before her history as Kallen Kouzuki was discovered by the government. And while the Inquisitio was not omniscient they could not chance some analyst noticing one Kotone Kouzuki checked into Keio.

"We'll need to arrange a meeting with the Sumeragi," Kallen said. "See if they can find out just what the hell happened with the gendarmerie."

"I don't think even the Britannians know what happened with them," Inoue said. "You heard the reports on the news, they've stood down all of the gendarmerie and are even using regular soldiers to cover for them while they investigate."

Kallen frowned. "I'm a bit surprised they admitted to that so openly. One would think they'd be doing their best to hide the fact that they might have lost control of one branch of law enforcement."

"It's pretty obvious that this past contractor caught the authorities by surprise as well," Inoue said as she began wrapping Kallen's form in gauze, eliciting more winces from the girl. "Hell it caught all of us by surprise. A lot of the resistance movements are going to be really nervous after something like this."

The girl's frown was mixed in with a slight tightening of her jaw. "We can't let this escalate. We can't let any of the other resistance movements try something equally stupid."

"Agreed. In the past all of us have treaded very carefully about civilian casualties and we don't want that to change just because of one nutjob. And while it doesn't feel right to phrase it this way, we should be thankful that this attack was so blatant without seeming to serve an obvious objective."

Kallen sighed. It did feel cold and callous to put it that way but Inoue was also right. At this point everyone would simply asking why instead of trying to justify the civilian deaths versus some strategic objective. The girl mulled over other similarly unpleasant thoughts as Inoue continued dealing with the rest of her bruises. Kallen tried not to let her thoughts linger too much on how sore she was going to be for probably the next week. Instead she imagined how she was going to wring the neck of the bastard that did this to her. That was a lot more satisfying.

"Easy there."

The girl glanced back at Inoue. "What?"

"You're clenching your fist, which probably means you're getting overly excited about something, and in your current state that probably means nothing good."

Kallen looked down at her hands and then back at Inoue. "Do I always do that?"

"Not in a while," Inoue said. "The last time you did that was after Naoto was killed."

Kallen kept staring at Inoue for a few seconds longer before dropping down again.

"I made a mistake back then by taking Naoto's death personally," she said. "It wasn't. He was fighting the Empire and the Empire fought back. As far as they were concerned, he was just another insurgent." Her hand tightened into a fist. "But this time, this time someone decided to come at me directly, someone tried to kill me and didn't give a damn how many other people got caught up in it. I'm not taking it personally, _they_ made it personal. I nearly got the bastard at Ashford and the next time we meet, he's dead."

End of Chapter 34

The title of this chapter could apply to either Euphie or Kallen both. That was intentional.

I've been I would say overly productive due to being on vacation. As I get back to work however I expect said productivity to take a nosedive as I focus on earning my paycheck.

In case anyone is wondering where C.C. is after Kallen got the two of them out, she's in Ohgi's bathtub half buried in ice cubes to keep her body relatively fresh until Kallen and co figure out how to deal with her corpse. Or what they think is her corpse. Look forward to the next chapter. It'll be fun, I promise.

A bunch of reviews seem to be stuck somehow. Hopefully they become unstuck soon.

How strong a basis exists for my usage of the British school system for Britannia is kind of a moot point. Code Geass is an alternative timeline and considering that Great Britain was conquered by Napoleon, forcing the British monarchy to flee to the still British colonies, there's no reason to believe that the education system in the UK that is now part of the EU would look anything like the education system that the UK had in the 1960s. I could have just as easily selected the primary and secondary education system of the US, which is a Prussian-based model but there is no strong rationale for either based purely on history, either in the Code Geass timeline or in real life. Ultimately it comes down to a stylistic choice and I chose the British model because I wanted to draw a clear delineation between the Britannian school model and the Japanese school model most of us are familiar with due to anime and the like and which the Code Geass writers used because, who knows.

The only thing that really matters in the context of the story is that I am consistent with what system or set of terminology I use. If I were not serially publishing this story there would be a lot more coherence. For example I would have referred to the gendarmerie as that last chapter instead of just starting to this chapter. Little details like that.

Sidenote, every time someone is addressed as lieutenant, the pronunciation is actually leftenant.

It's also why Jonathan is referred to as Brigadier instead of General. He's still formally a colonel and has been appointed as a brigadier as part of his role as commander of Euphie's royal guard. Eventually he'll be formally promoted in grade to the rank of brigadier-general but not yet.

I've also developed the royal guard of the princes and princesses in more detail than what is explained in the anime, not that we got much of an explanation to begin with. In this case I was thinking about the Honorverse, at least indirectly, with its Grayson armsmen. The count of fifty was just a number I thought was reasonable, that it matches how many armsmen a steadholder can have sworn to him/her can be treated as coincidence or inspiration, whichever you want to think. And yes, sworn to him/her over their duty to the Empire or even the emperor. Obviously the royal guard is not solely composed of knights in my version of Code Geass. At present Euphie only has a single knight sworn to her, Villetta, and at present Villetta is not a knight of honor, just an armsman (or armswoman, not sure that distinction is even used).

Consequentially this also has ramifications for Cornelia's royal guard. Specifically Andreas Darlton is _not_ part of it, even though his adopted sons, the Glaston Knights, are. Andreas himself is a lieutenant-general in the Britannian army and I've written him to actually serve in that capacity instead of standing around guarding Cornelia. That irritated the crap out of me in the anime.

Gilbert, while Cornelia's knight of honor, is also not actually the captain of Cornelia's royal guard because he's spending most of his time accompanying his liege to ensure her personal safety. He is however the defacto second in command as he is almost always the man on the spot and so needs the authority to order any other armsman around if the situation warrants. Whether I'll bother introducing the actual captain of Cornelia's guard is a matter for the future.

One last tidbit, all armsmen are in terms of authority a half-step up from their nominal rank. Meaning a private that's an armsman can legally issue binding orders to other privates but not to a lance corporal. Similarly an armsman second lieutenant outranks a regular services second lieutenant but not a first lieutenant, and so on. This goes all the way up the ranks until the captain of the guard, who at minimum holds equal authority to a brigadier general. Progression after that can see the guard-captain promoted to the formal ranks of major-general, lieutenant-general, so on, and they no longer outrank their regular services counterpart. Furthermore progression up the ladder of flag rank for armsmen becomes based solely on accrued seniority so it takes a very, very long time for an armsman to reach major-general, much less lieutenant-general rank. For that matter it is extremely rare for there to be more than one colonel in someone's royal guard and there will only ever be one general, the captain of the guard. The rest of the guard is usually filed out with an assortment of enlisted and a bunch of lieutenants, the lieutenants being lieutenants so that they can easily take command of regular army platoons in situations that warrant it. Anyway, that's enough of an infodump on the royal guards for now.

Needless to say the Knights of the Round work somewhat differently. The one tidbit I will reveal for now is that at minimum all of them hold authority equal to that of a brigadier-general. That may or may not have any relevance to Monica's appearance next chapter. We'll see.

I forgot to mention this last time around but I decided to give Milly a proper full name. Milly sounds too much like a nickname for me to seriously believe that a noble daughter would be given it as a proper name. And so I picked a name that I thought Milly would dislike being called, hence Melinda Ashford. I could have also gone with Amelia but that actually sounded too reasonable. Umm, no offense to anyone of you named Melinda. Or Amelia. Though I could give her full name as Melinda Amelia Ashford. Yeah, let's go with that.

I believe I've said this before but I will not answer questions on things that I have intentionally left vague in the story. So if your question does not get answered, don't expect it to be until I get around to it in the story proper.

Anyway, drop a review or questions that I can answer.


	36. Chapter 35

Snippet spoiler: low to none

 _The Knights of the Round serve as direct agents of the sovereign of the Holy Britannian Empire, wielding authority that many consider second only to their liege. Limited by tradition to twelve members at most, it is rare for any sovereign to fill every position even in times of war. Each knight officially commands an imperial regiment composed of armsmen sworn directly to the sovereign. Whereas the royal guards of the imperial scions are legally limited to fifty at most, the sovereign is permitted an unlimited number of direct armsmen._

 _Out of the Knights only the Knight of One possesses a legally defined position and role. Previous to the reforms of the Empress Euphemia he or she would be granted the viceroyalty of any of the Empire's conquered areas, though from a practical perspective actual governorship was always delegated to trusted agents due to the Knight of One's official duties. These duties included command of the Fenrir Guard, the regiment responsible for defending the capital city and the personal safety of the sovereign._

 _While the other Knights do not have such predefined roles, precedence and tradition has resulted in them being assigned informal ones. Since the formation of the Britannian Air Force the Veðrfölnir Guard, the air combat regiment responsible for securing Pendragon's airspace and also escorting the sovereign whenever he or she travels by air, has been commanded by the Knight of Four. Similarly the Jörmungandr Taskforce, the naval element of the sovereigns' personal forces, was traditionally commanded by the Knight of Two._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 35: Adaequatio intellectus et rei

There were still many unresolved matters, not least of which was the issue of Suzaku Kururugi. It was however getting late and Euphie was sufficiently weary that she determined that addressing the matter of the specialist would have to wait until tomorrow after she got a good night's rest. Of course something always interrupted one's plans.

"Your highness?"

Euphie glanced over at the doorway. "Dorothy? Is something the matter?"

The maid looked hesitant but continued nonetheless. "Sir Ashford has awoken, your highness, and he has requested to speak with you."

All thoughts of sleep vanished from Euphie's thoughts. The elderly man's state after the sudden heart attack was one of the matters she had inquired about before retiring, though Euphie had elected not to pay Ruben a visit so as to allow him to rest more comfortably. Milly was also at her grandfather's side to keep him company so it was not as if Ruben would be all alone. Now though the princess hastily donned a relatively plain blouse and dress and hurried to the room set aside for the old man.

Waiting outside was Milly, leaning against the door as if standing guard despite the fact that two of Milly's armsmen flanked the entryway.

"Milly," Euphie said.

The older girl smiled slightly before enveloping Euphie in a tight embrace. It was remarkable how much tension could bleed away in a hug and Euphie felt her entire body seemingly relax.

"Grandpa's gonna be okay," Milly said, and then more softly, "and Nunnally is fine too, she said to ask after you."

"I'm fine," Euphie responded as the two separated. "No, that's a lie. I'm not fine. There's someone out there willing to murder countless people in cold blood. Until he's caught, I won't be able to stop worrying about something happening to you or your family."

Milly smiled gently and gave Euphie's hands a squeeze. "Even though you are the one more likely to be in danger?"

"The danger I face comes with my duty," Euphie said solemnly before smiling sadly. "And if I could I would not see it shared with those close to me."

"That's what I love about you Euphie," Milly said, her smile widening slightly. "For all the politics and maneuvering, there are times when you wear your heart on your sleeve and I can see the kind person you are."

The words took Euphie aback but then she smiled in gratitude to Milly. The older girl then opened the door and gestured for her to enter. To Euphie's surprise Milly did not enter and closed the door after her, leaving her alone with Ruben. Apparently not even her armsmen would be allowed to listen in on this conversation, though seeing how deeply they were in the palace and the fact that Ruben was one of Euphie's most trusted advisors the brigadier would probably not make a fuss. Probably.

The princess shook off these idle thoughts and made her way to Ruben's bedside. The elderly man was lying down, his complexion still a bit pale but nowhere as haunted as earlier.

"Highness," Ruben said and made to rise.

Euphie immediately reached out and placed a single hand on the man's shoulder. "Please, Ruben. We have no need for formalities here."

The old man smiled wirily but relaxed nonetheless.

"Do you need anything?" Euphie asked.

"According to the doctors all I need is time," Ruben said before gazing at the ceiling. "Time. It is something that I will soon run out of."

Euphie's face creased into a frown, a change not lost upon Ruben. The elderly man reached out a hand and Euphie immediately clasped it.

"Do not make that face highness," Ruben said with a comforting smile. "For one who has lived a full life, the end is not something to be feared or avoided, it is simply the next step on the journey."

Euphie nodded solemnly. What Ruben said was perfectly reasonable, for those who indeed lived a full life. Too many however had been cut short this day and in the princess' opinion Ruben's was nearly one such life, for she did not consider his time to yet be due.

Ruben took a deep breath, the smile disappearing from his face. His eyes were now firm but not cold.

"I spoke with Milly about what happened at Ashford," Ruben said. "About which of my students I have failed."

"You didn't fail anyone," Euphie said emphatically.

"Perhaps not, but I have failed myself," Ruben said. "But that is not what I wished to discuss with you. One of the persons Milly informed me perished was a woman named Cecilia Clermont, not a student, but an assistant to one. I believe you have met her."

Euphie nodded very slowly, wondering where this was going. And then her mind made the intuitive leap and she gasped.

Ruben nodded. "I should have paid closer attention when her paperwork came in, but at the time I was settling into my new duties and so I relied on my staff at Ashford to handle the details. Milly however had a photo of the woman on her cellphone and, it is as you surmise, this Cecilia looks exactly like the woman that entrusted Nunnally to me."

"But, that was eight years ago," Euphie said, more thoughtful than incredulous as she considered the information about Cecilia's supposed regeneration ability. Could the woman actually be effectively immortal?

"Indeed," Ruben said with a deep sigh. "I cannot explain it, your highness, but I am certain that this Cecilia is the very person that saved Nunnally and brought her to us. I do not fully comprehend what she was doing at the school with Kallen and according to Milly she never behaved any differently when in Nunnally's presence, but the resemblance is too perfect for her to be anyone else."

Euphie frowned. This whole affair was becoming more and more convoluted. And it was becoming increasingly clear that losing track of Cecilia and Kallen was an even greater problem than she originally thought.

"Milly never met Cecilia when Nunnally was brought to you?" Euphie asked.

Ruben shook his head slowly. "And she still does not know that Cecilia was the one to do so. I ask that that remain so, your highness, for I have a fear that whatever this woman's secrets they are worth a great deal of blood to someone out there."

A conclusion that Euphie herself had also made. The princess nodded.

"I will investigate this matter discretely, Ruben, you have my word." Euphie smiled once more. "And thank you for informing me of this."

"For the sake of my family," Ruben said, his voice growing softer.

It was evident that the elderly man's energy was leaving him. Euphie gave Ruben's hand another squeeze before setting it down on the bed. As she withdrew the old man's eyes were already closed. It was with great care that Euphie opened the door and with equal care that she closed them to avoid making a single sound. Milly was still waiting outside and gave Euphie a nod as the princess emerged.

"I'll be heading back to Ashford," the girl said. "Can't leave my little sister alone for too long."

"Please give her my love," Euphie said.

Milly flashed her trademark grin. "I will. Night Euphie, and try to get some sleep yourself."

That was an excellent suggestion and Euphie headed back towards her room to do just that. As she reached for the door handle however one of the armsmen trailing her cleared his throat.

"Your pardon, highness, but MacArthur Base just relayed a message," he said very apologetically.

"Is it pressing?" Euphie asked with considerably less humor than was her usual wont.

The guardsman looked at Euphie for several seconds before finally answering. "There is the possibility, your highness, but at present no further action should be necessary beyond simply keeping you informed."

"Then inform me," Euphie ordered.

"Yes your highness. MacArthur Base reports that they have received and verified a request for landing clearance from Dame Monica Kruszewski, the Knight of Twelve."

Euphie was now giving the armsman a very flat look.

"She is expected to land within the hour," the guardsman added.

A most unladylike word passed the princess' lips. The armsmen within earshot all wisely decided they had heard nothing.

* * *

The supersonic transport that was available to the most trusted agents of the emperor was capable of speeds up to Mach 2 even when hauling the knightmare frame of said agent. This put the travel time from Pendragon to Tokyo at five hours, far faster than any mere commercial airliner. Of course a lot of things could happen in a mere five hours as Dame Monica Kruszewski, Knight of Twelve, was finding out.

"So at present we have no idea where she is," Monica stated.

"That is correct Dame Kruszewski," Jeremiah said.

Monica refrained from sighing. Had this task been easy it would never have been handed to a knight of the round, much less to her specifically. It would also be grossly unfair to imply incompetence on the part of the soldiers here. Monica only knew Brigadier Eyrie by reputation but she doubted that anyone entrusted with the safety of an imperial scion would have selected anyone not of the highest caliber for her guard. Nevertheless the simple fact was that C.C. and her contractor had managed to escape in the confusion of the second attack on Ashford and could well be anywhere in the area by now. Not easy was starting to sound like a gross understatement.

"This Red Knight has known associates?" Monica asked.

Jeremiah grimaced. Technically there were suspicions about certain individuals but there was no hard, concrete evidence. Making the matter even more complicated was the fact that one of those individuals was associated with the Keio project and upon learning of the knight's impending arrival the viceroy had ordered a complete block on anything related to the hospital.

"None confirmed," Jeremiah finally answered, "and to move against them without confirmation carries with it substantial risk of destabilizing the area."

Monica raised an eyebrow as she regarded Jeremiah. "I would not have presumed you would bend words like a bureaucrat, margrave."

The man's anger flared for a brief moment but he kept it in check. "Respectfully Dame Kruszewski, while you are an agent of the emperor so is her highness the princess in her capacity as viceroy. And as you are newly arrived to Area 11 you may not be familiar with the complexity of the current social and political climate. That being the case, I would advise that you _not_ perform any acts that would have undue consequences such as undoing her highness' progress in establishing order outside of the concessions."

Monica raised an eyebrow. "Such progress that the area has suffered perhaps its worst terrorist attack ever?"

"Thus far the only hard data that we have is whomever orchestrated the attacks was able to compel members of the gendarmerie to attack not only the Lady Stadtfeld but members of her highness' royal guard," Jeremiah replied firmly. "Seeing as the objective of this unknown party was obviously to silence the Lady Stadtfeld and her companion Ms. Clermont, it is interesting that thus far you, madam, seem focused on apprehending the Lady Stadtfeld and not in identifying whom managed to suborn the gendarmerie."

The knight regarded Jeremiah silently for a few moments before cracking the slightest of smiles before assuming a sterner expression.

"You make a valid point, margrave," Monica finally said. "However I assure you that my primary concern is identifying the perpetrator or perpetrators behind the Ashford attack. Seeing as presently there are no leads as to whom that may be, it seems reasonable to me that attempting to find the Lady Stadtfeld and determining what she may know about this assailant is the best course of action at present."

Jeremiah tilted his head. "That may be the case, but in frankness Dame Kruszewski we simply do not know where the Lady Stadtfeld disappeared to. She has not returned home and if she has left the Concession then by this time she could be miles away from Tokyo."

That, Monica conceded both mentally and with a nod, was also true.

"Then how would you recommend we proceed, margrave?" Monica asked.

"Under normal circumstances I would suggest interrogation of the prisoners," Jeremiah said. "Unfortunately the only gendarmerie that was taken alive has been, hysterical."

"Hysterical?"

"Or possibly deranged. When he first gained consciousness he attempted to bite off his own tongue. The nurses were able to stop him but they have been forced to keep him heavily restrained to prevent him from hurting himself."

The man frowned.

"Is something the matter margrave?" Monica asked.

"It is just, eerily similar to some prisoners we took from amongst the Blood of the Samurai a few months back," Jeremiah answered.

This elicited a frown from Monica herself. "I recall a note attached to the debriefing that indicated suspicion of a foreign element influencing the Samurai, driving them to fight to fanatical levels."

"Indeed. And according to the reports by her highness' guardsmen when it appeared that the gendarmerie would be unable to achieve their objective those still fighting to the man committed suicide, as if determined to be prevented from revealing something."

That was speculative but Monica felt certain that the margrave was onto something.

"Where is this prisoner now?"

"In one of the secured wards."

"I would like to see him."

Jeremiah raised an eyebrow. "As I said, the prisoner is currently hysterical. Efforts to interrogate him have gotten us nothing thus far."

"That may be so margrave," Monica said with another faint smile, "but my duty demands that I bear personal witness before declaring an avenue exhausted."

"Very well," Jeremiah said as he turned towards the door. "With me then."

Despite the hour MacArthur Base was still buzzing with activity, meaning there were plenty of people that gawked at Monica as she passed. A knight of the round was not exactly a common sight even back in the homelands. To have one here in such a remote area of the Empire was sure to elicit attention, especially when her features were so graceful. Monica however paid the onlookers no heed and simply followed Jeremiah over to the base hospital. There the two proceeded underground until they stood before a series of heavy looking doors. The two guards standing watch immediately snapped to attention at their sight.

"M-my lord, madam knight."

"The prisoner's status?" Jeremiah asked.

"He's in one of his collapsed periods, my lord," the soldier said, "but I expect that he'll start back up within a couple of minutes."

Jeremiah nodded and at seeing Monica's quizzical look offered an explanation. "The prisoner does not cease struggling even after being strapped down and gagged. In fact the Samurai we took prisoners all eventually died of cardiac arrest because of their refusal to rest."

"I see," Monica said thoughtfully. "I wonder if that was intentional."

"I know not," Jeremiah responded before looking back at the guard. "Open the door."

"Yes my lord."

The soldier futzed with a key for a few moments before the lock clicked open. He pulled the door open and promptly shut it once Jeremiah and Monica were in.

The woman barely heard the door clang shut behind them, her attention was fixed solely on the ragged looking form tied down on the bed. The man's face glistened with sweat and his eyes darted about, not even looking at Jeremiah or Monica. None of that however mattered in the least to the knight. She closed her right eye and regarded the man with her left and immediately picked out the flickers of a faint red light in the prisoner's eyes.

"Interesting," Monica said aloud.

Jeremiah looked over at the woman. "You see something?"

Monica chewed her lip as she considered how best to approach this matter. It was unlikely that she could get the margrave to leave her alone with the prisoner and even if she ordered him it would be a moot point, the room was obviously wired and so any information she extracted from the man would eventually reach the authorities responsible for Area 11. On the other hand she could lessen the inevitable questions with a bit of misdirection and by ostensibly cooperating with the authorities here they would likely be more willing to lend her aid should the need arise. Arriving at a decision Monica turned to Jeremiah.

"The man is obviously under some sort of conditioning and as a knight of the round I have some experience with methods of overcoming or disrupting such conditioning. I can attempt them on the prisoner, but I will require your word that you will not reveal the means by which I make the attempt."

Jeremiah's eyes narrowed. "Are you asking me to withhold information from her highness?"

"Merely what I personally do," Monica said. "Any information we obtain from a successful interrogation you are free to share with the viceroy or the marshal. Is that acceptable, margrave?"

Jeremiah spent perhaps another moment or so regarding Monica before finally giving a nod. Monica however was not entirely done yet.

"Your word, margrave."

The noble raised an eyebrow but acquiesced nonetheless. "I give my word as the Sixth Margrave of Winchester that I will not reveal to any other soul the means with which you overcome the prisoner's conditioning."

Monica nodded in satisfaction. The theatrics were completely unnecessary of course but it would do nicely to distract Jeremiah from what she was really doing. She turned about and stepped to the side of the prisoner, making sure that her back was to the margrave. Placing fingers on the man's temple on both sides of his head she pressed down. With the prisoner's head also securely fastened the minute shaking he was capable of did not offer any particular difficulties to Monica. Then again all this was for show to hide what she was really doing.

Closing her right eye Monica focused her left sight on the prisoner's eyes. The man stopped fidgeting and soon was gazing blankly back at her. Then for the briefest of moments a blue light invisible to all but a select few flared in Monica's left eye. To the woman's surprise the blank gaze did not disappear. She focused once again, letting the light of her geass shine once more and this time longer. The prisoner's eyes started to focus and Monica allowed her geass to recede. At the same time however the glassy look started returning to the prisoner's expression. Monica grimaced. This was unheard of, for her geass to be unable to completely negate another's. But neither was it completely ineffective. Monica gazed at the prisoner and allowed her power to shine without pause. Finally the empty stare of the prisoner disappeared. Instead he looked up at her in confusion, and then consternation.

The knight undid the gag in the man's mouth before straightening.

"Wha-what is going on?"

Jeremiah was immediately at the beside opposite Monica at hearing coherent words from the prisoner.

"Soldier, name and rank," he snapped.

"P-Peter Wake. Private. Britannian Gendarmerie."

Jeremiah looked back up at Monica. "You did it Dame Kruszewski."

Monica frowned, a genuine expression on her part. "To an extent. The, conditioning is severe in the extreme. I do not know how long we have before it reasserts itself."

"Then we best begin," Jeremiah said before looking back down at the gendarmerie. "Private, what is the last thing you recall?"

The man looked up at Jeremiah in confusion. "Wh-where am I? Why am I tied down like this?"

Jeremiah bit back the urge to yell at the man to focus. That would probably be counterproductive no matter how satisfying venting would feel, initially at least.

"Private," Monica began, "look at me."

The prisoner did so, his face still one of near panic.

"I am Monica Kruszewski, Knight of Twelve in service to his majesty the Emperor Charles."

Said panic quickly elevated.

"We are trying to determine whether it is safe to release you from the bindings," Monica continued, "so please answer our questions. What is the last thing you remember."

The man's eyes widened at the seeming lifeline being extended. "We-we were dispatched to a school. Ashford Academy. There had been a terrorist attack and we were to secure the area." The man's eyes glazed slightly as he recollected what happened. "We got to the school, established a perimeter." A frown crossed his face. "And, I got a text message on my cellphone."

Monica frowned. "What did the message say?"

"I-I'm not sure. I pulled out my phone to check it but, everything after that is a blank."

The knight exchanged looks with Jeremiah. This at least was something.

"C-can I get up now?" the private asked.

"We still have some questions," Monica said. "Within the past couple of weeks, were there any other periods of time that you can't seem to account for like after you received that text message?"

"I-I'm not sure," the man said. "I-maybe?" He frowned. "There, was this one time, I'd helped a guy that had tripped. He-it was only a minute, or that's what it felt like. But I ended up missing my check-in and got chewed out by the sarge."

And this was more than just something.

"Can you describe him?" Monica asked intently.

"He, looked fairly young. M-maybe high school age? University age? Umm, had short black hair, and eyes, his eyes, his eyes, eyes, eyeseyeseyesey-GAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Jeremiah and Monica both jerked back momentarily as the prisoner began screaming. And then blood began pouring out of his nose and the man slumped down. The margrave immediately reached for the intercom.

"Medical personnel to the secured cell now!"

Monica's eye flared again but it was no use. The failsafe, and it had to have been a failsafe, had unraveled so quickly that there was nothing for her to cancel. And without being aware of its existence she had not been able to prevent it from triggering. The man shuddered for a few moments longer before slumping down on the bed, eyes rolled up and form still. The door to the cell slid open and two nurses rushed in. One nearly pushed Monica away from the bedside but the knight offered no resistance, watching the already futile attempt by the nurses to administer to their patient. After a minute or so they too reached that conclusion and one of the nurses closed the man's eyes. She then regarded Jeremiah and Monica.

"Margrave Gottwald." The woman turned to Monica. "And you would be?"

"Monica Kruszewski, Knight of Twelve to his majesty the Emperor," Monica responded.

An eyebrow arched upward ever so slightly but the woman took Monica's declaration in stride.

"And what, Dame Kruszewski were you and the margrave doing to our patient to cause him to suffer a stroke?"

"Why do you presume we were the cause?" Monica countered.

"Because the last few instances where we had patients in such a condition they expired from cardiac arrest," the nurse stated. "Private Wake here did not and the only difference is the presence of the two of you."

Monica found herself mildly impressed with the other woman. If nothing else she was ably reinforcing the Nursing Corps' reputation for iron will.

"You would be?" Monica asked.

The woman blinked. "Lieutenant Victoria Celeste."

"Well met lieutenant," Monica said. "And to answer your question, I was attempting to undo the conditioning that was driving the private to such extremes."

Victoria's eyes widened. "Conditioning?"

Monica nodded. "No rational person would drive him or herself to such lengths, I am sure you would agree, and while the Samurai prisoners might have had reason to wish to deny the Empire the ability to question them, that seems unlikely to be the case for Private Wake. Hence I suspected conditioning, and sought to undo it."

The lieutenant regarded the private's still form before looking back at Monica. "You did not succeed."

"On the contrary," Jeremiah spoke up, "Dame Kruszewski was able to return the private to his senses for a few moments. In that time he was able to provide us with invaluable information before, something seemed to happen to him."

"A failsafe," Monica followed up. "It appears that whomever placed this conditioning upon the private wanted to guarantee that he would die if captured or compromised."

The lieutenant's eyes narrowed. "Why was this attempted without one of us present to render assistance?"

"At the time it did not occur to me that it would be necessary," Monica answered frankly. "That may well have been a mistake, lieutenant, but my responsibility to the emperor is to determine who is responsible for the Ashford attack. While I regret the private's death, I do not consider it to have been wasted, and neither should you."

The army nurse gave Monica a very cool. Ultimately however Victoria understood that she did not have the authority to call a knight of the round to account on this matter.

"Is there anything else that you need then?" the woman asked somewhat icily.

"No," Monica said. "I will leave the private's arrangements in your hands, lieutenant."

Victoria nodded ever so slightly and Monica proceeded to take her leave. As she passed through the threshold of the door she could hear Jeremiah speak.

"I apologize for how this matter developed, lieutenant. I should have summoned one of you immediately upon learning what Dame Kruszewski intended."

"What is done is done," Victoria could be heard saying. "Dame Kruszewski seems to believe that the private's life was not wasted. Make sure of that, margrave."

"I will see to it personally," Jeremiah reassured her.

A few moments later the margrave was at Monica's side once more. Glancing over at him the knight could pick out no indication of irritation or anger on the deceased private's behalf. In fact Jeremiah had a thoughtful expression on his face.

"An interesting development," Monica remarked as the two proceeded upstairs.

"Yes," Jeremiah agreed softly. "A shame you were not here when we still had prisoners from the Samurai. Perhaps if you had discovered that, failsafe, back then, we could have averted the private's death."

Monica was somewhat dubious of that but did not annunciate her doubt.

"Nevertheless I am here now," she said instead, "and there appears to be much work left to do to unravel this mystery."

"That there is," Jeremiah agreed.

"Then let us get to it."

* * *

Kallen curled up. For some reason she felt somewhat chilly despite the fact that she should have had a comforter covering her. Her hands wandered over her body but felt nothing. Had she rolled out of it? Eyes still closed she swept her arms aside to try to find it but came up empty. Just as the girl was about to give up and just deal with the slight lack of warmth instead of waking up more to consciously acknowledge the missing comforter a sneeze sounded. At first Kallen thought that sneeze was from her and if so then she must have been even colder than she realized. Then the girl realized that there was no itching in her nose or the release of pressure that usually followed a sneeze. Her eyes opened and she blinked a few times before rolling over to look in the direction where she heard the sneeze coming from. Kallen's eyes widened.

At the bedside wrapped up in what had to be several layers of blankets was a green haired girl staring at Kallen with what could best be described as an expression of irritation.

"I say," C.C. began. "Doth thee think it be a grand jest that I awake sepultured in ice?"

Kallen's jaw refused to close for several long seconds before the girl's hand shot up to point at C.C.

"You were dead!" she cried.

"Doth I look deceased to thee?" C.C. responded before sneezing again.

Kallen spent a few more moments gaping at C.C. before bolting forth and throwing her arms around the other girl. It was almost an instinctive action but Kallen nevertheless gave C.C. a tight squeeze.

"Oh gods, don't you _ever_ do that to me again," the red haired girl hissed. "I-I thought you really had died."

C.C. seemed taken aback but eventually one arm emerged from under the blankets and wrapped around Kallen. Even through her admittedly thin shirt and the few places of skin contact Kallen could feel the coldness of C.C.'s body. Apparently the other girl really did need all those blankets. Then again she had spent most of yesterday subsumed in ice in Ohgi's bathtub to preserve her body while they figured out what to do. That fortunately was no longer a problem.

Kallen released her and slid back a bit but she kept her gaze fixed on C.C. The green haired girl was still a void as far as her geass was concerned but unlike her current physical state it was no longer a cold void. Instead it appeared more that there was something within her that shone so brightly as to completely swamp Kallen's geass.

C.C.'s trademark smirk appeared as the girl returned Kallen's gaze. "Doth thee seek to make me blush with thy attention?"

Kallen snorted but kept her own expression composed and serious. "A lot of people died that day that shouldn't have. And regardless of how irritating you can be, you have stood by me through thick and thin. So, I'm glad that you're okay."

Again C.C. seemed surprised at Kallen's response but when the smile reappeared on her face there was a softer touch to it. "Thy kindness be duly noted, Kallen. And I bid thou gramercy for it."

Kallen chuckled slightly. "Are you thankful enough to start speaking plainly?"

That elicited a chuckle from C.C. as well. "This is this and that be that."

"I figured." Kallen's expression turned solemn. "C.C. I caught a, well, glimpse of the person who launched the attack on Ashford."

The green haired girl's face soon mirrored that of Kallen's.

"He's the past contractor that went insane, isn't he?"

For a few moments C.C. remained completely frozen. And then she dipped her head ever so slightly in affirmation. Her body was almost shaking from the effort. Kallen took in a deep breath.

"Well alright then." And her eyes hardened. "It looks like you and I have a common enemy."

The corner of C.C.'s cheeks twitched as if the girl was trying to say something but after a few seconds of trying the girl seemingly gave up. Instead she simply nodded again.

"Don't worry," Kallen said with a slight smile. "I'll figure out a way to break the chain that binds you."

Before C.C. could respond pounding sounded on the bedroom door.

"Kallen," Ohgi's frantic voice sounded, "we've got trouble. C.C.'s body is gone and someone, raided the fridge. I think."

Kallen frowned before redirecting her gaze at C.C. "You raided the fridge?"

"Doth thee think mine expiry be averted through lack of vittles?"

Kallen spent perhaps a single second staring at C.C. before snorting. "Everything's fine Ohgi, C.C.'s returned from the dead and needed to gorge herself to make up for missing dinner last night."

The girl in question sniffed derisively before allowing a smile to crack.

"Uh, okay, what?" a very confused sounding Ohgi responded.

"Just wait a sec and let us get dressed," Kallen said before she directed her attention back to C.C. "So I guess you really are immortal after all."

"Were that so," C.C. replied, "but alas true immortality be not the realm of mortal men."

* * *

"The power of this compulsion was in the extreme, your majesty, and I was barely able to override it with my geass. In fact I suspect that whomever placed the compulsion on the private and the other gendarmerie possesses a geass on the cusp of transforming outright into a Code."

The projection of Charles assumed a thoughtful expression. "Another bearer in Area 11. It must be one of C.C.'s past contractors, and one that holds a grudge against her."

Seeing as the emperor's words were statements and not questions Monica kept her mouth shut.

"Determine the identity of this contractor," Charles pronounced. "If he is amiable to recruitment, do so. Otherwise eliminate him."

"Yes your majesty," Monica said with head bowed.

"Call upon whatever resources you require from the viceroy. If that is still not enough, you are authorized to summon reinforcements from the mainland."

It seemed the emperor really wanted to catch whoever this other contractor was.

"Understood, your majesty."

The connection terminated, summarily concluding their conversation. Just in time too as Monica exited the room and made her way to one of the many conference rooms at MacArthur Base. Seeing as this meeting was meant to update all of the relevant persons on the progress of the investigation on the Ashford attack she would not want to be late. As Monica entered the room she found that despite not actually being late she was still the last one present.

"Apologies for keeping all of you," the woman said with a nod of the head. The only one a knight of the round bowed to was his majesty.

The others returned the motion, some regarding Monica more intently than others.

"I believe we have not yet been formally introduced yet your highness," Monica said to the young woman looking at her from the head of the table. "Monica Kruszewski, Knight of Twelve in service to His Majesty the Emperor Charles."

Euphemia nodded. "A pleasure, Dame Kruszewski."

The only other persons of real note present were Prince Schneizel and Princess Cornelia. The former Monica already was acquainted with while the latter she had paid a courtesy visit earlier in the day so the knight took a seat. Euphie's gaze lingered for a few moments longer before she shifted it to Jeremiah.

"Margrave, if you could please begin now that we are all here?"

"Yes your highness." Jeremiah worked the keyboard before him and brought up an image of a long tube and some metal fragments. "We were able to recover the weapon used in the initial attack on Ashford and have conclusively identified it as a French Mistral anti-air missile."

Frowns appeared all around the table.

"French?" Cornelia said.

"Indeed your highness," Jeremiah continued. "This is in fact the first time we've encountered such a modern weapon from a foreign source, which has all sorts of unpleasant implications."

"Someone is smuggling in weapons from the EU," Euphie stated. "Our missing military attaches?"

"That is in fact a distinct possibility your highness," Jeremiah agreed, "especially in light of this."

The image shifted to a blond hair girl in the uniform of Ashford Academy.

"Charlotte Dunois, officially enrolled very recently into the academy. After the attack she disappeared without a trace, resulting in the Inquisitio running a more detailed background check on her. Her credentials and documentation are all fakes."

Euphie's eyes narrowed. "What was she doing at Ashford?"

"To be frank we do not know," Jeremiah said. "According to the few students we have interviewed thus far Ms. Dunois, assuming that is her real name, did not seem to do anything out of the ordinary while at school. It may be that she was simply there to perform reconnaissance on the Lady Stadtfeld."

The gears turned in the princess' mind as she considered that possibility. While plausible, her instincts told her that there was more going on. Unfortunately there was simply not enough information.

"And what of the Lady Stadtfeld herself?" Euphie asked. "Have any irregularities been discovered in her documentation?"

"Not as of yet your highness," Jeremiah said, "or at least nothing that indicates alternation. The Lady Stadtfeld was however born in Area 11 before its incorporation into the Empire and so her birth certificate was issued by a Japanese hospital. That is posing some difficulty in acquiring the original records."

Euphie nodded. Not surprising in the least seeing the chaos and destruction wrought by the invasion.

"Very well. Please continue, margrave."

"Yes your highness. The other development related to the attack itself came from Private Wake," Jeremiah said. "The, compulsion that he was under was broken long enough for him to reveal a few pieces of information before he regrettably passed away."

Samantha's gaze flickered ever so briefly in Monica's direction and the knight thought she saw just a hint of irritation. Monica pretended not to notice. Hopefully there would not be cause for further friction with the woman, Monica was an experienced enough soldier to understand the importance of not angering any of the Nursing Corps.

"It would appear that the person responsible for this conditioning was a young man, of high school or university age. The only other physical description the private was able to provide was that he had black hair."

"Not much to go on," Andreas murmured.

"Indeed so sir," Jeremiah agreed, "which was why I pulled up the visa records of the European delegation to see if any of them might have similarities. It was then that I noticed some very interesting discrepancies."

The image shifted again to two documents, which on closer inspection appeared to be applications for diplomatic visas. Euphie frowned.

"These are, incomplete."

"Quite so your highness, yet they were still approved," Jeremiah said. "I sent a request to the Britannian embassy in Paris to determine how this could be but according to the personnel there no one has any recollection of ever processing these, despite the fact that they are notarized by the embassy's seal."

"How is that even possible?" Cornelia wondered aloud.

"It shouldn't be," Schneizel stated, "unless someone was able to completely circumvent the entire chain of safeguards we have to prevent such things from happening."

"And considering the, conditioning, that we have already witnessed, how unlikely is it that someone managed to do just that?" Euphie said.

"That there exists such a means," Andreas said grimly, "it sickens me to think of it. A man's will should not be so easily bent."

That Monica more than agreed with but she remained the passive observer for now.

"But is that even possible to begin with?" Jeremiah said. "Even after having witnessed what happened to the private I find the entire notion, incredulous." The margrave turned to regard Samantha. "Is there any medical foundation for this."

"None that I am aware of," Samantha stated immediately. "Nevertheless, the limits of our scientific knowledge does not necessarily define the boundaries of what is and is not possible in the real world."

"But how do we defend against something which we do not understand?" Jeremiah asked.

"By increasing our understanding," Monica finally spoke up. "The first step to defeating a threat is in identifying it. We have already done so to an extent. We must not stop here however."

Cornelia and a few of the other officers nodded approvingly while Samantha was joined by Euphemia and Schneizel in questioning looks.

"And do you have a plan of action, Dame Kruszewski?" Euphie asked.

"I intend to investigate further the connection between this attacker and the Lady Stadtfeld and Ms. Clermont," Monica stated. "There was a reason this assailant went to such lengths to attempt to silence them and if I can determine what it is then I will be one step closer to the truth."

The princess regarded Monica levelly. In truth there was nothing that Euphie could formally do to stop Monica, a Knight of the Round answered only to the emperor. Indirectly however as viceroy Euphie possessed a few means of interfering with Monica's investigation if she so desired, not without risk of course.

After a few more seconds Euphie nodded. "Very well. I will task a unit of my guard to assist you in this matter, Dame Kruszewski."

Monica raised an eyebrow. It was fairly obvious that the princess intended for these armsmen to keep an eye on Monica. The unspoken question was whether that was all they would be there for.

For some reason a slight smile appeared on Euphemia's face. "Dame Nu will be commanding them. Perhaps she will be able to learn something while rendering you aid, Dame Kruszewski."

Monica allowed a nod. For the moment it seemed that indeed was all the princess intended. "I thank you for your generosity, your highness."

"Please report to the palace after the meeting," Euphie said. "I will instruct Brigadier Eyre to make the necessary arrangements."

The meeting wrapped up shortly after, the salient points having been covered. The relative sparseness of information meant the only productive thing they could do was to go out and try to get more, which was exactly what Monica intended to do. As she emerged from the conference room however she found two other officers standing outside, one a bespectacled man with a slight slouch in his posture and the other a woman with shoulder length dark hair. The woman stiffened to attention, likely more due to all of the high ranking officers following Monica, while the man continued standing there lazily until a jab of the woman's elbow got him to straighten ever so slightly. Monica gave the two no more than a passing glance as she walked off. That likely explained why she did not notice whom had not left the conference room upon the conclusion of the meeting.

Lloyd and Cécile entered the conference room, the two bowing to the three imperial scions still seated within.

"Captain Croomy, Earl Asplund," Euphie greeted.

Lloyd grinned. "Please, Lloyd is just fine, your highness."

Cornelia rolled her eyes while Euphie maintained a relatively impassive face. Schneizel however cracked a slight smirk of amusement while Cécile seemed to be contemplating whether to grind Lloyd's feet into the floor again.

"Have a seat," Euphie instructed.

"Thank you year highness," Cécile answered for both of them.

Once everyone was settled in Euphemia continued. "Let us begin, there are many matters demanding our attention this day."

"Of course your highness," Cécile said. "I propose that we begin with the details of the Gawain's field test, then the progress on the Lancelot's reconstruction, and finally a progress report on Ms. Einstein's progress. Is that acceptable?"

Nods all around answered her. Cécile took a deep breath before plunging into the presentation. It promised to be a very lengthy meeting.

* * *

Upon first meeting Villetta Nu the impression Monica received of the woman was a quiet competence. The soldiers under Villetta's command shared in that assessment but the knight of the round would not have expected anything less from someone of Brigadier Eyre's reputation. Even if Villetta's primary objective was to monitor Monica's movements the other knight would at least not be dead weight should the situation go awry.

The car carrying the them stopped and the two women stepped out.

"So this is the Baron Stadtfeld's residence," Monica remarked.

"Yes, though the baron himself is back in the homelands," Villetta said, "and when we interviewed the baroness her ladyship was, less than helpful."

In other words, why were they wasting their time here. Monica allowed herself a smirk.

"I expect that will not have changed since yesterday," the woman said. "The servants on the other hand, they are always there yet few pay them any attention."

An eyebrow rose on Villetta's face as the knight comprehended Monica's meaning and in the process a grudging smile appeared as well. The two walked up to the door but as Monica prepared to push the doorbell a muffled noise sounding like shouting could be heard. Monica frowned but after a moment proceeded. A few moments later the intercom buzzed.

"Yes?"

Monica glanced over at Villetta and tilted her head. Villetta quickly inferred the other woman's intent.

"This is Major Nu of her highness' royal guard. I was here yesterday pursuing an investigation on the attack on Ashford Academy. I have returned for a follow-up inquiry."

Silence answered them for a few moments before the servant on the other hand finally responded.

"I apologize but the master and mistress are presently indisposed, may I request that you return another day major?"

The two women exchanged frowns. Now this was unexpected. Apparently the baron was not back in the homelands after all. Had he returned upon hearing of the attack on his daughter's school?

"I am afraid that is not possible," Villetta stated. "This investigation is time sensitive and thus I must insist that I speak with the baron and baroness now."

The wait this time was noticeably longer and Monica was about to press the doorbell again before finally the servant's voice sounded once more.

"The baron will see you, Major Nu."

The door clicked and a somewhat harried looking maid opened it for the two.

"Please, this way," she said after closing the door.

The three women walked through the halls of the estate before stopping before another set of tastefully carved hardwood doors. The maid opened it but seemed to intentionally position herself such that she would not be seen by those inside. After giving the woman a curious look Villetta and Monica entered to find themselves in the presence of a visibly irritated middle aged man.

"May I presume you are the Baron Stadtfeld," Villetta said.

"You may," Henry Stadtfeld, Third Baron of Denton, stated brusquely. "And what is this I hear about you interviewing my wife about my daughter? Kallen was a victim of the attack on Ashford, so why are you wasting time inquiring about her instead of searching for the sons of bitches that nearly killed her?"

For what seemed an eternity both Monica and Villetta simply stared at the man. Neither had ever met the Baron Stadtfeld in person and what little they knew of him was at best second or even third hand. None of those descriptions had mentioned just how forceful the man could be. Villetta cleared her throat as she responded.

"Your daughter is a person of interest as we believe that she and her assistant were deliberately targeted during the attack."

"What? Whatever the Hel for? Kallen's just a normal teenage girl, why would anyone want to gun for her instead of me?"

While Villetta was fairly certain that the baron was hiding something, his outrage at his daughter being so endangered seemed entirely genuine. That however was not enough to deflect either woman.

"Baron," Villetta tried once more. "At present we have reason to believe that your daughter remains in danger, but we have been unable to locate her to take her into protective custody. If you genuinely care for her safety I implore you to aid us in finding her."

The man's nostrils flared. "I have kept my daughter safe for many years without any aid from the government. I do _not_ require it now, especially seeing how little worth that aid would be." The baron strode towards the door. "A servant will see you out. I bid you ladies good day."

Monica smoothly interposed herself between the baron and the doorway, eliciting a scowl from the man.

"Stand aside Dame Kruszewski."

The knight had to give the baron some credit, he at least possessed nerve even if he seemed to lack any sense to go with them.

"If you know who I am then you should also know whom I represent," Monica said. "His majesty has taken a personal interest in this matter and it would behoove you to lend your cooperation, baron."

The emphasis on that last word was hardly subtle but in this sort of situation there was little need to be so. If nothing else that seemed to be a point of agreement between Monica and the baron.

"I bore personal witness to the means by which his majesty ascended the throne, Dame Kruszewski," Henry stated coldly. "Do not presume to lecture me about what I am obliged to do, girl."

Monica blinked, her irritation spiking upon hearing that last word from the baron's mouth. In that moment Henry stepped around her and pushed open the door. He paused and looked to the side.

"See Major Nu and Dame Kruszewski," he said, presumably to the maid standing right outside. "And not one word to either of them beyond what courtesy demands."

With that the baron strode off, not waiting to hear any protests. Villetta and Monica exchanged mutually stunned looks.

"What, just happened here?" Villetta said.

"It would seem that the Baron Stadtfeld has just reminded us whose father he is," Monica remarked dryly.

This investigation was turning out to be a tad more complicated than she had anticipated.

End of Chapter 35

Blarg. It's actually starting to look like I might have trouble finishing the R1 arc within fifty chapters. We'll see.

I had intended to include Euphie and Suzaku's conversation in this chapter but it just kind of went on and on and on. We're already over eight thousand words and that conversation was threatening to add another thousand or two on so I decided to cut it off here and save it for next chapter.

The main reason this chapter went on so long was I needed to get certain scenes out of the way to set the stage for future developments. In theory Kallen and C.C. should have had a much longer conversation about her seeming immortality but I think I'll pretend that it happens in the background so that I can keep the story moving. There is a lot of stuff that needs to happen over the next three or four chapters.

Millicent. You know, that actually sounds like a name Milly would hate even more than Melinda. And it's very interesting how the Code Geass wiki itself doesn't list it anywhere on her page. I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised considering the other problems with some of the articles on that wiki. I think I'll use Millicent. Though I don't know if/when I'll ever go back to fix the text in that previous chapter. Thanks to the various people that chimed in with the tidbit.

That said I am also likely not going to portray Suzaku's court martial in full. That would by itself eat up an entire chapter if not more and seeing as Suzaku is a supporting character I don't intend to exert that level of effort. We'll see the conclusion of it and maybe snippets but otherwise it'll mostly be a background event.

We're never shown much of anything about Kallen's father and the girl herself doesn't seem to give him much if any thought. If I remember correctly he was either disgraced or outright executed for having a daughter that was an insurgent. Seeing as this is an AU and it is centered around Kallen and Euphie however, I decided that I needed to give Kallen's father a bigger role. And seeing as most of the other male adults have been more, reserved and seemingly levelheaded, I decided to make Kallen's father a bit more bombastic. Kallen has to get her temper from someone after all, and it sure wasn't her mother from what little we saw of her in the anime. We'll see if I can make the character work.

As is evident, Monica will be having a much greater role than what she got in the anime. And fortunately her position as knight of twelve actually allows for an, interesting thing on my part. More will be revealed in the coming chapters.

Speaking of ascended extras, uh, hey look, this story has a page on tvtropes. Woot. I foresee that shoutout page getting a lot longer. And the historical-domain character list. And a few other points. But we're maybe a third of the way through the story so there will be lots of opportunities for more tropes to sneak in. Though I have to wonder if _In Tune_ hasn't gotten a page because the EVA community is less active these days or because no one wants to attempt to document all the tropes in it. Oh and just a slight note, I tweaked the summary of this story so that it sounded more natural.

I kind of just shrug when it comes to the question of Grayson's popularity in the Honorverse series. Its people are presented as hard working, fiercely loyal, and extremely determined. To a large segment of the American audience these qualities often seem to embody the ideal of what a person should be due to the country's Puritanical roots. Weber usually does a moderately decent job justifying any social constructs he uses in his series but in Grayson's case since the more (relatively) recent books it always felt like he wanted a way to justify Hamish and Honor's relationship and that's why Grayson is the way it is. Romance, is not what I would consider one of the things you read a Weber book for. I just kind of shrug, skim over those scenes, and enjoy the relatively coherent technobabble, battles, and politics.

Anyway, drop a review or leave questions as they arise.

C.C.'s very brief stuff.

I say. Doth thee think it be a grand jest that I awake sepultured in ice? – I say. Do you think it's funny that I wake up buried in ice?

Thy kindness be duly noted, Kallen. And I bid thou gramercy for it. – Your kindness is dully noted, Kallen. And I thank you for it.

Doth thee think mine expiry be averted through lack of vittles? – Do you think that my death can be averted through lack of food?


	37. Chapter 36

_Perhaps one of the more mysterious numbers is that of the Knight of Twelve. Every sovereign since the founding of the Empire has appointed one to command the Loki Regiment, a unit whose purpose has never been publicly disclosed. This has given rise to the rumor that the Knight of Twelve served to handle those matters that his or her liege needed dealt with quietly. Some have even suggested that the Knight of Twelve serves as the Lord Inquisitor of one of the major Ordos of the Inquisitio. Neither have of course ever been confirmed by the government but speculation continues to this day._

 _During the reign of Charles II the Knight of Twelve was the Lady Monica Kruszewski, Duchess of Bedivere. The Lady Kruszewski was a relatively rare sight at court, constantly traveling across the world on missions from her sovereign. Almost all of her activities remain to this day classified, including those that she engaged in in Area 11 during the run-up to the Black Rebellion._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 36: Incepto ne desistam

The room that Suzaku had been held in since yesterday was relatively Spartan but what enmities it did have were actually quite comfortable. The bed was way softer than the young man was used to, the TV was hooked up to all of the premium cable channels, and there was even a maid that came by to make the bed and take his dirty clothes to be washed. Whatever trouble he was in apparently did not warrant treating him like a common criminal. Whether that was a good or bad thing however remained to be seen. As such it was with some relief when the door finally opened to reveal one of the princess' guardsman.

The young man was led to a nondescript room with a large mirror that was pretty obviously a one-way window, at least right now. After he took a seat a light turned on in the other room to reveal the Princess Euphemia and her customary pair of armsmen. Suzaku immediately rose again and bowed.

"Your highness."

"Specialist," Euphie responded with a nod. "Be seated."

Suzaku obeyed and waited. The princess regarded him through the window silently for a minute or so, hands clasped before her. When she finally spoke it was in a calm but firm tone. It was also a tone that was supremely confident in the words she uttered.

"How long have you know that Kallen Stadtfeld was the Red Knight."

The boy's head seemed to spin as he processed those words. A sense of déjà vu hit him as the princess' question eerily mirrored Milly's not so long ago. This time however Suzaku could see that it was not a test, the princess was not seeking confirmation of her suspicions, she was seeking additional information.

"Since I first met her at Ashford your highness," Suzaku answered honestly. "I ran into her and, Cecilia, in the school office on the first day I attended. And, your highness, Cecilia was also the green haired girl in the capsule in Shinjuku."

If the additional disclosure at all moved the princess she gave no visible indication of it.

"Why did you not report this to your superiors or myself immediately?" Euphemia asked instead.

Suzaku took a deep breath. "I wanted to give her a chance to stop fighting the Empire. To effect change peacefully instead of with force."

Euphemia tilted her head slightly. "You entered Ashford several months ago, and since then Kallen has performed many acts of, if not violence, then defiance against Britannia. Yet you still did not report her."

While the princess' words could be interpreted as a statement the silence that followed suggested to Suzaku that he was being given the chance to explain himself.

"She saved your life, your highness," Suzaku said. "I believed that that indicated Kallen was coming around."

Euphemia continued regarding Suzaku silently before finally sighing. "Specialist. Whether Kallen Stadtfeld should have been permitted continued freedom of movement is a policy decision. Why do you believe it was appropriate for you to be the one to make that decision?"

Suzaku grimaced. "I, did what I thought was right, your highness. Nothing more, nothing less."

The princess' eyes narrowed. Again she spent several long moments simply looking at Suzaku in silence. It was abundantly obvious that from her perspective that was the entirely wrong answer.

"There is no denying that your withholding of this information represents a severe breach of trust, specialist," Euphemia stated. "In light of that breach, the military requires that you face a formal panel to determine your suitability to continue to serve."

Suzaku bowed his head in acceptance. He was not expecting to get a pass on something this important and he would face the court martial without hesitation. If there was any regret it was disappointing all of the people that had placed their faith in him, from Cécile and Lloyd to General Darlton and Claudio. Even the princess herself.

"I understand your highness," he said stoically.

Euphemia rose but before taking her leave she had a few last words for the young man.

"Reflect on why you committed this error in judgment, specialist. You placed greater priority in the satisfaction of your personal beliefs than that of your duty to the Empire. So long as you continue to do so you can never be trusted to bear arms in the Empire's name."

Suzaku gaped at the princess as she walked out of the other room, his jaw dangling open in an almost rude display. Nonetheless the young man could not quite get over the shock of Euphemia's words. They resonated, eerily so, with the same accusation that Kallen had levied at him so long ago on the school roof. Yet why would the princess repeat those words? How had he put himself before the Empire? By doing what he felt was right? Suzaku felt his stomach twist. That was an unpleasant notion, that in order to serve the Empire he needed to sacrifice his own morals. If that was the case, then perhaps there really was not a place for him within the military.

A flare of pain suddenly shot through Suzaku's head and he clutched the side. No, he needed to stay in the military. For, something. What was that something? Some duty. That was right, to make Japan a better place, to help the people, he needed to continue as Lancelot's pilot. Only if he did that could he achieve his goals. Only then could he see _her_ smiling face again. Suzaku looked back up, the one-way window was opaque again and simply showed his own reflection. What he did not see in them was a slight red tint in his eyes.

* * *

A slight headache was throbbing in Euphie's head as she left the interrogation room. The specialist had shown much potential and promise before, but neither were guarantees that one would rise to fulfill them. Disappointing, and not just for the potential effect on morale of other Honorary Britannians if the specialist was found guilty and ejected from the military. But Euphie trusted Andreas to be able to manage that and so turned her own attention to other matters. There was plenty of other work to be done after all.

As Euphie turned the corner to her office she caught sight of Villetta and Monica heading in the opposite direction. Upon seeing the princess Villetta bowed whereas Monica simply nodded politely.

"Dame Nu, Dame Kruszewski," Euphie greeted with a practiced smile. "The investigation is progressing?"

While Monica's faced remained relatively impassive Villetta openly grimaced.

"We have encountered, some unexpected resistance, your highness," the knight said, eliciting a raised eyebrow from the princess. "It appears that the Baron Stadtfeld has arrived in Area 11 and when we attempted to discuss the matter of his daughter with him, he, well, dismissed us from his home."

Euphie stared at the two. "Dismissed you?"

Villetta gave the princess an apologetic look. "The, baron was very emphatic, your highness. And once his orders were issued none of the servants were willing to speak with us further."

"They refused to speak to a knight of the round?" Euphie said as her gaze shifted to Monica.

"I was as surprised your highness," Monica said. "And all indications were the silence of the servants were due to loyalty to their lord, not from fear of his wrath."

The princess frowned. "What exactly was the baron's response to learning his daughter was a possible insurgent?"

"We, never actually got the chance to raise the matter, your highness," Villetta admitted. "The moment I raised the possibility that she was a person of interest, without even expanding on why, the baron cut me off."

The young woman's frown deepened. That might well have been intentional on the baron's part, in not allowing Villetta to bring up the matter he would not have a need to go on record as denying it. That was however speculation as the baron's forceful reticence could be for any variety of reasons. Somehow Euphie doubted that any of the more probable reasons were innocent.

"There is, one thing your highness," Villetta said. "While the baron was indignant that his daughter was a person of interest in the investigation, the anger that he displayed seemed rooted in the fact that she was nearly killed in the Ashford attack. I believe that distinction to be of note."

"Yes," Euphie said slowly, "yes, I do as well." The princess nodded. "I will see about the baron, Dame Nu, Dame Kruszewski."

"Yes your highness," Villetta said immediately.

While Monica's expression remained otherwise neutral the flicker of her eyes indicated that she was not quite ready to let the princess handle further questioning of the baron. For now though there were other avenues to investigate. And if nothing else the princess was obviously competent and the leash on her should be sufficient to ensure that any pertinent developments eventually made their way to Monica. As satisfied as she could be Monica finally also nodded.

* * *

The last time Kallen visited the Sumeragi estate she had been in her Akakishi guise with dyed hair and colored contacts. With her cover effectively blown now the young woman had not bothered, instead sitting before the Sumeragi head as the red haired blue eyed half-Britannian she was. If this sudden change came as a shock to the young Kaguya Sumeragi she did not show it. In fact the girl seemed more bemused than anything else.

"So the red was more than just a coincidental motif," she said with a smile.

Kallen exchanged a brief look with Inoue before shrugging. "The Britannian media gave it to me, I decided to run with it."

Kaguya nodded. "But you still took care to hide your identity, even from us. Wise. But ultimately it seems your measures were insufficient."

"Apparently so," Kallen said. "But at least this way I won't have to bother living a lie and can dedicate more of my time to the liberation movement."

"Your dedication is without question," Kaguya replied. "Ultimately however in light of your mixed heritage, we must ascertain whether the cause to which you are dedicated is the same as ours."

The young woman stared at the head of the Sumeragi family flatly.

"I think the better question here is whether the cause of the Six Houses matches that of the rest of us," Kallen stated. "You once told me that the ultimate goal of the Six Houses is the restoration of Japan's sovereignty. We fight for equality, fairness, and ultimately dignity as people. These two goals, while not mutually exclusive, are also not the same thing."

Ichijo, seated left of Kaguya, shifted uneasily. The girl herself however continued looking at Kallen intently.

"Previous to the invasion by Britannia the Sumeragi family was one of the most prominent in the country," Kallen continued. "Three of the last six prime ministers were Sumeragis while two other were related, either by blood or marriage. The last prime minister was a Kururugi, of a similarly distinguished line and also connected by blood to your family. Thus before the Empire seized control of Japan, the country was effectively under your rule, even if indirectly."

Kaguya allowed herself a slight smile. "And you suspect that the real motive of the Six Houses is to see restore us and the other such families to our previous ranks of power, despite the relative comfort and wealth we enjoy even with the Empire occupying Japan."

"Consider it this way Sumeragi-dono," Kallen responded. "Are you capable of sacrificing any claim to power by your family if that was what it took to liberate Japan?"

"To have the Sumeragi family simply withdraw from matters of state would be disastrous for a newly liberated Japan," Ichijo spoke up. "A newly freed nation needs leadership, both political and technical, to ensure that it does not fall into chaos."

Kallen scowled. "You are asserting that the Sumeragi are somehow integral to Japan's prosperity, even its existence. How is that any different than what the Britannias do to justify their hold on power in the Empire?"

"You cannot seriously think to compare Kyoto House to the-" Ichijo began.

"That is enough," Kaguya cut him off.

The man gaped at his young mistress but clamped his mouth shut. Kallen went back to regarding Kaguya and found the girl returning her gaze unflinchingly.

"Your concern has merit, Akakishi-san," Kaguya said calmly. "Not just abstractly, but also because the views you bring are a reflection, I think, of those resistance movements that are unaffiliated with Kyoto House. To them we are traitors, collaborators that sold out our fellow Japanese to retain our wealth. That we have supported segments of the resistance will not wipe away all of the bitterness from those whom have suffered deprivation while we resided in comfort in our estates."

Kallen tilted her head slightly. It seemed the young head of the Sumeragi family did possess a degree of foresight after all.

"Deeds will ultimately lend more weight than words," Kaguya went on, "but I believe that in at least one aspect our two respective goals share a commonality. To have a say in our own fate, that is at the root of what we both fight for. Is that not so, Akakishi-san?"

"Abstractly, yes," Kallen acknowledged. "But abstract theory is only worth its first test against reality."

Kaguya smiled in amusement. "That is so." And then her expression became solemn. "Which is why we must ensure that this test be a success."

Kallen regarded the girl quizzically. "What?"

"What do you know of the Japanese Liberation Front?" Kaguya responded with a question of her own.

Kallen blinked at the non sequitur but answered nonetheless. "They are the largest of the resistance groups, composed mostly of former Japanese army personnel that refused to stand down when the government surrendered. Supposedly well-equipped and disciplined, they're the only ones that are considered to have a shot at taking Britannian in a standup fight."

"A chance they have," Kaguya agreed with a nod. "But would you consider it a good chance?"

"Not really," Kallen said with a shrug. "Britannia just has too much of a material advantage, especially with their air support."

"That has also been the opinion of Kyoto House," Kaguya said. "Which is why the plan for utilization of the JLF has always hinged on leveraging support from the Chinese Federation or the European Union to offset Britannia's material advantage."

Kallen scowled at that. "Asking for help from either of them will just see us beholden to them."

"Agreed," Kaguya said, "but depending on when we ask for that support we may be able to preserve a significant degree of Japan's sovereignty in the post-war period. The master plan was for the JLF to defeat in detail the Britannian forces stated in the west, possibly retaking Kyoto to serve as a symbolic provisional capital. From this position, assistance lent to us by the EU or the Federation would be seen as complementary of our own efforts to regain sovereignty instead of us being beholden to foreign powers for it."

That was a rather optimistic plan in Kallen's opinion seeing as at minimum it would require the EU to actually work up the nerve to challenge Britannia militarily. Then again it was a less bad plan than the JLF trying to take on the Britannian military alone and expecting to actually win.

"I can see the appeal of such a stratagem," Kallen stated blandly.

Kaguya smirked at the other woman's tone. "The odds of success would have been long regardless of what we attempt." Her face tightened into a grimace. "And a recent development may have placed genuine independence beyond our reach."

That elicited frowns from everyone on Kallen's side of the table but they waited for Kaguya to elucidate.

"Our overtures to the EU and the Federation were met with what we thought to be promising responses," Kaguya said. "The EU has even been providing us with modern weapons that, while not completely offsetting Britannia's air superiority, would at least provide the JLF with a fighting chance. The Federation even indicated that it might be willing to commit forces to help pin down the Britannian marine division in Okinawa. With such support it seemed the JLF was on the verge of being able to launch its offensive against the Britannian occupation. We have however learned that the JLF leadership intends to follow a different plan of attack, one that would see them attempt to take Tokyo."

The reaction from the others was more than a frown. Ohgi's mouth dangled open while Inoue stared at Kaguya wide-eyed. Kallen's face twisted into an almost angry snarl.

"That's insane," she declared. "Tokyo is probably one of the most heavily defended regions in Japan, the Britannian military has not only their main army and air force base there, they also have a naval taskforce anchored at Yokosuka. That taskforce by itself has enough firepower to level any invading force."

"Agreed again," Kaguya said. "Which was why until now Kyoto House and the JLF never considered launching such an attack. Unfortunately, it would seem that control of the JLF has slipped from our hands to that of another."

"Huh? How is that even possible?"

"Several months ago after the Lake Kawaguchi incident members of the French SDECE made contact with the JLF," Kaguya said, pausing briefly.

"The French foreign intelligence service," Kallen said to make clear she knew what the SDECE was. She had better, that was C.C.'s original cover after all.

Kaguya nodded. "They came with an offer of material support, weapons, equipment, even possibly the positioning of EU forces at Vladivostok to threaten Hokkaido and pin the Britannian armored division there. We thought that our prayers might well be answered and over the next few months they made good on many of their promises, smuggling in a great deal of modern weaponry. Last week however I received word from one of the senior JLF officers that its upper echelons had been subverted and were planning an attack not on the Britannian forces in western Honshu but on Tokyo itself." The girl grimaced. "I have issued requests for explanation from the JLF's leadership and been met with silence."

With her geass having been active this entire time Kallen could see that Kaguya was being completely honest with her. That did not make the news any more pleasant to hear.

"How exactly could these SDECE agents have taken over the JLF?" Kallen asked. "Surely if they tried anything untoward they would have been dealt with."

"I thought much the same," Kaguya responded. "But the responses from the JLF have been absent of any actual meaning for some time now, even when inquiries are made in person." The girl's head tilted to the side. "In fact Ichijo-san just returned yesterday from trying to obtain details of what they intend."

The man nodded. "The JLF leadership was, noncommittal and even evasive."

Kallen blinked. That was not right, the man's heartbeat had quickened when he spoke. But Kaguya had been entirely honest in everything she said.

"They revealed nothing at all?" Kallen said.

Ichijo shook his head, his breathing steady but his heart once again quickening for the briefest of moments. Kallen frowned. The man was definitely lying but the tells were completely inconsistent. Something was wrong here. Kallen looked back at Kaguya but kept her senses locked upon Ichijo.

"Have any of your other retainers been able to get anything out of the JLF?" she asked.

"Ichijo-san has been the only one I dispatched," Kaguya said. "Previous to this I had had no reason to doubt the veracity of the reports I received from the JLF."

"I see," Kallen said.

And then she was across the table. Before anyone could react she had the man in question pinned down.

"Kallen!" Ohgi exclaimed.

Kaguya shuffled back hurriedly even as other retainers entered, several bearing weapons.

"What is the meaning of this!?" one demanded.

"Silence!" Kallen thundered, her eyes never leaving the man beneath her. "Ichijo-san. Would you please explain, in detail, what happened when you met with the JLF?"

"Wha-what are you insinuating?" Ichijo responded.

"You're lying about not knowing what the JLF is up to," Kallen stated. "Why."

"This is ridiculous," the man retorted. "I have served the Sumeragi family loyally since childhood, how dare you suggest I would deceive Kaguya-sama!"

Kallen's eyes narrowed and she leaned closer in. Again that discrepancy between the man's breathing and his heartrate, a discrepancy that was not explained by his surprise at Kallen's actions. In fact, there was something else. Something, in his eyes. Kallen's own widened as she caught a glimpse of the barest of light glowing within Ichijo's.

"Bloody Hel," the girl said. "You've met him, haven't you."

Everyone continued staring at Kallen in confusion, not least Ichijo himself.

"Who are you talking about?" the man demanded.

"The bastard that hit Ashford," Kallen said. "You met him, and he did something to you. Just like he did something to those gendarmeries."

The Sumeragi retainers exchanged nervous looks before glancing over at Kaguya. The girl however was watching intently the exchange and made no move to order intervention.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ichijo said.

The man's heart, just barely settled after the initial adrenaline rush, sped up again. And with each pulse Kallen sensed something else, something throbbing not in the man's heart. Her eyes widened again. It was in his brain.

"Oh Hel," Kallen muttered. "He's done something to your brain."

"Wha-what are you talking about!?" Ichijo demanded. "Unhand me, you have nothing with which to prove your patently false accusation!"

"The proof is right in front of me," Kallen said. "Your mind is the proof. He did something to it and I can see it."

Indeed she could, the throbbing of the arteries that ran through the brain delivering blood. There was something drawing a lot of blood too, to the point where it was even causing swelling. A swelling that was getting worse. Ichijo blinked, apparently starting to feel the effects.

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about." He gazed over at Kaguya. "Kaguya-sama, please, order Akakishi-san to withdraw."

Kaguya gave Ichijo a measured look before shifting her gaze over to Kallen. "Akakishi-san, what do you mean you can see what has been done to his mind?"

Kallen grimaced. Maybe she should not have said that aloud, but it was too late for that. How to explain this without sounding completely insane.

"At Ashford," the girl began, "when the gendarmerie launched their attack I sensed someone orchestrating their movements. I sense the same thing now inside Ichijo." Kallen frowned. "In fact, it's, getting worse?"

The uncertainty caused attention to shift back to the pinned man whose face was starting to contort in seeming pain.

"I-this is ludicrous, no one can sense, inside, a mind? I-"

The man's body slackened and had Kallen's sense not warned her she might have loosened her grip reflexively. Instead she tightened it and was ready when Ichijo's body jerked.

"GAAAHHHHHHH!"

The man's body began convulsing and he suddenly slammed his head, hard down on the floor.

"Grab him!" Kallen shouted.

Two other retainers piled on, seizing hold of the man's head to keep him from shacking it about. From the red that soon stained their hands they were already too late in some respect. And then blood began pouring out from the man's nose.

"Ichijo!?" Kallen exclaimed.

It was too late, her senses had watched the entire thing unfurl in grim detail. The saturated blood vessels in his brain had ruptured, inflicting a devastating and almost immediately fatal stroke upon him. Ichijo twitched a few more times but that was the only movement left in his broken form.

"Damn it," Kallen muttered. "What the hell did that bastard do!?"

"Akakishi-san," Kaguya spoke up.

Kallen looked up at the noticeably pale girl.

"What just happened," she said in an icy tone.

Kaguya's response was a mask, Kallen knew, to hide the shock the girl was feeling. And she was not without some sympathy for the younger girl.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I suspected that he had been somehow turned, so I acted."

"Turned," Kaguya said softly. "Against, his will?"

Kallen looked back over at the still form. The other retainers had arrived at the same conclusion as her and were gently lifting the body. One of the servants knelt by Kaguya, ready to lend any support that the girl might need.

"I don't know for sure," Kallen finally said, "but I think so. When he started talking about not being able to get anything out of the JLF I sensed he was lying, but not consciously so." Her lips thinned. "It was as if, he was made to believe the lie."

Kaguya was now staring intently at Kallen, her pale complexion now coloring with something else entirely. Something that Kallen herself was intimately familiar with.

"Someone, forced Ichijo to believe a lie?" she repeated.

Kallen nodded slowly, ignoring the nervous expressions Inoue and Ohgi were making behind her.

Kaguya considered the possibility for a few moments before looking at Kallen once more. "And how can you know this."

Kallen's jaw tightened. There was no telling whether Kaguya would even believe the truth here but lying to the younger girl did not seem like a wise decision in the long term. Trust, that was what they needed right now, amidst all this deception and even betrayal, unwilling though it may be.

"Tell me Kaguya-sama," Kallen began carefully. "You said the JLF had been subverted. _How_ was it subverted?"

The only visible reaction from Kaguya was a slight twitch of an eye. The girl's heart however was hammering away. The retainers and comrades of both seemed to simply disappear into the background as the two held each other's gaze.

"What do you know."

Kallen's eyes wandered over to the Sumeragi retainers. Kaguya quickly inferred her meaning.

"Kaede, remain here. Everyone else, see to Ichijo-san's arrangements."

"Milady-"

"Now," Kaguya said, the volume of her voice rising not one bit for all the force behind it.

The other retainers exchanged nervous glances before lifting Ichijo's body and retreating from the room. The only one that remained was a young woman with seemingly perpetually closed eyes. Even without her senses Kallen could tell that the other woman served as Kaguya's personal bodyguard. With her senses Kallen easily noticed the tanto the woman was somehow hiding under one sleeve and the pistol in the other.

"We are alone," Kaguya said as the screen slid shut, an implicit order for Kallen to begin explaining herself.

Kallen regarded Kaguya for a few moments before shifting her gaze to Kaede. That might well make for an informative demonstration.

"You have a tanto in her right sleeve," Kallen said, eliciting the quirk of an eyebrow from Kaede while Kaguya's eyes widened. "And a pistol in your left. A Browning, if I'm not mistaken."

The other two women stared silently at Kallen for several minutes. Behind her Kallen could feel Ohgi fidgeting nervously. Inoue was doing a much better job of remaining, or at least appearing, composed.

"You possess the third eye of a Nyorai," Kaguya said, both a question and a statement.

"In a manner of speaking," Kallen said cautiously. She had been raised as a follower of the Norse pantheon and her knowledge of Japanese Buddhism was admittedly spotty. "What I possess has finite limits."

Kaguya nodded slowly. "But it was enough to sense what had been done to Ichijo."

Kallen returned the nod.

"Does that mean you also know what was done to him?" Kaguya asked.

The red haired young woman pursed her lips. "Regrettably not. I could sense that something was, off, and I can say that it had something to do with his brain, but I'm afraid beyond…"

"But you _can_ detect it," Kaguya pressed.

Kallen considered the question. "I detected it _this_ time. And During the attack on Ashford I didn't notice anything about the gendarmerie until after they started shooting."

That drew another questioning look from the other two women. Before they could make comparisons about her ear as well Kallen went on.

"I also didn't notice anything about Ichijo-san until after he started, well, lying."

Kaguya's expression became thoughtful. "So this, compulsion or whatever it is, must be active for you to sense it."

"That's what it looks like," Kallen agreed, "and even then it's extremely subtle. It felt like Ichijo was both lying and telling the truth at the same time."

"Is that so," Kaguya muttered before meeting Kallen's eyes once more. "Could you apply your, sight, to another person?"

"I, guess?" Kallen said quizzically.

"The JLF officer that came to me and warned about the movement's subversion," Kaguya said. "We must determine whether he is a plant."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "You, believe me?"

"What you have said thus far is not outside the realm of the impossible," Kaguya said. "And in fact the existence of an individual with the ability to perform mental coercion would actually explain a great deal."

Raised eyebrow morphed into a frown. "What do you mean?"

"While our penetration of the Britannian command structure has lessened considerably since the arrival of the Princesses Euphemia and Cornelia, we are still able to obtain certain reports," Kaguya said. "One such report detailed the results of the battle against the Blood of the Samurai."

Kallen said nothing, simply waiting for Kaguya to make her point.

"According to that report the Blood of the Samurai fought fanatically to the point of committing suicide to avoid capture. The only ones actually captured were those too wounded to take their own lives. Even after this however they continued to resist and a later report indicates that all of them died, some from biting off their own tongues and bleeding to death, others from, well their bodies ultimately failing due to the strain of their ceaseless struggles."

By now Kallen's silence was for another reason entirely.

"Thus far the Britannians have kept a very tight lid on what happened at Ashford, the only thing we know is that they took only a single prisoner." Kaguya's eyes darkened. "All the others committed suicide at the school itself."

"As if someone wanted to make sure they wouldn't be able to talk," Kallen said.

Kaguya tilted her head once. Kallen's own face twisted into pure and burning rage.

"I am going to tear that bastard to pieces!"

"To do so you will need to find him," Kaguya said. "And to find him we must be certain that what intelligence we do have is unadulterated. Do you believe that is within your abilities, Akakishi-san?"

Kallen regarded Kaguya thoughtfully. The other girl was holding up surprisingly well considering what had transpired this day. And she was right, Kallen did need to know more about this bastard in order to end him.

"You know you can probably just call me Kallen now," she said. "Not much point in the Akakishi alias anymore."

"Symbols can be important," Kaguya responded. "And I believe that there is yet a role for the Akakishi to play in the coming battles." The girl managed a slight smile and to Kallen's surprise extended a hand. It was a very un-Japanese motion. "Shall we see about facing them together, Kallen?"

Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki, the Red Knight, the Akakishi, regarded the extended hand for a few moments before chuckling.

"Why the Hel not."

And took it firmly in her grasp.

* * *

The day was remarkably clear and the sun bathed the grounds of Ashford Academy with a gentle warmth. Students, parents, and faculty filled said grounds, all gathered to commemorate those whose lives were so suddenly stolen. Security was predictably tight but even so it came as a surprise to many of the attendees of the number of soldiers present in the colors of the Princesses Cornelia and Euphemia. That was, until they came upon an even greater surprise.

The students were arranged based on homerooms and in all too many cases there were empty seats within these sections. In at least two cases the empty seat was off to the side for a now forever absent teacher. One section however had a few additions in the form of Euphemia li Britannia and two of her armsmen seated diagonally from the princess. Like the other students she wore the uniform of the academy but there was no hiding exactly who she was. The students seated next to her tried hard not to fidget.

Euphemia was not even the only imperial scion making an appearance. Schneizel el Britannia, Heir Secundus and Prime Minister of the Holy Britannian Empire, was also present and likely making the family members he was seated with equally nervous. One person whom this could not be said about however was the Baron Heinrich Stadtfeld, here representing his daughter who was officially still recovering from her ordeal. The baron's attention remained fixed on the platform at the front of the seated crowd as if seemingly oblivious to the prince just a few chairs down from him. The only other people who seemed similarly unperturbed were the Kraft family, though that might well because their anxieties came from another source.

On the platform before all of them were seated the student council. Ruben was still recovering and while present was not yet strong enough to oversee the ceremony. That responsibility would have been left to his son but Milly had insisted on performing the task herself. When the anointed time arrived she stood and walked over to the podium. All trace of her usual good humor was gone, replaced instead by a most solemn air.

"I always knew that there would be a day when I would say farewell to the students and teachers of this school," Milly began. "I would be handed my certification and take the step on a new stage of my life." She took a deep breath. "Today I am here however to bid a far too final farewell, to those classmates and instructors who will not be there with me on that day, who will not be wishing me good fortune for my future and in turn will not receive those wishes from me."

The young woman looked out across the crowd, her eyes shining sadly. And then she began reading names. Thirty-three names that represented the sum of her fellow students that would never set foot upon the school grounds again and conversely would never leave these grounds either. As she spoke each name behind her Rivalz, Shirley, and Nina began lighting candles one by one. Thirty-three candles, out of the thirty-five lined up on the platform.

Upon reaching the thirty-fourth name Milly paused and took another deep breath.

"When I first entered sixth form, my parents informed me that they would require mathematics be one of my A-levels." The young woman allowed a mirthless smile. "I threw a fit because I knew of Mr. Mansfield's reputation. He was exacting, demanding of perfection from all of his students. I didn't want to suffer through that kind of class, I wanted to enjoy myself for my last two years of school."

The solemn smile was now reflected on the expressions of many other students.

"And so I tried to put in the absolute minimum amount of work necessary to skate by his class," Milly continued. "I even got lazy with the homework, asking my classmates how to do problems because I didn't bother paying attention in class." The girl's face became more serious. "And then two months into the school year that stopped working. The questions that I got were suddenly completely different than that of my classmates. And it wasn't just me, everyone's homework was suddenly unique. I thought it was Mr. Mansfield trying to prevent cheating. But then one of my seniors let me in on a little secret. Mr. Mansfield demands perfection from us as students, but he also demands it of himself as an instructor."

Now nods of agreement came, from not just the students but also a few of the other teachers. Many of the parents and other family on the other hand looked on in surprise.

"There were at least a hundred of us in the three A-level sections he taught," Milly said. "A hundred, and he still was able to tailor our homework to each of us on an individual level. From our coursework he could figure out what we were having trouble with, what we found easy, and he made up problems that reinforced what we understood while also striving to teach us what we struggled with. He demanded perfection, but he did his utmost to give us the tools we needed to achieve that perfection."

Milly paused, closing her eyes for a brief moment. "Halfway through the year Mr. Mansfield made a comment to me. 'Your efforts have seen you make excellent progress, Ms. Ashford.'" She opened her eyes once more and a single tear streaked across her cheek. "I made that progress because Mr. Mansfield always matched or even surpassed the effort I put in."

The young woman stepped back, took ahold of the lighter from Shirley, and added one more burning candle to the count.

The brunette herself now stepped up to the podium. She was still coming to grips with her near brushes with death and it was only this morning that her participation in the ceremony was even finalized. But hiding from the world was not the answer and for Shirley this was one step of many in overcoming the pain that lingered from that awful day, no matter how much it might hurt further in the process.

"Mr. Taylor never addressed us by our first names," the girl began. "It was always Ms. Fenette, or Mr. Cardemonde. It was considered one of the mysteries of the school why he did this. One day, I got curious enough that I asked him. And he said to me, 'I see the students I instruct as the gentlemen and gentlewomen they aspire to be. How else could I address them?'"

Shirley's expression darkened in grief even as surprised looks appeared on many of the students in the audience.

"Mr. Taylor believed in each and every one of us, that we would go onto greater things. He considered it his duty to impart upon us the knowledge that would help temper our judgment for the future. He encouraged our curiosity, implored us to ask questions. And if there was something he could not answer, he was honest of his ignorance and considered it an opportunity to learn alongside us."

More nods as the other students recalled their own memories of such instances.

"I wish," Shirley said, her voice suddenly cracking. "I wish, that I could thank him properly, for everything he has done. I had intended to on the last day of classes, but now it is too late." The tears flowed more freely for Shirley than the older girl. "And so I find him imparting one last lesson, one that I will always take heart in. To not wait in expressing my gratitude, for it is never too early to say thank you."

Wiping her tears away, Shirley turned about and took back the candle lighter from Milly. And then there were thirty-five.

* * *

The ceremony had wound down but many still lingered, students swapping stories about their missing classmates and instructors, family offering each other comfort and support. The Baron Stadtfeld regarded the scene and took a deep breath. He had nearly been one of those parents in need of such support. In fact he may well become one in the future.

"Baron Stadtfeld."

Heinrich turned about to find himself facing one of the Princess Euphemia's armsmen.

"Yes?" he said brusquely.

"Her highness has requested to speak with you in private," the soldier said.

The only distinction between a request and an order from an imperial scion was formality, both men knew, and after a few seconds scowling at the soldier Heinrich nodded.

"This way please."

The privacy of their conversation would apparently be provided courtesy of the Ashford family seeing as Heinrich was led to one of the school buildings. The interior was well appointed, not surprising considering the school fees, and seated in the main room was the Princess Euphemia with her two armsmen positioned to her rear. Heinrich came to a halt before the princess and bowed courteously. The scowl was still on his face.

"Your highness."

"Baron," Euphie greeted, indicating that she would be taking the lead in these discussions. "Please, have a seat."

Heinrich did so. His eyes never left the princess for a single moment. Euphie met his gaze without flinching.

"I presume you know why we wished to speak with you, Baron Stadtfeld," she said.

The baron spent perhaps a second consider a response.

"You obviously intend to accuse my daughter of something, your highness, so I suggest you stop dancing around the topic and just come out with it."

Blunt and to the point as the report from Villetta and Monica said he was. Euphie was torn between amusement and a mild, very mild, indignation at the baron's seeming rudeness. But being too caught up in one's self-importance was one of the biggest flaws of the nobility and Euphie had no intention of succumbing to that particular vice herself.

"Very well," Euphie said. "I shall be frank then. Your daughter, Baron Stadtfeld, is the Red Knight that has been actively undermining Britannian authority in Area 11 for the last few months and we believe that the attack on Ashford Academy was intended by an unknown party to silence her."

Heinrich stared at the princes for several seconds, blinking a few times in the process. "What?"

The flatness of his voice was a combination of sheer surprise and incredulity. It also sounded completely genuine to Euphie's well practiced ear.

"It is exactly as I have said, Kallen is the insurgent, or rather vigilante, known as the Red Knight."

"My daughter is anemic," Heinrich stated frostily. "How in Hel is she supposed to be running around playing vigilante? Just a few months ago I approved her hiring of a personal medical assistant."

Euphie raised an eyebrow. "Cecilia Clermont?"

The baron frowned. "Yes. Why would you know that?"

And not a highness from the man beyond his opening statement. Euphie idly recalled the background information the Inquisitio had provided her with. The Stadtfelds were Germanic in origin, specifically fleeing Germany in the wake of the Peasant's Rebellion over four centuries ago. The Stadtfelds had been minor nobility, knights in fact, whose holdings had been destroyed by the princely armies over the course of the war. This ancient experience with the capriciousness of the great lords of a land had been cited more than once as the cause for the Stadtfeld family's wariness of the imperial family, though the Stadtfelds had never pressed to such a degree as to threaten their own titles. In this case however the baron was likely simply too surprised to bother with the formalities.

"Because Ms. Clermont was not a certified medical assistant," Euphie responded. "We have reason to believe that she was in fact an accomplice to Kallen's vigilantism."

Heinrich's eyes narrowed. "And what proof do you have of these accusations?"

"Sufficient evidence exists for a warrant to be issued for Kallen's arrest," Euphie said, noticing the glint in the baron's eyes. "I have refrained from doing so however because I would prefer a more peaceable resolution be reached and so am willing to extend Kallen the opportunity to surrender herself into custody. I will assure her fair treatment."

The baron regarded Euphemia silently long enough that the princess started to feel impatience welling up. She squelched it.

"Is that all, your highness?" Heinrich said, his tone so flat and devoid of inflection that Euphie at first barely registered that it was a question.

"With the understanding that my patience is not without limit," Euphie said. "As much as I would prefer not to, I _will_ order a warrant be issued for your daughter's arrest as the Red Knight, Baron Stadtfeld."

Heinrich's eyes flickered. "That is your prerogative as viceroy, your highness." The man stood. "As it is mine to stand in opposition to whomever names my daughter their enemy."

This time it was Euphie's turn to blink in surprise. She did not even notice the slight shift in her armsmen's postures and if the baron did he ignored them as he held her gaze.

"Baron," Euphie said carefully. "You and I both possess obligations as peers of the Empire."

"So we do," Heinrich said with the slightest of nods. "But I consider my duty as a father to supersede all others." The man bowed formally and courteously. "A good day, your highness."

And thundered out of the room. Euphie regarded the figure, a mixture of emotions swirling within her. Irritation that she apparently had had no greater success in garnering the baron's cooperation, a mild anger at the man's seeming disrespect, and strangely enough envy that someone whom deceived her father so willingly like Kallen could yet garner such devotion from the man. Euphie took a deep breath and sank into the chair. That devotion might yet bring the baron great misery though a part of the princess devoutly hoped it would not be so. But for all her efforts the world was not yet a kind or gentle place.

Figures emerged at the wide open door, all whom Euphie recognized. Milly she had expected, the older girl was the one that let her into the clubhouse for the meeting with Baron Stadtfeld after all. Cole Kraft, the son of her Exchequer, on the other hand was a surprise. An even greater surprise was when the young man entered with Milly.

"Umm, your highness?" he said hesitantly.

"Yes?" Euphie responded, trying to sound reassuring.

"I was, hoping to have a few words with you. About Kallen."

Euphie frowned. And then her eyes widened as she recalled that day seemingly so long ago when she was escorted to the school dance by the student council's vice president, and Kallen was escorted by Cole. The envy that Euphie had felt mere moments ago was quickly turning into irritation. No girl liked to be made to clean up after another's relationships after all, especially when the man in question was of good character like Cole.

The princess sighed. "Have a seat Cole. This might take some time."

End of Chapter 36

Oh hey, apparently that review display issue wasn't just an isolated hiccup.

I wonder whether Sadistic Choice refers to Euphie choosing between releasing or not releasing the prisoners, or the prisoners themselves having to choose between continued imprisonment or forfeiting their identity as Japanese in exchange for freedom.

I have to wonder why people 'follow' completed stories. I mean, _In Tune_ has been done for a few months but I still get notifications from the site that someone has subscribed to it. Is follow treated as a lesser favorite or something? Anyway.

Okay, I think we're more or less done with the Ashford attack arc. The ensuing investigations and etc can be considered part of the next arc, which will be the last before the Black Rebellion kicks off, which will cap R1. Hopefully I can jam all of the stuff I need to jam in within the next, four chapters, I think. And there's a lot of stuff.

A couple of notes. First, I'm changing Baron Stadtfeld's first name to Heinrich from Henry. This has been changed in my master draft but I probably won't bother going back to change it in the published version until such time I do a master upload after I finish the story itself. Yes, I'm aware of the various spelling/grammar mistakes. Yes, I correct them as I discover them after the fact in the master draft.

Second, Pendragon in my story is not in Arizona. I literally can't think of any good reasons to put it there and I swear the Code Geass writers just picked an arbitrary spot and called it there without even bloody trying. Anyway. Assume for now that Pendragon is on the east coast, probably in the Philadelphia/NYC range. If there is a need to provide a specific location, I'll do so, but for now I retain the ambiguity for flexibility purposes.

Finally, the long one. I received a message from a reader who had a couple of issues that they believed made the story unrealistic. There were two specific examples and an overarching gripe. The first issue is the reader's belief that Charlotte should have been able to run into Nunnally at Ashford and then be able to tell Lelouch about his sister being alive. The second issue is that as C.C. was the one that both got Nunnally to the Ashfords and then spirited Lelouch to the EU, she should have been able to keep him from going insane by telling him Nunnally was still alive. The overarching complaint was that I was going to unrealistic lengths to create drama and conflict by going out of my way to make sure the various characters wouldn't get a chance to meet, talk out their differences, and then work together. I think by now most everyone can see a theme.

Let's take a look at the above in detail. First, Nunnally and Charlotte. Right now Nunnally is in the middle school section of Ashford whereas Charlotte is in the high school section, or the equivalents thereof in the British education system. These two sections have classes in entirely different buildings on the Ashford campus and neither one has any real reason to go to the others' building during school hours. Outside of school hours, Nunnally lives on campus and commutes directly from the Ashford family residence to her classes whereas Charlotte commutes by train and enters the school from the main gate like most of the other students. Their paths do not cross. In fact considering Nunnally's situation it would not surprise me in the least that even if originally Nunnally's commute did take her through the stream of students entering the main gate, the Ashfords would have rerouted her explicitly to help maintain her relative anonymity.

The only other time that Nunnally really runs into high schoolers is when she is visiting with the student council or Cole's culinary club with her friends. In the former, the student council is extremely discreet and basically never talks about Nunnally to outsiders. Milly didn't pick the members of the student council randomly. In the latter, Nunnally is one of several middle schoolers and though she isn't entirely 'lost' in the crowd, she's not exactly standing out much either. In neither case does Charlotte have any opportunity to just run into her, Charlotte's never been invited to meet with the student council in their clubhouse/office and she sure as hell didn't join any afterschool clubs seeing as she was working on compromising Suzaku.

Furthermore Charlotte's never met Nunnally or even seen a picture of her and whatever descriptions Lelouch might have provided would not be nearly enough to make up for that. So even if Charlotte did see Nunnally offhandedly on campus, she wouldn't recognize the girl. Now if she found out that Nunnally, or rather Abigail, was Milly's sister, and she passed this information onto Lelouch, Lelouch might have been able to infer everything. Charlotte on the other hand wouldn't know that Milly did not have a little sister back in Pendragon. So in other words, for Lelouch to find out that Nunnally is alive from Charlotte, a lot of things have to happen just right and it sure as hell is not as simple as Charlotte catching a glimpse of Nunnally and 'realizing' that she's Lelouch's sister. Note that Charlotte only discovered C.C. because she had seen a photo of the other girl and I explicitly mention this in the story.

The second issue is C.C. should have been able to prevent Lelouch from going insane by telling him Nunnally was still alive. This is to be frank the only one of the objections that I think can be justifiably argued, but it relies on enough assumptions that aren't supported by the text that it's still fairly straightforward to deconstruct. Let's take a look at the background behind this idea. First, the person who declared that Lelouch was insane was Kallen and Kallen made that determination by interpreting C.C.'s garbled attempts to convey information about Lelouch.

Second, the person who asserted that Lelouch went insane from grief was also Kallen, again by interpreting C.C.'s less than clear paraphrases. Are we seeing a pattern here? Finally, assuming that Lelouch actually is insane (we have plenty of scenes from his perspective for all of you to make your own judgments on the matter instead of simply relying on Kallen's interpretation), why is the presumption that he went insane solely because of grief? Or that C.C. was in any way capable of stopping his descent into insanity? Or that she even wanted to? Which leads us to overarching point three.

The idea that all it would take is for the primary characters to gather and talk about their differences and then be able to work together implies that their respective goals are mutually complementary, that achieving one set of goals will not require the failure of another's. I can say right here that none of you have enough information to convincingly argue that this is the case. Thus far the only person whose goals are unequivocally clear are Kallen's. Large parts of Euphie's have been revealed and thus far the majority don't require Kallen's failure for them to succeed. There is however a big point of contention between the two, namely the issue of Japan's sovereignty. In this case Euphie's position is actually more uncompromising than Kallen's and working out their differences will not be trivial to say the least. But in theory, Kallen and Euphie could set aside their differences in pursuit of the greater good. But that's just Kallen and Euphie, there are two other major players in which this may not be the case.

Lelouch. So far the only 'goals' that you have seen is his intent to see Euphie and Cornelia dead. That's it. The motivation behind that goal, whether there is a greater goal that would be served by the death of his half-siblings, none of that has been revealed. If one attempts to claim that Lelouch's goal can be complementary to Euphie's and Kallen's, at this point you're making stuff up without any actual support. Canon Lelouch's ambitions and objectives don't have much if any relevance to my portrayal of him due to their radically different circumstances. Or rather, you could try to argue that because it is Lelouch, he has to be after similar things to his canon version for him to be Lelouch, but there's been no textual evidence of it in-story so it still amounts to making things up.

And then of course there's C.C. At this point she's probably the most radically different in terms of portrayal due to her speech pattern. Her behavior on the other hand is still identifiably C.C. She enjoys trolling the people around her and she's always giving evasive answers to questions. But thus far there is almost exactly zero information about what her goals are. The only piece of information that any of you have is that she requires a contractor, but beyond that none of you know what that contractor is for. What her actions thus far, in terms of 'letting' Lelouch go insane, should tell you is that she is operating under a very different set of priorities than in canon. In other words, stop trying to create a one-to-one mapping of the anime to this story, every incongruity represents an intentional, fundamental divergence.

Said reader more or less lays out after the three points how they want Lelouch to be portrayed, which is at odds with how he has thus far been used in my story. At which point the issue isn't a matter of realism or internal consistency within the story, it's a disconnect between what the reader wants and the story that I am telling. This has already happened with Suzaku so I'm not surprised in the least that it's happening with Lelouch. And my response now is the same as back then.

In theory I could have answered the message privately, but if I'm going to write up an explanation this damn long I'm inclined to let others get a peek at the rationale behind my choices so that they can better understand the narrative decisions I have made.

Anyway, long rant aside, I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter. The eulogies for the two teachers took a bit of work to get down. One of the issues was deciding which other teacher to kill off. No, there is no subtext in me choosing the math teacher. Oh, and Ichijo's death. Hopefully that didn't come off as too blasé, but I needed to get the bigger plot point going. We'll see more of Kallen and Kaguya next chapter and their plans for countering Lelouch. Any guesses which franchise the slit-eyed ninja is from?


	38. Chapter 37

Snippet spoiler: Medium

 _The Marshal Alphonse Pierre Juin remains to this day a rather controversial figure. Some regard him as a patriot that sought with all his might to defend his country, others a warmonger that instigated the most destructive war in the history of the human race up to that time. As the head of the general staff of the European Union's combined armed forces he was the principal architect of the EU's plan to decisively confront and defeat the Britannian threat. The marshal's plans relied on attacking the Empire on two fronts, engaging it militarily by wresting control of its overseas conquests and inciting unrest within Britannia itself by playing the various noble factions against each other. For the former the marshal fostered ties with the Chinese Federation and set into motion a coordinated campaign to attempt to conquer Australia, Japan, the Middle East, and the Philippines. For the latter the marshal employed the talents of the SDECE, namely in the form of Le Roi Noir, Lieutenant Lelouch Lamperouge, a covert operations specialist who nearly succeeded in his mission of decapitating the Britannian imperial family._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 37: Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum

Jeremy Finch, the newest member of the cabinet of her highness the Princess Euphemia, poked his head into the office.

"Hey Lawrence, do you have a-oh, Lord Rochester. Apologies for interrupting." Jeremy glanced out the door. "Would have been nice if your secretary had warned me you were with someone."

Lawrence chuckled. "She does have a certain sense of humor. Now, did you need something?"

The lawyer glanced at the two moment for a brief moment before closing the door. "Actually, this works well. I could use some background information from both of you, discretely."

The two men seated by Lawrence's desk exchanged looks.

"Alright," Lawrence said cautiously. "Have a seat and we'll see what we can do."

Jeremy accepted the invitation and after making himself relatively comfortable began. "This is probably a bit abrupt, but I was wondering what the two of you could tell me about Baron Heinrich Stadtfeld."

Grimaces were mirrored on Lawrence and Rochester's faces immediately upon hearing the name.

"Well, that can't be good," Jeremy said dryly.

"The fact that you're the one coming to us with questions about the baron," Lawrence began with a sigh. "I won't ask why her highness referred him to you, but this is going to be a colossal headache."

Jeremy frowned. "Is it really that bad?"

"You are a newcomer to the area," Rochester said, "so you are unlikely to even know of Heinrich by reputation. The area's industrial concerns on the other hand are on very good terms with him."

The lawyer regarded the noble thoughtfully. "I thought he was just a commodities broker, the baron."

"Which actually makes him a person of considerable worth knowing to the manufacturers in the area," Rochester stated. "Besides sakuradite Area 11 possesses few natural resources and most of its needs must be imported, whether from other parts of the Empire or from overseas. That makes brokers like Heinrich of some importance to the smooth operation of the local economy."

"You know the baron personally?" Jeremy asked.

Rochester nodded. "We both do. Before my appointment to her highness' cabinet I worked with Heinrich as partners of the Ruvik Group. I specialized in rare earths like sakuradite, he in metals like iron and aluminum. In theory mine was the more lucrative field." The baron chuckled. "Heinrich however proved a more adept broker than I."

"But Baron Stadtfeld is merely one man," Jeremy said. "How much importance could he have on the wider area economy?"

The amusement disappeared from Rochester's expression and even Lawrence grimaced.

"That depends on what commodity contracts he possesses right now," Rochester said surly. "And I would be extremely careful about how you approach whatever inquiry her highness has asked of you, Sir Finch. The last thing I need to happen is for traders to short companies with factories in this area."

"Noted," Jeremy said, "but I get the impression that your concern regarding the baron is more than purely economic."

Rochester glanced over at Lawrence and the other man shrugged.

"You know the field better than I my lord," he said. "You could probably explain its nuances better."

"Your confidence is ever so assuring," Rochester said wirily before looking over at Jeremy. "You probably already know some of this, but the resource extraction industry is dominated by the big three, Anglo, Billiton, and Broken Hill. All three are majority owned by members of the nobility and combined they control something like 70% of the mining industry."

Jeremy nodded. While he was already aware of the basic background, it did not hurt to have a refresher.

"On the other hand a lot of the newer manufacturing companies were established by entrepreneurial commoners," Rochester continued. "These companies are major customers of the mining conglomerates, but there is a not insignificant amount of resentment amongst the more conservative elements of the peerage at the increased economic standing of their owners and even a fear that they might attempt to parlay that economic standing into a greater social and political one. As a result even though the two sets of companies may rely on one other another, there is a great deal of tension that generates cost overheads for both."

"I am not surprised in the least," Jeremy muttered before recalling whom he was speaking to. "Um, no offense my lord."

Rochester chuckled dryly. "None taken, especially since the Ruvik Group and others like it were founded to take advantage of that tension.

At the quizzical look Rochester allowed a more amused smile.

"It is quite simple. The Ruvik Group was originally founded by a few nobles of, lower economic standing than the great peers. We were not poor by any means, but neither did we possess the wealth of the dukes or margraves or even viscounts. We were however still nobles and so the companies they owned were less, touchy in the transactions we performed with them. The prices we paid might not have been any lower than that of the commoner owned companies, but we faced less bureaucratic nonsense in arranging for delivery and the like. By acting as intermediaries the Ruvik Group managed to carve a very profitable niche for itself and in the process established cordial relationships with the newly wealthy middle class." The baron glanced over at Lawrence. "Some such relationships went a bit beyond merely cordial."

Lawrence feigned clearing his throat. "The greasing of the wheels that Ruvik performed in the past is less salient these days, but they do serve other important purposes. Namely at least in Area 11 when a local manufacturer, especially the smaller or medium sized companies, puts in an order for raw materials, it's usually Ruvik that they buy from. The group owns a network of warehouses and storage tank facilities that allow them to more easily stockpile raw materials. This way it's cheaper for companies to go to them than to arrange for delivery of raw materials from overseas themselves, economies of scale and whatnot."

"Alright, that makes sense," Jeremy said. "But that's all still from an economic perspective. You two are worried about something beyond that."

"We're getting there," Lawrence assured his friend. "Now generally the businesses in Area 11 fall into one of two categories. Those like KBR only really care about looting the local economy, extracting as much short term profits as they can without regard to the long term. There are other companies however that are interested in the long term development of the area, who want to turn the economy around. There are upwards of seventy, eighty million people living in the Area, that's a lot. All these people are potential workers and consumers that over the long term could generate a very healthy return if the proper investment is put in, or so the thinking goes. Now, which set of businesses do you think her highness the viceroy should take care in upsetting?"

Jeremy narrowed his eyes. "And you are saying that the Baron Stadtfeld is highly regarded by this segment of the business community."

"Very much so," Rochester stated. "And unlike certain others Heinrich's conduct as a businessman has always been impeachable. If her highness really wants him investigated for a matter, it had better be very, very grave and the evidence airtight. Otherwise her, reputation for capriciousness will be more than just grumbling from nobles trying to hide genuinely dirty laundry."

"Combined with the fact that the baron's daughter was caught up in the attack on Ashford," Lawrence added. "Sympathies are more likely to be with Heinrich than with her highness depending on what exactly the princess wants him investigated for."

That elicited a grimace from Jeremy himself though the man refrained from offering an explanation as to why he reacted that way at the mention of Ashford. The change in expression did not go unnoticed however by Lawrence and Rochester and the former reacted with visible alarm.

"You're not serious."

Jeremy looked at his friend. "What?"

"Her highness asked you to investigate Heinrich over the Ashford attack?" Lawrence said incredulously.

This time Rochester too regarded the other man with concern. "Is that true?"

"I can't talk about it in detail," Jeremy said firmly. "All I can say is her highness has questions for the baron and his daughter and he is being reticent."

"Oh Hels," Lawrence muttered. "Cole's been depressed since this whole matter started, and now Kallen is being suspected of something?"

"Cole?" Jeremy said quizzically. "Your son goes to Ashford, he knew the Lady Stadtfeld?"

"He took her to the school dance," Lawrence said bitingly. "And he was planning to ask her out on another date before the attack happened."

Jeremy felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. All he managed was a simple, "Oh."

"Perhaps we should speak with her highness directly," Rochester suggested. "This, matter is becoming exceedingly complicated."

"Yes," Lawrence said as he rose. "Yes, I think that would be a very good idea."

* * *

Euphie considered the scrolling text on her monitors with care. The research that had been uncovered involving the woman designated Subject C was extensive, to say the least. It was also sickening to contemplate. The project had apparently hit a dead end with their latest vivisections and were contemplating moving onto the woman's brain before Euphie stumbled upon its money trail. The princess was finding it harder and harder to think of Clovis in a good light seeing the lengths he was prepared to go to in his quest to unlock the woman's apparent immortality. That really was Cecilia possessed, not just accelerated healing but outright immortality. The lengths to which Clovis' research team went to prove this fact was enough to turn Euphie's stomach.

In some ways it was a wonder Cecilia did not seem to hold a grudge at all against Euphie herself. In others the princess genuinely regretted that the woman responsible for saving Nunnally had been subjected to this sort of torture. Then again based off of what Milly had told her Cecilia did not even react to Nunnally when in the girl's presence. Ruben seemed certain that Cecilia was the one that brought Nunnally to the Ashfords but until Euphie could directly speak with her there were simply too many unanswered questions, not least of which was what Cecilia herself might know about Empress Marianne's murder.

The intercom buzzed, drawing Euphie out of her musing. She reached over and pressed the button.

"Yes?"

"Your highness, Baron Rochester, Sir Kraft, and Sir Finch are here to speak with you."

Euphie frowned. That was a rather odd combination.

"Please send them in."

"Yes your highness."

The door opened and the three men entered. Strangely enough it was Lawrence in the lead instead of the baron, suggesting he was the instigator of this gathering. They stopped before the desk and bowed.

"Gentlemen," Euphie greeted with a nod and a smile. "Please, have a seat." They did so and the princess nodded. "Now, how may I help you?"

Lawrence took a deep breath. "Your highness, am I to understand that the Lady Stadtfeld is somehow under suspicion for the Ashford attack?"

Euphie's eyes narrowed and she shot a questioning glance at her attorney general.

"Jeremy has revealed nothing of confidence," Lawrence spoke up in his friend's defense. "He however found need today to come to my office to ask some questions about the Baron Stadtfeld, of whom myself and Baron Rochester are acquainted with."

"I see," Euphie said, though she did not immediately take her gaze off of Jeremy. When she did she looked back at Lawrence. "I suppose I should have expected that."

The man said nothing in response, instead waiting for the princess to answer his question. Euphie sighed and leaned back into her chair.

"The Lady Stadtfeld is not a suspect in the Ashford attack," she stated. "She is however a person of interest whom needs to be interviewed. Unfortunately she has disappeared and the Baron Stadtfeld is either unwilling or unable to assist in locating her. Does that satisfy your question, Sir Kraft?"

The man frowned. "I am afraid not, your highness."

Euphie smiled ever so slightly. "You're worried about your son, aren't you, Sir Kraft?"

Lawrence's jaw tightened. "Yes your highness. Cole has been growing closer with the Lady Stadtfeld ever since the dance."

The princess nodded. "And as his father you do not wish for him to become entangled in any security matters." Euphie smiled reassuringly. "Fret not, Sir Kraft. I spoke with your son briefly after the memorial ceremony at Ashford and I say to you now what I said to him then. Kallen is not suspected of complicity in the Ashford attack. In fact there is reason to believe she was a target of it. I seek to offer her my protection, nothing more."

Lawrence frowned, unconvinced. "Then why investigate the Baron Stadtfeld, your highness? Your conduct creates the impression that the Lady Stadtfeld would have reason to decline your protection."

There was such a reason though at this point Euphie had no intention of sharing it with Lawrence and the others. That Kallen was the Red Knight was still a fairly classified matter, known only to select members of the military, her own personal guard, and unfortunately the Knight of Twelve.

"Kallen and I have, disagreements on certain political matters," Euphie allowed. "While I cannot know what is on her mind, seeing as those that attempted to take her life were members of the Gendarmerie it would not surprise me if she felt offers of protection from another authority such as myself to be suspect."

Lawrence regarded the princess for a few moments before leaning back into his chair. It was never a good thing when she started on the doubletalk like this and became evasive. For the most part Euphemia tended to be rather frank with her cabinet so as to minimize confusion of what her policies intended. The last time there had been ambiguity regarding her goals all of them got blindsided by the Lord David's summary execution.

"Your highness," Lawrence said carefully, "while I have never met the Lady Stadtfeld, the impression I have of her from my son is of a young woman who cares deeply about her home, this area. Under normal circumstances that would suggest to me the two of you share common ground. And yet the fact that there is someone out there prepared to suborn the Gendarmerie to go after the Lady Stadtfeld, and that she might feel sufficiently suspect of the rest of the authorities to go into hiding, implies that whatever disagreement exists between the two of you is a serious one. I believe the incongruity between the two is plain."

Euphemia frowned but kept her tone light. "And your point, Sir Kraft?"

"My point, your highness, is that with all due respect I find myself in a situation where there are two possible conclusions to be drawn. The first is that the Lady Stadtfeld has been deceiving my son, which makes her a danger to him and one I feel I have a right to be aware of. The second is that the Lady Stadtfeld has been entirely honest and in her honesty genuinely believes that the Britannian authorities do not have the best of intentions regarding her home." Lawrence's eyes hardened. "And if she has actual cause for that belief, especially in light of the attempt on her life, then I am afraid I would have to tender my resignation."

The two men seated aside from Lawrence sucked in their breath. Euphemia herself made no audible reaction but her eyes flickered in surprise. Several moments of silence passed before she nodded.

"You raise a valid point, Sir Kraft. You raise several in fact and I can well understand your hesitation. And because I understand, I will do something that I have not done in a very long time. I give you my word that Kallen Stadtfeld is not herself a danger to your son, and I also give you my word that the disagreement between her and I, while of a fundamental character, will _not_ see you called upon to compromise your own integrity."

The frown did not disappear from Lawrence's expression as he absorbed the princess' words. "And in exchange for your word I am to be content of my ignorance of the truth behind these matters, your highness?"

Euphemia smiled sadly. "I am afraid that at this point that is all I can offer, Sir Kraft. The matter that Kallen has found herself entangled in touches upon something far above the duties of your present station. It would be, best, for all if you remain removed from them."

Lawrence continued staring at the princess before finally taking a deep breath himself. "Your highness, this will be the second time you have asked me to accept on faith your word on a matter. I will do so, but I cannot promise that should a third such instance arise my decision be the same."

The princes nodded firmly in understanding. "Thank you, Sir Kraft. I myself hope to never have need to ask of you this implicit trust again, but I thank you for giving it to me now."

As the tension seemed to break in the room a quiet surrounded the four until Rochester broke it by clearing his throat. Euphemia raised an eyebrow as she regarded the baron.

"Your pardon, your highness," Rochester said, "but there was another reason that Lawrence and I decided it was necessary to speak with you regarding the Baron Stadtfeld. Namely, the potential commercial ramifications should it become known he was under investigation."

Euphemia frowned. "The baron is simply a commodity broker, how could he possibly affect the economy of an entire area?"

At that both Lawrence and Rochester grimaced, a reaction that did not escape Euphie.

"Well?" she said, prompting the two for an explanation.

By the time the two finished said explanation Euphie was mentally cursing Kallen again for the massive headache cleaning up after the girl was turning into. Her head was already starting to hurt as she contemplated the need to sort through all of the futures, options, and other derivative instruments to determine just what level of damage one Baron Heinrich Stadtfeld could do to the local Area 11 markets if pressed. This almost certainly balanced out Kallen saving her life, Euphie decided, oh so very much.

* * *

The Hôtel de Brienne was constructed in 1725 by François Duret and eventually bought by the state in 1817, becoming the home of the French defense ministry. With the formation of the EU the building became home to the wider European defense ministry and its halls were filled by officers and bureaucrats from across the continent. Several of these officers were seated in one of the myriad conference rooms, all finely decorated in the style of the old symbols from France's imperial past. If any of the men present found any irony in their surroundings they refrained from voicing them.

The General Staff of the European Armed Forces were representative of the major powers within the EU. Maréchal Alphonse Pierre Juin of France served as its head with the German Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel as his immediate deputy and chief of staff. The British, not Britannian, General Richard O'Connor served as director of operations while General Pytor Ivanovitch Ivashutin of the Russian Federation acted as the intelligence director. The group was rounded out by the Austrian General Hubert Wingelbauer in charge of personnel matters and the Spaniard General Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado responsible for logistics. Together these six men could be said to represent the entirety of the European armed forces, or at least the most relevant parts of it. At the very least nothing got done without their express agreement. Conversely if they did agree on something, even the European Commission would find it difficult to impede them. Which was entirely the reason they were gathered today.

"Monsieurs," Alphonse began in his native tongue. "I have called you all here today to discuss a most grave matter. Two in fact, albeit merely opposite sides of the same coin."

"And would that coin be called Britannia?" Pytor said with a slight smirk in the same language.

"Oui, mon ami," Alphonse said.

All of the assembled were fluent in French seeing as it was the official language of the European Union. It was a legacy of past French imperialism, both militarily and culturally. The old Russian aristocracy for instance used primarily French at court while after its conquest the British Isles saw attempts to impose the French language upon its populace. That particular venture ended up being less than successful, not least because the Gaelic speaking regions of the United Kingdom were as obstinate about having a mainland language imposed upon them as they had been when the same was attempted with English in the past. Ultimately though it mattered not what the official languages of each country was, everyone who sought to advance in the EU's government or military knew and used French in matters of state.

"All of us have watched with great concern at Britannia's expansion," Alphonse continued. "Erwin here even sparred with one of their regiments on the Suez."

Grumbles sounded from the others, not out of any disrespect for the German field marshal's accomplishments but for the sheer debacle that allowing that many Britannian soldiers onto EU soil was. Something like that simply should not have been possible, but it happened and even after Erwin thoroughly thrashed the would-be invaders the EU government actually accepted the nonsensical explanation from the Empire that it was all the doings of a rogue officer. That the central EU government was so spineless in its dealings with the Empire was a source of frustration and even resentment amongst the men gathered here, some more the latter than merely the former.

"With the fall of the Middle East Federation and the control of the Persian Gulf that this gives the Empire, they possess the ability to cut off all easily accessible oceanic routes between the EU and the Chinese Federation," Alphonse stated. "Their intent is quite obvious, to encircle and separate the only two powers capable of challenging Britannian hegemony over the world."

The Frenchman nodded over to Erwin who continued. "At present the Chinese are in an even bigger bind than us. The Britannians control effectively the entire southern approach to Federation territory thanks to their possession of the Philippines and Australia. If conflict breaks out the entire Malay Archipelago would fall within a matter of weeks. Add to that their ability to strike at the Korean peninsula from Japan and India from their newly establish position in the Middle East, the Federation's chances are, not good to say the least."

"But surely the Empire itself would be stretched trying to maintain operations on so many fronts," Richard pointed out. "They are still consolidating their conquests in the Middle East, never mind the active insurgencies in Japan and the Philippines. Granted their position in Australia is as secure as in North America, but even so we're talking about a very, very long supply chain to keep all of their forces fighting."

"That is true," Erwin agreed, "but the Filipino insurgency has not been nearly as successful as we would have hoped. The Britannians have been particularly ruthless in suppressing it and the minor incidences of sabotage that the Filipinos have been able to achieve would not measurably affect the Empire's ability to fight and defeat the Federation." The German glanced back at Alphonse. "The Japanese situation is even more complicated."

"The new, well, current viceroy has proven far more competent than any of her predecessors," Alphonse picked up. "Her efforts in stabilizing Japan are making considerable progress and based on intelligence gathered by several agents we have in the country, there is a real risk of a negotiated end to the insurgency and the acceptance of Britannian rule."

Pytor raised an eyebrow at that. "And why have I not seen such reports?"

Alphonse smiled wirily. "Apologies, general, but the operation was run through the SDECE instead of EU military intelligence. I'll see that the relevant information is forwarded to your office however."

The Russian grunted, less than pleased but for the moment accepting of the situation.

"Needless to say if the Chinese Federation falls the EU is next," Alphonse went on. "And I for one would prefer not to allow the Empire to decide when the final battle to determine our respective nations' fate begins."

Looks were exchanged between the three generals before Richard spoke for them.

"Are we to assume you have a plan, marshal?"

"I do," Alphonse affirmed. "Or rather, we do." A nod went in the direction of Erwin. "A preemptive strike against Britannia's overseas positions to eliminate their use as staging points against the EU."

Looks of shock and disbelief answered Alphonse's proclamation.

"The commission would never approve of something like that," Richard said for his compatriots.

"On the contrary," Alphonse said confidently. "I will be putting the question to the commission next week and I expect approval."

The British general's eyes widened. "Sir?"

"I have spoken with the Italian and Russian representatives," Alphonse said, shooting a brief glance at Pytor, "and they have indicated that their governments are receptive to proposals to check Britannian encroachment upon EU territory. The Italians were especially willing to contemplate offensive action in light of the fact that Britannian forces are basically right next door to their African colonies."

Richard's mouth thinned. The current balance of votes on the commission was very, very narrowly in favor of seeking a diplomatic resolution to the Britannian issue. Or rather, the hawks were not quite able to muster the votes necessary for the formal declaration of war they needed to proactively go after the Empire instead of waiting for Britannia to fire the first shot. A two thirds majority was needed for that and the informal count amongst the commissioners had the pro-war faction short only two votes. One now, if the French marshal's remarks about the Italian government's concern were accurate.

"Are you saying that we'll finally be allowed to do something about the Empire?" Hubert spoke up.

"Indeed," Alphonse said with a fierce grin. "And we won't be the only ones. The Chinese Federation has made overtures about a possible alliance against the Empire. In fact they are proposing a joint operation to free Japan, and its sakuradite reserves, from the Empire's grip."

"A, joint operation?" Pytor said quizzically.

"Those agents I mentioned being in the country," Alphonse explained. "They've been working with the JLF to plan a major offensive against the occupying Britannian forces. With outside support, they actually might have a shot at ejecting the Empire from Japan."

That got everyone's attention and Alphonse grinned again. "That being said, if the Chinese were the only ones to front troops for Japan's liberation the newly restored government might be inclined to favor them despite our own clandestine support." The marshal's eyes wandered over to Pytor again. "Regrettably I have not been able to stage forces in the far east."

The Russian grinned back. "It could be done. A training exercise by Vladivostok, composed of elements of the national army instead of units under direct EU command. With a few words in the right ear, it could be done."

"I presume you have something similar in mind for the Middle East?" Manuel asked, breaking his silence.

"Yes and no," Alphonse said before nodding to Erwin. "Our plans for the Middle East are a bit more, direct."

"There is a major training exercise scheduled to take place in Turkey," Erwin said. "It was originally planned to reassure our Turkish allies that the EU would defend them now that it shares a land border with a Britannian Area. On the other hand the disposition of forces that will be in the country would provide us with the assets necessary to directly invade the Middle East and forcibly eject the Empire."

The four generals did the sums in their heads. All knew of the upcoming exercise, the units expected to participate, and most importantly the current estimates of Britannian strength in the region.

"It's not enough," Richard said for all of them. "The Britannians haven't drawn down their strength like we expected them to after they crushed the MEF's standing forces. They still have six divisions with two knightmare regiments attached. In theory we could match that number, but any attempt by us to move a decisively larger force into Turkey would be seen by the Empire as a provocation. They might decide to launch their own preemptive strike in that case."

"Agreed," Alphonse said to the surprise of his subordinates. "Which is why we must achieve a qualitative edge over the Britannians. Erwin?"

Attention shifted back over to the German.

"The 1st Panzer Division," the field marshal stated. "Over the past few months it has been working up the new Panzer Hummel combat walkers." A wide, almost boyish smiled appeared. "It achieved operational readiness two weeks ago."

That got the others' attention.

"Excuse me field marshal, but I was under the impression that production was still being scaled up for the Panzer Hummel," Manuel said.

"A slight sleight of hand," Erwin said. "The Hummel has been in serial production for several months now and we were able to reequip the entire 1st Division. It will however be the _only_ division so equipped for the short term as production has been focused on building up a stockpile of spare parts and even backup units to ensure that 1st Panzer is able to conduct a long term campaign instead of being worn out after the first blitz." The German chuckled dryly. "That was something of a problem the last time I was in the field."

"A single division," Hubert said. "Two regiments of our own knightmares. Will that actually be enough to tip the scales in our advantage?"

"I believe so," Alphonse responded. "Remember also that the Britannians are on the tail end of a very long logistical chain. Once our navy is able to seize control of the Arabian Sea, we'll have cut off their only means of getting fresh supplies."

"The Britannian Sixth Fleet will not be easy to defeat," Pytor noted. "Perhaps some assistance from the Black Sea Fleet will be warranted?"

"How fortunate that they are already scheduled to participate in the Deep Water exercise," Alphonse said. "Along with a taskforce from the Italian navy."

The generals once more mulled over the numbers. Taking into account everything said by their superiors it was starting to look like they actually stood a chance of overwhelming the Britannian forces in the Middle East before the Empire could respond. And if the Chinese were willing to help pin down Britannian forces in Japan and secure the Indian Ocean, then their chances went up dramatically.

"To properly sustain a campaign will need significant supplies to be stockpiled in Turkey," Manuel finally said. "Along with the transportation to keep up with the advance. I doubt we could repeat the Britannian strategy of simply capturing enemy supplies."

"Not likely," Erwin said with a snort. "The Britannian vehicles use gasoline, not diesel for one. The only reason it worked out for the Marshal Cornelia was because the MEF had substantial stores of both."

"I will have to look at the storage capacity available to us in Turkey," Manuel said. "And our trucking capacity as well for that matter."

"A major point of the exercise is intended to demonstrate our ability to quickly shift resources to Turkey," Alphonse said. "I am sure you will be able to requisition the necessary vehicles to make it a success."

The room fell silent again as the officers each contemplated the challenges they would each face. For some the problems were merely technical in nature. For others, it went beyond that. That war with the Empire was inevitable was an accepted fact amongst the militaries of the European Union, the only real question was when. Most officers had resigned themselves to waiting for Britannian to fire the first shot, a rather unpalatable choice seeing as it left the initiative in the hands of the Empire. Now though a chance was being offered that would see the EU stand on the offensive instead of cowering and waiting on the defensive. The notion was more than a little appealing.

"I understand that there may be reservations about launching a preemptive strike against the Empire," Alphonse said with a firm tone. "All of us know full well the consequences and horror of war. Yet it is not we who invites those horrors but the Empire itself. The EU has many times offered the olive branch to Britannia only to see its overtures spurned. And thus it falls upon us, those schooled in the art of war, to wage it so that peace may follow." The marshal looked over his subordinates, his eyes seeming to gleam. "Let us not be found wanting in this charge."

* * *

The Sumeragi Group's interests in sakuradite mining saw them own significant amounts of infrastructure like warehouses and depots. Combined with the number of workers needed to look after all this infrastructure, it was trivially easy to hide the platoon of JLF soldiers that came to them. It was slightly less trivial to hide the four knightmares but after a bit of rearranging and reorganization one of the group's warehouses was designated as storage for volatile compounds and set aside for the breakaway JLF unit's equipment.

The party that entered the office building attached to the warehouses was surprisingly large. At the center were two young women, only one of whom Tohdoh recognized. The other was to his surprise Britannian. While his own expression and that of the older Senba was merely curious, the other members of the Four Holy Swords immediately adopted a wary, even suspicious attitude.

"Sumeragi-sama," Tohdoh greeted with a respectful bow.

"Colonel Tohdoh," Kaguya replied with her usual genial smile. "Your soldiers have settled in well?"

"They have," Tohdoh said, "though there is some restlessness. They are eager to continue the fight against Britannian even with our reduced number."

"Their dedication is to be commended," Kaguya said, "but before we can do so certain things must be verified." She glanced over at the red haired girl. "Colonel, allow me to introduce Kallen Kouzuki, the Akakishi."

Tohdoh's eyes widened, as did that of his subordinates. All of them had heard of the Akakishi, the Red Knight, that had come to the aid of the Britannians at Kawaguchi before bedeviling them in other places, often in a red Sutherland. Then there were the rumors involving Shinjuku where a resistance cell managed to steal Sutherland knightmares from the Britannians and in the process assassinate the Prince Clovis.

While Tohdoh had had no better idea of who the Akakishi might have been, the last thing he would have expected was the mysterious insurgent to be a young Britannian woman. The man frowned and regarded her more carefully. Britannian, and Japanese woman.

"Kouzuki-san," Tohdoh said respectfully. If this woman really was the Akakishi then she was deserving of at least that much courtesy.

"Colonel," Kallen responded with equal politeness.

"I have brought Kallen here today to discuss two matters," Kaguya continued. "The latter is to formulate a new stratagem to regaining Japan's sovereignty. The former…"

Kaguya's gaze fell to Kallen and Tohdoh's followed. The woman looked him straight in the eye and the battle hardened colonel felt a slight chill run down his spine. The Akakishi's eyes were a cold, icy blue.

"Lieutenant-Colonel Tohdoh Kyoshiro," Kallen said flatly. "Are you under secret orders from the SDECE operatives currently manipulating the JLF."

Gasps sounded from behind Tohdoh and the man did not need to turn about to know that his subordinates were taking affront on his behalf. Before they could vocalize their outrage however he responded.

"I am not, Kouzuki-san."

Kallen studied Tohdoh carefully, noting the even breathing, steady heartbeat, and most importantly the lack of inflamed arteries in the man's brain. Satisfied, she nodded. And then turned to the woman standing slight to the right behind Tohdoh.

"Lieutenant Chiba Nagisa. Are you under secret orders from the SDECE operatives currently manipulating the JLF."

Chiba glanced over at Tohdoh and the man nodded. Her response to Kallen however remained brusque.

"No."

Again Kallen spent a few seconds observing the person so questioned before nodding. She repeated this three more times with the rest of the Holy Swords before turning to Kaguya.

"They're clean, as far as I can tell."

Tohdoh regarded Kallen curiously. "You possess an ability to detect deception, Kouzuki-san?"

"Deception is not the problem here colonel," Kallen responded. "It is mental subversion."

"Pardon?"

Kallen glanced over at Kaguya. Despite being younger the girl could be far more eloquent. Probably something to do with her having actually paid attention to her etiquette lessons instead of constantly dodging them.

"We have reason to believe that the subversion of the JLF is due to mental conditioning having been performed on the leadership," Kaguya said.

The confusion on Tohdoh's face only grew upon hearing this. "Mental conditioning?"

"Indeed," Kaguya said with a nod. "Did you not tell me that during your meeting with General Katase he seemed to be under some sort of coercion?"

Tohdoh's expression shifted from confused to thoughtful as he thought back to the encounter. True the general appeared to be under a great deal of pressure but he had originally attributed it to distress and a concentrated effort by his superior to find some way out of the trap the JLF was caught in. Now though, now he could see the general's haggard visage as that of a man struggling under some sort of mental compulsion. He could see it, but that did not necessarily mean he believed it, yet.

"What proof do you have of this conditioning having taken place?"

At this a look of sorrow appeared on Kaguya's face. "After or you came to me I dispatched Ichijo to discretely make inquiries to the JLF. He returned claiming to know nothing. Akakishi-san discovered that he had been subverted, unwillingly, and restrained him. Once his conditioning was discovered however we believe a failsafe implanted in him to prevent questioning caused him to suffer a fatal stroke."

Tohdoh's eyes widened and he gazed at the young woman before bowing his head. "My deepest condolences, Sumeragi-sama. I knew Ichijo-san and he was a good man."

Kaguya nodded. "Which is why we must ensure that his death not be in vain."

The Japanese colonel considered the two women standing before him. In Kaguya he saw the regal bearing of someone raised and groom to assume the mantle of leadership. In the Akakishi, a woman whose steely eyes seemed to burn with such passionate strength that it threatened to overwhelm her slender form.

"You have a plan, Sumeragi-sama," Tohdoh remarked.

" _We_ have a plan," Kaguya said, nodding back toward one of the other members of her party.

Another woman stepped forward and Tohdoh regarded her carefully. Her features were rougher than that of the Sumeragi retainers and from what little he could see of her hands they were covered with calluses.

"Inoue Naomi," the woman introduced herself with a bow. "I serve as the Akakishi's, quartermaster."

In other words the person responsible for all the hard work that allowed warriors like Akakishi and Tohdoh himself to fight. The colonel bowed respectfully.

"Inoue-san," he said before stepping aside. "Seeing as this discussion will take some time, shall we be seated?"

The three women nodded in turn and followed Tohdoh to the large conference table and arrayed themselves around it. Once they were all settled in the colonel nodded to Kaguya once more.

"When you came to me, colonel," Kaguya began, "you warmed me of a diversion from the JLF's original plan to attack Britannia's forces in western Japan. Instead the JLF now intends to strike at Tokyo itself, which risks destroying any hope we have of restoring Japan's sovereignty."

"That is so," Tohdoh said gravely. "A way must be found to stop them."

"That may not be possible," Kallen said. "We have little to no understanding of how the mental conditioning was performed and no idea whatsoever of how to disable the failsafe. That's even assuming we could get ahold of the JLF leadership and neutralize the SDECE agents manipulating them. And something tells me that if we try all it'll do is result in is creating a schism within the JLF that will see it fighting with itself."

Tohdoh grimaced but could not disagree. "Then you have an alternative, Akakishi-san?"

Strange, even though he now had a name and face to attach to the appellation it was still more natural to refer to her that way.

"Without the JLF there is effectively zero chance of wresting our sovereignty back from Britannia," Kallen said. "The rest of the resistance groups combined could not hope to match the combat power the JLF represents and building up a new JLF would be nigh impossible with the increased scrutiny Japan would be under after an attack on Tokyo."

"That is so, but what alternatives do we have?" Tohdoh responded. "Only through force of arms will the Empire ever be made to surrender its dominion over Japan."

Kaguya and Kallen exchanged glances and it was the younger girl that spoke next.

"Tell me colonel, when you say Japan's sovereignty, what do you mean?"

The colonel frowned. He was a seasoned enough man to know when an ideological trap was laid before him.

"I consider it to be the ability of our people to choose their own fates without outside influence," he answered nonetheless.

Kallen smirked. "I said much the same to her highness when I rescued her at Kawaguchi. Any guesses what her response was?"

Tohdoh's head turned to regard Kallen. "She made the claim that that condition is impossible to ever truly achieve."

"Exactly," Kallen said, "which got me thinking. Why did I want that, condition? Because the right to self-determination was being denied to my people while Britannia rules over us. And by ejecting the Empire from Japan we could regain that right. Or so the thinking went." The smile disappeared. "Which raises another question. Why is it necessary that we wait until the empire is ejected before we begin exercising that right again?"

Tohdoh opened his mouth to start answering. And then closed it. It was not an ideological trap after all, it was a very pertinent question.

"My answer would have been because the Empire would have never allowed us to assert that right without its acquiesce," Tohdoh said. "I suspect you have a different answer entirely."

"Quite," Kallen said. "We don't need to wait. Or rather, with the viceroy that we have now I believe we can assert our right to self-determination in ways that she cannot clamp down on easily without significantly undermining her efforts to win over the populace."

The colonel frowned. "This was attempted, in a manner of speaking, with the Fuchu political prisoners. The, princess was remarkably successful in subverting the operation. What makes you believe she will not manage the same with whatever you propose?"

"She subverted it, but she did not completely eliminate its effects," Kallen said. "There have been reports of prisoners who refused to recognize the viceroy's so-called clemency and simultaneously reject Britannia's authority to hold them prisoner. Her highness can decree whatever she wants but reality is not obliged to follow her whims."

That was also true and Tohdoh acknowledge it with a dip of his head. "Then let us hear your plan."

Both Kallen and Kaguya looked over to Inoue and the gazes of the JLF officers followed accordingly.

"At present the ghettos of Tokyo outside the Concession have very minimal rule of law," Inoue began. "The Britannian authorities do dispatch patrols, but they are infrequent and crimes that are actually reported generally go uninvestigated. What actual policing happens is done almost exclusively by those resistance cells inclined towards it, but we tend to be spread very thinly and lack both equipment and training. We think it's time to change that.

"The viceroy's sponsorship of the Keio University Medical Campus has created a relatively stable island within the otherwise chaotic ghettos. This is in partly due to the platoon of soldiers, mostly Honorary Britannians at that, that patrol the hospital grounds. They do not venture far however and with the inflow of cash the area is seeing we have also seen an upsurge of petty crime. Over the past few weeks the cell commanded by Akakishi has been networking with other cells in the area, building up a network of patrols to try to deal with the surge. We think this network can be used as the foundation of a proper policing force, one that does _not_ answer to the Britannian authorities and would have very little reason to sign on with any offers from the princess. In addition, this policing force would be an unequivocal statement on the part of the Japanese people that we are not solely beholden to the Britannians for what should be basic services that all people are entitled to."

"And in the process you would build up a cadre of men and women whom know how to operate in units in a disciplined manner, an army in all but name," Tohdoh mused as he glanced over at Kallen. "I thought you said it would be impossible to rebuild the JLF with the increased scrutiny from Britannia."

A hungry smile appeared on Kallen's face. "I said it would be impossible _after_ the attack on the Tokyo Concession. On the other hand our own force would be firmly established by the time of the attack." The smile disappeared. "And during the attack we will probably be the only faction that cares about all the civilians caught up in it."

Tohdoh grimaced at that but again could not disagree with the young woman's assessment. The JLF as it was now probably would not take any effort to minimize collateral damage. He could also see the advantage that the Akakishi's organization would garner if they were visibly seen to be trying to save people. To his immense regret there really was not anything he could do to save the JLF now, especially if the mental conditioning was true. But perhaps he could see to it that the dream of a free Japan did not die with it, as Katase had asked of him.

"And how would my own troops contribute to this, police force?" Tohdoh asked.

"We were thinking that your officers and NCOs could serve as trainers for the cells in our network," Inoue responded. "Most of them know how to shoot a weapon, sort of, but to instill the type of discipline we need to create something reputable we need experienced men and women to pass on their knowledge to the cells."

Tohdoh nodded. "A reasonable approach. It would also serve to maximize the effectiveness of my available forces."

"There is also the very real possibility that when the fighting starts, in order to protect the civilian population we may have to engage the JLF," Inoue stated.

"That is absurd!" a man exclaimed. "We would never fire on our comrades!"

" _Your_ comrades," Inoue said back icily. "Until this day we've never had any dealings with the JLF. While you've been hiding and biding your time for some grand offensive _we've_ been bleeding and dying in the fight against the Empire."

"How dare you-"

"Asahina, Chiba," Tohdoh said without bothering to raise his voice or shifting his gaze. His two subordinates immediately fell silent nonetheless. "You raise a valid point, Inoue-san, but no matter what has happened to the JLF they are still our brothers and sisters. If we raise our arms against them we will be in effect aiding the Empire."

"The JLF's attack on the Tokyo Concession will fail," Inoue stated flatly. "You know this as well as I. At this point the only thing we can hope to achieve is to minimize the fallout. If you are hesitant about the potential need to engage the JLF in order to do this then I say to you what I said to Kaguya-sama, you are not fighting for Japan, you are fighting to satisfy your own pride."

Tohdoh's eyes widened slightly and he glanced over at the girl in question. Kaguya however simply nodded to affirm Inoue's words but had none to add herself. The man looked back at Inoue.

"You ask a great thing from us," he stated.

"No more than what we ourselves have already given," Inoue replied.

The two held each other's gazes in silence for a seeming eternity. In truth probably no more than a minute or so passed.

"We will participate in the training program," Tohdoh finally said. "And when the time comes, we _will_ fight for the people of Tokyo. But we will never lend aid to Britannia."

"I have not once asked you to," was Inoue's response.

Again Tohdoh said nothing for several moments before finally nodding. He then glanced over at Kallen.

"And what do you intend to call this, police force of yours? The Aka no Kishidan?"

Inoue snorted and Kaguya even let out a slight giggle. Kallen raised an eyebrow and regarded them humorlessly.

"You two were the ones who came up with it," she chided. "Why don't you tell him?"

Another snort from Inoue before she looked over at Tohdoh again.

"Akatsuki," the woman said. "We decided to call ourselves Akatsuki."

Akatsuki. Dawn. Tohdoh glanced back over at the Akakishi. Kouzuki Kallen. Kouzuki. Red moon. And found himself smiling slightly. It was a fitting name, in tribute to the young woman that had set into motion the chain of events that led them to this moment. And it was a symbol of what they hoped to achieve for Japan, a new dawn.

End of Chapter 37

This, chapter ended up sprawling somewhat due to the length of certain conversations. And the meeting with the European generals was a pain in the ass to write. Choosing historical figures to serve as members of the general staff was also tricky. Finding noteworthy officers in the 1960s era is actually somewhat difficult. Well, finding European ones at least.

Mansfield doesn't do personalized tests, the tests are all the same. To do otherwise would kind of defeat the purpose of the tests. And Milly glossed over a lot of details about how he does the customized homework. Specifically, Mansfield was actually the oldest instructor at Ashford, with many, many years of experience. In fact had the attack not killed him he would likely have retired within the next two or three years. Over the years of his career he has accrued a very large collection of problem sets, with hundreds if not thousands of example problems and their answers. When he creates problem sets for homework, he doesn't make up new ones, he picks from his collection. There are also a couple of other circumstances that make it feasible for him to do this, not least of which are the teaching assistants that Ashford employs to help all of the teachers. There was a running joke amongst the teaching staff about whenever they need one of the assistants, they ask of Mansfield's assistant is available. He also doesn't need completely unique problem sets for each student, there are common problems if multiple students have the same difficulty and so on. Yes, I did think through this when writing Mansfield's eulogy. I did not make up the whole homework thing on a lark.

It's interesting the varied reactions to Kallen's father. Some like him, or at least like the fact that with his appearance Euphie has run into someone whom she has not yet been able to just steamroll over. Others hold a less positive opinion of the man. I really only have two remarks in response.

First, thus far Heinrich's background still hasn't been fully revealed yet. His past with Kotone, the divorce, etc, while one can infer that these did happen much as in the Code Geass anime, the rationale and Heinrich's own thoughts about it are complete unknowns for all of you. Also keep in mind that what we do know about Kallen's parents we learn from the girl herself and her explanation is mixed in with her bitterness about the whole thing. So even in canon we don't have a complete picture of what happened. On the other hand I think it's pretty obvious that I intend to develop that particular backstory in more detail, so jumping to conclusions one way or another about Heinrich's character would be, premature.

Second, Euphie's already orchestrated the execution of two dukes. At this point it's pretty clear that it doesn't matter how high you are in the order of noble precedence, if you're on her shit list you're going down. As such Heinrich's nobility offers him little to no protection if Euphie actually guns for him. Heinrich isn't an idiot and knows this, so if he intends to confront Euphie he'd employ other means. What those other means are were hinted at in this chapter and will be properly shown next chapter. It would have been part of this chapter but I've already hit 8k words and the scene in question promised to be fairly lengthy as well.

Anyway, one other note. It should at this point be obvious, but the story is far from done just with the R1 arc. I've been hinting at larger things that are going to happen for quite some time now. So, no, Lelouch is not going to die in the Black Rebellion. In fact the Black Rebellion can be said to be the true start of the proper story when all hell breaks lose. And it's not going to be pretty.


	39. Chapter 38

Snippet spoiler: Probably very high

 _While Area 11's economy was making significant strides as the reforms of the Princess Euphemia came into effect, it was only with the start of the Great War that it truly took off. With Japan's position on the other side of the Pacific, its industries were particularly well positioned to supply the Britannian military with munitions, food, and other basic needs. While its proximity to mainland China and Russia meant it was vulnerable to air raids, the Britannian air force's ability to maintain air superiority meant damage from bombings was kept to a relative minimum. The Chinese Federation's lack of long range missiles also limited its ability to strike directly at the Japanese islands and while the EU did possess such weapons much of its attention was focused on the Middle East._

 _In addition to weapons and other supplies Japan also contributed a significant body of troops to the Britannian cause, something almost unthinkable just a year before the war began. Japanese men and women enlisted not only in the Britannian military but also took on duties in the islands, replacing units that the Empire found need to deploy in other hotspots as the conflict intensified. By the end of the war over two million Japanese would serve in some capacity, a number that eclipsed the contribution of any other single ethnicity from Britannia's conquered areas. Most historians attribute this sudden display of loyalty to two causes. The first was the very real threat to their own homeland that the war represented. The second, to the entente established between the Princess Euphemia and the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki that secured for the Japanese people a place of dignity within Britannia._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 38: Familia supra omnia

The luxury sedan that rolled up before the viceroy's place turned no heads, such vehicles were a fairly common sight here. There was little to distinguish the man that exited from the rear save perhaps his head of deep red hair and the fact that he had opened the car door himself instead of waiting for his driver to do so. In fact the driver never even stepped out and the car quickly moved off once its passenger began making his way up the steps of the main entrance.

The man himself was sharply dressed and could easily be mistaken for a high ranking bureaucrat or politician, especially with the briefcase he carried. That at least would have been the impression an outsider observer would have made. The security staff manning the entrance past the public area of the palace however knew otherwise, for none of them recognized the man that now approached.

"May I hope you?" the receptionist asked politely.

"Heinrich Stadtfeld," the man introduced himself, pulling out an identification card. "I have an appointment with her highness the viceroy."

The woman's eyes widened ever so slightly as she brought up the approved guest list on her terminal. A quick check verified that yes, the man's ID was genuine, and yes the photo and the man himself matched what was on record in the system.

"Thank you my lord," the receptionist said as she returned the ID. "If you would please pass through the scanners, a guide will be with you to escort you to her highness' office."

Heinrich nodded his thanks and proceeded to the security station behind the reception desk. He handed his briefcase to one of the guards and walked through the metal detector. No alarm sounded and after a few moments of waiting his briefcase was returned to him.

"Thank you my lord," the man said. "Please have a seat, her highness' assistant will be with you shortly."

The wait was not long and after only a minute or so a smartly dressed young woman appeared.

"Baron Stadtfeld?"

Heinrich rose. "Yes."

"I am Jane Eyre, personal assistant to her highness the viceroy," the woman said. "Please, come this way."

The baron followed Jane wordlessly as they walked through the palace corridors. He made no effort to engage in small talk or ask Jane why the viceroy had summoned him. And it was a summons, regardless of how politely worded the invitation was. One simply did not ignore a summons from an imperial scion, especially one this high up in the order of succession, no matter what one's grievances. So far though the disagreement between the two was mostly discreet and not yet at risk of open rupture. Today's meeting would likely determine if it stayed that way.

As they approached their destination a familiar figure to both came into sight. Jane slowed and regarded the man standing before them quizzically.

"Edward?"

Heinrich gave his fellow noble an amused look. "Edward?"

Rochester cleared his throat. "It is good to see you again, Heinrich. Jane, would you mind if I steal a few minutes with my old friend before you bring him to her highness?"

The young woman considered the request for a brief moment before nodding. "A few minutes. Her highness has a schedule to keep."

"I've already cleared it with her," Rochester assured her.

Jane spent perhaps another second thinking it over before nodding again and stepping away to give the two men some privacy.

"Jane," Heinrich said, the amusement almost dripping from his tone.

Rochester cleared his throat again. "Jane and I work closely due to our respective duties to her highness."

"I am sure," Heinrich said dryly.

"Yes, well, enough about me," Rochester quickly moved the topic along. "I wanted to have a few words with you before your meeting with the viceroy."

"So you said already," Heinrich said, all humor gone.

Rochester grimaced. He remembered well how obstinate his friend could be if pressed on a matter he really cared about or truly believed in. Little doubt his daughter counted for both.

"I won't ask why you're at loggerheads with her highness," Rochester stated. "I won't ask you to make allowances for her either. What I do ask of you is that you take care of yourself, Heinrich. I don't want to see my friend throw himself into an unwinnable fight."

Heinrich allowed a slight smile. His expression however hardened quickly afterward.

"I do not enter battles I cannot win, Edward. You of all people know this." He stepped past the man. "Jane was it? I am ready to see her highness."

"Of course my lord. This way please."

Rochester turned about and watched his friend go. He felt an urge to speak up again but knew that there was nothing more he could say. Heinrich's mind was obviously made up. He only hoped that in the coming battle of wills the victory would not be Pyrrhic for whomever emerged.

When the two reached the viceroy's office Jane stepped aside. "Rachel will see to you, my lord."

Heinrich nodded politely but still a bit brusquely as he entered the waiting room. Her duty complete, Jane took her leave. Beyond the door no time was wasted ushering Heinrich into the viceroy's office. The only other person present was a mustached man of similar age to the baron himself. Heinrich had little trouble recognizing him as Brigadier Jonathan Eyre, captain of the princess' royal guard. That he was here instead of some other guardsman indicated that the princess intended to keep the number of people privy to their upcoming conversation to an absolute minimum. An interesting tidbit.

"Your highness," Heinrich bowed as protocol demanded.

"Baron," Euphemia responded. "Have a seat."

An invitation, but one of the barest of courtesies. As Heinrich accepted it he regarded the princess. There was a steely determination in her eyes, a strength of will that almost reminded Heinrich of his own daughter. Almost.

"I will be blunt, Baron Stadtfeld," Euphemia began, "and I request that you be of equal candor. I do not believe you are as in the dark about Kallen's current location as I and what you seek is to shield your business interests from the fact that she is a known insurgent. My advisors have informed me that those very interests are heavily intertwined in the economy of this area and that disrupting them will have problematic repercussions." The princess slid a sheet of paper over the desk towards Heinrich. "I am thus prepared to offer you a writ clearing you of any complicity in your daughter's actions for exchange of your cooperation in my policies. I believe you will find ample opportunity to continue to profit as you have thus far."

Heinrich's expression was completely neutral as he looked down at the sheet of paper. It all looked very official with the princess' signature and seal on it and he had no doubt it said exactly what Euphemia promised. He picked it up, and ripped it in half, making sure the tear went straight through the signature.

"My counteroffer," Heinrich said without a tint of inflection in his tone as he set the two pieces back down. "The government makes no public connection between the Red Knight and my daughter and Kallen Stadtfeld remains regarded as a citizen of good standing with no restrictions on her legal activities. In exchange, I don't plunge this entire area into an economic depression by calling all of the options I hold."

Euphemia's eyes narrowed and Jonathan's mustache twitched ever so slightly. The brigadier knew just enough about the financial market from his niece's discussing of her schooling to know that what the baron was threatening was not just an abstract, theoretical danger. The details were beyond him, though not beyond his liege.

"A question, baron," Euphemia responded. "It is obvious that Kallen has been hiding much from you and in so doing placed not simply your commercial interests but also your title and even potentially your personal safety at risk. Am I supposed to believe that you hold such affection for a daughter that you know so little of that you would willing accept those risks?"

Heinrich regarded the princess levelly before answering. "Your highness, you have my condolences for having the need to ask such a question."

Euphemia flinched. She had asked for candor from Heinrich and the baron obliged but to have this said so bluntly to her face still shook the princess. Perhaps she should have attempted to hide how much the baron's words shook her but the silence that lingered between them put paid to that idea. Instead once Euphemia finally regained her composure she simply pressed on.

"The question still stands, baron. You possess great wealth and a respected station in Britannian society, why risk it for a daughter that seems to not have any regard for you?"

Again Heinrich regarded the princess before replying. "And what use has that wealth and station been to me, your highness? In order to preserve it I was forced to give up the only woman I actually loved, the mother of my children, and marry a thankless bitch that spends her days thinking she can philander behind my back just because I'm overseas so often."

The princess' mouth thinned ever so slightly at the rather coarse language but she did not interrupt Heinrich.

"Then my son gets cut down by the Empire because he refused to accept the mistreatment of his fellow Japanese and now I find the government threatening to do the same to my daughter," Heinrich bit out. "Tell me your highness, what gods be damned worth is my wealth and my nobility if _that_ is what keeping them costs me?"

Euphemia took a very deep breath as Heinrich asked his question. She closed her eyes for a few moments as she dealt with the swirling of emotions within her. A touch of anger at the man's seeming disrespect, sympathy for the losses he had suffered and might suffer yet, and even a bit of regard for Heinrich's seeming fearlessness. Perhaps strength of will was hereditary after all.

"You may not believe me baron," Euphemia finally responded, "but you do have my sympathies. And in return for your frankness, allow me some of my own. I do not regard Kallen as an enemy, in fact I believe that she and I could well become allies for the greater good of Area, no, Japan."

Heinrich's eyes narrowed ever so slightly and Euphemia allowed herself a thin smile.

"I believe it to even be possible to clear Kallen of any judicial consequences of her vigilantism, but to do so she and I must have a face to face meeting to come to an arrangement."

Jonathan coughed softly, making clear his own opinion on such a notion and Heinrich glanced at the man for a brief moment before his eyes returned to meet Euphemia's.

"With respect your highness, I hope you are not expecting those words to entice me to arrange for Kallen to visit you within these walls."

"No," Euphemia said with a single shake of her head. "Such an invitation would rightfully be regarded as suspect. I was thinking instead of a meeting upon neutral ground."

Heinrich raised an eyebrow. "Neutral ground."

The smile returned, slightly wider this time. "It might surprise you baron, but we have come to the point where such places exist."

Heinrich seemed to consider those words before dipping his head. "Keio."

Euphemia nodded in response. "That is one possibility, yes."

It was the baron's turn to regard Euphemia in near silence, the only sound coming from his tapping of the armrest.

"While an interesting proposition I am afraid that my daughter is in no lesser danger now than when I arrived at this meeting," Heinrich stated. "As such my best course of action is still to ensure that she remains beyond the reach of the authorities, yourself included, your highness."

Euphemia frowned. "I would prefer you not attempt such action baron, for there are limits to my restraint, both on a personal and legal level."

"The degree of action, or inaction, on my part can be determined by the extent to which the government pursues my daughter, Kallen Stadtfeld," Heinrich replied.

The princess' eyes narrowed as she recalled the baron's earlier demand. Continue to pretend the fiction that Kallen and the Red Knight were not one and the same and officially make no move against Kallen's public persona. It would not offer Kallen that much protection since the government could remain fully dedicated to hunting down the Red Knight, but so long as Kallen herself did not create a link between her identity as the Stadtfeld daughter and her vigilante persona she theoretically could move about freely as Kallen Stadtfeld.

"An interesting proposition," Euphemia echoed Heinrich's words, "and one that I might even be inclined to consider. But I wonder, why do you believe the government would honor the spirit and not simply the word of the agreement? Threat of economic chaos might move myself or my brother Schneizel, but seeing the direct challenge Kallen has posed to Britannian authority my sister Cornelia is in this instance unlikely to be deterred, even with our counsel."

The smirk that appeared on Heinrich's face caused Euphemia to shudder slightly. It was not a pleasant expression. The baron reached over and popped open his briefcase, withdrawing several fat packets of paper. He stacked them on the desk before pushing them over to the princess. Euphemia looked down, and her breath caught. On the cover of the first packet was a single word. Damocles. She looked up at the baron, no hint of amusement or sympathy in her eyes. Euphemia picked up the first packet and very carefully leafed through it. Inside were numbers, dates, and monetary figures. None of this would have meant a thing to the average person but Euphemia quickly lined them up to records she herself worked on to come to a conclusion. All of the figures matched, meaning the Baron Heinrich Stadtfeld had somehow gotten his hands on pieces of one of the most highly classified projects of the Britannian military. Euphemia set the packet down.

"How did you acquire this information?" she asked in a low tone.

"Several associates of mine with seats in the House of Lords have complained about a rather large, black hole, in the military's budget for the past two years," Heinrich said almost blandly. "Something to the tune of fifty billion pounds. After that it was simply a matter of knowing where to look, such as the purchase of approximately two hundred thousand tons of steel routed through a variety of shell companies."

Euphemia regarded Heinrich ruefully. She had been at least partially responsible for setting up those shell companies to try to mask the final customer being the government. Apparently she was not quite as successful in her obfuscation as she thought. The question now however was if Heinrich could have figured all this out, who else might have been able to connect those same dots.

"And you have revealed this to no one," Euphemia said flatly.

"Not as yet."

But he would if the government moved against his daughter, that much was clear.

"You understand, baron, that your silence on this matter will only buy Kallen's safety for a time," Euphemia said.

"Until such time as Damocles is completed, you mean," Heinrich said with another smirk.

"Quite. As such the only long term means of assuring your daughter's safety is if she and I can come to an arrangement, as such I urge you to make use of what means you have to contact her and extend her my offer."

Heinrich frowned slightly. "Your highness, you've asked me to be frank with you and I have. Enough so that the brigadier probably is severely tempted to shoot me. You however have held back, specifically on what exactly it is that you want from my daughter."

Euphemia pursed her lips. That was true enough, but the matter regarding Cecilia was far too sensitive to share with Heinrich.

"There is a matter that I believe your daughter can help me with, baron," she said instead, "something important enough that I am prepared to go to lengths to secure Kallen's continued freedom and life. That is all I can or will say to you, baron. The rest is for only Kallen herself."

Heinrich raised an eyebrow. "There are only a few things that I can think of that might be so important to an imperial scion, your highness, and involvement with any of them is not what I would call conducive to my daughter's long life and health."

"We of the imperial family do not have the luxury of safe and sure paths, baron," Euphemia said with a wistful smile. "But from the brief conversations I have had with Kallen I believe she and I seek similar goals. And ultimately baron, should it not be your daughter's choice what she is willing to risk her life for?"

"And here I thought you were trying to enlist my aid in contacting Kallen," Heinrich muttered.

Euphemia allowed herself a slight chuckle before assuming a more solemn expression. "Do consider the matter, baron. I hope you will understand that I do not consider Kallen to be an enemy and have no wish to make her one."

The baron regarded Euphemia for a brief moment before tilting her head. "Would that be all, your highness?"

The princess nodded. "I do not say this often, baron, and I have no recollection of doing so to a man whom tended so close to disrespect as you, but you have impressed me. I would not be opposed to perhaps holding discussions on more, productive topics, once the matter with your daughter is settled in a mutually satisfactory manner."

The edge of Heinrich's mouth twitched. "You have great confidence in your self, your highness. We shall see if it is truly warranted."

* * *

"So did Kaguya tell you why she wanted to see us?" Kallen asked as she, Inoue, and Ohgi exited the vehicle.

"No, though from her barely concealed glee it's probably something good," Inoue said with a wiry smile. "Or at least something she'll find immense amusement in springing on us."

"Joy of joys," Kallen said with a dry chuckle. "I already have C.C. for that."

"At least she's been behaving, for the most part," Inoue remarked.

Kallen shrugged and pushed open the door into the warehouse. A pair of guards masquerading as bored workers tensed for a brief moment before relaxing and going back to pretending that the only thing they were paying attention to was their shogi game. Kallen had never learned how to play though considering her abysmal ability at chess she doubted she would do any better at Japan's native variant.

The three moved through the outer area and into an inner zone that was actually completely walled off. Inside they came to an abrupt halt as they caught sight of what those walls were supposed to hide. When Kallen was finally able to tear her gaze away she saw a beaming Kaguya approaching.

"A knight should not be without a stead," the Japanese girl proclaimed. "As you lost yours fighting for our mutual cause, it is only right that I see you restored."

Kallen gazed at the bright red knightmare once more. Its form was curved and sleek, so very unlike the boxy forms of Britannian machines. Its right arm was also markedly different, an oversized silver appendage with sharp scissor-like fingers.

"It's, not a Britannian model," Kallen noted.

"Indeed not," another woman's voice sounded in English.

Kallen and the others turned about to see a dark skinned woman with following blond hair approached them. Her dress was somewhat haphazard with a white lab coat over a low cut and mostly unbuttoned blouse. Kallen did not even need to use her geass to know that Ohgi at least was doing his best to keep his gaze from drifting downward.

"Introductions are in order," Kaguya said in the same language. "Kallen-san, this is Dr. Rakshata Chawla, the designer of this knightmare. Chawla-sensei, this is Kallen Kouzuki, the Red Knight."

It appeared that though Rakshata understood some Japanese it would be easier all around to use English for communicating with the doctor.

"Charmed," Rakshata said with a smirk. "So you're the Red Knight. I have been made promises regarding your prowess as a knightmare pilot. They had better be true for you to be fit to pilot my child."

"Your child," Kallen said dryly.

The smirk widened. It seemed Rakshata was not so uptight that she could not handle some cheek.

"There is perhaps one other individual out there whom might be able to craft so superb a machine as mine," Rakshata said. "You have faced his handiwork twice thus far."

Kallen's eyes widened and her gaze shifted back to the red knightmare. The girl began walking about the machine in a wide arc as she gave it a much, much closer inspection. Kallen was no engineer but she began picking out minor differences with the Glasgow and Sutherland almost immediately. And they were subtle, the positioning of the legs, the way the knees joined the thigh and lower leg, and so on. None of these suggested that this machine was somehow superior to the other knightmares or a match for the Lancelot, but then again she would have never believed a knightmare could move so fluidly as the white machine before first seeing it in action. Of course there was also that strange arm.

"What is the right arm?" Kallen asked.

"It is the crown jewel of the Guren," Rakshata said, and Kallen noted the name the woman gave for the knightmare, "the Radiant Wave Surger. It emits a powerful burst of microwave radiation, able to fry any electronics caught in its path and even melt through metal."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. Something that strong would also probably end up boiling any person unfortunate enough to be similarly caught in the weapon's path. Not a pleasant way to go.

"Range?" the girl asked.

"The Surger requires contact with a solid medium for the radiation to propagate through," Rakshata answered. "Firing it in the open air will only create a localized plasma sheath."

Which could be useful all by itself, Kallen mused.

"What other weapons does it possess?" the girl said aloud as she reversed directions and began circling the other way. "I presume it is not limited solely to melee combat?"

That would have severely limited the Guren's usefulness even with its trump.

"There is an autocannon built into the left arm," Rakshata said, "and that arm is also capable of utilizing standard knightmare equipment."

Kallen finished her inspection of the knightmare. It certainly sounded like an impressive machine.

"Do you know about the Lancelot's defensive shield?" she asked the older woman.

Rakshata tilted her head. "The Blaze Luminous. Lloyd conceptualized it back in school, but I never thought he would actually get it shrunk down enough to fit on a knightmare."

Kallen cocked her head said. "Lloyd?"

"Lloyd Asplund, the Earl of Pudding," Rakshata said with a sneer. "Creator of the Lancelot."

Kallen blinked, not quite sure what to make of the earl's supposed appellation. There was obviously some history between the two but there were more important things than satisfying her own personal curiosity.

"And is the Radiant Wave Surger capable of breaking through this Blaze Luminous in one shot?" Kallen asked instead.

"The Blaze Luminous would be entirely ineffective against the Surger in its current configuration," Rakshata stated. "It works by bleeding off the kinetic energy of projectiles that impact upon it and does nothing for thermal energy or energy transferred via radiation."

That elicited a wide grin from Kallen and she glanced over at Kaguya. "It would seem that the Sumeragi family's investment in this knightmare was a wise one."

"I am glad you agree," Kaguya responded with a smile of her own.

"Still, I'm a bit amazed that you were able to find someone able to put together such a fine machine," Kallen remarked as her gaze shifted back to Rakshata. "And someone who even went to school with the Lancelot's creator."

"There is an arrangement of mutual support between Kyoto House and the Indian resistance movement," Kaguya explained. "We both suffer under the yoke of imperialistic conquerors and so naturally we have reason to cooperate."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "I thought Kyoto House was on good terms with the Chinese Federation."

"The Federation has rendered a degree of aid in our struggle against Britannia, true," Kaguya said. "That does not however mean their long term interests align with our own. After all, they have had imperialistic designs on Japan in the past and will almost certainly have more should we wrest our freedom from Britannia."

"So the Indians provided the knowhow and Kyoto House the money?" Inoue spoke up.

Kaguya nodded but her gaze remained fixed on Kallen. "And also we hope a pilot capable of piloting the Guren."

Kallen frowned. "Is it that difficult to pilot?"

"Tell me, how much do you know about knightmare controls?" Rakshata asked.

"Just the basics," Kallen said. "The control system is by wire, translating inputs from the joysticks and whatnot into actual motion."

"Basics indeed," Rakshata remarked, ignoring the eyebrow that rose on Kallen's face. "Mass-production knightmares tend to have extremely high tolerances in their feedback system, to account for the inevitable variability of their mechanical components. This tolerance also means that a wider pool of people can pilot them, but even then a degree of physical and mental acumen is required to effectively control a knightmare. The Guren however is a highly tuned machine and its tolerances are extremely tight. This allows for much faster responses of the mechanical system, almost to the limit of the motor speeds and gears themselves, but requires a delicate touch to handle." The Indian woman rubbed her chin. "Thus far none of the pilot candidates have proven up to the task, not even that scowling JLF officer."

Scowling JLF officer, Kallen mused. "Was that Lieutenant-Colonel Tohdoh?"

"Yes, it was," Kaguya took that one. "While Tohdoh-san did considerably better than any of his predecessors, it was still not at a level where the Guren could be used effectively on the battlefield."

"That so," Kallen said as she gazed at the red knightmare. "Well, I guess I'll just have to pay my dues and make sure I keep my title."

Several exhausting hours later during which Kallen was forced to effectively relearn everything she thought she knew about piloting a knightmare the girl was helped into the bath and then into bed by a bemused Inoue. The Indian engineer had not exaggerated a bit about the Guren's responsiveness. The red knightmare could literally turn on a dime. It would also topple headfirst into the ground at the slightest mistake in how much power Kallen put into the motors. To the girl's amazement Rakshata declared the test a success, assuring Kallen that it was now simply a matter of calibration and she would soon dance as gracefully as the Lancelot.

Considering Suzaku seemed to have had no difficulty piloting the Lancelot on his debut with the machine either the Britannians had been able to better configure the white knightmare or the young man was an even better pilot than Kallen had given him credit for. Next time though, next time Kallen was certain that her victory would be unequivocal and not just due to desperate last minute improvisations. And that victory might well see not only Suzaku's defeat but also his death.

A mild regret lingered in the back of Kallen's groggy mind. At this point she did not hold any actual malice against the young man, he had kept his word after all and even fought in her defense when the gendarmerie started gunning for her. But despite his optimism and belief in the Princess Euphemia's intentions the two of them were still on opposite sides of a war. Hesitating would only lead to her own defeat or even death and while Kallen was fully prepared to give her life for the cause of Japanese independence she was not so selfless, or naïve, as to risk her life by staying her hand against an enemy. As such there was little doubt within her mind that the next time she and Suzaku clashed in their knightmares would also be the last time and one of them would not be walking away.

* * *

Suzaku's arm itched. That it was still bound in a cast made it all the more frustrating seeing as it was beyond his reach to scratch. Only another week or so and he could take it off but until then he would have to suffer through it and try to keep from fidgeting. Today especially he needed to appear calm and composed seeing as it was the conclusion of his court martial.

The experience had been unpleasant to say the least and though Suzaku could not consider his defense attorney to be in any way wanting, the prosecutor demonstrated equal determination in carrying out his charge. That his success might see Suzaku lined up against the wall did not seem to trouble the man in the least. For all his mild mannered nature Suzaku was not so sanguine as to be nonchalant about someone trying to see him dead. After all he never held back the few times he met Kallen on the battlefield, whatever his personal hopes were.

The panel that had been assembled to hear his case on the other hand was even more intimidating than the prosecutor trying to nail him to the wall. Suzaku felt a real shame that, after everything he had done for him, General Darlton was now tasked with one of the votes on his fate. Throughout the entire trial the only time the general ever spared him a glance was when Suzaku himself was on the stand being cross examined. His face had remained impassive throughout however and Suzaku found himself completely unable read any hints on how the general might decide. It was unnerving, perhaps even more so than the almost constant scowl on the Margrave Gottwald's face.

If there was any person that Suzaku felt was inclined towards voting against him it was Jeremiah Gottwald, the former leader of the now defunct Purist faction. Whatever the man's reduced open bigotry that was not the same thing as a sudden tolerance and willingness to overlook a Number's mistakes while in service to the Empire. And in fairness to the man Suzaku's mistake was not a minor one either. In fact the expectation that the margrave would vote against him was almost a relief compared to the complete unknown that was Colonel Samantha Frasier.

Suzaku had never actually met the colonel before his court martial and only knew her by reputation. She was said to be highly dedicated to both her calling as a medical practitioner and an officer of the Empire. It could be argued both ways how she would vote and the one time Suzaku tried to ponder the matter he ended up with a headache thinking himself into circles. After that he quickly decided to stop trying to guess how the panel would vote. Yes there was a risk that he would be dishonorably discharged, maybe even sentenced to death. At the same time there was also the possibility that he would just get a stern warning, probably also getting busted back down to private, to not make such an error in judgment again and sent back into the service. The only thing he was certain would not happen were the charges simply being dismissed. He was not that naïve or optimistic and the Britannian military could not afford to allow a lapse of discipline like this go completely unpunished.

What that punishment would be he would learn now as the panel prepared to deliver its verdict.

"Suzaku Kururugi," Andreas spoke his name, without rank or title. "The panel hereby renders verdict upon you on the following charges. Violation of article 78, accessory after the fact, guilty."

Suzaku bowed his head down.

"Violation of article 89, willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer, innocent."

Now his head shot up in surprise. That was one of the articles that explicitly called for the death penalty, at least in times of war or insurgency.

"Violation of article 92, failure to obey regulation, guilty," Andreas continued. "Violation of article 94." The general held Suzaku's gaze for a brief moment. "Not guilty."

And there was the other one that would have seen him lined up against the wall. Suzaku found himself oddly conflicted. He wanted to live, right? And then something in the back of his head asserted itself. Yes, he wanted to live. There was still much unfinished work for him to do.

"Throughout this trial it has been abundantly clear that you did not act with malicious intent towards the Empire in withholding information about the Red Knight," Andreas said. "Lack of intent however does not excuse your conduct or poor judgment, and that poor judgment is not something this panel can ignore. The concern this panel has is the extent to which this poor judgment will influence your decision on the field, where you might endanger not only yourself but the lives of your fellow soldiers. As such before we announce sentence we have one question for you, Specialist."

Suzaku held Andreas' gaze, a not minor feat seeing as the general's eyes seemed to pierce right through him.

"Did you hold back when you engaged the Red Knight at Fuchu prison."

The young man frowned. Had he held back when fighting Kallen? He recalled wanting to take her alive, that much he was certain of, but in the heat of battle anything short of your very best to kill an opponent when the balance of force was not decisively in your favor was usually tantamount to suicide. But was there the possibility that nonetheless he still did so anyway? Suzaku opened his mouth to answer.

"I fought to the best of my ability sir," he heard himself answer. "My intent when I engaged the Red Knight was to kill her, nothing less."

Andreas regarded him before nodding once. Suzaku himself felt a slight wave of confusion before those thoughts found themselves shoved aside. He needed to keep from getting discharged, that was paramount above all us, even his own sense of integrity.

"This panel recognizes that besides the matter involving the Red Knight your conduct as a soldier of the Empire has been otherwise impeachable and you showed considerable promise as not only an example for your fellows but also as a future leader within the Empire's corps."

Suzaku's eyes widened at the implicit praise, and felt his heart twist at the obvious disappointment that came with them.

"While your potential argues against permanently curtailing your future advancement and the complexity of the situation you found yourself in warrants some consideration, the gravity of your error in judgment requires a proportionate response to ensure that no others are tempted to such similar lapses." Andreas paused for a beat. "Suzaku Kururugi, your warrant is hereby rescinded and you are assigned the rank of E-1. Demonstrate that you have learned from your error and that you shall not suffer similar lapses in the future and you may yet earn the responsibility of command."

Fail to do so and he would find himself before a panel less disposed to such leniency, Suzaku understood the unspoken subtext.

"Before we adjourn I will remind all in attendance that under the orders of her highness the viceroy the proceedings and details of the private's case have been classified. The matter may not be discussed without direct permission from myself, her highness Marshal Cornelia, or her highness Princess Euphemia."

The men facing the panel all nodded.

Satisfied, Andreas did likewise. "Dismissed."

The three officers serving in the panel rose, as did Suzaku, his defense attorney, and the prosecutor. The latter three snapped a respectful salute which was returned by the senior officers before they proceeded to exit first. Suzaku felt the tightness of his chest relax somewhat. He was still in the military.

"Well Private Kururugi," his defense attorney said. "It looks like we part ways here."

Suzaku looked at the man and nodded. "Thank you very much again for everything you've done for me sir."

The Judge Advocate, a lieutenant, extended a hand. Suzaku accepted it without hesitation.

"Best of luck with your future, private. The most important thing about a mistake is to learn from it. I expect I will not be seeing you under such circumstances again."

"I will see to it that it doesn't happen sir."

The lieutenant cracked a slight smile before walking over to the prosecutor and leaving with the other man. Suzaku took a deep breath to center himself. The question now was what next. Before he could ponder on it too much however the door opened and another officer entered.

"Cécile-Captain Croomy," Suzaku said as he snapped to attention.

Cécile gave Suzaku a reassuring smile as she came before him. "Suzaku. Are you alright?"

"Yes ma'am," he responded. "I, was demoted, but I wasn't kicked out of the military."

Cécile nodded. "I see. Well then, let's go."

Suzaku blinked. "Umm, go, ma'am? Go where?"

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Why, back to the ASEEC hanger. You've been gone for a while and even with a still mending arm there is still some preparatory work that you can do for when we finish rebuilding the Lancelot."

The young man's eyes widened. "Then, you're not going to replace me?"

Cécile regarded him silently for a few moments. "Suzaku. You made a mistake, but you didn't mean for anything bad to happen. Now I know that doesn't excuse what you did, but neither I nor Lloyd intend to dismiss you when you are earnestly working to make up for that mistake." She cracked a wiry smile. "Besides, where else could we find someone who can actually pilot the Lancelot?"

Suzaku smiled back at her, feeling much better. "Thank you, Céc-I mean, Captain Croomy. I won't let you or Ll-Earl Asplund down."

"I know you won't," Cécile responded in full confidence. "I know you won't."

* * *

"Hmm."

Charlotte looked over to see Lelouch's gaze fixed on his cellphone. "What is it?"

"It seems that Kururugi has finally gotten himself untangled from whatever legal trouble he ran into," the young man said. "And he is still part of the ASEEC."

"Ah, good," Charlotte remarked. "I would hate for all that time spent at Ashford to have been wasted."

Lelouch's gaze shifted to his companion but Charlotte's attention was already back on her own work. Since the debacle at Ashford she had been, grumpy was perhaps the most accurate way of phrasing it, about how the situation ultimately unfolded. Lelouch was fairly certain that the cause of her unhappiness was as much from the death of her former classmates as the fact that he himself came under fire when one Kallen Stadtfeld emphatically declined to roll over. And now Kallen was aware of his existence, not just as someone who wanted him dead but also probably as a fellow geass wielder. The latter was at this point considerably more problematic and would need to be remedied quickly, assuming he could find the girl.

It was fairly obvious that Kallen had put together a pretty good exit strategy in the case her cover was blown. Now that she had gone to ground Lelouch unfortunately did not have to reach to search for her, especially if she reached out to Euphemia. Irritating, oh so irritating, but not unrecoverable. Ultimately once he struck directly at Cornelia and Euphemia Kallen would be forced to act, if only to protect her most powerful ally in the Britannian government. How unfortunate that that time was still so far away in the future.

"We can leave Kururugi alone for now," Lelouch said. "Our current priority remains shifting the JLF's assets east."

Charlotte nodded before frowning thoughtfully. "You aren't going to ask Suzaku just why he was detained?"

"I will," Lelouch said, "but later. Right now it would be best that he continues with his routine instead of trying to deliver a detailed report via a dead drop. Right now he is my only agent in the ASEEC and I would prefer not to jeopardize his cover."

"Fair enough," Charlotte said. "Then in that case you can get back to helping with finding empty apartments and warehouses."

Lelouch smiled wirily as he shut his phone and set it aside. Charlotte was right about that much, there was a great deal of work that he could help with. The JLF was making sufficient progress in training up on their new weapons that they could move onto the next stage of the plan, moving manpower and material closer to Tokyo in preparation for the assault. And of course this task was made all the more complicated thanks to his dear sister's reform efforts.

In the past there would have been plenty of rundown buildings the JLF could have appropriated without too much suspicion in the various ghettos. The improving conditions in the city were however drawing more and more people from other regions in search of better opportunities, creating actual competition for space even in dilapidated areas. And then there was the reconstruction effort, started in Shinjuku but slowly and surely spreading outward. Buildings being were renovated, others beyond repair torn down to be replaced, creating the genuine risk that Britannian inspectors might stumble upon a weapons cache if the JLF was unlucky. As such there was a need to examine the reconstruction effort's schedule, to plot out contingencies of where to move weapons and equipment as the need arose. And then of course there were the knightmares, or at least the ones the JLF still had left.

Lelouch frowned. The loss of a single platoon of foot soldiers was a minor irritant, one more than made up for by the absorption of the remnants of the Blood of the Samurai. The loss of four knightmares, that actually required adjustment of their battle plan. He knew, abstractly, where they had gone but attempting to reclaim them would only result in depleting the JLF's strength fighting other insurgent factions. Even worse, such conflict would almost certainly be noticed by the Britannian authorities. As such he had little choice but to write them off, though that did not mean they were entirely forgotten. His agent, so helpfully provided by the Sumeragi group when one of their representatives came to meet with the JLF leadership, would inform him of any relevant developments. If need be Lelouch was prepared to intervene directly, but for now he would practice patience.

The young man tapped the table with his pen. "Three months. That's how long it'll take to position all of our forces."

Charlotte nodded. "And we will only have a short window of opportunity. A shame the Prince Schneizel will have left for Pendragon by then."

"I would actually prefer that Schneizel be gone by the time we make our move," Lelouch said. "The _Avalon_ may have many tactical weaknesses, but it is still a formidable warship if properly supported. And quite frankly I have no desire to expend the munitions that would be necessary to take it down, especially if the first strike fails to neutralize it."

"There is that," Charlotte agreed. "Well, so long as no unexpected developments occur we should be well positioned to achieve your objectives."

"Maxime dix-sept," Lelouch remarked. "So long as we do not fall victim to that, you mean."

"Ou maxime quarante-sept," was Charlotte's response.

In retrospect, Lelouch would rue their taunting of Murphy in due time.

End of Chapter 38

This one took a while to write primarily because my attention is wandering. My mind is a bit too focused on what's going to happen when the Black Rebellion starts and I'm at risk of, well, losing interest in the buildup. That's a very dangerous thing to have happen to a writer for two reasons. The first is one just stops writing, leaving a story hanging, because you can't get past the hump. The second is you rush the development of the story and thus fail to properly set up future developments. A lot of beginning writers make the second mistake, giving their characters too much 'good' stuff without making them work for it, which ends up making a story too boring to read.

Anyway, actual notes for this chapter. First, I know I was somewhat vague about how Heinrich might have screwed with Area 11's economy, primarily because I didn't want to do an infodump about finance in the chapter itself. That would have really murdered my motivation to continue writing at this point. Simplistically Heinrich, through his partnership with the Ruvik Group, serves to help offset the margins that companies based in Japan would otherwise need to provide in order to engage in the futures market for commodities. Via his connections, Heinrich can get the margins requirements waived or reduced by hooking up groups with offsetting contracts. Heinrich himself takes a cut of the income generated by the gain, and assumes a degree of risk as he is also liable for some of the loss. It all comes down to how well he balances his relative exposure when setting up these deals. And as should be evident, he has been very, very good at it. And as someone who does understand markets very well, he is also in a position to royally screw companies by manipulating them into a situation where the gain/loss relative to the spot value is heavily slanted one way or another. Normally Heinrich wouldn't want to do this since in the long term it would destroy his reputation, but if he was in bridge burning mode he could wreck a lot of havoc. Note that I don't work in the finance industry, so the above is based on my very rough understanding of it. I could well be wrong on several points so if someone who does work in said industry wants to point out mistakes and suggest alternatives, I'm open to it.

The obvious question would be, why was Euphie not aware of Heinrich's supposed importance. In an abstract manner, she was. Or rather, Euphie knew that Heinrich worked in the commodities trade, but that was all she knew. She was not aware of the personal role he played because Heinrich's trading relationships are very much based on personal relationships he has with the various businesspeople in both Japan and Britannia. While there is a paper trail that shows Heinrich's involvement in a lot of transactions, Euphie would need to go looking for said paper trail first. And combined with the fact that Heinrich spends a lot of time in Britannia, not Japan, Euphie didn't have a reason to go looking for it beforehand. Once she did, you will note that she was worried enough about what Heinrich could do that she offered him basically a preemptive pardon. This should also indicate a major difference between the effect Heinrich has on Japan's economy versus that of KBR's. Euphie was willing to deal with the aftermath of basically tearing about KBR's Japan branch because KBR wasn't really helping further develop Japan, but she did not want to deal with the unraveling of all of Heinrich's positions on the finance and commodity markets seeing as Heinrich was basically helping underwrite Japan's reindustrialization after its conquest by Britannia.

Probably the second thing of note is what happened to Suzaku this chapter. It was always going to be tricky writing him into a role where he knew Kallen was the Red Knight and didn't tell his superiors. Or rather, it was going to be tricky to keep him in the military once his withholding of information became known to his superiors. I think I did a decent job of it, he got punished, I was considering having his pay also get docked and a prorated brig sentence, but decided to drop those for now. He's been busted down to literally the lowest rank you can hold and still be in the military and he has a very big black mark on his record, which is going to affect any future chances he has of advancing. He also has to live with disappointing several people he really looked up to, so for now that seemed enough. Oh, and needless to say, there was a lot of lobbying by Cécile and Lloyd to not have him shot. Cécile, because she does care about Suzaku. Lloyd, for obvious reasons.

That all said, if I was insisting on absolute realism he probably would have been kicked out of the service. His not revealing Kallen was the Red Knight would have been the equivalent, in Britannia's eyes, of an active duty soldier knowing the location of a major terrorist leader and not telling his superiors. Said soldier not meaning any harm is pretty much completely irrelevant for something of that magnitude. A lot of times I feel that characters in anime and the like are allowed to get away with way more than they should just because viewers feel the urge to root for them.

Anyway, I have enough material mapped out for two more chapters before the Black Rebellion kicks off. There will be blood, there will be carnage, and it will be wonderful. None of the angsty self-loathing crap that dragged down the ending of R1.


	40. Chapter 39

Snippet spoiler: Umm, high if you read the subtext correctly.

 _The tax system previous to the reforms instituted by her majesty was a two-tier system. Nobles of rank earl and higher were given responsibility over a portion of the empire's land wherein they were granted the right to set taxes. In exchange for this privilege they were obliged to provide services such as education and healthcare as well as maintenance of some of the basic infrastructure. Any revenue left over could be spent at the noble's discretion with most using it to maintain their dignities. In addition to the local taxes there was also a central tax levied by the crown. This revenue, plus that from trade tariffs, went to paying for the military, central government services, and of course for maintaining the dignities of the imperial family. Areas yet to reach satellite status worked along similar lines save for the fact that the position of viceroy was not hereditary and appointments were at the sole discretion of the crown._

 _Needless to say the old system encouraged a significant degree of inefficiencies and rarely were the services provided by the nobles ever fully funded from tax revenues. Almost all schools had pupil fees and the best healthcare was reserved for those who could afford it. Resistance to her majesty's efforts to replace this antiquated model would have likely been far greater save for the decimation of the peerage that occurred during the Great War. In fact many historians argue that the reversion of so many titles to the Empress Euphemia was the sole reason her majesty was able to carry through with the reforms. Others are of the opinion that her majesty's force of will would have seen her carry the day regardless of whomever dared stand in opposition to her._

 _\- Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I_

Chapter 39: Non plus ultra

The last time Heinrich had set foot on the Keio campus was before the Britannian invasion. There were many fond memories here, ranging from his first encounter with Kotone and the little courtship dance the two engaged in before Heinrich finally proposed to her. And though the buildings looked clean and sound now, Heinrich knew that the years after the invasion had not been easy for the people who strove to keep the place running. Whomever Kallen thought she might have been fooling, Heinrich was well aware that a good deal of his daughter's seeming profligacy was not because she was buying lots of dresses and shoes. A noble daughter might well spend over two thousand pounds on clothing, but that same amount of money would also pay for about thirty cubic yards of concrete. That was a lot of concrete and it would not have surprised Heinrich in the least if some of it ended up helping shore up the buildings here.

"Wait here for me," Heinrich instructed his driver as he stepped out of the car.

The appearance of the very nice looking car and the equally sharply dressed man turned quite a few heads. Despite the improvements to the Shinjuku district Keio was still outside of the Concession and so did not see very many well-heeled Britannians. Even the public servants that were starting to be stationed at Keio to help with official paperwork did not compare. Heinrich on the other hand ignored all the stares and made his way confidently to the main building. As he approached the reception desk the nurse on duty became visibly nervous.

"Umm, may I help you?" she asked in English.

"I am a representative of the Ruvik Group," Heinrich responded in impeccable Japanese. "I believe Kuroba-sensei is expecting me."

That really turned heads and the nurse's eyes widened even more. She recovered quickly however.

"Oh, yes, we were told to expect your arrival. Please wait a moment." The nurse picked up her phone and made a quick call. "Kuroba-sensei will be down to meet you shortly."

Heinrich nodded. "Thank you."

"You are very welcome sir," the nurse responded with a polite smile.

The wait turned out not to be long at all and Heinrich soon saw a nostalgic face approach him. Said face however quickly scrunched into displeasure as their eyes met. Kuroba however did not turn away, the man was too much a professional for such pettiness.

"Stadtfeld," the doctor said brusquely in English. Not that petty, but there were still limits.

"Doctor," Heinrich responded in the same language. "Shall we take this to your office to avoid making a scene?"

Kuroba eyed Heinrich warily before giving a curt nod. "This way."

Heinrich followed, ignoring the now puzzled expressions of those sneaking peeks their way. Dealing with any rumors that emerged would be Kuroba's job seeing as he was the one that managed the staff here. The two arrived at the doctor's office shortly and once the door was closed Kuroba dropped all pretense of courtesy.

"You have nerve showing your face here again."

Heinrich's lips twitched ever so slightly. "I think you will find, doctor, that nerve is not something in short supply in my family."

Kuroba glared at the man but Heinrich simply returned the gaze impassively. The doctor took a deep breath before finally settling down into his chair. He gestured for Heinrich to do likewise, as polite of an invitation as the baron knew he would receive from the older man.

"I know you are here for more than just discussing a potential donation by Ruvik to Keio," Kuroba stated. "So let us deal with that now."

"Fair enough," Heinrich agreed. "I want to know where Kotone has gone."

Kuroba frowned. "And why do you think I know?"

"Because your response was not an outright denial," Heinrich replied. "Which means that she _has_ approached you recently."

Kuroba pursed his lips. He could try denying it now but there was no point. Instead he took a different tact.

"Very well, then answer me this. Why should I tell you?"

"Because I actually took the effort to personally come down here to ask you," Heinrich stated. "Do you really think a man who does not care would have done so?"

"If you had cared for her you would have never allowed her to have need to come to me," Kuroba said frostily.

"Doctor," Heinrich replied with equal coldness. "Within the last month I return to find my daughter was nearly killed in a terrorist attack and both her and her mother missing. I do not have the patience to play the blame game with you or anyone else. Do you, or do you not know where Kotone and Kallen are?"

Kuroba blinked. "She-what?"

Heinrich frowned. He was fairly good at reading people and Kuroba did not seem to be feigning surprise at this point in time.

"Kallen was a student at Ashford Academy," Heinrich stated. "She was nearly killed in the attack, her survival was confirmed, but she has not been home since. Kotone has been gone even longer and thus far _no one_ in my household has been able to provide me an explanation of why they might have disappeared. And so I come to you, because I know that you care about both of them."

This time it was the doctor's turn to regard Heinrich intently. He knew about the terrorist attack on Ashford of course and he considered it a deplorable act of cowardice. He had not known that Kallen Kouzuki was nearly a victim herself however. Heinrich's demands this day now made more sense, though that did not mean Kuroba was prepared to extend any direct sympathy to the noble, especially seeing his seeming ignorance about the travails that drove his former wife to overdose on that poison. But ignorance could be remedied, even if the process was not free of pain.

"Kotone was here for a time," Kuroba said flatly. "She was being treated for a Refrain overdose that nearly killed her."

The room fell silent, neither man even aware of the ticking clock or the barely audible shuffling of feet in the hallway beyond the office walls. When Heinrich finally recovered his voice he lacked the force and tone that was once behind his words.

"What?" the baron choked out.

"She nearly died," Kuroba said, softly and not entirely unkindly. "It was a miracle that she pulled through, and she spent the next few months recovering." The doctor frowned. "She was checked out shortly after the attack on Ashford Academy."

"By whom?" Heinrich said, some strength returning.

"Ohgi Kaname," Kuroba replied, "an old friend of your son's."

Heinrich did not take long to pluck that name from his memory. He even recalled the trademark plume of hair on the boy that grew up with Naoto.

"Where are they now?" Heinrich asked.

Kuroba's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "And what do you intend if I were to tell you this?"

"Intend? I intend to get my family the Hels out of Japan once and for all like I should have done before the Empire even invaded."

"Then why did you not?" Kuroba asked coldly.

Heinrich let out a harsh bark of a laugh. "You think I didn't try? You of all people should know, doctor, what it is like to try to convince Kotone to do something she did not want to."

Kuroba grimaced at that as he found himself unable to disagree. "You should have tried harder," was all he managed.

"Yes, perhaps I should have," Heinrich said. "Now are you going to help me try harder this time or are you going to stonewall me?"

The doctor again stared at Heinrich silently as thoughts rolled through his head. True Heinrich seemed completely earnest in his desire to see what was left of his family to safety, but earnesty and honesty were not the same thing. There was also the fact that, despite their earnest attempts to hide it, Inoue and Ohgi were obviously involved in the insurgency. Having attention drawn to them by the baron was not likely to be something the two would appreciate. And then there was the biggest enigma, Kallen herself. Something whispered to Kuroba that the girl was involved in something way bigger than what any of them suspected.

"I am willing to relay a message," Kuroba stated. "Whether they wish to speak with you, must be their choice and theirs alone."

Heinrich's jaw tightened but he nodded nonetheless. "Fine. Tell them the viceroy has taken a personal interest in hunting Kallen down and that I can't protect her anymore with the means at my disposal if she stays in Britannian territory. Tell them that for now I can still get them out of the country but that is liable to change in the near future so they need to get in touch with me, quickly."

Kuroba frowned. "What? What does the viceroy have to do with any of this?"

"You offered to be a messenger," Heinrich said brusquely. "That does not require you to understand the message." The baron glanced around the relatively clean office before his gaze settled back on Kuroba. "Or am I also obliged to buy your cooperation like her highness?"

The doctor was usually a mild-mannered man, tolerance and patience essential traits when dealing with sometimes ornery or even irrational patients. It still took immeasurable effort for him to not attempt to verbally tear Heinrich's head off. Kuroba forced his mouth shut and took a deep breath before actually uttering a response.

"If that is all you came to discuss Stadtfeld-san, then I suggest you leave."

The Britannian man spent perhaps a second regarding Kuroba before he began to rise, reaching into his suit in the process. As he straightened he tossed an envelope onto the desk.

"The donation from Ruvik," Heinrich stated nonchalantly. "The money is from the Group, not me, so you can spare your conscience of any guilt from accepting my money. The only condition attached is a public acknowledgment to the Group when it asks for it and that the money be spent on improving the care of anyone whom seeks care at Keio, be they a Number or a Britannian."

Kuroba held Heinrich's gaze, not even deigning to glance at the envelope. He continued staring at the man until the baron showed himself out and closed the door behind him. When he did regard the envelope a sigh of exhaustion left the man. He reached out for the envelope. The situation at Keio was improving, true, but things were not in such a state where he could turn away help to satisfy his own personal pride. As his hand touched the paper however his body froze as a thought occurred to the doctor.

Heinrich had not actually answered his question about the viceroy's personal interest in his daughter. In retrospect that might have been the entire reason the man openly tried to rile him, a distraction to keep Kuroba from pressing the point. The doctor looked up at the closed door again. Something was obviously going on, something that potentially reached up to the highest level of government, entangling the daughter of someone Kuroba cared deeply for. The doctor's gaze fell to his hand atop the envelope as he pondered just what he would do next.

* * *

Heinrich strode out the hospital, an intent expression on his face. He wasted little time walking over to his car and climbing in before pulling out a cellphone.

"Take us back to the concession," he ordered even as he dialed.

"Yes sir."

The baron's attention was already on the connecting call and he did not have to wait long for an answer.

"It's me," Heinrich said as the other side picked up. "Look through the orders Kallen has made over the past few months for things like building supplies and fuel. See who ultimately took delivery. Also see if you can dig up the serial numbers for the ration tickets my daughter acquired. What? No, you just need to dig up the numbers, I have a different contact that can check the records of who redeemed them. Alright, thanks, I owe you one."

One call done, Heinrich hung up and began dialing another number. Again it did not take long for him to receive an answer.

"It's Heinrich. I have a name I'd like you to look into. Kaname Ohgi. He's almost certainly not an Honorary Britannian so you might need to dig into the pre-invasion records held by the Japanese government. The characters of his name?" Heinrich thought back to more pleasant days when Naoto was still inclined to introduce his friends to his father. "Last name is folding fan. First name is the character for cornerstone or pivot. Anything else? Then I'll be waiting for the good news."

Heinrich snapped shut the phone. There were many threads to follow but one of them had to lead to Kallen. It was a race, whether he would be able to contact his daughter before the viceroy managed to find her. Assurances and platitudes were in Heinrich's opinion empty words when the other side held such a large advantage. Still the princess would likely tread more carefully than she might otherwise have to keep Heinrich from carrying through with his threats. That would give him some extra time, hopefully enough to find Kallen and Kotone and get them the Hel out of Japan once and for all. Heinrich grimaced. Something told him that task would be even harder than simply finding the two. But to make the argument he needed to get in touch with them and so that was what he set his mind to. He prayed that in the meantime the two were at least safe.

* * *

Cries rang out as men and women traded blows, some with batons and others using bare hands. Feet were also involved when the opportunity arose. As Kallen walked about the perimeter of the training grounds she carefully examined each of the sparring pairs. None were holding back, all were pushing themselves to apply the techniques the former JLF soldiers were trying to drill into them. It was early days yet but in time Akatsuki would grow into a proper, professional force.

"They are making progress," the man walking beside Kallen observed.

The young woman glanced over at Tohdoh, not even needing her geass to pick up on the inflection in his tone.

"But?"

The colonel grimaced. "But they are not yet able to work together as a unit."

"We always knew that would be the hardest part," Kallen responded. "Teaching them how to fight and shoot is straightforward. But to work together and trust? None of them have survived this long by being trusting."

Tohdoh did not dispute the point, instead gazing once more at the recruits. They were a diverse lot from different resistance cells all mixed together. That was bound to create some inevitable friction, from the usual suspicion of people outside the tight cluster of trusted comrades to the outright hostility because of competition for scarce resources that cells often found themselves engaged in. It was hard to shake the paranoid mentality that had kept all of them alive for so long. Ugly incidents were pretty much inevitable and Kallen had already been forced to break up one, very physically, the day before.

"Do you disagree with the decision to mix recruits from different cells?" Kallen asked.

"Far from it," Tohdoh responded. "If the Akatsuki is to thrive as a proper force its members must learn to trust one another with their lives. That cannot be achieved if we allow them to remain isolated in their individual cells."

"In some ways the way you build up a proper army is the complete opposite of how you'd run an insurgency," Kallen said. "But what we need now is an army and so that is what we must become."

Tohdoh nodded. He then looked over at Kallen.

"What is it."

The man rubbed his chin. "Akatsuki requires more than simply soldiers within its ranks, it needs commanders that can lead these soldiers."

"And you think I'm not up to the task?" Kallen said with a slight smirk.

"You are a capable warrior," Tohdoh stated. "You even have the air of a leader, one who inspires others to follow your example. But you are not a commander, yet."

"Ah. And you believe you can make me one."

"I can at least teach you the lessons I myself learned," Tohdoh said. "I was no general or marshal, but I have conducted my share of field operations."

Kallen clasped her hands behind her. What Tohdoh said was true, regardless of the successes her little group of freedom fighters had achieved many of them were due to her independent actions. Fighting as a group, commanding people to take the appropriate course of action, the closest were when they went on a rampage in the stolen Sutherlands in Shinjuku and the attack on the KBR supply depot. The first nearly ended in complete disaster and the other, well, it was as close to an unequivocal victory as they had ever achieved.

"I cannot disagree," Kallen said. "Whatever my abilities as a warrior, however many enemies that I have slain with my own hands, all that pales when compared to the demands that would be placed upon me if I were to truly command."

Tohdoh nodded, seemingly satisfied with Kallen's self-awareness.

"You have good subordinates," Tohdoh said. "Inoue's ability to manage logistics, Ohgi's intuitive understanding of the men and women that form the rank and file, and Minami has a sharp mind when it comes to piecing together intelligence. With them you have the core of a proper command staff, something that I did not expect to see outside of the JLF. And with that staff, you have the start of something much larger and perhaps even longer lasting than what the JLF will manage."

Kallen looked over at Tohdoh again. "It still pains you greatly to have walked away from the JLF, even though you were ordered to do so."

"That is so," Tohdoh said solemnly. "They were my brothers and sisters, and to think that their lives will be thrown away by some foreign madman." The man's jaw tightened. "No matter what I tell myself, I cannot think but I have abandoned them."

The young woman looked out at the trainees once more, her own thoughts working furiously away. She understood what the colonel felt even if she was fortunate enough to not actually have been forced to experience something similar. No, that was not entirely true. Naoto was killed while she was safely insulated in the Concession as a Stadtfeld. When she learned of his death she blamed herself for hiding while her brother was fighting. Now though Kallen was a bit wiser and understood that had she been by his side all she would have achieved was getting herself killed as well. That did not mean however she did not think about how she might have someway, somehow, prevented his death.

"The goal of the SDECE agents is to use the JLF to launch an attack against the Britannian Concession," Kallen said aloud. "We both agree that such an assault can only result in the JLF's complete destruction. But what if we created a situation wherein the JLF cannot launch the attack in the first place?"

Tohdoh looked back at Kallen. "What do you mean?"

"Any attack by the JLF is going to have to cut through the ghettos to get to the Concession," Kallen said. "Akatsuki already has a very strong presence in Shinjuku, it's where my own group is based after all, but we also have influence in Shibuya and Toshima. If we can spread out to Setagaya and Kita we could effectively create a defensive line that the JLF would have to fight through before they even hit the Concessions. And if this became known amongst all the resistance movements, will that give the JLF leadership pause?"

The colonel's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Once upon a time the notion of having to fight our own countrymen, especially those as dedicated to the freedom of Japan, would have indeed given the JLF pause. Now though, the SDECE seems to pursuing an entirely different goal and so might well not hesitate to see us fighting our own countrymen."

"But what is the SDECE's goal?" Kallen said. "From what you've said they seem rather fixated on inflicting as much damage as possible on the Britannians, the destruction of the JLF seems to be more collateral damage than something they are going out of their way to achieve."

"That is true," Tohdoh agreed. "You are then proposing to bluff the JLF and the SDECE to force them to rethink their plans?"

Kallen waited a beat. "This won't be a bluff. If the JLF attacks my city I will treat them no differently than anyone else who dares threaten my home."

"You are remarkably frank, Akakishi," Tohdoh said after a brief pause himself.

"I would prefer not to give you any reason to believe I have misled or deceived you," Kallen stated. "If you need to be lied to in order for you to help me then I cannot trust you. And if I cannot trust you, then I would rather find this out now than in the heat of battle."

"Fair enough," Tohdoh allowed. "But I will warn you, should your plans veer too closely to assisting Britannia, it will be faith in you that becomes lacking."

"One could argue that I have already helped Britannia by culling that inbred idiot Clovis," Kallen stated. "So long as you understand that I measure decisions based on how much it will benefit the Japanese people, not the extent to which they bring harm to Britannia, then you and I will have no misunderstandings."

The colonel regarded Kallen silently. The young woman's meaning was clear, she sought not revenge but progress, and she was pointedly reminding Tohdoh that the two were not one and the same. That distinction should have been obvious but thinking back upon all the plans the JLF drafted over the years almost all of them focused on inflicting some degree of pain on the Britannians. While officially the JLF frowned upon inflicting civilian casualties Tohdoh knew more than a few officers who were openly dismissive about such restraint. Bitterness over the Japanese Army's humiliation probably played a large part in that attitude, one that Tohdoh was now prepared to admit was not entirely healthy.

A corner of Tohdoh's mouth quirked upward. When he was first introduced to Kallen Kouzuki as the Akakishi his initial assessment was that she was probably a figurehead, a highly skilled warrior but not the actual leader of her little band of insurgents. Over the past few weeks that opinion slowly changed to an acknowledgment that she truly did lead, by delegating duties to the individuals most suited to the tasks. Now it was becoming clear to him that Kallen possessed that other quality all good leaders shared, she had a clear objective in mind.

* * *

"I must admit, I had no idea that Area 11 possessed such, extensive archeological ruins," Euphemia remarked. "I am also a tad curious as to how an ancient civilization could have built something so elaborate."

Schneizel favored his little sister with a bemused smile while Cornelia simply grunted. The older princess had been almost perpetually grumpy ever since she learned that one of the Britannian military's most classified programs had been partially compromised and the person responsible for said compromise was using his knowledge to blackmail the government into leaving his daughter alone. No, grumpy was too mild a word. Cornelia had been outright furious and might well have ordered Heinrich's arrest and execution save for both Schneizel and Euphemia emphatically refusing to allow her to do so. Whereas Schneizel was more concerned about the political and economic fallout, fallout that could be contained but would require some preparation to do so, Euphemia was more worried about how Kallen would react.

The fiery Red Knight had already demonstrated the ability to penetrate the security of one imperial scion and walk away after killing him. And while Euphemia was no coward she preferred not to put to the test just how effective her and Cornelia's own security arrangements were, especially seeing as there were still things she wanted from Kallen that she would likely only get if the other girl was feeling genuinely cooperative. Estranged though father and daughter seemed to be, family was still family and if Kallen was anything like her father she would take his execution very, very personally.

"It is something of an unanswered question," Schneizel said, drawing Euphie's attention from her own musing. "Archeologists and historians have long pondered the issue but none have been able to preset a convincing hypothesis, especially one that accounts for the wide geographic spread of these ruins."

Euphie nodded. In truth the ruins laid out before her, while impressive, were not entirely unfamiliar to the young woman. In fact the entire layout was eerily similar to a similar structure in the province of New York.

"The most common idea is that there was some sort of world spanning prehistoric civilization," Euphie said, "and that these, thought elevators, are all that is left. That of course simply begs the question of if they were capable of creating these structures that could endure for so long, why have we not found any similar such remains."

"Indeed," Schneizel said before smiling wirily, "though our own interest is more than mere idle curiosity."

At this both of his siblings nodded. For reasons neither of them as of yet understood their father the Emperor Charles had dedicated significant resources into restoration of the thought elevators located in Britannian territory. He had even dispatched forces to survey and study the one located in Antarctica, an ostensible expedition of exploration that was quite frankly completely outside of the norm from Charles' seeming disinterest in matters of science. The thought elevator located here on Kamine Island was the third in the Empire's formal possession and Schneizel had received orders to allocate resources for a survey and restoration work. Officially providing the necessary material resources was all Schneizel was supposed to do but he had managed to convince his father to allow Camelot to handle the survey effort as well, hence why today he, his siblings, and the ASEEC were present to try and pry some of the mysterious structure's secrets and just maybe come a step closer to understanding just what their father, and the Directorate, intended with them.

That was of course easier said than done as they had been here for several hours already and the ASEEC staff were still at work collecting data. Said collection was however made slightly easier by the massive black knightmare that stood, and from time to time made ninety degree turns or even walk about, in the main chamber.

"Not exactly the most glamorous debut for a prototype knightmare," Cornelia remarked.

"A knightmare it may be but as you pointed out it is a mere prototype," Schneizel responded. "As such its purpose is to help gather data, not take center stage itself."

"I am still a bit unclear on what exactly Camelot is doing with the Gawain," Euphie said.

"The Gawain is intended to be a command unit," Schneizel explained, "capable of collating and displaying a very large volume of data. For that purpose it possesses not only extensive computational resources it is also mounted with a suite of high fidelity sensors. Right now Camelot is using it to create a map of the structure, which will allow us to produce a digital recreation of the area."

"Certainly a useful feature," Cornelia said, "though the Gawain's size makes it somewhat impractical as a proper weapon of war."

"True enough," Schneizel agreed. "That is why once the evaluation of its various technologies is complete we will likely dismantle it."

"Oh? What other technologies have been incorporated into it?" Euphie inquired.

"Hmm, several, though the only other truly notable piece is the hadron cannon, a particle weapon that has been in development for several years. We still have some issues with the blooming effect the high energy of the beam induces so its range is unfortunately not very high. Still the technology has promise." Schneizel's gaze shifted to Euphie. "As do several others we have in development."

Both sisters looked over at the man and Euphemia quickly inferred what her brother meant.

"Then Nina's work has applications to Ragnarok?"

"It does," Schneizel said before a slight smile quirked up on his face. "Ironic that the Germans so badly fumbled their math and now a descendant of someone they chased from their country has handed us the answer to the question of atomic fission."

The irony went more ways than one, Euphemia mused. For all its racist tendencies one thing that the Empire did not have a tradition of was anti-Semitism. That was perhaps England continued worshiping the Norse pantheon well into the modern era with Christianity only really gaining in the British Isles after Napoleon's successful quest of Great Britain. The lack of interest of the English Norse believers in proselytizing their religion meant Jews faced far lesser discrimination than they did on the continent. As a consequence during the upheaval some three, four decades past when a particularly reactionary and intolerant government came to power in Germany and began actively incarcerating and even murdering its Jewish population, many members of that background had fled not to the neighboring European nations but instead to Britannia.

"I will be authorizing funds to construct a test pile once I return to the homeland," Schneizel said. "Sufficient enriched uranium has already been stockpiled from the currently running program for the proposed experiment."

"Ah, so that's where the other hundred million pounds I helped launder went," Euphemia said dryly.

Her two siblings gave her wiry smiles but the princess was not far off the mark. The number of black projects that Schneizel and Cornelia had begun upon assuming their respective positions at the top of the Britannian government and military were numerous and paying for all of them was not a minor consideration. While it had not been Schneizel's intent Euphemia's position at the Exchequer had put the young woman in an excellent position to manipulate the government's accounts to direct the needed funds to those projects. In fact the mechanisms Euphemia had put in place before her appointment as viceroy were still running, in theory feeding money while keeping the outside interests from learning where said money was actually going. Of course sometimes those measures were not quite sufficient as demonstrated by Heinrich Stadtfeld discovering Damocles. The only, and to be fair pretty major, consolation was that despite his awareness of the project the baron did not truly understand what Damocles was. That he still managed to actually trace the project to its construction site in Nevada was still extremely troubling.

"Where do you intend to have the pile built?" Euphie asked.

"I was actually considering having it built here in Area 11," Schneizel said, eliciting a raised eyebrow from his sister.

"Oh really? Are you certain something so sensitive be sited outside of the homeland?"

The prince gave her a small smile once more. "I have full confidence in yours and Cornelia's ability to keep the project secure." The smile disappeared. "And there are other considerations as well. Ms. Einstein's work may well result in the breakthrough we have been seeking but bringing her into Ragnarok so suddenly is likely to cause, a clash of personalities."

Euphemia snorted. "Men and their egos."

Again Schneizel cracked a slight grin before wiping it from his expression. "You also expressed concern about how she would respond to participating in an overtly military project."

That Euphemia conceded was a valid point. "Fair. For now Nina's project will remain entirely focused on the civilian applications of atomic fission. If that is the case however, perhaps it would be best to construct the pile somewhere other than MacArthur base."

"I defer to your judgment on location," Schneizel said.

Just as that matter was settled a shout from the grounds below drew their attention. Looking down the three could see an excited Lloyd hunched over a terminal.

"Did they find something?" Cornelia asked.

"Perhaps," Schneizel said. "That or the good earl's attention span has drifted again."

"He does seem to have an eclectic set of interests," Euphie remarked.

Nevertheless the three proceeded down the stairs towards the workstation.

"Earl Asplund," Schneizel said. "Something of interest draw your attention?"

"Ah, your highness," Lloyd said excitedly. "Indeed, indeed. To have been given a chance to actually examine a thought elevator, why to not make a discovery would make a mockery of this momentous opportunity."

It was with some effort that Euphemia and Cornelia did not let their thoughts show on their expressions. Schneizel, apparently more used to the earl's eccentricity, cracked a smile.

"Well then earl, have you succeeded in living up to your boast, or will this day be remembered for your mockery?"

"Please your highness, have I ever disappointed?" Lloyd said with a wide smile as he gestured at the console. "We have completed mapping the chamber itself and have already made one interesting discovery. The room, is a perfect cube down to the millimeter."

Euphemia raised an eyebrow. "The sensors on the Gawain have that fine a resolution."

"Indeed they do your highness," Lloyd confirmed cheerfully. "And that is not all. Sonic imaging has indicated that there is something underneath the chamber, another cube but one that is rotated forty-five degrees and, well, stands on a single point."

Schneizel stroked his chin thoughtfully. "A rather fine degree of precision for a supposedly prehistoric society."

"And one with a rather interesting artistic style," Euphemia remarked as she gazed at the center of the room.

On the floor was a large crest, a stylistic V with two wing-like tips tapering upward. The sigil was then surrounded by a series of complex geometric shapes overlaid with each other. Euphemia felt a slight tickle in the back of her mind as if it was trying to calculate the angles and lengths of the lines to create some sort of coherent image. Unlike other times wherein performing complex mathematic operations quickly induced a migraine this time the princess felt nothing at all. Euphemia frowned. That was unexpected. How far could she go? She dipped into her mental reserves, allowing her eyes to trace the lines even as her mind continued mapping them out into a single concise structure. A sharp intake of air sounded.

"Euphie?" Cornelia said quizzically.

"The design on the floor," Euphie said. "It's a 2-D protection of a dekeract."

"A what?" Cornelia's tone remained confused.

"A hypercube, it's a multi-dimensional analogue of a square," Euphie said. "A cube is a three dimensional version, a tesseract is a 4-D version." The princess stepped toward the center of the room. "This though, it's a 10-D hypercube, and it's all centered around this sigil-"

As the princess' foot fell upon the crest a bright light suddenly flared in the chamber.

"Euphie!"

Euphemia brought her arms up to shield her eyes. Light flooded them nonetheless and the girl briefly wondered if this might well be the end. The spike of fear that shot through her was almost immediately overwhelmed by a great sorrow. There were too many things undone, too many people being left behind. And worst of all, too many people she was not yet ready to face.

A long silence accompanied the dazzling lights that bounced about in her closed eyes and after a few moments Euphie carefully opened one of them. Her vision took a bit to clear up but what she saw was, a shelf. Both eyes opened and they rapidly blinked as Euphemia found herself staring at a shelf full of books.

"What?"

She twirled around, getting her bearings. This place, wherever it was, looked like a library of some sort. Except that no library she was aware of also served as an echo chamber. She peeked around the shelves as she tried to determine just how far the room went. At a glance, forever seemed to be a good answer. Euphie then examined a shelf in more detail. The books, their titles, were in English. Some of them at least. Her eyes widened. The one immediately before her, as if beckoning to her, was titled _Euphemia li Britannia_. With considerable effort the young woman reached out, her hand just barely keeping steady. As she touched it however cries and shouts filled her head. Images, sensations, everything seemed to overlap. Within this maelstrom she saw glimpses of scenes that she recognized.

"Lelouch!"

A young boy hesitated, and then proceeded to storm out of the room.

"Nunnally."

Her little sister, in her arms after reuniting with her.

Others flashed by, the faint smile of a woman that Euphie now recognized as her mother, her and Cornelia playing in the garden and her elder sister giving her a crown made of flowers. When Euphemia finally managed to draw back her hand she crumbled to the floor, her breathing heavy and winded. The glimpses into the past were definitely genuine and far clearer than mere memory could provide. The ramifications were, staggering, to say the least. As Euphie picked herself up she looked at the books next to her own. Her eyes widened again. _Nunnally vi Britannia_. Gingerly, with even greater hesitation, she reached out and touched the book. And was almost thrown back by the pain and grief that swept through her.

"Brother, brother," a sorrowful voice whispered.

The contact was thankfully brief and Euphie clutched her head. Whatever memories she might have witnessed in that moment were however completely overshadowed by the emotions that poured into her. Euphie clutched at the part of her that was now throbbing, her heart. She rose slowly, a growing determination to seek Nunnally out after this to make absolutely sure that the other girl was not still suffering such pain. And then her eyes fell onto the book next to Nunnally's. _Lelouch vi Britannia_.

Euphie froze. Lelouch was dead. She knew this, everyone from her siblings to the Ashfords were sure of it. But Nunnally herself had emerged, alive if not completely well. Could it be possible that Lelouch's death was also a lie? Could he be out there somewhere all alone, in hiding because there was no one left in world that he could trust. Or would all she feel when she touched his book the cold embrace of death? Euphemia reached out, and found a firm hand take hold of her arm.

Her head snapped up and Euphie found herself gazing at a reflection on the shiny black visor of a helmeted figure.

"The memory of others is not of your prerogative to delve into, your highness."

Euphemia stared at the cape clad figure, seeing hints of a purple colored suit underneath the black garb. It was the helmet that truly set the man apart however, even more so than the absurdly high collar of his cape.

"Who are you?" Euphemia asked as she withdrew her hand.

The man released her and dipped into a courteous bow. "You may address me as Zero. I am the custodian of C's World."

The princess frowned. "This place is called C's World?"

"Indeed."

Euphemia regarded the man with care. He was only a bit taller than her and of similar build from the glimpses of his form she could catch. His voice held a strange echo-like quality to it however that made it impossible to determine whether she had ever heard it before. With the stylized, almost crown-like black helmet visually identifying this Zero was effectively impossible.

"Very well Zero, then how did I come to be here?" Euphie asked, testing the extent of the man's cooperativeness.

"You inadvertently activated a gateway," Zero responded. "There was sufficient energy lingering in the thought elevator for you to trigger a response when you mentally formed the shape of the door."

"The door?" Euphie said quizzically. "You mean the hypercube?"

"Indeed so." Zero turned about. "Come, I will show you the way out."

As the man headed off Euphie stared at his receding back. She then glanced over at the shelf. Lelouch's book was still there, as if it were calling out to her. It took considerable will for the girl to turn away and follow after the mysterious man. She kept her gaze solidly ahead, not daring to look back lets her resolve crumble.

"You call this place C's World," she said, trying to both distract herself and learn more. "What is it exactly? A repository of memories?"

"It is the sum and limit of man," Zero said cryptically.

Euphemia shot the man a scowl and to her surprise he chuckled despite facing away from her. Then again seeing as he seemed to actually understand what this place was his possession of some kind of supernatural sight would not come as much of a surprise. Euphemia changed tact.

"I presume for my how good you won't be giving me any straight answers," she said tartly.

Another chuckle sounded. "A listener's understanding of my answers is ultimately constrained by the limits of their mind, would you not agree?"

Euphemia's eyes flared. "I'm sorry, but did you just call me stupid?"

"Perish the thought," Zero responded in the same irreverent tone before coming to a stop. "And we are here."

Euphie did likewise and found herself standing before a large mural. It exactly matched the sigil on the floor back in the thought elevator, down to the two dimensional projection of the dekeract. Zero raised a hand and those lines began shifting, overlapping with each other, until a warped sphere-like object took shape.

"This will take you back to the thought elevator at Kamine Island," Zero said.

"And if I step through, will I be able to return?" Euphemia asked.

Zero turned about. "This World is not meant for mortal souls, your highness. Linger too long and you may well lose yours."

The young woman's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps so, but what little I have already seen is already transformative in the extreme. Do you seriously expect me to just walk away from it all without something to show for it?"

"But you do have something to show for it," Zero noted, spreading his arms wide. "You are now aware that C's World exists and you know where one of the entrances is. Surely you can see the ramifications?"

Euphie began opening her mouth before closing it thoughtfully. The thought elevators had always been mysteries, both in their purpose and the interest shown in them by her father. Now though, having stepped into this realm, whatever it truly was, Euphemia was left with many possible threads to pursue. One however shone more brightly than others.

"Then at least answer me this," she said. "How was it that I could enter this world to begin with?"

Zero's helmeted head tilted slightly to the side. The man then walked over and reached out. Euphie kept still even as his gloved hands touched the left side of her face.

"You already know the answer to that."

Euphie blinked. And in that moment her mind seemed to light up as it took in the revolving dekeract behind Zero. Somehow she was computing the exact orientation of each face even though the thing was a higher dimension construct. Beyond the three dimensions of Euclidean space or even the four dimensional Minkowski space that incorporated time.

"My," Euphie whispered as her own hand rose to touch the side of her eye. "What is this?"

"It is a Geass," Zero said. "A boon and curse both, one that ties you to everything while giving you nothing."

Zero's hand withdrew only for it to settle before Euphie's face.

"You are right in one regard, your highness, you should not leave here empty-handed. And so I bestow upon you a single boon. I sever the leash thus placed upon you."

Before Euphie could react a sharp pain jolted her. She screamed, her senses completely overwhelmed such that she did not even realize her form collapsed into Zero's waiting arms. Tears began flowing from her eyes and she screamed again, memories of every single heart wrenching loss she ever experienced all flooding to the surface at once.

"Make it stop," Euphie pleaded. "No, please, no more."

Zero caressed her gently. "I am sorry Euphie, I wish you never had to change so."

The girl blinked, sensing something familiar in the manner in which her name was said. A shaking hand rose and pressed against the black helmet.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

"Someone whom does not deserve your forgiveness," Zero said. "Farewell Euphie, until we meet again."

Euphie felt her body part from Zero as she tumbled backward. Her vision began fading and twisting until a bright light washed everything out once more. When her senses finally began clearing up once more she found another face entirely before her.

"Euphie, are you alright!?" a distraught looking Cornelia cried.

The girl blinked. "Sister?"

Relief washed over Cornelia's face and she pulled Euphie into a tight embrace.

"Thank the gods, don't you _ever_ do that to me again!"

Euphie wrapped an arm around Cornelia to return the hug even as she tried to get her bearings. The ceiling was a stony white, letting her know that she was back in the thought elevator.

"H-how long?" she whispered.

Releasing her Cornelia met her gaze once more. "Just a second or so. A bright light erupted from the floor and you collapsed, but it was just a second or so."

It had felt much, much longer than that to Euphie herself. Had everything been a hallucination? And then she felt a presence, something trying to press into her but being held at bay. A very, very familiar something. Euphemia's eyes hardened. V.V. That strange, child-like figure that had somehow assaulted her before her departure from the homeland. He had made mention of a leash, just as the mysterious Zero made mention of cutting one. Now it was more than the young woman's eyes that hardened, her expression also took on a darker shade. So that was it. In exchange for her power, her Geass, V.V. had been keeping an eye on her. But now his leash was broken and her secrets were her own once more. And with those secrets Euphemia vowed to make the bastard pay for so violating her.

End of Chapter 39

Lots of notes this time around, for obvious and nonobvious reasons.

The notion that Schneizel would be blasé about something like the Gawain getting stolen in the anime was really stupid since, by virtue of the Gawain being a prototype after all, at a minimum it would mean an enemy faction getting access to some cutting edge military technology. No matter how much of an advantage you might hold over an opponent, you don't just blow off said enemy chipping away at those advantages. That's not how you succeed in the long term, that's how you get your ass handed to you in the most unexpected fashion.

I forgot to mention this last chapter but the Damocles in my story is not the Sword of Damocles seen in the anime. The Sword was, perhaps one of the most idiotic things in the anime. It was a flying fortress that did everything possible to make it utterly useless as an actual flying fortress. Where the hell were the point defenses? The armoring to protect vulnerable components? Why the blazes was it so pointlessly big if all it was capable of doing was firing Freyja warheads? And for that matter, why the hell was turning on and off the Blaze Luminous a manual operation instead of something automatically keyed to the firing of Freyja warheads? The design flaws in the Sword are so many that I have trouble taking it seriously as a weapon of war. In one of my abandoned concepts for a Code Geass fanfic I had quite a few different countermeasures to the Sword worked out to the point where the whole 'peace through power' idea that Schneizel was pursuing would have been completely circumvented even before Lelouch hijacked it.

Anyway, the Damocles that Euphie, Schneizel, and Cornelia have been working on is something else entirely. And the name refers to a project, not a singular 'thing' like in the anime. It'll be a while before it gets properly revealed, but suffice it to say that their Damocles is intended to be a much, much more real military threat than that gaudy flying garden in the anime.

Let's see, what else. Oh yes, it might be slightly unfair to compare the EU General Staff to the Solarian League Permanent Undersecretaries. The EU officers are at least actually competent at their jobs. And I picked several of them intentionally. O'Connor for example was one of the few British generals at the beginning of WWII that actually knew what the hell he was doing. He would have probably succeeded in kicking the Italians out of Africa if Churchill had not forced him to divert his forces to the disastrous Greek campaign. For all his fire Churchill wasn't that good of a strategist. And Mellado is, interesting. He assisted what amounted to a military coup in the Spanish Civil War but after the Franco dictatorship fell he stood up to another group of soldiers that were attempting their own coup against the democratically elected Spanish government. In some ways Mellado would in the end stand in stark contrast to officers like de Gaulle and Juin who were so ready to mix politics with their military service. Maybe I should stop talking here to avoid revealing too many things behind the selection of these officers. Oh and as for the Russian and Austrian officers, the Austrian guy I just kind of picked someone who was appropriately aged. The Russian, look him up and you'll see why I selected him for the intelligence slot.

I'm also not sure what, if any, damage to the EU's reputation that Lelouch's actions are causing. Based on the OVAs the EU is not exactly a paradise of equality and dignity, what with its ghettos for refugees fleeing from Britannian aggression. If it weren't so depressing it would almost be amusing how prophetic that was considering the real-world EU's problems with the migrant crisis. And suggesting that a unit composed of Japanese refugees that serve as expendable cannon fodder for the EU would somehow be able to make the EU look better as compared to Lelouch's ruthlessness, uh, am I the only one seeing problems with that?

One other thing I wanted to note for background purposes. In the OVA it is claimed that the EU uses a different year system than the AD/CE one. This, is just plain stupid and is another example of the Japanese writers ascribing their own culture to other cultures (something writers around the world can be guilty of I know). Japanese society has a history of resetting years, specifically with the reign years of emperors. European society, especially at the point where the EU was supposedly founded, does not. And as any software developer can tell you dealing with dates is a horrendous pain in the ass already due to all the subtle nuances that would only get worse if we have constantly shifting frames of reference. I've kept the atb since it supposedly came into use in the classical era, where calendar years were far more loose. The EU however uses the AD/CE year system, not this revolutionary year nonsense.

A question was asked of me, and I think it to be a legitimate, albeit not entirely fair, question. Specifically, if Heinrich really cared about Kotone and Kallen so much, why did he allow Kotone to be abused by his new wife and not take a more active role in Kallen's life? It is a valid question insomuch as one would think a truly loving father and husband would not put up with such things happening to his loved ones. It is I believe an unfair question since it implies that Heinrich possessed the capability to keep every single potential bad thing from happening to his former wife and daughter.

One needs to remember that the story is taking place in a society that is incredibly bigoted when it comes to the matter of race. As such as a member of the peerage Heinrich is expected to conform with those social conventions. The degree to which he can get away with violating them is dependent on his discretion and his personal wealth. With his personal wealth he can offer a measure of financial stability to his family, via adopting Kallen and providing Kotone with what would have to be a very well-paying job relative to what's available to other Japanese. To maintain that wealth however he needs to avoid being ostracized by Britannian society seeing as business is as often conducted based on personal relations as it is economics. And to maintain those personal relations he needs to avoid being seen as an overt Numbers sympathizer, which includes a quid pro quo with his Britannian wife, she ignores the fact that he's looking after his half-Japanese children and their mother, he ignores her constantly cheating. Note nowhere in the above is Heinrich's new wife required to be happy about any of this or go out of her way to make Kotone or Kallen feel welcome. So while Catherine might know to watch herself when Heinrich is actually home, when Heinrich is gone (which he is a lot due to his business work) she can be a lot more creative in making life miserable for Kallen and Kotone.

Generally the only way Heinrich could have kept the entire family 'together' was to have gotten them out of the country, but where to? The Chinese Federation is hardly a more egalitarian society and any Asian will tell you flat out that in some instances racism in Asia can be even worse than the height of the Jim Crow era in the American south. The EU, as mentioned above, hasn't been treating refugees well either, and regardless of where they went Heinrich's access to his wealth would have been severely curtailed unless he took steps to move a significant amount of it out of the country beforehand, the very wealth that would allow them to be seen as immigrants instead of refugees. Guess what he's been doing the last couple of years as a fallback if it ever reaches a point where he cannot physically protect Kallen and Kotone? Keeping in mind that as far as he was aware of, he has been successfully protecting his daughter and her mother from the worst of Britannian depredation of Japan?

One should also keep in mind that Heinrich is the one that pays Kallen's allowance and authorizes any additional expenditures. So guess who has been effectively subsidizing Kallen's vigilantism? And those ration tickets that Kallen spreads around with such generosity to her friends, some of which also ends up being used by Inoue to keep things running at Keio. Kallen however still doesn't think very highly of her father, she still thinks he's an asshole and while mostly polite when they do interact, she doesn't bother pretending there isn't a wide gulf between them.

The end result is of course a lack of genuine communication between father, mother, and daughter, the consequences you have seen over the course of the story. It is, from my perspective, a mostly realistic portrayal of Kallen's family situation even with the modifications that I added. And as much as I'm sure some readers would think the family staying together is more emotionally satisfying, I do not consider there to be a realistic way to pull that off in the beginning of the story without eliminating Kallen's access to the very resources that helped her get to where she is as an insurgent.

Okay, long rant over. Onto the next thing that all of you are probably wondering about, the latest curveball I threw there. When I first started the story I wanted to create something of significant depth and complexity. I thus had a story mapped out that, to be honest, we're still in the setup stage for. The story 'proper' doesn't really get started until the Black Rebellion, really. But before we get there I've been dropping hints and clues about something bigger happening in the background, of figures moving about being up to something. This was done in both the prose and the snippets that prefaced each chapter. In retrospect I could have foreshadowed Zero's appearance better in the previous chapters, but his appearance does constitute something of a game changer. Of course who exactly is behind the mask, well, that's for me to know and all of you to guess until the grand reveal much, much later. Like, probably two thirds of the way through the story, if not even later.

Anyway, feedback is welcome as always. I'm sure at least some of you will have, words, for that little bombshell at the end there.

Oh, yes, and the change in 'title' for the opening snippet is intentional. In retrospect quite a few earlier entries should have used that title since they talk about Euphemia's reign instead of her ascension. They'll be retroactively corrected in my master draft but again until/unless I publish a remastered version I'm leaving the others as is, out of laziness if nothing else.


	41. Chapter 40

Snippet spoiler: Very minor

 _By tradition upon the ascension of a new sovereign the Knights of the Round of the previous sovereign would all retire, or as happened all too often, be retired permanently. The reason for either was fairly straightforward as the new sovereign would seek to eliminate partisans of the previous ruler. Upon her assumption of the throne however the Empress Euphemia broke with yet another tradition by retaining four of her father's knights. Two others had already perished in the chaos surrounding the Emperor Charles' death. Only one knight was forcibly removed and executed._

 _While some have claimed that with the Great War raging her majesty could not afford to dismiss too many of the Empire's premiere soldiers and commanders others point out that her majesty had no shortage of candidates for her own Knights of the Round. By the end of the conflict eight candidates would be so appointed, only the second time in Britannia's history that the ranks of the Knights of the Round were full._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 40: Qui audet adipiscitur

The RV trailer that had been set aside for the personal use of the three imperial scions came with several noteworthy features. Besides being armored to defeat the most commonly deployed anti-tank rockets it was also fitted with counterespionage equipment to prevent eavesdropping. Most of that was passive, soundproofing of the interior and lining of the vehicle walls to create a Faraday cage. There were other active, and highly classified, measures also in place. Ultimately combined they served to make the trailer as secure a location as the three were likely to find while in the field. That was why as she recovered Euphemia recounted what happened after the flash of light in the thought elevator, along with everything else that had happened since her appointment as viceroy of Area 11.

When the young woman finished Cornelia shifted over to her side and pulled her into an embrace.

"Nunnally's alive," she said. "Thank the gods."

Euphie let herself sink into her sister's arms. The girl cracked a genuine smile as she nodded. Few were the people she could trust with this information but with the revelations this past day brought with them consequences, including the very strong possibility that someone she could not trust was now also aware of Nunnally's survival. If she was to continue protecting her little sister she would need help, especially from those that she could trust.

"Are the arrangements by the Ashfords sufficient to ensure her continued safety?" Schneizel asked.

Cornelia's muscles tensed for a brief moment as she too looked down at Euphemia.

"I honestly cannot say," the girl admitted. "They have a very competent caretaker assigned to Nunnally, someone who served in the Security Police of the former Japanese government."

"They entrusted an Eleven with Nunnally?" Cornelia said, her tone aghast.

"Sayoko has demonstrated nothing but dedication and loyalty to the Ashfords," Euphie said pointedly but politely. "Milly trusts her implicitly and I trust Milly."

Cornelia still seemed to want to protest but restrained herself, or nearly so.

"Regardless of how competent she is if the Directorate takes an interest then a single protector might not be enough, especially if she has to look out for the entire Ashford family. I will summon Sharon."

At this both Euphie and Schneizel raised eyebrows.

"Are you certain that is necessary?" Schneizel asked.

"Overtly increasing the security surrounding the Ashfords would draw too much attention even after the attack on the school," Cornelia said. "Sharon on the other hand is only a simple maid whose transfer will be less noticed."

Euphie tried not to roll her eyes on the second bit. No one who actually knew Sharon Kruger would call her just a simple maid, but her sister did have a point. Very few people actually knew about Sharon and so having her move to Area 11 to take up employment, officially at least, with the Ashfords should not draw too much attention. And truth be told Euphie herself would feel better with Sharon watching over her little sister, so long as the Ashfords themselves were okay with it.

"I will discuss it with Milly," she said firmly.

Cornelia conceded to that with a simple nod.

"Still, we have several new pieces of information to consider," Schneizel said, moving the conversation along. "If the thought elevator really is a, gateway, into a place that grants one the ability to look at the memories of others then it would explain the Directorate's interest in them. And even worse, it suggests that they might have been able to compromise all of our projects if they were able to, open the door."

The nice thing, Euphie decided, about siblings that trusted you implicitly was that they did not waste time trying to second guess what might have _really_ happened. They quickly focused on the consequences of what _did_ happen.

"I don't think we've been completely compromised," Euphie said, drawing quizzical looks from the other two. "If the Directorate already knew everything about what we were up to, why would V.V. have bothered putting a, well, leash on me?"

Cornelia's face scowled at the term but she nodded in agreement. "That is a point. What need to spy on someone if you already knew everything about them?"

Schneizel too gave a thoughtful nod. "Then in theory all they know is what you directly engaged in while serving as viceroy."

"Yes." Euphie grimaced. "And potentially what we've discussed since your arrival."

Thoughtful turned to pensive on both her siblings' faces but Schneizel ultimately shrugged.

"If the Directorate attempts to move against me then so be it. We cannot dictate the actions of others, after all. Our only recourse is and always has been to make clear that threatening us directly will see their own ambitions crushed. And now that we have a better understanding of just how important the thought elevators are, we have something to genuinely threaten them with."

Cornelia grimaced. "I'm not sure I like that. If the Directorate decides that our knowledge of the thought elevators makes us a sufficient threat in the long term, they may well decide to risk directly eliminating us even so."

"Then let us see how much they are prepared to risk the thought elevator that is currently in our possession," Euphie said. "How much firepower would be necessary to level the entire thing?"

There were times, Cornelia and Schneizel mused, when their dear sister would remind those around her that despite her compassion Euphemia could be extremely direct in getting something she wanted, especially when it involved the safety of those she considered family. Schneizel glanced over at Cornelia and tilted his head quizzically. This was technically her area of expertise after all.

"It's actually something of an open question," Cornelia said. "Despite the seeming age of the structure there is very little erosion of the inner chambers so whatever it is built of the material is incredibly robust. At the same time a sufficient quantity of plastic explosives should do something, and if necessary we could always toss a few thermobaric bombs at it."

"Then we have our failsafe," Schneizel said. "While I doubt we could rig the thought elevators back in the homeland, Euphie's current position as viceroy of Area 11 should allow us to secure this one for at least the short term."

While Cornelia nodded a frown appeared on Euphie's expression. Schneizel raised an eyebrow upon seeing it.

"Do you disagree?"

"No," Euphie responded, "in principle what you suggest should work, but my appointment as viceroy is at the discretion of our father. Conversely he is the only one who could officially dispatch the Knight of Twelve to Area 11. Do any of us genuinely believe that Dame Kruszewski is here solely for the purpose of identifying and apprehending the culprits behind the Ashford attack?"

That elicited similar expressions on her sibling's faces. After all despite their own power bases the one person that they could not outright defy, yet, was their father.

"Interesting," Schneizel mused. "I have not been keeping track of her movements in detail, but do we have any idea what exactly she is after?"

"Cecilia," Euphie answered immediately, "and probably Kallen as well. I think it has something to do with the Project C that Clovis ran. But if we assume direct interest by the Directorate, perhaps there is also a connection to the thought elevators, and to the Geass."

Schneizel pursed his lips. "I would hesitate to draw such wide inferences, but I can follow the chain of logic. If so then it becomes even more imperative that we establish contact with the two first. And perhaps I should see about returning to Pendragon posthaste. If our father starts having any inclination to recall you, I will need to be there to personally, negotiate, on your behalf."

"That could be dangerous," Euphie pointed out.

"Qui audet adipiscitur," Schneizel responded. "Is that not what our entire venture has been based on?"

Euphie gave her brother a warm and grateful smile. "I suppose I will have to settle for throwing you a banquet another time. Perhaps once you are on the throne."

Schneizel chuckled. "I shall hold you to it, dear sister."

* * *

"Charles, we have a problem."

Charles zi Britannia looked up from his desk. Very few people would so brusquely intrude upon his office and even fewer would dispense with all formality and decorum. V.V. however tended to think of himself as beyond such mundane concerns and the tone of his voice suggested he expected that Charles could solve whatever problem had arisen with equal disregard for reality. It was one of the more childish aspects of his technically elder brother and Charles sometimes wondered whether that was due to his never having physically matured despite the years.

"Euphemia managed to open the thought elevator and whatever happened inside C's World has resulted in her severing my connection to her."

The emperor raised an eyebrow. "And does she yet retain her Geass?"

V.V. pursed his lips. "I believe so, which should be impossible."

Now that was impressive, Charles mused. A contractor's Geass was derived from their connection to C's World via the mental link they established with someone possessing a Code. If Euphemia had managed to retain her Geass despite cutting V.V. off, then that suggested she now possessed an alternative link to C's World. That alternative could take many forms from shifting her route to another Code bearer, unlikely as C.C. and V.V. were the only existing bearers, to Euphemia developing a direct link herself. The latter, if true, implied that Euphemia's Geass was growing stronger far faster than the norm, to the point where it might well transform into a Code outright. Despite long practice Charles found it took some effort to suppress a smile.

"You need to recall her immediately," V.V. continued. "There is no telling how much damage she might do, especially with access to a thought elevator."

"Were you not the one that gave her a Geass in the first place?" Charles pointed out.

V.V. pouted. "She should not have been able to manipulate it with such deftness. Regardless what matters now is that we eliminate the threat that she might become now."

In other words V.V. wanted his younger brother to clean up the mess he had made. Charles tapped his pen thoughtfully even as he was tempted to sigh in exasperation.

"If you act openly against Euphemia you will incite Schneizel and Cornelia to action. Shall I remind you of what damage those two combined can inflict should they be given cause?"

"That doesn't matter," V.V. persisted. "Nothing they can do will be able to damage the Sword of Akasha, whereas if Euphemia learns to control a thought elevator she could actually gain entry to it."

"Are you certain?" Charles countered. "Cornelia commands a substantial force in Area 11, enough certainly to level the thought elevator at Kamine Island. Its loss would measurably reduce the margin of error we have for Ragnarok, especially seeing as she is intended to spearhead the offensive for seizing the elevators not in our possession already."

V.V. ground his teeth. "You should have never allowed Schneizel and his Camelot puppets to examine the thought elevator in Area 11."

And now his brother was resorting to blaming others for his own rash decisions. Typical.

"What is done is done," Charles said nonchalantly. "Leave Euphemia be lest you wish to incite further suspicion from Schneizel and Cornelia. Once Ragnarok is underway their conspiring will be irrelevant."

The expression on V.V.'s face made clear he was not satisfied but the boyish figure ultimately nodded before taking his leave. That by itself told Charles all he needed to know, his brother was irritated by Euphemia's actions not because they posed a genuine threat to Ragnarok but because his pride had been wounded by her defiance of him. Charles was not in the least impressed. In fact if anything he was impressed by how much progress Euphemia herself was making. And if things turned out the way he wanted there would be no role for V.V. to play when the promised day arrived. After all, the only thing he genuinely required of his brother was the Code he bore. If Euphemia did indeed succeed in acquiring one of her own then, well, V.V.'s expendability would see drastic revision.

As V.V. exited Charles' office the ostensibly young boy was preoccupied with thoughts of his own. Charles' points were logically sound regardless of how dissatisfying they were. They were also specific however in that he could not go after Euphemia openly. The Directorate's modus operandi was however to move in the shadows, acting indirectly to advance its goals and only very rarely revealing its hand when the situation could not be resolved by any other means. If Euphemia could not be dealt with openly then all that meant was he would need to move against her discreetly. How fortunate he had several agents available that could do just that.

* * *

The two blades rang out as they met and ground against each other. Katanas were ill suited for actually blocking along the edge, all one was likely to achieve was to chip the blade. As such duels tended to be a series of slashes and thrusts that were met with parries that sought to minimize the length of contact. In some instances however, such as this one, the two swords could end up locked against each other. They still were not actually pressing against each other's edge however.

Chiba Nagisa was despite being Kallen's elder not that much taller than the younger woman. Genetics probably played a role along with diet. Her stature did not however seem to affect her physical strength as befitted her position as a soldier. She was also obviously much more practiced than Kallen with a katana and likely would have already won in a fair duel. On the other hand Kallen was not much of a believer in a fair fight and was so exploiting her Geass for all it was worth and was actually managing to pressure Chiba much to the other woman's apparent frustration.

There was still some tension between a few of the Holy Swords and Kallen and Inoue. That was probably inevitable considering their initial meeting, though Urabe and the older Senba seemed sufficiently level headed to not take things personally. Asahina and Chiba on the other hand continued to act brusquely whenever they dealt with Kallen and Inoue. While Kallen understood the need to not actively antagonize people whom were supposed to be her allies she was also not inclined to let them get away with any crap. Still the two at least took their duties as training cadre seriously and seemed to be performing it competently. For now that was all Kallen cared about.

The two finally disengaged, or rather Chiba elected to finally back off instead of trying to strong arm Kallen back. As fit as the solder was Kallen was no slouch herself and with her increased sensitivity was even able to optimize her motions to counter Chiba with the least amount of effort. The dueling sessions might have frustrated the soldier but Kallen was finding them immensely useful as opportunities to practice and exercise her Geass under somewhat controlled conditions.

The two women circled each other, their respective blades just barely kissing the other's tip. Chiba's muscles tensed and relaxed as she tried to find an angle of attack. Experience had taught her that Kallen could not be feinted and the only way to break through the girl's defenses was to strike faster and stronger. Chiba had never fought anyone with such solid defenses, even Tohdoh would fall for a feint occasionally. Not so the Akakishi, somehow Kallen always perfectly predicted where the actual attack would come from and was ready to stop it. It was unnatural and Chiba could not quite shake the thought of there being something very wrong with the girl.

Kallen shifted the angle of her blade, just in time to push aside a thrust by Chiba. The two swords ran along each other's side for a moment before Kallen succeeded in pushing her opponent's weapon aside and reversed into a counterattack. The angular swing would have probably decapitated Chiba had this been an actual duel. Instead Kallen's blade stopped just short of breaking the woman's skin. The older woman stood stock still until Kallen withdrew her sword. With a grimace Chiba sheathed her katana, the duel concluded. Kallen did likewise, her expression far more neutral. The younger girl bowed, a courtesy Chiba returned in kind.

"A pleasure as always, lieutenant," Kallen said.

Chiba's frown deepened. The younger girl was not being flippant in her politeness but something about her still rubbed the soldier the wrong way.

"There is something you are not telling us," Chiba said.

Kallen tilted her head aside quizzically. "Oh?"

"You are an amateur with a katana," Chiba stated bluntly, "that much is obvious to anyone who observes how you actually employ the blade. Yet you fight as if a seasoned warrior intimately familiar with the way of the blade."

Kallen smirked. "What makes you think I'm not a seasoned warrior?"

Chiba scowled. "You may well be seasoned, but there is more to your deeds than mere skill or luck. You entered the presence of two imperial scions and walked away unscathed. There is a secret to that that you are not telling us."

Kallen chuckled. "All of us have secrets, Chiba-san."

"But not all of us have secrets that could be fatal to others," Chiba countered.

"Indeed," Kallen agreed. "Now consider, do you really think I would allow you to have even a hint of a secret that I really wanted kept?"

Chiba's eyes narrowed. What the younger girl claimed made sense, abstractly. The truly important secrets were ones that you shared with no one, or at the very least avoided discussing or dropping hints about. That Kallen, or rather the Akakishi, was responsible for assassinating the Prince Clovis and then going on to save the Princess Euphemia was becoming widely known within the Akatsuki at least. How she managed to achieve either however remained a complete mystery to its ranks, something that helped fuel the young woman's mystique. In Chiba however it fueled another emotion entirely.

"Is that supposed to be comforting?" the woman responded.

"Probably not," Kallen said. "If you want comfort then know that Kaguya knows how I achieved both and she has no reservations about my methods."

Despite the slight irritation at hearing the head of the Sumeragi family referred to so casually Chiba forced herself to focus on the salient point. Kaguya knew Kallen's secret and was supposedly unworried about it. Assuming this was true then in theory Chiba had nothing to worry about. In theory.

Apparently sensing the other woman's continued doubt Kallen shrugged. "Speak with her if you're still uncertain. Just don't expect Kaguya to spill it all just to make you feel better. Operational security, as you should well know, trumps your own personal sense of reassurance."

With her piece said Kallen took her leave of the dojo while Chiba regarded her pensively. As she slid the door closed behind her Kallen glanced over to the waiting Inoue.

"How long were you intending to wait out here?"

Inoue cracked a slight grin. "Whenever you were done preaching. Though you really seem to be getting into these sessions."

Kallen shrugged as she clasped the end of the tsuka. "If I am to go around wearing a katana I should at least know how to use the thing."

The sword in question was a gift from Kaguya, a weapon that had been handed down the Sumeragi family for generations. There was certainly a great deal of symbolism in Kallen wielding one even if from a practical perspective its utility as an actual weapon was limited. Then again the katana was still a weapon capable of taking another's life and in a pinch it was better than nothing, hence Kallen's current training.

"Anyway, let's get started," Kallen said.

"Very well. We've managed to keep pace with the training schedule," Inoue began as the two walked down the hallway. "We've got about six hundred recruits run through the tier 1 program, two hundred through the tier 2. By the end of the month we should be at battalion strength."

Kallen nodded ahead. Nothing spectacular and well short of the full division the JLF possessed but still respectable numbers.

"What about weapons?" Kallen asked as they arrived at the room currently assigned to her at the Sumeragi estate.

"We're well stocked on light arms," Inoue answered as Kallen unclipped the katana on set it on the mount. "Unfortunately our supply of heavier weapons, especially anti-armor, is much more limited."

"Damn," Kallen uttered as they left her room. "That's going to make it a lot harder to stand off all those knightmares the JLF supposedly has."

"Indeed," Inoue said. "We're sounding out contacts and taking an inventory of what stocks our cells have, but so far it's not looking good."

"The bastard that launched the attack on Ashford did it with an anti-tank missile," Kallen noted. "That implies the JLF has some. Could we try raiding their stockpiles?"

Inoue paused a beat as she considered it. "A possibility. I will discuss it with the lieutenant-colonel."

The two then arrived at their next destination, the baths. Once the door slid shut behind them Kallen began stripping off her sweaty clothes.

"Alright, what about our efforts on the ground?"

First the shirt.

"Good so far." Then the pants. "We've been able to establish a visible presence in Shinjuku and so far responses have been positive. Probably helps that our patrols are only armed with batons."

The bra slipped off. "The fastest way to turn the community against us is to have people walking around like armed thugs." Finally the panties. "Though I am a little worried about what happens if our own people get shot at."

"Thankfully that hasn't happened yet," Inoue said. "And having them walk around in tactical vests might draw a bit too much attention from the authorities."

Kallen stepped over into the rinsing area and poured a pan of water over her body. "As if the red armbands aren't already doing that?"

Inoue smiled wirily. "The Britannians have noticed, true, though initial inquires made it sound like they thought the armband had been inspired by the ones worn by the Nursing Corps."

"Huh, you know, I hadn't thought of that," Kallen said as she began scrubbing. It was a remarkably soothing sensation as she swept away the sweat that was clinging to her body. "But so far no tension with the Britannian troops?"

"None," Inoue answered. "It probably helps that the Britannians are still using Honorary Britannians to conduct security for Keio. There apparently was a plan to start bringing in cops to take their place but after what happened at Ashford with the gendarmerie, well, it looks like they've decided to take things slowly."

Kallen grimaced. She should not have been glad that anything good came out of that disaster but she could not afford to be picky. The girl dampened her hair before proceeding to lather it with shampoo.

"Sounds like we'll be able to thoroughly entrench ourselves," Kallen said. "Still the question is when the JLF intends to make their move."

Inoue shrugged. "That I cannot say. We just don't have the manpower to try to track JLF activity. The best we can hope for is we'll be able to spot any suspicious activity around Tokyo."

The sound of splashing water was the only response Inoue got as Kallen rinsed her hair. After a few moments the girl rose, water dripping down her from as she finally made for the bath.

"We'll think of something," Kallen said. "The JLF will need to move the bulk of their forces closer to Tokyo before they actually launch their attack. That should give us enough warning to decide how to proceed, and if we need to make a direct approach to the Britannian government."

Inoue nodded as Kallen sank into the warm water. One of the less spoken of contingencies involved actually sitting down and talking to the Britannian government, or more specifically with the Princess Euphemia. While trust was still too strong a word for how they regarded the viceroy there was a belief that she was someone that could be dealt with. At the same time the princess' open commitment to continued Britannian control over its territories was, while not exactly a point of contention, a source of wariness on whether Euphemia would be prepared to make actual concessions that would be palpable to the Japanese people. That wariness meant contacting her was considered a last resort for the time being. Time would tell whether that remained the case, or whether they became desperate enough to pursue that path anyway.

"That's all there is for today," Inoue said. "I'll leave you to enjoy your bath."

Kallen gave a single wave as Inoue retreated from the room. The girl sank into the water, letting its warmth relax her muscles. There was something to be said about modern luxuries, and a bath was perhaps the simplest pleasure of all.

* * *

With a deep sigh Milly entered the headmaster's office and plopped down at the desk. The last few weeks had been frantic from dealing with the aftermath of the attack on the school to looking after her grandfather, more like sitting on him to make sure he stayed in bed, as he recovered. Her parents were a big help in all these matters but some things Milly had to deal with herself, including the educational reforms currently being carried out. She was slowly learning the ropes and her grandfather had assembled a very competent team of assistants to carry out his policies and whatever her basic ability and intelligence there was no way a teenager would be put in charge of a government ministry. Euphie was most definitely the exception, not the norm. Still Milly needed to keep up with her training and so continued to sit in on the meetings and look over the paperwork. Fortunately her grandfather's deputies were all good people that did not begrudge spending some time mentoring Milly despite how busy they were covering for Ruben.

The academy had also been reopened though a section of the school remained cordoned off as it was rebuilt. An option had been given to families to withdraw their children with their credits intact if they so wished but few had taken up the offer, which Milly found at least somewhat heartening. Of course that also meant some students were not coming back, Kallen being one of them. Milly was pretty sure her father's explanation for why she would not be attending the rest of the term was a complete fiction and combined with the fact that Suzaku was pulled out of school for a bit there made it pretty obvious that the younger girl's cover had been blown. That was extremely unfortunate, not least because Kallen knew about Nunnally, that she existed, not her true identity, and Milly was almost ready to admit that it was a mistake letting Kallen close to her family. Almost.

Something was going on in the background of all this, something that was causing Euphie to keep a lid on Kallen's secret despite the fact that she should be just as worried about the other girl's awareness of Nunnally. In fact Milly knew that Euphie was worried about their little sister seeing the new addition to the Ashford household staff, a maid from the homelands that was almost frighteningly competent at her duties, both official and unofficial. At first Milly had been worried about whether Sayoko would take offense at the arrival of Sharon Kruger, even if she was basically being imposed by Euphie. The Japanese woman's professionalism however saw that she treated Sharon courteously and the two actively cooperated in their duties. In fact Milly could still recall accidentally overhearing a conversation the two had about the advantages and disadvantages of various bladed weapons, from the Japanese tanto to the Marine Corps' combat knife. That made quite clear that whatever Sharon's considerable domestic skills the woman was primarily there to help protect Nunnally, and by extension her adopted family. Milly was also pretty sure she had been allowed to eavesdrop on the two that time.

The larger problem however was that Milly was in the dark about what Euphie intended. Milly could try asking her but she would probably have to admit to knowing about Kallen's vigilantism. As much as she wanted to trust the princess Milly was not quite sure how Euphie would take that little bit of news. A headache was starting to build thanks to all of the secrets floating around. Some were necessary, anyone who claimed perfect honesty was the best path to take was an idiot, but the problem with having too many secrets was that eventually those secrets caught up to you and the tangle of lies would fall apart at the worst possible time. As such in this instance Milly was seriously contemplating coming clean to Euphie. And of course requiring Euphie to come clean to her in turn. The question was how to approach the matter and the normally forthright Milly found herself at a surprising loss.

A knock sounded on the door, diverting Milly's thoughts and she straightened.

"Come in."

The door opened and in stepped Cole. Milly almost instinctively let out an expletive and just barely kept it from leaving her mouth.

"Milly," the young man greeted.

"Cole," Milly responded with a slight smile. "Did you need something."

Cole's gaze told Milly that yes, he did, and yes, she probably would not be terribly enthused about what he wanted. Then again Milly supposed she had this coming seeing as she had been avoiding Cole the last few days.

"The truth would be a nice start," Cole said bluntly albeit not harshly. "Everyone's been giving me the runaround about Kallen, even her highness, and my dad hasn't been able to tell me anything concrete either. I'm speculating here but something tells me _you_ might be able to tell me what is going on here."

Milly chewed her lower lip as she tried to figure out just how she was supposed to respond. She supposed it was inevitable that Cole would get tired of the runaround and it was just her luck that she was the most accessible for him to come calling for an accounting. The young woman regarded Cole intently. A secret was only a secret so long as it was not shared with others. Yet Euphie had made the decision to inform two of her siblings about Nunnally's survival. While Milly was prepared to make some allowances for the Princess Cornelia, someone whom was effectively another big sister to Nunnally, the Prince Schneizel was a relative unknown. Letting him know about Nunnally was, in Milly's opinion, an unintended consequence of Euphie herself discovering Nunnally. It was also a stark warning about the dangers of sharing a secret, no matter how much you might trust the other party.

"I understand your desire for the truth Cole," Milly said. "I will not lie to you, but I also cannot tell you it."

Cole's brow furrowed into a scowl. "I really had been hoping that you of all people wouldn't try to give me the runaround, Milly."

"I'm not-"

"Bullshit," Cole said, causing Milly to start. "My family, I can understand. They want to keep me safe and so might be able to justify to themselves an outright lie, though in this case I know it's simply that my father has no better idea than me what is really going on. Her highness, I wouldn't be surprised if she's so used to hiding things because of court politics that she's doing it instinctively."

Milly winced. That, was a very unflattering remark about Euphie. It was also not one she could entirely dispute. There really was something corrosive about participation in the imperial court, something that seemed to rot away at the heart of people and make them into emotionless sycophants or even worse amoral power mongers. One could even interpret some of Euphie's actions in that light, as loathe as Milly was to paint her friend with the same brush. Cole however was not finished.

"You however, I would have thought would at least be frank with me." That elicited another wince. "You say you cannot tell me, Milly. Then if you cannot tell me, why did you contrive to get me and Kallen closer in the first place?"

Because she had made a mistake, Milly did not say aloud. That would have been the easiest way of getting out of this. But she had told Cole she would not lie to him and right now Milly could not say with full confidence that her attempt to get Cole and Kallen to become closer was a mistake. Yes viewed from the perspective that Cole was now hurting and it was partially Kallen's fault, it might be considered a mistake. But from everything that Milly knew of the girl, both her public face as Kallen Stadtfeld and her apparent alternate persona as the Red Knight, there was no sign that Kallen herself was a cruel or capricious person. The younger girl's affection for Cole was genuine, and because it was genuine Milly could not call their meeting a mistake.

"What are you trying to protect me from?" Cole asked softly.

Milly grimaced. "You heard Euphie when she tried to explain Kallen's situation to you. She's caught up in something, something that involves the highest levels of court politics. That is not something you should have need to associate yourself with."

"And why is that choice being made for me instead of me being allowed to choose myself?" Cole responded.

Milly regarded Cole flatly. "Because the price of politics at that level is paid in blood, Cole."

"And it's a price that has already been exacted from those that didn't even know they were playing it," Cole countered, causing Milly to blink in confusion. "Or are you suggesting all those people who died that day were asked whether they wanted to become pawns in the game of court?"

There was no need to elucidate which day Cole referred to. Milly was also taken aback by the argument itself. Cole was right in many respects, none of their fellow students had asked to get involved in Kallen's vigilante crusade or Euphemia's political gambits. That had not mattered in the least when Ashford was attacked however. And thus Cole had a point, he was already involved even as Milly and the others tried to keep him in the dark.

"You know what," Milly said. "You're right."

It was Cole's turn to be taken by surprise. "Uh, what?"

Milly bounced up to her feet. "You're absolutely right. You're involved. I'm involved. And quite frankly you learning more isn't any more likely to see you get killed. Our families are already neck deep in Euphie's camp anyway."

Cole stared at Milly for a beat. "That was not the response I was expecting."

Milly grinned at him mirthlessly. "Maybe you should look into a career in politics seeing your way with words." She circled around the desk and headed for the door. "C'mon."

"And where exactly are we going?" Cole asked as he turned to follow.

"To the viceroy's palace," Milly said, causing Cole to almost miss a step. "Euphie has a meeting right now but it should be done by the time we arrive. And if you want in so badly it's not me you have to convince, it's her."

Cole raised an eyebrow but with Milly's back to him there was no way for the girl to see it. He made no remark however and kept after her. He was the one that had come to her for answers after all and now Milly was offering him a chance to get them. Cole refused to waver now.

* * *

"The investigation of the gendarmerie ranks has been concluded and we have some confidence that none of the other units were manipulated by the EU operatives," Jeremiah said. "Dame Kruszewski was exceedingly helpful in the matter and has affirmed that all of the gendarmerie interviewed were telling the truth."

"And Dame Kruszewski remains unwilling to divulge just how she ascertained their sincerity?" Euphie remarked.

"That is so, your highness," Jeremiah stated.

The princess sighed. "Well I suppose we should be thankful that she extended her cooperation at all. Please continue, margrave."

The noble nodded. "We have instituted a number of policies to try to ensure the EU operatives will not be able to approach our personnel without detection, though regrettably luck will play her own role in those efforts. Otherwise the security situation in the Tokyo area seems to have normalized and the regular army units have been withdrawn from policing duties in the Concession."

Euphemia nodded. "Very good. Thank you margrave."

Jeremiah bowed his head in acknowledgment.

"Now, Colonel Frasier," Euphie turned toward the older woman. "Your report."

"Highness. Surveys have been completed at six other hospitals in the outer wards and I have drafted a schedule for bringing them back into full operation. The engineering corps has also made considerable progress repairing the infrastructure within Shinjuku itself and the local communities have even taken the initiative to do some restoration work of their own."

"Oh? That is very promising."

"Yes your highness," Samantha said with a nod before pursing her lips. "There has however been a development that warrants watching."

"Oh?" Euphie repeated in a slightly different tone.

"Reports have come in over the last few weeks of groups of Elevens, patrolling by all appearances, the Shinjuku ward. They seem to be some sort of neighborhood watch, remarkably well organized and even wearing red armbands as identifiers."

Euphie raised an eyebrow as her gaze shifted to the armband on Samantha's own arm. "Really."

"There was some speculation that the armbands were inspired by those the Nursing Corps uses," Samantha continued, "but some of the more recently developed intelligence suggests otherwise. Some of the nurses assigned to Keio made inquiries and learned the name that this watch seems to go by, Akatsuki."

"Akatsuki," Euphie repeated. "Red, moon?"

"Umm, no your highness. I am given to understand it translates to dawn or daybreak."

"Huh," Euphie murmured. "An interesting homophone. Ah, apologies, colonel, please."

"At present I do not have much else to report your highness," Samantha responded. "I have ordered my subordinates to keep an open ear but thus far these, Akatsuki have not done anything to draw the attention of the security detail assigned to Keio. In fact remarks by the people living in the area are highly complimentary of this Akatsuki. They seem to be focusing on dealing with petty crime and keeping the streets safe, and are apparently succeeding."

Euphemia frowned. "That, is concerning."

At the quizzical look from Samantha the princess shook her head.

"Maintaining law and order is the responsibility of the state, colonel. To have an entire ward rely on these civilians, no matter how benign their intentions, sets a problematic precedent."

"That may be so your highness, but this Akatsuki seems to have established itself in Shinjuku," Samantha said. "Trying to replace them with official organs of the Britannian state would need to be done with extreme care."

"Yes, yes I agree," Euphie said slowly. "And I think that is entirely the point."

"You believe this Akatsuki was created to undermine Britannian authority?" Jeremiah asked.

Euphemia frowned as she thought over the name again. Akatsuki. For some reason she could not dismiss the homophone. Aka, red. Was this the work of Kallen?

"I do not know," the princess responded frankly. "I will think on the matter but for now please keep me apprised on anything the personnel assigned to Shinjuku may learn."

"Yes your highness," the two officers responded.

The rest of the meeting went on smoothly enough and Euphie was even able to focus on the other matters. With their duties complete the two officers bowed courteously before taking their leave. Euphie sank back into her seat as she thought back to the matter of this apparent neighborhood watch. There was no way that was all it was, especially if there was an actual umbrella organization behind it. Yet it was not an overt challenge to Britannian authority, these people were simply filling in a hole that the absence of the Britannian state left in their communities. At the same time this made it the perfect vehicle to undermine attempts at formal integration since any assumption of policing duties by the actual Britannian police could be maligned as an imposition. It was a subtle, even cunning maneuver. But was it one that Kallen was capable of?

The intercom sounded and Euphie straightened.

"Yes?"

"Your highness, Ms. Milly Ashford and Mr. Cole Kraft request to see you."

Euphie frowned. Now what was this about.

"Please send them in."

"Yes your highness."

A few moments later the doors opened and the two entered. Neither had any trace of humor on their expressions. Euphemia grimaced. Something told her this was not going to be a congenial conversation.

"Cole, Milly," Euphie nevertheless greeted cordially.

"Your highness," Cole responded with a bow while Milly offered a more reserved nod.

"Have a seat," Euphie invited. Once the two did so she went on. "So, what is it you wish to discuss with me?"

Cole took a deep breath and Euphemia instinctively could see where this was leading. She remained silent however and waited for the young man to speak his piece.

"Your highness," Cole began formally. "I have been kept in the dark regarding a matter that has touched upon my affairs, indeed nearly my life. Your highness has given me multiple assurances, both directly and through others, that my concerns are being dealt with in a manner amicable to my sympathies. I have however reached a point where simple assurance is insufficient. And thus I ask of you, your highness. What cost must I pay to learn the truth?"

Euphemia silently regarded Cole for a seeming eternity. And then she shifted an unamused gaze over to Milly.

"Did you put him up to this?" she asked flatly.

"Cole came to me," Milly responded, "and to be honest I'm also getting a little sick of all these secrets going back and forth. He isn't the only one you've been keeping things from."

Euphie raised an eyebrow but did not deny Milly's assertion. Instead she looked back over at Cole.

"I am sorry you feel this way Cole, I really do, but-"

"Your highness," Cole cut her off, a rudeness so uncharacteristic of the image Euphie had of the young man that she was momentarily too taken aback to respond verbally, allowing the young man to continue. "Am I to assume that your refusal to tell me the truth is because you do not believe I am capable of making the necessary commitment to your cause?"

Euphie blinked. "What?"

"While Milly has been abjectly unwilling to reveal any of confidence to me, she has told me enough to make clear one thing, your highness," Cole said. "You ask others for their trust but you are slow to give others yours."

The princess' eyes went from rapidly blinking to freezing open as her breath caught.

"Therefore your unwillingness to tell me the truth regarding Kallen is an indication of your lack of trust in me," Cole went on. "I suppose that is fair, your highness, we have only met a few times and I readily admit that we are far from familiar. But you are very familiar with my father, your highness, and seeing as he too has met with only a promise of reassurance I can only assume that he too lacks the necessary degree of trust from yourself."

The young woman's jaw tightened, not from anger or irritation, but from a flicker of shame. What Cole said was true, she _had_ decided not to trust him or his father with the information regarding Kallen and Cecilia. And whatever excuses she came up with about trying to protect them from the higher intrigues that still did not take away from a fundamental truth, that Euphemia had not trusted them enough to stand with her against the dangers of that intrigue.

"You are correct," Euphemia said calmly. "I did not trust your father, or yourself, with this information. The trust that he, and yourself, have earned is immense, but they are not of the caliber necessary for _this_ matter."

"Even though I trust Cole to that degree?" Milly spoke up, eliciting a look of surprise from Euphie. The older girl cracked a mirthless grin. "Then again seeing as you don't trust _me_ with whatever it is that's got you all bothered about Kallen, I guess me trusting Cole doesn't mean much."

That stun and Euphemia felt an aching pain throb in her chest. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The other two waited silently for the princess to gather her thoughts.

"Secrets have a habit of accruing, snowballing," Euphemia said, eyes still closed. "Eventually they take on a life of their own, controlling us instead of remaining as the tools they should be." Only now did her eyes open and a pair of hard purple orbs gazed at Cole and Milly. "The secret before you now is one of them. If you learn the truth behind it, it will control you as much as it binds me. That is but the beginning of the price you will pay."

Cole returned Euphemia's gaze levelly. "I think, your highness, that I have made clear I am well prepared to pay it."

Euphemia favored Cole with a slight, almost sad smile before finally nodding. She then looked over at Milly.

"I signed on with you the moment grandpa became your chief of staff," the girl said with a slightly wider grin.

The princess took another deep breath and bowed her head. "Once you learn the truth, we will need to discuss security arrangements."

Cole frowned slightly but nodded nonetheless. Euphemia took another deep breath, stalling for just a few more moments to collect her thoughts. Finally however she needed to begin.

"Kallen Stadtfeld is the Red Knight."

Euphemia observed carefully the reactions of the two. Cole's eyes widened in the expected surprise while Milly adopted a thoughtful expression. The princess frowned.

"You knew this already?"

Cole's head turned about to look over at Milly.

"I suspected," the older girl responded. "It was only, well, verified later."

"I see," Euphemia said. "And Cecilia?"

Milly shrugged. "No idea."

So that secret was still intact, Euphemia mused. Though something told her it would not stay so for much longer. She looked back over at Cole who still appeared mildly confused. Hopefully she would be able to rectify that confusion without revealing the truly, absolutely vital secrets. The princess suppressed a grimace. Here she was doing it again, trying to hide things even after seemingly expressing willingness to share the truth with Cole and Milly. But she did not have a choice, Euphemia told herself. Some secrets were simply too dangerous and not even Milly was ready for them. Not yet. Euphemia repeated the thought over and over again. Maybe, just maybe she could bring herself to believe it too.

End of Chapter 40

Obligatory Kallen taking a bath/shower scene. Though I got lazy and didn't lay on the fanservice too much.

We're actually taking a bit longer to get to the Black Rebellion than I had thought, primarily because there's so much setup. One doesn't just kick off a spontaneous uprising if you actually want it to succeed. In fact I'm intentionally not writing about all the work Lelouch and Charlotte is doing because that would easily add two or three more chapters to this story and drag it on even more, which would risk major burnout on my part. Seeing as I'm sure my readers would rather the story progress and reach a conclusion instead of me stopping midway because I'm tired of writing it, I think you'll all forgive me dropping those scenes.

Technically Akatsuki is growing a lot faster than it should have. This is partially because I literally forgot to insert a couple of scenes much earlier in the story where Kallen and co talk about forming alliances and etc with other resistance cells shortly after the raid on the KBR supply depot. Remember that that attack was carried out by them plus one or two other cells and based off of their positive experience with the joint op they would then plan on building up a network of contacts that they can trust. So Akatsuki has been growing in the background much longer than from when Inoue first mentioned it to Tohdoh.

Somewhat random aside, I don't really read Code Geass fics much, but I have seen bits and pieces of others and one thing that a lot of writers get wrong is how to construct a proper opposition to Britannia. More specifically, they forget that modern war is based on industrial capacity. If you're going to have Lelouch or whomever try to gain the support of other countries to fight Britannia, make sure those other countries are actually, you know, industrialized. Guerilla warfare might bleed the empire's occupation forces in a country but that doesn't really do any damage to Britannia's true strength, its economic capacity back in the homelands. Granted it's probably easier to portray the frontline fighting and have displays of heroism carry the day, but honestly all Britannia really needed to do to crush the Black Rebellion in the canon anime was carpet bomb the areas occupied by the Black Knights. In fact that's somewhat how they did win, using the Avalon to bombard the enemy positions to break them. Conversely the opposite is also often true, a lot of writers don't know how to write Britannia properly employing modern warfare strategies and tactics. Then again Britannia seemed to suck at that in the anime proper as well so that's not really saying much.

Hmm, Cole. Hopefully his development has been relatively realistic. I would say I kind of screwed up his 'first' conversation with Euphie regarding Kallen. I was originally going to have him approach Heinrich to try to ask where Kallen was but it didn't quite flow naturally into that after how abruptly Heinrich ended his conversation with Euphie. I might go back and revisit that scene in the remastered version.

As a general rule I don't really like creating lots and lots of original characters in a fanfic. If I wanted to come up with entirely new characters and whatever I'd just go and write my own book. And a fanfic, I feel, should be about the characters of a franchise. That is also a reason why I try to keep characters mostly in character and not basically turn them into original characters in all but name, though ones that were not properly developed in the original canon I have more flexibility to mold them as needed. That said sometimes it becomes genuinely necessary to create new characters because the role that needs filling was not filled in the original canon. Nevertheless I still try to avoid creating an entirely new character and try to draw inspiration from other series that have similar themes. I thus far have quite a few borrowed characters from other franchises and that number is likely going to grow. Think of them as Easter eggs that you get to guess just how much of a parallel they are to their original versions.

I mentioned this a couple of chapter notes back but as far as the official religion of Britannia is concerned, what happened in the real world has only a slight bearing on the Code Geass universe. World history in Code Geass is not the same as what happened in the real world seeing as there was a divergence all the way back in around 55BC. That so many other developments still lined up so nicely with real world events is, ultimately, a convenience for the writers. As such the lack of a strong Christian presence in the British Isles in my version (there were of course Christians, I never claimed they were completely absent), makes no more or less sense than anything else in the Code Geass 'history.' Though if I wanted to be totally accurate I should have used Celtic instead of Nordic gods, but I chose Nordic ones for stylistic reasons. About the only thing that matters in the grand scheme of the story is that I am consistent with how I treat the way I've constructed the world.

One thing that I am changing from the official Code Geass canon history however is why Washington's Rebellion failed. Instead of having Ben Franklin betray his fellow colonists, honestly, that was such a contrived excuse, in my version Benedict Arnold was successful in turning over West Point to the British. When I first read the explanation for the defeat of the colonists I got a mild headache considering just how utterly screwed up it was. Conversely Franklin in this universe was basically forced to live in exile in France after the British won. Makes one wonder what influence he had over the French Revolution, hmm?

I actually recall very vaguely that the French tried to create a 'new' calendar system from my high school history class. Looking into it further they ran into the type of problems I would expect, namely the amount of data that needs to be aligned by date and the mismatching system of dates that you end up with when dealing with stuff generated before the new calendar system, plus all the countries that don't use this 'new' calendar. Dates are hard. You don't arbitrarily change the system and we're now at the point that so much data is generated by society that it would literally be impossible to change it short of an end of civilization event resetting society.

That being said, it comes as almost no surprise to me that it was the French that tried to create a new calendar system to supplant the traditional one. No offense to my French readers, of course, but your 'cultural intellectuals' almost seem to have a fetish for Frenchness, whatever the hell that even means.

I would consider any notion that the Lelouch in my story to be, deep down, trying to help the people of Japan to be unfounded. I have provided exactly zero evidence for this. In fact I'm pretty sure I've gone to great lengths to demonstrate he doesn't give a damn what happens to Japan after his uprising starts so long as he achieves his objective of killing Cornelia and Euphemia. Furthermore my Lelouch has no attachment to Japan or its people to begin with. The first time he stepped foot in the country was when he arrived as part of the EU sakuradite delegation. And while ultimately none of you can know what his final long term goal is, I would caution in trying to infer altruistic intentions without evidence.


	42. Chapter 41

Snippet spoiler: Fairly high

 _The Keio Agreement is the informal nickname for a bargain struck between the Princess Euphemia and the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki during their first meeting as the viceroy of Area 11 and the leader of the Akatsuki. Widely to be considered the first step towards Japan's peaceful integration into the Holy Britannian Empire, it outlined a set of conditions and actions that both factions were to undertake to prevent Japan from being further torn apart by internal strife. The concessions made by the Princess Euphemia were for their time completely unprecedented, especially with respect to the recognition of equal rights to the Japanese populace vis-à-vis the viceroy's Britannian subjects. The balancing offer made by the Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki was equally radical in the eyes of her fellow freedom fighters, seeing as it amounted to an offer of genuine collaboration._

 _Needless to say considerable opposition arose from both Britannian and Japanese circles. The Princess Euphemia was forced to expend considerable political capital, including calling upon the aid of her brother the Prince Schenizel, to force through the necessary legislative changes to keep up her end of the bargain. Even so the new recognition of rights were limited solely to Area 11 itself and did not extend to Japanese in the homelands or any other Area, nor was there a guarantee that a future viceroy would continue to honor the agreement. In some ways this worked to the princess' benefit as it resulted in the Japanese populace being much more invested in her highness' continued high standing at court._

 _As remarkable as the Agreement was it nearly died before the metaphorical ink had even dried when the Japanese Liberation Front struck the Keio University Medical Campus. In some ways the attack embodied the vehemence against any sort of accommodation with the Britannian occupation that was felt by many of the insurgent groups. Hand the JLF and its cohorts succeeded in assassinating either of the two remarkable young women whom had come together to forge a new future for Japan history would have undoubtedly taken a far different course._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 41: Non sibi, sed suis

The warehouse Heinrich stood before was a remarkably sturdy looking place considering the dilapidation that much of the ghettos suffered. He was however not terribly surprised at its relative soundness considering how much concrete had been delivered here over the past couple of years courtesy of Kallen. The girl really did need to learn how to not leave a paper trail, though Heinrich supposed he should be grateful that all of the expenses were under his name instead of hers so it would take even an auditor like the Princess Euphemia some time to untangle those transactions from his legitimate ones dealing in supplies for companies in Area 11.

As Heinrich approached a few of the people walking about outside, all wearing red armbands the baron observed, took note of him. When he came to the main door a wary caution was visible in the stance of the pair standing guard.

"Can I help you?" one said in reasonably passable English.

"I am here to see Ohgi Kaname," Heinrich responded in Japanese.

It was always interesting observing the reaction of Japanese when spoken to in their own language by a Britannian. Most assumed all Britannians too arrogant to bother learning other languages and believed everyone who was worth speaking to would know English that when faced with one who actually knew their language and even bothered to speak it to them they were something akin to deer in headlights. Heinrich would have found the reactions more amusing save for the gravity of the matter he was here to discuss. After a few moments the two guards finally recovered.

"We weren't told to expect anyone," one said, reverting to Japanese as well.

"He is not expecting me," Heinrich said, "but he will want to speak with me."

"Oh? And why is that?" Apparently being able to converse in his native tongue gave the guard a degree of confidence.

"Because he's my son's best friend."

Said confidence was, while not punctured, turning out to be less useful than they might have been under different circumstances. The two guards exchanged confused looks before one finally nodded.

"And who exactly are you?" the one who nodded asked.

"Heinrich Stadtfeld, Third Baron of Denton."

Whatever confidence was left in the two men quickly disappeared as their eyes widened.

"Wait here," one finally managed to stutter before disappearing into the building.

The wait did not turn out to be very long as not even a minute passed before he reemerged, holding open the door.

"I will take you to Ohgi," he said. "Do not try to wander around, we go to see him directly."

Heinrich nodded and after one last brief exchange of looks between the two guards the other man turned about and headed in with the baron behind him. Before they went deeper in however Heinrich was given a quick but careful patting down. The additional precaution was almost heartening. It showed that these people were not complete amateurs.

The interior was actually quite packed, suggesting Ohgi was either doing very well for himself or this place was being used as a depot of sorts for a much larger organization. Heinrich took note of how everyone in here wore the red armbands. A sign, at the very least. Now to find out if it was the sign he was searching for.

The baron was led up the stairs to the back office. When he entered Ohgi even stood respectfully in greeting.

"Stadtfeld-san," the man said once the guard that guided Heinrich in took his leave and closed the door behind him.

"Ohgi," Heinrich replied, giving him a look over. The man was as lanky as he recalled though otherwise seemed to be of good health. "I appreciate you notifying me of Naoto's passing. Thank you again."

Ohgi took a deep breath. "It was the least I could do. Please, have a seat."

Heinrich did so and a tense silence descended upon the two men. As Ohgi seemed uncertain how to break it Heinrich did so for him.

"Akatsuki," the baron said, causing the younger man to start ever so slightly. "It means dawn, but if the two sounds are broken up individually they are homophones for red and moon." Heinrich's head tilted to the side. "And those two kanji when put together read as Kouzuki."

Ohgi licked his lips. "I'm, surprised you've heard about us."

"Your group has been making waves in the Britannian government," Heinrich said. "And I've still got a few friends in their ranks."

To that Ohgi seemed to struggle for a response so Heinrich moved the conversation along himself again.

"Before we begin the discussion proper allow me to enumerate a few facts," Heinrich said. "You were the one that checked Kotone out from Keio and so I know you were in contact with her. Furthermore on the day of the attack on Ashford Academy you, and an Inoue Naomi, used high priority, and very expensive I will note, passes to get through the Concession checkpoint."

Ohgi's eyes blinked rapidly as Heinrich paraded one fact after another. And the baron was not even done yet.

"Considering the name of your organization, and the red armbands for that matter, it's pretty obvious that you and your compatriot were part of whatever exit strategy Kallen put together in case things went balls up in the Concession." The baron paused a beat, regarding Ohgi levelly in the process. "Now that we have established that I know you to have a line of communication to my daughter and her mother, I trust you will not bother wasting my time with pointless denials and the like. So let us start with a simple question. Are they safe."

While the baron might have phrased it as a question Ohgi felt he could be forgiven in thinking that it was more akin to a demand. Heinrich was much as the Japanese remembered him, forceful and willful to the extreme and obviously the source of at least some of the steel nerve Naoto and Kallen showed. That did not of course mean that Ohgi was prepared to just roll over for the man.

"Their safety is no longer dependent on your actions, Stadtfeld-san, therefore you have no need to be kept apprised of their situation."

Heinrich snorted. "I see that Kuroba still hasn't gotten around to passing on my message."

That elicited a quizzical look from Ohgi. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Kallen has drawn the personal attention of the viceroy, young man, and her highness made clear to me that she was even prepared to issue a formal all-ports warning to make sure Kallen is found and brought into custody. The only reason that APW has not been issued yet is because I have basically blackmailed the Britannian government, so don't try telling me her safety is no longer dependent on my actions."

Ohgi gaped at Heinrich as he processed the man's statement. They had wondered at the seemingly subdued reaction of the Britannian government regarding Kallen's disappearance. In fact the Sumeragi family's contacts within the government were equally silent on the matter and the few discreet inquiries made had turned up nothing. It was utterly impossible that the government had not realized something about Kallen and so they assumed that it was simply the authorities trying to lull Kallen into a false sense of security in the hopes that she would resurface. Now though both Heinrich's actions and his claim that the viceroy herself was interested in Kallen put things in an altogether different light.

"And what is the nature of the viceroy's interest?" Ohgi finally managed to say.

Heinrich's eyes focused on the red armband Ohgi wore and the Japanese man grimaced. And then frowned.

"If the Britannians are after Kallen for her, activities, then how were you able to get them to back down?" Ohgi asked. "Considering their nature, I find it hard to believe that anything you could threaten would get them to back off."

The smile that appeared on Heinrich's face sent an instinctive chill down Ohgi's back. And then the baron's expression reverted to its usual stoicism and Ohgi let out the breath he did not even know he was holding.

"I think you and I both know that you're much better off not knowing something that the Britannian government considers worth not outing Kallen for," Heinrich stated. "And while Naoto and Kallen may trust you implicitly, there are some things that I am only willing to divulge to her or Kotone directly."

Ohgi's mouth thinned. "Be that as it may Stadtfeld-san, that also works both ways. In fact the scales are tipped against you. I trust you, to a degree, but Kallen does not and even my trust does not extend to the point where I would suggest to her to meet with you."

Heinrich once more regarded the red armband, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"The money that Kallen's spent would not have been enough to get Akatsuki organized and equipped to the degree that's been hinted," the baron said. "The source of funding therefore has to be coming from someone else. One possibility would have been the Britannian government, using Kallen as a proxy to organize the less radical or extreme elements within the ghettos into a coherent organization. On the other hand if it was the government backing her then I am mildly surprised the viceroy would be so intent on establishing contact. The princess did not come across as someone who would allow one of her plans to go that awry."

Ohgi's eyes flickered as he extrapolated from Heinrich's line of thought. The man did not like where this was headed. When Heinrich's gaze rose to meet his own Ohgi could not help but swallow.

"If it isn't the government then that suggests a native source, someone else who would care to try and improve the lot of the Japanese people but cannot do so publicly. Someone like, Kyoto House."

The Japanese man's jaw tightened. "What is your point, Stadtfeld-san?"

"Nothing much," Heinrich said with a shrug, "just that I'm sure there are parties that would be interested in the number of knightmares the industrial interests owned by the members of the NAC have diverted from scrapping."

Ohgi blinked. "What?"

Heinrich cocked his head aside. "I am a commodities broker, Ohgi. I notice when the price of metals does or does not shift as one might expect. And considering the military has been steadily disposing of its Glasgows for scrapping, it was rather interesting that the drop in metals prices that should have happened due to the ones being melted down in Japan did not happen."

Ohgi reined in his surprise and forced his expression to become impassive once more. "And what do you intend to do with this information, Stadtfeld-san?"

Heinrich looked out the window that overlooked the warehouse. "How long would the Akatsuki be able to continue if the NAC's more, flagrant, activities were brought to the attention of the authorities?"

The man ground his teeth. "And in exchange for your silence, you want a meeting with Kallen."

"At a location where I can be certain Kallen can leave with me if she chooses so."

"You think she's being held against her will!?" Ohgi said incredulously.

"Considering how many of you seem to be going out of your way to keep me from directly speaking with her, I do not see this as an unreasonable precaution," Heinrich stated.

"And have you considered the possibility that she simply does not want to see you?" Ohgi replied sharply.

"Then there should be no difficulty in rendering my precaution unnecessary."

Ohgi glowered at the older man, his anger helping him overcome his usual hesitation when dealing with the forceful noble.

"You understand that you're basically threatening Kallen's dream in order to get her to talk to you."

"We do not have the luxury of a slow and steady approach here, Kaname," Heinrich said bitingly, causing Ohgi to start. Considering the baron was someone who understood the nuances of Japanese honorifics his intentional use of Ohgi's first name was brusque, if not intentionally outright rude. "If you haven't noticed, the world's about to go up in flames. The Chinese Federation, the Russian Federation, and the European Union are all planning overlapping training exercises within the next two months. The sakuradite conference that should have happened in place of the one that was canceled because of the Blood of the Samurai terrorist attack has also been called off, not by Britannia but by the EU. Do you honestly think any of that is a coincidence?"

At that Ohgi once again found himself gaping at Heinrich. In fact the thought had never occurred to him even assuming he followed international news at that level of detail. Like the other resistance members he tended to be focused heavily on their own homeland and what might directly affect it. But as he considered Heinrich's words Ohgi felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Are you sure you're not reading too much into it?" he tried weakly.

From Heinrich's snort it was clear the baron could see right through Ohgi's own lack of conviction in that possibility.

"I have very little trouble imaging what Kallen's dream might be," Heinrich stated. His eyes then seemed to flare in intensity. "She wants a free Japan, or at least a Japan where her people are treated with dignity and respect. The time is fast approaching wherein she might well come into an opportunity to achieve that dream, but the cost will likely be terrible indeed. I have no desire to have my daughter pay that cost, but I also know her well enough to know that I cannot stop her. And so I do the only thing that a father can do, I will offer her what support the limits of my resources can afford." The baron's eyes were almost alight now. "I would think, Kaname, that you would much prefer that those resources stand behind Kallen rather than against her because I deem the death of her dream to stand a greater chance of ensuring her continued life."

* * *

The young man seated inside the café sipping coffee had an unhappy look on his face. It could be from a variety of reasons, dissatisfaction with the news he was reading, the rather poor excuse for coffee he was forced to suffer through, who knew it would be so difficult finding a place that actually knew how to properly brew coffee in a country of tea drinkers. Lelouch reminded himself to pick a different place for the next rendezvous.

The other party that Lelouch was waiting for appeared soon enough and the ostensible Frenchman set aside the still fairly full cup. The cast was finally off his arm and the Japanese youth looked hale and basically hearty, even if there was a measure of uncertainty in his eyes.

"Sorry I'm late," Suzaku said as he took a seat. The young man looked about. "Umm, where's Charlotte?"

Lelouch kept his expression neutral as he regarded Suzaku. "Circumstances currently prevent her from entering the Tokyo Concession. That is what we are here to resolve, to change things so that you can see her again."

Suzaku blinked. "Oh, yeah, that's right."

A server walked over and placed a plate with a sandwich before Suzaku. The young man looked up in surprise but the woman was already walking away.

"I ordered for you so that we don't have to waist any time," Lelouch said. "Their coffee is nothing to write home about but their sandwiches are at least passable."

"Oh. Thank you."

Lelouch acknowledged the gratitude with a nod. "Do you have the package?"

"Yes, right here." Suzaku reached into his jacket and took out a medium sized yellow envelope. "The files you wanted."

Lelouch nodded and tucked the envelope securely into his bag. "The test of the Gawain proceeded without issue?"

The other man nodded. "It's operational and performed as they expected. The data on the hadron cannon's test firing is also in there."

"Good," Lelouch said. "Does the ASEEC intend to make it field ready again or will it be shipped back to the homelands?"

"The marshal has ordered that it be maintained at readiness in the off chance that it might be needed."

To that Lelouch allowed a slight smile. Modern machines of war tended to be extremely maintenance intensive and knightmares were especially devilish to keep running in the field. It was a testament to the Empire's engineering prowess and logistical skills that they were able to field so many in addition to all of the other vehicles and tanks in its arsenal. If the Gawain had been put into storage or even simply deactivated then it would have been beyond Lelouch's capabilities to arrange for its use as a distraction when the JLF attack began. How considerate of his dear sister to make sure it would ve available however.

"Are you still on good enough terms to invite one or two of your colleagues out for lunch?" Lelouch asked.

Suzaku nodded. "They have been understanding of my situation and remain sociable."

"Good." Lelouch rattled off a few dates. "I will be waiting here on these days. Try to get one, no more than two, of your colleagues to come with you for a meal."

"Understood," Suzaku said.

Lelouch nodded in turn. Things were progressing well. He checked his watch. There was still some time left for him to ask questions before Suzaku would need to start making his way back to the base.

"So, why were you in trouble with the military."

Had Suzaku been in full possession of his sensibilities he would have been much more hesitant to answer such a question, even to Charlotte's brother. For one thing they technically were in public even if the booth Lelouch had selected was in the back and away from any other customers. Suzaku was however not thinking for himself and so answered.

"My superiors found out I knew Kallen was the Red Knight and hadn't told them."

Lelouch's expression creased into a frown. "You knew Kallen was the Red Knight?"

Suzaku nodded.

"Why did you not report her?"

Not that it mattered seeing as Kallen was working with Euphemia already. That Suzaku was let off for what would otherwise have been considered an extremely seditious act was simply further confirmation of it. The Empire that Lelouch remembered was not so forgiving as to let live someone who genuinely allowed such a threat to Britannian security to operate freely.

"I thought I could convince her to stop resorting to violence, to change the Empire from within."

It took measurable effort for Lelouch not to gap incredulously at the Japanese youth. Surely no one could be that naïve. But Suzaku really was, for he was telling the earnest truth here. Lelouch's geass guaranteed that. The Frenchman felt a slight headache building.

"An admirable goal," he lied with a completely straight face. "A shame Kallen chose not to reciprocate your magnanimity."

Suzaku nodded sadly. "She could have done great things by helping the viceroy. Or so I thought."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "You have doubts regarding her highness?"

The other man's mouth thinned. "I thought, still think, she's trying to do her best to help my people. But I'm not sure I understand why anymore."

It seemed Suzaku was not entirely blind to the harsh realities of the world.

"People with power always have motives that are sometimes difficult to discern," Lelouch said. "That's why it's important that those of us without power work together, to try to make the world a better place for others like us."

"Yeah," Suzaku said softly. "Yeah, I see that."

The Frenchman allowed himself a satisfied smile. Things were proceeding according to plan. In another month or so the JLF would strike the Tokyo Concession and ignite an open revolt in Area 11. Combined with the offenses planned against other Britannian occupied regions the Empire would face perhaps its first genuine threat. Now he just needed to put the finishing touches on his coup de grace and Cornelia at least should be removed from the picture, permanently. The question was how to get at Euphemia in the well defended viceroy's palace. Timing would be key.

Lelouch's cellphone beeped and the young man pulled it out and gave it a glance. He frowned. Perhaps he should not have so blithely tempted fate by metaphorically patting himself on the back like so.

"I need to return," Lelouch said as Suzaku began munching away at the sandwich. "The food is paid for already. Once you are done, return back to the base and continue your routine."

Mouth full, Suzaku simply nodded. With that Lelouch took his leave as he pondered the short text message he had just received.

 _Ancillary assets compromised_.

That could have meant a lot of things and since the assets were referred to as ancillary their loss did not immediately impact the JLF's standing strength or even its ability to mount the attack on the Concession as planned. The problem however was even ancillary assets, if enough of them were lost, could eventually make a difference. Even worse was if those assets provided a link back to the JLF and its backers. The details would have to wait until after Lelouch was able to establish a more secure line of communications. Cellphones were all well and good for short messages but only a fool would trust them for anything genuinely sensitive or important. Lelouch liked to think he was not one and was diligent in making sure to not have that belief be called into question.

* * *

The last time Monica hunted down a rogue geass user it took her all of two weeks to find and neutralize her target. Then again the boy in question would not have known subtlety if it hit him on the head and used his geass with almost completely abandon as he tried to escape the Directorate's clutches. Then again expecting discretion and guile from a ten year old might have been asking a bit much. At the end of it all Monica had dragged the little shite back to the Directorate, the boy screaming and only kept from kicking and thrashing thanks to the straitjacket he was forced into. The screams grew progressively more desperate the closer they got to the Directorate's main facility until they finally subsided into uncontrollable sobbing. Monica handed the boy over nonetheless and the last she heard he was now one of the Directorate's most effective enforcers. Exactly how they managed to break his will and remold him into a trustworthy instrument the Knight of the Round preferred not to think about.

This time however her targets were not petulant children. One was a practiced insurgent while the other from all indications a skilled intelligence operative, never mind the people that were obviously helping them. Combined with the royal guardsmen breathing down Monica's neck to make sure she did not upset the viceroy's little social project and the knight found measurable progress to be much more elusive than she would have liked.

That was not to say she was making no progress at all. While interrogation of the gendarmerie turned out to be a bust the operatives from Loki Regiment that Monica summoned were making more progress sifting through the raw intelligence she possessed access to. Not surprising seeing as a third of Loki Regiment were Inquisitio acolytes and data analysis was a prerequisite skill to joining its ranks, not that anyone outside the regiment ever heard a whisper of this.

Interestingly for this latest lead it was not actually her acolytes that originally discovered it but the Princess Euphemia that provided the initial hints. Early in her reign as viceroy the princess had tagged several assets of Kirihara Industries as suspect and needing more detailed examination. The results of following inspections obviously displeased her highness greatly seeing as five inspectors were themselves investigated, then prosecuted and found guilty of criminal negligence and corruption for accepting payoffs to sign off on patently false reports. All five were now serving lengthy prison terms and the princess had another example of her intolerance for incompetence and corruption.

Curiously however the follow up inspection that one would have expected to take place never seemed to have occurred. As far as Monica could tell that was simply due to the viceroy becoming embroiled in more pressing matters such as the Refrain conspiracy, the maneuvering by the Japanese liberation movements to try to weaken her popularity with their own people, and finally the attack on Ashford Academy. And while her highness' inner circle was highly competent not even they could keep track of everything happening in the Area with the consequence of the irregularities regarding Kirihara Industries slipping through the cracks.

Monica could have gone to the princess and informed her of this oversight but something told long honed instinct told the knight that this could provide a lead to the EU operative that possessed a geass. It was an open secret in the Inquisitio, though one that refrained from flouting of course, that the Numbers Administration Council directly funded the Japanese Liberation Front, the largest and most powerful of the resistance movements in Area 11. If the EU operative was seeking to incite unrest by funneling modern weapons and equipment into the Area then the logical choice would be for him to lend his aid to the JLF. The armored car Monica rode in came to a stop. It was time to put her intuition to the test.

The number of soldiers accompanying her would have been intimidating by themselves. That several wore the colors of the Princess Euphemia's royal guard was already reason enough for worry for those with things to hide. Monica idly wondered whether any of the people gawking would recognize the colors of her troops. Probably not, but it still amused her to contemplate their possible reactions. The reactions of the people manning the entry gate promised to also be of great amusement.

The contingent of soldiers took up position around the gate, weapons at the ready. The security guards, a mixture of Britannians and Elevens, were significantly less well equipped. As Monica stepped forward anxious and almost panicked gazes fell upon her.

"Umm, can I help you, milady?" the man ostensibly in charge of the checkpoint said nervously.

"I am Monica Kruszewski, Knight of Twelve to his majesty the Emperor Charles." Audible intakes of air could be heard all around. "I am here to open conduct an inspection of these facilities. Raise the gate."

The guard gapped at Monica. "Umm, is there a problem which requires your august attention, your grace?"

Monica Kruszewski, Duchess of Bedivere, an honorary title that went with her knighthood but still a titled peer regardless, gave the man an unamused scowl. The guard actually cringed. Thanks to long practice Monica's expression remained suitably severe.

"Whether or not there is a problem I have no need to explain to you," the knight said. "Raise the gate, now."

From the man's body language it was obvious he was deathly afraid of refusing Monica's order. At the same time he was almost equally afraid of what the knight might find inside the factory complex. To tilt the balance of terror slightly in her favor Monica's hand flickered. Her subordinates, attentive as ever, cocked their weapons in almost perfect unison. The motion achieved the desired effect and the guard scrambled to hit the gate button. In all technicality there was not even any need for him to do so, the Britannian soldiers could have vaulted the bar and been through with little difficulty. That would however been undignified and Monica had no intention of allowing these plebeians to score even so minor an inconvenience against her command.

The soldiers on foot, Monica included, stood aside and the armored vehicles rolled through first with those not yet disembarked. They would need to move quickly to prevent too much evidence from being destroyed. Chatter soon filled the radio channels as units reported in regarding their objectives. A trickle, then a flood of factory workers emerged from the buildings as they were directed away. Other soldiers moved to secure the administrative offices and more reports came back, including a few regarding workers frantically trying to tear apart documents or smash computers. In other words no one here had thought to set up something to quickly dispose of incriminating evidence. Amateurs.

Interrogating those workers so captured could wait however. Monica entered the factory and surveyed the now still machines. Nothing out of the ordinary, on the surface at least. It was only a matter of time however.

"Dame Kruszewski."

Monica glanced back at the woman stalking, no, accompanying her.

"Yes Dame Nu?"

"Is there something specific that we are looking for here?"

We, not you. A somewhat subtle reminder that Villetta intended to make sure she was included in any developments that might occur. Monica had to admit a grudging respect for the other woman's determination to carry out her duty. Little wonder Brigadier Eyre recruited her for the Princess Euphemia's royal guard.

"At present I honestly do not know," Monica answered frankly. "I suspect Kirihara Industries has been using this factory as a front for certain subversive activities but I have not been able to determine what exactly they are engaged in."

"And you believe the best way to find out is to force an inspection?" Villetta asked.

"What better way to catch them off guard?" Monica answered with a wide, almost whimsical smile.

Villetta raised an eyebrow but made no response. The past few weeks of working with the Knight of Twelve had taught her that underneath the seemingly playful, almost teasing surface was a highly competent and very dangerous woman not to be taken lightly. For now it would be best to wait and see where this little endeavor led.

Just as Villetta arrived at this conclusion the catwalk they were on shuddered as the vibrations of a nearby explosion swept through the building. The knights and their respective entourages grabbed hold of the railing to steady themselves and after a few minutes filled with panicked shouts and cries the shaking stopped.

"Report," Monica snapped.

"One of the warehouses just went up. Whatever they were storing there must have been extremely volatile."

"And am I supposed to believe that warehouse just accidentally blew up?" Monica said somewhat snidely.

"Uh, no your grace. We'll get to work putting it out right away!"

"Belay that, figure out what was officially listed to be in that warehouse and the others around it," Monica ordered. "Make sure there are not any other volatile substances that could be set off, and make damned sure nothing is going to react exothermically when it gets doused with water."

"Yes your grace!"

The snarky, teasing façade was gone, making way for the highly competent soldier that was a Knight of the Round. Monica fired off more orders including calling for helicopters to get overhead to monitor the situation.

"Could this be Kirihara Industries trying to hide something?" Villetta offered in a brief pause in the rush.

"Accident and coincidence can never be completely ruled out," Monica said, "and I shall reserve judgment until solid evidence is produced. I will however take all caution to make sure that lack of evidence will not serve to shield those that transgress against the Empire."

As Monica resumed rapidly issuing more orders Villetta regarded the woman with a wary, almost apprehensive eye. That last remark sounded almost like a paraphrase of a certain saying. Innocentia Nihil Probat. Villetta's eyes narrowed. Perhaps she should take even greater care in shadowing Monica. If ever there was someone who could succeed in hiding a secret in plain sight it would be a full inquisitor.

* * *

"They were WHAT!?"

More than a few people flinched at the roar, making it all the more remarkable that Jeremiah himself was not one of them. While it would be unfair to say that the margrave was the subject of the Princess Cornelia's wrath, he was the one delivering the message and so the natural target for her response.

"Loki Regiment is still sifting through the wreckage but Dame Kruszewski is fairly confident that the equipment in the destroyed warehouses were for performing maintenance on knightmare frames," Jeremiah repeated. "She estimates that the facilities at the factory would have been sufficient to look after at least a platoon of knightmares."

One could almost hear the marshal grinding her teeth. In fact those seated closest to her swore they really could hear them grating against each other. Neither the civilian officials nor the military officers attending the meeting seemed able to muster the courage to speak up when Cornelia was in such a foul mood. With Schneizel having returned to the homelands there was in fact only one person present who did not feel like quailing under the marshal's furious gaze.

"Interesting," Euphemia remarked. "And clever. A factory complex such as that one would see a great deal of traffic, traffic that they could use to hide the movement of knightmares as they were brought in for maintenance work."

There was still a scowl on Cornelia's expression but there was considerably less bite to her tone as she addressed her younger sister.

"This cannot go unchallenged. Kirihara must be arrested and questioned at once. If he has truly been helping equip insurgents with knightmares we must find and put to the sword all that have aided in this treason."

Nervous glances shifted to the viceroy only for them to see a thoughtful expression on Euphemia's face.

"Sir Finch," the princess said, seemingly unperturbed by her older sister's vehemence. "I believe the gendarmerie have made noise about expunging the stain on their honor."

The attorney general blinked a few times before responding. "They are eager to serve and demonstrate their loyalty to the Empire, your highness."

"Dispatch them to take Mr. Kirihara into custody." All noted the intentional usage of a, while still polite, slightly lesser honorific than the sir usually conferred to members of the NAC. "And remind them that I will not brook a repeat of Ashford."

"Of course your highness. Then by your leave I shall go and attend to this matter immediately?"

Euphemia nodded. "Thank you Sir Finch."

The man bowed and made a hasty, though still dignified, retreat from the room. Euphemia's attention however was already directed back at her sister. Cornelia raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"You have a point you seek to make?" the older woman said.

"Indeed. The notion that Kirihara Industries has been engaged work on knightmares, likely for the purpose of arming resistance organizations like the Japanese Liberation Front, is a security matter. As such I have no qualms about deferring to yourself and the military at large to investigate the matter thoroughly. At the same time Mr. Kirihara is a direct subject of my self. In so arming these insurgents it is my person the viceroy that he has transgressed against. As such it should be I that dispense the justice his actions have earned."

In other words Euphemia was in no way seeking to shield Kirihara from his sister's wrath. Instead the viceroy was intent on herself being the one that brought low the man. The edge of Cornelia's lips twitched in an approving almost-smirk.

"Very well Euphie, go and, educate this Eleven on what it means to defy the Empire."

"I shall dear sister," Euphemia assured her. "I shall."

* * *

Kallen inhaled deeply as she tried to steady her breathing and her raging heart. That was proving more difficult than it should have been. Then again one of the few things these days that could still set her on edge was anything that touched upon her family. And her father, whatever her low of opinion of him, was still technically family, if only because he seemed to think of her as such considering how doggedly he was trying to get in touch with her. Kallen grimaced. Her feelings about the man were still complicated, not least because of what happened to her mother.

Heinrich's message via Kuroba had suggested a father trying to get his daughter out of trouble. His message via Ohgi on the other hand made it sound like he was prepared to throw his lot in with her. The two were not mutually contradictory but Kallen suspected, and her comrades agreed, that Heinrich had at least one other agenda that they did not quite understand yet. And before Kallen met with him, she really did not have a choice if her father really was serious about outing Kyoto House's theft of the decommissioned knightmares, she wanted to try to figure out what that agenda was. Hence the girl found herself standing outside of the infirmary attached to the warehouse complex owned by the Sumeragi Group.

Kotone's condition had improved significantly to the point where her mother could function more or less normally. The long term consequences of her Refrain overdose would be with her for the rest of her life but in the meantime she was up and about, at least partially because Kotone was not very good at simply sitting around all day. As such for the past few weeks since she was checked out from Keio Kallen's mother had been helping in the infirmary that looked after the inevitable bumps and bruises the warehouse employees suffered. Even if she was a bit out of practice Kotone had been a certified nurse before the invasion and so knew her way around the work. There was also the fact that if she did suffer a relapse she would be right where she needed to be to get emergency aid.

After taking in another deep breath Kallen finally willed herself to enter the room. Off to the side her mother was seated with another nurse, the two chatting away amicably. It was a sight the young woman found herself reluctant to interrupt but Kotone caught sight of her and smiled at her daughter. She excused herself from her colleague and walked over.

"Kallen," Kotone greeted, and then proceeded to inspect the girl as if checking to see if she was tracking dirt into the room.

"Mom," Kallen groaned, eye rolls and all, before she caught herself.

Kotone's smile deepened just a bit before she gave Kallen a gentle rub on the head. Kallen made no move to stop her. As embarrassing as it might feel to be treated like this even though she was on the cusp of adulthood that she had been basically denied this affection for so many years meant she was more than ready to ignore that embarrassment and simply enjoy the dotting. Regrettably it could not last forever.

"Mom," Kallen said solemnly. "We need to talk, about Dad."

Kotone's smile stiffened but after a few moments a solemn expression took its place and the woman nodded. "Alright. Sensei is out right now, we can use her office."

Kallen followed after her mother into the room the resident doctor had for a makeshift office, a space that could be politely described as cozy. The two tried to make themselves as comfortable as possible.

"You've managed to speak with him?" Kotone asked once they were seated.

Kallen shook her head. "Not directly. But he was able to get a message through to me."

Kotone let out a relieved sigh. "Then he is still well."

That caused Kallen's brow to furrow. "You still care about him."

Her mother nodded. "Yes, I do."

"Why?" the girl asked softly. "He abandoned us right before the Empire invaded. And don't say taking us in afterward makes up for it, because it doesn't."

Kotone clasped her hands together as she regarded her daughter intently. "I suppose it is as much my own fault as it is Heinrich's that you were not told earlier about this."

The frown on Kallen's face deepened. "What are you trying to say."

Kotone took a deep breath. "Do you remember how before the invasion things got a bit rough for us? How some people from outside out neighborhood tried to make trouble for us because I had married a Britannian."

Kallen nodded slowly. The memory was muddled but she could still recall a vivid sense of anger and fear from that time. An anger and fear that was greatly accentuated when her father left.

"That was about the time Heinrich and I began to seriously consider what we should do for the future. He suggested, no, argued, that we should leave Japan. Go to the EU, where he had business interests and some money stashed away, start our lives over." Kotone smiled weakly. "I refused."

The frown gave way to widened eyes on Kallen's face.

"Perhaps I was naïve, or simply too scared. I couldn't leave all of my family and friends, especially as they would have no means of escape when the Empire came. And Heinrich, he was a good man, and I was foolish enough to believe that he represented the Empire as a whole."

Kotone's eyes now glistened slightly and Kallen found herself unable to muster any words of her own. In fact it was all the girl could do to keep her own breathing steady.

"I refused to leave the country," Kotone continued. "Instead I told him to leave me, to protect his own reputation if and when the time came. He was a baron of the Empire, a noble, and to be known as married to a foreigner, especially one from a conquered land, would have ruined him." The woman closed her eyes. "So I divorced him."

Kallen stared at her mother, a look that was unreciprocated as Kotone's eyes remained shut. So many things fell into place now yet so many other questions were spawned.

"Father, accepted?" Kallen said softly.

Kotone nodded, still seemingly unable to meet Kallen's gaze. "He returned to Britannia, and threw himself into his business ventures. And then he returned, offering to take in all of us despite his new marriage. He even offered to acknowledge Naoto as his son and make him his heir, even though your brother took more after me than your father."

In other words Naoto's Japanese features were much more evident whereas through some fluke Kallen looked almost completely Caucasian.

"Naoto declined," Kotone went on, "but Heinrich still did his best to help him. He found him work, made sure he always had a safety net, always, always, until the end."

And that was what tore her mother apart, Kallen realized, as she saw the streaks of tears finally bursting from Kotone's closed eyes. She had been the one who insisted on staying in Japan and her decision was what led to the events that saw Naoto take up arms to fight against the Empire. To fight, and to die fighting. A tiny flicker of anger flared in the back of Kallen's thoughts. It was drowned out by the guilt that tinged nearly every thought about her parents. About both her parents. Neither were perfect and their past was littered with countless mistakes, mistakes that cost not just them but their children greatly. But they were her parents and they felt every knife to the heart as their family crumbled, a crumbling that Kallen herself played no small part in.

The girl reached out and pulled Kotone into a tight embrace. Her mother wrapped her arms around Kallen in turn as she sobbed quietly.

"Please don't let it end like this Kallen," Kotone whispered. "Please, don't leave us as well."

End of Chapter 41

This chapter was another slog to get through. But we're almost there. And then I can start blowing things up.

You now all have a much better understanding of what happened to Kallen's family before the invasion. I doubt many writers had ever considered portraying Kallen's mother as the reason it fell apart. In this case however Kotone's mistake was an honest one, not one committed out of malice, and I would like to think it makes her all the more sympathetic. And also shed a bit more light onto why she resorted to Refrain.

I wonder why some of you are so intent on seeing Cole die.

Also mildly surprised people are getting so stuck up on the religion thing. Whether the real world Great Britain is a Christian country or not is moot with regards to the Great Britain of the Code Geass universe. Again, recall that the point of divergence in history was not Napoleon (somehow) conquering the UK, it wasn't Benjamin Franklin (of all people) betraying his fellow colonists, it was all the way back in the BC era when the Romans got their asses kicked and were booted out of the British Isles. As such anything between then and 'now,' besides the few specific events mentioned in the Code Geass canon (and I've already shown a willingness to muck with those as well, hence my change of Franklin betraying the colonists to Benedict Arnold), everything else is fair game. I literally could have claimed that Christianity itself did not even exist since the divergence with real world history took place before Christianity was even a thing and religion was not something given much if any emphasis at all in the series so I would not risk contradicting anything in established canon, regardless of how dubiously it was justified. In fact if I did that the only thing that I would need to explain, and it would not even be that difficult to do, is the use of the term 'Saint' in a few places.

On that note, consider this point. I have already said that Christianity was in the British Isles, it just was not the dominant religion. Now consider the American colonies. British Puritans made up a noticeable chunk of the early wave of migrants to the colonies so it's entirely possible to have that mirrored in the Code Geass universe, namely that a lot of British Christians left Great Britain for the colonies to be able to more freely practice their religion. Later waves saw a lot of continental Europeans come as well, a continental Europe that I have explicitly stated was Christian. Now consider the ramifications this would have on relations between the colonies and the British government. Then consider what it means that, despite the colonies obviously originally having large Christian populations before the founding of the Britannian Empire, the portrayal of Britannian society that I have created is markedly non-Christian in terms of oaths and the like. What do you think happened to all those Christians, in light of the Britannian Empire's authoritarian nature and the fact that it was a coalition of Christian nations led by Napoleon that overran the British Isles? Yes, I even consider at some depth the social-political repercussions of things I do primarily for stylistic reasons.

Minor rant, the notion that Napoleon was able to conquer the UK actually ranks up there with Benjamin Franklin betraying the colonists as one of the sloppiest historical changes made. Performing a sea invasion, an actual invasion and not just some sort of raid, is very, very hard. It took the Allies in WWII over 150,000 soldiers, over 1,000 warships, and over 4,000 dedicated landing craft to successfully take Normandy. Granted Napoleon did not have to deal with the considerably increased lethality of the more modern weapons used in WWII, but he faced two of the same big problems that the Allies were forced to go to great lengths to solve.

The first was actually landing troops. This is a lot harder than it sounds as getting troops onto solid ground from ships without a port ready to receive them is very difficult, especially if the defending side is prepared. An amphibious landing is, by definition, necessitated by the lack of said port ready and waiting. While your troops are wading onto land they are very vulnerable to enemy fire, hence why the Allies invested so much time and effort into designing dedicated landing craft.

Even if you do manage to successfully land and gain a foothold problem number two pops up, immediately. Supplies. In order to prevent your foothold from being overrun you need to bring in new troops and then the food and weapons to keep those troops fighting. This is technically an even bigger challenge as without a proper port you are really SOL here. In fact the Allies actually went to the effort of creating artificial ports to provide points where their supply ships can dock and unload. Such a feat of engineering would have been beyond 19th century technology, which means Napoleon would have been forced to seize a port in order to establish a proper supply line. Let's just say that, that would have been hard.

There was a reason the notion of invading England during WWII was something even the Germans were leery about attempting. That Napoleon supposedly managed to pull it off should have had much, much wider ramifications, including why the blazes was there even a Battle of Waterloo to begin with?

Rant over, I could go on and on about the holes in some of the 'history' in the Code Geass universe but then I'd never actually finish writing the story.

Anyway, feedback is welcome and appreciated.

Question to my French readers. I've seen several of you refer to Lelouch as Lelouche. Is that a French thing to append the silent e to his name? Or is that how the name should be spelled in French?


	43. Chapter 42

Snippet spoiler: None

 _At the center of the Keio Memorial Plaza stands three statues commemorating individuals whom dedicated their lives in some significant manner to the hospital. Two were erected shortly after the end of the Great War whereas the third of Dr. Toshihiko Kuroba was raised a year after his passing. The doctor had served as both the last director of the hospital before the fall of Japan to the Holy Britannian Empire and its first director after the hospital was brought back into formal operation by the Princess Euphemia. He was highly regarded not only for his strong sense of ethical responsibility but also his unwavering dedication to his patients, a dedication that saw him exert great effort to keep the hospital open during the interregnum that followed the Britannian invasion. Dr. Kuroba would continue serving well into his twilight years and passed away peacefully only two months after his retirement. Below his statue a plaque was also placed to commemorate the man for his ideals and his legacy._

 _Toshihiko Kuroba_

 _Doctor, MD_

 _Director of the Keio Memorial Hospital_

 _1922 CE – 1981 CE_

 _この敷居を渡る人々が自分の意志で出るまで全員私の患者です_

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 42: Aut consiliis aut ense

Heinrich's return to Keio drew as many curious looks as the last time and the nurse on duty, a different one, was just as surprised when he responded to her query in Japanese. Or perhaps she was simply surprised at the name Heinrich provided as who he was here to see. After a few moments conversing with his appointment the nurse politely asked that he wait, which Heinrich acknowledged with an amiable nod. A minute or so later a woman still in the prime of her years appeared before him.

"Stadtfeld-san," Inoue greeted with a polite bow.

Heinrich reciprocated the gesture. "Inoue-san, I presume."

"Yes. Please, follow me."

As they headed into the hospital Inoue could almost feel the older man's gaze upon her. His attention seemed rather intense and the woman found herself slightly ambivalent about it.

"It is not polite to stare, Stadtfeld-san," Inoue said in a mixture of English and Japanese conventions.

Just behind her Heinrich's lips quirked slightly. "I was but wondering what kind of woman Naoto was sweet on."

That nearly caused Inoue to miss a step but the woman managed to avoid openly staggering. "You knew about that."

"He made mention of you once or twice," Heinrich said. "No details, but the way he spoke of you was evident enough."

Inoue fell silent at that and remained so for the rest of the walk. When they arrived at their destination she nodded towards the door.

"She's waiting inside."

Heinrich nodded in turn but before he entered he regarded her once more.

"Ms. Inoue."

The woman returned his gaze levelly. This time she was able to actually witness the slight smile on Heinrich's face.

"You were there for my son. I thank you."

Inoue kept staring into Heinrich's eyes for several long seconds before she finally nodded once more.

With his piece said the baron pushed through the door and entered into the presence of another young woman. As his eyes fell upon her Heinrich let out a relieved sigh. His daughter was here. She was really here.

"Kallen," Heinrich said, his smile widening ever so.

For her part Kallen had been following her father's movements the moment she and Inoue had been notified of his arrival, meaning she also heard those few but impactful words he spoke to Inoue. That made it all the harder for her to untangle her own feelings regarding the man now standing before her. One step at a time.

"Father," Kallen responded, coolly but clearly.

Heinrich walked over to his daughter and when Kallen made no move to stay away he began giving her an up close inspection. Kallen raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing?"

Seemingly ignoring her, Heinrich hmm'ed as he looked his daughter over.

"Complexion still fair," the man remarked. "Your clothes fit well and they're not just hanging on you. No sign of any tremors." Heinrich stood back. "You seem to be in rude health."

Kallen gaped at her father for a measurable silence before finally clapping her hand over her face.

"Only you. Only you would treat our meeting like this."

Heinrich cracked a grin but after a brief moment it disappeared. He then wrapped his arms around his daughter and gave her a tight squeeze. Despite having sensed the motion Kallen's heart still skipped a beat as she was embraced. Her father's on the other hand continued steady as ever. With a sigh Kallen let her father hold her. He did not deserve her resentment, or rather not to the degree that she hated him before. That did not mean she had completely forgiven him however. As Heinrich released her she met his gaze unflinchingly.

"Mother told me, about the divorce."

Heinrich tilted his head aside. "I see."

A scowl appeared on Kallen's face. "Why didn't _you_ ever try to tell me?"

"Would you have believed me?" Heinrich responded.

"Does that matter?" Kallen countered.

Heinrich stroked his chin. "Would you have resented me less if I had told you? Or would your resentment over Naoto's death simply have shifted to your mother?"

Kallen's scowled deepened. "I'm not that capricious."

"No, you are not," Heinrich agreed, causing Kallen to look at her father pointedly. The baron chuckled and gave Kallen an affectionate rub on the head. "Hotheaded, quick-tempered, but lacking all the capriciousness one might expect of a noble daughter."

Despite herself Kallen felt her face flush. "Don't think I'm just going to forgive _you_ just because I know the truth now."

Heinrich chuckled gently. "It is a parent's duty to receive the resentment of their children, and forgive them for it."

At that Kallen felt some of her irritation subside, or rather become subsumed in a flicker of shame. Her parents really had tried their best and for all these years out of sheer stubbornness she kept trying to push them out of her life. Maybe she too was to blame for the chasm that had opened up between all of them. Something to at least ponder, though at a later time.

"We should sit down," Kallen said. "No point being uncomfortable while we talk."

Heinrich nodded and joined his daughter around the table. When seated however he waited for Kallen to speak her peace.

"You said to Kuroba-sensei that you wanted to get me out of the country," Kallen began. "You told Ohgi that you were willing to support my, dream. Which is it?"

"A little of both," Heinrich responded. "I tailored my message based on what I thought would do a better job getting the messenger to actually deliver it."

Kallen frowned. That was not exactly something that made her happy.

"But in terms of an actual answer, well, that depends on you."

Kallen's head cocked aside quizzically. "Huh?"

Heinrich crossed his legs and clasped his hands together on his knees. "Convince me that you have a plan, a real plan, for achieving your dreams, Kallen, and I will stand by you until Ragnarok itself. But if all you are doing is playing about, I _will_ drag you back to the Concessions, your little private army be damned."

Kallen found herself gaping at her father again. "You really think you could pull that off?" she said disbelievingly.

"Kallen," Heinrich said levelly. "Have you ever seen me promise something that I could not make good on?"

In actuality Kallen could not really recollect much of anything about her father's integrity or lack thereof. The steady beating of his heart and the levelness of his breathing however made clear that Heinrich at least did believe he could take her back to the Concession if the need arose. Not easily perhaps, but her father still considered it within his means. Kallen took a deep breath. There was no point in being roundabout about any of this anymore.

"I have a plan," she began. "It might not be a very good one, but I think it has a definite chance of working."

Heinrich nodded to indicate he was listening and would not interrupt.

"The government doesn't know it yet, but the Japanese Liberation Front and a big chunk of their support structure has been suborned by a foreign party, a party that intends to try to eliminate the viceroy and the marshal. To do that, they're planning an open attack on Tokyo itself."

This time Heinrich's silence was not out of politeness, the man found himself genuinely speechless, if only momentarily.

"Are they mad?"

Kallen grimaced. "Maybe so, but it doesn't matter. This party wants to see the princesses dead and it's prepared to see the entire Japanese resistance movement wrecked to achieve that goal. And when that happens, any chance we'll have of achieving our independence, or even just regaining our dignity as a people, dies. I will _not_ let that happen."

Heinrich regarded his daughter, waiting for her to explain just how she intended to prevent this.

"You already know about Akatsuki," Kallen continued. "You call it my little private army. Well, you're not wrong. There's over a thousand of us and we're entrenched in the Shinjuku district. By the end of June we'll have Shibuya and Toshima stitched up as well."

That got her father to raise an eyebrow. That of course did not mean he was satisfied yet.

"And?"

"The Akatsuki has basically been acting as a makeshift police force," Kallen said. "The Britannians still aren't providing any actual law enforcement, save outside of the immediate area around Keio and the other hospitals that they're starting to help reopen. That leaves a lot of area uncovered and even though things are getting better, there are still a lot of desperate people who think they need to steal instead of trying to ask for help. We've been busting up the rackets that were starting to form and we've also redirected those people who can change to legal, safer means of making ends meet. At this point we might as well be Shinjuku's government and the Britannians won't be able to push us aside without causing a lot of ill-feeling, something that I'm pretty sure the viceroy will be hesitant to do unless absolutely forced to. And that hesitation will give us an opportunity to, negotiate, for conditions that will restore our people's dignity and rights."

Heinrich pursed his lips. "I admit, I am impressed. And you are right, while you have a chance I would not judge it a good one, normally."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "You know something?"

"The crux of your problem is how to get the Princess Euphemia's attention and make her take you seriously, not as a potential threat that she needs to put down, but as a potential partner that she can work with and whom she would not discard at the earliest convenience."

"That's true," Kallen agreed. "Which is what the Akatsuki is for."

"Quite. But I doubt her highness knows, or can be certain at least, that you are behind Akatsuki. Even so she has been trying to get a message to you, a very discreet message at that."

"Oh?"

"The Princess Euphemia wants to meet with you, Kallen Stadtfeld, the Red Knight, in person," Heinrich explained, causing Kallen to inhale sharply.

"She told you this?"

"Directly and in private," Heinrich said with a nod.

Kallen pursed her lips. "I don't suppose she said why?"

"I was hoping you could tell me just why an imperial scion would take such a direct interest in a child of mine," Heinrich responded. "The way she approached the subject made it sound extremely sensitive, or very private. Did you somehow become entangled in the politics of the court while I was away?"

Kallen frowned as she thought it over. There was really only one thing she could think of that might have the princess so on edge as to want to meet with her directly.

"Maybe," Kallen said. "Did the princess have a suggestion as to how to manage this meeting?"

Instead of answering Heinrich spent a moment silently regarding his daughter before sighing heavily. "Would it have been too much to ask that you restricted your risk taking to only playing vigilante?"

An eyebrow rose on Kallen's face. "You're more worried about me getting entangled in court politics than getting shot at out in the ghettos?"

"Kallen," Heinrich said flatly. "The imperial court is a snake pit. The so-called game of court is a bloodbath. The nobles that move in that circle probably can't even conceive of a situation wherein someone isn't trying to knife them in the back. They literally can't not exploit any sign of what they think to be weakness. And whatever her genial countenance the Princess Euphemia is a product of that environment and is someone that was of sufficient standing to be awarded the viceroyalty of this area. That she seems to be taking such care in how she is handling you is _not_ something that I as a parent can treat lightly. In fact if she had been less forthright in trying to assure me that she would handle your situation with great care I would be much less hesitant about you trying your gambit, at least that way I could be satisfied that her highness would primarily see you as a means of achieving her political goals local to Japan, not potentially be dragging you into something involving the imperial court."

Her father had a very good point, Kallen had to admit. In fact she was also prepared to admit that she was glad to be having this chat with him. Heinrich Stadtfeld was still a peer after all and so possessed at least some direct experience of what it was like dealing with the court. That perhaps meant he could offer some insight into some other tidbits Kallen had picked up about the princess.

"Father, what do you know about the Ashfords, both before and the circumstances involving their disgrace?"

Heinrich looked at Kallen quizzically but answered nonetheless. "The Ashfords are an old family, heavily involved in the sciences and with a respectable interest in manufacturing. Their foundation was the one that perfected the control scheme for bipedal mechs which underpins the Empire's modern knightmares. They have not benefited much from their work however as it was effectively stolen from them in the aftermath of the Empress Marianne's assassination, their primary patron at court. And despite their official disgrace and loss of noble standing, Ruben is highly respected in some circles for getting his family out of that mess without losing any of them to the fallout."

Kallen nodded slowly. "What if I said that the Ashfords were reentering the fray, this time in support of the Princess Euphemia?"

"That's not difficult to infer with Ruben's appointment as her highness' chief of staff," Heinrich responded.

"True," Kallen conceded, drumming the armrest of her chair. "Alright, what if I said that the reason the Ashfords are getting back in is because they think the network that they were building with the Empress Marianne might once more become a reality, this time centered around the Prince Schneizel with the Princess Euphemia in his camp?"

The sigh from Heinrich this time could be charitably termed as merely exasperated. "And why is it that _you_ know about this, Kallen?"

Kallen smiled slightly. "Because through some strange contrivance I'm friends with Milly Ashford."

Heinrich said nothing for a minute or so as a thoughtful expression replaced his seeming exasperation. It still reverted into a frown when he began speaking once more.

"None of that explains why the princess is interested in you personally. Everything that you have told me can be inferred in some manner or another from publicly available information, so it is not as if you know something that her highness feels makes you a liability or a potential asset." The frown deepened. "Or is there something else that you know?"

There was indeed, but Kallen was not prepared to break faith with Euphemia, or Milly for that matter, to that of an extent. And besides, Nunnally had suffered enough already. Seeing the lengths that both Euphemia and Milly were going to keep their mutual little sister safe Kallen was not about to do anything that might endanger her.

"I have a few ideas," Kallen said instead, "but I can't go into much detail about them."

Heinrich muttered something under his breath that Kallen was obviously not intended to hear but did anyway thanks to her sharpened senses. "Bloody court politics."

The girl gave her father a sympathetic smile before reverting to a more business-like visage. "So, I guess it all boils down to, are you willing to help arrange a meeting with the princess?"

Heinrich's lips twisted in obvious dissatisfaction at the turn of events but he finally nodded. "I will speak with her highness and help make arrangements for a meeting on neutral ground. In fact the princess has already made the suggestion of the Keio hospital."

"I'm sure she did," Kallen said dryly before shaking herself. "Keio'll be fine, it's in the middle of Shinjuku so it's dead center of Akatsuki territory."

"Note that she made this suggestion before your little private army appeared."

Kallen chuckled dryly. "If her highness really wants to reach a peaceable resolution to the insurgency, she's going to need to learn that true dignity requires her to accept the possession of genuine power by someone other than her and her allies."

Heinrich regarded his daughter flatly. "To be frank you probably stand a better chance toppling the entire Britannian Empire than successfully teaching _that_ particular lesson to a member of the imperial court."

"Perhaps so," Kallen said solemnly, "but when I consider the blood that will be spilled in breaking the empire wholesale, I find that I cannot at least try to effect change via less costly means."

Heinrich held his hands wide in weary acceptance. "If that is your dream, then I will give you what meager support I can muster to see it become reality."

The smile that Kallen gave her father now was a genuinely grateful one, not just for his offer of support but also for the fact that they might well be reconnecting as an actual family after so long.

"Now that that is settled, there is another matter of some importance that we need to discuss," Heinrich began again.

Kallen gave her father a beady, suspicious look. The signs were there, the man was suppressing a grin quite thoroughly, but the signs _were_ there.

"What," the girl said flatly.

"It has come to my attention that you made your debut into high society while I was away in the homeland," Heinrich said. Kallen almost choked at that. "I admit some hesitation upon hearing of this, you are the Stadtfeld heir after all and so you are responsible for ensuring the continuation of the line and title, but as your father I will not brook any mere dalliance. Any man whom shall seek your attention had better be of sound character and ability and carry himself with impeccable courtesy in his courtship."

If Kallen was not too busy simply gapping at her father incredulously she likely would have been able to spare the attention to glare at the wall behind which Inoue and Ohgi were laughing their asses off as they listened in on the conversation.

"This Cole," Heinrich continued, "seems to be a respectable young man. I am familiar with both his parents and have every expectation that they were able to raise a fine son. Whether he is of sufficient caliber for me to accede to a closer intimacy between yourself and him is however an open question. As you accepted his offer to escort you to the school dance in my absence, I will therefore require of you a full, detailed report on all of that evening's happenings that were conducted in Cole's company, including any pre and post festival activities."

It took considerable effort but Kallen finally managed to get her mouth shut. She took a deep breath before giving her father an absolutely beatific smile.

"Father?"

"Yes Kallen?"

"I hate you."

* * *

"You didn't have to come all this way yourself to see me off Euphie," Cornelia said, though the smile made clear she appreciated the thought.

"I know," Euphemia responded with a smile of her own. "And I know you won't be gone for too long, but still."

Cornelia gave her sister a gentle squeeze on the shoulder to let her know she appreciated the thought. "Unfortunately some things require a personal touch, but Andreas should be more than capable of minding matters while I am away. And Margrave Gottwald has been performing his duties with admirable competence. Perhaps he is ready for greater responsibilities."

The younger girl nodded. Someone would have to take up the post of senior military officer for Area 11 after Cornelia moved onto another duty station and while as viceroy Euphemia was officially the commander-in-chief of all military forces within her domain, she was not a soldier and knew it. Ultimately Euphemia would need to select someone to replace the deceased Major-General Asprius though in all likelihood that someone would not be the margrave.

There were three other officers stationed in Area 11 that outranked Jeremiah, the two major generals that commanded the Marine and armored divisions stationed at Okinawa and Hokkaido respectively, and the brigadier general that commanded the forces in western Japan. Even assuming Jeremiah's promotion to brigadier-general was confirmed by Parliament he would still be junior to the other generals. An appointment as commanding officer of the forces stationed in the eastern part of Area 11 however would serve as a nice stepping stone for his long term advancement. Then again seeing the purpose of Cornelia's trip Euphemia might find herself in need of a replacement for the officer commanding the forces stationed in the western regions of Area 11.

"I will make sure you are kept apprised of my progress in western Area 11," Cornelia said. "If the JLF really has based themselves out there then I will root them out and put an end to this insurgency once and for all."

That was optimistic, from Euphie's perspective, not that she did not doubt her sister could crush the JLF if she set her mind to it but the notion that it would end the wider insurgency. While the JLF was the single most powerful resistance faction and its defeat would undoubtedly be demoralizing to the wider liberation movement, the others were not likely to just give up the fight simply because the JLF had fallen. Still removing the JLF from play might get some of those other factions to start seeing reason and come to the negotiating table. Victory could be achieved via means other than force of arms after all. Euphie of course said none of this aloud. Instead she simply nodded.

"I wish you swift victory, sister."

With one final squeeze of the shoulder Cornelia turned about to climb into the waiting jet with Gilbert in tow. It was only an hour flight and Cornelia intended to have plenty of daylight left to get started on her inspection tour. Once the hatch was shut Euphemia made her way back to the waiting car and it sped away towards the base's exit. As they crossed the threshold Euphemia noted the saluting guards and, down the block Suzaku seated at a café with another man. Before Euphemia's eyes could focus on whomever was sharing a meal with the private her cellphone rang. The girl pulled it out, paying the outside scenery no more mind as she answered.

"Yes?"

"Your highness, Baron Stadtfeld is calling and requesting to speak with you."

Euphemia's eyes narrowed. "Please put him through."

"Yes your highness."

The line went silent before a click sounded.

"Baron," Euphemia said once the connection was made.

"Your highness," Baron Heinrich Stadtfeld responded courteously. "My daughter has recovered sufficiently that she can entertain a visit. Shall we see upon a mutually agreeable time and place?"

Euphie's expression remained impassive, out of habit rather than any desire or need to hide her reaction seeing as no one was here to see it. Inside her however the young woman felt a rapid anticipation that had only occurred a few times in the past.

"Yes, that would be desirable," the girl answered with remarkable poise. "Out of consideration for Kallen's health should we arrange for the meeting to take place somewhere medical assistance can be on hand?"

"An acceptable proposal. When in your schedule do you expect to have a sufficient opening to make the appearance?"

A good question. Then again perhaps this was an opportunity to kill multiple birds with a single stone. Assuming of course the brigadier did not do some killing of his own once he found out about this.

"I have been meaning to schedule an appearance at Keio to demonstrate my support and express my gratitude to the people who have worked so tirelessly to restore the hospital," Euphemia said. "I believe a week should be sufficient to allow for the, security arrangements, that will satisfy the captain of my guard. A specific time can be worked out once I have had a chance to coordinate with the relevant parties."

"Very well your highness, I shall pass on the news to Kallen."

"Thank you baron. I sincerely appreciate your cooperation in this matter."

"We shall see the extent of our respective appreciation in time, your highness," Heinrich said before hanging up.

Euphemia allowed herself a slight smile. Brusque as ever despite his formal politeness. It was a remarkable breath of fresh air relative to the stifling formalism and doubletalk that permeated the court. The smile disappeared. Kallen was willing to speak with her. Assuming the baron was telling the truth, and Euphie found it hard to believe that he would try something so blatant as to lie about it, she would finally have the chance to settle things with the older girl and maybe, just maybe get closer to the truth regarding the Empress Marianne. The princess began dialing another number. There was work to be done.

* * *

Lelouch gazed out at the roiling ocean, hands clasped behind his back. The expression on his face was serene and composed, with just a hint of apprehension. Few who did not intimately know the young man would have picked up on it though. Charlotte on the other hand had little difficulty in doing so.

"All the pieces are in place," the young woman said. "Come Friday the viceroy will visit Keio and the JLF will launch its attack. While it is unfortunate that the Princess Cornelia will not be in the city, our chances of removing the Princess Euphemia is at least favorable."

Lelouch nodded but said nothing. With a slight sigh Charlotte wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned against his back. To this Lelouch at least took hold of one of her hands and gave it a squeeze. Still he said nothing.

"You seek to create a new world, Lelouch," Charlotte said softly into his ear. "That does not come without cost. But know that whatever cost you may find yourself paying, I will always be at your side."

The edge of Lelouch's lips twitched before he raised Charlotte's hand to press it against them.

"I find myself wondering," he finally spoke. "What could have been. What if my mother and sister were not murdered and I remained a son of Britannia? What if I truly had died with them instead of it being simply a lie to hide my survival."

Charlotte tightened her grip on Lelouch. "Think not on things that would have seen us never meet, Lelouch. Remember instead all that you have given me. Given us."

Lelouch turned about and met Charlotte's gaze with his own. He then placed another gentle kiss on her hand.

"I remember. And I would not seek to escape my pain by losing what you have given me."

Charlotte smiled warmly before leaning in and giving Lelouch a light kiss. "You are my light, Lelouch. And I will be yours no matter how dark a path you tread."

Lelouch continued regarding Charlotte for a few moments longer before smiling and nodding. And then he assumed the cold façade of a SDECE operative.

"André should be able to handle everything else," Lelouch said. "By the time the JLF attack begins we should be well on our way back to Paris."

"Via Vladivostok and the Trans-Siberian Railroad," Charlotte said with a nod before sighing. "That's going to be a long train ride."

Lelouch chuckled as he wrapped an arm around Charlotte's waist. "Well I suppose we will just need to find some way to entertain ourselves."

Charlotte sighed in feigned exasperation. "Lelouch, you pervert."

* * *

The first official visit to the Keio University Medical Campus by the Princess Euphemia li Britannia was widely regarded as a momentous event. For the residents of the Shinjuku ghetto it was a sign of the viceroy's dedication to the continued renewal of their homes. For likeminded reformists in the Britannian government it was a testament to the progress that had been made since her highness' appointment. There were others that viewed the visit in a less favorable light, of course. Extremists existed on both sides that for their own reasons did not wish for an improvement to the lot of the Japanese people under Britannian rule. Then there were those whose irritation were more grounded.

Jonathan Eyre, newly confirmed to the rank of brigadier-general by Parliament, tried to keep his annoyance in check. He tried to remind himself that the security situation in Shinjuku was considerably improved compared to even when he first arrived in Area 11. He also tried to take heart in the two companies of infantry that had been seconded to his command for the duration of the princess' visit. Granted they were both from the 100th infantry battalion, but Jonathan did not have any reason to doubt their basic competence and loyalty. Then there were the three squads of armsmen present forming a core guard around her highness. Nevertheless Jonathan found that the headache that had begun when his liege first made known her intention to carry out this visit had yet to abate. Something told the general that that would remain the case until her highness was safely back in the viceroy's palace. There were times when the stress that came from signing on with an active royal was abundantly clear.

The general himself was ensconced inside an armored command vehicle, allowing him to keep tabs on the operation of keeping the princess safe and also keeping up to date with intelligence from the rest of the military command net. As it was things seemed remarkably calm in the rest of the city, as if all of the usual troublemakers and rabble-rousers had decided to pack it in for the day. That seemed a little too convenient from Jonathan's perspective but he would leave dealing with the bigger picture to someone with fancier epaulets. Besides, Lieutenant-General Andreas Darlton seemed a perfectly competent and capable officer.

"Her highness has arrived," the report came in.

Jonathan turned his towards the video feed that was now tracking the princess' armored limousine rolling onto the campus grounds. The man grimaced. And now for the tricky part. The general frowned. There were a lot of people with red armbands scattered around. Akatsuki, supposedly some sort of community watch, more likely a cover organization for an insurgent faction. That they were openly declaring their presence was both reassuring and worrying. Reassuring seeing as if they did make their move the Empire would have an unambiguous target for retaliation, which suggested their open presence was meant to indicate that they were not planning anything untoward. Worrying nonetheless as it implied a level of confidence on their part in their ability to move so openly. Time would tell to what extent the general's concerns would play out and whether he had done a good enough job.

* * *

As Euphemia stepped out of the limo she was greeted by a deafening cheer. The young woman smiled and waved to the crowd and received a response as enthusiastic as their initial greeting. It looked like the effort to set all this up had been worth it, even the long and arduous, discussion, with her sister after Cornelia was informed about Euphie's plans. Her sister had been emphatically unhappy about it and spent a good hour or so trying to talk Euphie out of carrying through with it. Bad enough she was going into the wards like this but to also hold a meeting with a known insurgent in the backdrop? It was a wonder Cornelia had not insisted on returning to personally oversee Euphie's security detail, regardless of how much of a snub that would be to General Eyre.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, it really depended on one's perspective, events were unfolding that demanded Cornelia's attention be fixed solely on western Area 11. The supposed joint military exercise being conducted by the European Union, or at least its Russian member, and the Chinese Federation had gotten under way. While it was highly unlikely that the two were planning on using the exercise to stage some sort of attack on Area 11 the possibility could not be discounted, especially with the concurrent exercises happening in and around Turkey. Said exercises were the largest deployment of European forces ever, likely intended to soothe the European populace about the threat of future encroachment by Britannia. Just how well it would achieve that was an open question though the EU military was undoubtedly at least getting in a chance to test doctrine and policies, which could be useful in and of itself.

Euphemia pushed those thoughts aside. Right now she had more immediate concerns to attend to. With a radiant smile she stepped forward to greet the waiting Keio staff. At their head was Dr. Kuroba, the man she had heard much about and even spoken to a few times. The doctor bowed deeply.

"Your highness, it is an honor to finally meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine doctor," Euphemia responded with a slight tilt of her form. "I thank you for all the hard work you have put into restoring the hospital to its rightful state."

"It is I whom should be thanking you, your highness," Kuroba said, "for your support in making it all possible."

Euphemia accepted the gratitude with a nod. "Well then, shall we?"

"Of course your highness," the doctor said.

The princess began making her way to the entrance of the main building. It still looked somewhat rundown but the blemishes were mostly cosmetic. Certainly all of the visible windows were whole and looked to obviously have been replaced recently. And then there were the faces that lined up on both sides of the path. Faces on the whole filled with smiles and hopeful gazes. As Euphemia came to the entrance she turned and regarded the crowd quietly. The noise started dying down until everyone was waiting with bated breath for the princess' words. She did not disappoint.

"The past is immutable, the losses and pain that we each experience leaves an indelible mark on those of us left behind," Euphemia began solemnly. "I will not ask any of you to forgive or forget those scars, to do so is an insult to the perseverance through which you have endured and the dignity by which you have born them."

Nods and a few grunts sounded from the crowds but most remained silent, drinking in the princess' words. Most could make out the underlying subtext and this was literally as close of an acknowledgment of the Empire's brutality as any high ranking Britannian official had ever given. There was still no apology, and some would not be satisfied even if one was given, but for others they saw a glimmer of hope in these words.

"A ruler is a steward of her people," Euphemia continued, "and a steward is only fit to rule if her people's needs are seen to. It is not merely a matter of food and shelter, but also in a people's need for a sense of self-worth, of dignity." The princess took a deep breath. "It is a need that should have never been denied, and one that I hope the fulfillment of will be accepted by the Japanese people."

The plaza went deathly silent, not even the rumble of engines and the whistle of wind seemed to penetrate the hearing of the men and women present. Here and there a child made a noise to get the attention of their stunned caregivers but even the reactions that elicited was more instinctual than actually conscious. Never, not once since the occupation of Japan and its transformation into Area 11, had any Britannian official referred to this land's people as Japanese. They were always Elevens, or at best former Japanese, and those that did let slip the term accidentally would always correct themselves and even apologize for the mistake. But now Princess Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess and fourth in line to the throne, Viceroy of Area 11, had called the people Japanese intentionally and without any ambiguity as to the intent behind that word. It took a while for the implications to fully sink in. When it did, the crowd outside Keio erupted once more in thundering cheers and applause.

Euphemia gave the crowd a beaming smile and a wave before turning and nodding to Kuroba. The doctor returned it with a wide smile of his own and held out an arm to invite the princess into the hospital. The cheers were still going even as the doors closed. The mood however remained jubilant and people began chatting excitedly to one another about the possible implications of the viceroy's address. Hope, they had all come here in hope. None had expected to be coming away with an even greater sense of it.

The tour through the hospital itself went smoothly. Euphemia was introduced to the many doctors and nurses that once again staffed it, ranging from the Japanese practitioners to the Britannian military medical personnel that were still here to provide support. With Colonel Frasier having arrived earlier to make sure everything was in order the princess found no cause for complaint or critique. Problems of course still abound, including the group of patients that were effectively prisoners due to their refusal to swear oaths to the Empire and become Honorary Britannians, but the purpose of Euphemia's visit this day was not to resolve such issues and so everyone involved tactfully avoided bringing it up.

Come lunch time the princess joined the staff for a meal in the hospital cafeteria and was offered a traditional meal of tonkatsu. While the armsmen trailing her might have looked askance Euphemia did not let their reservations prevent those that wished to approach her from doing so and the princess was surrounded by dozens of patients and hospital staff. The one concession made to security considerations was Colonel Frasier and Lieutenant Blanche being the ones seated on the immediate flanks of the princess with Kuroba across from her and the armsmen positioned right behind. After lunch Euphemia was introduced to Naomi Inoue. Here Kuroba and Samantha excused themselves to return to their duties, leaving Euphemia in the woman's care for touring of the backend infrastructure that kept the hospital running. The princess tried to steady her heart. The moment of truth was at hand.

"I never had a chance to express my gratitude for your assistance in the Refrain matter," Euphemia said once they were, relatively, alone. "Thank you, Ms. Inoue."

"It was my pleasure your highness," Inoue responded. "Such poison needed removing from the streets and I am glad to have played my part."

It was a very substantial part if what Euphemia inferred from the intelligence provided by Inoue herself was all correct. Still the woman seemed to have a clear sense of priority and a willingness to work with Britannian interests when they aligned with her own. That would make her easier to deal with than the hardcore ideologues at the least, especially if some arrangement was reached between herself and Kallen.

The group reached an out of the way office that was in a surprisingly empty hallway with only one person, an obvious guard wearing a red armband, standing watch. The trio of armsmen that were accompanying Euphemia today were all fairly tense. When Inoue opened a door and gestured for them to enter one of the soldiers stepped in first and gave the entire place a thorough scan. Only after he was satisfied that there were no unpleasant surprises lying in wait did he nod.

"Clear."

Inoue rolled her eyes and Euphemia found herself almost chuckling in amusement. Then again that would not have been very polite to the men and women sworn to defend her life with their own if need be so the princess kept her own reaction limited to a slight smile before following into the room. Waiting on the other side was a red haired young woman wearing a flak jacket with a large combat knife strapped to it but otherwise seemingly unarmed. The presence of the blade was sufficient to draw wary glances from the armsmen.

The door closed behind Inoue as she too entered and walked over to Kallen's side. One of Euphemia's own guards had remained outside, leaving the princess with two armsmen at her side. The princess gave Kallen a mostly genuine smile in greeting.

"Kallen. I'm glad to see you are well."

"Your highness," Kallen responded politely albeit curtly. Gone was even the feigned courtesy the older girl used to address her with.

The princess's lips quirked slightly. "Cole has been asking after you, quite insistently. I hope you appreciate the effort it has taken to reassure him of your status without eliciting alarm."

At that Kallen frowned before nodding. "Please pass on my apologies to him. And my regret that I could not accept his invitation."

Euphemia raised an eyebrow. Cole had made no mention of any sort of invitation to her, though then again that was likely a detail that would not have mattered.

"Perhaps you will be able to apologize to him in person," Euphemia said instead. "And even accept his invitation."

Kallen regarded the princess levelly. "So you think the two of us can cut some sort of deal."

"I sincerely hope so."

"Yet when last we discussed Britannia's conduct towards its conquered subjects the impression you gave was one that saw nothing wrong with how the Empire robbed other peoples of their dignity and prosperity."

Euphemia pursed her lips. "Would you believe that that was a test to gauge your own character?"

Kallen snorted. "Would _you_?"

"I hope you understand, Kallen, that such views are still fairly rare amongst the peerage," Euphemia responded. "And in the past there have been those who falsely espoused it in order to advance their own political agenda. As a princess of the realm I must take care to not allow such persons to gain my confidence."

"And is that because of the harm they might do to the Empire at large," Kallen's eyes narrowed, "or the danger they pose to your own personal station?"

There was that point again, Euphemia mused. "You believe I am too concerned with personal power?"

"I believe you don't see the inherent dangers of concentrating power."

Euphemia frowned. "And what is the alternative? A dispersal of power that sees competing interests constantly fighting amongst themselves to protect their own interests? That is exactly the state of the Britannian court right now and it fuels the abuses suffered by many of the Empire's subjects."

Kallen scowled. "Would the court be able to subject people to such abuses if power was not so concentrated within it?"

"Would that result in anything besides the bloody politics of the court enacted on a nationwide scale?" Euphemia countered.

"Is any change possible at all if your own mentality remains one that interprets any difference of interest as a direct personal threat?"

Euphemia blinked at the statement. "I do not consider myself to hold this mentality."

"But you do," Kallen said forcefully. "The only time you accept an assertion of power and authority not on your own terms is when the power possessed by the other eclipses your own. And your immediate reaction to such an occurrence is to plot how to gather more power so that in the future you can be the one that dictates terms."

Euphemia's eyes narrowed. "That is contradictory. Why should I accept imposition of terms by others when you yourself indicate that is your primary objection to my conduct?"

"Because if you can show yourself able to accept such limits to your own authority, then I can have confidence that you will respect my rights and dignity as a fellow human being to wield such authority."

A very confused look was now on Euphemia's expression. The princess massaged her temples.

"That, makes no sense at all."

"Begging your highness' pardon," Inoue spoke up, "but your inability to grasp that point is at the root of the conflict between our peoples."

Euphemia's gaze shifted over to Inoue. "And exactly what point is it that you are trying to make? That a paradox provides the answer to resolving the conflict here in Japan?"

Inoue smiled sadly. "Humans are not logical creatures, your highness. We have conflicting impulses that drive our decision making process and it is only in reconciling them that we are able to function in society as anything but a sociopath." Her expression hardened. "And right now the manner in which the Britannian court conducts itself can be regarded as borderline if not outright sociopathic in its obsessive drive to accrue power."

The two armsmen stiffened at the subtle slight against their liege. They had enough self-control however to let the princess to decide for herself whether to take offense.

"You would include me in that court," Euphemia said.

"You are a formal member," Inoue responded.

The princess rubbed her chin pensively. "So this is a matter of trust, you are not certain I would keep to any agreement struck today."

Kallen and Inoue exchanged looks.

"That's the thing," Kallen said. "We do trust that you'll stick with anything you'll give your word on. The problem is, are you keeping your word because you believe in the whatever bargain we strike, or are you doing it solely for your own personal self-satisfaction?"

Euphemia stared at Kallen, her body stilled and her mind echoing those last two words. Self-satisfaction. That was the same charge she had levied against Suzaku not so long ago and it was now being laid against her. And in so being charged Euphemia finally grasped a hint of just what Kallen and Inoue had been trying to get at in their previous statements regarding power. The princess took a deep breath.

"A too self-absorbed mentality possesses considerable danger, for not only the person herself but for those around her, all without that person realizing it. I believe I begin to understand your concern, just as I believe a gap yet remains in that understanding." The princess's gaze swept across Kallen and Inoue. "Nevertheless I do and will continue to take pride in the honor of my word, a pride that I do not judge to be wrong."

Once more the other two women exchanged glances before Inoue cracked a slight smile and nodded. Kallen returned it before facing Euphemia again.

"It seems I have been somewhat discourteous thus far. Why don't we have a seat while we, discuss, a mutually beneficial resolution to our differences."

Euphemia smiled and gave the other girl a nod. "Yes, let's."

The mood seemed to lighten slightly as all three sat down even though there was likely to be plenty of contention and hard bargaining yet.

"So," Euphemia said as she clasped her hands before her. "I presume you have terms you wish to ask for and something to offer me in exchange for my agreement."

"Indeed," Kallen said. "And don't worry, I'm not going to ask for the impossible like having Britannia withdraw from Japan."

Euphemia acknowledged the major concession that represented with a solemn nod. "Then please, allow me to hear them."

Kallen took a deep breath. "The bottom line is, we want equal treatment of the Japanese people. No legal restrictions that full Britannians are not themselves subject to, and the same right to participation in government."

The princess gave Kallen a level look. "You understand that it is actually not within my power to grant you this."

"It is, and it is not," Inoue said, drawing the princess' attention to her. "Most of the policies that institutionalize discrimination within the Empire is a direct product of the central government, and for that matter, the crown. Your highness however possesses extraordinary leeway as viceroy to set your own policies in the Area you govern. As such in fact you could decline to enforce the laws that place limits on our freedoms."

Euphemia raised an eyebrow. "That hardly seems a long term solution, nor does it account for the possibility that I might be recalled if I pursue such a course of action."

"And how politically feasible would it be for the emperor to recall you after you bring an end to the Japanese Liberation Front?" Kallen said.

Euphemia's eyes narrowed as she looked back over at Kallen. "You are willing to sell out your fellow insurgents?"

"There have been developments that have transformed the JLF into a threat to our dream of freedom instead of a vanguard," Kallen said flatly.

The princess blinked. "What?"

"The attack on Ashford," Kallen said darkly. "It was orchestrated by the French Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage, whom have also set the JLF on a course that would destroy any hope for peace in Japan."

Euphemia said nothing for a minute or so, her mind racing with all of the calculating process her geass granted her. The Ashford attack had been carried out using a modern anti-tank missile. If the JLF was receiving more of such weapons, combined with the knightmares that they were supposed to possess already, then they could actually present a measurable challenge to the Britannian military. And if an open rebellion erupted in Area 11 then her standing at court would suffer significant harm unless it was crushed very quickly and thoroughly. It would also make it extremely difficult to press forward with even the limited program of reforms she was pursuing now, unless there were extenuating circumstances involved, circumstances such as the defeat of the JLF having been made possible by a more moderate resistance faction.

"There is considerable risk to your proposed course of action."

Kallen smirked. "Audentes fortuna iuvat."

Euphemia tried not to roll her eyes at that figure of speech. Still there was a certain degree of truth to that overused phrase.

"I can see the ways in which such an agreement would benefit all sides," Euphemia answered. "Whatever the opinions of some of the more conservative peers, I consider it shameful that the Empire stifles so many of its subjects." The woman allowed a slight smile. "I am sure that my belief in the greater glory the Empire could achieve if it better employed its subjects is not the type of goal you and your backers are aiming for, but I think we can both agree that uplifting the conditions of all peoples currently designated Numbers is a point of mutual agreement."

Kallen and Inoue nodded. There was no point pretending all of their goals aligned with that of the viceroy's.

"I am prepared to extend my reforms to the level necessary to allow for equal treatment of the Japanese people," Euphemia continued. "You understand however that my authority ends at the boundaries of Area 11."

"We know," Kallen said. "That's why it's in our best interest that we offer you as strong of support as we can muster, so that your standing is such that you are positioned to effect greater reform once the, matter of succession plays out."

The look on Euphemia's face shifted to a wary caution. "Have a care, Kallen, on the lengths you believe I am prepared to go for an agreement between us."

"It is no further than I expect you to be going already," Kallen responded. "You are after all firmly in the Prince Schneizel's camp, are you not?"

The princess stared at Kallen, a hard light in her eyes. Kallen returned the gaze with her own icy gaze.

"I did not know your ambitions reached such heights as to dabble directly in court politics," Euphemia remarked dryly.

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly do you propose I support you without getting so entangled?"

A beat followed. "Point," the princess conceded. "But if you intend to offer me such support I expect that support to be total. You and I may disagree from time to time but I will expect you to never attempt to undermine a policy or course of action that I have decided upon."

"So long as you understand that if you do end up doing something I absolutely cannot countenance I will hold nothing back in stopping you," Kallen responded, before amending, "your highness."

Euphemia smiled thinly at the older girl. "I shall bear that in mind, Lady Stadtfeld."

Kallen snorted and leaned back into her chair. They were slowly coming to a consensus, no matter how fractious it was.

"Now then, would you say that we have reached an agreement on the high level points?" Euphemia asked.

Kallen nodded. "You agree to restore the rights of my people, we help you solidify your political position."

"Hmm, I suppose that does sum it up, albeit crassly," the princess said. "Then allow us to move onto a more immediate concern. What can you tell me about the JLF and their SDECE allies?"

This was it, Kallen thought. Once they revealed what they knew about the JLF they would be expending one of their biggest bargaining chips.

"Before I go into that your highness, your word that you will see my people's rights restored."

"You have it," Euphemia said unflinchingly. "I, Euphemia li Britannia, do swear that I shall employ whatever measures will be necessary to grant to the Japanese people standing equal to that of my Britannian subjects."

Kallen nodded slowly, satisfied with the promise. The princess had not even added any qualifiers or requirements that Kallen herself uphold her end of the deal. Euphemia really did seem confident in the value of her word.

"The SDECE has managed to convince the JLF to launch a direct attack on the Tokyo Concession," Kallen began. "In support of the attack the French have been smuggling a lot of modern weapons into the country."

Euphemia grimaced and Kallen noted the tightening of jaws on the two armsmen behind the princess.

"Do you know when this attack will take place?"

"Soon," Kallen said. "We don't know the exact timetable, but the fact that the military managed to bust one of the factories they used for knightmare maintenance, well, they've got to be feeling the pressure now."

Not as helpful as Euphemia could have wished for, but it was evident there was much more information yet to be shared.

"What of the SDECE operatives themselves?" Euphemia asked.

"There are three of them," Inoue took that one. "They seem to be led by a captain by the name of André Devigny. The other two are lieutenants and are probably the ones carrying out any necessary field work. One of them, Charlotte Dunois, was responsible for infiltrating Ashford and we believe signaling the attack on the school. The other is a young man named Lelouch Lamperouge, who-"

"What!?"

The outburst from the princess caught not only Kallen and Inoue by surprise as even the two armsmen looked over at Eupehmia. And then the world exploded about them a massive blast slammed into the room and threw everyone to the ground. Kallen's geass flared and she saw in minute detail the explosion that was ripping apart the hospital. She also saw the source, a large missile that was even now being followed up by two more of similar size. Their detonations tore through the already badly damaged structure and an inferno threatened to engulf the entire room. Kallen scrambled over to the princess and pushed both of them through a crack in the floor. The boom that sounded blanked out any other sound and Kallen's ears were still ringing as the girl coughed from the smoke and dust.

With great effort Kallen pulled herself up, looking about to confirm where she was. Euphemia lay at her side, her form still save for the slight rise and fall of her chest. She was still alive despite the blood pooling at her head.

"Hel," Kallen cursed, ripping a piece of her sleeve off and tying it around the other girl's head. "C'mon princess, don't you dare die now!"

Kallen scanned her surroundings again and grimaced. The two armsmen that had accompanied the princess were gone, one having been caught in the blast and the other thoroughly perforated by the shrapnel. Kallen froze. Her chest tightened until all air was forced out. The girl threw herself up and over to where Inoue lay.

"Inoue!"

The Japanese woman coughed, a splattering of blood staining her lips. One hand rested on the steel beam protruding from her stomach.

"Kallen," she whispered. "The princess."

"She's fine, worry about yourself," Kallen snapped. "Oh Hel, hang on, we need to get that out of you now!"

"No," Inoue said before another violent cough interrupted her. "No, get the princess out of here. This, someone wants her dead, wants all of us dead. You have to get her out of here."

"Not without you!" Kallen screamed.

An arm shot out and grabbed hold of Kallen's shoulder. Inoue gave the girl a pained smile.

"Listen Kallen, this isn't about me, or you, or even the princess. It's about our people, about giving them a chance again. If her highness dies, that chance is gone, maybe forever. You _cannot_ let that happen, you hear me?"

Tears were now muddling Kallen's gaze as she took hold of Inoue's hand and gave it a tight squeeze.

"Please," the girl pled. "Not you too."

Inoue tried to smile again. "I'm proud of you Kallen. You were a wonderful little sister, and I see in you not just Naoto's fire, but also his heart. So please, for him, and for me. See our dream through."

Kallen ran a sleeve across her face, trying to wipe away her tears. More simply flooded out to replace them. With great effort however she nodded.

"I promise, I'll make sure our people are free."

Inoue nodded, her grip loosening as her arm went limp. "Thank you."

With one last pained glance Kallen hurried back over to the princess. With great care she picked Euphemia up and made for the gaps in the burning walls.

Despite the heat the flames should have given off Inoue felt a cold numbness start to take her. With Kallen out of sight she began shedding tears of her own.

"Did I do good, Naoto?" Inoue whispered.

To the woman's immense surprise, she received an answer.

End of Chapter 42

I do believe this would be called a wham episode. Not that none of you didn't see this coming considering how much foreshadowing I've been doing, but I would like to think that we've now undergone a noticeable shift. I don't quite know how many chapters the Battle of Tokyo will take. I currently have it gauged for two to three, but it there are a lot of factors at play. The timing is also going to get very interesting as I'm not sure I'll be able to do a purely linear sequence while shifting between the different perspectives. We might end up shifting back and forth in time just so that I can provide longer pieces from a single perspective, we'll see.

In theory I could have split this into two separate chapters, we're pushing 10k words in this chapter alone and I actually did have material I could have used to pad out the remaining 2k each separate chapter would have required. I decided not to because I'm getting mildly sick of all of the setup work that's been happening the past, seven or so chapters. Considering the story thus far has 42 chapters plus a prologue, having eight or nine chapters just for the immediate run up to the Black Rebellion would have seen me spend basically a fifth of the entire story on just that. My level of endurance is not that high. Maybe in a remaster I will add in all the stuff I've cut.

I'm sure there will be some of you unhappy with me killing off Inoue. On a personal level I enjoyed writing her and I'll miss her as a character. Her death was something I thought about at length, including whether I wanted to kill her off at all and what form her death should take. In some respects this death was a lot cleaner than some of the other possibilities. Ultimately though I decided that she had fulfilled her purpose and her death would be more useful to me than her continuing to play in her current role. And as has been pretty obvious, she will not be the last named character killed off, not by a long shot.

We will now be moving into what I'd like to call, the story proper. We are now finally done with setup and going into the wider story that truly tells the tale of how Euphemia became empress. There is going to be a very high body count by the time I'm done.

A bit of a multilingual bonus for those of you who know Japanese. It's been awhile so while I'm fairly certain the grammar is correct and the overall statement is coherent, a native speaker could probably come up with something that sounds more formal.

One of the reviews last chapter made me laugh. Yes, the buildup has taken quite a bit of time but ultimately this was the absolute minimum I considered to need to have happened to get us to this point in the story. There are in fact a few scenes that I ultimately cut because I didn't have the energy/will to write them. One of them involved an anti-Britannian protest/riot at Keio. Another would have involved Cole. Maybe in the remaster.

I generally try to answer all questions in the reviews. If I don't, it's almost always because I forget about the question when writing the author notes. Seeing as sometimes I'm writing said notes at like 1 or 2AM in the morning, I think that's not surprising.

Anyway, I'm pretty open with the fact that I'm borrowing characters from other franchises. If you think you recognize a character from another franchise, you can pretty much assume that yes, it is the character you are thinking of. In the rare cases where a reader's inference is incorrect I will generally make a point of correcting it in these notes.

Code Geass is not what I would consider to be a character driven story. The characters were changed and forced into whatever roles the plot dictated needed filling. Therefore there is not really an answer to the question of, how would the plot have changed if the characters had been portrayed more realistically. The point of the characters in the canon anime was to support the plot and to fulfill that role there was no room for the characters to have any influence that would have changed how events ultimately unfolded.

I look forward to the, strong, opinions regarding the turn of events.


	44. Chapter 43

Snippet spoiler: This is not a spoiler

 _The other two statues commemorated individuals whose lives were lost in the opening stage of the Great War, whose deaths would have a lasting impact on not only Japan but the Empire at large. One was of a remarkable woman, often regarded as a sister figure and the invisible hand that helped ensure the Keio hospital remained operational during the desperate times that followed the Britannian invasion. Few could find fault in her compassion and none her dedication. Her loss was an especially painful blow to the close knit community of the hospital and unequivocally set many whom knew and loved her against the JLF and those insurgent factions that supported its attack on Tokyo. This was likely not the legacy Naomi Inoue intended but her death helped set the stage for a reconciliation between her people and the Holy Britannian Empire._

 _井上直美_

 _暁_

 _Fallen on the 15_ _th_ _Day of June in the year 1962 CE_

 _これだけが表せなれば私は十分な冒険を足りなかった_

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 43: Praemia virtutis honores

"Weapons hold, weapons hold!" Jonathan shouted into his radio. "All units acknowledge, weapons hold!"

Even as those acknowledgements came in, mercifully promptly at that, Jonathan was busy issuing additional orders.

"Spotters, where the Hel did those missiles come from!"

"Due north from here sir!" a voice reported. "Out of LOS!"

Jonathan allowed himself a single expletive before getting back to business. "Is her highness' beacon still functional?"

"Yes sir, and it's, moving," an operator reported.

The general did not quite breathe a sigh of relief just yet. Nothing said the princess was moving under her own volition right now, especially after an attack like that.

"Eagle to nest," Jonathan spoke rapidly into a different channel altogether. "Attack on Keio, Heart missing, requesting reinforcements."

While Jonathan could not see it the general knew that his call would send those receiving it into a flurry of activity. The speed of the response was proof of that.

"General, this is Major Nu, the response team is gearing up, ETA ten minutes."

Jonathan nodded to himself. "Weapons hold coming in Dame Nu, we have civilians and potential friendlies here."

"Yes sir," Villetta acknowledged.

That done Jonathan switched channels again. "MacArthur Central, this is Eyre, I need my command net patched into eyes in the sky."

"General, this is Central, MacArthur just got hit by a bunch of missiles, our runway is trashed, no air assets can be deployed."

That was not the response Jonathan wanted but he knew better than to take it out on the operator.

"General Eyre," another voice cut in, "this is MacArthur Actual. Is her highness secure?"

"Negative," Jonathan responded. "I've got men trying to get through the rubble to find her but I have no way of knowing if there might be follow up attacks."

"Understood," Darlton said. "I am dispatching ground forces to your position now, I leave their deployment at your discretion."

"Thank you general-"

"Sir, her highness!"

Jonathan's head snapped up and on one of the video feeds he could make out a harrowed looking red haired girl emerging from the burning wreckage of the side building. In her arms was the slumped over form of the princess.

"General, need to go, will update later," Jonathan signed off quickly and stormed out of the command trailer.

By the time he reached them a crowd of soldiers and those ostensible civilians with red armbands had already formed a cordon around the two women. A Britannian army nurse was checking the highness' vitals and began shouting orders.

"Stretcher, now!" Helena cried.

Two combat medics were immediately by her side and lifted the princess gently onto the stretcher before hurrying off with the lieutenant right beside. The red haired girl watched after them, her form shaking from not shock or fear but pure rage. Jonathan turned to her.

"You would be the Red Knight," he said.

Kallen nodded brusquely. "I am."

The general regarded her carefully. The girl's face was covered with soot and scrapes, her hair was a disheveled mess. There was little doubt that she had just barely survived the destruction of the building behind them. In doing so however she had also saved Jonathan's charge. The general bowed.

"I thank you for coming to her highness' aid not once but twice now." Jonathan straightened and stared Kallen in the eye. "Now, can you tell me what the Hel is going on."

Kallen's jaws tightened and her teeth appeared in a ferocious growl. "The JLF just tried to murder me and the princess. And they _did_ murder Inoue."

Gasps sounded from the other Akatsuki standing by the two and Jonathan took a moment to dig up that name from his memory. Naomi Inoue, officially maintenance chief for the Keio hospital but also obviously an insurgent herself, though one of the more moderate ones. Apparently she was also personally close to the Red Knight. Jonathan glanced back at the burning building.

"The others?" he asked softly.

The anger left Kallen's visage just long enough for the girl to shake her head softly. "I'm sorry general."

Jonathan's own jaw clenched. He had known when he recruited them that blood might well be shed in their service. It made it no easier to lose them however.

"Kallen!"

The general and girl both turned their heads towards the source of the voice. Ohgi pushed his way through, heedless of the guns that were starting to rise.

"Weapons hold!" Jonathan snapped again.

The soldiers hesitated and their weapons rose no higher.

"Kallen," Ohgi said, panting as he got to the girl's side. "We've got reports from the perimeter, lots of inbound, knightmares, infantry, all headed towards the Concession, and towards us."

Jonathan's eyes widened while Kallen's narrowed. The woman turned towards the general.

"General," the girl began. "Before the attack her highness and I had come to an agreement, one where she would restore to my people what was stolen from them since the Britannian occupation. In exchange I would help her end the threat the JLF presented, both to her own rule and to peace in Japan. I am still willing to fulfill my side of the bargain. Are you willing to let me?"

Jonathan regarded the girl, no, woman, intently. The princess had described in broad terms what she expected the Red Knight to ask of her though her highness had not been able to determine what would be offered her in return. And while he was dubious regarding the wisdom of his liege accepting the help of one group of insurgents to fight another group he could see her rationale. This group after all did not seem dead set on butchering their own fellows to get at the Britannian leadership.

"I will act in accordance to what I believe is my liege's will, Lady Stadtfeld," Jonathan said. "I will defend her, and all those she considers her subjects." The general allowed the barest of a smile to creep onto his face. "And I will welcome the aid of those who feel similarly."

Kallen's own smile was far more ferocious. She turned to Ohgi.

"ETA?"

"Half an hour tops," the man said. "They have to work their way through the city but they're moving pretty quickly."

Jonathan was only half listening to the man's report as he began providing the update he promised to central.

"This is Eyre, Princess Euphemia has been secured. I am declaring Akatsuki to be friendlies, do _not_ engage Japanese forces wearing red armbands, I repeat, Akatsuki are friendlies."

"General Eyre, this is Darlton, what is going on down there?"

Not surprising for an officer of his caliber, Andreas was quick off the beat.

"General, the purpose of her highness' visit to Keio was to negotiate with the Red Knight to come to a peaceable resolution to the conflict between the Red Knight's faction of the Japanese insurgency and the Britannian government," Jonathan explained quickly. "An agreement was reached, but we have JLF forces opposed to such a resolution moving on our position."

That took even Andreas a few seconds to digest and in the meantime Jonathan listened in on the briefing Ohgi was giving. The man grimaced.

"General," Jonathan continued without waiting for a response, "Akatsuki sentries are reporting JLF forces moving in at what looks to be division strength. They also seem to have two battalions of knightmares-"

"Two battalions short a platoon," Kallen corrected.

"Correction, two battalions short a platoon," Jonathan repeated, eyebrow raised at the young woman, "and they are at maximum thirty minutes out from my position."

"Get her highness out of there now," Andreas responded immediately. "We can't get you reinforcements quickly enough to fortify your position to stand off an attack of that size."

"Working on it," Jonathan said, "will report once I have further developments."

The general looked over back at Kallen and Ohgi once more.

"How spread out is your sentry screen?"

"We've got people from Kita to Meguro, but it has some pretty big holes," Ohgi said.

"Can you plug in their reports into my command net?"

Ohgi looked over at Kallen. The girl took a brief moment to nod. The Japanese man returned it and turned about.

"Minami!"

A bespectacled man hurried over, hand over a radio headset.

Kallen jerked her head towards Jonathan. "I need you to act as a translator, feed the Britannians the reports we're getting about JLF movements."

The man looked surprised for a moment before nodding firmly. "Yes Akakishi." He turned to the general. "Where is your comms officer?"

This time it was Jonathan that turned about and shouted. "Corporal Fuery!"

A shortish but otherwise stout soldier hurried over and snapped to attention.

"Yes sir!"

"Work with Mr. Minami here and tap him into the communications net."

"Yes sir!"

The two men hurried off and Jonathan looked back at Kallen curiously. The girl raised an eyebrow.

"What."

"I had my doubts whether you were simply a figurehead, or whether you truly commanded this Akatsuki," Jonathan said. "I have them no longer."

Kallen smirked. "Glad I have your vote of confidence, but that's not going to mean much if we don't get her highness out of here before the JLF hits."

"Indeed," Jonathan agreed and tapped his radio again. "Lieutenant Blanche, we need to extract her highness now, you will need to stabilize her on the move."

"That's impossible," a sharp response came in, one emphatically not from the lieutenant.

"Colonel Frasier?" Jonathan said. "What's going on?"

"We need to get her highness into surgery now, the bleeding in her head is putting considerable pressure on her brain."

Jonathan's eyes widened. "Colonel, I have JLF forces inbound, they will be here within thirty minutes. I do _not_ have the numbers to fight them off."

"If we move her highness she dies," Samantha replied firmly. "She _needs_ treatment _now_ , general."

The man grimaced. "Understood colonel. I'll buy you what time I can, but get her highness stabilized as quickly as possible, we need to evacuate her."

"We'll do everything we can general, Frasier clear."

When Jonathan looked back at Kallen something told him the girl knew everything she needed to.

"Hel," Kallen murmured.

"Hel indeed," Jonathan said before taking a deep breath. He tapped his radio. "Lieutenant Mustang, muster the troops, I want both companies formed up in five."

"Yes sir!"

"Sergeant Hughes, map, now."

"Sir!"

The soldier in question was with them in a few scant seconds and laid out a map of the Shinjuku ward.

"Where are the JLF forces approaching from?" Jonathan asked.

"Northwest," Ohgi answered, pointing at the map and running his finger along it. "They'll likely approach along the Shinjuku Dori and then cut south along the Gaien Nishi Dori."

The general looked at the map carefully before tapping his radio. "Major Nu, change of plans, rendezvous at the intersection of Shinjuku Avenue and West Gaien Avenue."

"Yes sir," Villetta responded immediately.

Kallen glanced at the general. "You have a plan?"

"We can't hold them here at the hospital, any fighting here will just bring the entire place down," Jonathan stated. "If we're to stop them we need to stop them away from this place." He straightened. "The knightmares the JLF possess, they're Glasgows, no?"

Kallen nodded. "Decommissioned ones that were supposed to be scrapped."

"Have the JLF made any modifications to them?"

"Mostly cosmetic, nothing structural." Kallen's eyes narrowed. "Which means they still have the thing armor atop the pilot pods."

Jonathan nodded. "How much anti-armor weaponry do you have?"

The young woman grimaced. "Not enough, though we do still have a couple of knightmares."

An eyebrow rose. "I thought you wrecked yours at the Fuchu prison break."

Kallen gave the general a savage grin. "I took it as an opportunity to upgrade."

The general decided then and there that he would need to have a long talk with whomever was in charge of the Ordo Hereticus branch of the Inquisitio here in Area 11. They obviously were doing a horrific job if the Red Knight was systematically getting better and better knightmares after every one she trashed. Today however he was prepared to look the other way.

"The only way the JLF will be able to move in force against Keio is if they approach along either the East or West Gaien Avenues," Jonathan said instead. "I will position the bulk of my forces at the intersection of West Gaien and Shinjuku Avenue and try to hold them there long enough for reinforcements from MacArthur to arrive. At the very least we should be able to tie down the JLF troops such that they'll only be able to send small units to try to hit Keio. Two platoons will remain here and supplemented with your Akatsuki they should be able to protect the hospital."

Kallen nodded. The plan made sense, especially once her own knightmare came into play.

"Alright, let's do it," she said.

Jonathan nodded. He then extended a hand to Kallen. The young woman chuckled but accepted it nonetheless.

"I heard what Akatsuki translates to," Jonathan said. "I hope there will yet be a new dawn for all of us."

"Me too general," Kallen said.

A soldier hurried up to Jonathan and clicked his heels together. "General, the troops are mustered."

"Very good lieutenant," Jonathan said as he released Kallen's hand and turned about.

With wide strides Jonathan marched over to where the two companies had gathered. Facing him was a mixture of both Caucasian and Asian faces, with the latter making up the majority. All returned his gaze with an iron will, a will that Jonathan nodded approvingly of. Time to harden that will into steel.

"Soldiers of the Empire!" Jonathan's voice boomed, somehow carrying over all of the frantic activity and causing everyone's attention to fall upon him. "Our liege, her highness, came to Keio this day to declare her support for the good work done here. She came to offer her hand to those whom have suffered, indeed been forced to suffer, at the hands of our own Empire. You all saw the honor with which she was welcomed, the acceptance of her hand. Now this place, this hospital, this very place of healing and nurturing that the princess hoped to build has been bled. Her highness herself has been bled. Yet the charge she laid upon us remains, defend all whom she has deemed to be her subjects, defend all whom sought care and shelter within these walls. WILL WE FAIL THAT CHARGE!?"

A roar sounded. "NO!"

Jonathan drew his sword and raised it skyward. "And when this day is won, I would have you receive my thanks, whether here on these grounds once more, or at the gates of Valhalla. Soldiers of the Empire! We go into battle, for the honor of our liege, for the honor of our blood! We shall not be foresworn, and we WILL prevail, in her highness' name!"

"FOR HER HIGHESS!" came the thunderous response.

The general nodded in satisfaction and sheathed his sword. "First, second, and fourth platoons, both companies, saddle up and prepare for deployment in five!"

"SIR!"

The soldiers in question surged towards the vehicles that had brought them here.

"Third platoons, you will remain here to defend her highness' person under Lieutenant Mustang's command!"

"SIR!"

Jonathan turned to the lieutenant. "Mustang, coordinate with the Akatsuki in defending the hospital. Listen to their advice, they know the lay of the land and have much better on the ground intel than we do right now, but do not be afraid to make known your own opinion."

"Yes sir!"

The general watched as Roy peeled off the two platoon commanders and hurried off to confer with Kallen. The young woman gave a nod to Jonathan before getting back to business. Jonathan allowed himself a brief chuckle before he walked over to one of the Humvees starting up.

"Alpha company platoons, move to the East Gaien and Shinjuku Avenue intersection and establish a hard point there," Jonathan ordered. "Bravo company platoons, with me to the West Gaien intersection."

His orders issued and the troops rolling out Jonathan checked into the command channels again to provide and also get an update. He grimaced. Things, were bad. Very, very bad. It was not just Tokyo getting hit, Chinese and Russian forces were actually moving to threaten Okinawa and Hokkaido respectively. The grimace grew darker. There was no way the Russians would be involved without the rest of the EU backing them, and if the EU was in some sort of alliance with the Chinese then the Empire was now at war with the last two great powers, a truly world war. That war would be long and bloody and Jonathan felt a chill run down his spine as he contemplated the final death toll on both sides by the time it ended.

When the forces he was accompanying arrived at their destination the general wasted no time snapping out more orders.

"I want heavy weapons teams in buildings there, there, and there, all four corners of this intersection. First platoon, create a barricade out of line of sight of Shinjuku Avenue, fifty meters south on Gaien Avenue and button down. Hold fire until I give the order. Second platoon, defensive position along that side street crossing Shinjuku Avenue. Engage the enemy at will."

Grinding wheels screeched behind Jonathan and as he turned about he saw a knightmare trailed by two more armored trucks arrive. More soldiers in Euphemia's colors piled out and Jonathan nodded to the towering mech.

"Major Nu, glad to have you join us."

"Awaiting your orders sir."

Jonathan pointed westward. "Initiate contact with JLF forces and try to draw them towards this position, major. When you approach give us separation time between you and your pursuers."

"Yes sir." The knightmare rolled out without hesitation.

The general turned back to the soldiers hurrying to their own positions.

"The stolen Glasgows still have the same weakened armor on the topsides of the pilot pod," Jonathan said into local command channel. "Heavy weapons teams in the southwest and northeast buildings, you are to hold fire until enemy forces are in the center of the intersection. Southeast position, weapons free the moment the enemies enter effective range, get their attention and hold it."

Acknowledgments flowed back to the general. Jonathan himself was busy making his way into another building and climbing the stairs to get a better vantage point.

"Akatsuki," he continued, "what are the JLF forces using to move their infantry?"

"Commandeered trucks and the like," came a clipped response. "Nothing armored."

"Sharpshooters, aim to disable the trucks the JLF are using to transport their infantry," Jonathan said after switching channels again. "Do _not_ let any get past and flank us."

The general came to a locked door and stepped aside. "Corporal Havoc, if you would."

"Yes sir."

A single shot sounded and the door creaked open as its pulverized lock gave way. The corporal gave it a solid kick and sent it flying open the rest of the way, checking to make sure all was clear before stepping aside for the general. Jonathan strode out and surveyed the view before him. It would not be long now. Right on cue the radio crackled.

"General," Villetta called. "I'm inbound due west, two platoons of knightmares are giving chase and there are at least eight trucks full of infantry trailing behind. Separation, ten seconds. ETA, two minutes."

"Swing north and flank the infantry transports once you cross the intersection," Jonathan ordered.

"Yes sir."

The minutes counted down and Villetta's knightmare was soon visible, along with the considerable number of enemies chasing her. The Sutherland weaved about the wide avenue, dodging the shots from the modified Glasgows behind. Villetta did not bother trying to shoot back, instead focusing solely on making the intersection. Without slowing she shot out a harkens into the building to her left and used it to swing about north. With her out of their line of fire the soldiers of second platoon and one of the heavy weapons teams let loose. The oncoming knightmares shrugged off the small arms fire with contemptuous ease and used the most of their mobility to avoid the heavier weapons that might have managed to penetrate their armor. And then they crossed into the kill zone and a torrent of fire came crashing down upon them. The four knightmares in the lead were engulfed, the mechs tumbling in fiery wrecks. The second platoon of knightmares avoided the lead element's fate, barely avoiding crossing into the intersection. They began pouring fire into the buildings, trying to neutralize the threat the heavy weapons teams posed to them.

Returning fire from the Britannian soldiers slackened as they scrambled for cover, though with four different positions laying it on the Japanese knightmares were not exactly in the clear either. A lucky shot nailed one of the enemy knightmares atop its pilot module and it keeled over. Even as the others began retreating to move out of the line of fire of the Britannian forces explosions suddenly rocked them from behind. Villetta, having swung about, nailed two more pilot pods before ducking back behind another building. The lone enemy knightmare panicked, spinning about trying to fight enemies on all sides. Its efforts were soon rendered moot as another missile slammed into its leg and shattered the knee. Immobilized, it lasted a few seconds later before its energy cell and ammo cooked off from the withering fire poured upon it.

"General, the JLF troops are disembarking from their transports," Villetta reported. "They are attempting to maneuver around your position."

"Flank them from the south," Jonathan ordered. "We have to keep them from moving on Keio."

"Yes sir."

"General," another voice crackled over the radio, "this is Lieutenant Darlton, the Glaston Knights and the Lancelot are inbound to your location, ETA ten minutes."

"Lieutenant, swing north and sweep westward. Keep the JLF forces from making a concentrated push at the Gaien strong points."

"Yes sir, we'll be there-the hell!?"

An explosion sounded in the background before the transmission abruptly cut off.

"Lieutenant? Lieutenant!? Damnation, does anyone have eyes on the Glaston Knights!"

Negatives flowed back to Jonathan and the general grimaced. Then another voice crackled.

"General, this is Minami, I'm getting reports from our sentries that four Sutherlands were just taken out by the Lancelot."

"What!?"

"It's, headed towards the Gaien Higashi, I mean East, Avenue."

It was probably a good thing Jonathan's radio pickup was muted considering the string of expletives the general let loose.

"Villetta, get to the East Gaien position now!" Jonathan shouted. "Lancelot has gone rogue!"

"Yes sir!" came the immediate response.

The Sutherland zoomed through the intersection from the west again, arcing north and disappearing in a flash. She would almost certainly beat the Lancelot there but Villetta by herself would not be nearly enough from what Jonathan knew of the white knightmare's specifications.

"MacArthur Central, Lancelot has gone rogue, I need _something_ to help me stand it off!"

A hiss of static answered Jonathan.

"MacArthur, do you copy!?"

Again all he got was a burst of static, and then a voice cut through.

"-are under attack, I repeat, MacArthur Base is under-"

The voice faded away back into white noise.

"Gods damn it," Jonathan cursed. "Akatsuki, do you have any forces able to reinforce Gaien East?"

"This is Red Knight," Kallen's voice responded. "I'm bringing a knightmare platoon with me, we'll hold the position no matter the cost."

Jonathan's jaw worked soundlessly for a moment. A platoon. Not just a single knightmare but an entire platoon. The Inquisitio really had been sleeping on the job in Area 11. The general shoved that thought aside.

"Acknowledged Knight, but be careful, nothing we've got can match the Lancelot's specs and if you're using former Britannian units you're going to have your hands full."

"Good thing I'm not riding a Britannian model."

By this point Jonathan decided to just stop being surprised. Not only had the Akatsuki been able to muster a number of knightmares, they also were able to develop one the Red Knight seemed to think was on par with the Lancelot. He could worry about the ramifications after they all got out of this day alive.

"Sir, JLF forces are moving in," one of the bravo company platoon commanders reported. "They've got-shit, they're trying to punch through with heavy weapons!"

The general could see that from his vantage point. He could also make out the sharpshooters the platoons had positioned doing their best to pick off enemy soldiers totting those heavy weapons before they could make use of them.

"Second platoon, move west and flank the enemy northward," Jonathan ordered. "First platoon, move north and then west."

The empty armored personnel carriers roared to life and made for their respective targets, their heavy machineguns never ceasing to let up. Moving alongside and behind them the Britannian infantry kept pace, slowly flanking the attacking force on both sides. The Japanese soldiers kept pressing forward however and began filtering into the intersection amongst the wrecked knightmares. At effectively point blank range the two sides poured fire into the opposing ranks. If nothing else the Japanese soldiers did not lack courage and determination. Then again the same could be said of the Honorary Britannians fighting under Jonathan's command.

The general's own position was starting to come under attack and Jonathan retreated back into the building. The situation was growing more chaotic by the moment and while his forces were holding, they were far from winning. To win they would need to decisively break the JLF forces and to do that Jonathan needed more soldiers than he had at the moment.

"MacArthur Base, this is Eyre," the general tried again. "Do you copy?"

"General Eyre, this is General Gottwald," came the response. "The situation at MacArthur Base is still fluid, I have transferred Tokyo command to the viceroy's palace."

Jonathan grit his teeth. Things really were bad.

"General Gottwald, I need reinforcements, do you have _anything_ that can be routed to my current position?"

"I've got an armored company that's trying to make their way to you but the streets are completely clogged. I don't know how long they'll take."

"What about air support? What happened to the naval base at Yokosuka?"

"They were hit as well," Jeremiah said. "Their runway was also trashed, the Marines have a couple of Cobras that were being transferred. They're being armed and fueled, estimated twenty minutes before they're ready."

Hopefully he would still be around in twenty minutes, Jonathan thought darkly.

"Understood," Jonathan said instead. "Eyre out."

The general emerged into a back alley and hurried towards one of the still parked APCs. As they crossed the street bullets zipped past and a cry sounded behind him. Spinning about Jonathan caught hold of his guard as Jean tumbled.

"Havoc, Hels, hang on." Jonathan half dragged the man into the APC and out of the incoming fire. "Medic!"

Laying the soldier down Jonathan saw that the man had been hit in the back. Using the other man's jacket he made a makeshift compress to stem the bleeding.

"Go sir!" Jean shouted. "I'll be fine!"

"Like Hel you'll be," Jonathan responded before shouting again. "Medic!"

This time his call was answered and a soldier with a large backup appeared.

"I've got him sir!"

Jonathan stepped back to let the medic do his work. With Jean being looked after the general peered out to get a read of the battle. His own forces were grinding down the attackers but the Japanese troopers were fanatically continuing their charge trying to close on the two defensive lines. Some had even tossed aside their rifles, instead holding high curved swords. Katanas, Jonathan's mind idly remarked. It was sheer insanity, and it was almost working.

Bodies started piling against the makeshift barricade second platoon had erected and sheer numbers saw the Japanese soldiers carry over. The Britannian defenders soon found themselves locked in melee, with first platoon unable to provide any support without risking friendly fire. One enemy soldier caught sight of Jonathan, gave a crazed scream, and barreled forth. The general had with him his trusty sword, and also his pistol. A quick trio of shots dropped the attacker. Jonathan proceeded to empty his clip into other targets, smoothly slapping in fresh ones as he expended them one by one. Only once he was completely dry did the general unsheathe his sword. By then the Japanese charge had mostly been cut down and only one enemy had the honor of falling to Jonathan's blade.

In the momentary lull Jonathan took a deep breath and switched over to the command channel again.

"-repeat, we've got another platoon of knightmares incoming from the west, they're cutting through the Shinjuku National Garden."

Jonathan looked southwest, seeing hints of green between the mangled buildings. The gardens were essentially open ground, perfect for maneuvering knightmares. Infantry caught out in the open would be easy fodder for the mechs. Nevertheless if they were not stopped they would have effectively a straight shot at the hospital, and her highness. The general looked around. There was only one APC, the others having been taken to perform the flanking maneuver on the JLF attackers. The number of soldiers holding the position was also down to about a dozen or so. They would have to do.

"Second platoon," Jonathan shouted.

The soldiers all snapped to attention. The general nodded to the APC.

"Get onboard, we have new targets."

"Sir!"

Jonathan knelt down by Jean and gave the man a pat on the shoulder. "Sorry Jean, you'll have to get off here."

The man smirked. "Ah that's alright sir, I can always ride shotgun with you another day."

Jonathan chuckled. "Good man."

Jean was gently lifted out by the medic and another soldier, after which the hatch to the tightly packed APC slammed shut.

"Get us south, there's a side street that cuts directly to Keio from the garden."

"Yes sir."

"First platoon," Jonathan said into his radio. "Re-concentrate and take up positions held by second platoon."

"Yes sir."

A few minutes later the APC rolled to a halt at its destination and the soldiers piled out. Hurrying about were other Britannian troops along with clusters of Japanese wearing red armbands, all armed. Not that rifles were going to be of much use against a knightmare.

"Sir!" a lieutenant said, smartly _not_ saluting in the middle of a combat zone.

"Where are those knightmares?"

Before the officer could answer an explosion rocked the buildings to the west. Jonathan glanced over to see four of them holding position on the greens, pelting the buildings with fire. Apparently they had learned not to let themselves get drawn into a kill zone.

"What sort of AT weapons do we have?" Jonathan shouted over the din.

"Not much sir!" the lieutenant cried back. "Unless we can hit the bastards from above we've got nothing to punch through their armor!"

Perhaps he should not have dispatched Villetta to reinforce the eastern position after all, Jonathan thought grimly. There was no time to recall her however. Jonathan looked at the partially wrecked buildings. On the other hand maybe he would not need another knightmare to counter the Japanese ones.

"Sergeant Hawkeye," Jonathan called into his radio, "do you have LOS on the enemy knightmares?"

"Yes sir."

"Knock on their door please."

With all the weapons firing about it was impossible to hear the sergeant's shots. The anti-material rifle the sergeant used were also well short of being able to penetrate even the weakened topside armor of the stolen Glasgows. The shots did however seem to give the Japanese pilots some pause as each one momentarily stopped firing whenever a round bounced off their unit.

"Second platoon with me," Jonathan said to the soldiers that had accompanied him. "Lieutenant, keep me updated on the knightmares' movements."

"Sir!"

The group hurried towards the shot up buildings, having little difficult getting inside and climbing up the stairs. By the time they got to the third story the general's radio crackled.

"Sir, the knightmares are starting to push, we can't hold them from this position."

"Are they coming in between the two buildings they shot up?"

"Yes sir, that's what it looks like."

"Good, pull your troops back to the east side of the avenue. If this doesn't work, do whatever you can to stall them there until reinforcements arrive. Cease fire when I give the order."

"Yes sir. Good luck sir."

Jonathan peered out from the thoroughly wrecked wall and saw the knightmares advance.

"Alright, get rope out and secure yourself to something," the general ordered even as he began doing the same. "There's another weakness in the Glasgows, specifically between the neck and the pilot pod. If you can hit the thing just right it'll sever the data bus between the pod and the control unit for the upper stage. If you're really lucky, it'll even trip the auto-ejection system. We're going to jump onto the knightmares, stick what grenades we have, and then use our lines to swing back into the building."

The soldiers looked at him incredulously.

"Sir, none of us have ever trained for that."

Jonathan gave them all a grin. "No? Well, any of you that pull this off, I've got a spot in her highness' guard for you."

That got eyes even wider, not least because over half of the soldiers with him were Honorary Britannians. Jonathan gave his rope a tug, causing the others to hurry with their own preparations. The general leaned out again. The knightmares were almost under them now. He fired off assignments for which one the troops should aim for.

"Ackermann, with me on that last one. If any of you miss, cut your line and get the hell out from under there," he said. "Ready?"

"Sir!"

Jonathan tapped his radio. "Lieutenant, cease fire now!"

Even before the weapons fire died down Jonathan was starting to make his run. He threw himself out of the building and dropped onto the rearmost knightmare, landing with a thud on its head. Wincing, Jonathan rolled onto the pod just in time for Ackermann to hit. The young woman was able to stick her own landing more gracefully, sliding off onto the shoulder even as the knightmare began thrashing. Pulling a pin, Jonathan shoved a grenade into the crack between the knightmare's neck. Ackermann did likewise and the two immediately pushed off again, swing back towards the building. As their rope caught Jonathan drew his sword and cleanly slashed them, sending the two tumbling onto the floor. Ackermann picked herself up, weapon at the ready.

"Well done private," Jonathan said approvingly.

"Thank you sir," the young woman said.

Explosions sounded and looking back Jonathan saw three of the four knightmares start stumbling about. The fourth however was still upright and spun about, smashing into one of the soldiers trying to scramble away. A bloody coat splashed against the ground.

"Hels," Jonathan muttered. "Ackermann, with me."

"Sir!"

In point of fact that three of the four teams had succeeded in crippling their targets was a major feat. The remaining knightmare however was still capable of doing immense damage before it was finally overwhelmed. The general had no intention of letting it do so.

"Get that APC going!" Jonathan shouted into his radio. "Ram the damn thing!"

There was fortunately someone at the driver's seat and the personnel carrier started up instantly. It charged at the knightmare, which in theory should have been able to easily dodge it. With its fellows flaying about and crashing into each other however its freedom of movement was considerably constrained. The knightmare raised its rifle to take out this new threat, when something sparked on its barrel and the weapon exploded.

"Good shot Hawkeye," Jonathan muttered, no doubt in his mind that the sniper was responsible.

The APC slammed into the knightmare, causing the knightmare to topple over the vehicle. Taking advantage of the way the legs were angled, Jonathan prepared to haul himself onto the knightmare. To his surprise Ackermann beat him to it, leaping into the air and landing neatly atop the pod.

"Grenade sir!"

Jonathan lobbed one up, the private catching it deftly, but before she could pop the ping the knightmare rolled over.

"Gah!"

"Ackermann!"

Jonathan jumped, somehow finding the strength to grab onto the pod himself while simultaneously grabbing the private. And then he screamed as the knightmare's hand slammed into him, crushing his legs.

"SIR!"

"THROW IT!"

The private popped the pin and masterfully landed the grenade in the crevice of the knightmare's neck.

Jonathan gave the young woman an approving smile. "Well done private."

And then his grip loosened, a moment before the grenade went off.

End of Chapter 43

A shorter chapter than the last one, but we're moving along. It hints at things that will be revealed in detail next chapter when we shift perspectives. By the time the Battle of Tokyo is over and we've gone through the perspectives of the various participants, you guys should have a fairly complete view of what's going on. Currently on track for two more captures to capture the Battle of Tokyo proper, and then another chapter at least to do cleanup.

Jonathan will not be the last named character to die, though I'm pretty sure it'll be obvious who at least one of the other fatalities will be. Also I technically never gave names to the three armsmen that were accompanying Euphie to the meeting with Kallen. Inoue seems to have had her fans, wonder whether Jonathan had any.

I've been screwing up salutes in various small ways since the beginning of the story. I knew I was, but I was focused on too many other details to check myself. That said none of my mistakes were too egregious relative to what a lot of other stories do. There are a few things that I want to make note of however. The biggest is the saluting of Euphemia by members of the military in the instances where they're not bowing. Euphemia is not a member of the military and by regulation and convention soldiers do not salute non-military. There are however reasons why it is appropriate that she be saluted, some obvious and some not so.

The first obvious one is that she's a member of the royal family and traditionally such members are accorded the respect of a salute on formal occasions. The second is that in the Britannian Empire all persons accorded the title of Prince or Princess holds a ceremonial, but still real, commission as the formal head of their own royal guard. Note however that said rank is completely outside the chain of command of the Britannian military proper and only has formal authority over his or her own royal guard. So Euphemia actually is also now a brigadier-general, if in name only. She draws no pay from it, or rather the pay, or allowance granted to her for her position, is completely used up in the upkeep of her armsmen.

The third reason Euphemia would receive a salute is due to her position as viceroy of Area 11. As viceroy, she serves as the governor-general of an area, emphasis on the general part of that role. She is ultimately responsible for setting policy, both military and civil. As such she is accorded another ceremonial rank, one that does put her into the formal chain of command but is limited only to her domain.

Most of the mistakes I've made with respect to the salutes is generally having characters salute when they shouldn't or don't need to. For example a lot of chapters back after going through a training exercise in the palace Villetta runs into Jeremiah and Samantha and salutes them. As they are in doors there is not a reason for her to actually do so. I believe I've avoided the common mistake of having someone outright saluting the wrong person at least. Whether I'll bother cleaning these minor issues up in the remaster, well, we'll see.

Another thing that I've been doing incorrectly is how I refer to the military companies. I should be using letters like A, B, and C, not numbers. That will be remedied this chapter and onward and probably corrected in my master draft as I find such references during my edit sweeps.

One aside regarding Cornelia. Technically as the highest ranking uniformed officer in the Britannian military she shouldn't be in Japan overseeing its military forces, nor should she have personally been leading the campaign against the Middle East. She should be back in Pendragon managing the Britannian military as a whole and if I was truly insistent on realism that's what she would be doing. That's obviously not going to work due to the nature of any story set in Code Geass so all I can do is try to mitigate the consequences. Namely in practice a lot of Cornelia's time is spent dealing with stuff sent to her by the general staff in Pendragon and Andreas is the one that's actually doing the majority of the running of the Area 11 forces. There is also the fact that there is someone back at Pendragon that's basically filling in for Cornelia on the majority of the bureaucratic matters, someone she and Schneizel trust obviously. Why am I bringing this up? Because with the war kicking off we're going to be introduced to a whole new cast of characters that are necessary for actually fighting a proper war, unlike in the canon anime where they were somehow able to marshal entire armies quickly around the world without any sort of clear logistical backbone and command and control structure.

An argument could actually be made that Jonathan shouldn't have been in the front lines with bravo company. In this case however he was already literally on the front lines and a guard captain, even one that holds flag rank, is generally required to be a lot more hands on with respect to field operations. This was one of those situations where things really had gotten so bad that a general being in the thick of combat isn't neglecting his proper duty, since Jonathan's immediate and only concern is keeping the JLF away from Keio. He's judged that the best way to do this is to personally direct the forces actively engaged against the enemy and so puts himself as close to the action as he can while still allowing him to issue orders as necessary. The consequence of that decision is unfortunately his death, but the battle that he was immediately responsible for was very much a do or die with no in-between, and if in dying he can do, it's a sacrifice he's willing to make.

Euphie knows about C.C. and her association with Kallen. It's through C.C. that she expects to be able to learn more about Marianne's murder. And Kallen and co would have been told about Lelouch and the other SDECE agents by Tohdoh and the JLF defectors he brought with them. Kaguya would also have shared what she knew with Kallen. The only thing that I'm really hand waving here is Kallen not inferring that Lelouch Lamperouge might be Lelouch vi Britannia, since Kallen knows Marianne's maiden name thanks to Milly and is also aware that the death of at least one of Marianne's children was faked, so why not both?

People are free to borrow my interpretation of Kallen's family situation. I don't really consider it that unique per se, it all comes down to how you craft the interactions between the characters. If one doesn't take the effort to give the characters actual personalities then they will be dull and uninteresting regardless of the backstory.

I know that in the past I've had retired navy read my stories. Do I have any army readers? Cause there are some things I would like to ask in terms of terminology and procedure. IE, Jonathan's been killed. How would the next person in the chain of command be notified of this? Though granted I suppose someone who's served in any of the branches might be able to answer.


	45. Chapter 44

_The last individual commemorated is Brigadier-General Jonathan Marcus Eyre, the first captain of the Princess Euphemia's Royal Guard. Sir Eyre had just received notification of his formal promotion to the rank of brigadier-general when he was forced to personally lead the defense of the Keio campus and the Princess Euphemia from the opening offensive of the Japanese Liberation Front's attack on the Tokyo Concession. The general's tactical skill saw the JLF forces decisively checked and prevented from actually striking at the hospital, undoubtedly saving the lives of the thousands of refugees that had flocked to it as fighting intensified all throughout the city. The price of this victory was however General Eyre's own life._

 _Jonathan Marcus Eyre_

 _Brigadier-General, Britannian Army_

 _Captain of the Guard of Her Imperial Highness Third Princess of the Realm Euphemia li Britannia_

 _Fallen on the 15_ _th_ _Day of June in the year 1962 CE_

 _In life, service. In service, duty. In duty, honor._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 44

Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare

"Villetta."

The woman in question spun about and smiled warmly. "General Gottwald."

Jeremiah returned the expression. "It is good to see you back. Have matters been settled with Dame Kruszewski?"

"Sufficiently so that her highness decided to recall me to Tokyo," Villetta said. "Marshal Cornelia's staff have resumed responsibility for liaising with Dame Kruszewski during her investigation."

The margrave nodded. "I see."

"Ah, and a belated congratulations, Brigadier-General Gottwald," Villetta said with another smile. "I have every confidence that you will excel in your new duties as you have with past ones."

"Thank you Villetta, your confidence means much," Jeremiah said sincerely. The man coughed, seeming uncharacteristically unsure of himself. "Incidentally, upon learning of my promotion my sister arranged the delivery of a bottle of Merlot from my family's vineyard. Would you care to join me sometime in sampling it?"

Villetta's eyes widened slightly at the invitation. Her interactions with the margrave had up to this point been entirely professional. The two previously served in the chain of command and not even Jeremiah's nobility would have saved his career if he was found fraternizing with a direct subordinate. Due to the Empire's aggressive foreign policy intentionally compromising military efficiency for the sake of personal self-gain was one of the few things that a noble could not buy his or her way out of. But these days the two, while still both serving in Area 11, were in entirely different chain of commands. Jeremiah remained with the Area 11 occupational forces while Villetta was a direct vassal of her highness the Princess Euphemia and answered to her through Brigadier-General Eyre. As such previously forbidden social interactions were now possible, something that Villetta had not actually given much thought to until now.

The margrave was a handsome man, even before her transfer Villetta had thought so. He held himself proudly as many nobles did but unlike some of those peers Jeremiah's bearing was supported by a true will and character. A character that Villetta did not find unattractive. The woman smiled coyly.

"It would be my genuine pleasure, margrave."

Jeremiah seemed to relax at Villetta's acceptance but before he could respond klaxons began blaring. The two officers looked about in alarm. Then their eyes widened as they picked out the pattern being sounded.

"Excuse me my lord," Villetta said even as she began spinning about.

"Villetta."

The woman came to an abrupt halt and looked over her shoulder. Jeremiah looked at her gravely.

"Good hunting."

She turned about, came to attention, and nodded. "You as well my lord."

With that done Villetta dashed off to the guards barracks once more. The good chunk of the guard was already at Keio but a rapid response team had been standing by in the event that something happened. Said reserve was already piling into the APC when Villetta arrived in the vehicle bay.

The radio crackled. "Eagle to nest. Attack on Keio, Heart missing, requesting reinforcements."

Villetta felt her heart seize up upon hearing those words. She did not waste any time panicking however.

"General, this is Major Nu, the response team is gearing up, ETA ten minutes."

"Weapons hold coming in Dame Nu," Jonathan ordered, "we have civilians and potential friendlies here."

What friendlies, Villetta did not say aloud. "Yes sir." She turned towards the APC. "Lieutenant Armstrong! Make sure you're taking sufficient anti-armor weapons with you!"

The massive man leaned out of the vehicle's rear and hefted a pair of bazookas. "We will not be found wanting, Dame Nu."

Villetta cracked a grin before nodding firmly. She hurried towards her own transport, a Sutherland that the mechanics were hurriedly bringing online.

"She's ready to go Dame Nu," one said.

"Thank you Private Czherny," Villetta said as she climbed in.

As a knight in service to an imperial scion Villetta could have requisitioned one of the new Gloucesters for her use. In fact there was one sitting in the vehicle bay ready to go. Villetta however was still training up on it and still remained far more comfortable in an older Sutherland. And while a Gloucester was a superior knightmare, until Villetta was certain she had mastered the newer machine she was not prepared to deploy in one.

The braces holding up the knightmare disengaged and it lurched forward. Villetta smoothly engaged the landspinners and accelerated out of the palace, the APC with the rest of the response team right behind her. They had just passed through Hanzō's Gate when the radio crackled again.

"Major Nu, change of plans, rendezvous at the intersection of Shinjuku Avenue and West Gaien Avenue."

"Yes sir," Villetta answered even as she quickly brought up a map to determine just where said intersection was. Fortunately her new destination was relatively close to the hospital so she had little difficulty in locating it.

"Lieutenant Armstrong," Villetta said into the radio, "follow me, the general has ordered us to a new location."

"Understood major."

The general obviously had a plan and Villetta was fully confident it was a good one. She just prayed that the Norn were of a similar opinion.

* * *

"Status!" Andreas barked as he thundered into the command center.

"Multiple missiles were just shot at MacArthur Base!" an operator reported. "The defenses took out three of them, but six others managed to plaster the airstrip!"

The general's expression hardened. It turned into an outright scowl as he heard the alert General Eyre was issuing. Andreas tuned his headset to the channel.

"General Eyre, this is MacArthur Actual. Is her highness secure?"

"Negative," the other officer responded. "I've got men trying to get through the rubble to find her but I have no way of knowing if there might be follow up attacks."

The odds of more attacks were depressingly high in Andreas' estimate, especially seeing as their enemy had taken great effort to neutralize MacArthur Base's airstrip and therefore the Britannian military's air superiority.

"Understood," Andreas said. "I am dispatching ground forces to your position now, I leave their deployment at your discretion."

"Thank you general-"

A muffled cry could be heard from Jonathan's pickup as the general's words chopped off.

"General, need to go, will update later."

The radio clicked, indicating Jonathan had signed off. Andreas did not try to get him back on, if there was something that needed Jonathan's attention then he should be left to deal with the matter. There was plenty requiring Andreas' own attention here after all.

"Status on mobilization?"

"All units are assembling at mustering points," a soldier reported. "Knightmare platoons are reporting in, the Glaston Knights are already signaling readiness to deploy."

Probably because Andreas had ordered them to be on standby on the off chance something happened during the Princess Euphemia's visit to Keio. Well, something had happened and now it was time to put them to use.

"Lieutenant Darlton," Andreas said into the radio, "deploy to Keio immediately. Provide support to General Eyre as you see fit."

"Yes sir," Claudio responded immediately. "And sir, the Lancelot also reports readiness to deploy. Shall we have it accompany us?"

Andreas had been expecting the matter to come up, though he was mildly surprised that the earl was not directly barging into the comm channels to offer his knightmare's services. Perhaps Captain Croomy was successful in reining him in this time.

"Do it," Andreas said.

Whatever its creator's eccentricities, and the error in judgment its pilot previously displayed, there was no denying that the Lancelot was a powerful war machine. Andreas had faith however that Suzaku would not disappoint him a second time.

"1st battalion alpha company was overhauling their tanks," another operator reported. "Beta company reports ready for deployment in twenty!"

Andreas grimaced. MacArthur only had a single armored battalion stationed to it, the expectation was always that the two knightmare battalions and the regiment of infantry would be enough to at least keep the Concession safe if there was a general uprising. That and the firepower possessed by the naval taskforce at Yokosuka could level the rest of the city if worse came to worst. Which raised another point

"What about Nimitz Base?"

"Nimitz reports that their airfield was also bombed," came the response. "All of their jets are on dry land right now and the carrier is _not_ prepped for operation."

Not surprising since under the original deployment schedule there was supposed to be another six months before Seventh Fleet intended to rotate its carriers.

"Deploy our infantry based on condition zulu-alpha-five," Andreas ordered. "Stand up all gendarmerie companies, full tactical loadout."

"Yes sir!"

Zulu Alpha Five, one of several contingency plans drafted by the Britannian military to defend Tokyo should it come under attack. When the Britannians first drew up the borders between the Concession and the rest of the city they had made judicious use of the rivers that ran through Tokyo to act as natural barriers. While the Arakawa River to the east was wide enough to serve as a natural defense against a large scale attack, the western border was much more porous despite the best efforts of the Britannian government. The wall that was erected might have inconvenienced petty criminals and smugglers but a knightmare or even a sufficiently large truck could be used to punch holes in it.

The Britannian forces stationed in Tokyo did not have nearly enough troops to cover the entire perimeter and trying to fight purely defensively behind strong points would have simply left the initiative to the attackers. As such doctrine called for Britannian forces to seize said initiative by launching immediate counterattacks on the incoming enemy, to use their superior firepower and better operational intelligence gathering to the fullest. A significant portion of that better operational intelligence however came from the Empire's aerial assets, assets that right now were stuck on the ground thanks to their opponents having the foresight to target the airfields.

Without their eyes in the sky the Britannian military would need to rely on good old fashioned field reconnaissance, which meant getting soldiers actively scouting. That was what Zulu Alpha Five was, forward deployment of a good chunk of the mechanized infantry stationed in Tokyo to aggressively reconnoiter the opposition with knightmares and tanks while keeping the infantry mobile and ready to pounce on any large enemy force the scouts might find. The first step to the plan was to get all of the deploying assets out of MacArthur Base into the city.

As Andreas watched APCs, tanks, and knightmares pouring forth the command channel clicked again as someone connected.

"This is Eyre, Princess Euphemia has been secured."

Andreas breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps he would yet be able to face the Princess Cornelia in the aftermath of this debacle.

"I am declaring Akatsuki to be friendlies," Jonathan continued, "do _not_ engage Japanese forces wearing red armbands, I repeat, Akatsuki are friendlies."

A frown reappeared on Andreas' expression. "General Eyre, this is Darlton, what is going on down there?"

"General, the purpose of her highness' visit to Keio was to negotiate with the Red Knight to come to a peaceable resolution to the conflict between the Red Knight's faction of the Japanese insurgency and the Britannian government. An agreement was reached, but we have JLF forces opposed to such a resolution moving on our position."

Andreas' frown deepened. As one of the senior officers in Area 11 he was one of the few who knew the identity of the Red Knight and the appearance of Akatsuki. While the fact that the Akatsuki was apparently under the command of the Red Knight was not terribly surprising, assuming one was prepared to accept that a teenage girl was able to organize and lead a small insurgent army, the notion that they were actually negotiating some sort of deal with the Princess Euphemia was well outside the bounds of expectation. Or perhaps not. As Andreas considered the princess' actions since becoming viceroy of Area 11, perhaps this was what she had been aiming for, to end the insurgency without needing to put all its members to the sword. But as the attack on Keio was showing at least some of those insurgents would need to be put down regardless.

"General," Jonathan's voice sounded again, "Akatsuki sentries are reporting JLF forces moving in at what looks to be division strength. They also seem to have four battalions of knightmares-"

Andreas thought he picked up a feminine voice in the background.

"Correction, four battalions short a platoon," Jonathan continued, "and they are at maximum thirty minutes out from my position."

Andreas' eyes widened. "Get her highness out of there now. We can't get you reinforcements quickly enough to fortify your position to stand off an attack of that size."

"Working on it, will report once I have further developments."

The channel went silent again and Andreas contemplated the situation display. His forces were surging westward to meet the expected attack and also to reinforce Keio. With any luck at least some of them, such as the Glaston Knights, would make it before the JLF struck. And despite the damage done to MacArthur and Nimitz it was not as if there was nothing else he could do.

"Status on our gunships," Andreas queried.

"We've got a squad prepping for liftoff now sir," came the answer, "they expect to be in the air within twenty."

"Priority is to sweep west and determine the extent of the enemy incursion," Andreas ordered. "ETA to second squad in the air?"

"No dice sir, one of the missiles struck a hanger and they're trying to untangle that mess."

Andreas grimaced. They would really be feeling that loss in the coming battle. And then a thought occurred to him.

"Query Nimitz, see if the Marines were transferring any of their gunships through. If so, I want them in the air immediately."

"Yes sir!"

"Sir, I'm getting reports coming in over the guards channel," an officer called out. "They're sightings reports for JLF forces moving through the city!"

Andreas' eyes widened. "How are they managing that?"

"They're," the officer paused as he listened in on something, "I think they're coming from this Akatsuki sir, I think General Eyre plugged them into our comm net!"

That was a major risk the general was taking but all indications were it was thus far working. And if the Akatsuki really were providing real time reports on JLF movements then they might have a chance after all.

"Update the tactical display with their reports," Andreas ordered.

"Yes sir!"

The main display lit up as more and more locations were tagged, each one marking a known enemy formation, estimated troop strength, and the time at which the report came in. As Andreas gazed at the map he began to get a much better picture of the JLF plan of attack.

"Get the 1st battalion beta company on the move, I want them deployed to Keio to support its defense," he ordered.

"Yes sir!"

"Palace Central, what is your status?"

"This is Gottwald," came the response. "I have assumed command of Palace Central and am organizing what forces are stationed here."

Andreas nodded. "General, there's an armored company coming your way to support General Eyre. See that they get through."

"Yes sir."

"I'm also sending you the rest of the 100th infantry battalion and a knightmare company. You are responsible for holding Shinjuku and Chiyoda wards."

"Understood general, I will not fail."

With that dealt with Andreas issued more orders, positioning his still deploying forces to intercept the incoming JLF attackers. His forces were outnumbered in both infantry and knightmares, which was a rather unpleasant surprise, but Andreas trusted his own knights to have a qualitative edge. And of course there were the air assets in western Area 11 that he had called for. With everything the JLF was throwing at him it was unlikely they had anything left to try to distract Britannian forces in other parts of the area. Once those reinforcements arrived the tactical situation would take a very different turn.

"Sir! We're getting reports from Honshu West, Okinawa, and Hokkaido Commands!" an officer shouted. "Chinese and Russian forces have entered Area 11 territorial waters!"

The control room went deathly silent as the attack on Tokyo was cast under an altogether different light now. This was not just merely an uprising by the Japanese resistance, this was simply one piece of a much larger plan.

"Continue your duties," Andreas ordered firmly.

The officers on duty quickly went back to said duties. They still had a battle to fight. The war was the responsibility of someone way above their paygrade.

"Sir, Marshal Cornelia is on video link for you," an operator reported softly. "Channel 14."

Andreas switched his headset to the appropriate channel and brought up the video link. "Your highness."

"Andreas, is Euphemia safe?" Cornelia immediately cut to the chase.

"General Eyre has reported that she is secured," Andreas answered.

"Thank the gods," Cornelia sighed in relief before a grim expression crossed her face. "I expect things to get considerably worse before the day is out Andreas. It looks like the Chinese and Russians are going to try to land forces. They've got large chunks of their Pacific Fleet deployed to protect their troopships, but I don't intend to let them just have their way."

Andreas nodded. "I will see to it that Tokyo is secured for your return, your highness."

Cornelia gave the man a grateful smile. "I have no doubt you will, Andreas. May the Norns smile upon us both. Cornelia clear."

Andreas spared a brief moment to regard the blank screen. He had made a promise, now he needed to keep it.

"Sir, the ASEEC is reporting that the Gawain is ready to deploy."

The general nodded. "Have it deployed to the base entrance. The Gawain will remain on station to defend MacArthur Base in case the enemy manages to penetrate this deep into the Concession."

"Yes sir!"

While the Gawain was combat capable, if only barely, it was not a knightmare that could operate without significant support. Its size also made it somewhat cumbersome to operate in the tight confines of an urban environment. MacArthur base on the other hand was a relatively wide area and its fixed defenses would be more than up to providing the necessary support. Speaking of knightmares. Andreas looked up at the plot again and saw that the Glaston Knights were making good time. They would reach Keio soon and hopefully be able to help hold the hospital until more reinforcements could arrive.

* * *

The Glaston Knights plus one raced through the streets towards the Keio hospital. Claudio tried to keep his breathing level as he pushed his Gloucester. As members of the Princess Cornelia's royal guard he knew full well just how important the Princess Euphemia was to her elder sister. And just how rare of a gem the young woman was to the Empire as a whole. While he might have mentioned some minor misgivings to Suzaku the truth of the matter was Claudio did believe sincerely that her highness was earnest in her desire to better the lives of her subjects. That sort of mentality was depressingly rare amongst the Britannian peerage, a peerage that Claudio himself was some steps removed despite his adoptive father.

Andreas Darlton was considered something of an eccentric for having taken in five orphaned children as his own. Claudio could barely even remember his birth parents, save for the faint impression of a smiling woman and a stern and strong man. The young man took to heart the fact that Andreas often commented that his parents would be proud of him, and that he should be proud of himself. Claudio was, and was sincerely glad to have met his adoptive father. Many of the other nobles that he encountered as a Darlton on the other hand he could have done without ever meeting.

There really was a poisonous rot at the heart of the Empire, a corrosive influence that made people all too willing to turn on one another in some twisted game. While the snide remarks were always delivered from behind polite facades Claudio could still remember the barely contained rage he felt whenever someone remarked how kind and generous his father was for taking in these helpless waifs. Andreas always bore such comments with his usual stoicism, though the man was not beyond a few sharp remarks of his own and Claudio always silently cheered his father on.

The Princess Cornelia however never looked down upon them for their heritage. In fact whenever she did compliment Andreas for having raised such fine sons Claudio actually felt proud to hear them, for what she was complimenting was not only Andreas' generosity but also his sons' achievements and skills. And so Claudio had not hesitated to bend his knee and swear himself when offered the chance to sign on with the Princess Cornelia.

And then there was the Princess Euphemia. Always composed and carrying a graceful air. And possessed of an iron will to see her duty through. In some ways she was very much like her sister. In others, she was even better. The Princess Cornelia could see past station to acknowledge a person's ability. The Princess Euphemia could see past race. And both refused to ignore a mistake or failing no matter whom had committed it.

Claudio glanced at his tactical feed and Suzaku's position in the rear of the formation. He still did not know exactly what the young man had gotten into trouble for, just that it was serious enough to warrant a formal panel be convened, a panel his father was a part of. Andreas however had remained silent on the matter and Suzaku was equally tightlipped. That Suzaku was ultimately returned to duty and remained Lancelot's pilot, despite his demotion, suggested his superiors thought the young man was salvageable. And while Claudio himself was disappointed that Suzaku had managed to get into that much trouble to begin with, he was prepared to let the young man earn back his good opinion. That Suzaku was so obviously disappointed with himself for letting down his superiors was a step in the right direction.

The knightmares rounded another corner and Claudio activated his mic.

"General, this is Lieutenant Darlton, the Glaston Knights and the Lancelot are inbound to your location, ETA ten minutes."

"Lieutenant," Jonathan's voice responded, "swing north and sweep westward. Keep the JLF forces from making a concentrated push at the Gaien strong points."

"Yes sir," Claudio answered, "we'll be there-"

An explosion slammed into Claudio from the left as Bartholomew's knightmare exploded.

"-the hell!?"

A split second later Edgar's went up in flames as well.

"Edgar!"

Claudio spun about, and saw the Lancelot's rifle angle towards him. For one brief moment he froze. That moment was one moment too many. Claudio's body jerked aside as his knightmare was suddenly shoved aside, only for another Gloucester to enter the Lancelot's line of fire. A third knightmare exploded.

"David!"

"You son of a bitch!"

Alfred sprayed the white knightmare with his rifle, all of the rounds impacting against the green barrier. Seemingly without effort the Lancelot charged the other knightmare, sinking its sword into the mech. As it spun about, the motion dragging the burning knightmare along, the Lancelot once more took aim at Claudio. His own knightmare on its knees and unable to get up in time, the young man reacted instinctively. He punched the ejection button, and watched in horror as the last of his brothers was consumed in flames as both their knightmares exploded.

Claudio bounced about inside the pod as it tumbled around on the ground. Once it finally skid to a halt the knight pulled himself up. Pushing open the top, he peered out to see only burning wreckage, the Lancelot nowhere in sight. His fist slammed down onto the frame.

"Alfred! Anyone!"

Silence answered him. There was not even static from his radio. The next word came out in a hiss. It might as well have been a curse.

"Suzaku."

* * *

As an engineering and research group the ASEEC the majority of its personnel were not frontline combat troops. Its collection of engineers and technicians were however very competent at their professions and had been incorporated into the base's overall damage control protocols. As a consequence two thirds of them were away helping in dealing with the aftermath of the airfield strike. The rest were monitoring the Gawain and Lancelot as the two knightmares, Cécile and Lloyd amongst them. Or at least that was what they were doing when the screens suddenly all went berserk.

"What?" the woman exclaimed.

Lloyd's hands went flying over the keyboard. "Someone's initiated a system purge, we're losing all of our data!"

The fastest a human could type was around two hundred and ten words per minute. With help from tab completion on the command shell that could see someone bang out about a hundred commands in that minute, give or take a certain percentage being used for arguments. This was still orders of magnitude too slow to respond to a computer action already taking effect. It was also far too slow to attempt any mitigation of the damage. There was however one method that might yet preserve something.

"Kill the power, now!" Lloyd yelled with uncharacteristic franticness.

A technician hurried towards the emergency shutoff, and suddenly collapsed as gunshots ran out. Cécile turned about, catching sight of two other techs with weapons drawn. She dove for the ground as they opened fire again. Lloyd staggered, a shot clipping him in the shoulder while another struck him in the back. He collapsed, a pool of blood spilling forth. Cécile popped back up, getting off two shots of her own before she was forced back down again. The woman scrambled over to her superior, hurriedly applying pressure on his wounds.

"C'mon Lloyd, stay with me here," she said frantically.

The earl's eyes flickered, somewhat glazed over but the man was still conscious.

The shooting continued about them and Cécile spared brief moments to see which way the tide was going. One of the shooters was down, for good, while the other was hiding behind some consoles. Computers could be surprisingly bullet resistant due to if nothing else the sheer amount of components inside them. They were still pretty poor cover for a gunfight however and with the balance of forces, the number of people shooting at the technician versus him being alone now, made the conclusion inevitable. The man crumbled, collapsing as his weapon clattered on the floor. The other techs and engineers eyed each other warily, not sure who else amongst them might start shooting again. And then the building rumbled as a not too distant explosion sounded.

* * *

Andreas had only a single moment to notice the Gawain was facing towards the main building when its chest opened and the particle weapon mounted on it flared. The next, he was thrown off his feet as the hadron cannon carved a hole through the command center. Screams and cries filled the air, some more coherent than others. Someone managed to hit the panic button and soon klaxons were blaring. Over the ding Andreas could make out a few of the operators frantically trying to alert others of what was happening.

"MacArthur base is under attack, I repeat, MacArthur base is-gah!"

The massive black knightmare had fired again, this time vaporizing a good chunk of the room thanks to the path its first shot cut.

"All personnel evacuate!" Andreas shouted.

Men and women scrambled for the exits and Andreas himself was no more composed. His radio was by some miracle still working however and he needed to take control of the situation quickly.

"Gawain is designated as hostile, terminate with due prejudice," he ordered. "All personnel, MacArthur base has been compromised. Initiate lockdown procedures."

As Andreas emerged from the building he saw a few of the soldiers outside opening up on the Gawain with what weapons they had. The black knightmare was however a sturdy construct and the small arms and even the few man portable antitank weapons leveled at it were proving completely ineffective. Gawain then turned about, and fired its hadron cannon at the ASEEC's hanger. Andreas cursed.

All of the knightmares in Tokyo had already been deployed to the city to meet the incoming JLF units. No one had considered the possibility that the enemy might have infiltrated their own ranks, though perhaps they should have in light of what happened with the gendarmerie. The fixed defenses were also absolutely useless in this situation as they were intentionally designed so that they could not rotate to face into the base. A precaution against their being seized by malcontents to turn against MacArthur, now a limitation that allowed the rogue Gawain to have free reign. Andreas' eyes wandered over to one of the still intact hangers. No, not quite free reign.

"Stall the Gawain," he ordered. "Take it down if you can but keep it away from the vehicle hangers."

His order issued Andreas made a dash for one hanger in particular. A proper general should not be fighting on the front lines with his troops. Then again a proper general would not have allowed his command center to turn into the front lines. He would at least see to it that on this particular front Britannia would emerge victorious.

* * *

One moment a steady stream of tactical updates came in from MacArthur base. The next a grabbled call came in reporting the base was under attack. Jeremiah looked at the situation room in the palace's command center grimly. Attempts to reconnect with MacArthur were proving futile, indicating that the data link to the base had been severed. And with that data link gone even if General Darlton was still alive he would have no way of commanding the Britannian forces in Tokyo.

"Update to all forces," Jeremiah proclaimed. "Command is transferred to the viceroy's palace."

"Sir!"

"Status on the armored company?"

"They're still trying to get through to Shinjuku, we've got civilians starting to clog up the streets trying to get deeper into the Concession!"

The margrave grimaced. While he could understand the desire to get away from the fighting the more the civilians got in the way of the military's movements the greater the chance the fighting would end up reaching them wherever they fled to. And then there was the rather pressing matter of just exactly where those particular tanks were headed.

"MacArthur Base, this is Eyre," a voice sounded over the command channel. "Do you copy?"

"General Eyre, this is General Gottwald," Jeremiah answered. "The situation at MacArthur is still fluid, I have transferred Tokyo command to the viceroy's palace."

A beat passed before Jonathan responded.

"General Gottwald, I need reinforcements, do you have _anything_ that can be routed to my current position?"

"I've got an armored company that's trying to make their way to you but the streets are completely clogged. I don't know how long they'll take."

"What about air support? What happened to the naval base at Yokosuka?"

"They were hit as well," Jeremiah delivered the unpleasant news. "Their runway was also trashed, the Marines have a couple of Cobras that were being transferred. They're being armed and fueled, estimated twenty minutes before they're ready."

Another pause. "Understood. Eyre out."

And there went a man that sounded immensely unhappy about his current situation, not that Jeremiah blamed him in the least.

"Sir, the naval taskforce at Nimitz reports they are getting underway and will be within range to provide fire support for our forces on the ground in five minutes," an operator said.

Jeremiah looked at the situation map again. Under most other circumstances he would be elated at the prospect. Right now however there were additional considerations beyond just the added firepower the naval guns would add, like the reaction of the Akatsuki insurgents to having their city shelled even if the targets were JLF. And then there was the fact that the Princess Euphemia was still holed up at Keio for some reason, surrounded by hundreds of those same insurgents.

"Get me someone senior in the Akatsuki command structure," Jeremiah ordered.

"Yes sir." A short moment later the operator looked back up at the margrave. "Channel six sir."

"This is General Gottwald," Jeremiah said into his pickup. "Britannian naval forces are positioning themselves in Tokyo Bay to provide fire support. As per her highness' intentions I have no desire to bombard the wards outside of the Concession, but if JLF forces attempt to breach the Concession perimeter I will not be able to hold back."

"Acknowledged," a male voice responded in English. "We are evacuating civilians to outside the combat zones. We can provide targeting information that will avoid hitting civilian centers."

Jeremiah's eyes widened. He had not been expecting the latter offer. Then again he was not even sure he could accept it.

"Akatsuki, your men aren't trained to call in targeting information for our ships."

"This is Lieutenant Ackermann, third platoon, Charlie company," a voice cut in. "My boys and girls know how to call targets, they know the language, and they can work with the Akatsuki. Permission to detach teams to rendezvous with the Akatsuki scouts."

Charlie company, that was the third of the three companies that made up the 100th infantry battalion and had been held in reserve when the other two were deployed to Keio to assist with the princess' security. Once the attack hit they were ordered to join up with their fellows but most of the company was still en route.

"Lieutenant, what is your current position?" Jeremiah asked.

"Just crossed the Kanda River and am heading west on the Yasukuni Avenue."

"Yasukuni and Kanda River intersection, now," Jeremiah snapped.

The main display zoomed in to an area northwest of the palace. Jeremiah nodded.

"Permission granted lieutenant. Akatsuki, is this acceptable?"

"Yes," the voice responded. "I will coordinate with Lieutenant Ackermann."

That matter dealt with Jeremiah turned his attention to the larger battle unfolding. Britannian forces were starting to engage JLF attackers across the city. Thanks to the Akatsuki reports they had a rough idea of along which vectors the enemy was trying to advance, allowing Britannian forces to intercept them. It was a running battle, both sides trying to outmaneuver the other. And it was one the Britannian side was just barely winning.

"Sir, a large contingent of enemy forces is pushing in from the north," an operator reported. "Akatsuki reports at least an entire company of knightmares plus infantry in support. They're coming in parallel along the Hongo and Hakusan Avenues."

Jeremiah studied the map. Those particular avenues cut through the Bunkyo ward that bordered Chiyoda to the north. Hakusan ended up narrowing into a much smaller street while Hongo terminated outright at about the Kanda River. The JLF forces could be attempting some sort of pincer maneuver to catch Britannian forces in northern Chiyoda between them, or the eastern force could be seeking to simply strike deeper into the Concession. Neither could be allowed however and Jeremiah began issuing new orders to counter them. Hopefully he would not end up stretching his own forces too thinly in the process.

* * *

The Gawain staggered back, the knightmare growing increasingly unsteady on its feet from the pounding it was taking. It tried to turn around, to keep pace with the circling Gloucester, but with its legs damaged the motion was sluggish. Its pilot was not a complete fool however, stopping its motion to try and catch the smaller knightmare as it came about. That was the opening Andreas was waiting for and the general charged in, lance at the ready. The Gawain's pilot realized his mistake too late. With a powerful thrust the Gloucester slammed its lance into the black knightmare's back. Not even the Gawain's heavy armor could withstand the force of such an impact and the lance punched clean through into the knightmare's chest. A tiny trickle of blood ran down the lance as the Gawain's form sagged to the ground. Cheers erupted all about as the soldiers saw Andreas' Gloucester stand triumphantly over its fallen foe.

The general surveyed the base. A good portion was thoroughly wrecked as despite its limited range the hadron cannon mounted on the Gawain was a potent weapon.

"Begin rescue operations," Andreas ordered. "I want survivors located and triaged immediately."

Acknowledgments sounded over the radio. The general looked about again. There were no signs of any follow on betrayals, thus far. Time to find out how the larger batter was unfolding.

"This is Darlton, MacArthur has been secured but the command center is a loss. What is our current status."

"General Darlton, this is Gottwald. I've transferred command to the viceroy's palace."

Andreas nodded to himself. A sound response with McArthur being removed from play.

"General Eyre," Andreas continued, "has her highness be moved to a secure location?"

A brief moment paused before an answer came. An answer that caused a chill to run down Andreas' spine.

"This is Lieutenant Mustang. Her highness is still in surgery and we cannot move her yet."

A lieutenant. A lieutenant was the one answering, not the general himself. A terrible premonition flashed through Andreas' head.

"Lieutenant," he said softly. "Where is the general."

The silence that followed lasted much longer.

"I'm sorry to report sirs," came the answer. "General Eyre has fallen."

Andreas' jaw tightened. Ever since meeting the man he had regarded Jonathan as a competent, and of equal importance, determined officer. When Jonathan was selected as the captain of the Princess Euphemia's guard Andreas had every confidence that the man would carry out his duty diligently and with dedication. Now General Eyre had demonstrated the highest dedication his calling could have demanded, the sacrifice of his life to carry out his duty. A tremor ran through Andreas' body, one that the general did not even realize immediately. With that realization however came awareness of the anger that boiled within him at having a brother in arms fall.

"Acknowledged," Andreas managed to grate out. "Major Nu, what is your status?"

A husky voice answered. "Lancelot has been neutralized sir. I am on my way to Keio to assume command."

Andreas' eyes widened. "What? What happened with the Lancelot?"

"It-it turned on us sir," was the reluctant sounding response. "I'm sorry sir, but we still haven't ascertained the status of the Glaston Knights."

For a long moment Andreas' mind simply froze. He should have considered the possibility what with the Gawain going rogue that the ASEEC's other knightmare might also be turned against them. Yet even as he fought the black knightmare the thought never entered his mind. Never occurred to him that Suzaku Kururugi might actually be a traitor, not after everything the young man went through to try to prove his worth and dedication. Certainly he made mistakes, but they were mistakes of inexperience, not malicious intent. But if he really had turned against them, turned against the Glaston Knights, there was no ambiguity in his actions. He had foresworn himself to the Empire, to her highness, and to Andreas himself. The shaking in the general's body came from more than just mere rage and anguish. It came from pure shock. And then the radio crackled again.

"Hello?" a panicked feminine voice sounded. "Is anyone out there listening?"

Andreas' head jerked up. Under other circumstances he might have sounded less brusque. As it was his response was more of a bark than a question.

"Who is this!?"

"Oh thank the gods!" Whomever was broadcasting exuded relief despite Andreas' tone. "Euphie gave me this radio, said I could use it to call for help, and I'm calling for help!"

The confusion of all the officers listening in was now quickly mixed with concern. Euphie was obviously the Princess Euphemia and only a few people would dare be so familiar with her.

"Young lady, who are you?" Jeremiah asked for all of them.

"Milly Ashford," came the answer, "and we need help! There's a fight going on in front of the school and the gendarmerie are getting pushed into the grounds!"

Back at the palace Jeremiah's head snapped up to look at the map as a realization struck him. The two JLF forces that were cutting through Bunkyo, assuming they turned directly south after hitting the Kanda River, would have to cut right through Ashford Academy to reach the viceroy's palace. That was exactly what they were doing, and he had nothing with which to stop them.

The radio crackled as a new voice cut in. "This is the Red Knight. I am on my way."

End of Chapter 44

Not quite to Kallen's part yet, that will be next chapter and will serve as the climax to the Black Rebellion arc. I think I'll keep it to three chapters and then have cleanup take place afterward. Which means in theory I'll have kept to my target of 50 or less chapters for the R1 arc.

Only one or two people seem to have figured out just where I got Jane and her uncle Jonathan Eyre from. A shame.

OneDrive has been singularly uncooperative today. I think they're actually suffering from some infrastructure issues.

Made a small mistake in the dialogue last chapter, I should have said the JLF had four knightmare battalions, not two. It's corrected in my master draft.

I also made a much bigger one throughout the story, I thought that Andreas only had four sons, not five. I'm going to need to go through and fix all of the references… That's a pretty stupid oversight on my part.

A piece of background, the viceroy's palace was built atop the destroyed Tokyo Imperial Palace. This actually puts it very close to the border of the Tokyo Concession proper, at least in my story. The moat around it however helps, slightly, with its defensiveness, though a modern army would still have little difficulty lobbing a few shells at the palace if they got within artillery range. As for why the Britannians put it there, well, consider it their way of declaring to the Japanese, we own your country. It's akin to a foreign power razing the White House, Buckingham Palace, the Palais de l'Élysée, etc, and erecting their central administration building atop the grounds.

Jeremiah's noble title is, something of an anomaly. The title of margrave is not a British one, the equivalent being marquis. Yet according to the Code Geass wiki the noble title of marquis also exists and is distinct, and of higher precedence, to that of margrave. My rationalization for this is as follows. The two are functionally and officially equivalent, the distinction existing primarily because of how the family acquired the title in the first place. Marquis of the Empire tend to trace their noble heritage and titles back to the British Isles. Margraves however were created mostly over the course of the Empire's conquests after they were forced from the British Isles to the Americas. Basically all of the margraves were officers that distinguished themselves and were awarded a patent of nobility, usually with titles to land in the area they just helped conquer. As such since they are of the newer class of nobles, many of whom were commoners beforehand, and their official place in the order of precedence actually puts them pretty high up, other nobles from older families tended to look down upon them and so margrave is considered a 'lesser' title to marquis despite the two being officially equivalent.

I think this helps explain some of Jerry's attitude. He's proud of his nobility and he's pretty high up there, but he faces some friction from other nobles with older histories, so he sort of embellishes to make them acknowledge him. That the way he embellishes causes a lot of grief for Numbers he didn't really care or consider a problem until Euphie started ramming down his throat the notion that with a noble title comes responsibilities to everyone under your rule. Is he still a racist prick? Probably. Is he capable of changing? Well, the title is what it is for a reason.

When I came up with Heinrich's title I was thinking Denton, Greater Manchester, in the UK. A lot of Britannian noble titles are still derived from lands in the British Isles even though the Empire lost them to Napoleon. Somehow or another. See my previous rant about that.

Huh, so I have more navy readers. Well, there's something that's going to come up in, umm, give or take two thirds or three quarters of the way into the story that I think all of you will really, really like. I mean, I'm sure the rest of my readers will like it too, but you navy guys and gals are probably going to like it even more. I won't say anything else though, it's one of the big things I'm keeping in reserve. And we're anywhere from 40 to 50 chapters away from that point. Right now I'd count the story as one third of the way through.

I have literally no idea how someone is getting any hints of Lelouch x Kallen in this story. My version of Kallen very much wants Lelouch dead. He's been responsible for three direct attempts on her life thus far, the missile attack on Ashford, the gendarmerie attack right after that, and finally another missile attack on Keio. So far Lelouch has gotten many of Kallen's classmates and now Inoue killed. If Kallen manages to get her hands on Lelouch, his death will be quick and painful. Quick because Kallen is not going to take any risks with someone that obviously dangerous and she's not a sadist, painful because she is pissed as all hell at him and wants him to suffer at least a little bit in revenge for everything he's done to her.

Note also that very few people have plot armor that will see them through to the end of the story. Euphie herself is one, and if you read between the lines Milly also has it. Kallen can be inferred to have one, sort of. The characters that I have not provided such armor for in the opening snippets are all fair game.


	46. Chapter 45

_The Great War, a conflict that stretched across much of the globe as the Holy Britannian Empire fought against the Chinese Federation and European Union to determine whom would hold hegemony over the world. To the surprise of many at the time it was the Europeans and Chinese that fired the first shot, launching simultaneous attacks on Japan, the Middle East, and the Philippines. While European forces were successful in driving deep into the Middle East and forcing Britannian forces to withdraw all the way back to Kuwait and Chinese forces striking at the Philippines were able to establish a beachhead on Luzon island, the combined Chinese and Russian attempt to seize footholds in Japan in conjunction with the uprising by the Japanese Liberation Front fell well short of its objectives._

 _Chinese forces found themselves unable to overcome the stiff resistance put up by the Marine division on Okinawa and what forces were landed were quickly overcome. The Russians fared slightly better, putting two battalions on the shores of Hokkaido. Unfortunately for the invaders the Britannian Seventh Fleet was soon able to expel the Russian Pacific Fleet from Japanese waters, stranding their forces and forcing their capitulation. The JLF uprising in Tokyo also failed to seize control of the city, with Britannian troops supported by the Akatsuki resistance group led by the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki successfully checking their advance and ultimately destroying the JLF in detail._

 _With the Empire so roused its political and military leadership set itself to the greatest challenge their nation had ever faced, confronting and conquering the rest of the world. This was a daunting task even for a nation as powerful as Britannia but its people were not dismayed or discouraged. Many in fact welcomed the outbreak of hostilities, and the opportunity to pay back the European nations that had laid low the old kingdom so many years ago. This was a sentiment that her highness the Princess Euphemia not once acted to rein in._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 45

Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem

Tohdoh listened in to the radio chatter, his visage grim. He had known that the JLF was no longer what it once was, but to think that they would strike at a hospital, one that served the needs of their fellow Japanese in the Shinjuku ghetto. There was no excuse for such dishonor, such sacrilege. The JLF that he had sacrificed much for was no more, only a hollow wraith that danced to the strings of those foreign spies remained. His heart ached at that loss.

"Sir."

The man turned aside to see Chiba standing behind him with a grimace.

"What do we do now sir?"

Do we fight our former comrades, was the unspoken question. Tohdoh sighed. It was a question he could not put off any longer.

"We prepare to deploy," he said with a heavy heart, "and defend the citizens of Tokyo. All of them."

A pained expression twisted Chiba's face but she nodded firmly. "Yes sir."

The woman hurried over to where the five customized Burai Kais. Technicians were already swarming over them, making sure every hatch and port was buttoned down. Akatsuki's internal communications lines were robust if nothing else and they found out about the attack on Keio almost as quickly as the Britannian military command. Standing off to the side overseeing work on one particular knightmare was the Indian woman, barking off orders in English.

"Sensei," Tohdoh approached her.

Rakshata glanced over at the man and addressed him in the English shorthand of his proper rank. "Colonel."

"How quickly can the Guren be moved."

"However long it takes Kallen to get back here," was the answer.

"Sensei," Tohdoh repeated. "We do not yet know if Kallen survived the strike on Keio. If she has, fallen, we cannot allow the Guren to fall into Britannian hands."

Rakshata raised an eyebrow. "You seem very quick to just write Kallen off."

"I have some inkling of the weapons the SDECE smuggled to my former compatriots," Tohdoh replied. "If they really did employ missiles to strike at the Keio hospital, Akakishi-san's chances of survival are not high."

The Indian woman gave her pipe a thoughtful puff. "If Kallen's chances aren't high then what of her highness? If the princess was also killed then there is nowhere in Japan that we could run and hide."

The engineer had a point, Tohdoh knew. If the Princess Euphemia was also a victim in the attack on Keio the Princess Cornelia would tear apart the entire Area to avenge her. In some ways the lieutenant-colonel was still conflicted on what the best course of action was. With this blatant an attempt on the viceroy's life the Britannian military might discard all restraint and the Akatsuki would be forced to fight them as well as the JLF. If that was to be the case however then it might actually be better to fight alongside the JLF, to try to decisively defeat the Britannian forces in Tokyo. But the JLF attack on Keio had almost certainly set Akatsuki implacably against it and any suggestion by Tohdoh to ally with his former comrades would be met with suspicion if not outright hostility. And then the decision was taken out of his hands.

"Akakishi's alive!" someone shouted.

The other members of the Akatsuki flocked around the man operating the radio.

"She, the princess is alive too! And she accepted the deal!"

Gasps and murmurs sounded and Tohdoh pursed his lips. Guarded elation and a poignant sorrow mixed within him. If the viceroy really had agreed to the bargain the Akakishi proposed, and assuming she was able to actually keep her word, then the Japanese people would once more be restored their dignity. All it would cost them was the JLF itself. Tohdoh strode towards his own knightmare.

Kallen did not take much longer to arrive herself and cheers sounded as the young woman hopped out of the vehicle.

"Is the Guren ready?" she cried.

Rakshata smirked and nodded. "She but awaits you to lead her to the dance."

Kallen nodded. She then turned towards Tohdoh, who was suited up and standing with the rest of his Swords.

"Lieutenant-Colonel," the young woman said. "I intend to support the Britannian forces defending my city from the JLF attack. I need you to choose, now, whether you are going to sit out of this fight or help me in fighting and killing your former comrades."

"You believe that the viceroy will keep her word," Tohdoh asked.

A firm nod answered him. "Euphemia has too much pride as a noble to break her word, but more importantly she is starting to recognize that attempting to satisfy that pride at all costs can cause suffering."

Tohdoh raised an eyebrow. "She is starting to."

Kallen's eyes darkened. "We had just gotten to that point when the missiles hit Keio and nearly killed both of us. And _did_ kill Inoue."

The Akatsuki members surrounding them gasped at hearing this. All of them knew Inoue, whether it be because they were part of Ohgi's original cell or one of their closer allies. Even those that only met Inoue after joining Akatsuki were taken aback at the news of the young woman's death. The reaction of some however went well beyond taken aback.

"Those bastards," Tamaki growled. "We're not gonna just let them get away with that are we!?"

"I'm not," Kallen said in a harsh tone. "What of you, lieutenant-colonel?"

Tohdoh regarded Kallen. "This cannot be about vengeance."

"No, it's about making sure the only viceroy that's ever given a damn about our people survives politically to keep giving a damn," Kallen responded. "But that doesn't mean I won't take some serious satisfaction from in what I'm about to do."

While that was not quite the answer Tohdoh was looking for at least the girl was frank with her honesty. And ultimately the man could not blame her. He allowed himself a slight sigh.

"I will fight, I will defend this city from my comrades whom have so strayed."

Kallen nodded, and then glanced over at the other four Swords.

"We follow the lieutenant-colonel," Chiba said resolutely.

The edge of Kallen's mouth quirked up for a brief moment. "So you do." She looked back at Tohdoh. "Let's get going."

By the time the six knightmares were in the streets the fighting had already spread over much of the city. Plugged into the Britannian communications network as they were the Akatsuki was able to determine how the Britannian military was positioning its forces. Combined with their own reports of the routes the JLF were taking they were seeing some success in getting civilians out of the line of fire. Unfortunately Akatsuki's manpower was being stretched thin and countless refugees were actually converging on Keio itself, perhaps hoping that the forces there could protect them. In the past it would have been unthinkable for Japanese civilians to be heading towards the Britannian military in search of safety. That so many did so now could be almost termed progress, save for the fact that the JLF was doggedly intent on razing the very place the Britannians were protecting.

"Ohgi, we need to spread the word," Kallen said into the radio. "People need to stay away from Keio."

"Trying," Ohgi responded, "but we've got a bigger problem developing. A lot of other resistance groups are coming out, if we don't do something to rein them in the city could go up in flames."

Kallen grimaced. She should have anticipated that possibility. Even if Akatsuki was now the single strongest insurgent faction in Tokyo, it did not actually control the other groups that had not been directly folded in.

"Get our contacts to hit everyone they know," Kallen said. "They need to stay out of this fight."

"Already on it, but I'm not sure how many of them will listen."

The girl made no response, instead shifting her attention to her own surroundings. There was a platoon of enemy knightmares racing through the streets along a perpendicular vector. Time to test out just what the Guren was capable of. She picked up speed.

"Swords, keep straight, strafe enemy units coming in on the right on the next major intersection."

With her orders issued Kallen herself took a sharp right turn and disappeared into one of the side streets. She could pick up some grumbling by one of the former JLF pilots, Asahina, but none of them disobeyed her outright. All five knightmares spun right as they crossed the intersection, getting off quick bursts from their rifles. One enemy knightmare went down while another took a glancing hit but pressed on. The other two were completely unscathed. The three survivors however did not give chase, two instead slowing down while a third shot across the intersection before hugging up against a building. It appeared the JLF pilots were not complete idiots and knew better than to chase after a numerically superior foe. Unfortunately for them their caution would not save them this day.

The Guren shot out onto the main street and Kallen fired a tightly clustered burst from her autocannon. The rounds smashed into the pilot pod of her target and left smoking holes from their impacts. The knightmare collapsed, its pilot dead before he even knew what hit him. The other two reacted quickly, opening fire on Kallen as she plowed forth. To their astonishment Kallen threw the red knightmare into the air, leaping over their shots. She landed with a hard thud but her actions were one smooth motion. The Guren closed the remaining distance with one of the knightmares and slammed its right claw into it. A moment later the machine erupted into a fiery blast. Kallen grinned.

The last surviving knightmare began backing away, spraying Kallen's location in a frantic attempt to keep her back. The Guren was however already moving again and was never where it was when the Burai fired. Kallen put some distance between her and the other knightmare, letting off two shots of her own. Both scored and the Burai was suddenly minus an arm and its rifle. That did it. The JLF knightmare spun about, deployed its landspinners, and toppled over as another burst from Kallen's autocannon blew apart the cockpit.

"Targets neutralized," Kallen reported coldly. "We're moving on."

"Acknowledged," Tohdoh responded.

Kallen cast her senses wide again. By now it was not just one kilometer that she could see, it felt more like five or ten. In fact the amount of information was almost overwhelming, forcing Kallen to actually focus to try to see what was going on. She backed off a bit, as if zooming out to reduce the level of detail in order to see the bigger picture. Her headache receded, slightly. And then the girl caught sight of something she was not expecting to see.

"What the hell?"

The first Gloucester went down without ever knowing what was happening. The second had enough time to start spinning about before another shot nailed it as well. The third pushed aside the Lancelot's intended victim and its pilot paid for his heroics with his own life. The fourth actually managed to get off a response, spraying the white knightmare futilely with its rifle. That did little to slow the Lancelot as it plunged its blade into the attacking knightmare. A few seconds later the remaining two Gloucesters were flaming wrecks.

"Suzaku?" Kallen uttered in confusion. "What the Hel are you doing?"

The Britannian command channel crackled. "MacArthur Central, Lancelot has gone rogue, I need _something_ to help me stand it off!"

Static was the only response.

"MacArthur, do you copy!?"

This time an answer came, though it was not one anyone was expecting.

"-are under attack, I repeat, MacArthur Base is under-"

The transmission cut out.

"Akatsuki," a frantic sounding Jonathan shouted, "do you have any forces able to reinforce Gaien East?"

It spoke of the level of the general's desperation if he was actively calling for help from Kallen's forces. As it was against something like the Lancelot Kallen only had one thing she had any confidence would be able to stop it, herself.

"This is Red Knight," she answered firmly. "I'm bringing a knightmare platoon with me, we'll hold the position no matter the cost."

Whether out of relief or surprise it took the general a moment to respond.

"Acknowledged Knight, but be careful, nothing we've got can match the Lancelot's specs and if you're using former Britannian units you're going to have your hands full."

Kallen allowed herself a smirk. "Good thing I'm not riding a Britannian model."

No response came from the general, either because he could not think of one or he was too busy dealing with all the other fires on his plate.

"Lieutenant-colonel," Kallen said. "We have a new target. The Britannian Lancelot knightmare has gone rogue and is about to hit the Gaien Higashi strong point, we need to take it out."

"The-Kururugi's gone what?"

Kallen raised an eyebrow, not that the man could see her. "You know the Lancelot's pilot?"

"I instructed him in the way of the sword when he was a child," Tohdoh responded gravely.

Kallen grimaced but steeled herself. "Whatever he was before, he has chosen to be our enemy. If you hesitate you _will_ die against the Lancelot, lieutenant-colonel, especially in a Burai."

"Your concern is not needed Akakishi," Tohdoh said solemnly. "I have lived the battlefield many times over."

Kallen wasted no more words, simply acknowledging Tohdoh's response with a click of her mic before heading off towards the east Gaien strong point. They would make it before Suzaku, but hopefully the Britannian forces would be able to hold long enough. Hope, that was really all they could offer them at this point, hope and prayers.

* * *

When the sirens went off a collective groan sounded in the hall. More than one student uttered a slightly colorful curse as they put down their pencils and marched out.

"Bloody rotting time it is for a drill," one student remarked.

Cole frowned as he emerged outside. "I don't think it's a drill."

The other student looked at him before following his gaze. Eyes widened at the sight of smoke in the distance.

"Oh bugger."

"All students to the shelters now!" a teacher shouted.

That got them moving. The attack on Ashford Academy was still fresh in their memories and no one wanted to experience a repeat of that tragedy. In the crowd Cole caught sight of a blond haired girl pushing her way out.

"Milly!"

The girl in question looked back as she broke out of the crowd. Seeing Cole however she waited for him to get through.

"Any idea what's going on?"

Milly's hair swayed side to side as she shook her head. "None, but I need to get to my sister."

"I'll come with," Cole said. At the raised eyebrow he cracked a wiry grin. "We're all in this together, no?"

Milly snorted but made no protest. "C'mon."

The two dashed through the campus grounds towards the Ashford family house.

"Sayoko!" Milly called as they burst into the foyer.

"Milady," the maid bowed, already waiting. "Sharon has secured your sister in the shelter."

"Good. Do you know what's going on?"

Sayoko hesitated. "An attack, on the Keio hospital."

Milly's eyes went wide and Cole sucked in a sharp breath. The princess' visit to Keio was public knowledge and it was all too obvious she must have been the target.

"Is Euphie okay!?"

The maid shook her head. "I do not know milady."

Milly paused a beat. "Does Nunnally know?"

"Not as yet milady," Sayoko assured her.

"Good, keep it that way," Milly ordered. "Where's the emergency radio?"

Somewhere from her dress Sayoko produced a handset and presented it to the girl.

"Alright, let's get-"

"Milly!"

Turning about the three saw Rivalz and Shirley appear through the door.

"What, you guys, why aren't you at the shelters?" Milly began before blinking. "Wait, why are you even on campus?"

Rivalz feigned a cough. "Never mind us, why are you still here? And, Cole? What are you doing here?"

"Pondering how much harder they'll make the questions when I re-sit for my interrupted A-levels," the young man managed. "Though seriously, you two should be getting to the shelters."

Shirley shook her head. "Not without all of you and Nunnally."

"We have a shelter in the house," Milly assured her friends, "we'll be fine. In fact, since the two of you here you should come with us."

Before either of the other two student council members could respond an explosion sounded in the distance.

"Whoa, that sounded close!" Rivalz said.

"Crap, this cannot be good," Milly said. "Sayoko, get them to the shelter."

"And what of you milady?" the maid immediately inquired.

"I'm going to try to get a better vantage point, see just what is going on."

"Wait, what!? No way, no way prez," Rivalz protested. "We should _not_ be sticking about just to see what's happening."

"Rivalz is right," Cole said. "This is the military's job, we shouldn't be getting involved."

Milly turned to Cole and give him a flat look. "And what happens if the fighting drifts towards Ashford? How will we know if we need to evacuate outright if someone doesn't keep watch?"

Cole returned the gaze before sighing. "We won't. Which is why _I'll_ go keep a watch, and _you_ head down to the shelter with the others."

"Wha-Cole you can't do that!" Shirley spoke up.

"I can and I will," Cole said and reached a hand out. "The radio please, Milly."

The expression on Milly's face shifted from surprised to worried to finally resigned. She placed the handset in Cole's palm but did not let go.

"The passcode to the clock tower is-"

"0112358," Cole finished with a slight smile. "Mr. Mansfield always was a fan of the Fibonacci sequence."

Milly returned the wistful smile before her expression hardened. "The moment things look like they're getting worse, sound the alarm and get out of there. You understand me Cole?"

"Crystal," Cole said.

Milly finally let go of the radio and Cole flipped the switch. A slight hiss of static sounded.

"I don't suppose you have binoculars I could also borrow?" he asked jokingly.

The smile disappeared from his face when Sayoko presented him with just that.

"Uh, thank you," Cole said as he accepted it.

Sayoko bowed deeply. "You take upon yourself risk for the sake of milady. You have my gratitude, Sir Kraft."

Nodding awkwardly, Cole hurried out the door and towards the clock tower. The others were equally quick in retreating to the shelter. The run to the tower itself barely saw a change in Cole's breathing. The climb all the way to the top of the clock tower, the young man was badly panting by the time he climbed the last step.

"Why did I volunteer for this again," he wondered idly. And then he scanned the city laid out before him and the rising smoke that dotted it. "Oh, crap."

* * *

The East Gaen strongpoint was in tatters. JLF forces were pressing hard and with the Lancelot supporting them the Britannian forces were being quickly overrun. Villetta cut through the Japanese troops, trying to run down as many as she could. They were swarming, taking advantage of the holes the Lancelot had blown in the defensive perimeter to try to reach the hospital. So far by some miracle the platoons of the 100th infantry battalion were holding, but the cost was horrendous, and all Villetta's efforts could not change that, not with the white knightmare constantly haranguing her.

As if summoned by her thoughts Lancelot shot out from around the corner, sword swinging at Villetta's Sutherland. The knight emptied her rifle at the white knightmare but a green sheen absorbed every shot. There was no time for her to dodge, instead Villetta thrust out her rifle and used it to block the slash. The weapon predictably did not survive the impact but it blunted the attack just enough for her to spin around and emerge relatively unscathed.

Escape however was not Villetta's goal. She fired her slash harkens at the Lancelot, tangling its arms and immediately began reeling in. Electricity cackled on the Sutherland's arms as she smashed the batons mounted on them into her opponent. The Lancelot shuddered for a single moment before it managed to slam its leg into Villetta's Sutherland. The force of the blow sent the purple knightmare tumbling back and Villetta found herself completely exposed as she tried to get back up. Suzaku however did not intend to give her the time to recover, raising his sword to deliver the killing blow.

An explosion clipped the Lancelot as it suddenly jerked back and Villetta immediately seized the opportunity to retreat. She threw the landspinners into motion despite the awkward angle, kicking up dust and rubble as her knightmare scrapped the road until she finally got it upright. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a squad of Elevens, no, Honorary Britannians, continuing to fire upon the Lancelot even as they came under attack from more JLF soldiers. They had, were, risking their life to help Villetta. The knight grimaced. She would not leave them to die at the hands of these rebels.

Despite losing her rifle Villetta was not completely unarmed. She pulled out her backup pistol, ignored the Lancelot, and pounded a group of Japanese insurgents with a quick burst. Considering the sheer size of the rounds on the pistol, that and the fact that the secondary weapon was intended for an anti-infantry role in the first place, there was little but bloody pulp left in the aftermath. Villetta took aim at another group and they too met equally grim fates. A lot of things still needed to go right if she was not to share that fate as well however.

Even as Villetta fell back, trying to support her comrades as she did, Suzaku had not let up. The white knightmare quickly closed the distance and executed a series of slashes. Villetta managed to evade the first two but the third was simply too fast. The armor on her knightmare gave with a sickening crack as the sword drew a nasty gash across the front. Inside the cockpit the displays began fritzing as the system tried to fall back onto undamaged data links. The timing could not have been worse.

Another explosion sounded, but this one caught the Sutherland instead. The knightmare came crashing down and Villetta jerked about in the crash webbing. She pulled on her joystick and could feel the joints strain as the Sutherland tried to rise. Tried, but ultimately failed.

"Damn it, hold together a bit longer."

Errors popped up across several displays but the main projection was finally stabilizing. What it showed however was several squads of Japanese soldiers advancing, with the Lancelot at the fore.

"Oh Hel," Villetta muttered.

The Sutherland was trashed, that much was evident. She might get off one more shot with the pistol, but its rounds would be absolutely useless against the Lancelot's armor, never mind its shield. She might be able to nail some of the advancing soldiers though, kill enough of them such that if she ejected immediately afterward, she would have a chance. Villetta gripped the sword at her side. She might die this day, but she would not go down quietly.

And then, the Japanese soldiers suddenly scrambled for cover as a flurry of fire swept through their ranks. The Lancelot too fell back, maneuvering behind cover as suddenly six more knightmares appeared. Five of them looked vaguely like Glasgows, though obviously modified. The last though looked nothing like any knightmare Villetta had seen before. While the others sported a thick red band across their left arms, this one was a bright crimson all over. Red. A red knightmare. Villetta frowned.

"The Red Knight?"

* * *

"Lancelot is backing up," Chiba reported. "It's swinging north again."

"I'm on it," Kallen said. "Lieutenant-Colonel, take the Swords and support the Britannian forces against the JLF attack. If they manage to break through, it'll be a bloodbath at Keio."

"Understood," a noticeably unhappy Tohdoh responded.

It was no small thing, to ask the soldier to fight against his former comrades. The truth however was as Kallen said, they would not stop until Keio was reduced to rubble and the princess dead. No matter what that needed to be prevented.

The avenue was already a smoldering mess, wrecked vehicles dotting the road and sidewalks. In that respect at least that was a good thing, anyone that wanted to get through would need to do so on foot. Of course being on foot also allowed them to filter into the alleys and backstreets, spreading out and avoiding the towering knightmares clambering over the wreckages.

"JLF forces are splitting up," Senba said.

"We just need to keep them from concentrating," Tohdoh responded. "Any units that attempt to rally on the avenue, scatter them."

"Sir!"

The bullets peppering the Burais did little beyond scratching the paint and those that dared fire upon the knightmares found the response elicited to usually be fatal. It was now the JLF attackers that were being routed as the Four Holy Swords systematically decimated every position they tried to hold. The slaughter was not entirely one-sided as here and there soldiers managed to pop off anti-armor weapons. Lacking proper coordination however the attacks proved relatively easy to evade.

"Incoming!"

The warning came a moment too late however as Chiba's knightmare came crashing down, its leg blown clean off. The Lancelot glided over the rubble, jumping into the air and brought its sword dead center on the disabled knightmare.

"Chiba!"

A crimson blur smashed into the Lancelot, diverting the sword and seeing it sink into the road instead of the downed Burai. Letting its weapon go, Lancelot bounced back and landed effortlessly, taking aim with its rifle again. Kallen however was one step ahead, spinning aside to both dodge and close the distance. The surger on her arm glowed and she seized hold of the rifle just as it discharged. Off in the distance a gaping hole was blown clear through a building. Immediately in the Guren's grasp the railgun exploded as it was pumped full of microwave radiation.

The loss of his rifle did not slow Suzaku down much, the Lancelot slipping to the side and grabbing hold of the planted sword. Kallen spun about, trying to catch it again but the white knight was too fast.

"Chiba! Are you alright!?" the girl heard over the radio.

"My knightmare's been disabled sir, I'm sorry," the woman responded.

"Get out of there and link up with the rest of Akatsuki," Kallen ordered.

"Acknowledged," came the very grudging answer.

"More JLF are advancing on this position," Senba reported.

As if to emphasize that shots bounced off the armor of the knightmares. Just what exactly the JLF soldiers thought they were doing firing at them with small caliber arms Kallen had no idea. About the only thing they were achieving was drawing attention to themselves. The girl frowned. Except that was exactly what they were trying to do. The Guren immediately took off.

"Lancelot is trying to make a run for the hospital," she said, eavesdropping on the message Suzaku broadcasted to the JLF.

"Senba, Asahina, remain here," Tohdoh ordered. "Urabe, with me. We will support the Guren."

The three knightmares quickly made a dash southward, keeping the Lancelot in their sights. The surviving Britannian forces saw them coming and frantically poured fire at the Lancelot. With its green shield however it could ignore almost everything they threw at it. Almost, as a rocket shot out from the east and forced Suzaku to duck. Two more armored fighting vehicles appeared, their guns roaring as they tried to keep the Lancelot away. Their backs popped open, disgorging more soldiers. With her sight it was trivial for Kallen to see that these too were Japanese, Honorary Britannians. It must have been the rest of the battalion that had been deployed as security.

With its advance momentarily blocked Lancelot swung west, trying to maneuver around the strongpoint. Kallen was having none of it however, having already swung about and now smashed into the white knightmare from behind. That should have allowed her to deliver the coup de grace. Instead Lancelot sank a slash harken into a building and twisted about, tangling Kallen in the wire. Instead of blasting her opponent with the surger Kallen was forced to use it to melt through the cabling. That however gave Suzaku just enough time to counterattack, slashing at her with his sword. Kallen threw the Guren to the side, narrowly ducking below the swing and rolling before bouncing her knightmore upright once more. The Lancelot remained still, as if unbelieving of what had just happened. And then it turned towards the Guren.

The radio buzzed inside the Guren's cockpit. "Kallen?"

The girl's eyes narrowed. "Fancy seeing you raising your sword against your fellow Britannians, Suzaku."

Then again Kallen had already gotten a good look at Suzaku, or rather the inside of his head. The arteries that ran through his brain pulsed sickeningly. The young man was no longer in control of himself.

Lancelot shifted its stance, drawing its second sword in the process.

"You were right, Kallen," he said. "The Britannians don't want to change, they'll never accept us as equals, only as slaves and servants. The only way for Japan to be free is to cast out our oppressors."

Kallen tried not to snort. There was little point in arguing with Suzaku, his thoughts were that of someone else now. But then again perhaps she could get through to the idealistic idiot that was buried somewhere in there. Even if he was not able to break free, maybe his internal conflict would give Kallen an edge against him.

"Funny to hear you say that, considering your JLF buddies just tried to murder the one royal that was pushing for change," Kallen retorted. "If things do end up getting worse for our people, guess who's to blame?"

The Lancelot's landspinners deployed and the white knightmare shot forward. Kallen was ready however, sliding to the side and evading the other knightmare's stab. She fired off a quick burst from her autocannon, depleting the last of its ammo. The rounds bounced ineffectually off the Lancelot's shield but Kallen caught Suzaku's grimace. Blocking more energetic weapons than small caliber rounds was obviously taking a lot of power.

"The princess is only one person," Suzaku responded even as he swung one blade horizontally. "She is only here at the whim of the emperor. The moment he's displeased with her, she'll be recalled and the next viceroy that is sent will reverse everything she's done."

"Which is why we make sure she can't be recalled," Kallen said, dodging two more slashes before stepping inside Suzaku's guard.

The angle was off to bring the Radiant Wave Surger to bear so Kallen had to settle for ramming into the Lancelot with her shoulder. The white knightmare reared back but did remained steady, impressive considering it lacked the auto-balancing system more easily operated knightmares came standard with. Then again the lack of said system allowed a pilot to more quickly change its motions as the Lancelot shifted into another attack stance almost immediately. Had Kallen not seen how Suzaku shifted the controls she would have likely been caught completely flatfooted. On the other hand Kallen had seen exactly what her opponent was trying to do so she met the thrusting sword with her right arm, catching the blade. The surger fired off again, slagging the part of the sword it touched and shattering it in two.

Lancelot jerked back, just quickly enough to evade a burst of shells from one of the Swords. Kallen clucked her tongue. She was pretty certain Suzaku did not have her all-seeing eye, yet the Japanese youth was seemingly able to respond to his environment almost as well. Kallen tossed aside her shard of the sword. She needed to push herself, and the Guren, to greater heights if she was to actually, truly, defeat Suzaku and his Lancelot.

"Burais," Suzaku's voice sounded over the radio again. "I thought that's what they were. That must mean you're JLF. Why are you fighting me? We should be on the same side!"

One of the Burais lowered its weapon ever so slightly. "Kururugi Suzaku. You would foreswear yourself?"

The Lancelot came to an abrupt halt upon hearing the voice. It did not remain so for long, instead spinning about and charging at the Burai in question. Tohdoh opened fire again but Suzaku kept ahead of where the man was aiming. As the distance closed the Burai drew a long black sword whose edges began to glow a hot red. The knightmare leaned back, assuming a ready stance with the sword parallel to the ground and pointed straight at Lancelot.

"Tohdoh-sensei?" Suzaku said in disbelief. "Why, why, why are you fighting against me!"

At near point blank range Tohdoh sent his Burai charging forth, the glowing sword stabbing at the Lancelot's center of mass. With a whirl the white knightmare parried with its own blade, a shower of sparks flying when their edges met.

"I sought to teach you the principles of bushido, of honor," Tohdoh said solemnly. "You chose an honorless master, yet still attained a measure of honor with your service. And now you cast it all away."

The Burai raised its blade in a vertical stance before drawing back and executing a horizontal slash. Lancelot once again parried, its own grip shifting to be more reminiscent of wielding a katana than a longsword.

"Tell me Suzaku, why have you betrayed those you swore yourself to?" Tohdoh demanded. "Where did I fail in your tutelage?"

This time it was the Lancelot that attacked, spinning about and using the momentum to add to the force of its swing. Tohdoh grunted as he felt the impact shake his machine but he held his ground, if only barely.

"Have you failed anyone but yourself sensei?" Suzaku responded. "The JLF stands on the verge of victory against our oppressors, and you raise your blade against us? Against your fellow Japanese? And for what? So that you can pander at the feet of the Britannians, to ask them to deign to recognize us as a people instead of a mere number?"

Lancelot pressed forth, pushing Tohdoh back as two more strikes rained down upon the Burai. The older knightmare's motors strained under the blows, forcing Tohdoh back into the intersection. Just where he wanted to be.

"I am sorry Suzaku."

Kallen shot out from around the corner, her arm alight as it prepared to discharge. The blow should have been decisive, the timing was absolutely perfect. Yet perfect fell just short of the standard set by the Lancelot with its current pilot. Suzaku swung his machine about, catching the Guren's claw with his remaining sword. The weapon lasted barely a second before snapping outright but in that second Suzaku used it as a pole to swing about. The Lancelot smashed into Tohdoh's Burai, taking the Japanese officer by surprise with the sudden motion. Unable to bring his sword to bear Tohdoh was helpless as the Lancelot seized hold of his own knightmare. A crack sounded and the Burai's sword arm came loose.

"I'm sorry, sensei."

Taking hold of the now-free sword, the Lancelot brought it swinging down against its former owner. The Burai kicked out, nicking the white knightmare and just managing to tip it aside. It was still not enough to divert the blade entirely however, that was done as Tohdoh swung the Burai's other arm and let the sword catch upon it. All this was merely delaying the inevitable, the Burai's systems were failing left and right and control of its appendages died the instant the second arm was pierced. It was long enough however as the Guren slammed into the white knightmare, sending it careening back.

"Yeah, I'm sure you are," Kallen said snidely.

The other Burai wasted no time, advancing on the Lancelot with its sword. With Kallen closing in on the other side the two were perfectly synced to land simultaneous blows. Not even Suzaku could have blocked both attacks, not with all his weapons destroyed, and they were too close for him to dodge as well. Suzaku did not even try however, instead meeting Urabe head on. Their blades clashed but Lancelot's stronger frame saw it easily overpower the Burai, swatting aside the other sword and bowling over the knightmare. It did not stay to deliver a finishing strike however, instead disengaging from the melee and putting more distance between them.

"Tch. Perhaps you taught him a bit too well," Kallen said.

"Or not well enough," Tohdoh said as he climbed out of his Burai.

Inside her cockpit Kallen cracked her knuckles. The Lancelot was battered but not quite broken. It would not take much more however.

"This can't end like this," Suzaku hissed over the radio. "No, I'm not done yet, haven't even started."

Kallen scowled. "Give it a rest Suzaku. You're not going to talk us out of beating your ass, so either stand down or shut up."

"Why can't you understand," Suzaku continued rambling. "The Britannians, they need to suffer, they need to KNOW what it feels like to be trodden upon! Otherwise they'll just keep stepping over others, keep treating them like dirt."

The scowl turned into a frown. This was definitely not Suzaku talking, was it whoever had twisted his mind?

"And what will making them suffer accomplish?" Kallen tried. "What will that do besides continue the cycle of vengeance and hatred? How many parents and siblings lost someone when the JLF hit Ashford? How many of _our_ people are buried in the rubble at Keio? Teach the Britannians suffering? You're doing nothing but bringing suffering to all of us, Japanese _and_ Britannians!"

Inside his cockpit Suzaku actually looked like he was struggling with himself. The boy clutched his head, his eyes bloodshot. The blood vessels in his brain were dangerously inflamed and Kallen was not sure how much more he could take. Then again the chances of saving him were nonexistent at this point and if whatever failsafe was put in triggered she would not be one to protest. The Lancelot was proving to be even more dangerous than in any of their previous counters. Whether it was because of the compulsion pushing Suzaku or it had been upgraded after Kallen trashed it the last time they fought the girl was not sure. Ultimately however she was prepared to take any win she could get this day.

The youth suddenly seized hold of his controls. Kallen frowned. The next moment Suzaku let out a blood curdling scream as he threw the Lancelot forward. He had completely lost it. There was no tactics, no finesse, to his charge, the young man was simply going berserk. Kallen sidestepped, easily dodging the charge even as she gave the Lancelot's legs a good kick. The white knightmare tumbled, slamming hard against the ground. Kallen made sure it stayed down as she fired the surger, melting a leg. The Lancelot futilely tried to rise nonetheless.

Its efforts were for naught as the Guren grabbed hold of an arm, twisting it and causing the joint motors to seize up. A sharp whine sounded as the two machines struggled against one another but the Lancelot was done for. With a loud crack Kallen tore off one arm, then smashed another to pieces, before finally plunging her claw into the cockpit. She did not fire however, instead tearing through the metal armor and thoroughly trashing all of the controls. Bits of the frame peeled away as she pulled back the Guren's claw, revealing a completely incoherent Suzaku still desperately trying to work the controls. The young man was definitely no longer together, blood leaking from his eyes and dripping down his face.

"Suzaku!"

Looking over Kallen saw Tohdoh run over. He was not the only one as several Japanese soldiers in Britannian colors were also taking up positions, weapons raised despite the Lancelot's effective dismemberment. Tohdoh climbed up into the wrecked cockpit, taking hold of the young man.

"Suzaku!"

Suzaku remained unresponsive, still clutching the controls. Kallen could hear the sound of sobbing through her enhanced senses however.

"What have I done."

Kallen regarded the boy, finding herself at a loss for words. After all their meetings, all their battles, she found that she did not hate Suzaku. Here was someone robbed of his will, forced to betray not just beliefs but those he held dear. That same compulsion was now robbing him of his life as she sensed the blood gush through his brain from the burst arteries. It was not a clean death, nor a quick one.

"I'm sorry Suzaku," Kallen whispered. "I wish there had been another way."

The light in Suzaku's eyes started fading. He still breathed, but there was no will behind those breaths, no thoughts that drive them. His grip finally loosened from the controls and his form collapsed into Tohdoh's arms.

"Would that there have been another way," the man said. "Rest, Suzaku. I pray you find a measure of peace."

Kallen continued staring at the wreckage, those same thoughts still echoing in her mind. She felt no triumph in this victory, no elation or sense of glory. This, this was war, and Kallen found that she did not like its taste. And then she sensed something else. Turning the Guren about Kallen picked up the soldiers that were moving up. Britannian, and Honorary Britannians. They regarded the scene, wariness mixed with confusion. After all it was a Britannian war machine that had sought to savage their ranks, and Japanese knightmares that had faced and bested it. They approached, still wary but also not hesitating. Several clambered over the broken Lancelot, helping Tohdoh carry the broken from of its pilot down. And then to Kallen's surprise they saluted, not just to Tohdoh, but also to her and Urabe.

For a moment Tohdoh and the two knightmares remained still, as if transfixed by the sight. Then Tohdoh's arm rose and returned the gesture. Urabe joined in a moment later. Finally Kallen too issued a salute. And then the radio crackled.

"This is Darlton," a gruff voice sounded, "MacArthur has been secured but the command center is a loss. What is our current status."

Kallen frowned. And then recalled that Akatsuki had been plugged into the guards' comm net. Apparently whomever was broadcasting was also doing so on that channel.

"General Darlton, this is Gottwald," a response came. "I've transferred command to the viceroy's palace."

A beat passed. "General Eyre, has her highness been moved to a secure location?"

The response that came was not from the captain of Euphemia's guard. "This is Lieutenant Mustang. Her highness is still in surgery and we cannot move her yet."

Kallen sighed. That at least meant Keio was still standing. Before she could take any more comfort from that point however the radio crackled again.

"Lieutenant," Darlton said softly. "Where is the general."

Kallen's eyes widened as she made the inference. The response that came confirmed it.

"I'm sorry to report sirs. General Eyre has fallen."

Kallen stared at the radio. She had only interacted briefly with the general but even in that short of a time she could tell he was a good sort. Loyal, dedicated, and most importantly, fair and open minded. With him gone, would Akatsuki's truce with the Britannian forces still hold?

"Acknowledged," a pained answer came. "Major Nu, what is your status?"

Amongst the crowd of Britannian soldiers Kallen sensed a woman toggling her radio.

"Lancelot has been neutralized sir. I am on my way to Keio to assume command."

The major started making her way towards the hospital.

"What? What happened with the Lancelot?"

"It-it turned on us sir," Kallen heard her answer reluctantly. "I'm sorry sir, but we still haven't ascertained the status of the Glaston Knights."

And that was when Kallen made another connection. General Darlton. A close aide to the Princess Cornelia and the leader of the Glaston Knights, a group of knights composed of his adopted sons. Kallen winced. The same knights that Suzaku had cut down when he went rogue. Kallen was given no time to ponder this development however.

"Hello?" a panicked feminine voice sounded. "Is anyone out there listening?"

Kallen's eyes widened. She recognized that voice.

"Who is this!?"

Apparently the others did not.

"Oh thank the gods!" Milly's voice was palpable with relief. "Euphie gave me this radio, said I could use it to call for help, and I'm calling for help!"

It was pretty obvious the Britannian officers still had no idea what was going on.

"Young lady, who are you?" another one asked.

"Milly Ashford, and we need help! There's a fight going on in front of the school and the gendarmerie are getting pushed into the grounds!"

Kallen felt her chest tighten as those words hit her like a hammer. Ashford Academy, caught in the crossfire yet again. Her grip tightened on the controls. No more, not if she had anything to say about it. The girl activated her radio pickup.

"This is the Red Knight. I am on my way."

End of Chapter 45

Okay, that went on a bit longer than I was expecting, so the Battle of Tokyo will take another chapter to wrap up.

Japanese is somewhat annoying insomuch as for ranks, a lieutenant-colonel and a colonel are distinct. In Japanese you can't actually call someone a 'colonel' if they're just a lieutenant-colonel, there's no abbreviation like in English. It's why whenever the characters are speaking in Japanese, I use lieutenant-colonel when referring to Tohdoh. I suppose I could just be lazy and just refer to him as colonel, but it's the attention to detail that I think sets my story apart from others and I'm somewhat loathe to compromise on that, even if it sounds like I'm being needlessly pedantic.

CE means Common Era. And if you read between the lines it hints at something.

Hmm, Inoue's passing wasn't really inspired by anything or referencing anything. I just wanted to craft a poignant scene for it and that's what it ended up as.

Anyway, I'm sure there are some of you that will be very vocal about Suzaku being taken out of play. I have some thoughts regarding him that I'll share in the notes for next chapter. For now let's see what you all have to say.


	47. Chapter 46

_With the commencement of the Great War Japan's position on the other side of the Pacific Ocean saw its strategic significance increase substantially from the perspective of the Empire's military planners. Its proximity to China and Russia made it an ideal staging point, though conversely that same proximity put it at considerably greater risk than the homelands. Recognition that an intransigent population would severely hamper the Empire's warfighting efforts was one of the levers the Princess Euphemia employed to gain acceptance of her elevation of the status of her Japanese subjects. Her highness' gamble would pay off spectacularly as the Japanese people rallied, to the princess personally if not to the Empire as a whole, at least before her ascension to the throne. Even with the rationing imposed to feed the Britannian war machine, standards of living for the Japanese population improved measurably over the course of the war and much of what was once blighted urban areas was restored to livable conditions._

 _All this is not to say that there were not repercussions for the Japanese Liberation Front's uprising and attempted assassination of her highness. JLF sympathizers and supporters were arrested in droves once the Britannians put down the revolt, with the most prominent arrestees being members of the Numbers Administration Council. In fact only one member of the council emerged relatively unscathed. The Lady Kaguya Sumeragi had shifted her patronage to that of the Akatsuki before the uprising and this fact alone saved her from incarceration and execution. The Sumeragi Group was still fined a hefty sum, to the point where certain parties thought the group would need to liquidate some of its assets to meet the requisite payment. A sudden injection of cash from the Baron Heinrich Stadtfeld however saw the Group emerge relatively intact, even if the baron was suddenly one of its largest shareholders. As more than one observer at the time would remark, even when lending a helping hand the Baron Stadtfeld's business acumen would see him come out ahead._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 46

Inter spem et metum

"Things are _not_ looking good out here Milly," Cole said into the radio. "Whoever's attacking the city has knightmares, and they're pounding the positions on this side of the Kanda River pretty hard. I don't know how much longer the military's gonna be able to hold out, we should get everyone out of here while we still can."

"No dice," came Milly's response. "The military's telling everyone to sit tight, I'm not sure we could get this many people through the streets safely at this point."

Cole grimaced. "Milly, we're-"

Another explosion interrupted him and Cole instinctively hunkered down.

"Cole! Cole are you okay!?"

"Uh, probably," he answered as he patted his body. "No holes at least."

"Get out of here," Milly ordered. "If the fighting's this close there's no point in you standing watch."

Instead of answering Cole peered through the binoculars again. The blasts were on their side of the river and did not take long for him to find. The charred wreckage of an armored car burned by the bridge, bodies strewn about. Cole winced. This was as bad as when the school was attacked. No, this was much, much worse. The soldiers on the other side, they were pouring across the bridge and making their way south.

"Milly, the bridge position has been overrun," Cole said. "We've got soldiers incoming."

"Get down from there Cole!" Milly literally screamed at him.

Still Cole did not move. "They're, what are they, oh crap."

More explosions sounded, muffled but still audible at this distance.

"Those soldiers are tossing grenades into buildings," Cole said. "They're, gods, I think they're trying to flush out any Britannian soldiers still on this side."

"Cole," an impatient sounding Milly spoke. "Get. Your ass. Down here. NOW!"

"Milly," Cole responded, "we need to call for help, we-"

A round smashed into the clock tower, sending Cole reeling back.

"Ah crap!"

"Cole!"

"They're shooting at the school!"

"Get out of there now!"

"Trying-shit!"

Another round blew through the brick walls and showered Cole with rubble. The young man scrambled for the stairs and ran down at a dead sprint. Whoever was shooting at him seemed to have stopped for now but there was no telling how long that would last. When he burst out from the clock tower he came to a screeching halt as he almost ran into someone.

"Whoa-Sharon!? What are you doing here!?"

"Milady requested that I see you to safety," the maid said with a very quick curtsey before she seized hold of Cole's arm. "This way please."

The woman's grip was like iron and the pace she set nearly saw her dragging Cole after her. She led him through the grounds, keeping them out of sight until they reached the Ashford family house. From there instead of taking him inside Sharon pulled open a cellar door and hurried Cole down the stairs. After making sure they were shut behind them the maid punched in a combo number into the electronic lock.

A click sounded and she pushed aside a very thick door. Cole could only gap in bewilderment. This was looking more and more like a full-fledged bomb shelter than merely something that paid lip service to the name. Inside was another blast door, also electronically locked. While Cole could not see Sharon's fingers as they flew over the number pad just from the sound of it the code for this one was different than for the door they just entered.

"Just how long as this been here?" Cole idly wondered aloud.

"Master Ashford had this installed after he purchased the old Meiji University grounds for conversion into Ashford Academy," Sharon answered unexpectedly.

"Uh, I see," Cole said dumbfounded.

The two entered into the shelter proper and Cole was immediately subject to a very physical reprimand from an irate Milly.

"You bloody idiot," the girl exclaimed. "What part of 'Get out of there' did you not understand!?"

"Sorry Milly," Cole said, taking Milly's arms as much to reassure her as to stop her from continuing to pound her fists against his chest.

"You okay man?" Rivalz asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Cole said. "But, it's not good out there." The young man looked levelly at Milly. "We need to call for help Milly, we might be safe down here in this shelter, but the main building's shelter is nowhere this tough. And something tells me if those soldiers get in there, they might not distinguish between soldiers and civilians."

"But that's insane!" Milly exclaimed. "Those have to be Japanese resistance fighters, they've never intentionally drawn…civilians…into…"

As the girl fell silent Cole nodded grimly. True the majority of the insurgent groups tried to avoid civilian casualties, but they did have one counterexample right here on these grounds. Milly let out a low hiss.

"We have to get those people out of here," Cole stated.

"If you go out there right now you'll almost certainly get caught in the crossfire," Milly countered.

"I know," Cole said, causing Milly to give him a quizzical look. "Right now the, what do they call it, the rules of engagement don't seem to apply anymore, everyone's a target whether they're a soldier or a civilian."

"Gods damn it," Milly said. "How close are they to the school?"

"A block away at most. It looked pretty bad out there, I'm not sure where the military is, the only people on our side I saw were gendarmerie."

Milly's eyes widened. While technically a military force, the gendarmerie was primarily geared towards police work. They did possess some light weapons but against knightmares those were wholly inadequate. The girl reached into her jacket and pulled out a much more rugged looking radio than the one Cole had been using. She turned it on and tentatively held it up to her mouth.

"Hello? Is anyone out there listening?"

For a moment nothing but static hissed from the radio. Then an irritable sounding voice responded.

"Who is this!?"

"Oh thank the gods!" Milly's mouth went full speed. "Euphie gave me this radio, said I could use it to call for help, and I'm calling for help!"

Again silence, whomever on the other end probably trying to figure out just what was going on.

"Young lady, who are you?" a new voice asked.

"Milly Ashford, and we need help! There's a fight going on in front of the school and the gendarmerie are getting pushed into the grounds!"

Cole was not sure whether that would mean anything to whichever military officer was on the other end. He hoped it did, that someone in the chain of command would recognize Milly as a close personal friend to the princess and would respond. The way things were however even that might not be enough to get the military to send help their way. There simply might not be any help to send. And then a third voice sounded over the radio, one that all three of the students recognized.

"This is the Red Knight. I am on my way."

Cole's eyes flared wide and he sucked in a sharp breath. His next word was a mere whisper.

"Kallen?"

* * *

The distance from Keio to the Ashford Academy was approximately five kilometers. A Britannian M60 tank could get there in about ten minutes if it went all out. A knightmare could do it in six thanks to its faster speed and overall better maneuverability. It turns out being able to take corners at high speeds is really, really useful. A lot could happen in six minutes however and by the time the Holy Swords and Kallen reached the school the gendarmerie had been pushed into the outer set of buildings. Not that taking cover in said buildings was helping their situation much seeing as the JLF was showing no restraint in trying to root them out. Not that the gendarmerie was showing much tact in hiding in school buildings to begin with.

"Bloody idiots," Kallen muttered as she surveyed the situation. "Urabe, blow through, hard and fast. Disorientate them, then hold position until I give the signal."

"Roger," came the response.

Kallen slowed, allowing the Burai to shoot past her. As the knightmare came into range it let loose a volley of rounds, smashing apart clumps of JLF soldiers trying to advance on Ashford. Without stopping Urabe cut across the street, not even slowing for potshots, before banking hard and slipping behind a building at the intersection. The Guren followed moments later, barreling right through the momentarily stunned soldiers. Screams echoed as the red knightmare literally ran them over. With a punch it impaled one of the JLF Burais. The others tried to maneuver around to get a clear shot but Kallen was one step ahead. The surger glowed a bright red and the moment after she gave her victim a hard kick, sending it tumbling towards another Burai. A second later it exploded, taking out its compatriot with it.

The two survivors tried to open up the distance between themselves and the Guren, exactly what Kallen wanted.

"Now!"

From the east Urabe ducked out and let loose, his shots nailing the cockpit of the JLF Burais. They did not quite penetrate but it was enough to disorient the pilots, giving Kallen the opening she needed to charge in once more. One of the Burais never saw her coming. The other had just enough time to realize it was alone before meeting the same fate.

The initial wave defeated, Kallen took a moment to examine the downed enemy knightmares. One of the rifles was still intact so she grabbed it. Without two proper hands it would be a tad difficult to shoot accurately bit it was still better than nothing. She really needed to see if something could be done to increase the magazine size of her autocannon.

"This is Red Knight," Kallen broadcasted on the guards channel. "Ashford Academy is temporarily secure, can someone get the gendarmerie the Hel off the school grounds? At this point they're just inviting the JLF to gun down everyone on campus by hiding in its buildings."

Without waiting for an answer Kallen switched channels.

"Head north, we'll flank the JLF position at the bridges."

Before she could follow the other two knightmares however a shrill, almost petulant voice sounded over the radio.

"KALLEN! Is that you!?"

The girl froze in her tracks. No way, there was no way Milly was brash enough to use a military channel just to yell at her. But then again, this was Milly Ashford. Kallen groaned.

"This is _not_ the time Milly," she responded despite her better judgment.

"Like Hel it isn't, do you have any idea how worried we've been!?"

"Milly, the channel you're using is the command channel for the princess' royal guard," Kallen said. "Clogging it up right now is a _really_ bad idea."

That seemed to get through to the usually indomitable Ashford girl. That did not mean of course she was going to let Kallen have the last word.

"Alright, but you owe us an explanation after all this is over Kallen! And Cole an apology for all the grief you put him through!"

Kallen froze up. She gapped at the radio, a torrent of emotions whirling inside of her. Cole had been worried about her? No, that was a stupid question. Of course he had been. The last time they saw each other she was getting shot at by the gendarmerie. From what the princess said, he had been worried enough to go to her for answers. And probably did so via Milly. A pain of guilt shot through Kallen. Milly, Cole, even Shirley, Rivalz, and Nina. Despite it all she did consider them friends. And she had been lying to them the entire time. That her reasons for doing so were good, sound ones did not change that fact. She did need to apologize to them, and she would. But first she needed to make sure all of them would live through this day for that apology to happen.

* * *

"Status."

Jeremiah snapped to attention as Andreas entered the command center.

"Our forces have managed to check the JLF advance sir," the margrave answered. And then added almost grudgingly. "Akatsuki forces have been providing significant support in terms of intel and also some combat assets."

"Assets such as that platoon of knightmares?" Andreas remarked flatly as he stood beside Jeremiah.

"Yes sir."

Andreas sighed. "We were careless. And sloppy."

To that Jeremiah did not offer an opinion or argument. The lieutenant-general was right after all, they had been careless to allow insurgents to acquire modern weapons in such numbers. As outdated as the stolen Glasgows were they were still potent and four battalions of knightmares was nothing to scoff at. Then there was the crimson knightmare that was obviously being piloted by the Red Knight.

"The situation at the hospital?" Andreas continued.

"Stable. Her highness is out of surgery and Major Nu is organizing a convoy to bring her back to the palace."

"Dos she anticipate any trouble from the Akatsuki forces in that regard?"

The unspoken question, was Akatsuki hoping to use as leverage the fact that for now the princess was effectively sequestered in the middle of the Shinjuku ghetto, surrounded by their own forces.

"No," Jeremiah answered. "In fact indications are Akatsuki wants her highness evacuated almost as badly as we do."

Andreas raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"If nothing else her highness' presence makes Keio a high priority target for the JLF, and there are countless civilians seeking shelter on its grounds," Jeremiah explained. "While we have managed to secure the area for now, a determined push could still break through. The civilian casualties were that to happen would be, substantial."

The general acknowledged the point with a nod. For all his stoicism however it was clear that he was still somewhat distracted. Britannian forces had found the wreckage of the five Gloucesters the Glaston Knights used. Four of Andreas' sons were confirmed killed in action while a fifth had managed to eject. Thus far there was no sign of Claudio however.

The two officers continued observing the situation, Andreas getting a feel for the flow of battle once more while Jeremiah continued issuing orders. The JLF's initial thrust had managed to cut deeply into the city, even managing to breach the Concession in several places. Its attempts to consolidate those gains with its infantry forces however were quickly dashed once the Britannian navy came into range of the city and began bombarding those positions. Such actions were not without cost, the guns on the _Missouri_ had an effective lethal radius of several hundred feet and while the cruisers and destroyers were not quite that destructive the use of naval fire support had seen several blocks effectively leveled.

"Sir, enemy forces are starting to pull back from the Taito, Chuo, and Bunkyo wards," an officer reported. "They're, converging towards the northwest."

Jeremiah frowned as he studied the estimated rallying point. "There's nothing of strategic importance in that area."

"No," Andreas agreed, "but there _is_ something of great worth to the immediate south of that position. They're preparing for another push on Keio."

The margrave's jaw tightened. The lieutenant-general was right, by bringing their surviving forces around the JLF could make one final push against Keio. Estimates were that the enemy was down to a third of their original numbers in knightmares and probably half their infantry. There was no chance of them militarily defeating the Britannian forces at this point and the JLF leaders probably knew it. Knowing it, the bastards were going to try to make the victory as bitter as possible, or so Jeremiah assumed.

"This does not make any sense," Andreas said with a frown. His superior obviously thought otherwise.

"Sir?"

"Their target is obviously Keio, but the JLF are going to extreme lengths trying to murder her highness. First the missile strike on the hospital, then their deployment of an entire knightmare company against the defensive positions General Eyre established. Now this? How much greater of a chance would the JLF have stood if they employed those assets against military targets?"

The general had a point, Jeremiah realized as he too began to frown. Originally the margrave simply assumed that the JLF wanted to murder her highness because of her position as viceroy. Except if the insurgents' goal was to force the Britannian forces to capitulate militarily, there was no need for such vehement attempts on the princess. True her highness' death might have been powerful symbolically, but all that was liable to do was piss off the Britannian military enough to pull out all the stops and simply level most of Tokyo to ensure the JLF's destruction, civilian casualties on both sides be damned.

"There is something we do not know," Jeremiah said. "Some piece that we do not understand."

"Indeed. But our duty now is to ensure her highness' safety." Andreas leaned forward against the console. "Status on the gunships."

"We've lost half of the Cobras sir," came the response, "both ours and the Marines. The JLF are equipped with some very good anti-air missiles and they haven't been shy about using them."

Andreas grimaced. "Do we have any mobile elements nearby?"

"There's a mechanized infantry battalion that's spread out along the north Chiyoda border," Jeremiah answered that one. "They were reinforcing the gendarmerie."

"Strip off two companies and have them try to intercept the JLF forces coming from the east. I'd much rather prevent the attack outright than to draw the enemy into some sort of decisive engagement at Keio."

"Yes sir."

"Sir, Nimitz base is reporting that they've managed to load some of their fighters onto the carrier. They're preparing to sortie."

"Some good news finally," Jeremiah remarked.

"Indeed," Andreas agreed.

In theory the jet fighters should be less vulnerable to the JLF's missiles than the gunships. Then again if they were modern systems provided by the damnable French they could well down a jet as well. The tide was slowly turning however. Most of the city was effectively rising up against them, even insurgent groups that were clearly not affiliated with Akatsuki engaging the JLF. Andreas never would have conceived of such an outcome even a few short months ago. It appeared that her highness' campaign to win over the hearts of the Eleven population was paying dividends, and at a crucial moment. To keep these gains however they needed to make sure her highness survived.

* * *

"Hold! Identify yourself!"

Claudio raised a single hand. "I am Lieutenant Darlton, Glaston Knights."

The soldier that was pointing a rifle at him lowered the weapon and came to attention briefly. "Sir! Glad to see you alive sir, we've had orders to try and locate you."

The trek back to friendly lines had been less than pleasant from Claudio's perspective, what with the JLF soldiers prowling the streets. Armed with only a pistol if he had been discovered the knight doubted he would have survived. Then again the young man was not quite able to relax just yet seeing as the soldiers before him were all Honorary Britannians, much like one Suzaku Kururugi.

"Who issued the order?"

"Major Nu sir," the soldier answered. "She's in command of the Keio detachment."

Claudio's eyes widened. "What happened to General Eyre?"

The knight already knew the answer, but a part of him still needed to hear it.

"General Eyre fell sir, taking down an enemy knightmare."

This time the wide eyes were for something else entirely.

"A knightmare?" the man said in hushed awe.

"I did not witness it myself sir, but according to the reports he leapt onto a downed knightmare to set off an explosive to disable it."

Claudio took a few moments to absorb the news. And then shook his head.

"I need a weapon, a better weapon. Right now people are dying and all I have is this peashooter."

"We can get you to Keio sir," the soldier said. "The battalion should have spare gear that you can borrow."

After reporting to the soldier's direct superior and notifying him of the good news, the two trekked over to the hospital. As they got closer Claudio saw more and more armed Elevens wearing those red armbands. The sight was more than a bit unnerving.

"Private, what happened with the Lancelot?" Claudio finally asked.

"Bastard hit our position pretty hard sir," came the answer. "Major Nu tried to stop it, but her knightmare was having trouble keeping up. A lot of my friends died trying to help her fight it off. Just when we thought we were going to buy it, the Aka-I mean Red Knight showed up with four other knightmares and managed to chase it off. By the time we caught up, they had taken it out."

That, was not quite what Claudio was expecting.

"What, happened to the pilot?"

"He was pretty banged up, they took him to Keio. Not sure what happened afterward."

It was with mixed feelings that Claudio absorbed the news. Only an hour or so ago he held a burning hatred for Suzaku, for not simply betraying him but also killing his brothers. He had wanted the youth to die by his hands, or even better the hands of his knightmare. Even though the brief time since the betrayal had seen his anger diminish, if only slightly, he still very much wanted the Eleven dead. Instead not only was he still alive despite having been defeated but he was being treated in a place Britannian soldiers had died trying to defend. The notion made him sick. Claudio was still mulling over just why that was when they reached Keio.

"This way sir," the private said, drawing Claudio's attention away from the major.

The two arrived at an armored truck and after a few brief words with another soldier standing guard over it Claudio was issued tactical armor, a rifle, and a couple of extra magazines. The man felt slightly less exposed now. The matter resolved the private came to attention once more.

"Best of luck sir."

"Thank you private," Claudio responded with a respectful nod.

The man headed off back towards the east Gaien position. Claudio took a deep breath and looked around. There were even more of the red banded Elevens, and it was not just small arms they were wielding, but also light weapons such as machineguns and even one or two antitank missiles. If he recalled correctly these people were the Akatsuki, a resistance faction that General Eyrie had declared as friendlies before his death. Claudio had his reservations on that point however. Giving himself a shake the man headed towards another officer in the colors of the Princess Euphemia's guard, one that looked slightly less harried than the major.

"Sir," Claudio said. "Lieutenant Claudio Darlton, reporting in."

The man's eyes widened before he nodded. "Lieutenant Roy Mustang. Good to see you still kicking, lieutenant."

"Thank you sir. Is there anything that I can assist with?"

Roy chuckled wirily. "At this point? We've done basically everything we can here. If the JLF tries to hit Keio again then we'll stand and fight. Once her highness is ready for evacuation to the palace we'll hit the road. Until then all we can do is wait and hope the rest of the military is able to keep the pressure on the enemy and prevent them from massing for another run at this place."

Claudio frowned. "Are you, sure about that sir?"

The senior grade lieutenant glanced back at Claudio. "Something on your mind?"

The frown deepened. "It's just, are we actually in friendly territory right now, sir?"

Roy regarded the young man silently for a few moments. His head then turned to look at something else.

"See that wing over there? The section of the hospital that's collapsed?"

"Yes sir," Claudio said as he followed the other man's gaze.

"How many people do you think perished when that happened?"

"A dozen, probably more," Claudio answered frankly. "The entire wing is pretty much a loss."

"In actuality it wasn't even half a dozen," Roy said. "Amongst the five fatalities however were three of my fellow armsmen and two members of Akatsuki. And the only reason that her highness is not counted amongst those fatalities is because the Red Knight managed to pull both of them out of there before the building collapsed outright."

Claudio looked back over at Roy. He had not heard about that part. Roy nodded his head in another direction. When Claudio followed it his gaze fell upon countless body bags piled up in an area of the square.

"How many bodies do you think are there?"

"A couple dozen," Claudio said in a whisper.

"For some definition therein," Roy responded. "We've taken over two hundred fatalities so far, half of that Akatsuki. Alpha and Beta companies have both lost about half of their numbers. In fact of those soldiers that accompanied General Eyre to take down that knightmare platoon that hit us early on, only one of their numbers made it out alive. At this point if Akatsuki wasn't here, the JLF could swarm our position even with the armoured company helping secure the perimeter."

The young knight remained silent.

"I am aware of what happened to you, lieutenant," Roy said. "I'm not going to pretend and claim I understand how you feel, your feelings and thoughts are your own. Mine however are that I have shed blood with the Akatsuki, and the Honorary Britannians of the 100th battalion, and I will not seek to demean their sacrifice by second guessing them now."

"I had no reason to second guess Private Kururugi either," Claudio managed weakly, "sir."

"No you did not," Roy allowed. "But at present you have no cause to second guess the soldiers here either, lest you wish to gainsay myself and those under my command as well."

Claudio grimaced again. After a few moments he shook his head.

"I have no cause to do so, sir."

Roy nodded. "Good. Keep close to me for now. Once we're ready to evacuate her highness, you'll be part of the escort detail."

At that Claudio straightened. "Yes sir."

That duty was at least completely unambiguous, something the knight could carry out without any hesitation. He could only hope things would return to such simplicity in the future.

* * *

The viceroy's palace had emerged completely unscathed from the Battle of Tokyo, a minor miracle considering how deeply the JLF managed to penetrate into the city before the military managed to check them. As night fell the occupants of the palace allowed themselves to relax slightly. The worst seemed to be over, majority of the JLF's numbers either dead or captured and those left too few to present any threat to the center of Britannian power within the Area. For some however the calm that settled brought no comfort, for with the calm came time to think and dwell.

Rochester knocked gently but after a minute of no response he tested the doorknob, slowly twisting it. A click sounded, indicating it was not locked. The baron pushed the door open and entered. Standing by the window, staring blanking out, Jane was either ignoring his entrance or remained completely unaware of his presence. Rochester grimaced.

"Jane."

That finally seemed to break through the woman's demeanor and she turned around, her face blank of expression.

"Edward. I did not hear you enter."

"Evidentially so," Rochester said as he approached. "Are you alright?"

"I-," Jane began before hesitating. She turned away, clasping her hands to her chest. "I, do not know."

Rochester stepped to the woman's side and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Jane."

The woman's form shuddered slightly. "My uncle might have been one of the first people outsider her highness' family to ever say no to her. I think her highness found the experience novel."

The baron said nothing, simply listening patiently.

"He never overused that word with her highness. And whenever he did disagree with her strongly enough to warrant it, he made sure she understood why he disagreed. But even then if her highness ordered it, he would still carry out her order."

The tremors were becoming more noticeable.

"I don't really remember my parents," Jane went on. "They passed away when I was very young. Uncle Jonathan was the one that raised me. He always said I was spirited and willful, even as a child."

Rochester took hold of Jane with both arms to keep the young woman from collapsing.

"He was so proud when I graduated from university. Said that my parents would be proud too. But it was him that I was the happiest to have made proud."

"Jane," Rochester whispered once again.

"He was my only family." The tears came forth. "He-he was the one person that was always there for me. But he's gone now."

The baron pulled Jane into his arms, holding her tightly as she cried.

"I don't have anyone else. I don't-I don't have-"

"I am here," Rochester whispered. "I am here, and I will always be here. At your side. Whenever you need me."

Jane made no response, her emotions finally overwhelming the young woman. The tears she shed now had been bottled up ever since news arrived that her uncle had fallen. In the midst of the viceroy's palace, in the heart of what became the central military command for the Britannian military in Tokyo, it became literally impossible to keep such news from spreading. By the time an officer dressed in her highness' colors had approached Jane the woman already knew the news he came to convey. Jane had accepted the news stoically, politely thanked the officer for delivering the message personally, and retreated to her room. How long she simply stood there, gazing out the window the woman could not even begin to guess. But now, in the arms of the one other person to have ever held Jane with such tenderness, the woman found her stoic façade crumbling away.

"I am not a perfect man," Rochester said. "I have many faults, and I do not know if I could ever measure up to Jonathan. But, I will be there for you Jane. And I sincerely hope that you will be there for me as well."

Jane made no answer, but she made no move to part from Rochester either. She simply leaned against the baron, allowing her tears to drain away. They did so, but only after a very long time.

* * *

"Minami."

The bespectacled man looked up, both of them in fact, as the guardsman working with Minami also looked up at Ohgi.

"Corporal," Ohgi greeted respectfully.

"Sir," Kain greeted.

While the Akatsuki's own rank structure was not formally recognized by the Britannian military, the two factions were still collaborating and so a modicum of respect was observed by both sides. Both men brightened however as Ohgi put down two containers. The smell was already leaking out.

"Thanks Ohgi," Minami said. "I was starting to wonder if someone had forgotten about us."

Ohgi allowed himself a smile as he settled down into an empty seat. "Everything's quiet?"

"More or less," Minami answered as he broke up the clumps of rice and mixed it with the meat and vegetables with his chopsticks. "What's left of the JLF is keeping their heads down and they don't seem to have any working knightmares left. I think we're through the worst of it."

"The regular army is sweeping the streets with night vision gear," Kain said, looking devoutly grateful for the fork that accompanied his serving. "If any of the JLF tries to approach Keio or the Concession, they'll be sighted before they can do any harm."

"Your soldiers _will_ verify whom they see before shooting, I hope?" Ohgi said.

The Britannian corporal nodded emphatically. "General Darlton's orders. And we're also here to help crosscheck things so that if our people do stumble into each other, we can provide verification."

Ohgi nodded. "Good."

The last thing they needed after all was a firefight to start up between their two sides by accident. There might be a modicum of goodwill right now but it would be all too easy to lost that if something like that happened.

"You two can probably turn in after you eat," Ohgi said. "We can get someone else to cover for you."

"That would be nice," Minami said. "It's been, a long day."

"I don't think any of us expected things to turn out this way," Kain said with a sigh. "But then again you learn to deal with the unexpected in the military."

Ohgi regarded the soldier. He did not have the bearing that so many other Britannians carried themselves with, that condescending pride. Kain simply looked like a regular person just trying to do his best. Were all royal guardsmen like this? Or was this simply just the caliber of persons the Princess Euphemia had attracted to her service. Something to consider.

The radio sounded. "This is Akakishi. What's our current status."

Ohgi looked over at the radio in surprise. It seemed Kallen was done with her own day, or almost. He picked up the handset.

* * *

By the time the Guren rolled back to the warehouse it was seriously running low on power. In fact Kallen had needed to arrange for a resupply in the field midway through the afternoon to keep fighting. The surger was a powerful weapon but it really did suck a lot of power so the girl was forced to rely on a Burai rifle and whatever ammunition she could scavenge from downed enemies. After parking the Guren in its maintenance bay Kallen powered the knightmare down and popped the cockpit. The technicians Rakshata had brought with her were already scurrying about, examining the wear on the knightmare and plugging in various buses and ports. Kallen left them to it and hopped down from the frame.

"A stunning debut for my child," the Indian engineer remarked, her trademark pipe in hand.

Kallen idly wondered if the woman was ever not smoking. "There's a couple of changes I want made before I take her out again. One of them is a proper ranged weapon."

Rakshata smirked. "Ah, so you do not expect the Britannians to attempt to confiscate the Guren now that they know it exists?"

"I don't know what the Britannians will do, and I'm not going to stew about in decision because of that."

"Fair enough. There are a few options we could explore, though the problem will always be ammunition." The woman tapped her pipe thoughtfully. "Though aren't there more immediate concerns you should be attending?"

Kallen said nothing for a moment before sighing. "Yeah."

She turned about and walked over to where the radio terminal was.

"This is Akakishi," Kallen broadcasted. "What's our current status?"

"Akakishi," Ohgi's voice sounded, "this is Keio. The princess has been evacuated and most of her royal guard has pulled out. What's left of the 100th infantry has settled in here to help defend the location for the night however."

"I see," Kallen said.

"It's too dark to begin recovery operations," Ohgi continued more softly, "but we expect to start digging tomorrow morning."

Digging, for the bodies that still lay under the rubble of the hospital wing destroyed in the missile strike. For Inoue.

"Understood. I'll be there myself to lend a hand." Kallen took a deep breath. "Have the Britannians said anything else?"

"Not really. A few words of thanks for helping protect her highness, but otherwise they've been pretty mum. Though I got some reassurance from a General Darlton that he'll continue to observe the truce between us, as long as we do."

"That's something at least," Kallen said. "I suppose at this point all we can do is wait until her highness wakes up and see if she's still willing to treat."

"Yeah," Ohgi agreed. A heavy sigh could be heard over the radio. "Yeah." A dry chuckle sounded. "Some of the battalion soldiers seem really happy to be able to eat Japanese food while out here. A little reminder of who they are, I suppose."

"Are you guys going to be okay for space and food?" Kallen asked. "I saw a lot of people hunkered down at Keio."

"We should be good for at least another day or so," Ohgi said. "The Britannians actually said they were going to put together a relief convoy. And the soldiers themselves have been pitching tents on the grounds to make sure there's enough space for the civilians to pack into the wards. Those nurses are still here too, they've been working around the clock looking out for the injured."

Kallen nodded to herself, not that Ohgi could see. "Alright then. I'm going to get some rest. And you should too Ohgi, tomorrow's going to be another long day."

"I will," the man promised. "And, Kouzuki?"

It was not her first name and if the Britannians were listening in they'd likely still have some difficulty tracking her down with her Japanese surname, but Ohgi was still taking a slight risk in using it. Kallen however did not chew him out for it.

"Yes?"

"I-well. A lot's happened today. We've lost good people. People we care about. But, don't lose sight of the future, okay? You're alive. I'm alive. If we're to make all the deaths today mean something, we have the keep living."

Kallen allowed herself a slight smile. Ohgi might be fumbling a bit with his words but she knew what he was trying to do.

"I know Ohgi," she answered. "And trust me, I'll be there when dawn breaks. For Naoto. And for Inoue."

"Alright. Goodnight, Kouzuki."

"Night."

Kallen toggled off the radio and set it down. She ran a hand through her hair, letting out a sigh. She was being honest with Ohgi, but she did feel just a bit strained. Inoue was gone. One of the last connections she had to her brother, gone. Kallen wandered over to the warehouse entrance and peered out at the sky. Much of the city was dark due to the power grid being disrupted by the fighting. Then again most Japanese were used to such occurrences and generators could be heard humming away. Still the darkness was enough such that she could clearly see the stars shining above, and the clear bright moon. It was not quite full yet, but few people without Kallen's keen senses would have been able to tell with just a glance.

Kallen leaned against the doorway. She really should sleep, tomorrow was going to be the moment of truth, when the princess woke up. Assuming she did. Then they would see whether she was right to try striking a bargain with Euphemia, to trade any hope of Japan's sovereignty for a place of dignity within the Empire.

"Did I do the right thing, Naoto?" Kallen murmured.

No answer came. Then again she was not expecting one to. And then her cellphone buzzed, letting her known a text had arrived. The girl pulled it out. The one she used for her civilian cover was turned off and safely stowed away to keep the authorities from using it to track her. This one only the other members of her cell knew the number for. Well, them and her mother. And there it was, a message from Kotone. Several messages in fact over the course of the day. Kallen glanced over them quickly before firing off a response assuring her mother that she was alright. The young woman smiled slightly. She was not alone, far from it. She still had a family. No, she had gotten her family back. And at this moment that was enough.

End of Chapter 46

Next couple of chapters will deal with the aftermath. There is a lot of cleanup to deal with. Should be fun. Ish. Euphie still doesn't know Jonathan fell for one. Not sure that scene can be termed fun.

For those of you curious, both Mustang and Claudio are first lieutenants, but as Mustang actually still has his command Claudio is deferring to him.

Man my readers are a bloodthirsty pack. First you guys want Cole to die. Then it's Nunnally. In fact this would be the second time people have brought up both as potential victims. I generally try to make sure any development in the story is justifiable. I drop hints, sometimes I say right out in the prose what characters and factions are planning. There should therefore be more than enough information to give all of you guys probabilities of certain things happening. For example if I wanted to stir drama by having Lelouch learn his plans got Nunnally killed, there would have been a degree of buildup to position him to actually find out about said death. I would think however that I gave no indication that that was going to happen in the buildup to the Black Rebellion. In fact Lelouch is not even in Japan at this point, he left before the Black Rebellion kicked off and is traveling on the Trans-Siberian railway back to Paris. As such he is not positioned to find out about Nunnally dying even if she was killed.

As I said last chapter, CE means Common Era. It's the calendar system that the world uses right now. It's the secular version of AD. I have no idea how Gundam would be related to that.

One would have expected an empire as xenophobic as Britannia to have renamed basically everything after they conquer a country. They didn't in the anime, and I can come up with some ideas of why. Their primary audience was Japanese after all. Nevertheless it felt damn weird writing the Britannian officers using Japanese names for the Tokyo wards. You can safely assume that they're butchering the pronunciation at least half the time.

Couple of things to keep in mind regarding the duel last chapter. The Guren in its current state is an inferior knightmare to the Lancelot in terms of combat effectiveness. Its primary weapon requires Kallen to basically get point blank, whereas the Lancelot had a railgun and a shield system. While in terms of responsiveness the two are at effective parity, the Lancelot was a better weapon of war. If it had been just Suzaku versus the Holy Swords, he probably would have stomped them. The Burais are just modified Glasgows and the Lancelot is three generations ahead of them. Tohdoh and the others are not quite good enough to make up that disparity in hardware. Suzaku also took the lessons he got from facing the Glaston Knights, who were using much more powerful Gloucesters, very much to heart. Note that Kallen spent most of the fight trying to strip Lancelot of its weapons because she recognized that she was still at a disadvantage against the Lancelot. The moment she thought she succeeded, she got sloppy and actually let Suzaku 'talk' instead of just finishing him off.

The other thing to note is that even though Kallen can sense people's movements and infer what they are going to do next, she can't read minds and so doesn't know what the intent behind an action is. Basically what that means is, if someone shoots at her, she can dodge, but she might not realize that the person had planned far enough ahead such that if the thing behind her gets hit something else will happen that will benefit them and make things harder for her. Case in point, when Lancelot pinned the Guren against a building, Kallen would have eventually gotten out of that because one of the Swords would have eventually pulled Suzaku off. Except Suzaku didn't need to keep her pinned for that long to blow them both up. So Kallen is only as good as her ability to actually process all the information her geass is feeding her. Ahem.

Knightmare platoons are generally four units. The Glaston Knights have five, but they're technically a special case in a lot of different ways. Like having all members of a family in the same unit. I think the military might actually have rules against that to keep an entire family from getting wiped out if an op goes south. Companies in the Britannian military generally have four platoons. For infantry that's three rifle platoons and one heavy weapons platoon. For armored companies it's three combat platoons of four units and a command platoon that has two actual combat units and a command vehicle of some sort. Note that the command platoon is _not_ supposed to get involved in the actual shooting.

Knightmare companies on the other hand just have three combat platoons and forego the command platoon. Knightmare battalions, which are the largest permanent formations of knightmares, are composed of three knightmare companies plus a command company, which also acts as the support company. There is no such thing as a knightmare regiment or division, the Britannian military attaches knightmare battalions as independent formations to whatever commands they are deployed to. The Empire doesn't actually have enough knightmares to stand up entire divisions of knightmares for deployment to where they are needed, but like tanks the knightmares need sufficient numbers to be properly utilized. A battalion of thirty-six knightmares is generally regarded as sufficient for most purposes. In major combat operations like the Middle East campaign the Empire will send more than one battalion, of course, but they're still independent battalions that need to be basically welded together if they're to conduct joint operations.

I said last chapter that I would lay out my thoughts on Suzaku. So, let's get to it. Suzaku is, in short, a pretty horrible person. I do not mean this in the context of, he's killed a lot of people (which he has) and he's basically backstabbed almost everyone he's supposedly signed on with (which he also has). My problem with Suzaku is no that I think he's a bad person (I actually do think that as well) but that he's horribly written.

Suzaku at the most basic level is driven by a death wish that he has thus far failed to fulfill. We'll ignore the nuances of the death wish itself, that's a whole other problem. Anyway, because he desperately wants to die, the fact that he has thus far failed to die causes a significant amount of existential angst for him. If he is still alive, then it must be because there is some meaning to him continuing to live. Without that meaning, then his continued life is a crime of sorts, or so his messed up mental process would conclude. And so Suzaku is hyper critical about his actions and conduct. He has to be, if not perfect, then any failures he encounters cannot be because the goal he is working towards is wrong, otherwise all his insecurities about why he's still alive will surface full force and probably subject him to a nervous breakdown.

And what is this goal Suzaku is trying to achieve? Peaceful coexistence between the Japanese and the Britannians. Except, his definition of 'peaceful coexistence' amounts to outright collaboration in enforcing the Empire's oppression over its Numbers populace and even helping the Empire expand its domain to make more people its unwilling subjects. To satisfy his own emotional self-assurance, Suzaku willingly acts as a tool to oppress his own and other peoples and kill those that dares rise up against the Empire. The worst part about that? He justifies his killing of these people by telling himself that, if only they would lay down their arms and stop fighting, he would not need to fight and kill them. He's literally blaming the victims of the Empire's oppression for forcing him to help the Empire uphold its tyranny by killing them.

Now, all the above should just make Suzaku a loathsome person. Perhaps even a sympathetic person depending on how much you personally are prepared to forgive. After all it's pretty obvious that Suzaku is a person who needs a lot of psychiatric help, who might even be salvageable in the long run. The problem in the writing comes in where the other characters basically ignore the fairly obvious signs that Suzaku is mentally unfit for military service and keep either promoting him or, even worse, handing him the controls of a weapon of mass destruction and trusting his judgment on whether and when to deploy it. Even taking into account that Suzaku really did not want to fire the Freyja warhead, why the blazes would you hand an emotionally disturbed person the keys to a nuke? Such a person is far too unpredictable even if you're trying to engineer some degree of plausible deniability. Though really all you would succeed in engineering in such a situation is a charge of gross incompetence in how badly your judgment erred.

Any sympathy I had for Suzaku's emotional trauma pretty much went out the window over the course of R2 after the writers kept insisting on putting him into situations that no rational or responsible authority would have put him in. The end result of each incident was pretty much a foregone conclusion, and the usage of such a character in such a sloppy and cheap manner just pisses me off, because there can be no believable redemption from the continued stream of cockups that ensue. Any one of his screw-ups in R2 should have seen him dismissed or even lined up against the wall. Instead his failures and attempts at outright treason are hand waved and ignored. I don't care how stupid the geopolitics are in the Code Geass world, if you want me to suspend my belief enough to enjoy the show, you do _not_ allow a person to drop a nuke that kills tens of millions of people without serious, visible consequences. Like the entire Japanese people baying for his blood and Lelouch's selection of him as his 'Knight of Zero' killing any chance of him earning any goodwill with anybody.

To be frank Suzaku is not the first anime character to suffer from these issues, nor the last. Shinn Asuka from Gundam SEED Destiny probably had an even worse case and Slaine Troyard from was just as bad. Generally whenever any series has a character with those traits I start having problem with suspension of belief because the amount of leeway they need to be given to continue serving in the role the writers want them to is so far beyond what any real world organization would grant that it's just not believable anymore.

I would recommend readers not try to ascribe levels of importance to characters in this story based on how important they were in the canon. The ability of a person to decisively tip the scales one way or another in my story is drastically curtailed compared to canon, where Kallen or Suzaku in their knightmares can pretty much tank an entire army and come out on top. As such from an in-world perspective a character's tactical prowess will never reach the level of strategic importance, which means that no matter how skilled a knightmare pilot is, they will always be of considerably lesser importance in the grand scheme than say a member of the NAC or a Britannian general. And since this story is trying to realistically portray the grand scheme of things, the people that move at that level need to actually merit being able to stand at that level. Much as a general will not consult a rifleman on how to organize a major operation, Euphie and her advisors are not going to tap a mere knightmare pilot for his or her opinion on how to run Area 11. They are however prepared to consider the opinion of the leader of one of the biggest resistance factions in Tokyo, which was why I spent something like 40 chapters building Kallen up to that point. As a knightmare pilot Kallen was of the same level of relevance, or irrelevance, as Suzaku. As the Red Knight, leader of the Akatsuki, she is someone they cannot afford to ignore.


	48. Chapter 47

Snippet spoiler: Kinda, I suppose.

 _The modern Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force has its origins in two completely disparate organizations. One was the Gendarmerie detachment stationed in the city during the Britannian occupation. Originally stationed in Area 11 to provide a slightly less excessive policing force than the Britannian military, a series of debacles in the run up to the Black Rebellion saw the Gendarmerie severely diminished. Allowing one of its district units to be suborned by the SDECE and used in a failed assassination attempt on the Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki on the grounds of Ashford Academy was bad enough. Then came the botched attempt to arrest Taizo Kirihara, which saw the Japanese industrialist commit suicide and throw Kirihara Industries into chaos. Finally during the Black Rebellion itself the Gendarmerie demonstrated extremely bad tactical judgment, endangering the lives of countless civilians when it drew the JLF into a battle that once more saw Ashford Academy turned into a battlefield. In the aftermath the senior Gendarmerie officer was dismissed and Colonel Cassius Bright was dispatched from the homelands with orders to turn the organization around. The colonel succeeded, restoring to the Gendarmerie a level of competency and professionalism that once more engendered confidence and respect from the civilian population. When the Gendarmerie as an institution was disbanded, the Tokyo branch was folded into the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force along with its Akatsuki counterpart._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 47

Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium

It was not even the crack of dawn yet but work was already beginning on the Keio campus to dig through the destroyed wing of the hospital. Akatsuki, Britannian soldiers, and the Keio staff worked together, pulling away rubble as they tried to get to the inner room where five bodies were entombed. Amidst the people toiling away was a solemn looking red haired girl, who worked tirelessly but quietly save for issuing an order or warning here and there when the rubble was about to shift or the like. The members of Akatsuki were used to accepting orders from Kallen, but the Britannian soldiers and Keio staff members were, while not hesitant, still mildly bewildered that someone so young was the Red Knight. They adapted quickly however and established a simple rhythm to the excavation.

It might seem odd such effort was being put into simply trying to dig up five bodies but the work continued with intense focus. All of the people had their reasons for helping. The Britannian soldiers, Honorary and otherwise, were here to recover three brothers that had fallen in defense of their princess. Akatsuki was similarly here for a brother and sister in arms stolen from them. The Keio staff though, to them there was an even greater significance. They owed a debt of gratitude, to her highness, to the soldiers, and to Akatsuki. That was not the reason they worked so fervently however. There was an entirely different imperative for many of them.

Of the Keio staff everyone knew Inoue, from the doctors to the nurses to even the janitors. If there was a problem, if they were short on something, all knew that Inoue had contacts that she could tap to make sure the hospital got what it needed. She was not always successful, no one could deliver miracles every single time, but when all other options were exhausted Inoue was always ready to try. That made her sister, daughter, even a mother figure to many that passed through Keio's halls. They did this for her, and for the one person who would have, should have been Inoue's sister but for the cruel twists of fate.

More than a fair number of the Keio staff actually remembered Kallen. Not as the battle hardened leader of Akatsuki, but as a happy and cheerful little girl who liked to follow her mother around when she was doing her rounds. They even recalled a pouting Kallen when she first met her brother's girlfriend, an Inoue still in high school at the time. It seemed so long ago that Kallen made her irritation at someone taking away her brother's attention from her plainly known. And now the girl was trying to reach where her would-be sister lay for her final rest.

It took nearly three hours before they were able to safely dig through the rubble, three long hours where few of the people working bothered taking a break. And as the bodies were brought up, a solemn silence fell over the plaza. Five bodies, one by one carried out. The three armsmen were taken into the custody of the Britannian soldiers, the Akatsuki acting as a guard for Inoue and Kallen by his own fellows, and Inoue herself by the Keio staff.

Kallen sank down, collapsing onto some blankets someone had laid out. She had known exactly where the bodies lay and so knew the exact moment when they would break through and find them. That still had not prepared for actually seeing them once again. Nothing likely would have. Yet when she finally found Inoue once more the visage on the woman's face was a smile. Did that mean Inoue was content with her fate? Or that she was confident in what the future would bring for those left behind? Kallen wished she knew.

A Britannian soldier, a very large one in the colors of the princess and wearing the insignia of a lieutenant, approached Kallen and clicked his heels respectfully.

"Dame Knight."

The girl rose and looked over at him. "Yes?"

"I am Lieutenant Armstrong of her highness' royal guard. Her highness has awakened and requests your presence at the palace."

Just yesterday such an invitation would have been regarded with a great deal of suspicion by Kallen. Now though, seeing as Euphemia had nearly been killed the last time she left the safety of the palace, it was likely her royal guard would flat out refuse to countenance any further excursions for the near future. A perfectly reasonable position to take. And Kallen was fairly confident that Euphemia would keep her word so the risk of her entering the palace was pretty low, assuming this really was an invitation from the princess. Fortunately Euphemia being who she was that was not something the young woman forgot to take into consideration.

"Her highness also wished to convey a message from a Mr. Kraft," the lieutenant continued, sounding a bit awkward. "He wishes to know if you might be available for a, umm, rendezvous once matters have been settled."

Kallen felt a slight pity for the lieutenant having to basically relay what amounted to a date request, even a fake one. Then again the princess had chosen well in finding something that was more or less innocuous but would still provide confirmation that it was really her.

"I see," Kallen said. "I presume you are to escort me to the palace?"

"Yes Dame Knight," the man said, noticeably relieved that the girl was remaining focused on the actual business at hand, or so Kallen thought.

"Very well. Wait here, I will inform my compatriots."

There likely would be some protests at Kallen walking into the center of Britannian controlled territory but the girl did not expect any major problems overcoming them. The entire point of their bargain with the princess was reliant on both sides extending to the other a degree of trust. If they both insisted on the other being the first to do so they would not get anywhere. Time to show Euphemia that Kallen at least was prepared to go to the lengths needed to make their bargain work.

* * *

"Major Nu."

Villetta turned about to see one of the palace maids behind her. "Yes?"

"Her highness has awakened and requests to see you immediately."

That was all the woman needed to hear. As the senior officer of the princess' guard Villetta knew exactly where her liege was cosseted and made her way there with due haste, alerting her subordinates of where she was headed in the process. The two armsmen stationed outside the bedroom remained at attention as Villetta appeared, eyeing her carefully. She might have been their superior but vigilance even in this supposed sanctuary was important.

Villetta stopped at the door and knocked.

"Enter," a firm voice sounded.

The woman did so to find Euphemia seated upright on her bed. The princess' head was downcast however.

"Dame Nu," she said.

Villetta bowed. "Your highness. You requested my presence."

The princess did not respond immediately and the knight waited patiently. Though unconscious for the past day her highness had been through much in her own way.

"I have been updated on the developments the past day," Euphemia finally said, still not looking up. "In light of what has happened, I find myself called upon to make certain decisions."

The princess was going about this in a roundabout way, but she could not have had very long to absorb all of the news. Villetta was more than prepared to give her liege however long she needed work out her thoughts.

"When General Eyre proposed your candidacy," Euphemia said solemnly, "he did so with the belief that, in time, you would rise to serve as my Knight of Honor."

Villetta froze. Her worry was entirely displaced by surprise at the topic the princess elected to raise now.

"It was a belief that I agreed with," the princess continued. "While our familiarity with each other had yet to reach that degree of intimacy, I felt confident that yours was a character that I could find confidence in over time. And in time, I would have been proud to name you my Knight." Euphemia now did look up, and Villetta's breath caught. The young woman's eyes shown from the tears that welled up in them. "But now I find that it is not a Knight I have need of, but a brigadier."

The princess blinked, and the tears began to flow. Their trails stained her cheeks and there was no sign of those eyes running dry. Villetta felt her chest tighten at the sight.

"I have need," Euphemia said, her voice almost a rasp, "of a brigadier."

And all composure crumbled as the princess leaned forward and buried her face in the sheets, sobs sounding as the girl succumbed to all of the emotions roiling within her. Villetta was at the bedside immediately, kneeing down so her face was level with that of her liege.

"Your highness," the knight said. "I _will_ be there, however you need me."

"How many more," Euphemia exclaimed. "How many more of those sworn to me will fall to satisfy my ambition!?"

"Your highness," Villetta whispered.

"The general has not even been laid to rest yet and already I tempt another to assume his place," the girl said in almost a snarl. "What kind of person am I, whom spends the lives of others so freely!?"

"Our lives are given freely, your highness," Villetta assured her. "We believe in you, in your ambition and your person."

Euphemia's head shot up to glare at the knight. "But why!? How can I be so worthy!? How can anyone be so worthy as to earn the right to the lives of others!?"

"Because you cry for us, your highness," Villetta said softly, reaching out and taking Euphemia's hand. "You mourn us." She squeezed gently. "And thus we are assured that you will never waste our lives, that when they are spent what is bought will be dear indeed."

"Lives should never be spent," Euphemia said harshly, gazing downward. "Nothing can match the price of a life."

"Some things can," Villetta responded, causing the princess to look up at her in surprise. "None of us would be here if we did not think so. And that includes yourself, your highness."

Euphemia regarded Villetta, her eyes still glimmering from lingering tears.

"Do you know what my ambition is, Dame Nu? The ambition might well cost you your life before it is achieved?"

"I know it to be _your_ ambition, your highness," Villetta responded. "I know it to be an ambition to see the Empire made right. And I know it to be an ambition that the general believed in, because he believed in _you_."

The princess felt her heart ache just a bit more at those last words but she knew them to be true. She had never discussed with Jonathan the extent of her ideals, of her goals and dreams, but the general always took her actions in stride, even nudging her a bit when he felt she might be losing sight of the bigger picture, a bigger picture that he somehow saw with great clarity.

"You have offered to be at my side, Dame Nu," Euphemia said softly.

"I do, your highness," Villetta assured her solemnly.

The eyes that now met Villetta's gaze were clearer, sharper even.

"Will you also keep me true, Dame Nu?"

For a second Villetta's mind stumbled over the wording. At first she thought the princess might be voicing doubt about her dedication. Then she picked up on that one crucial word. The knight inhaled sharply even as she continued holding Euphemia's gaze. After several long moments she dipped her head.

"I will, your highness," Villetta said firmly.

A silence lingered between the two until Euphemia squeezed back Villetta's hand.

"Thank you, Dame Nu."

Villetta looked back up and smiled. "You are most welcome, your highness." The woman rose and stood at attention. "Your orders, your highness?"

Euphemia looked up, her face still haunted but a degree of her regal bearing returning to the girl. She took a deep breath.

"I apologize for the lack of ceremony, Dame Nu," Euphemia said. "But I would see you command my royal guard. May I count upon you to shoulder this duty?"

"I am honored to be so entrusted your highness," Villetta said. The woman's face turned solemn as she gripped the sword at her side. "And I will uphold the honor that I have inherited."

Euphemia nodded before sighing once more. "Then there is a matter that we must discuss, Dame Nu. One that I am set upon, but which may cause you difficulty."

"My duty is to bear any difficulty you set before me, your highness," Villetta said with a slight smile.

The princess returned the expression before her face turned serious once more. Once she explained what she had in mind, Villetta found herself in agreement with her highness. This act would indeed make her duties more difficult. The knight silently prayed that her highness' judgment would prove as true here as they had in so many other matters before.

Twenty minutes after she entered the bedroom, Brigadier Villetta Nu, Captain of the Guard of Her Highness Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Realm, emerged. Waiting outside she found a good percentage of the armsmen that had survived the past day. They came to attention and saluted as one.

"Brigadier," Roy said for all of them. "Your orders."

Villetta took a deep breath. And then she gave them.

* * *

The ride to the viceroy's palace was surprisingly smooth considering the rubble that littered several of the streets they drove through. Then again the areas thoroughly wrecked by the fighting they bypassed entirely, which probably explained why it took so long to get to their destination. When they arrived Kallen climbed out and was met by a tall, burley soldier. There was a tension to his stance, but not hostility. The young woman looked up at him.

"Yes?"

The man nodded respectfully. "Lady Stadtfeld. Allow me to convey my thanks to you for what you did yesterday."

Kallen blinked in surprise. "That, is not necessary. I only did what I thought was right."

"Perhaps so, but you saved many lives at Ashford that day, including that of my son."

The girl blinked again. "Your, son?"

The man nodded. "Rivalz has spoken highly of you, Lady Stadtfeld, as someone whom does not abandon her friends. I am heartened to see that to be true."

Kallen's eyes went from quizzically narrowed to wide eyed stunned. This man was Rivalz's father? Upon closer inspection there were some similarities, the tone of skin was a perfect match and some of the facial features were reminiscent of the young man. Yet Rivalz was a pretty lanky youth, nowhere near the towering stature of his father. One would have thought he would have gone through a growth spurt by now. The nametag however confirmed it. M. Cardemonde. Kallen had no idea what the M stood for but it was pretty clear this man was Rivalz's father.

"Rivalz has been very kind to me since I joined the student council," Kallen said. "I would not see him hurt due to my inaction, Sergeant Cardemonde."

The soldier bowed his head again before stepping aside. "I should not keep her highness waiting. I wish you luck, Lady Stadtfeld."

With a nod of her own Kallen began climbing the steps once more with the princess' armsmen right behind. There were quite a few other soldiers about, all visibly and heavily armed. Kallen doubted that they would take her word for it that there were no threats about. And the threats that she could not see, well, a few dozen riflemen might find a bit difficult to stop.

Once inside Kallen let the armsmen take the lead and she trailed behind them through the halls. She had never actually been beyond the public areas, having visited only once a long time ago as part of a school trip. Back then Kallen had regarded the place with loathing. Now, she observed things with a more impartial eye. Or at least a more disciplined mind. She still resented the Empire for what it had done to Japan, but loathing a hunk of concrete for who built it was pointless. After all it was people who raised these walls and people who inflicted misery upon each other.

Eventually the girl was led to a pair of double doors deep within the palace. It took only a moment for Kallen's geass to tell her that behind those doors was a bedroom, one presently occupied by a void that had to be the princess. Standing between Kallen and said doors however was a woman she recognized as the one in the Sutherland Suzaku had nearly killed. The armsmen that had accompanied Kallen came to attention.

"Brigadier, we return with our guest," the lieutenant said.

Brigadier. Kallen's eyes narrowed. So this woman was General Eyre's replacement. She must have been appointed literally right before Kallen was sent for. The princess was apparently not one to waste time.

"Return to your other duties," the woman said.

"Ma'am."

Their departure did not exactly leave Kallen alone with the brigadier, there were two other armsmen that flanked the doorway. Still Kallen ignored them, focusing only on the woman before her.

"I am Villetta Nu, captain of her highness' guard," the woman introduced herself. "You would be Kallen Stadtfeld, daughter of the Baron Stadtfeld and leader of the Akatsuki."

"I am," Kallen responded frankly. The other woman was tense, even wary, but there was no indication that she was about to become actively hostile.

"Her highness has a request of you, one that will come at great cost to her. I trust you will appreciate this point."

Kallen had no idea what Villetta was going on about, though it was safe to say that the approaching conversation with the princess would be trying in some form for the other girl. It would probably also be trying for Kallen herself. For now though Kallen simply nodded to let the older woman know she got the message. Not looking entirely satisfied, Villetta nonetheless stepped aside. One of the other armsmen opened the door and Kallen entered. When it closed, she found herself alone with Euphemia.

The princess was seated upright in her bed and looked over as Kallen entered. A determined look was on the younger girl's expression. Kallen walked over and bowed politely.

"Your highness."

And took note of a sheathed sword leaning against the bed frame. Kallen somehow doubted it was intended for princess to actually try to use the sword on the off chance she needed to defend herself.

Euphemia nodded. "Kallen. It would seem you had yet more surprises in store."

Kallen cocked her head aside quizzically. The princess' response was a mirthless smirk.

"A knightmare able to match the Lancelot, or so Dame Nu has told me. A remarkable feat of engineering for a resistance cell, even one as well supported as yours."

The red haired girl said nothing. She would wait until the princess made her point.

"There will be those within the military that will demand it be surrendered."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. And there it was. But before she could voice her opinion on that matter Euphemia continued.

"I have a proposal which will undercut such demands, if you are willing to accept."

Kallen's mouth closed wordlessly. It took a few moments for the girl to come up with a new response.

"What proposal."

Euphemia held Kallen in her gaze. "Twice now you have saved my life, at considerable risk to your own. Twice, you fought your fellow Japanese because you felt they were in the wrong. You are passionate, but you are also proud. You are determined to forge your own fate. But you are also prepared to entrust the fate of your people to me." The princess took a deep breath. "Is that trust deep enough for you to also bend your knee to me?"

Kallen stared at the princess. No, more like gaped. It was probably extremely impolite, but the girl could not help herself.

"You're asking me to swear myself to you," she blurted out.

Euphemia nodded. "As my knight, none may protest your possession of a knightmare frame without impinging upon my prerogative. And while this, Guren, would officially be considered to be my property, I am prepared to give my word that I will not exercise any actual claim to it."

Kallen frowned. "So you're saying that if I decide I don't like what you're doing and decide to foreswear myself, you won't stop me from taking off with it."

"Kallen, please," Euphemia said tiredly. "You and I both know that if we cannot learn to trust each other, we should just go our separate ways now and not even pretend there is a measure of understanding between us."

That, was a fair point, Kallen was forced to concede. Still, there was a flicker of uncertainty in the back of Kallen's mind.

"There is a risk to my accepting your offer," Kallen said. "Some people will think that this was what I was aiming for all along, for my own personal benefit."

"My offer does not come without costs for both of us," Euphemia stated frankly. "Nevertheless we have little choice but to move forth. Any hope of plausible deniability has been destroyed by the JLF's uprising and if I am to shield your Akatsuki and yourself from the political repercussions, I must effectively claim you as my own."

Kallen pursed her lips. That was not the most comforting manner for the princess to lay out the situation but that did not make it any less true. She sighed heavily, and approached Euphemia's bedside. The princess' gaze never left her.

"I would accept your word, your highness" Kallen said, "that you will work for the betterment of my people."

"I give my word," Euphemia responded, "that I will create a place of dignity and prosperity for all subjects of the Empire, regardless of class or race."

Kallen allowed herself a slight smile and to her mild surprise Euphemia returned it. The woman then knelt at the bedside.

"I'm afraid I don't know the words to the oath," Kallen said. "I never had reason to ever think I would swear it."

"That is simply remedied," Euphemia said. She somehow found the strength to draw the sword that was leaning against the bed frame. "Repeat after me. My arms, my blood, as your sword."

"My arms, my blood, as your sword."

"I, Kallen Stadtfeld."

"I, Kallen Stadtfeld."

"Do swear my self to thy service."

"Do swear my self to thy service."

"And place my self under the grace of thy shield."

"And place my self under the grace of thy shield."

The flat of the blade touched Kallen's right shoulder.

"We accept thy oath to Our service."

And then the left.

"And grant thee the grace of Our shield."

The sword was withdrawn. Kallen raised her head and regarded the princess once more, a solemn expression looking back at her.

"We bid you stand, knight of our honor."

Kallen's breath quickened ever so slightly before she managed to compose herself. Euphemia had not merely accepted Kallen into her royal guard, the princess had named her a Knight of Honor. Few armsmen were ever awarded such a privilege, for such Knights were regarded as the most intimate of confidants for an imperial scion. The degree of trust, of faith, that this implied. Kallen wondered just what the princess intended her.

Sheathing the sword, Euphemia set it aside and then regarded Kallen once more, as if sensing the other girl's questions.

"I am about to reveal to you matters that few outside my family know," she said. "And even amongst them the ones that I have trusted with this knowledge can be counted on one hand."

The emotion that now ran through Kallen was, not panic. Worry, an intense worry at that, but it did not yet warrant being called panic.

"My half-sister, Nunnally vi Britannia, was not murdered with her mother, the Empress Marianne vi Britannia."

Kallen's eyes widened. Not at hearing the fact itself, she had known of Nunnally's survival for months now after accidentally stumbling upon Milly's lie. The fact that Euphemia was telling her on the other hand, that was entirely unexpected.

"She was spirited to the Ashford family by a confidant of the Empress Marianne, a green haired woman whom spoke with a French accent."

While Euphemia's expression remained statically somber, she was clearly observing Kallen intently. The older girl on the other hand was making quite clear her own surprise on her expression.

"And before we were so, rudely, interrupted, you spoke of a SDECE operative by the name of Lelouch Lamperouge," the princess continued. "Lelouch, the name given to the Empress Marianne's eldest child. Lamperouge, her maiden name before she was wedded to my father, the emperor."

Kallen was starting to see just why Euphemia had wanted her to swear herself to the princess. And why she was named as not just a mere guardswoman but a Knight of Honor. She had somehow, completely unwittingly, gotten herself tangled up in possibly the highest level of court intrigue, a level that demanded those participating be absolutely certain of where their allegiance lay.

"I think it would be best if Cecilia was made available for a private conversation between the three of us," Euphemia said softly but ever so firmly.

Kallen grimaced, but the girl nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. And I think you should know something else too."

The princess tilted her head questioningly. The grimace on Kallen's face deepened as she considered how to break the news that this Lelouch Lamperouge was potentially insane. Insane, and possessed of a power that could compel the will of others. She took a deep breath. And tried.

* * *

Andreas pinched the bridge of his nose. Four hours of sleep was not nearly enough but with the situation still fluid it was all he could manage the night before. The main body of JLF insurgents had been crushed and the few pockets of resistance left were quickly being overcome, but the Chinese and Russian forces trying to gain a foothold in western Area 11 remained serious threats. The Russians were having slightly more success, having actually pushed beyond the beach they landed on and advancing upon Wakkanai. The armored division was trying to stop them, the last thing they could allow to happen was the Russians gaining control of a port that would allow them to bring in supplies and reinforcements, but with the Russian Pacific Fleet possessing local naval superiority, things were looking a bit dicey. The taskforce preparing to set sail from Nimitz would hopefully be enough to reestablish Britannian control of Soya Bay, but it would be a close thing.

The Chinese position at Okinawa was fortunately much more precarious, the Marines having decisively defeated the initial landing attempt. Whether the Chinese had the stomach, or even the resources, to attempt a second landing was an open question. At the same time the ability of the rest of the occupation force in Area 11 to support their Marine compatriots was even more limited due to the distances involved, not that the Marines would ever admit to needing such support. But even they could eventually be ground down if the Chinese kept up the pressure and the military was unable to get supplies through to them. Fortunately that problem was not on Andreas' plate, or perhaps that was actually unfortunate as that simply allowed other matters to weigh on the general's mind. Matters like how today he had only one son, when yesterday he had five.

"General, Marshal Cornelia is on channel 12," an operator reported.

"Acknowledged." Andreas put on a headset and accessed the channel. "Your highness."

"Andreas," Cornelia said solemnly. "I heard. I'm sorry."

The general nodded stoically. "My gratitude, your highness."

Cornelia sighed but said nothing more on that matter. When she looked up again her expression was completely businesslike.

"I've spoken with Pacific Command at Pearl Harbor. A carrier taskforce from Third Fleet can be here within the week. The assets Seventh Fleet already have at sea are needed even more badly in Area 12 than they are here however."

Andreas nodded again. If the situation in Area 11 was precarious, the situation in Area 12 was downright desperate. The Chinese had obviously invested significantly greater resources into that operation, successfully landing an army on Luzon Island and actually making major inroads south. The naval force defending their beachhead was also significant and actually outnumbered the Seventh Fleet taskforce that just happened to be in the South China Sea when the invasion began. Unfortunately they were on the wrong side of Luzon Island, effectively stuck between the Asian mainland and the Filipino islands unless they circle south or somehow manage to punch through the Chinese fleet.

"We've already begun repairs to the runway at MacArthur," Andreas reported. "Nimitz reports that they can get their airstrip back in working order within two days. From then they can start sortieing their squadrons based there."

"That will help," Cornelia said. "What about MacArthur? Are all your gunship squadrons operational?"

"Just the one," Andreas replied. "The Marines also lost quite a few to the JLF's anti-air weapons. Shall I order them westward?"

"North," Cornelia corrected. "The Marines have an air support element but the division in Hokkaido is more or less on their own right now. Until the navy can get the rest of Seventh Fleet sailing, they need something to back them up."

"Understood ma'am," Andreas said. "I'll have orders dispatched immediately."

"Good."

Cornelia sounded considerably more tired than Andreas could ever recall. The general knew why, and also knew that he likely was similarly weathered. He also knew what was the cause for both of them.

"Her highness the viceroy has already spoken with me today," Andreas said, and while it would be an exaggeration to say Cornelia perked up, the marshal's attention definitely focused. "The doctors have assured me that there are presently no complications with her surgery, though they are rather perturbed by her ignoring of their orders to rest."

Cornelia gave an amused snort. "She never could sit still." The woman looked back up and gave her subordinate a slight smile. "Thank you Andreas. For looking after her, even now."

Andreas bowed his head. "I would not see you given further cause to question my judgment, your highness."

The smile disappeared but the look that replaced it was of genuine sympathy.

"I am sorry Andreas. They deserved better."

Many people deserved better, that both knew. But the world was not so kind a place and trust, trust could be a double edged sword indeed.

"I've already contacted Victor," Cornelia continued. "He has arranged to come to Area 11 and should be arriving by tomorrow."

That came as a surprise to the general and he made no effort to hide it.

"In light of what has happened, he will be bringing personnel to reinforce the security detachments already here."

"I see," Andreas said very carefully.

It made sense, seeing the losses suffered by not just the regular military but by the royal guards of the two imperial scions here in Area 11. And as much as it pained Andreas personally, the death of his sons was a pale shadow compared to the fatalities suffered by the Princess Euphemia's guard. A third had fallen in the defense of Keio and a quarter of the survivors were injured severely enough that they were pulled from active duty. When Andreas went to speak with the princess however he saw a burning will in the eyes of those that were still with her highness, a determination to remain at their stations by her side come Ragnarok itself. The princess' guard might have been wounded, but they were far from broken. And then there was the minor bombshell the princess dropped upon Andreas about her own thoughts of whom would take up the places left empty. A bombshell that Euphemia had requested that she be allowed to deliver to Cornelia personally, after the situation in the west stabilized. Andreas was not looking forward to the aftermath of that conversation, but he had acquiesced. As such it was with care that he responded to this latest news.

"I will see to it that General Arseid is brought up to speed on the situation here," he said.

Cornelia nodded but before she could say anything more something drew her attention in her command center.

"I must go. I leave Tokyo in your hands, Andreas."

"Fortune smile upon you, your highness. Darlton clear."

* * *

Ohgi took a few seconds to realize his mouth was hanging open. From the looks around the table it was clear he was not alone in that. Kallen was her confident self however seated at the front of the table. The shock having passed, the man verbalized his reaction.

"The princess knighted you?"

Kallen nodded. "It's a political ploy, to give me cover so that I can keep the Guren and Akatsuki as a whole a degree of official sanction. Sort of." The girl grimaced slightly. "Actually I pretty much have to give up any sort of leadership role I have, since me commanding Akatsuki could be construed as her highness trying to circumvent the fifty armsmen limit of her guard."

Ohgi massaged his temples. Minami on the other hand looked somewhat at a loss while Tohdoh regarded Kallen intently.

"And what of our Burais?" the lieutenant-colonel asked.

Kallen pursed her lips. "That, is going to be complicated."

The man scowled slightly. "How so."

"Her highness is willing to grant Akatsuki what is effectively a royal charter, charging it with policing the wards outside of the Concession. Akatsuki will however be considered a police force, not a military or even paramilitary force, which means, officially, we can't possess heavy weapons. And while we can hang onto a lot of our gear so long as we're careful about keeping them out of sight, the knightmares are too visible to hide like that."

"You are asking us to surrender our knightmares," Tohdoh said coldly.

Or at least the ones left seeing as two of them had been thoroughly trashed in the battle.

"Yes, and no," Kallen said.

The man raised an eyebrow. "Explain." His tone made clear he was in no mood for games or doubletalk.

"Euphemia can't permit the Burais to remain in Akatsuki hands. She literally can't. What she can do however is, well, claim them for her royal guard, meaning that members of said guard can make use of them."

The lieutenant-colonel's reaction was probably as great a shock as when Kallen dropped her first bombshell.

"You want us to swear ourselves to the princess!?"

Kallen shook her head, causing Tohdoh to regard her puzzlingly.

"I've already asked a lot from you and the rest of the Holy Swords," the girl said. "I know that asking you to basically sign on with the Britannian military is a complete nonstarter. And the princess herself, while grateful for what you did for Tokyo and Keio, does not trust you to such a degree anyway. What the princess is suggesting is that she, or rather I, take custody of the Burais that are left to keep them from being seized by the Britannian military. As a knight to the princess I am permitted to retain a number of knightmares for use in my duty. Four is, pushing the realms of plausibility, but there are ways."

"And where would the Burais be stored once you, take them into custody?" Tohdoh asked.

"That," Kallen said slowly, "is still being determined. It will not be at MacArthur or the palace itself however. But it will need to be a secure location, where someone can't just make off with them easily but where I, and those I trust, will still have access to them."

The look Tohdoh gave the girl made clear that the man was still extremely unhappy with these developments.

"And what difference does it make to whom we would be forced to surrender our knightmares to?" Tohdoh asked coldly. "We would still lose the freedom to call upon them at our discretion or need."

Kallen crossed her arms. "And what use are the Burais to a police force? Knightmares are weapons of war, lieutenant-colonel, as you well know. Weapons that need a significant amount of logistical backing and support from other combat elements to actually be effective. So tell me, what need does the Akatsuki have for a mere three Burais?"

Tohdoh scowled but knew the young woman had a point. Even the JLF, with its four battalions worth of knightmares, had failed to defeat the Britannian forces. Would have failed on any assault on Tokyo regardless of Akatsuki's involvement. That fact did not make the man any happier about the present situation however.

"The things you are preparing to surrender to the Britannians," Tohdoh said. "What would we have left to hold them to account if their promises prove empty?"

Kallen's hand came to a rest on the combat knife strapped to her belt. "I have already overcome the security protection one imperial scion to deliver to him his deserved fate. What do you think I could achieve with clearance to the protection protecting another?"

Tohdoh's eyes narrowed. "You would foreswear yourself?"

"I would hold the princess accountable to the oath she swore to me," Kallen retorted.

The officer regarded Kallen levelly. "The death of another imperial scion would mean little to the Empire as a whole. There are plenty waiting to rise should this one fall."

Kallen grunted. "And what would you do, lieutenant-colonel? Go to ground again? Take your Burais and try to hide from the Britannians without the support you once enjoyed from Kyoto House? Kirihara is dead. The others are being arrested as we speak. Only Kaguya is likely to emerge from this unscathed and she will _not_ be in a position to continue providing you with discrete support."

Tohdoh tilted his head to the side. "Better to die free than live as a slave, Akakishi."

"Then don't live as a slave," Kallen countered. "Live in the open, do your duty to our people, and see to it that they regain the dignity and prosperity they deserve."

"And how exactly is this dignity and prosperity achieved by bowing down to the Britannians?" Tohdoh responded. "You yourself said that Akatsuki was to receive a, charter, from her highness. How would we be anything but what they are permitting? Where is the dignity in that?"

"You would only be limited to the extent you imagine yourself to be," Kallen stated.

"Then why should I accept the limit being placed upon our knightmares?"

"The Burais stored in a secure location, with access to maintenance equipment and spare parts to keep them fully functional, and possibly even upgrades to bring them up to spec to newer knightmares where feasible," Kallen said. "Tell me, where is the limit in that?"

Tohdoh narrowed his eyes. "And we would have access to them to employ against Britannians that seek to harm our people?"

Kallen felt like pounding her head on the table. "Since when did the Japanese police ever use knightmares to deal with domestic crime?"

The officer took a moment to consider the response. The grimace however indicated he was not liking his conclusions.

"Are you suggesting that Akatsuki police the Japanese populace for the Britannians?"

"No," Kallen said immediately. "We would be policing the wards outside of the Concessions, and any civilian in there, whether they be Britannian and Japanese, would fall under our jurisdiction."

Tohdoh blinked. It was obvious that _that_ had been unexpected.

"Any civilian," he said carefully.

"The police didn't have jurisdiction over the military back when Japan was independent," Kallen said frankly. "Why should you expect otherwise now?"

A fair enough point, though Tohdoh found himself surprisingly loathe to admit it. Perhaps he was more bitter than he realized, demanding further concessions despite the significance of what was presently being offered.

"This is unprecedented," the man said.

"Quite," Kallen agreed, "and it's going to cost the princess a lot of political capital to make it possible. She has to have something to show for it, and quickly."

Tohdoh pursed his lips. "And yet, you yourself seem to emerge with significant prizes. A knighthood, for one."

Ohgi made a choking sound and looked nervously at Kallen. The young woman leaned forward against the table and stared at Tohdoh intently.

"Look me in the eye and tell me I sacrificed Inoue for my own benefit," she said in a completely flat tone.

Tohdoh remained silent, his jaws tight. After a minute of silence Kallen straightened once more.

"The choice is yours, lieutenant-colonel," Kallen said. "I implore you however to think carefully about what this could mean for our people, and the precedent it could set."

Still the officer said nothing, but after another minute he tilted his head in a slight nod. Kallen let out a sigh and sat back into her chair.

"Now, are there any other issues or concerns?"

"There are," came a response in English.

Heads turned to look towards Rakshata.

"Please, Dr. Chawla."

The Indian engineer tapped her pipe. "Am I to understand that you intend to allow Britannian engineers to, lay hands upon my child?"

"Umm, not exactly," Kallen said. "Or rather, it's going to be inevitable than the Britannians will want to at least examine the Guren, but I have secured the princess' assurances that I will be allowed to choose my own maintenance staff, within reason."

Rakshata bit the end of her pipe thoughtfully for a moment. "Well, I suppose. Though that does leave the other issue unresolved. The Guren was provided to the Japanese liberation movement as part of a deal, one that is starting to look defunct."

Kallen nodded, nonplussed by the older woman's concerns. "Japan would help India in its own independence movement should we become successful in evicting the Empire. And you are correct, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that that will ever happen. But consider this, how would India's resistance benefit from the support of the Empire itself in its fight against China?"

The engineer gave her pipe a tap. "Provided it does not serve as a means for the Empire to absorb us afterwards."

"The, princess does not have any imperial ambitions regarding India herself," Kallen said carefully. "Whether she will be in position to check those who do possess such ambitions, depends on her and Japan's contribution to the war effort."

Rakshata raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Sorry, that's really the best I can offer at this point," Kallen said frankly. "There are, hard limits to how much we can push the princess."

"Politics does indeed make for strange bedfellows," Rakshata said after an amused puff. "Well, I'm in the country already, so I have little choice to see how things go."

"I'll be the first to admit, things have taken a very strange turn," Kallen said. "But keep in mind that what we're actually looking at is measurable progress towards the thing that is truly important, seeing the needs of our people met."

A few heads nodded, a few others remained noncommittal. As unhappy as some of the people here seemed none were so angry that Kallen had reason to think they might try to do something rash to derail the agreement with the princess, not even Tohdoh. Hopefully the rest of Akatsuki would show such restraint.

Ohgi cleared his throat. "One, thing that I want to make sure I understand correctly. You, will no longer be commanding the Akatsuki?"

Eyes shifted back over to Kallen quickly and the girl nodded.

"As I said, a knight to the Princess Euphemia controlling her own personal army would look very awkward. As such, I'm handing the reins back to you, Ohgi."

The man blinked as suddenly he was the center of attention. "Uh, what?"

Kallen chuckled. "Well I did kind of borrow the cell for my little romp as the Akakishi. Only right that I give it back now."

A few others joined Kallen in showing some mirth and even Tohdoh allowed a slight smile. Ohgi himself seemed caught between a variety of different emotions, none of them humor.

"Be careful Kallen," he said firmly. "You might have negotiated a deal with her highness, but that deal sees you put in a place where we can't back you up if something goes wrong."

The looks directed at the girl now were much more somber. Kallen however simply nodded.

"I'm well aware of that." Her gaze swept across the table. "Everything we've done up till now has been a risk, and everything we do from now on will also be one. I expect that none of you will let that deter you from doing what needs to be done."

* * *

Kuroba was having trouble remembering the last time he felt so exhausted. There were certainly times during the occupation when he felt weary or even despaired at how little he could do for too many patients, but the last day was different. Different, in both a good and bad way. The disaster that nearly befell all of them in the attempt to murder the princess had shocked the doctor to his core. That it was his own people who committed such a callous act pained him greatly. Yet after several hours of painstaking surgery the princess had been saved. Not just her, for the first time in a very, very long time Keio, his hospital, had been prepared and able to handle all the influx of wounded that came to its door. Even with the destruction of an entire wing and the generators located therein had not stopped them. Indeed the lengths that everyone went to, from the Britannian nurses to the Akatsuki volunteers to the hospital staff themselves, Kuroba could not help but feel a great pride in what they achieved.

Yet that pride was tinged with a great sorrow as well, for the cost that they paid in the end was so very high. Kuroba leaned back into his chair and tried to cling to the memory of his last encounter with Inoue Naomi. When he passed the princess to her care, knowing that _that_ meeting was the true purpose of the princess' visit but still hopeful that everything would work out. And in some ways things had worked out, save for Inoue no longer being there to bear witness to it all.

The doctor still did not know everything there was to know, about Akatsuki and what circumstances drew one Kallen Stadtfeld and the princess together. It was however evident that the two young women were intent on forging a path together, one that would see hope restored to his people after so long. Surely that was worth the price they had paid, Kuroba tried to convince himself. And yet, the doctor found that he was unable to convince himself that was so. Perhaps in time, when the wound was not so fresh and he bore witness to more such acts of unity, of progress. But not now.

A sudden knock sounded on the door, startling Kuroba.

"Come in."

The nurse that entered was not one of the Keio staff, instead wearing the uniform and armband of the Army Nursing Corps. Helena's face was visibly disturbed. Kuroba stood.

"Is something the matter, lieutenant?"

The woman pursed her lips, as if trying to figure out what to say.

"I think you should come see this yourself, Dr. Kuroba," she finally said.

Kuroba was around the desk and at the door in an instant. He followed Helena through the halls to one of the undamaged wings. As they closed on their destination, a dark suspicions came over Kuroba. The two stopped before a specific room, one flanked by a pair of Honorary Britannian soldiers. One of the hospital nurses was sobbing to the side, being comforted by a coworker. Kuroba swallowed, and pushed through the door.

There, dangling from the ceiling, was Makabe's form. There was not even any sway to the man's body, it just hung there completely still.

"Oh Makabe," Kuroba rasped. "Why? Why? Why?"

The doctor entered the otherwise vacant room, his eyes slowly filling with tears. After all this, after all the death already visited upon them, why? And then he caught sight of a sheet of paper tapped to Makabe's chest. Slowly, reluctantly, Kuroba reached out and pulled it off. As he suspected, it was the man's last testament. A testament that explained why he had done this, why he could no longer bear to live. Drops of tears splashed on the paper as Kuroba read it. It was a long time after he finished reading that the doctor was able to stop his sobbing.

End of Chapter 47

I probably could have added another chapter or even two more to the Battle of Tokyo. We only covered a small portion of it, there was a lot of fighting all across the city and there was a lot of epic action from both sides. If I do a remaster I might go back in and add them in. For now, just be aware that you all have only seen a very small fraction of the actual battle.

I try to give a degree of closure to all of the characters I bother to introduce in my stories. I actually had another scene drafted for Makabe during the Battle of Tokyo where he would basically demand to know why they should help the Britannians defend the Concession and so on, trying to rile up the crowd against them. Kallen was supposed to shut him down, hard, with a more nuanced version of the response she gave to Suzaku during their fight. I dropped it for pacing reasons, as I couldn't figure out a way to fit it in without making the Keio scene seem really dragged out when the JLF were literally bearing down on them.

At the same time when I originally drafted the opening snippets I was actually expecting Kallen and Suzaku to have faced off a few more times before the Black Rebellion hit. I was always planning on killing him off during the Black Rebellion. The problem however was that if Suzaku was basically consistently unable to bring Kallen down despite being in a much more superior knightmare, people are going to get suspicious. The Lancelot is a seventh generation prototype, no matter how good Kallen is Suzaku's Britannian superiors would expect that the edge his knightmare gave him to be decisive if he was at all competent, which Suzaku was. And considering the court martial that he barely got through with the degree of suspicion that already existed, having people suspect he's not giving his all when fighting Kallen would have been a very bad thing. And so I was forced to cut down on the number of actual encounters.

That said, Suzaku's reputation as one of the best knightmare pilots of his day is at this point more or less established after his death, based on the reconstruction of his actions during the Battle of Tokyo and records from previous deployments and training exercises. Kallen will also have something to do with that. Something like, a random remark she'll carelessly make where she says that no one has ever managed to push her like Suzaku did. Yeah, that's going to have some repercussions.

I don't have much personal interest in the whole Lelouch remains a prince plotline. For the most part such stories tend to follow the same structure, Lelouch remains worried about Nunnally's safety and so has to plot in the background and so on. And to be frank I got sick of Lelouch stumbling over himself the moment Nunnally was threatened in the anime so I likely wouldn't have the patience to write a story where he was so constrained. There's a reason I separated the two in this story. Anyway, this is likely to be my only Code Geass fanfic. The only other story I am liable to ever write for Code Geass is an alternate universe romance idea that I mentioned in one of the previous author notes. Otherwise there's not that many other story ideas that interest me enough for me to want to put in the effort to develop them.

I do have other story ideas that I've mulled. One was a Fullmetal Alchemist story that took place during the last year of the Ishvalan War. Another's an AU of the Mass Effect storyline. And there's always the sequel to _In Tune_ if I ever find the will to pick up that storyline again. We'll see if any of them see the light of day.

Hmm, pushing up against my self-imposed 50-chapter limit for R1. Well, we'll see what happens. There's still a fair degree of cleanup that needs to be dealt with. Cole meeting Kallen again, the conversation between C.C., Euphie, and Kallen, Cornelia finding about Kallen's knighting, and a few others.


	49. Chapter 48

Snippet spoiler: pretty minor

 _The Akatsuki policing force was formally established shortly after the start of the Great War when the Princess Euphemia granted a royal charter allowing it to act as law enforcement in the wards outside of the Tokyo Concession. Several conditions were attached to the charter, including a requirement that all members of Akatsuki demonstrate qualifications for actually serving as police. As a significant percentage of Akatsuki's ranks were composed of former officers from the defunct Japanese Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, this requirement was relatively easily satisfied._

 _Contrary to popular belief the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki never actually commanded Akatsuki in its police force form. Shortly before the resistance organization's transformation into a formally recognized entity she handed command of Akatsuki to her second, Sir Kaname Ohgi. Sir Ohgi would lead Akatsuki throughout the war, helping maintain law and order within the wards and successfully reducing crime to almost pre-invasion levels. Despite often voicing a desire to return to teaching, Sir Ohgi continued serving with the Akatsuki and its successor organization the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force for many years._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 48

Disce quasi semper victurus vive quasi cras moriturus

Andreas adjusted his collar again, exactly how many times this made it he had long lost count. There were simply too many things on his mind that at this point quite a few motions were purely reflexive. The list of things that needed doing, all of the little details that still needed sorting out, there was no shortage of work he could be attending to. Then again it was important for a general to know when to delegate and that was exactly what he had already done before coming to the airstrip. The last thing Jeremiah needed was for Andreas to start micromanaging just because the lieutenant-general was feeling restless. Then again one of the reasons he was here now was that this could still be counted as fulfilling his duties even as he waited for his own plane to be readied.

The arriving transport finished taxiing and its rear lowered to disgorge its cargo. From the side a hatch popped open and the passengers disembarked. In the lead was a towering, broad shouldered man with a neatly trimmed beard. Immediately following was a statuesque young woman with long deep blue hair tied into what was definitely a non-regulation ponytail. A few others also exited, most of them wearing the same colors as the young man standing to Andreas' side. The approaching soldiers came to a halt and raised their hands in salute. Andreas and those with him returned the motion.

"General Arseid," Andreas greeted. "It is good to see you again, even in such trying times."

Lieutenant-General Victor S. Arseid, Captain of the Guard of Her Highness Cornelia li Britannia, Second Princess of the Realm, nodded solemnly.

"Indeed, General Darlton." His gaze shifted over to Claudio. "My sincerest condolences, to both of you. All of them showed such promise. To have them fall before they had the chance…"

Victor trailed off, his jaw tightening, not for lack of words but because there was simply nothing else that needed to be said. He had been the one to oversee the Darlton brothers' induction into the Princess Cornelia's royal guard after all, the one that drilled into them everything they would need to know to serve as knights to her highness. And it was his training that had fallen short in ensuring that they were still here to continue that service.

"You gave them a chance to find honor," Andreas said. "For that you will always have my gratitude, Victor. And I hope you will remember them for what they did achieve under your guidance."

The other man allowed the faintest of smiles to touch his lips before nodding. "The same to you, Andreas."

Andreas returned the motion with a solemn nod of his own before he stepped aside. "Claudio will see that you get to the viceroy's palace. Princess Euphemia has already been informed of your pending arrival and has stated she wishes to see you at your earliest convenience."

"I am glad to hear that," Victor said with a relieved sigh. "Her highness gave all of us quite the fright when news came of the JLF attack on Tokyo."

"That she most certainly did," Andreas agreed. "Her guard however held the line and saw her returned safely."

Victor tilted his head in acknowledgment of the point. He then regarded his old friend.

"You will not be joining us?"

Andreas shook his head. "The marshal has ordered me to take command of our forces in western Area 11. I will be departing shortly."

The other general's eyes flickered for a brief moment before he nodded. "Her highness does need to leave the situation to someone she can trust if she is to withdraw and begin coordinating the rest of the Empire's forces."

That about summed it up. As Marshal of the Empire Cornelia's responsibilities in theory extended to overseeing the entire Britannian military. In practice most of the work was done by the general staff back in Pendragon, though the princess kept herself apprised of all pertinent matters even when in the field. With the Empire facing a multi-front war against both the Chinese Federation and the European Union however she could not afford to focus all of her attention on a single battle or even a single front, Cornelia needed to be able to focus on the entire world.

"And I can leave both her highnesses in confidence that they will be well looked after," Andreas said, "especially with the reinforcements you have brought."

Victor cracked a slight smile as the two men glanced back at the soldiers organizing the unloading. Soldiers, all of whom save two wore the Princess Cornelia's colors. Two however wore the crimson of the elite Knightmare Corps Cadet Brigade.

"Has your daughter completed her qualifications as a knightmare pilot?" Andreas asked.

"Just about," Victor said. "The final stage of the brigade qualifications is a truncated roulement tour."

Andreas raised an eyebrow as he glanced over at his friend. "Are you suggesting having her serve that tour in Area 11?"

"Laura was the one that made the suggestion," Victor said, a mixture of pride and concern in his tone. "She has been following news of the Princess Euphemia's policies closely, the two are good friends after all, and she wanted to be here to try to support her highness."

"I see," Andreas said. "And the other cadet that accompanied you?"

"Cadet Rean Schwarzer, Baron Schwarzer's adopted son." Victor pursed his lips for some reason. "He studied the same school of swordsmanship as that of General Eyre."

The eyebrow stayed up. Now that was an interesting tidbit. Swordsmanship was an expected quality for those of good breeding, ladies and gentlemen alike. The majority tended towards fencing, ever the classic, though even fencing had enough diversity in styles to have competing schools. Outside of fencing however there were a few other prominent ones, one being the Arseid style that utilized a modified highland claymore and which Victor himself was the latest in a line of masters of.

Then there was the 'school' that one Jonathan Eyre, and apparently this Rean Schwarzer, were a part of, though it was less a formal school than a style that was extremely pragmatic about its purpose. Whereas court fencing had seen a degree of gentrification, wielders of the spadroon disregarded such niceties as formal right of way and focused on one thing and one thing only, killing their opponent as quickly as possible. Such pragmatism probably had something to do with the Scottish origins of this particular combat style, what with the vehemence and determination the Scots fought against being forcibly incorporated into the old British kingdom and then the imposition of continental rulers.

On the other hand the Arseid school could be said to share a common historical origin, also having arisen in the highlands, and Andreas knew Victor did not personally look down upon wielders of the spadroon like so many of the more snobbish nobles. So what would make the man so uncharacteristically hesitant. Andreas glanced again, and noted the manner in which the two cadets were speaking with each other. Despite everything that had happened Andreas found it impossible not to allow a slight smile to crack. At that age, little wonder. And then a frown appeared.

"Will there be any complications in the two serving their roulement together under the same command?" he asked.

Even if they were cadets fraternization rules still applied when in the field.

"We shall see which commands they serve their roulement under," Victor responded. "There are many who could make use of their skills after all."

That Andreas could only sadly agree with. And began to consider just where the talents of the two cadets could be most gainfully employed.

* * *

If C.C. felt any nervousness from having her secret exposed to the Princess Euphemia she did not show it. In fact as far as Kallen's now considerable ability to read the subtle changes of expression in the other girl's features could tell, the green haired girl was actually feeling somewhat bemused. Kallen idly wondered if there was anything C.C. did not find some amusement in. She was pretty certain that list was very short.

"So, you call yourself C.C.," Euphemia said.

The princess was seated in a loveseat now instead of her bed, but there was still a stiffness to her motion that made clear she really should still be resting in the latter. 'Should' however was not something that seemed able to impede a royal.

"I know you have no reason to cooperate," the princess continued, "especially in light of my brother's mistreatment of you. Indeed that mistreatment is all the more horrific in light of what you have already done for my family. But still, I have need of answers that only you can provide, so I must ask them of you."

"Mine contractor has informed thee of mine condition?" C.C. said dryly.

Euphie nodded. "You are bound somehow, unable to answer in fullness on matters that touch upon the geass and your last contractor, at least directly. But you _can_ answer indirectly."

"And thou thinks such answers come as I fain?" C.C. responded.

Euphemia pursed her lips. "Perhaps not, but then are you saying that giving us the answers we seek is not worth the effort you must endure? A fair enough statement. What would you desire then in exchange for said effort?"

C.C. tapped her chin. "What I seek be not what thou may provide. Thou art of another house and thus beyond thy ken."

"Are you referring to whom I received my geass from?" Euphie asked. "Only someone that you have given a geass to can provide you with what you want?"

C.C. seemed mildly impressed at how quickly the princess seemed to grasp her meaning. So was Kallen for that matter, maybe she should have come to Euphemia long ago and saved herself the headache of parsing the other girl's convoluted speech."

"Aye, tis so," came the remarkably concise response.

Euphemia glanced over at Kallen and the girl shrugged.

"She won't tell me what exactly she wants, just that in time I will either prove able or not," Kallen said.

The princess frowned and looked back over at C.C. "Is your intent to rely on luck and chance? Should you not be offering Kallen at least some guidance to nudge her towards your desired outcome?"

C.C. smiled slyly and Kallen feigned clearing her throat to cover a cough.

"She, actually has been, sort of," Kallen said.

"I see," Euphemia said dryly. "Perhaps we should start at the basics then. Ruben believes you were the one that spirited Nunnally to his family. Is that the case?"

C.C. raised an eyebrow but after a few moments nodded. There was no tension or strain in her movement.

"Then were you also involved in the cover story of her suicide?"

"Nay," C.C. answered concisely.

Euphemia frowned. "Then who was responsible?"

C.C. fell silent for several moments. "That tis not the inquiry that yield the most result. Thou shant find succor or solace along that path."

The princess clucked her tongue, whether in irritation or weary acceptance Kallen could not tell.

"Alright," Euphemia said, apparently deciding to move on, "then why did _you_ save Nunnally?"

C.C. licked her lips. "She, held potential, as one whom shares blood with a lineage most venerable."

"Venerable? Are you referring to her mother's family, or her father's?"

To this C.C. made no response, instead staring at Euphemia intently. The princess grimaced, unable to discern just what that look was supposed to imply. She was also pretty sure that the ambiguity was completely intentional on C.C.'s part.

"Is this, venerable lineage also why you spirited Lelouch away?" she asked instead.

The intent stare hardened into something else entirely. For a moment Euphemia thought C.C. was actively glaring at her. Then she realized the other girl was completely frozen and her own expression became concerned.

"C.C.?"

That seemed to snap the other girl out of it and she began blinking once more.

"I say," C.C. said somewhat crossly. "Choose thy inquires with greater care, lest I be rendered utterly mute."

Kallen's eyes widened slightly. Apparently the binding was a bit more serious than she had assumed at first. Then again considering this Lelouch was prepared to have his pawns commit suicide to prevent his secrets from being revealed, it should not be a surprise at all that whatever he did to C.C. to keep her from blabbing would be equally severe, or at least as close to it seeing as the woman was seemingly immortal.

"My apologies," Euphemia offered honestly. "Still, this compulsion you are under is proving extremely problematic. If we could break whatever has bound you and make it so that you can speak of your own volition, are you willing to answer my questions?"

"Thou art certainly not lacking in ambition," C.C. said dryly.

"A yes or no would suffice please," Euphemia said dryly. "I hear enough doubletalk in matters of court."

C.C. regarded the princess, her eyes hardening ever so slightly.

"If thy possesseth the means to undo mine curse, then thou art deserving of the sooth," she finally said.

"I shall hold you to that," Euphemia said.

Kallen looked over at the princess. "Do you actually have any ideas on that, your highness?"

Euphemia nodded. "The thought elevator."

The lazy look in C.C.'s eyes disappeared in an instant and the girl looked at the princess intently. The reaction was not lost upon either of the other two women.

"There is supposed to be a link between a geass bearer and the one who granted the geass," Euphemia said. "It apparently allows the granter to, peek, into the mind of the bearer, though to what extent I am not entirely clear on."

Kallen raised an eyebrow at C.C. but saw that the girl was entirely ignoring her, simply staring at the princess.

"I was able to enter the thought elevator at Kamine Island and was, transported, to a place that looked like a library."

A barely audible hiss sounded from C.C., a reaction that was entirely unexpected from Kallen's perspective.

"In there, I met a man who named himself Zero," Euphemia went on. "He told me that I was inside C's World, and before he sent me back, he, severed the connection between myself and V.V."

A silence hovered between the three women as Euphemia returned C.C.'s gaze and Kallen found her own focus drawn back to the green haired girl.

"Severed," C.C. repeated very carefully.

"Severed," Euphemia affirmed with a nod.

It seemed to take several moments for C.C. to fully process that.

"And thou still retains thy geass?"

The princess nodded. Another minute or so passed as a thoughtful expression emerged on C.C.'s face.

"Curious. Thy words ring with conviction, yet what thou hast claimed should be impossible." C.C. rubbed her chin. "Thy benefactor, named himself Zero?"

Euphemia nodded once more. C.C. hummed thoughtfully.

"I would meet this Zero, and ascertain the sooth with mine own eyes and ears."

"The thought elevator apparently needs power to be opened," Euphie stated. "My usage of it seems to have drained the one at Kamine Island. Are you able to tell us how to recharge it, or is this another matter the bind covers?"

C.C. smirked. "Where a will exists, a way will be found."

To Kallen's surprise the princess returned the expression. "I see you are prepared to act, when properly motivated."

C.C. chuckled, stretching her arms and leaning back into her own seat. And then her expression took on a more serious air.

"Thou hast will, mayhaps enow to make the welkins ring. For thy daring, I grant thee a single boon." The woman closed her eyes. "Black is the badge of Hell, donned by he whom excogigates a sanguinolent finale to venerable enmities."

Euphemia's expression hardened. "You were the one whom spirited Nunnally to the Ashfords. If Lelouch really is Hel-bent on revenge because of his losses, is it because you did not tell him his sister was still alive?"

Kallen raised an eyebrow. Now that was an interesting point. She regarded C.C. quizzically. The other girl returned the princess' gaze with equal intensity.

"Recall, princess, thy ambition tis thy own. What I seek from mine contractors is mine alone as well. And what cost we pay for the fulfillment of terms is not equal in the eyes of all."

The remark was uncharacteristically ruthless on C.C.'s part and Kallen felt a slight chill run down her spine. Euphemia on the other hand was verging on a display of outright anger at the other girl's seeming callousness. The princess however took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Your words imply a game where the price has been the blood of my family," Euphemia stated frostily. "I hope you will not feign surprise if I have my own impositions on that matter."

A gleam lit in C.C.'s eyes. "The only coin which balances the scales of mine deeds are weighed in worlds."

Kallen blinked. And found in that moment before her eyes closed a gapping void where C.C. sat. When her eyes opened once more all she saw was the green haired girl, nonchalantly lounging away as if without a care in the world. The young woman frowned. Had that been her imagination? No, the gleam was still there in C.C.'s eyes. Whatever Kallen had seen, had been very real. The chill returned.

Euphemia frowned, though whether because she had seen the same thing or simply because of C.C.'s words Kallen could not tell.

"Make a list as best you can of what resources you will require to reactivate the thought elevator," the princess said bluntly, little of her initial courtesy audible. "I will see about their procurement."

C.C. simply nodded. When she rose however Euphemia raised a hand.

"One last matter," the princess said.

The other girl raised an eyebrow, remaining standing but waiting for the princess to elucidate.

"The most pertinent question," Euphemia began, her voice of cold steel. "Whom was responsible for the Empress Marianne's murder."

Kallen's eyes widened and her head snapped up to look at C.C. The thought had surprisingly not even occurred to her that C.C. might know, even after learning the woman was responsible for ferreting the empress' children away from the imperial court.

C.C.'s eyes remained locked to Euphemia's, this time unblinking for entirely different reasons.

"Thou already hast the answer thy seeks," C.C. said cryptically.

Euphemia's lips twitched.

"The question thou should asketh is whom stood by and through inaction became complicit with the sin," C.C. continued. "And whether thou art so unstained that thy hands be capable of rendering judgment."

To Kallen's surprise C.C. bowed, an uncharacteristic show of deference for the girl.

"I shall retire here, my ladies. A fair day to thee."

Without waiting for a dismissal C.C. turned about and made for the door. Euphemia made no move to stop her and so Kallen likewise remained still until the door closed behind the girl. Once it did however she glanced over at the princess.

"She's, not the easiest person to get anything out of," Kallen said almost apologetically.

"So it would seem," Euphemia said, sinking back into her own seat with a shake of her head. "You have, considerable patience in having put up with, C.C., thus far, Kallen."

The girl cracked a slight smile. "I can't really claim any particular credit for that, your highness. And I didn't really press her on the issue of her previous contractor that hard, even after he hit Ashford. I suppose I was too confident that I would see him coming myself."

Euphemia said nothing in response. Kallen tilted her head.

"Are you thinking that you might be able to, save him, your highness?"

The princess clutched her hands. "A part of me desperately wishes to. Another part is horrified at what he has become and wants nothing further to do with him. Both are right, in their own ways. The Lelouch that I knew and loved is no more, but the man that has appeared is still of my blood."

Kallen's jaw tightened. She would be lying if she claimed she did not understand the sentiment but considering that thus far two of the princess' brothers had committed acts that warranted Kallen wanting them dead. She sighed.

"I swore myself to you, your highness," Kallen said. "I will keep my word. There is however another aspect to that oath that you should remember."

Euphemia looked up at Kallen quizzically. "Oh?"

"I am your knight, sworn to your defense," Kallen stated. "And at this point this, Lelouch, has by his orchestration of the attack on Keio made abundantly clear he presents a threat to your person. Whatever your personal feelings regarding him, my position as your knight is that the best guarantee of eliminating the threat Lelouch represents is eliminating Lelouch himself."

Euphemia's eyes narrowed, but there was no anger or irritation in them. The princess finally nodded.

"I understand Kallen. And you are right, the finality of death would offer the greatest guarantee of my safety from the threat he represents." The princess regarded Kallen. "Nevertheless, I think you will also agree that the things worth doing are never without risk, and I may yet decide that the chance to regain my brother is worth the risk of my life, and the life of those sworn to me."

Kallen grimaced. Of course the princess would have a comeback like that. And while she would not go quite as far as agree, she could still see the younger woman's point.

"We shall see," Kallen compromised.

The slight smile on Euphemia's expression made clear the princess knew that was exactly what Kallen was doing. For now at least she did not seem to mind.

Kallen cleared her throat. "One other thing, regarding Lelouch. Am I to assume that we are to keep this from anyone else?"

Anyone, like a certain other sibling thought long lost. Euphemia nodded most emphatically.

"I do not want her to think of her brother as a monster. Nunnally has been through too much for such a burden."

To that Kallen had no reservations in expressing agreement.

A knock sounded on the door and both women looked up.

"Enter."

The door opened and another of the princess' armsman stepped in before bowing. "Highness, General Arseid has arrived at the palace and wishes to present himself at your earliest convenience."

"Now would be fine," Euphemia said. "Please invite the general in."

"Yes your highness," the soldier said before retreating.

"Should I leave for this?" Kallen asked.

The princess thought it over for a moment before shaking her head. "I think it would do you some good to meet General Arseid."

"Alright," Kallen said cautiously. "Who is he exactly?"

A smile appeared on Euphemia's face. It was the most playful, genuine looking smile that Kallen had seen since the attack on Keio. Another shiver ran down the girl's spine.

"Viscount Victor Arseid is the captain of the guard for my sister, the Princess Cornelia."

The chill turned into something else entirely as Kallen not quite gapped at Euphemia.

"I see," the girl managed, her mouth feeling suddenly very dry.

And then another knock sounded on the door and Kallen was out of time. She looked over at the door, her geass easily revealing whom was on the other side. It was with great effort that Kallen finally managed to swallow.

"Enter," Euphemia commanded.

The door opened to reveal the towering, well-built man Kallen already knew to be standing there. To Kallen's surprise not only did Euphemia smile brightly at the man, she even stood.

"General," the princess said warmly.

Victor bowed deeply. "Your highness. It is good to see you well and whole."

Euphemia dipped her head. "I apologize for having so worried you. Please, come in and have a seat."

Victor entered, but once at the recently vacated seat across from Euphemia pointedly remained standing until the princess herself was back down. He then regarded the princess with a gentle gaze, one that conveyed more than mere words could.

"I have been brought up to speed about what has happened the past day," Victor said. "I am truly sorry to hear about General Eyre."

The princess nodded solemnly and took a deep breath. "I do not deserve the lives that have been laid down for my own. I hope one day I will be."

"Of that I have no doubt," Victor assured her. "I have brought with me a contingent of the Princess Cornelia's guard to help complement your own guard for however long is necessary. They will follow the orders of Brigadier Nu as if they were my own."

Kallen was impressed, it seemed the captain of Cornelia's guard really had kept himself abreast of what was happening in Japan if he already knew who had succeeded General Eyre. Then again seeing the two's parallel responsibilities perhaps that was not so surprising.

"My gratitude general, truly," Euphemia said, the young woman's expression quivering ever so slightly. "I will not give you greater cause to mourn this day."

"So long as you yourself remain safe your highness," Victor said, "I shall be content." The man then glanced over at Kallen. "Now, I do believe introductions might be in order?"

Kallen blinked. Now _this_ truly was a surprise, the general taking the initiative instead of waiting for Euphemia to do the honors. That indicated a great deal of familiarity for the man to presume such. Then again Victor had probably known Euphemia since she was a child. After a quick glance at Euphemia and a nod from her new liege Kallen stepped forth and bowed.

"It is an honor to meet you, General Arseid. I am Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki, Knight of Her Highness Euphemia's Honor."

Victor's eyes widened slightly but the man did not allow his surprise to excuse any impropriety on his part. He bowed slightly from his seated position as he responded.

"A pleasure, Lady Stadtfeld. I am the Viscount Victor Arseid, Captain of the Guard of Her Highness Cornelia li Britannia. Though it may be presumptuous of me, I count the Princess Euphemia as one for whom I am also obliged to see to the care of. I trust I shall not find the caliber of your service to her highness wanting."

"You will not, my lord," Kallen stated firmly.

Victor continued regarding Kallen for a few moments longer before nodding once. He then shifted his gaze back to Euphemia. At the unspoken question the princess shook her head.

"My sister has not yet been informed, and I ask that I be the one to personally deliver the news."

The edge of Victor's mouth twitched ever so slightly. "Very well your highness, I shall defer to your wishes in this instance."

"Thank you general," Euphemia said with a smile.

"Speaking of which, Laura is also with me," Victor said.

The princess' eyes widened. "What?"

"Your highness is aware that Laura had won entry into the Knightmare Corps Cadet Brigade three years ago?"

Euphemia nodded. Kallen for her part also listened intently. The elite Cadet Brigade was considered the cream of the crop, the place where the future aces of the Knightmare Corps were groomed and prepared to serve the Empire. The training was extremely rigorous and the cadets were subjected to drilling in not only the theory and operation of knightmares but also operational planning and other aspects of how to run a modern military, all to ensure that those that made it through were equipped to not only fight but also lead. Winning entry alone was a major feat and the attrition rate saw only thirty percent of the class reaching graduation. Those that did graduate however were automatically commissioned as senior grade lieutenants in the Knightmare Corps and put on the fast track to promotion. If Kallen remembered right the Princess Cornelia was herself a graduate, as were the Glaston Knights.

"She has completed the majority of the coursework and training and now simply requires completion of her roulement," Victor said. "Laura has made it clear to me that she wishes to serve that roulement here in Area 11, your highness."

Euphemia inhaled sharply and even Kallen found herself taken aback. The intensity of the coursework and demanding physical regimen was only one reason for the high attrition rate. Another reason was the final capstone course all cadets were required to embark upon, an actual field deployment. These deployments were never to quiet corners of the Empire, they were always to Areas that the Empire was facing active opposition in some form or another. As a consequence the Cadet Brigade had perhaps the highest number of decorations awarded to its members for a unit of its size. It also had one of the highest percentages of posthumous decorations being awarded. Considering the almost constant conflict the Empire's forces found itself engaged in across the world, that was really saying something. And now one of the brigade's cadets wanted to serve her roulement in Area 11, an area that just saw a major uprising by the native population and was actively under attack by the Chinese and Russians as part of the opening offensive in a much larger war. The viscount's daughter was certainly not lacking in courage, that much Kallen could tell.

"Laura, wants to conduct her roulement here," Euphemia said carefully.

Victor nodded. "My daughter has had her heart set on it the moment she learned you were named viceroy of Area 11."

A noticeably pained expression appeared on Euphemia's face.

The general smiled gently. "You know Laura has always hoped that one day she might be able to stand by your side, your highness. Please, do not let your fears see my daughter's dreams dashed."

As Kallen gazed at the general, she found her own opinion of the man solidifying. The viscount was strong, not just as a warrior or a man, but also as a father. He had to have been worried about the dangers his daughter would face serving in Area 11, especially under a princess as, willful, as Euphemia. Yet because that was what his daughter wanted, Victor was prepared to stand by her and help her see that dream fulfilled. That, resonated, with Kallen in a way she would not have expected, with what her own father was trying to do. She looked over at the princess to see what Euphemia would do.

The princess took a deep breath, one hand resting over a heart that was hammering away.

"Where is she now?" Euphemia asked.

"At MacArthur unloading her knightmare," Victor said, "alongside another cadet that also wishes to serve his roulement in Area 11."

The princess blinked in surprise. "Another?"

Victor nodded. The smile he gave this time had a tinge of pride in it.

"You have effected great change, your highness, greater than you might realize, what with your attention on the affairs of your domain. But on this I assure you your highness, we in the homelands have not been blind to the example that you have set."

Euphemia stared at Victor, barely cognizant of how she must have seemed to be gaping like so. When she finally recovered the princess leaned back into her own seat, both hands clasped over her chest. The intensity with which her heart beat had not subsided, yet the princess felt a great calm ease through her. Yes, men and women had shed blood for the sake of her ambition, shed blood and died. But maybe, just maybe that blood would not be for naught after all. The princess regarded Victor, and offered the viscount a heartfelt smile.

* * *

One could be forgiven for regarding the Earl Asplund as a trying patient. The man had been grumbling almost nonstop since coming up from the anesthetic that had been given to him when the bullets were pulled out of his back. That was not to say the man did not have some genuine grievances, but after a certain point even a saint would grow tiresome of having to listen to Lloyd's ramblings. As patient as the army nurses were they would be the first to renounce any claim to divinity. The one person whom might have had the patience to placate the earl however was preoccupied with other matters. In fact if one were to regard Captain Cécile Croomy now one might be tempted to think the woman was in a state of shock. Such a diagnosis would not have been that far off for Cécile was in some ways still reeling from the events of the past day, events that included the betray of one Suzaku Kururugi.

For that matter the entire ASEEC was trying to come to terms with the news, and they were doing so under guard. The fact that two of the organization's knightmares had gone rogue in the midst of the Tokyo Uprising saw all of its personnel cast under suspicion and until the matter was sorted out they were confined to their assigned residential dorms with a warning that any attempt to leave without permission would be met with deadly force. The military did not seem prepared to take any chances at this point.

For the past couple of hours Cécile had been staring at the ceiling of her own room, trying to come to terms with what had happened. She played back the events of the past week, then the past month, and then the half year, trying to find something, anything that indicated that Suzaku might betray them. The act was so against the young man's character, not even the court-martial felt as if it could have provided the impetus for his betrayal. What had then? Cécile grimaced. Was she allowing her emotions cloud her impartiality? She had seen such promise in Suzaku, hoped that he would go far in his adopted society. Had she intentionally missed the signs of discontent in the young man? Yet try as she might Cécile found she genuinely could not recall any instance where Suzaku was anything but dedicated to his duties. Was that dedication itself a sign?

Cécile rubbed her forehead in frustration. She was going in circles. Answers to her questions and doubt might well exist, but they would not be found in here. Unfortunately it was highly unlikely that she would receive permission to assist in whatever investigation was being conducted on the ASEEC, even if she and the rest of the staff were eventually cleared of complicity in the mutiny. The woman grimaced. She simply could not let the matter rest however, she just could not. Suzaku was, perhaps even still is, a friend. She needed to know the truth, and whether the boy genuinely reciprocated the respect and fondness she held for him. And what would have driven him to reject that respect and fondness for an utterly futile act of defiance against Britannian authority.

A knock sounded, stirring Cécile from her stupor. The woman rose, walking over and opening the door, and froze once more when she saw whom was on the other side. Monica Kruszewski, Knight of Twelve, stood on the other side of the threshold looking back at Cécile. Monica spent a few seconds looking at Cécile before nodding.

"Captain Croomy," the woman said. "Come with me."

The order was enough to get Cécile's thoughts working again and the woman hurried after the knight as she turned about and began walking away. Once outside two more soldiers, wearing distinctively different colored uniforms than the regular military, fell in step behind Cécile, though the captain was pretty certain that Monica herself would be more than enough to subdue her if she was stupid enough to try something. The four made their way to one of the undamaged structures on base and Cécile was led into what appeared to be a makeshift interrogation room. The woman swallowed nervously.

"Have a seat," Monica half invited and half ordered even as she did the same.

Cécile obeyed, and stared across the table at the knight. Monica clasped her fingers and rested her head on the interlocked hands as she gazed back.

"It is my understanding that Earl Asplund has been paralyzed the waist down," Monica said after a minute or so of silence.

Cécile nodded a bit uncertainly but otherwise remained silent. What was there for her to say?

Monica swayed her hands side to side, rubbing her chin in the process.

"Did Suzaku Kururugi show any sign of disgruntlement with the Empire prior to his betrayal."

Cécile grimaced. That was about as blunt as the question could be asked. It was also one that she was still struggling to answer herself. In light of this uncertainty, there was no certainty in the captain's response as she shook her head.

"I don't believe so."

Monica's gaze never left Cécile's eyes. "How often was the private off base."

"Just when he attended classes," Cécile answered.

The knight raised an eyebrow. "He never left otherwise?"

The captain bit her lip. That was not entirely true, and so she shook her head again.

"He would go out on the weekends sometimes when he was off duty." Cécile almost managed a wistful smile. "I think that was mostly to get some better food than was available in the cafeteria."

Monica snorted. Even if as a knight she never had to suffer the travesty that the enlisted mess halls called food she was well familiar with the reputation.

"Did he always go out alone?" the knight asked.

Cécile frowned as she thought back. "I think, he invited some of the technicians with him, a couple of times. And they invited him too, a few times."

The knight's eyes narrowed. "Do you recall which technicians?"

Cécile pursed her lips. In fact she did. And assuming her memory was not failing her, there was every reason for the Empire to be interested in _those_ particular technicians. Apparently the expression was telling enough for Monica as the knight nodded. Cécile grimaced.

"Dame Kruszewski, if I may, a question?" Cécile began.

The knight raised an eyebrow but tilted her head nonetheless.

Cécile took a deep breath. "What will happen to the private?"

Monica raised an eyebrow but answered nonetheless. "All indicates are the private suffered significant trauma to his head. The prognosis of the doctors is that he is braindead. That being the case, and considering his actions, the decision has been made to euthanize him."

The breath that Cécile inhaled this time was much sharper. "Euthanized?"

The knight regarded Cécile. "All things considered it is a fairly merciful conclusion."

Cécile gritted her teeth. Merciful perhaps, but it left so much undone.

"And whom made this decision, your grace?" she tried to keep her tone respectful.

"That would be me."

The captain's eyes widened. "You, your grace?"

Monica nodded. When the knight did not bother elucidating Cécile grimaced.

"May I, ask why, your grace?"

The other woman's eyes narrowed again. "Captain Croomy. Am I to infer that you hold a sentiment for Private Kururugi that goes beyond mere comradery?"

That stopped Cécile. Did she like Suzaku, more than just as a subordinate and a friend? A while back had she been asked this question she probably would have dismissed the notion outright. It was entirely inappropriate to fraternize like that after all, especially when the young man in question was several years her junior. Now though, forced to confront just what she felt for the young man under such extremis, she found she could not give voice to just what she felt.

Apparently having tired of Cécile's silence Monica spoke again.

"Let us try this again, captain. How often did Private Kururugi leave the base when off duty outside of school hours, and when did he start socializing with other members of the ASEEC."

Cécile grimaced. Her window of opportunity to inquire more about Suzaku's fate was gone, and if she did not want to fall under further suspicion herself she needed to answer, as fully and truthfully as she could. She needed more time to think, to untangle her emotions. There was one emotion that stubbornly refused to be shoved aside though, a great sadness that this would be the end Suzaku met. She could not stop his execution, that was what it really was no matter the Knight of Twelve's so-called mercy, and the pain that elicited left her heart aching deeply.

* * *

Soldiers came to attention as Cornelia li Britannia, Marshal of the Empire, strode through the halls of the viceroy's palace. Her highness return had been expected since General Darlton's departure to take command of the operational theater in western Area 11, though the speed with which she returned had still caught some of the soldiers off guard. Then again the reason for her haste was obvious to pretty much everyone and even if strictly speaking the princess was allowing her personal entanglements to influence some of her decisions at the moment no one was prepared to call her on it.

For her part Cornelia considered her actions eminently reasonable and well thought out. Steps were already being taken to prepare the Empire for the greatest threat to its existence since Napoleon. The general staff back at Pendragon was beginning a full general mobilization and carrying out the various contingency plans that had been developed in the case of something like this happening. Granted a simultaneous war with both the Chinese Federation and the European Union was always regarded as one of the less probable, and much more threatening, combination of events, plans still existed for how the Empire might respond to such aggression.

At present there was little Cornelia could do directly, though shortly before the very short flight back to Tokyo she had been brought up to speed on which contingencies the general staff intended to implement so that she could sign off on them. That done the next thing that would require her personal attention was a meeting scheduled in a few hours that would see the general staff and all theater commanders in a joint conference. Until then however Cornelia intended to see to more personal matters, like making sure with her own eyes that her little sister was all right.

As Euphemia's bedroom came into view Cornelia found herself relaxing ever so slightly at the sight of the two armsmen standing guard. One wore the colors of the younger princess, the other however was of Cornelia's own guard. It seemed General Arseid had not wasted any time integrating his personnel into the watch. In time Euphemia's own guard would recover and once again be able to see after the safety of their liege without such assistance, but for now Cornelia was determined that their diminished numbers would not leave her sister unprotected.

Satisfied with the current arrangement, Cornelia paid the armsmen no further mind as she stopped before the bedroom door and knocked.

"Enter."

If her sister was feeling any strain from her recent tribulations it was not audible in her voice. Cornelia allowed herself a slight smile. She did not doubt that Euphie was stretching the definition of the rest the doctors had ordered her to take, but it at least sounded like the girl was doing well. Cornelia pushed open the door and entered. There she was, sitting up on the bed with paper scattered over the sheets. A wide smile appeared on Euphemia's face when she looked up and caught sight of her sister. Cornelia returned it, walking briskly over to the bedside and reaching out to pull Euphemia into an embrace. The girl eagerly returned the embrace, sinking into Cornelia's arm.

"Euphie," Cornelia said softly, running her hand over the girl's hair. "I am glad to see you safe and sound."

The girl stirred slightly and looked up at her sister, her eyes shining willfully. "Many laid down their lives to see to my safety. I am here because they are not."

Cornelia nodded solemnly before pulling the girl into her chest once more. "I am sorry. I had hoped you would never again feel the bitterness of loss."

Even pressed against her sister Euphemia still managed to shake her head. "I learned long ago that life is a fragile, precious thing. I will mourn them, and I will see their sacrifices not be in vain."

Cornelia looked down at her sister, smiling proudly. Yes, Euphemia did understand. She would not be a callous or capricious daughter of the Empire, she would wield power well. Perhaps even better than Cornelia herself.

The two parted and Euphemia looked up at Cornelia with a serious gaze.

"Sister," the younger girl said in a firm tone. "There is something we must discuss."

Cornelia frowned. She had seen Euphemia like this several times before, the frequency increasing over the past year. Her sister was growing up and starting to make decisions on her own. Cornelia felt a mixture of feelings at that. Pride and joy to see Euphemia blossom into a grown woman, but also fear at what dangers her sister's daring would see her face. And of the possibility the two might one day come to a point where they could not agree with the decision of the other. Had that day come already?

"I have spoken with Kallen Stadtfeld," Euphemia began, and Cornelia inhaled sharply. "I have also spoken with Cecilia Clermont, and they have revealed to me most disturbing news." A sadness filled Euphemia's eyes. "Lelouch, is alive. And he seeks our deaths, and perhaps the deaths of all whom share our blood."

Cornelia stared at her sister, her form frozen and her breathing stilled. When she opened her mouth to speak she found there was no air in her lungs to carry her words. Cornelia took several deep breaths, trying to fight through the tightness in her chest.

"Tell me," Cornelia finally got out. "Tell me, everything."

Euphemia nodded solemnly, and did so.

End of Chapter 48

In case anyone is wondering, I know exactly what it is that C.C. wants. I also know exactly what it is that Lelouch wants. The means through which the two are working towards their goals will be, on a large scale, let us say.

As the Eight Leaves school uses Japanese swords of various types, Rean in particular a tachi, it's not exactly believable for me to have him be a practitioner of that style. I had considered making him a follower of the Arseid or Vander styles, but I ultimately decided that I would have him follow a distinctively different style, which will also be the style that General Eyre himself used. And Villetta now for that matter. Whether Cassius is also a member of said school, well, we'll see if he ever actually shows up.

A lot of strong women showing up. Ahem. It actually is an interesting problem, there aren't really that many strong guys in the Code Geass canon that would, measure up, so to speak, to the standard that I think the female characters have set in my story. Granted there are still a few other characters that haven't made their appearance yet, but the balance is slanted quite strongly to the fairer gender. Conversely I'm pretty sure I fail the Bechdel test all over the place, which probably says more about the test than my characters.

There will be quite a few more characters showing up over the next chapter or two. There is a war going on after all and a lot of people are needed to fight a modern war. How much they will appear in the story depends on how the story itself develops. For example the people in charge of the Middle East campaign probably aren't going to show up that often if the main characters don't get directly involved in said campaign. And at this rate Cornelia herself will almost certainly have to return to Pendragon seeing as that's where the general staff is. She's stalling, everyone knows she's stalling, and her subordinates are currently giving her a pass for it since she was handling the defense of western Area 11 and Euphemia nearly died, but eventually she needs to go back to the capital to conduct the war.


	50. Chapter 49

Snippet spoiler: None really

 _The issue of Areas and Numbers has always been more complex and nuanced matter than most peoples from outside the Empire have tended to understand. One of the longest standing myths is that upon conquest of a new land the Empire would assign that territory a number and consign all of the native populace to being similarly labeled. In point of fact historically the matter of racial heritage that underpinned the Empire's degrees of privilege was not rooted in whether a person was from a conquered area, but whether they were descended from western European stock. As such the peoples referred to disparagingly as Fives were those of indigenous or mixed descent in the former Viceroyalty of New Spain, whereas those of pure peninsular heritage, assuming they were not purged in the initial aftermath of the conquest and were willing to integrate, were treated little differently than the average Caucasian Britannian subject._

 _It was only when the Empire began to expand across the Pacific Ocean that it encountered entire populations with no significant numbers of Europeans and the brutal treatment of 'Numbers' became endemic. In the cases of Australasia, the relatively undeveloped societies that the Britannians encountered were almost completely wiped out via forced labour and the diseases the conquerors brought with them. Japan and the Philippines on the other hand possessed more modern societies with rapidly developing economies. Britannian policy regarding these two conquests was comparatively less brutal than what the aboriginal populations of Australasia endured, but this was of little comfort to the Japanese and Filipino peoples as the Empire effectively looted their respective nations._

 _It was not until after the Great War that the Empire began a concentrated program of integration of all its subjects, regardless of heritage. The road to this integration was long and arduous and even today a degree of tension exists, on both sides of the historical racial and social divide. On the other hand it is with some irony that most observers regard Britannia as a more integrated society than many of the ostensibly more liberal European nations. For all the lack of official instruments of segregation, there existed considerable societal racist attitudes amongst the European states that were never systematically dealt with as happened in the Empire under the reign of the Empress Euphemia and her successors._

 _-Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I_

Chapter 49

Nosce te ipsum

The screens all about the conference room lit up as links were established with command centers around the world. Seated in the room physically were Cornelia li Britannia, Marshal of the Empire, Euphemia li Britannia, Viceroy of Area 11, and Brigadier-General Jeremiah Gottwald, commanding officer of the Tokyo garrison. On one of the screens sat Lieutenant-General Andreas Darlton, the de facto theater commander for the entire Area. The latter three were attending the meeting as the preeminent authorities of Area 11, both civil and martial.

On another set of monitors were a solemn set of faces seated in a similarly appointed conference room in the heart of Pendragon. Field Marshal Zechs Vander, chief of the general staff, gazed at the other attendees with his good eye, a black patch covering the scarred remnants of his right eye. Seated to his immediate right was General Harold Keith Johnson, chief of the army staff, and to his left Admiral Louis Mountbatten, the First Sea Lord. Immediately to Louis' left was Air Chief Marshal Curtis LeMay, head of the Britannian Air Force. Together the four represented the total sum of the Britannian military, all reporting directly to the Princess Cornelia in her capacity as Marshal of the Empire.

The last of the august personages on that particular set of screens were two rather more youthful men, though in truth one wielded far greater power than anyone else attending the conference. Schneizel el Britannia, Prime Minister of His Majesty's Government, was here as a representative of his father the emperor and as the one that would be responsible for marshaling much of the Empire's civil resources to the prosecution of the war. Seated next to him was Odysseus eu Britannia, Heir Primus to the throne and ostensibly of higher station than Schneizel, but one whose personal authority fell well short of his positional authority.

Quite a few other faces were plastered over other screens, the theater commanders and senior civil authorities of other Areas being directly threatened by the Chinese-European alliance. Tellingly the secretary of state for foreign affairs was not present, indicating either a loss of confidence in the man responsible for managing the Empire's foreign relations or a decision to forgo any possibility of diplomatic resolutions. Those present all deferred to the royals attending and awaited the official start of the meeting.

"My lords and ladies," Schneizel, not Odysseus, began. "We are gathered here today to address the greatest threat the Empire has faced since Napoleon's conquest of the British Isles. I have spoken to his majesty, my father, and He has commanded that we answer this threat with the full force of the Empire's might. I thus come to you to learn by which means we shall instruct our enemies of their folly, and ensure once and for all such impudence is ended."

All eyes fell to Cornelia. As Marshal of the Empire it was her prerogative to respond to the charge laid down by their emperor's representative.

"Your excellency," Cornelia began, addressing Schneizel in his role as prime minister instead of as an imperial prince and Heir Secundus, "we hear and accept the charge laid before us. The enemies of the Empire will rue so flagrantly invoking our ire and will be brought low to their proper place."

Heads nodded all around. The formality concluded, Cornelia proceeded with the actual practicalities of running the meeting.

"Marshal Vander," Cornelia said, "if you would please."

By deferring to the man most up to date on the strategic posture of the Empire's forces.

"Yes your highness," Zechs said. "At present our enemies are pressing the Empire across much of our overseas possessions. The push through Area 12 is almost certainly aimed at preventing us from maintaining a line of supply to Area 18, while the operation against Area 11 appears aimed at depriving the Empire of its primary source of sakuradite. While we seem to have stalled the combined Chinese and Russian incursion into Area 11, the situation on the other fronts are considerably more precarious."

The officers responsible for said fronts grimaced, not that anyone could be happy being in such a situation. Zechs looked over at one of the men, a sandy haired man with a neatly trimmed beard and mustache.

"The Area 18 front in particular has seen a very disturbing development. General Craig, could you please brief our guests on the nature of this new threat."

Lieutenant-General Olaf Craig, commanding officer of the Britannian occupation force in Area 18, nodded grimly.

"Yes sir. The possibility that the training exercise the EU was conducting was camouflage for an offensive against Area 18 was considered and so our forces were on high alert. What we unfortunately did not anticipate was the deployment, in force, of knightmares by the European Union."

Murmurs spread amongst the other attendees. Reports had already filtered down about the EU's new weapon but details had been sparse.

"There are considerable differences between the European, or I should say German, knightmares and our own," Olaf continued. "They are smaller, for one, and they lack the multipurpose hands our knightmares possess. Instead each arm has a cannon mounted on it, and from all indications this knightmare is a superb gun platform. They are able to outpace our conventional tanks and the Germans have obviously been putting a lot of thought into how to effectively engage our own knightmares. They're giving us a Hel of a fight and pushing hard. The Jerusalem garrison has already been overrun, right now I'm trying to make sure the Baghdad garrison can at least conduct an orderly withdraw to Kuwait where we'll at least have some naval support."

Cornelia nodded. While she could not be described as happy with any sort of retreat, the plan Olaf was executing was one she had herself drafted in the case the EU managed to penetrate deeply into Area 18 in a surprise attack. In light of the new weapons, and the potential severing of his overseas supply line, the general was being prudent in falling back to more defensible positions that could be easily supplied by sea.

"The natives have also been getting extremely restless," Olaf continued. "I've had to divert more and more of my forces to keeping order, at this point there's a significant risk of a general revolt. If that happens I may need to execute a Bravo Delta Zulu if I am to have any hope of securing my rear and lines of communications."

A myriad of expressions flickered across the room at that last bit. The last time the Empire had executed a Bravo Delta Zulu was in the final pacification campaign of Area 6. The scorched earth strategy had worked, insomuch as by the time the military was done there was literally no one left able to raise arms against the Empire. In the process they had also burned down a significant acreage of rain forest, making the scorched earth part of a Bravo Delta Zulu very literal. Carrying out a Bravo Delta Zulu would however require a considerable expenditure of ordnance which, given Olaf's current strategic disposition might not be the wisest choice. Then again in the absence of good choices no matter how bad a choice looked it still might end up being the least bad choice.

Whereas the reactions of the military officers was rooted in a degree of practicality the responses from their civilian counterparts carried with them a measure of a different sort of pragmatism.

"Excuse me general," Schneizel spoke up, "but would not the rumor that the Empire was preparing to execute a Bravo Delta Zulu simply incite the general population to resist even harder? An enemy backed into a corner would after all have nothing to lose and everything to gain if their most desperate gambles were to succeed."

"That is true your highness," Olaf said, "which is why I do not wish to resort to such means. At the same time if the general populace does rise up in revolt, it will be my forces that are backed into a corner."

Schneizel nodded, accepting the validity of the point. Euphemia on the other hand remained unconvinced of the necessity of such extreme measures but held her peace. She was not in Area 18 after all and possessed no authority to involve herself in the strategic or tactical deliberations involving it.

"Thank you General Craig," Zechs said. "Now, General Mitford, the situation in Area 12 if you would."

Major-General Thomas Mitford, was in the somewhat unusual position of being one of the most junior officers present. There was a palpable hesitancy as he licked his lips before responding.

"Yes sir. The Chinese have managed to establish a firm foothold on the north of Luzon Island, a foothold that seems to be protected by what appears to be the bulk of their South Sea Fleet. Estimates are that the Chinese have landed close to three divisions. At present they seem focused on securing the mouth of the Cagayan River, likely so that they can use it to more quickly move troops and supplies further south."

Or in all likelihood had already finished securing the river mouth and were even now dispatching forces south, was the conclusion all the other officers drew.

"My own forces are currently still widely dispersed across the Philippines dealing with the active insurgency," Thomas continued. "I have ordered forces to concentrate in Santiago, wherein they will be able to either stem any attempt to break out of the Cagayan Valley or begin counteroffensive operations into the valley. Light infantry units already in the area are currently conducting reconnaissance to determine the disposition of enemy forces and their rate of advance south."

In other words another holding action. For an Empire used to boldly taking the offensive the defensive posture it was now being forced to adopt must have been frustrating in the extreme.

"I have been coordinating with Seventh Fleet to try to put at least some pressure on the beachhead while my forces are concentrated. Ultimately however I will need additional troops to match the Chinese," Thomas concluded.

That much was true, Area 12 had only a reinforced division stationed in it. Zechs acknowledged the point with a nod.

"Understood, general." And then turned his gaze to another screen. "General Darlton, the status in Area 11 please."

"Sir," Andreas said. "At present the situation in Area 11 is a mixture of stable and precarious. The uprising in Tokyo was decisively crushed and a détente has been established with the only other resistance group that could pose a strategic threat. Of the external threats, the Chinese seem to have committed the majority of their forces to the Area 12 operation and do not appear to possess the reserves to make a second landing. Portions of their East Sea Fleet are still in the waters near Okinawa, but it is little more than a token force at this point. There is however a possibility that they may divert some of their assets engaged in the Area 12 theatre northward to threaten Okinawa once more. Should that happen before Third Fleet's assets arrive, the Marines will have a Hel of a fight on their hands.

"The situation in Hokkaido is more fraught. Russian forces have managed to enter the city of Wakkanai and there exists a substantial risk that they will be able to take control of the port. The Russians appear to have committed effectively the entirety of their Pacific Fleet to support the operation. While the _Minsk_ is a substantially smaller aircraft carrier than our own Forrestals, the Russians do have considerably more other surface combatants in the area than the Seventh Fleet taskforce and so possess local naval superiority. If their ground forces are able to take the Wakkanai port, they will likely be able to establish a supply line to reinforce their position in Hokkaido."

Of the officers present perhaps the most visible reaction these assessments elicited was from Admiral Mountbatten. The earl however did not interrupt.

"I will be transferring a battalion from western Area 11 and another from the Tokyo garrison to reinforce our position in Hokkaido," Andreas stated, "but much as with Areas 12 and 18 I will need substantial reinforcements to ensure Area 11 remains within the Empire's domain."

"You shall receive them," Zechs said, neatly segueing the conversation onto its next topic. "There are currently six divisions in the homelands that can begin overseas deployment within the week. Two are being earmarked for each of the major theatres of operation. Furthermore orders have been issued to transfer two divisions of X Corps, with Lieutenant-General Gregor commanding, from Area 10 to Area 12 with immediate effect."

For someone about to receive four divisions of reinforcements General Milton's expression might be considered somewhat ungrateful. Then again that large an infusion of forces was guaranteed to see him subordinated to the new arrival and anyone whom knew of Berthold Gregor's reputation could be forgiven for such a reaction. Then again the promise of reinforcements did not do much to lighten General Craig's mood much either seeing the difficulty getting said reinforcements to him would entail.

"Four more divisions of the reserve will also have completed mobilization within the next week," Zechs continued, "along with a further twelve by the end of the month. All four of the initial wave will be positioned on the west coast, ready to be transferred to either Areas 11 or 12 depending on how the situation develops. Six of the second will however need to be dispersed to our American holdings to replace the divisions that we are dispatching now. The plan for the remaining six will be dispatched to Area 10, and then either to Area 12 or 18 as warranted."

Again, with the unspoken assumption that the line of supply would still be open to Area 18.

"Those are the immediate deployments of our army assets," Zechs said, "but the navy and air force both have some assets of their own that can be brought to bear." The field marshal looked over to his left. "Admiral?"

"Sir," Louis said politely. "At present a taskforce from Third Fleet is already moving to support the portions of Seventh Fleet in Area 11 waters. The rest of the fleet will sail for Area 12 within the month and from there support operations against the Chinese South Sea Fleet and in conjunction with Fifth Fleet provide escort for the troopships destined for Area 18."

That was a mighty tall order, everyone attending knew. As powerful as the Britannian Navy was it still had only so many ships. Still, it _did_ have a lot of ships to begin with.

"Second and Fourth Fleets will be completely mobilized within the month and its active assets are already patrolling the Atlantic in case the Europeans are mad enough to attempt any incursion into the homelands," Louis stated. "Further, offensive operations, will however need to wait until the full reactivation of Sixth Fleet."

Sixth Fleet, a reserve fleet with most of its ships, what there were of them, in mothballs. A significant number were probably not worth the effort of reactivating and the resources would be more gainfully employed in new construction. Either way it would be some time before Sixth Fleet was ready to fight once more. Throughout the discussions of the Empire's naval assets Euphemia kept a composed, neutral expression. It was not yet time after all.

"Thank you admiral," Zechs said, and nodded again to his left. "Marshal LeMay, if you would?"

Air Chief Marshal LeMay nodded. "I've got four squadrons of fighter-bombers ready for immediate deployment overseas. They can be in Area 11 within the next twelve hours. The air element in Area 10 can be in Area 12 even faster, of course, and they include a good number of A-10s. The Thunderbolt might be ugly, but it'll make the enemy's day even uglier."

This time Euphemia almost cracked a smile. She remembered Marshal LeMay only vaguely from her time in Pendragon, and what little she did recall made her sometimes wonder how the crass man ever rose to such heights. Not that Euphemia herself found issue with his bluntness, it was a remarkable breath of fresh air in the stifling formalism that was court.

"Right now the only catch is basing facilities for overseas deployment," Curtis stated. "MacArthur Base can only support a single squadron and Nimitz doesn't have room for both the naval air wing and my planes, whereas Area 12's facilities are even less adequate to support a high rate of sorties."

Then again there were reasons why tact was a useful social skill.

"Mitchell Base is currently at 70% complete," Euphemia spoke up for the first time. "Work on it will be expedited. If there are facilities that are more essential to the maintenance of your planes, I can see to it that they are prioritized over nonessentials such as officer's messes and dormitories."

Mitchell Base, named after a maverick air commodore. Euphemia began to wonder if such characteristics were a prerequisite for advancement in the air force.

Marshal LeMay cracked a grin and nodded. "I shall do so, your highness."

The man at least could take as good as he gave.

"That brings to a conclusion a summary of our current and near-term disposition of our forces," Zechs said. "Further increases in the strength of our standing forces will require a full general mobilization. I have been assured that a motion to institute conscription will be put before parliament without delay," the field marshal nodded to Schneizel, a motion the prince returned. "It will however take time for that manpower to begin making an actual difference in the war, and during that time we _must_ hold the line with the forces immediately available to us, for our overseas possessions that are being so threatened now provide the very means for us to strike back against the Empire's enemies."

This time Zechs' gaze fell on the man on his right.

"The principle difficulty that we face in the current war is the logistical challenge of amassing enough forces and resources to take the fight to them," General Johnson stated. "An entire ocean separates the homelands from both our enemies, and the last time the Empire was forced to conduct such a transoceanic invasion it took the combined forces of the Third, Sixth, and Seventh Fleets to support it. That was however against a single opponent, Japan, a comparatively weaker state than the ones we find arrayed against the Empire now.

"In light of the impossibility of diverting sufficient naval strength to support a long distance invasion, the general staff proposes the following stratagem. A buildup of forces will be conducted in Areas 11 and 17, from where it will be much more feasible to launch amphibious invasions against the Asian mainland. This will allow us to put pressure on the Chinese Federation on two fronts, reversing the current strategic situation the Empire finds itself in, as well as threaten the Far East possessions of the Russian Federation. The Russians cannot ignore a threat of such a magnitude, especially if the city of Vladivostok, their only warm water port on the Pacific, is endangered. This should see them commit at least some assets to attempt to defend, or better yet, seek to retake, the city, which will reduce the resources they can commit against Area 18.

"As for the Chinese Federation, the proposed war plan is split into east and south operational theatres. The eastern threatre will attempt a landing on the Korean peninsula, targeting the port city of Busan. With its capture we would have a foothold that would allow us to advance further inland and credibly threaten Beijing. Considering the nature of the Federation's political system, that by itself should see them divert resources from the southern threatre in order to shore up their northern defenses.

"The purpose of the southern threatre is to secure our lines of communications through the Indian Ocean. At present, and somewhat surprisingly, the Chinese have not attempted to use their southeast Asian territories as springboards for attack on Area 17. Why we are not quite clear on, though there is without a doubt a substantial body of troops stationed in the Malay peninsula. As with the eastern theatre the peninsula will be the target of an amphibious invasion, with the city port of Singapore as the initial target. Capture of the peninsula, plus the repulsion of their invasion force in Area 12, should see the entire Chinese South Seas Fleet bottled up in the South China Sea and effectively take them out of play, which will allow Fifth Fleet to operate more freely. More importantly, it should allow for much easier transit of supplies and reinforcements to Area 18."

The number of qualifiers and things that needed to go right for the proposed war plan to succeed, Euphemia could actually come up with a reasonable estimate. The princess did not find said estimate to be very comforting however.

"Once our lines of communications with Area 18 is secured, we can begin a proper push against the European forces," Harold continued. "As with the Pacific campaign multiple theatres will be employed for the European campaign. They are provisionally named North, Central, and West. The northern theatre will see us advancing through the Caucasus in a drive towards Moscow. West will see us retake Jerusalem and from there advance through the Sinai and launch an attack on the EU's African colonies, with the strategic objective of wresting control of North Africa and access to the Mediterranean. Finally central will target Turkey, with the purpose of seizing the Bosphorus in preparation for an invasion into southeast Europe. With these objectives achieved, all three fronts will then turn towards the heartland of Europe," the genera paused as if to catch his breath, before emphatically stating, "with the final objective of leveling Paris."

Not capture, level. It seemed the age old animosity towards Napoleon for his conquest of the British Isles was still alive and well. Euphemia idly wondered what some of the French descended nobles would say when that bit of the military's war plan became known. The princess fought down a grimace. Nobles like her sister Nunnally, or Lelouch for that matter.

The silence that had fallen at the conclusion of General Keith's briefing did not last long. Cornelia gave a solemn nod.

"Thank you general." She looked at the others. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have before us a blueprint for victory. Let us see that it does indeed lead to our triumph."

* * *

Kallen took a deep breath. It did not help. On the other side of that door was several people she had not faced since the attack on Ashford Academy. All of them were around her own age so there was no particular reason for the girl to feel intimidated. And yet, her legs felt like they were about to give out on her then and there. The girl took another deep breath. It still was not working, and she was stalling. With a sigh the girl reached out, and pushed open the door. Heads turned immediately and Kallen found herself under the gaze of the two students already in the room.

"Umm, I'm back?" Kallen said somewhat tentatively.

A blur sped across the room and Kallen found herself suddenly engulfed.

"Woah, Milly!?"

The grip tightened and Kallen found herself in a veritable bear hug. Who knew the Ashford daughter was so strong.

"Kallen, you big idiot, you had us so worried when you just up and vanished!" Milly exclaimed.

"Eh heh heh," Kallen laughed nervously. "Umm, I'm really sorry Milly. I just, well, there was something I had to do."

Milly released the girl and gave Kallen a hard gaze. It was not quite a glare, but it was equally evident that as elated as Milly was to see Kallen the older girl had words. Kallen could only smile weakly. After a long minute a coughing sound interrupted Milly and the two girls looked over at the single male present.

"Milly, I think that's enough," Cole said with a slight smile. "Kallen's probably gotten the point."

Kallen gave the young man an appreciative smile, though the girl knew that she owed him much more than that.

"Well, I suppose," Milly relented, and then turned back towards Kallen. "So, did you find what you were searching for?"

There might have been a smile on Milly's face but the other girl was completely, utterly serious. Kallen sighed.

"Yeah, I think I did."

Milly nodded. "Good." And then maneuvered Kallen around so that the girl was directly facing Cole. "Now, the two of you. Kiss, make up, whatever."

"Milly!?" Kallen half shrieked.

Cole face palmed at his classmate's seemingly complete lack of tact.

A finger jabbed into Kallen's cheek as the girl began spinning about, causing her to cry to cut off.

"You, Kallen Stadtfeld, owe Cole a major apology for the grief you put him through," Milly said, completely deadpan. "And not just that, but also for the risks he took to try to find you."

That caused Kallen's eyes to flare and she looked back over at Cole. The young man simply stood there, giving no indication of just what those risks might have been. Kallen looked back over at Milly quizzically. The older girl however shook her head.

"That's between you and him." And promptly retreated out the room. "Now get to it! Oh and Kallen?" A beatific smile appeared. "You and I have much to discuss as well."

A chill ran down Kallen's spine as the doors closed. With a tired sigh she turned back around and regarded Cole. The young man seemed equally fatigued but did not shy away from meeting his gaze. When he stepped towards her Kallen immediately also closed in, meeting him halfway. Once the two were before each other however they simply stood there, without a sound. As Kallen regarded Cole she could see the worry that had been etched into his face, his immense relief at seeing her alive, and ultimately a hint of sorrow as well. Unsure of what to do, Kallen reached out and took Cole's hands into her own.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I'm sorry for leaving you like that, and for all the grief I've put you through. You're, a kind person Cole, and I'm very glad to have met you." She looked up into his eyes once more. "And I will accept any anger you hold against me for what I have done to you."

Cole's expression flickered for just a moment, but he did not release Kallen's hands.

"I don't know when it was," Cole began, "that I decided on what kind of woman I would like to share my life with."

Kallen's breath caught.

"I wanted someone whom I would cherish, someone that could accept the affection I showered upon her." Cole smiled somewhat wistfully. "Someone whom understood that such affection was merely an affirmation of my love, not the whole of it."

The girl's heart was now beating much faster. Much, much faster. Kallen almost feared that Cole would feel its throbbing from her hands.

"But most of all, I wanted to share my life with someone whom I could understand." A hint of sorrow crept into the smile. "Someone whom I would never give reason to be lied to."

Said sorrow was now also reflected in Kallen's eyes. She found it harder and harder to meet Cole's and started to look down, but a hand rose and gentle caressed her face.

"Perhaps it is a selfish thing to say," Cole said, "but I was lied to. And because I was lied to, I have to ask myself. Do I truly know you, Kallen? Did I see the real you, when you smiled and laughed at school?"

Kallen's own hand rose and came to a rest against Cole's.

"Yes," she said firmly. "For the first time, in a very long time, I was able to show myself at school. I was able to _be_ myself, the self that I thought had died when the Empire invaded Japan. And, that was because of you, Cole."

The young man said nothing at first, simply staring into Kallen's gaze. There was a clarity in his eyes, of purpose and will. It was a clarity that Kallen found to be of great comfort.

"But that's isn't all there is to you," Cole finally said. "There's Kallen, the girl that I danced with at the school ball and who laughed at my stories. She is someone whom I thought I knew and understood, someone whose dream I found as beautiful as her self." Despite herself Kallen could not help but flush slightly at that. Cole smiled slightly at the reaction before his expression became solemn. "But then there's the Red Knight, the vigilante that has fought against Britannia but also saved the life of the Princess Euphemia. Her, her thoughts and beliefs I cannot begin to grasp, because I have not tasted the grief and pain that she has. And I cannot but wonder whether she would share the pain that would allow me to understand her."

It was a roundabout way of saying it, but Kallen quickly grasped Cole's meaning. He knew the risks of getting closer to her, of becoming involved with her persona as the Red Knight. And he was making clear that the decision ultimately lay in Kallen's hands, for he had already assumed great risk in even getting to this point. To deny that would be to deny his courage, and his genuine affection.

Kallen smiled and pressed herself against Cole. "I do not deserve this. I can promise nothing but trials and tribulations for anyone that stays at my side."

Cole wrapped an arm around Kallen. "I would not ask of anything more from you. All I ask of you is, you."

Kallen sank into the embrace. Her head felt surprisingly clear, even as her eyes began to blur from the tears that gathered within them. Yet there was no pain, no pressure in her head that would accompany any tears shed of sorrow. How long had it been, how long since she last cried simply because she was happy? Kallen could not remember. But it was happening now, and she let the tears run free as she held and was held in turn. It was an embrace she never wanted to be released from.

* * *

"Doctor."

Kuroba looked up, trying his best to not look wary at hearing his name called. The gentle smile on Lieutenant Blanche's face made clear he was not entirely successful.

"Her highness has requested your presence at the viceroy's palace," Helena stated.

The doctor spent perhaps a moment digesting the words before nodding.

"Very well lieutenant," Kuroba said as he stood. "Please give me a moment to freshen up."

Helena returned the nod and stood aside to wait. The doctor did not take too long, giving his face a good rinse and making sure his clothes were not too disheveled. It was probably a good thing he had managed to find the time to actually sleep and get a change of clothes yesterday. Once satisfied that he looked at least somewhat presentable he emerged from his office and nodded to the lieutenant once more.

"Please lead the way."

Helena did so and Kuroba trailed after her out of the building. Cleanup was still happening on the hospital grounds, most of it concentrated in hauling away the rubble of the destroyed wing. There were not that many soldiers about now, most having withdrawn to the Concession are actively searching the ghettos for any JLF remnants. Those that did remain however seemed remarkably at ease, Britannians and Japanese alike, and were openly interacting with not just the members of Akatsuki but also the civilians that lived around the Keio medical campus. Kuroba allowed himself a slight smile at the sight before climbing into the waiting Humvee. And then Helena herself followed. The doctor looked over at the nurse.

"Were you also summoned, lieutenant?"

Helena nodded. "Though my own summons came from Colonel Frasier. But since we were both headed the same way, no reason to waste two trips when one will do."

"I see," Kuroba said, before settling back into the seat.

The ride to the palace was remarkably uneventful, even with the security checkpoints they needed to pass. Kuroba was old enough to remember the old imperial palace that once stood on the grounds of the viceroy's palace. It still pained him to see that symbol of Japan's past gone, replaced by the imposing, stale heights of the Britannian palace. Still, this was progress of sorts, his invitation to the palace. Kuroba certainly would have never expected to find cause to enter these halls in the aftermath of the invasion.

"This is where we part ways Dr. Kuroba," Helena said as they passed through the interior security checkpoint.

Kuroba turned to regard the Britannian nurse once more, and to her surprise bowed.

"Lieutenant Blanche. I thank you for everything that you have done for my people."

Helena stiffed for a moment, and then clicked her heels together respectfully. "It has been a privilege and an honor to work by your side, doctor."

Kuroba rose, and was warmed to see the wide smile on the woman's face. He returned it with an earnest one of his own before turning to follow the princess' armsman. The two made their way deeper into the palace, past countless doors that the doctor could only guess the purpose of, past servants and soldiers of whom more than a few gave him curious, albeit discreet peeks. Kuroba did not let the gawking bother him, there were plenty of other things to occupy his mind after all, including just why the princess had summoned him. That answer would soon be given as the two stopped before a pair of doors with two soldiers standing guard outside.

Kuroba's escort knocked and a clear, firm voice sounded from within.

"Enter."

The door opened but the guard did not actually cross the boundary. "Your highness, the Dr. Kuroba as you requested."

"Thank you sergeant. Please show him in."

The soldier bowed, then stepped aside, arm raised to invite Kuroba in. The doctor nodded his thanks and entered, finding himself facing the Princess Euphemia seated upright in her bed. Kuroba felt a slight twinge of worry at the sight. The princess was obviously still recovering from the ordeals she endured at Keio. Should she be entertaining any guests at all? And then the princes looked up at him with a smile.

"Doctor," she said, tilting her head towards her bedside. "Please, have a seat."

Kuroba hesitated a beat before walking over. To be allowed so close to the princess' person was a surprise, not that he was actually alone with her seeing the presence of a blond haired woman standing against the wall on the same side of the bed. After giving her a single glance however Kuroba did his best to ignore her. The princess was the person whom he had come to see after all.

"How may I be of service, your highness?" the doctor asked once he was seated.

Euphemia shook her head. "You have already given much more than any person has a right to ask, doctor, to me and to so many others. Would I be here at all today if you had not been present at Keio that day?"

Kuroba opened his mouth, and found no words came. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts.

"You were my patient, your highness," he said after meeting Euphemia's gaze once more. "It is my solemn oath to give aid and care to any whom needs it."

"That may be so," Euphemia said, "but it simply being your duty does not deprive you to a right to gratitude from those whose lives you have touched. That is the least you deserve, doctor."

Kuroba looked at Euphemia for several more moments before nodding solemnly. Much as he could not deny someone the care they needed, he also would not deny their gratitude. That would have been, insensitive in the extreme.

"Good," Euphemia said. "Then I hope that you will accept from me a token of my gratitude."

The doctor's eyes widened. "I-I'm sorry, your highness?"

"I have been informed, of what happened to Mr. Makabe," Euphemia stated.

Kuroba stared at the princess, his breaths quick and shallow, all that the elderly man could manage.

"I am also aware that a letter was left addressed to you," the princess continued. "No, I do not know its contents, though something tells me your friend sought to explain his, actions, to you."

That was true enough, Makabe had detailed why he finally elected to take his own life. Kuroba however made no move to confirm or deny the princess' words. At this point, he simply could not.

"It is not my place to speculate on the specifics of Mr. Makabe's reasons, to feign such an intimate degree of understanding or familiarity with a complete strange is discourteous and disrespectful not only to the person but also to those whom did know him. And yet."

Kuroba blinked, just now realizing how tightly his chest was wound. The doctor tried to compose himself. It was proving remarkably difficult.

"And yet," Euphemia repeated, "my lack of familiarity with Mr. Makabe does not excuse me from my degree of complicity in his death. It was I after all that placed him in a situation which demanded he choose between his dignity and his freedom."

The doctor felt an urge to protest, that the princess' decree regarding the Fuchu prisoners had been, the thought chopped off. No, the decree had not been fair, it had done exactly what the princess admitted to now, probably intentionally so. Yet Kuroba felt no anger or frustration with Euphemia, the princess likely had been trying the best she could within the limits of her own power and authority. And of this the doctor was certain, the princess was herself painfully conscious of the costs that her limits extracted from others.

"I cannot hold you at fault for Makabe's death, your highness," Kuroba said.

Euphemia smiled gently. And then a firm, determined visage took its place.

"The past is immutable," Euphemia said, and Kuroba heard an echo of the words the princess uttered at Keio. "The future however, I can yet choose how it is written. And it is by my choice, and my will, that I thus decree. All prisoners and former prisoners held in Area 11 for actions of non-violent protest against the Holy Britannian Empire will be pardoned, unconditionally, and freed to return to the lives that were stolen from them, this, I, Euphemia li Britannia, do swear."

Kuroba gazed at the princess, unable to tear his eyes away even as tears welled up within them. And then he bowed, somewhat awkwardly in his seat, but still a bow. His voice was but a rasp now.

"My eternal gratitude, your highness."

End of Chapter 49

It's actually rather interesting seeing the different pairings that my readers are rooting for. There is a definite group that seems to want to see Euphie and Lelouch together, just due to the sheer, well, level of competency that the two are demonstrating here and the belief that the two together would be nigh unstoppable. There is also a surprising number of people that actually support a Cole and Kallen pairing despite Cole being an original (more or less, at least to the Code Geass canon) character. I suppose I can take that as a compliment for how well I've managed to craft him. That being said, I'm finding that I'm writing myself into a hole regarding Cole and Kallen. I have intended roles for the two that I'm actually making harder for them to fulfill with the developments this chapter. Why I'm saying this will become more apparent later.

Yes I'm having fun picking out historical characters to fill various roles. And borrowing shamelessly from other franchises. Note that though I've outlined the Britannian Empire's plans for the war, that says very little about how the war will actually progress. I have also made an explicit point to NOT talk about how the war ended in the opening snippets. The only thing that's obvious is that there is still a Britannia for Euphemia to rule afterwards. What the state of the rest of the world is, is left ambiguous.

The _Minsk_ was technically commissioned in 1978, so I've pushed its introduction up substantially. I think it's justified, seeing the degree of technology we see in the series. The A-10 was also only introduced into service in 1977, but I don't think I'll see too many complaints about putting it in.

I made another mistake a while back, I said the Sixth Fleet was the Britannian fleet stationed at basically the Middle East. It should have been the Fifth Fleet.

I have never heard of The Cold Equations so no my title is not an allusion to it.

When Rommel stated that 1st Panzer would have two knightmare regiments, he did not mean that that was all 1st Panzer would be. If one looks at the force chart for how the Wehrmacht organized its panzer divisions, you will see that they were composed of two panzer regiments, two motorized infantry regiments, and a whole crapload of support units like artillery, antitank, reconnaissance, and so on. As such what Rommel was saying was that in place of the two traditional panzer regiments, 1st Panzer would have two regiments of knightmares, and that's the inference that his fellow officers also made. No modern military has purely homogenous formations, pretty much all of the properly run ones practice combined arms and will complement armored units with mechanized infantry to support them. Even an armored regiment or brigade itself would have infantry elements supplementing its actual armored battalions. The largest 'pure' unit tends to be a battalion.

Also I would be careful about attributing specific numbers to the size of a division and its composite units. This can vary significantly between different countries. For example these days most militaries only have brigades, not regiments, as the organizational level between the division and the battalion, whereas during World War II divisions were generally broken down into regiments, and then battalions. Unless you're the British military, which called its battalions regiments to begin with. Be thankful that I've decided to keep my terminology consistent across the different armies involved instead of insisting on the menagerie that is the real world.

The way Areas were dealt with in the canon anime never made much sense to me. Canada was already a British possession, what need to conquer it? The Louisiana territory was not a British possession, so sure, that might have made sense, but it's not treated as part of a newly conquered area, more as an extension of the existing homeland. As such I'm tweaking the geopolitical boundaries of the Britannian Empire so that anyone who has any understanding of British colonial and American history won't go WTF after thinking about the Code Geass setup for more than five seconds.

Also the notion that the Canadian population would be relegated to Number status didn't make much sense either. Or rather, the notion that the European Canadian population would be. The Native Americans I'm sure got shafted even worse by the Britannian Empire than by the US. But British Canada basically was full of British and French colonists. And while the French descended population might have been looked down upon because of what Napoleon did to Great Britain, I've already established that a large number of French noble families escaped the French Revolution by leaving for Great Britain and then Britannia, so they've pretty much fully integrated into Britannian society. The portrayal of racial relations in Code Geass always felt half-assed and I would say reflects more of how the Japanese people view race than how it is actually dealt with in western nations. Not that I'm trying to claim how it really is in the real world is better or worse, it's just not anywhere so straightforward as 'you were born here therefore you are this place's person' and so on. Anyway, for reference, my own as much for my readers, here is my breakdown of the Empire's expansion. Note from some of the territories I refer to their historical labels to make it easier and simpler to identify the territory conquered.

Area 1 – British North American colonies, aka the Homelands (note, Alaska was also purchased from the Russians in this timeline and is treated as part of Area 1)

Area 2 – Louisiana territory

Area 3 – Greenland and Iceland

Area 4 – The Caribbean Islands

Area 5 – Viceroyalty of New Spain

Area 6 – Viceroyalty of New Granada

Area 7 – Viceroyalties of Peru and the Rio de la Plata (the Falklands were already claimed by the British, it gets folded into Area 7)

Area 8 – Kingdom of Brazil

Area 9 – Hawaii

Area 10 – Australasia

Area 11 – Japan

Area 12 – Philippines

Area 13 – Micronesian Islands (only really claimed by the Empire to set up naval stations)

Area 14 – Polynesian Islands (same as Area 13)

Area 15 – New Guinea (the entire island)

Area 16 – Sulawesi, Lesser Sunda Islands, and Java

Area 17 – Borneo (the entire island) and Sumatra

Area 18 – Middle East

To be frank I really don't think the Code Geass writers thought all that hard when they came up with the area numbers. If I had been doing this from scratch, Japan would not have been Area 11, it would have more likely been Area 13 or 14. And the Middle East would have been more like Area 16. The show is also horribly inconsistent with who controls which territory. I think possession of Indonesia basically switched sides on literally every time it was shown. Yeah, I'll stop ranting now.

I'm, not sure if this would constitute the end of R1 for me or not. It might be this, or the next chapter. Honestly I don't think there's going to be a 'clean' break between the R1 and R2 arcs for me. At this point though I'm not sure it matters. Anyway, feedback and questions always welcome. Pretty sure I've answered every question thus far fielded. If not poke me again.


	51. Chapter 50

Snippet spoiler: Umm, kind of.

 _Perhaps not surprisingly of the European nations that suddenly found themselves at war with the Holy Britannian Empire, it was Great Britain that viewed its participation with the most reluctance. Despite the British royal family's ejection from the British Isles nearly a century and a half ago, a significant percentage of the population still possessed royalist sentiments and viewed the Britannian imperial family as the rightful heirs to the British throne. Combined with a general degree of resentment for the demotion of Great Britain to a second tier power as a consequence of its defeat by France, the British government was forced to walk a very fine line between respecting public opinion and fulfilling its formal obligations to the other European nations. This was not to say of course that Great Britain did not contribute significantly to the war effort. It raised several divisions and deployed them overseas to fight in the various EU theatres and the British Navy, as reduced as it was due to limits imposed by the continental powers, played a major role in keeping the Britannian Navy at bay in the Atlantic._

 _The Republic of Ireland, having been accorded its independence in the aftermath of Great Britain's defeat by Napoleon, was considerably more enthusiastic in its participation in the war, matching the British contribution in manpower despite a considerably smaller population base and making available its ports for use by European naval forces. Such support for the European war effort was regarded by many hardliner Britannians as tantamount to treason and consequentially there were several incidences of mass executions of defeated Irish units. These massacres remain one of the greatest sources of animosity between the Irish people and Britannia to this day._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 50

Lux et veritas

It was probably a very good thing that Mikasa had a guide leading her through the halls of the palace. This was the first time she had ever even been in the building and despite her acute spatial awareness without some idea of what the layout of the building was she would have still gotten lost. The big, broad shouldered soldier that was leading her would have been hard to lose sight of even in a crowd however so there was little worry of that here today and they arrived at their destination without any difficulty. The lieutenant knocked on the door.

"Enter."

And opened it for Mikasa without entering himself. The young woman nodded her thanks, a gesture the other soldier returned with a warm smile. Once inside Mikasa clicked her heels together and raised her hand in a salute.

"Ma'am, Private Ackermann reporting."

Villetta returned the motion, after which both women lowered their hands.

"At ease private."

The younger woman's stance shifted as she clasped her hands behind her back. Villetta regarded her, trying to recall if she had encountered the private personally during the operation at Koshigaya. Nothing came up in her memory however and Villetta was more or less forced to assess the private with a blank slate. Well, not entirely a blank slate.

"I have examined your service record in detail, Private Ackermann," Villetta said. "You enlisted immediately upon reaching the age of 16 and served a year in noncombatant roles in the quartermaster corps, before transferring to a line regiment." The brigadier paused briefly. This was nothing that the private herself did not already know of course, but repeating it would make clear that Villetta also knew these facts now. "You spent the next year bouncing back and forth between different assignments before being transferred into the 100th infantry battalion. Your service record is fairly unremarkable, you suffered no more demerits than any other soldier your age and your proficiency scores have tended to be middling." Villetta clasped her hands together. "Which brings me to my question. Why did you enlist to begin with?"

Mikasa blinked a few times, the question seemingly taking her off guard. The woman's lips thinned.

"I had nowhere else to go ma'am," she stated.

Villetta cocked her head aside. The grimace on the younger woman's face deepened but she explained.

"My parents died before the invasion, ma'am. I was raised in an orphanage, but you're cut loose when you turn sixteen. I had no other prospects, and the Empire was willing to let me enlist. And so I did."

"I see," Villetta said. "And your view of your service thus far?"

"It's alright, ma'am."

The brigadier raised an eyebrow. "You may speak frankly, private."

Mikasa returned the gaze fore several moments before shrugging. "I get to go to sleep in an actual bed with a full stomach, ma'am. Beats the alternatives."

Yes, it probably did at that, Villetta did not doubt.

"Of the soldiers that assisted General Eyre in his attack on the enemy knightmares, you were the sole survivor," Villetta said. "According to the reports you tried to pull the general out from where he was pinned, despite the risk of being crushed by the still functional knightmares."

Mikasa said nothing, simply tilting her head slightly to affirm the account. Villetta leaned forward slightly.

"Why did you assume such risk, private, when it was clear the general was already dead?"

The private's jaw tightened and she visibly swallowed. "The general saved my life ma'am, when he let me go before the grenade blew. And, you don't leave someone behind, ever."

Villetta smiled slightly. It was obvious that the private was somewhat introverted, but it was equally clear that she had a level head atop those shoulders.

"When General Eyre called upon you and your comrades to assist him in the attack upon the enemy knightmares," Villetta said, "he promised those of you that succeeded a position in her highness' guard."

Mikasa stiffened, her eyes a mixture of apprehension and even confusion.

"The general's radio pickup was active when he made the offer," Villetta answered the unspoken question, "and those on the guard channel heard it."

Mikasa pursed her lips. "I thought he was joking, ma'am."

Villetta snorted. "General Eyre, for all his sometimes flippant conduct, never joked about his duty. When you suggested that you might one day have a place in her highness' guard, he meant it. The question now is, do you believe you are fit to take that place?"

The private looked at Villetta quizzically again. "Ma'am?"

"Do you know what distinguishes the royal guard from the rest of the Britannian military, private?" Villetta said as she leaned back into her chair.

"Guardsmen are supposed to be the elite," Mikasa answered, "better than anyone else, and absolutely loyal to their liege, ma'am."

"We certainly strive to be the very best," Villetta said, "but it is the second point that is the crucial one, our loyalty to whom we are sworn. To serve as a guardsman means to believe in our liege, in their worth and in their honor, such that there is no hesitation to lay down our lives for her. This may sound trite, but what we perform is not a job, it is a duty. And it can only be a duty if we believe in the merits of that duty. So tell me private, can you see your service as anything more than simply a means to have a roof over your head and putting food on the table?"

Mikasa lowered her head slightly as if in thought. The private was silent for a minute or so before she looked back up at Villetta.

"I don't know ma'am," she answered honestly. "I've never really thought that far ahead before."

A lot of people probably were much the same, Villetta knew. In the past the knight would not have thought much of it. Now however she was being forced to acknowledge the role the Empire played in forcing people into such deprivation.

"As I said before," Villetta began once more, "your proficiency scores have tended towards middling, until shortly after your transfer to the 100th infantry battalion."

Mikasa seemed to start, her body stiffening.

"Shortly afterwards however, your scores in the physical fitness and especially marksmanship tests increased, dramatically. In fact it is fairly obvious that you were either holding back during your past evaluations," Villetta's eyes narrowed, "or your scores were intentionally lowered."

The private said nothing, her face a stoic mask.

"Either way at a minimum based on your scores you meet the prerequisites to attempt qualification at almost any of the specialist army schools," Villetta continued. "It also means you can be credibly evaluated for a place in her highness' royal guard."

Again Mikasa remained silent, probably appropriately seeing there was nothing in Villetta's statement that required a direct response from her. That was about to change however.

"And so I repeat my question, private. Can you see your service as anything more than simply a means to have a roof over your head and putting food on the table?"

The grimace returned once more and Mikasa took a deep breath.

"I've never thought ahead that far ma'am, never thought I'd get a chance either. But, the general gave me that chance. And her highness too. Doesn't feel right that I don't at least try to prove them right."

Villetta nodded. That was hardly a firm commitment, certainly not for a prospective guardswoman. But General Eyre had obviously seen something in those men and women that he led on his final charge and Villetta was prepared to let the only one left to prove that worth.

"Take the rest of the day to transfer your kit over to the palace, Private Ackermann," she ordered. "You beginning training tomorrow, 5AM sharp." Villetta allowed herself a slight smile. "Make sure to get a good night of sleep."

"Yes ma'am," Mikasa answered crisply.

"Dismissed."

* * *

The training gym was effectively empty. Besides Kallen there was the towering armsman that had brought her to the palace, a Lieutenant Armstrong if she recalled correctly, the equally massive captain of the Princess Cornelia's royal guard, General Victor Arseid, and a young woman that was probably a couple of years Kallen's senior. With her deep blue hair and crimson uniform it was fairly easy to surmise that she was the general's daughter, Laura Arseid. Kallen gave the other woman a very thorough look over. She was very obviously physically fit, her bearing was that of a skilled martial artist, and there was no hesitation or doubt in her eyes. In fact since her entrance Laura had spent the entire time examining Kallen herself. Kallen idly wondered what the other girl saw.

"Lady Stadtfeld," Victor spoke, directing Kallen's attention to him. "I have asked you here this day to evaluate your fitness to serve as knight to her highness the Princess Euphemia."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. She should have probably expected this. There was no way the Princess Cornelia, as bigoted as she was, would have ever approved of a half blood serving as her beloved little sister's knight. And that was before Kallen's vigilantism was brought into the picture. That of course did not mean Kallen was prepared to just let herself be coerced into surrendering her post just to satisfy some stuck up royal's sense of propriety.

"It is my understanding that the selection of a knight by an imperial scion was solely her prerogative," Kallen said firmly.

"Indeed it is," Victor said without missing a beat. "Which means that if there is any area where you fall short as her highness' knight, that deficiency must be remedied. I am here to determine where such remedial action will be necessary."

Not if, but where. Even if Kallen herself was prepared to admit that that she lacked the formal training to serve as a knight she was not about to just take that lying down. Her own dignity as much as anyone else was at stake.

"Very well, then let's get to it," Kallen said brusquely.

Victor raised an eyebrow and Kallen could easily sense the disapproval emitting from the man's daughter. The fiery redhead did not care in the least.

"A reminder, Lady Stadtfeld," Victor said. "As you are a sworn armsman of her highness, you are now in the formal chain of command. And so being a part of it, you are required to respect it. Is that clear, _Lieutenant_ Stadtfeld?"

Kallen grimaced. Okay, that one she had coming, and it was even something Euphemia herself had warned her on. Right now Kallen was still a very junior member of the royal guard, even if her position as the princess' knight was a prestigious one. If she was to work with these people she would need their respect, and letting her temper get the better of her all the time would only ostracize her from the rest of the guard.

The young woman straightened and assumed an at ready stance. "My apologies General Arseid. It will not happen again."

Victor nodded approvingly, even cracking a slight smile. He then looked over at his daughter.

"Lieutenant Arseid, if you would."

"Yes sir."

It seemed right now the two were superior officer and subordinate, not father and daughter. Laura stepped forward, and Kallen's eyes were immediately drawn to the massive claymore on the other woman's back. It was, almost comically large, but the bearing with which Laura stood made clear she was more than able to whip it out and beat into the ground anyone that might be tempted to disrespect.

"I would see the extent of your skill with that blade you wear, Lieutenant Stadtfeld," Victor said. "On your guard."

Laura reached behind her back and drew her sword. Kallen raised an eyebrow and looked questioningly at the general.

"A question, if I may sir?"

"Go ahead."

"The, katana is significantly smaller than a claymore, sir. Does this technically not put me at a disadvantage already?"

"You have elected to wear that sword over others you could have chosen," Victor stated simply. "You had therefore better be prepared to use it against any opponent, regardless of what they may wield, lieutenant."

That was a fair enough point, and Kallen certainly was not about to let any stacking of the deck be used as an excuse for her own poor performance. She drew her katana and assumed a ready stance, both hands clasping the hilt and right foot forward. And her geass flared, full force.

"Begin!"

The viscount's daughter was skilled, that Kallen was ready to admit even before this. She was also incredibly, incredibly fast even with that oversized claymore. In fact without her geass Kallen was not sure she would have caught the charge before Laura was upon her. As it was the younger girl barely stepped back in time to avoid getting her head cleaved off. She was right back in however, taking advantage of the opening created as the momentum of Laura's claymore carried it to the side. This should end quickly.

A loud clang sounded as the slash of Kallen's katana was met by the thrust of Laura's claymore. Or not. The other girl had somehow managed to stop her swing and transformed the motion into a forward thrust. How, Kallen had no idea. She also did not have time to worry about it as the weight of Laura's sword easily pushed aside her katana and continued straight for her chest. Kallen leapt, trying to sail over the claymore while using her sword to push down on it as leverage. It was a neat trick, assuming one actually pulled it off. Kallen, found her own attempt much less successful as Laura suddenly angled her blade down, resulting in Kallen literally falling towards the ground. That was not the other girl's intent however and Kallen cried out as a roundhouse nailed her in the side, her arm a moment too late to block the blow.

Tumbling, Kallen rolled back and breathed heavily. Getting kicked in the kidneys hurt, a lot. Somewhat shakily she rose, but her stance was nowhere as solid as it was before. This, this was going to be tricky. She could see the easing and tensing of Laura's muscles, the point where the other woman's eyes focused, and the minute shifts in her posture. For all the advantage that provided her however, Laura possessed frighteningly fast reflexes and was just physically stronger than Kallen and possessed greater reach, a combination of both her natural height and her claymore.

Taking a deep breath Kallen composed herself. She needed to step up her game. Closing her eyes, she focused on Laura and Laura alone. The viscount disappeared, Lieutenant Armstrong disappeared, even much of the room seemed to vanish. Only her, and Laura were left in Kallen's vision. The other girl was looking at Kallen quizzically, seemingly confused by Kallen's shutting of her eyes. She approached tentatively, testing to see if Kallen was even paying attention. Kallen heard every single footstep, and felt the vibrations even through the matted floor. She angled her blade downward ever so slightly to more directly point at Laura's form. And then she leapt.

To Laura's credit she was not caught off guard by the sudden motion. Somewhat more incredulously she immediately shifted her stance towards the right, blocking the whirlwind that spun towards her from that direction. Kallen's katana skipped off the claymore before the girl used the reversed inertia to spin towards Laura's left. This left her center open, which Laura wasted no time in exploiting, thrusting her claymore forward with the blade perpendicular to the ground. Kallen had been expecting that however and once more utilized the momentum of her own spin, swinging out her left arm and striking the flat of the blade before it could reach her. The claymore went veering to the side away from Kallen and her own katana, leaving Laura completely open for Kallen's counterattack, or not as Kallen immediately realized. It was too late however, she could not pull back or stop her own spin quickly enough to avoid the incoming blow. But that did not mean she would not try.

A thud sounded and Laura's boot buried itself in Kallen's chest. It stayed buried however as Kallen seized hold of the leg, locking it in place. That should have let her throw Laura off balance. Instead Kallen gave a sharp cry as her body was suddenly spun about, Laura having twisted her hip into a side stance and somehow carrying Kallen with her. Her own legs literally swept off the ground, Kallen flayed about a bit before releasing Laura's leg and tumbling down. She had just enough warning to give out another cry before Laura's foot slammed down again, nailing her in her abdomen a second time. Kallen curled up, clutching her poor stomach. She stayed down this time.

Picking herself up, Laura knelt by Kallen's side. "Are you alright, Lady Stadtfeld?"

"I'll live," Kallen wheezed. "I think."

Laura smiled slightly and extended a hand. "Well fought, Lady Stadtfeld."

Slowly uncurling Kallen accepted the hand and allowed Laura to pull her up. At least the other girl was also breathing heavily, for all the consolation that was. Her strength was borderline inhuman and even after cheating profusely with her geass Kallen still got herself knocked onto her ass, twice. It was certainly a humbling experience and clear proof that she could not rely solely on her geass to carry her.

"Impressive," Victor said as he approached. "Keeping pace with Laura is no mean feat even for those of her own age." The viscount looked Kallen up and down. "You carry yourself well, but it is evident that you remain a novice in wielding that blade. If you intend to continue carrying it, I would strongly recommend you find someone whom can properly instruct you in its forms."

There might be a formal distinction between a recommendation and an order from a general. Practically speaking however said distinction meant very little.

"I will have to see whether my previous instructors and I are still on speaking terms, sir," Kallen said somewhat wearily.

The look that Victor gave Kallen was actually sympathetic. If nothing else the viscount was able to read between the lines. He said nothing further to Kallen however, looking over to the side and nodding. So signaled, Lieutenant Armstrong walked over and came to attention.

"Lieutenant Armstrong, I leave my daughter and the Lady Stadtfeld in your care. See to it that they are trained well and do not bring shame to the Princess Euphemia's name."

"I will impart upon them the sum of my knowledge my lord," Alexander said firmly.

Victor nodded and then gave his daughter a proud smile. "I look forward to seeing how much you will grow, my dearest daughter."

Laura's eyes seemed to shine as she gazed back at her father. "I will make you proud, father."

With one final nod Victor turned about and made his way for the exit. The way Laura looked after her father was almost wistful. As Kallen thought about it, it was very likely that the two had actually not seen each other for quite some time before their arrival in Japan seeing as Laura would have been busy with her brigade training. Come to think of it she had not actually spoken with her father since the attack on Keio, at least not directly. The message letting him know she was okay and things were going well with the princess was probably, not good enough. Another item on the long list of things she needed to do.

"Well thing," the gruff voice of the lieutenant sounded, causing Kallen and Laura both to look over at him. Alexander crossed his arms. "That was a most splendid display of swordsmanship, any who bore witness to it could not help but feel a great urge to join in the dance."

Kallen gave the lieutenant a very confused look. Even without her geass she was sure Laura was doing the same. Said look changed from confusion to something else entirely as suddenly Alexander tore his shirt off to reveal a bulging muscular form.

"Now that the test conducted by the Viscount Arseid is concluded, I have no need to so restrain myself." The man flexed his arms, his wrist flicking and a pair of brass knuckles flipping into place. He assumed a ready stance, a wide grin on his face. "On your guard, Lady Arseid, Lady Stadtfeld."

Kallen stared at the lieutenant, her mouth agape. There really was only one response for such a situation.

"What?"

* * *

When Kallen entered Euphemia's office there was a noticeable slouch to her posture, noticeable enough that Euphemia raised an eyebrow at the sight of the girl.

"Is something wrong, Kallen?" the princess asked.

Kallen gave the princess a beady look. "It was your idea to put Lieutenant Armstrong in charge of my training, wasn't it?"

Euphemia cocked her head aside quizzically. "Lieutenant Armstrong comes from a distinguished family and he has always performed his duties to the highest standards."

"Those standards might be a bit too high," Kallen grumbled.

The princess continued looking at Kallen for a few moments longer before shrugging. "Well, if you are tired have a seat. Cecilia is supposed to be here to discuss the resources needed to attempt to reopen the thought elevator."

Kallen accepted the invitation, slumping into the chair across from the princess. The was a subtle look of disapproval at such seeming laxity from the armsman on duty but the girl was too tired to care. C.C. fortunately did not keep them waiting long and when she entered the room the woman was carrying a large stack of papers with her. She plopped them down without ceremony on Euphemia's desk.

"The scheme thou hast asked for."

Kallen leaned forward to get a better look as the princess fingered through the papers. The pages were covered in diagrams of various sorts, none of them making a lick of sense to Kallen. Then again she possessed no formal training as an engineer so that came as no great surprise. The surprise lay that C.C. apparently did possess such knowledge and understanding, but seeing that she was apparently immortal there was plenty of time for her to have acquired said skills.

"So this will reopen the thought elevator?" Euphemia asked.

"Nay," C.C. responded, "that be beyond the ken of any contrivance crafted by mortal hands. This shalt restore the lambency of the gate. With yander light, thou may once more gain adit to the empyreus."

Euphemia looked up at C.C. and Kallen a second later as the last word clicked.

"Empyreus?" Euphemia said. "Are you suggesting the thought elevators lead to, the afterlife?"

"Tis a land not meant for mortal ken nor mortal company," C.C. stated.

"That is not an actual answer," Euphemia pointed out.

"Tis sooth enough for thy query."

The princess regarded C.C. for a few moments longer before apparently deciding not to press the matter. She looked back down at the diagrams.

"A frame constructed of menachite and ceresium, and an internal module that is made of a nickel and rhenium alloy, with an iridium core." Euphemia looked back up at C.C. with an unamused expression. "My dear Cecilia, ignoring the archaic element names, do you have any idea how expensive your proposed device is?"

"Many a marvel hast moved beyond the ken of man," C.C. responded. "Without thereof we must maketh what poor surrogates our meager hands may."

"Gods above and below," Euphemia said in a resigned tone before flipping through more of the pages. Her hands suddenly froze however and her eyes went wide. "What?"

Kallen peered over to see what the princess was looking at, and saw a diagram of what looked to be an octagonal ring with four diagonal sides mounting something pointed inwards.

"Why the Hel would you require an electromagnet that uses this much sakuradite?" Euphemia said incredulously.

Kallen raised an eyebrow herself. She knew what an electromagnet was, though she was somewhat surprised the princess could tell that was what the design was for. Her understanding of its applications was minimal however so she had even less of an idea why C.C. would be asking for one.

"For that matter, why do you need three of them!?"

"Tis for cynosure of the prescribed lambency."

Euphemia looked down again, spent a second gazing at the paper, and quickly flipped through to the last few pages. A hiss sounded from her as she stared at them after a minute or so.

"I need a proper engineer, no, physicist, to look these over," she said.

"It's that complicated?" Kallen asked.

"Unbelievably so," Euphemia stated. "This, this level of physics, assuming Cecilia is not just making things up, it is beyond anything the Empire's finest laboratories have managed to produce."

Kallen frowned and looked over at C.C. again. The other woman had an almost petulant look on her face.

"There be no need for such innuendo," she said. "Thou hast asked of me a key and I hast answered. If thou art lacking in faith in mine veracity then thou wasted thy breath with thy petition."

"She's got a point there," Kallen said. "At this point all we can do is have some faith that she isn't leading us on."

"I suppose," Euphemia said before shaking her head. "No, you are both right. Very well Cecilia, I shall see about procuring the materials and resources necessary to construct this, system. I will however need to consult with a few others so we can understand just what exactly is being built."

"Take heed with whom thou commends these matters to," C.C. said. "Confidences thin as those whom share it grows."

"Duly noted," Euphemia said. "Now-"

Before the princess could say anything else her intercom beeped. Without missing a beat Euphemia answered.

"Yes Rachel?"

"My sincerest apologies your highness," the secretary said, "but Dame Kruszewski is here and absolutely insists on speaking with you now. She, has stated that she is here in her official capacity as a Knight of the Round."

Euphemia frowned, an expression that was quickly mirrored on Kallen's face. The princess looked over at her armsman.

"Security level bravo."

"Highness," the soldier said before speaking very quickly into his radio.

Kallen continued regarding the princess quizzically.

"Kallen, are you armed?"

The older girl's eyes widened but she nodded. "I have my katana."

"Then assume your post."

"Yes your highness," Kallen said crisply and hurried to stand behind the princess.

Euphemia looked over at C.C. "I will deal with this matter. Is that understood?"

C.C. raised an eyebrow but nodded nonetheless. Euphemia unmuted the microphone again.

"Please show Dame Kruszewski in, Rachel."

"Yes your highness."

The doors opened and Monica strode in. She stopped three steps away from the desk and waited until the doors closed before speaking. Just as her mouth opened however side doors opened and four more armsmen entered, taking up positions around the room. The knight regarded them before looking back at Euphemia with a raised eyebrow.

"You are a very cautious woman, your highness," Monica said.

"All indications are my caution is not overly abundant in this case, Dame Kruszewski," the princess replied. "Now, what is it you wish to discuss?"

Monica's lips perked up into a slight smile. "What you probably have presumed. I am here to take Ms. Clermont into custody."

Kallen's eyes narrowed dangerously while C.C. actually snorted. Euphemia's expression remained somberly composed.

"Your request is denied."

And her tone held no hint of compromise.

"This is not a request, your highness," Monica said. "I am under direct orders from your father, his majesty, to take custody of Ms. Clermont and return her to Pendragon."

"I am countermanding those orders."

Monica, no, everyone in the room was now staring at Euphemia. More than one had wide eyes. There was at least one mouth hanging agape.

"Your highness, you do not have that authority," Monica stated.

"On the contrary, as viceroy I am the voice of his majesty in Area 11. My word _is_ his word, and remains so unless he recalls me." Euphemia's expression hardened. "You are free to advise my father to do so. Understand however that should he deign to lose faith in my judgment, so shall I in his."

Monica pursed her lips. This was interesting, the two were at effectively a standoff. Yes the emperor could recall Euphemia but only at great political cost. The people of Area 11 loved her, her sister commanded the entire Britannian military, and Schneizel held the balance of power in parliament. Even that all paled in comparison to what the princess probably knew about the geass now that she and C.C. were speaking to each other and the damage she could do with access to a thought elevator. Monica grinned. She could not have asked for more perfect circumstances.

It was obvious from the confused looks everyone, well, save C.C. gave her, that they found the sudden change in Monica's mood strange. Not for nothing the Knight of Twelve possessed a certain reputation for whimsicalness.

"Your highness, might we discuss this matter more privately?" Monica asked, still grinning. "Lady Stadtfeld and Ms. Clermont may remain of course, but this matter really should be restricted to the minimum numbers possible."

Euphemia raised an eyebrow but nodded. "Very well." She looked over at the senior armsman present. "Sergeant, position your room for forced entry, and then monitor the situation via the cameras. Make sure the audio pickups are _disabled_."

"Yes your highness," Maes said before nodding to the other soldiers.

They quickly filed out, leaving the women alone. After a minute or so the intercom buzzed.

"Your highness, we are ready," Maes' voice sounded.

"Thank you sergeant." Euphemia looked back up at Monica. "Now, say what you will."

Monica grinned again. "Before we begin however your highness, a reintroduction is in order." The woman came to attention. "I am Monica Kruszewski, Knight of Twelve to His Majesty the Emperor Charles. I also hold an additional appointment, that of Lord Inquisitor, of the Ordo Malleus."

Kallen sucked in her breath. She was pretty sure Euphemia had a similar reaction. C.C. however continued to observe the entire thing as if bored. After a few long moments Euphemia broke the silence.

"The Order of the Hammer," she said. "There is no Inquisitio Ordo so named."

"Indeed there is not," Monica said, "publicly."

Euphemia pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Hereticus deals with threats from within, Xenos threats from without. What does Malleus defend from?"

"Threats from beyond, your highness," Monica stated, "which I think you will agree the geass counts as one."

The princess continued regarding Monica, a mixture of thoughtfulness and wariness on her expression.

"Well, this is certainly enlightening," she said. "Is there a point that you are trying to make however?"

The grin was inexplicably still there on Monica's face. "The point, your highness, is that I am not your enemy. Far from it, you and I are natural allies in the mission to destroy the Directorate."

Again several moments passed in silence as Euphemia and Kallen digested the statement. The response that the princess managed about summed up their reactions.

"Pardon?"

The grin disappeared. "Your highness, you and your siblings have spent the past couple of years tracking down Directorate activity in an effort to determine the extent of its influence in the Empire, for the purposes of executing a decapitating strike. The progress you have made, while impressive, unfortunately is not sufficient for the decisive blow necessary to destroy it. Namely, you do not possess the means to actually kill the leader of the Directorate." Monica cocked her head towards C.C. "She does, however."

Both listeners looked over at C.C., whom remained seemingly nonchalant about the entire discussion. Kallen could tell however, there was a gleam in the woman's eyes. She was most definitely paying attention.

"Is that true, Cecilia?" Euphemia asked.

The other woman looked back at the princess. "Ponder this, highness. Were I to possess such means, what would thou presume to be of equal sooth?"

Euphemia's eyes narrowed. "That the leader of this, Directorate, could also kill, actually kill, you?"

"Aye," C.C. confirmed.

Euphemia looked back at Monica. "And you would propose to take C.C. back to Pendragon, where the Directorate holds such sway?"

"A sleight of hand, your highness," Monica said. "With C.C. in custody, the Directorate would assume she is not a threat. As such she can be kept safe until the time to strike arrives."

That, was a relatively reasonable stratagem. Reasonable did not however mean acceptable.

"I am afraid that is not good enough Dame Kruszewski," Euphemia stated. "The opportunities for something untoward to happen to Cecilia far outweigh any confidence I have that the Directorate would consider itself, in control, with her in Pendragon. Everything I have seen of the Directorate's activities indicates that the organization is obsessively paranoid. If they follow their usual pattern, Cecilia would be dead, permanently so, within the week of her arrival."

Kallen looked back over at Monica to see how the knight would respond. To her surprise the older woman was actually nodding.

"Hmm, yes, you hardly have reason to take my word for it. And it would not do me much good if in the process of taking C.C. into custody I cause an open schism in the Empire by antagonizing one of his majesty's more competent children. Remind me to tell you about one time when your brother the Prince Schneizel fudged the Exchequer's records and stranded me in Guam for about a week. Though that was not so bad, was probably the longest vacation I had since becoming a Knight of the Round."

By this point Kallen had given up glaring at the knight and was simply staring at her with a look of incredulity. There was either something very off about Monica or the woman was feigning a flippant attitude to throw people off guard.

"In fact having you sit on C.C. would even make my life easier, since you want the Directorate's leader dead as much as me, if not more. The only problem however is that V.V. is something of a whiny brat."

At that C.C. snorted as if in agreement.

"If I leave here without C.C.," Monica continued, "he's likely to throw a tantrum and try to take matters into his own hands."

A ruthless smile crossed Euphemia's face. "He is welcome to try."

The amused look disappeared from Monica's expression. "Would you say the same knowing that he has a cadre of other geass wielders at his disposal?"

A hiss escaped Kallen before the girl even realized it. That, that was not good. One geass bearer had managed to sic basically the entire JLF on Euphemia and her with his powers. There was no telling how much damage the others might cause in an attempt to get to C.C.

Euphemia cocked her head aside. "You obviously have a proposal in mind, one that takes into account the fact that I _will_ not surrender C.C. to yourself or the Directorate."

Monica began pacing back and forth pensively. She then turned and faced the princess directly.

"C.C. will keep. If you allow me to station a few soldiers to keep tabs on her to make sure she does not disappear, we can stall, _if_ there is a matter that is even more pressing." The knight's gaze now fell to the woman in question. "For example, dealing with this other contractor that seems to possess the ability to compel others to his will."

Kallen fought hard to keep from flinching. That, might work, save for the fact that said contractor was one Lelouch vi Britannia, elder brother to Euphemia and one whom she likely still harbored some affection for. Would the princess be willing to betray knowledge of his survival? Somehow Euphemia herself managed to keep a completely impassive face. Kallen idly marveled at the younger girl's restraint.

"If it is information you wish, Dame Kruszewski, then I shall require that you divulge something of equivalent value?"

"Oh? And what would that be, your highness?"

Euphemia clasped her hands together. "What is your geass."

Kallen blinked. She then looked over at the knight, and realized that she could not read her either. Or rather, the impression was as vague and shallow as whenever she tried to read the princess herself.

Monica clucked her tongue. "Well, I see your reputation is well deserved, your highness. And since the secret is out, I might as well show you."

Kallen's hand fell onto the hilt of her sword and her own geass fired up, just on the off chance that it might end up being useful in some way. There was a slight, flicker, in Monica's left eye, a dim blue light that was growing brighter with every passing moment. And then, it was gone. In fact, everything was gone. Kallen could no longer feel anything beyond what her normal senses could tell her. A gurgle sounded in her throat.

"Kallen?" Euphemia said.

"I-she-" Kallen tried. "She's, jamming me?"

Euphemia frowned and looked back over at Monica. A few moments later her own eyes widened, the princess apparently having tried something herself that was failing. And then her eyes narrowed again.

"That was how you were able to break the compulsion placed on the gendarmerie private."

Monica nodded.

"Then, can you do the same for the compulsion placed on C.C.?"

"What comp-" Monica began as she looked directly at the woman. Suddenly the knight jerked back, clutching her left eye as she let out a scream, almost toppling over.

Kallen nearly jumped at the sound and Euphemia herself seemed to start. And then the entire palace was restored to Kalen's sight, Monica seemingly having turned off her own geass.

"Hels, what is that!?" the knight exclaimed.

"Evidently not," Euphemia noted dryly as it became apparent Monica was more or less okay.

The knight straightened up and gazed at C.C. without her geass, giving the other woman a dirty look.

"That's the first time I've ever seen anything like that," she said. "What _was_ it?"

"C.C. is under some form of compulsion imposed upon her by her previous contractor," Euphemia stated. "It prevents her from answering freely questions about said contractor and geass in general."

Monica frowned and shook her head. "That, is impossible. The code and the geass do not work that way."

"And you know all there is to know on the matter to be able to so decisively proclaim this?" Euphemia countered.

Monica adopted a pensive look. "Huh. Point. But this is far outside the bounds of precedence." She regarded C.C. "Though, if this compulsion really does prevent her from talking about the geass, then has she ever actually specifically stated who put this compulsion on her?"

That, was an equally good point. Both Euphemia and Kallen followed Monica's gaze and looked over at C.C.

" _She_ be here amongst thou," C.C. said somewhat irritably. "Twould seem gentleness is now démodé."

Kallen rolled her eyes. As far as she was concerned C.C. really did have it coming. The important bit now however was to get some real answers, assuming they could.

"Yes, yes, people aren't as polite as they were back in the day, you had to go to walk the school in the snow up the hill both ways," Kallen drawled. "Now, how about the plain and simple truth?"

For a moment Kallen became the center of attention as everyone in the room openly gaped at her. Their mouths were not quite hanging open, not quite. C.C. for her part met Kallen's gaze for about five seconds before suddenly bursting out laughing. She continued laughing for a good minute or so, redirecting everyone's attention back to her. When she finally stopped it was with noticeable effort that the woman pulled herself back up into the chair.

"Oh how sharper than a serpent's tooth," C.C. said with a wide grin. "Thou thinks the sooth be so easily found?"

The smile darkened as suddenly C.C.'s eyes seemed to flare a golden light. And then her hair seemingly parted, revealing a glowing crest on her forehead. Crunching sounds, mixed with the clinking of what seemed to be chains, started echoing in the room. A dark miasma appeared about C.C. before twisting about all over the woman's form. In fact it was more than just the miasma twisting, a sickening crack sounded as suddenly C.C.'s arm snapped off and a gush of blood erupted.

"Bloody Hel!" Kallen exclaimed.

A second later armsmen burst into the room, weapons drawn.

"Highness!" Maes shouted.

"No threat!" Euphemia quickly shouted. "See to Ms. Clermont now!"

One of the soldiers quickly pulled out some bandages and began wrapping the stump that was left of C.C.'s arm to stem the bleeding. The woman was noticeably paler, her breathing ragged. Kallen was at her side as well, helping hold her steady.

"Bloody idiot," she hissed. "What were you thinking!?"

The only response from C.C. was a slight smirk. Watching all this Monica frowned.

"Yeah, okay, I think this just became my top priority."

End of Chapter 50

That last scene went on a lot longer than I was expecting it to.

Note that we're in a somewhat slow period of time progression. There's a lot happening, but it's all happening within a few days to a week of the Black Rebellion. As it takes at least two weeks to traverse the Trans-Siberian railway from Vladivostok to say Paris, Lelouch is going to be out of action until sufficient time passes for him to, you know, get to Paris. That being said, I might need to skip a few events that I was originally planning on showing just to get the story moving again. I don't want to end up taking five chapters or something just to portray what boils down to background developments over the course of a single week.

So, any guesses as to what C.C. is asking Euphemia to build?

I have plans for Mikasa. Oh, I have so many plans for Mikasa. Should be interesting.

I think some of you might be underestimating the degree of ruthlessness that is necessary for the characters to achieve their goals, but maybe that's just me. None of the characters in the original anime would have achieved much of anything if I had attempted to use them verbatim in my story, simply by virtue of the fact that I've made the world _not_ revolve around solely them, so their mistakes and etc are not simply forgiven or handwaved. As such to get what they want they need to actually take into account how other people will actually react, for better, or more importantly, for worse.

I've already noted that the official religion in my version of the Britannian Empire is Nordic. As such Hel is somewhat of a natural alternative to hell as an expletive. My rationale and further explanations can be found in past author notes.

This fic already has a tvtropes page. Feel free to add to it. Would be nice to get a character page for it, to see what people distinguishes my version of the characters from the canon.

I will not be answering any questions about Lelouch, Zero, and the geass that I feel constitutes a spoiler for the wider story. The things that I have revealed thus far in the opening snippets were strategically chosen, to give a sense of what I consider to be important but at the same time does _not_ spoil what I consider to be the true story. Ahem. Maybe I've said too much already.

That said continue to ask questions, there are times when I accidentally screw up something and something that was not meant to be ambiguous appears so to my readers and those I'm happy to clarify. And in the times where I outright refuse to answer a question, I will note my refusal in the author notes, so if there are questions that do not have such a refusal and remain unanswered, chances are I forgot about them and you can poke me again with them. Though do note that repeat questions that I have answered will get directed to look through my author notes.

C.C. translation because I'm not feeling lazy today.

The scheme thou hast asked for. – The designs you asked for.

Nay, that be beyond the ken of any contrivance crafted by mortal hands. This shalt restore the lambency of the gate. With yander light, thou may once more gain adit to the empyreus. – No, that is beyond the ability of anything made by mortal hands. This will restore the light of the gate. With that light, you can once again gain entry to empyrean.

Tis a land not meant for mortal ken nor mortal company. – It is a land not meant for mortal knowledge or mortal existence.

Tis sooth enough for thy query. – It is truth enough for your question.

Many a marvel hast moved beyond the ken of man. Without thereof we must maketh what poor surrogates our meager hands may. – Many a miracles are beyond the reach of man. Without them we must make what poor substitutes our meager hands allow.

Tis for cynosure of the prescribed lambency. – It is to focus the required light.

There be no need for such innuendo. Thou hast asked of me a key and I hast answered. If thou art lacking in faith in mine veracity then thou wasted thy breath with thy petition. – You don't need that kind of doubletalk. You asked me for a key and I have provided. If you do not trust me then you were wasting your breath by asking to begin with.

Take heed with whom thou commends these matters to. Confidences thin as those whom share it grows. – Be careful with whom you share this with. Secrets become less secret as they are spread.

Ponder this, highness. Were I to possess such means, what would thou presume to be of equal sooth? – Think about this, your highness. Were I to possess such means, what would have to be equally true?

 _She_ be here amongst thou. Twould seem gentleness is now démodé. – _She_ is right here. It would seem common courtesy is now out of fashion.


	52. Chapter 51

_When the Great War began the European powers found themselves facing an acute logistics challenge almost immediately. While the armed forces of each nation was nominally able to operate as part of an integrated command and control framework, in truth the degree to which they were standardized was very, very low. While England, France, Italy, and Spain at least used the same 5.56x45mm cartridge for their main battle rifle, Germany and Austria used a 7.62x51mm cartridge while the Russians and several other eastern European nations used a 7.62x39mm round. In terms of combat vehicles, the Russians had just achieved widespread deployment of their new T-72 tanks, while the French AMX-30 and German Leopard were the standard employed by many other European powers. Then there was the new German Hummel, the first operational European knightmare, which for the early part of the war was limited only to the 1st Panzer division._

 _In terms of air power again the main European powers were split, with the French utilizing aircraft built by Dassault-Dunois and the Russians and their closer allies the fruits of the Mikoyan-and-Gurevich Design Bureau. The Germans on the other hand led a multinational consortium called Panavia that included the Austrians, English, Italians, Spanish, and a few other western European nations to produce aircraft for the respective members. A similar split also existed in the naval assets of the European states, with only the smallest of the European maritime powers not fielding domestically designed and built ships. The sole exception to this was Great Britain, which for political reasons was forced to rely on French and German built hulls as its domestic shipbuilding industry was almost completely barred from building warships larger than frigates or destroyers. It was also expressively forbidden from building submarines of any type._

 _The situation with noncombatant assets was even more complicated. As each European nation wanted to ensure that their own industries benefited from military contracts, logistic assets were intentionally left to the discretion of each country to manage. The consequence was that every single country fielded their own types of trucks, resulting in the expeditionary force sent to the Middle East having over thirty different models spread across the various contributed units. The fact that the entire campaign did not come to a grinding halt a few months in is a testament to the Herculean effort of General Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado and his staff. By the end of the war sheer necessity had seen the Europeans standardize on two models of trucks for transporting supplies and personnel, both Russian in origin. If nothing else the Russian Federation's massive industrial prowess ensured that it could provide the vehicles in the numbers needed by the war effort, even if spare parts still remained in perennial shortage._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 51

Bellum se ipsum alet

Charles remained silent for what had to have been a good five minutes, staring at the monitor. He then looked over at V.V. The boyish figure had a petulant scowl on his face. The emperor resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Tempting, ever so tempting. But there were more important things to do than saying 'I told you so' to his brother, no matter how satisfying it would be.

"Is there any indication where Lelouch may be now?" he said instead.

"Almost certainly on his way back to France, your majesty," Monica answered. "Indications are he left shortly before the start of the Tokyo Uprising."

"Then there is still a chance to find and neutralize him," V.V. said. "He must be traveling back via the Trans-Siberian railway. We should have the military bomb its trains."

Monica's face went through a variety of expressions, none of which could be termed approving or even terribly polite. It took all of Charles' self-control to not burst out laughing. Despite how unsavory and even thankless her duties could sometimes be Monica always found some way to enjoy herself. It was a testament to the woman's nerve and general levelheadedness, not to mention a remarkably effective method for getting people to drop their guard around her. After all, who would think that such a whimsical young woman was a Knight of the Round, much less a lord inquisitor?

"Bombing the railway would require penetrating deep into Russian airspace," Charles said instead. "The military does not yet have the resources in place for such an attempt."

"Bah," V.V. scoffed. "What good is the military when they prove so useless when the chips fall?"

The knight stopped making faces and regarded V.V. with a flatly unamused gaze. Whatever her sense of humor Monica was still a member of the Britannian military and was not inclined to overlook any such slights, especially from someone with no actual understanding of warfare.

"Had you not killed Marianne this would not be a problem to begin with," Charles noted dryly.

"I had no choice in the matter, brother," V.V. said dogmatically. "She was going to betray us. How much more harm do you think her children would have been if I had let her be?"

Sometimes Charles wondered whether his brother actually believed his own lie. That was not impossible, though if that was the case it said really sad things about V.V.'s mental state.

"Continue with your investigation, Monica," Charles said. "This will not be Lelouch's only attempt at vengeance. We must be ready to act if he rears his head again."

"Yes your majesty," Monica said with a bow at the dismissal.

The screen went blank, leaving Charles alone with his sibling. The emperor settled back into his seat while V.V. continued glaring at the display, as if that would somehow make the ill tidings go away.

"You will need to delve into C's World, see if there are any echoes from Lelouch's actions."

"Nothing has changed since I first entered it," V.V. said in a petulant tone. "I am of half a mind to think your knight is exaggerating what she witnessed. Better that she return C.C. to us so we can examine her to determine the truth of the matter."

Charles sighed. "And do you truly wish for C.C. to be brought to Pendragon, when we do not actually understand the nature of the compulsion Lelouch placed upon her? I would not put it past my son to have devised a particularly nasty failsafe should she be brought into contact with a Thought Elevator. Better that she be left where she is, secured and waiting until we have genuine need of her."

"And you trust your dear daughter with her custody?" V.V. said dryly.

"Euphemia is effectively rooted to Area 11 now, if she leaves she loses the shield that is her popularity of her subjects. And Monica has a detachment of Loki Regiment assigned to keeping an eye on C.C. She will keep."

V.V. still scowled, unsatisfied with someone seemingly managing to thwart him. And in truth that was exactly what Euphemia had done. Not only had she severed their mental link his daughter now technically held possession of C.C., even though Charles doubted the code bearer would still be in Tokyo if she genuinely did not want to be. Which suggested all sorts of interesting things about what the two might be getting up to.

"Euphemia has overstepped one too many times," V.V. declared suddenly. "You have stated that openly removing her is untenable, so be it. All that means is she must be brought low via alternative means."

Charles raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Do not worry Charles," V.V. said with a sadistic smile. "I will make sure none will be able to trace this to you. In fact, C.C.'s newest contractor should serve a useful scapegoat. We can't leave her around to interfere with our plans either."

Without another word V.V. took his leave. Once the doors closed Charles finally let out a snort. If anything he was surprised his brother had taken this long to make an attempt on Euphemia's life. That he still thought he could succeed, especially with another geass bearer now actively invested in his daughter's wellbeing, well if nothing else it would serve as a useful test of the Directorate's test subjects and this Kallen Stadtfeld. And if Euphemia did fall, then she was simply not ready to participate in such higher matters. Time would tell whom would succeed, and whom would stand by his side come Ragnarok.

* * *

When the new day started Kallen dragged herself out of bed at 5AM and lined up with the rest of the armsmen in front of the palace grounds. Each morning those armsmen not on duty or on a rest cycle would do a five mile run circling the imperial palace grounds. Kallen had thought she was pretty athletic and in shape for someone her age. The first time she joined in the pace the armsmen set saw her throwing up when she finished. The girl quickly determined to do better.

Today a few new faces joined them, some of whom were armsmen whose rotations had shifted to being awake now instead of resting, including one Lieutenant Armstrong. The man was shirtless again for some reason and if the looks on the others were any indication the rest of the guard were as confused by the lieutenant's habit as Kallen. Two others however stood out even more. One was Laura, a statuesque beauty that was turning a few heads amongst the men even as the women, Kallen included, snorted at their obvious gawking. The other however was a distinctly Japanese woman that Kallen had never seen before. The name sown into her clothes was M. Ackermann, suggesting that like Kallen she was of mixed heritage. Unlike Kallen however she obviously favored her Japanese parent.

Today's run was also set at a brisk pace. In fact Kallen got the distinct impression that every time someone new joined the armsmen would push a bit harder than usual, a sort of light hazing as it were. Ackermann however had no trouble keeping up, and Laura actually seemed to be enjoying herself. In fact by the time they were done she was near the front, her presence almost seeming to spur the lead runner to go even faster so as to not lose face. All of them were breathing heavily when they finished, all but Laura who did not even look winded.

Kallen chuckled to herself. It seemed there really was always someone better. Though she was almost afraid of what someone even stronger than Laura might look like. When all of them hit the showers after the run however it was the newly arrived Japanese soldier that was on Kallen's mind. The question was how to approach her, especially considering the other girl seemed to be intently avoiding meeting Kallen's gaze.

"Hey."

Which left her only one avenue to take, the direct approach. The soldier barely kept the grimace off her face as Kallen addressed her.

"Yes ma'am?" she said stiffly.

"The name's Kallen. You would be?"

A beat passed before an answer came. "Private Ackermann, second platoon, bravo company, 100th infantry battalion."

A completely by the book answer at that. Kallen's lips twitched. It was pretty obvious the soldier did not want to engage with Kallen any more than formality required, but why that was the case was beyond the ability of her geass to discern.

"Ackermann," Kallen said. "I presume you have a first name as well, private?"

Another beat. "Mikasa, ma'am."

It was plainly evident that Mikasa was going to force Kallen to drag answers out of her word by word.

"Mikasa," Kallen repeated. "When did you transfer to her highness' guard?"

The woman's brow furrowed. "Permission to speak frankly, ma'am."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "Sure, go ahead."

"You're my superior officer, ma'am, and I will accept any legally binding order that you issue. Beyond that however I am not obliged to socialize or interact with you, and I would appreciate if you respected that."

That, was a lot more forthright than Kallen had been expecting. Which was fine with the young woman, at least this way they would not be wasting any time dancing around the issue.

"Would you mind at least telling me why you feel this way, private?"

"Yes ma'am, I would mind."

Or not. Kallen frowned. Mikasa obviously did not want to open up to her and trying to press the other woman on the issue would simply see her clam up even more. The private was also right, all Kallen was legally allowed to demand from her was that she follow orders relating to their respective duties. Just because they were serving together did not require that they be friends.

"Alright private, I'll drop it," Kallen said.

Mikasa nodded, even politely at that. "Will there be anything else ma'am?"

"No private."

Clicking her heels together, not that she was even really wearing heels to click, Mikasa proceeded to the showers leaving Kallen standing there. Kallen glanced after the other woman, a more than mild sense of confusion swirling through her head. She had expected, as a fellow Japanese, that she could easily establish a rapport with Mikasa. That obviously was not the case, though why Kallen had no idea and Mikasa was obviously not going to make it easy finding out. Kallen pursed her lips. That did not feel right. Not just because they shared a heritage, but also because if they were going to fight together they needed to trust each other, and just barely tolerating each other did not engender trust. But this was not something she could rush, and so Kallen found herself forced to adopt yet another rather unfamiliar behavior, patience.

* * *

The officer that stood before Euphemia was neatly dressed, well groomed, and seemed remarkably enthusiastic considering the mess that he was now responsible for cleaning up. Then again Colonel Cassius Bright would not have been dispatched from the Homelands to reorganize the gendarmerie, and the colonel would certainly not have brought his family if he thought he was not up to the task.

"Colonel Bright," Euphemia greeted. "You come well recommended, by not only your superiors back in Pendragon but also by those under your command at your last posting in Wisconsin. Based off of those recommendations I have a degree of confidence that you are the right man for this job."

"Thank you your highness," Cassius said. "I will see to it that the gendarmerie is restored to its true purpose, the aid of the people."

Euphemia allowed a thin smile. The gendarmerie's roots came from the informal law enforcement frontier settlers created as the Empire pushed westward after its conquest of Louisiana. Out beyond the formally established provinces, the rare instances of Britannian authority came from the various military units positioned to subjugate the natives. In the absence of a proper policing force however the frontiersmen created their own, a guild of sorts that posted bounties for criminals, helped perform search and rescue, and in general did all of the things that the government should have been doing. In one of the rare instances of the Empire not screwing up a good thing when the territories were formally organized the guild was transformed into a formally recognized agency, the gendarmerie.

Even before its formal incorporation the motto of the gendarmerie had been, "To Project and Serve." That motto had become increasingly strained as gendarmerie elements were deployed to new conquests with the intent of having them assist in the pacification of an area. Witnessing the brutality that the military was capable of, there were several incidents that saw the gendarmerie clash openly with the military occupation. Such open schisms of course had political consequences, with the gendarmerie increasingly subordinated to the military. It was only in the last decade or so that the gendarmerie was slowly regaining its independence, and up and coming officers like Cassius Bright were one reason.

"I will not ask for miracles, colonel," Euphemia said, "though I suspect at times you will think I am. The state of the gendarmerie is however at this point incredibly poor. Its ranks took heavy losses from the Battle of Tokyo and even before then morale was low due to the other incidents."

"Your highness," Cassius said with a confident smile, "you have but to ask and I shall do everything in my power to deliver. Ask of me a miracle, and I will move the heavens themselves to bring about one."

Few were the people that would boast so openly before an imperial scion. Something told Euphemia that Cassius was one of the even fewer that could make good on his boast.

"Very well Colonel Bright," Euphemia responded. "I charge you with restoring the gendarmerie to a state wherein it can take pride in its service to the people once more."

Cassius bowed deeply. "At your will, your highness."

The man executed a perfect one eighty and left the office. Euphemia watched him leave and when the door closed let out a snort of amusement. Time would tell whether the colonel's confidence was warranted. She certainly hoped it would be, as losing the gendarmerie as an effective arm of governance would be extremely inconvenient.

"Rachel," Euphemia said into the intercom. "I am ready for my next appointment."

"Yes your highness."

The doors opened again, and this time it was the petite figure of Kaguya Sumeragi that entered. The Japanese girl bowed deeply.

"I answer your summons, your highness."

Euphemia nodded to the chairs across from her. "Have a seat, Dame Sumeragi."

"Highness," Kaguya said as she obeyed.

Euphemia considered the girl for a few moments. "By all rights, Dame Sumeragi, I should have you arrested and executed for your support of the Japanese Liberation Front."

Kaguya's gaze did not waver. "I did what I thought right, your highness. I have no regrets."

The princess chuckled. "Then you have no regrets in the Akatsuki and Akakishi that you supported openly coming out in my support and helping decisively destroy the JLF?"

That, Kaguya had to admit, was a good point. She refused to lose her nerve however.

"I would not take back any of my actions, your highness."

Not quite as unequivocal a statement as her first, but it got the point across. Euphemia leaned back into her own seat.

"Tell me, Dame Sumeragi, what do you intend to do now?"

"I will continue supporting my people to the best of my ability, your highness," Kaguya said firmly. "Then, as now, there is still much to be done to see their needs met."

Euphemia pursed her lips before cracking a smile. "Good."

Kaguya blinked, taken slightly aback by the princess' response.

"I will soon be granting a charter charging the Akatsuki with law enforcement in the wards outside the Tokyo concession," Euphemia stated. That much Kaguya already knew. "The charter however is only valid if Akatsuki is able to fulfill such duties." The princess' eyes narrowed. "And it explicitly states that Akatsuki does not possess the authority to levy taxes in the wards they police."

Kaguya grimaced. So that was how the princess was going to play it. The girl idly wondered whether Kallen was aware of those particular provisions. Then again the Sumeragi Group was capable of continuing to fund Akatsuki, even the substantially enlarged one that would be needed to police all of the wards outside the Tokyo Concession. This of course assumed the Sumeragi Group was still intact at the end of this meeting.

"There remains of course the matter of the Sumeragi Group's, and your personal, complicity in supporting insurgent activity against Britannian authority," Euphemia continued.

And here it came. Kaguya was reasonably confident that the princess would not dismantle the Sumeragi Group wholesale, she probably had enough on her plate trying to deal with Kirihara Industries' implosion, but there was no doubt that her family's company would face a very stiff penalty.

"I have assessed the monetary value of the support Kyoto House supplied to the JLF," Euphemia said, and it was all Kaguya could manage to not visibly choke at the princess' nonchalant reference to the families behind the stronger resistance groups. "Combined with the revenues your industrial interests earned, it is quite evident that as substantial as the resources committed to the insurgency were, they were still but a mere fraction of the wealth that was being generated."

There was that insinuation again, that the members of the NAC were more interested in enriching themselves than helping their fellow Japanese. Kaguya was getting mildly tired of it, seeing the fact that several of her fellow councilmembers were facing execution for the risks they took.

"I will therefore give you a choice," Euphemia said, "between two sanctions. A one-time fine of fifteen billion pounds to the Viceroyalty of Area 11," to that Kaguya actually gargled, "or a one-time fine of one billion pounds, and a commitment to spend 1% of the Sumeragi Group's revenues on humanitarian efforts selected by my administration."

Kaguya gaped at the princess. The Sumeragi Group, and by extension her own family, did not have fifteen billion pounds in liquid assets. To raise that amount of money would force them to sell off a not insignificant amount of assets. On the other hand accepting the alternative offer would see the Sumeragi Group locked into spending a set amount of revenue year after year, which in the long run would quickly dwarf the one-off fifteen billion fine. Except assuming the princess was serious about forcing the Sumeragi Group to fund humanitarian projects it was likely in Euphemia's interest that the company continue to remain in good financial health, especially since her highness herself would be picking which projects to fund.

"I would be inclined to the latter, your highness," Kaguya said shakily, "save for the lack of assurances that the money so spent is actually performing humanitarian work."

"Fair enough," Euphemia said. "All money that is spent will be publicly documented, and measures will be instituted to provide avenues of appeal and monetary recovery should some of the spending be suspect. I can also put in place a clause that will allow the Sumeragi Group to buy out its obligation for a sum prorated from the amount already spent on humanitarian funding, but no less than one third of the initial fine, with inflation taken into account."

The princess really did think of everything, Kaguya was more than willing to admit.

"And in the case of bankruptcy, your highness?"

"The government will be the preferential creditor, with the debt being the prorated fine value."

She really, really did think of everything. Kaguya reluctantly nodded.

"I accept these conditions, your highness."

The one billion pound fine was still going to sting though, the Group might just have that much cash lying around, but they were still likely to have to sell off some assets to raise more if only to rebuild their reserves.

Euphemia nodded. "Very well. Then the only matter left is your personal complicity in acts of subversion."

Kaguya stiffened. Or maybe it was not over yet. Euphemia gave her a slight smile, likely meant to be comforting but having the opposite effect.

"I have spoken extensively with Kallen," the princess said, "and she has been emphatic about limiting the personal consequences for those that assisted her. I am prepared to grant a great deal of clemency in thanks for her having saved my life twice now, and that clemency will extend to yourself, Dame Sumeragi. This clemency will however come with a condition."

Of course. The princess likely could not just pardon Kaguya outright even if she wanted to. And something told the girl that as compassionate as the Princess Euphemia was, for a Britannian royal, in this particular case she had no desire to let Kaguya completely off the hook to begin with.

"The condition is a simple one," Euphemia explained. "For the next five years you are to spend eight hours each week performing volunteer services at the Keio Medical Campus."

Again Kaguya found herself staring at the princess, though fortunately her mouth was not quite agape. The young woman's feelings were more than a little conflicted. On the surface she was personally getting off incredibly lightly, but it was also evident that the princess had ulterior motives for every single punishment levied thus far. The problem for Kaguya was that she could not discern what exactly those motives might be. How did it benefit the princess for Kaguya to put in appearances at Keio? To imply some sort of endorsement? Yet the Sumeragi family was not looked kindly upon by large parts of the population and that was unlikely to change even after it became known that it was Akatsuki's primary backer. Then again Kaguya personally lending a hand at the hospital might actually help with her family's image problem of being aloof and behind the scenes manipulators. But that brought back the question of how that helped the princess. In a nutshell, Kaguya simply had no idea.

"Do you accept?" Euphemia asked.

Kaguya blinked, realizing that she had been staring blankly for several seconds.

"I do, your highness," she managed somewhat coherently.

Euphemia nodded. "Good." The princess looked over to the side. "Then seeing as that is settled, we should head to our next meeting."

Kaguya followed the older girl's gaze and saw the clock ticking away on the wall. Had the meeting really gone on that long? Either way she stood hastily as Euphemia rose.

"Shall we, Dame Sumeragi?"

The girl nodded. There were two official reasons for her visit to the palace after all. As Euphemia rounded the table Kaguya pursed her lips.

"Your highness, a question if I may?"

Euphemia paused. "Yes?"

Kaguya licked her lips. "What, would have been the alternative sentence if I had not accepted your clemency?"

Death, was the obvious answer. But everything that Kaguya had seen from the princess made clear that her highness was _not_ one to ascribe to the obvious solution. And besides, surely satisfying her own curiosity was harmless enough, right?

The princess adopted a thoughtful expression before shrugging. "I hadn't thought of one." And then flashed a smile. "Shall we?"

Kaguya could only nod dumbly. Not obvious, and quite frankly so far beyond convention that trying to predict what one Euphemia li Britannia would do was likely a fool's errand. And that made the princess all the more dangerous.

* * *

As Lawrence and his wife turned the corner the two suddenly found themselves face to face with a rare yet increasingly more common sight in the halls of the palace. Heinrich returned their gaze before finally snorting in amusement.

"I suppose I should have expected to see both of you here," he said. "Been some time, Lawrence, Eve."

"Indeed it has," Lawrence said with a slight smile. "I see you accepted her highness' invitation to attend the conference."

Another snort sounded from the baron before he gave a bemused shake of his head. "I suppose her highness' summons fulfill the definition of an invitation. Though whom amongst the recipients would have the nerve to decline it, hmm?"

"Well, I would like to think I am a woman free to make her own choices," Eve said with a smirk.

Heinrich gave the woman a brief look before letting out a bark of laughter. "Why is it that the only ones that seem to get their way are the women?"

Lawrence cracked a smile but took care with his own remark. "No comment."

"Yes, discretion certainly does seem the better part of valor here," Heinrich said as the three proceeded down the hall.

"Are things well then?" Lawrence said. "Edward and I have been rather worried about you ever since the, matter at Ashford."

"My daughter is fine, if that's what you're getting at," Heinrich said, "and whatever, disagreement, she had with her highness has been sorted out." The baron actually scowled at that. "In fact she's so busy playing knight right now to her highness that I have barely had a chance to speak with her since the Tokyo uprising." And then proceeded to give Lawrence and Eve a very beady look. "She did however find the time to, discuss, matters with your son."

Lawrence covered a cough by pretending to clear his throat while Eve returned the gaze with her usual serenity.

"We are very grateful for what Kallen did," Lawrence said quickly. "Had she not responded to the distress call from Ashford Academy, well, it does not bear thinking."

Heinrich's expression softened, ever so slightly. "Yes. If nothing else, I at least am proud of Kallen standing firm in defense of her friends."

"Speaking of which," Eve said, "might we be seeing more of Kallen? There certainly seems to be a good deal of chemistry between her and Cole."

This time Lawrence was not even mildly successful in covering up the gurgle in his throat whereas Heinrich nearly missed a step. The beady look was back as he regarded Eve.

"We shall see what caliber of man Cole is with respect to _that_ particular matter," the baron said.

"I am sure you will find no cause for complaint for the manner in which we raised our son," Eve responded.

Heinrich blinked for a few moments before his expression became thoughtful. "I am mildly surprised, Eve, that you would not object to Kallen's, adventurousness."

"A lady of good breeding must know when to act and possess the will to do so," Eve responded. "Kallen may be, excessively willful, but it is clear that she has been tempered by her experience. I have full confidence that she will grow into a proper lady." A smile crossed Eve's face. "Call it a woman's intuition."

"The gods save us poor helpless men if we did not have women about with their intuition," Heinrich said with a smirk of his own.

Even Lawrence allowed a chuckle to escape his lips at that. Further quips would however have to wait for another time as the three arrived at the conference room. The presence of the two armsmen indicated that her highness was already present and they wasted no time entering. Sure enough, Euphemia was seated at the front of the table with two of the other attendees also waiting. While as a member of her cabinet Lawrence knew who else would be on the guest list Heinrich raised an eyebrow at the sight of Kaguya Sumeragi. The baron nevertheless made no remark, his attention instead quickly settling on Kallen leaning against the wall, seemingly on guard. After a brief moment Heinrich turned to the princess and bowed.

"Your highness."

"Baron Stadtfeld," Euphemia greeted with a welcoming smile. "It is good to see you again. Please, all of you, be seated where you will."

The three newcomers joined the others, Heinrich electing a seat on the other side of the table. The end result was of course him directly facing the princess, though in all likelihood Heinrich chose that seat because it also allowed him to directly face his daughter. Euphemia gave a bemused smile. Once the others were so accommodated however she began the meeting.

"Thank you all for coming. I have called this meeting to discuss the marshaling of Japan's resources to aid in the prosecution of the war against the Chinese Federation and European Union. Those of you here, while not the whole and sum of the industrial interests in this area, do at least represent a wide breadth of its concerns and I believe can aid me in crafting a policy to allocate and balance the many needs that we will face in the coming years."

The so assembled in this case were, counterclockwise from the princess; Ruben Ashford, seemingly recovered sufficiently from his heart attack to resume at least some of his duties, Kaguya Sumeragi, the young head of the Sumeragi Group and the only member of the now defunct Numbers Administration Council that was not facing charges of high treason, Edward Rochester, her highness' industrial minister, and then Heinrich himself. Next to Heinrich sat Lawrence Kraft, the Exchequer of Area 11, and his wife Fleur von Eiterzental Mariel Kraft, generally called Eve by those that knew the Kraft family with any degree of familiarity. As for why Eve was here, that likely had something to do with the extensive commercial interests she possessed. Like Heinrich Eve was a commodities broker, but her focus was on agricultural and food products, not minerals. Also like Heinrich however Eve likely held a rather disproportionate amount of influence on the local Area 11 markets for a single person. In this case that influence meant Euphemia could simply tap Eve to consult on the food situation in Area 11 and be fairly certain that she would get an accurate accounting without having to reach out to countless individual entities.

"With the commencement of hostilities and Japan's status as an island nation we must take a full accounting of what reserves we possess, of fuel, food, and necessary industrial inputs, and the expected demand as the Empire builds up its forces in the area," Euphemia said. "The general staff intends to use Japan as a staging ground for offensive operations against the Chinese and Russian Federations, which will likely see us absorb upwards of a million or more soldiers, likely even more."

Eve's expression became pensive, a change that did not go unnoticed by Euphemia.

"Is something the matter, Dame Kraft?"

"Please, Eve is fine, your highness," the woman said with a slight smile before her face became serious once more. "And yes, there is a matter of concern. Area-Japan is not self-sufficient in food, your highness, even with the relatively depressed consumption of the Japanese people. If we are to support a significant increase in troop numbers stationed here, we will need to work out the means to feed them."

Euphemia nodded. "Yes, this was raised as a concern during one of the staff meetings. My understanding however is that the agricultural sector of Japan never really recovered after the war, and that a significant amount of arable land is currently laying fallow."

"To an extent," Eve said. "There is certainly room for expansion, but as a mountainous island nation Japan will likely never be actually self-sufficient. The woman's fingers tapped the table in a thoughtful motion. "I can take a look at my records, your highness, and combined with records from your agricultural ministry we can probably come up with some numbers for the untapped agricultural resources and whatever margin will need to be made up from overseas."

The princess nodded before cracking a playful smile. "I don't suppose you would like to take over the agricultural portfolio wholesale, Eve?"

Eyebrows rose all around the table while Eve herself simply returned the smile. "I'm afraid I enjoy myself a bit too much in private industry, your highness."

"Ah, well, a shame," Euphemia said with a feigned sigh. She then looked at the others. "If there is a matter that any of you believe should be brought to our attention, please, do not hesitate to interrupt."

Looks were exchanged and a mixture of hesitant and confident nods answered the princess.

"Then onto the next matter. Baron Rochester, Baron Stadtfeld, how are things looking for the industrial concerns?"

As Rochester's mouth opened an amused chuckle sounded from Heinrich. The industries minister looked over at his friend quizzically but Heinrich shook his head. With a shrug Rochester began again.

"We are already getting inquiries from the various manufacturing and construction firms situated in Japan about meeting any potential needs the military will have. As per your instructions I have contracted two additional firms to assist with the expedited construction of Mitchell Base. At present out stocks of raw materials should see us through the next few months of domestic consumption at least, but until we have firm requests from the military it is impossible to say how long they will actually last."

"I see," Euphemia said, and then she glanced over at Heinrich. "Baron Stadtfeld, any input on this?"

Heinrich rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The good news, your highness, is that the Chinese and Russian Pacific Fleets don't seem terribly interested, yet, in breaking out into the Pacific proper and commencing commerce raiding. That's almost certainly going to change, though at this point I'm more worried about the Russians than the Chinese since the bears have substantially more modern submarines. The bad news is that, the nature of manufacturing being what it is, it will almost certainly be more efficient for the military to ship in finished weapons and ammo than the raw materials. The native manufacturers are going to have to find niches, things that they can gear up to build here that makes more sense building here than building back in the homelands and hauling it over the Pacific."

Rochester grimaced, as clear an indication as any that there was merit to Heinrich's assessment. Euphemia simply nodded.

"Understood. I will discuss the matter with the military staff. Though at present Japan's own industrial concerns are in a degree of chaos with the effective collapse of Kirihara Industries."

This time grimaces appeared all around, not just on those directly impacted like Kaguya or Rochester. Despite being owned and managed by a Number, Kirihara Industries' holdings and concerns were extensive and their unwinding was causing a significant amount of problems all around. The government had stepped in and was doing what it could to keep the concerns running, a lot of Rochester's time was spent seeing after that, but eventually a more permanent solution was needed.

"Excuse me your highness, but you have not selected a chief executive to oversee the company?" Heinrich asked.

Euphemia chuckled mirthlessly. "Finding someone of sufficient integrity, and whom I have not already, enlisted, has proven difficult." The princess raised an eyebrow. "Are you perchance volunteering, baron?"

Heinrich let out a bark of laughter. "Heavens no, your highness. I did have a suggestion, though. Old Man Reinford."

Grunts, snorts, and outright coughs sounded all about the room. In fact the only two people that did not make a sound were Kaguya and Euphemia herself. The princess looked about in mild confusion.

"Reinford? Are you referring to someone from the Reinford Group?"

"Yes your highness," Heinrich said. "Gwyn Reinford, specifically. He was company president until he retired five years ago. I had dinner with him shortly before I returned to Japan and all indications are he's going stir crazy with nothing to occupy his time."

"Five years ago," Euphemia said thoughtfully. "Is that not when the Reinford Group lost the manufacturing contract for knightmares for the military?"

Heinrich smirked. "And how has the rollout of Gloucesters been coming along since then, your highness?"

Euphemia raised an eyebrow but Heinrich was utterly unrepentant for his flippancy. Behind the princess Kallen rolled her eyes at her father's behavior. Long ignored memories were surfacing and Kallen could confirm, yes, her father was always this way. It was a wonder her mother put up with him long enough to marry him.

"Would he actually be willing to accept a position to reorganize Kirihara Industries?" Euphemia said, staying on topic.

"Probably. Gwyn didn't really want to retire, but the board basically forced him out using the excuse of the lost knightmare contract."

"Very well then," Euphemia said and then looked about. "Does anyone have any reservations about extending Sir Reinford an offer?"

Heads shook all about though interestingly there was a pensive look on several faces as well. No one was offering to share just why they were reacting this way and as far as Euphemia could tell none of them actually thought having Gwyn take charge of Kirihara Industries was a bad idea. For now that was good enough.

"Are you acquainted with Sir Reinford as well, Baron Rochester?"

"Yes your highness," the baron nodded.

"Then please extend an invitation to him to oversee the restructuring of Kirihara Industries."

"Understood, your highness."

Heinrich leaned over towards Rochester and uttered in a low whisper. "Offer to have a few geishas amongst his staff and he'll jump at the chance."

A cough escaped Rochester but he kept his face otherwise expressionless when Euphemia looked over. Heinrich similarly feigned innocence even though a twinkle was visible in his eye. Kallen, having heard with perfect clarity, shot her father a disapproving look. Hopefully he would take the rest of the meeting more seriously and not tempt her to give him a good thumping afterward. Then again this was her father and he looked like he was genuinely enjoying himself. Men, Kallen decided, were utterly inexplicable creatures. Hopefully Cole would take more after his mother. And then Kallen noticed the expectant gaze she was receiving from the woman in question. Then again, maybe she should not be wishing for that after all. The rest of the meeting promised to feel very long, what with the collection of personalities present.

* * *

Lloyd grumbled as he and Cécile surveyed the damage to the ASEEC's hanger. Though it was not hit in the initial bombardment by the French cruise missiles the hijacked Gawain had specifically targeted it, likely in an attempt to kill the staff responsible for producing the Lancelot and destroying the tools used in white knightmare's construction. Even though the majority of the staff managed to survive and, not counting the subverted technicians, were cleared by the Knight of Twelve as above suspicion, it would be some time before they were in a position to continue their work.

"How long before we can have the hanger cleared out?" Lloyd complained. "And there is so much equipment that we need to requisition or have shipped in from the homelands."

"Priority is on the repairs needed to return the base to full operational capacity and to receive the reinforcements that will be arriving shortly," Cécile said blandly. "It will be at least a week if not longer before new space can be allocated for us."

Her own mind was distracted by other things, like trying to piece the questions Monica had asked into a coherent picture of where the investigation was headed. Cécile's attempts to find out more were roundly rebuffed, not surprising seeing as she was directly involved with the suspects under investigation, and the woman's frustration at being kept in the dark was considerable.

"Hmm, perhaps I could arrange to examine that red knightmare," Lloyd muttered aloud.

Cécile's ears perked and she looked down at the man in his wheelchair. "The red knightmare?"

"You know, the one that managed to defeat my Lancelot," Lloyd said nonchalantly. "I am surprised that the Elevens could have come up with a knightmare that could match my masterpiece, but if they did it warrants examination."

Cécile ground her teeth. "You want to, examine, the knightmare that killed Suzaku."

The red knightmare might not have delivered the killing blow, but it certainly sealed his fate, leaving the young man dead in mind and spirit if not in body.

The earl looked up at Cécile with a raised eyebrow. "I am an engineer, my dear. If someone has managed to create something of higher caliber than myself, my curiosity will only be satisfied when I have a chance to determine how they surpassed me."

"And it does not matter to you in the least that their demonstration of superiority cost our pilot his life?" Cécile said bitingly.

"Hmm, yes, that is regrettable," Lloyd said. "Finding another devicer of Suzaku's acumen and skill will be difficult. Though there were those two Brigade Cadets that just arrived from the homeland. Perhaps one of them will do."

It took considerable effort for Cécile not to verbally tear Lloyd's head off for his seeming indifference. The problem however that there was nothing seeming about it, the earl really was that apathetic to human life, to him Suzaku's value came from his ability to pilot the Lancelot and any gratitude or consideration Lloyd might have held for the young man was centered solely around that fact. This was something Cécile had known about the earl for a very long time now, seeing as Lloyd was working on his doctorate when she herself first entered the mechanical engineering program at the polytechnic university in Cambridge and she ended up with him as a supervising teaching assistant.

The man was utterly dedicated to his work and there was little doubt of his brilliance. The problem was his almost complete lack of concern for the human cost of his work, whether it be the risks test pilots took in his machines or the ultimate result when the Empire deployed the fruits of Lloyd's research and development into the field against its enemies. Even the factory workers that assembled the knightmares and tanks for the army could at least recognize that what they were building were weapons of war intended to take the lives of others. Lloyd though, all he saw was the engineering challenge of creating a faster, stronger, and better machine.

Cécile had thought that her presence would ensure that Lloyd's obsession would be tempered to an extent, and that she could make the earl take seriously considerations such as user safety. It was why, in some ways, she was almost glad when Suzaku was defeated and Fuchu and she gained the assistance of General Darlton to ram down Lloyd's throat the redesign necessary to give Lancelot a proper ejection system. Now though, all that effort seemed for naught with Suzaku dead. Cécile frowned.

Kallen Stadtfeld, the Red Knight, the leader of the Akatsuki and a fellow classmate at Ashford Academy. Now that the girl's secret was out the court martial that Suzaku was subject to was starting to make sense. Suzaku had discovered her secret, and not told his superiors. And in return she killed him during the Battle of Tokyo. The frown turned into an outright scowl.

"Yes, let us see if we can arrange to examine the red knightmare," Cécile said aloud.

Lloyd looked up at the woman. As tone deaf as he was to things like common courtesy even he could pick out the strange inflections in the captain's voice.

"Cécile?"

The woman looked down at him again. "We will need to request permission from her highness' knight for any such examination, the first step of which is to determine her availability. I will see to it immediately."

Cécile spun about and began heading back towards the temporary offices assigned to the ASEEC, her mind already focused on her next course of action. Lloyd gaped at her for a few moments before blinking rapidly.

"Hey, wait, Cécile! Help push me back! Cécile!?"

End of Chapter 51

Hmm? Armstrong did tear off his shirt during the training scene.

The 3D maneuver gear as shown in Attack on Titan would not be very effective weapons in a modern/contemporary setting. The primary issue is that all it would take is for a soldier to even clip one of the users with a rifle shot and said user would probably end up plastered over the pavement or walls because they would lose control and conservation of momentum would exert itself. While the gear would allow for a significant amount of maneuverability, the difficulty of using it effectively, especially when the enemy has ranged weapons, means it is highly improbable that you could train enough users to actually make a difference in the large scale battle. There is also the fact that the gear isn't set up to be used with ranged weapons themselves, which is a pretty big problem.

The other issue is that 3D gear users would face the same problem as regular infantry in trying to take down armored units like knightmares, namely the difficulty of actually cracking the enemy armor. We saw in the Titan manga they created what were effectively point blank range anti-armor bazookas, and to even use those it was noted they had to be positioned just right. In general while the 3D gear is an interesting idea, it's a solution to a very specific problem that doesn't translate well to fighting any semi-realistic modern weapon, or, really, a modern assault rifle. As tactically useful as the maneuverability is, in all likelihood for it to be put into actual use a military would want a system that achieved that maneuverability without needing basically superhuman levels of reflexes and etc.

If anyone is wondering why I'm even bringing this up, I'm basically responding to a comment in one of the reviews from last chapter. Yes, I do read them.

If anyone has read up on the German preparations for Operation Barbarossa then the opening snippet probably sounds just a tiny bit familiar. Granted the Europeans will get their act together, but whether that will make a difference or not, well, you'll see. Also slipped in tons of Easter eggs into the snippet for those inclined.

We're almost at the point where I can start picking up the pace. I'm aiming for Lelouch to show up again next chapter for those that have missed him. And a remarkable number of you do seem to miss him, despite the fact that he's pretty much an unrepentant murderer in this story.

It's going to be interesting as the story progresses. I've been trying very hard to capture the, emotional depth that results from all the things that have been happening. I suppose at this point I already have a few tearjerker scenes, but there are more in the pipeline that I'm pretty confident will surpass what's already happened. There is a world war going on, after all, and there will be a lot of people dying as a consequence. A lot of people have already died for that matter. WWII saw about 60-80 million dead. Suffice it to say, if the Britannian Empire succeeds in landing forces on mainland Asia and Europe, the death toll is going to climb very, very quickly.


	53. Chapter 52

_Nominally a single nation, the Chinese Federation therefore officially had a fully standardized military. While this was mostly true, all infantry in the Chinese military was issued the same rifle and kit, there were only two tank designs in use, and the air force and navy fielded a limited and consistent set of planes and warships, the level of cooperation between the individual military regions was minimal. Plans existed for nationwide mobilization, but few exercises were ever actually carried out to test the operational validity or proficiency in joint operations. As a consequence when the conflict with Britannia commenced about the only thing agreed upon by the Guangzhou military region responsible for the Philippines offensive and the Nanjing military region responsible for the Japan offensive was timing. No provisions were made for either region to reinforce the other should one find itself in difficulty, or for that matter the transfer of assets from other regions to support the operations. The result was that in the immediate aftermath of the Nanjing region forces being repulsed from Okinawa, the Chinese Federation found itself unable to mount a second landing attempt. Coordination of its forces would remain a perennial problem for the Chinese Federation throughout the war and only its sheer size prevented the Britannian military from executing a decisive strike against it._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 52

Nemo est supra legem

Kallen gazed up at the knightmares as they were locked into place, all three of them. There had been a lot of grumbling but Tohdoh and his Swords ultimately agreed to surrender custody of their remaining Burais to Kallen. Euphemia also kept her word, allocating a warehouse and assigning a contingent of the 100th infantry battalion to keep it secure. They were fairly deep within the Concession, that was actually inevitable since the only place with warehouses that could be commandeered was by the harbor, but thus far Kallen had not had any difficulty getting access made available to the former JLF soldiers and to Rakshata and her team. And a few Akatsuki members for that matter.

"This, still feels weird," Ohgi said beside her, "if I'm being perfectly honest."

"That it does," Kallen agreed. "And yet, there's quite a bit of room for optimism."

"I suppose there is," Ohgi said with a slight smile.

"How are things on your end?" Kallen asked. "Any more grumbling?"

"Some," Ohgi answered frankly. "As much as I hate to say it though, the war is actually helping some. No one is under any illusions that the Chinese or Russians launched their attacks for the purpose of liberating Japan."

"And I'm sure a lot of people also think that Britannia isn't defending Japan out of the goodness of its heart either," Kallen said dryly.

"No, it isn't," Ohgi agreed. "But we are akin to ants caught between giants. They could crush is without even noticing what they're doing, it wouldn't even necessarily have to be something they're intentionally setting out to do. Better though that they do notice us, and that we give them a reason not to crush us, even if they could."

"It certainly is a thin line," Kallen remarked. "We are in effect collaborating, something I never thought we'd end up doing. And yet that doesn't necessarily make us traitors to our people, and there are worse things." The girl sighed. "Well, since we are where we are, we better not screw it up."

Kallen walked over to the Indian engineer, who was busy snapping out orders. A lot of the tools and equipment were from the Sumeragi Group and it was enough to keep things running. The possibility of getting access to Britannian equipment was opening up all sorts of interesting options however.

"Doctor," Kallen addressed the woman.

Rakshata looked over at her and cracked a smile. "Well, while I won't ever claim the Sumeragi were stingy, it is nice to have access to a proper supply chain and be able to requisition parts without having to wait for them to be passed through the black market."

Kallen chuckled wirily. "Try not to break the bank, doctor. Her highness was an Exchequer auditor after all, and the last thing we want is to have her decide our numbers don't add up."

"Believe me Kallen," Rakshata said dryly. "Balancing the budget is something that I have had to do far too many times over my career. Still, access to the latest in Britannian hardware will allow me to greatly improve my child, assuming of course the military does not become overly obstinate about sharing."

Kallen chuckled. That was still a distinct possibility. After all Rakshata was a foreigner and Kallen herself likely did not have that good of a reputation with the wider military after her run as the Red Knight, if only because of how often she embarrassed them by doing their job for them.

"Speaking of improvements," Kallen said, "any thoughts about extending the Guren's range?"

Rakshata tapped her pipe thoughtfully. "The surger is what it is, there is no magical way of making it a long range weapon. Similarly the magazine size for the autocannon will always be constrained by the fact that the cannon is built into the arm. I could however remove the cannon outright and provide you with an arm sturdy enough to fire a standard knightmare rifle without needing both hands."

"That'd work," Kallen said. "That way I can at least make use of the standard complement of weapons more easily."

"I'll see about it," Rakshata said.

"Do you expect to need to use the Guren again?" Ohgi asked as he joined them.

A shrug. "Who knows. Japan is more or less on the frontlines of the war, and it's not impossible that the Chinese or Russians will land more troops. If they do manage to hit Tokyo, I want to be ready."

That was true enough, Ohgi knew. It was almost ironic, that just when they were starting to make some headway with the Britannians a new threat would arise. No, no almost about it, it was deeply ironic that he was actually rooting for Britannia to win this war, if only because he and much of Japan had effectively thrown their lot in with the Princess Euphemia.

"Ma'am."

Kallen turned about to face one of the Honorary Britannian soldiers.

"Two calls just came in for you, ma'am," the soldier reported. "One is from Colonel Cassius Bright of the gendarmerie, though it seems he is in fact trying to reach Commander Ohgi, and the other is from a Captain Cécile Croomy of the Camelot Institute. She is specifically asking for you."

"Cécile?" Rakshata said quizzically before Kallen or Ohgi could respond.

"Do you know her?" Kallen asked.

"She was a new student when I was pursuing my doctorate," Rakshata said. "Good head on her shoulders, possessed an intuitive grasp of electrical control systems."

"Camelot," Kallen said thoughtfully. "Isn't that what the ASEEC is part of?"

"Indeed," Rakshata said. "I wondered how long it would take them to start sniffing around my child."

"Is that going to be a problem, doctor?"

Rakshata looked back over at the Guren for several moments. She then looked at Kallen and shook her head.

"I will permit Cécile to examine my child, but the Earl of Pudding goes nowhere near her."

"Umm, okay," Kallen said before turning back to the soldier. "I'll take the call from Captain Croomy myself and Ohgi can do the same for Colonel Bright."

"Yes ma'am," the soldier said. "This way."

Not that Kallen needed to be shown where the phones were, but it would probably help to know who was calling in on which line. Once they arrived at the main office the two were each handed a receiver.

"This is Lieutenant Stadtfeld," Kallen greeted formally. "How may I help you, Captain Croomy?"

"Good day lieutenant," a cool and clear voice sounded on the other end. "As you are likely already aware, I am a representative of the Advanced Special Envoy Engineering Corps. Your knightmare, the Guren, has caused quite a stir amongst our staff and we were wondering if we might be allowed to examine it."

The captain was being remarkably polite with her request. Then again technically the Guren was under the authority of the Princess Euphemia, so it was not like the ASEEC could actually demand access to the knightmare. There was something else about the woman's tone however, an inflection that sounded just the teeniest bit off to Kallen.

"Is examining the Guren all the ASEEC is interested in doing, captain?" Kallen asked.

There was a brief pause before Cécile responded.

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand?"

The uneven tone was even more evident now. Kallen spent a brief moment wondering whether she always possessed the ability to pick these up even with the filtered and transmitted voice on a phone call, or if her powers were growing again. She quickly pushed those thoughts aside to focus on the matter at hand.

"The ASEEC also developed the Lancelot that I defeated during the Battle of Tokyo. Am I supposed to believe that your interest in the Guren is not based on that?"

It was not a farfetched conclusion and Kallen did not really mean anything by openly asserting it. If nothing else she wanted to see just how honestly the ASEEC members would treat with her. The long silence that followed however quickly made clear that she had seemingly struck some kind of nerve.

"Lieutenant, I do not believe a secure line has yet been established for your facility," Cécile finally said. "Matters of this nature really should be discussed in person. Are you amiable to that?"

Kallen raised an eyebrow, not that the other woman could see. "I am."

"Then what would be an opportune time for you?"

That was also a good question. Just getting the time to come over here and make sure everything was going okay with the Guren required shuffling her schedule about, the training regimen for armsmen was utterly relentless.

"I shall actually have to see," Kallen said. "What's a way for me to get in touch with you?"

Another pause. Either that was not the response the captain wanted or she herself was trying to figure out the correct line of communication. A moment later however Cécile provided Kallen with a number to a secured line that she could contact, with instructions that Kallen needed to also call in from a secure line to close the loop. There were probably tones of those in the palace though Kallen made a mental note to make sure. That done she hung up, and saw that Ohgi was still talking on the phone. For a moment Kallen was tempted to listen in, her geass would have easily allowed her to do so, but she restrained herself. The geass was a powerful tool, true, but she could not allow it to become a crutch. And besides, if it was something she should know Ohgi would tell her himself.

When the second phone call ended Kallen nodded to the man. "So what did the colonel want?"

"Umm, well, he proposed that the Akatsuki and the gendarmerie cross train," Ohgi said.

Kallen stared at him for a few moments. "Wait, what?"

"The colonel said that since we are both charged with law enforcement in Tokyo, it would be best that we synchronize to a degree so that there aren't wildly divergent procedures inside and outside the Concessions," Ohgi said. "He also suggested, well, it might be helpful for us to run a kind of exchange program, have officers that can act as liaisons in case of joint operations or just to provide advice in situations where we deal with Britannians or they're dealing with Japanese."

"Really?"

"Well, that's what he said. I've scheduled a meeting where we're supposed to hash out some of the details and figure out what needs to be done to make the idea work."

"Colonel Cassius Bright," Kallen said thoughtfully. "Huh. I believe he's newly transferred from the homeland and is the new commanding officer of the gendarmerie. Well, he certainly seems to be hitting the ground running."

"Indeed," Ohgi agreed. "And he's reaching out to us, instead of trying to pretend we don't exist or brushing us aside. That's, unusual to say the least."

"I wonder if the princess had anything to do with this," Kallen mused. "Well, do keep me updated on how it goes. I can't claim any degree of optimism, but the more Akatsuki solidifies itself as a formal institution the harder it will be for the Britannians to try to roll back our advances."

"I'll do that," Ohgi assured her. "Anyway, I need to get going. There's already a lot of work to be done, now with this on my plate things are going to be even busier."

Kallen smiled and nodded. "Alright. I'll let you know if anything happens on my end as well."

Ohgi gave the young woman a pat on the soldier and took his leave. As she watched him go Kallen considered the ramifications of what the gendarmerie colonel was offering. Actual, genuine cooperation between his forces and Akatsuki. It almost sounded surreal. If only more Britannians could have thought like that, maybe the Empire would not have been such a bad place. And then a thought occurred to Kallen. She walked out of the office and approached one of the guards.

"Private."

The soldier stiffened. "Ma'am!"

"At ease," Kallen said, "I just had a quick question. Do you know of a Private Mikasa Ackermann? She's part of beta company."

"I, know of her ma'am," the soldier said, "but I can't say I actually know her. She's Lieutenant Ackermann's cousin, on her father's side."

"Lieutenant Ackermann?" Kallen said quizzically.

"Yes ma'am, Lieutenant Levingston Ackermann, he's the CO of third platoon, Charlie company."

"I see," Kallen said thoughtfully. "Thank you private."

"Ma'am."

As Kallen walked away she pondered the tidbit. Relatives serving in the same unit were fairly rare, if only to avoid the risk of personal entanglements getting in the way of operational efficiency. And yet two Mikasa apparently had a cousin serving as a platoon commander in the 100th infantry battalion. True the lieutenant's own platoon was in an entirely different company, but that was still fairly close. Perhaps he could help Kallen understand just why Mikasa was so standoffish. Kallen added another item to her ever increasing to-do list. Maybe one of these days it would actually start decreasing in length.

* * *

Shortly after Britannia's conquest of Japan, its navy determined that a major shift in technology would soon render much of its current vessels potentially obsolete. The Japanese, despite being severely outnumbered and outgunned, had put on a surprisingly stiff resistance thanks to their usage of long range missiles. At the time the Britannian navy still relied on large caliber guns which, while powerful, fell well short of the range offered by a missile. In fact save for the largest guns mounted on the Empire's battleships, they fell short of the destructive power of missiles as well. As a result a crash program was initiated to convert as much of the navy to be able to employ missiles as possible. An entirely new generation of destroyers and cruisers was laid down, their electronics significantly upgraded to support engaging enemies at the new extended ranges, and the Empire proceeded to retire or put into the reserve the older generation of warships as quickly as the new ones could be commissioned.

That was not to say Britannia completely forwent conventional guns. All of the ships retained at least a single turret in the case an enemy managed to close into range and point defenses were beefed up considerably to deal with the expected increase in lethality of enemy ships once other nations also caught up. And the four newest battleships, the massive Iowa-class that possessed guns able to match, and in some cases surpass, the destructive power of modern missiles were kept in commission just in case. It helped immensely that these battleships were fast enough to keep pace with the new fleet and their heavy armor, designed to trade blows with similarly equipped enemy warships, were also able to withstand modern missiles.

Britannia's would-be enemies had not of course simply twiddled their thumbs as the Empire effectively rebuilt its fleet. The German response to the increased lethality of the Britannian Navy was to invest even more in its U-boat program, producing a series of electric diesel submarines that were almost completely silent when running on batteries. The French and Russians elected to try to match the Empire's surface combatants and five years ago began laying down their own missile ships. Their transition however was still in progress however, so the naval forces arrayed against the Empire were a mixture of new-build missile cruisers and older gun heavy ships. The Chinese were even more behind in their modernization program, with only three guided missile cruisers in commission when war broke out. On the other hand they did possess a very large number of older ships which, despite their more limited range and destructive capacity, were still warships and able to put up a dogged fight. If they survived to range on their Britannian counterparts.

The Russian Pacific Fleet was actually less up to date with respect to its numbers, the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets having received priority for the newer ships. It did still have some modern units and the sheer size of its surface combatants would still have given any potential adversary pause. In fact it had given the Britannian Seventh Fleet pause, seeing as they were outnumbered something like three to one. The Britannian solution to this disparity was however to engage the Russians on their own terms, and proceeded to launch waves of missile and air strikes from well outside the range of their targets.

The Russian fleet commander was no fool by any measure and immediately grasped what his opponents were trying to do. In order to engage the Britannians he would have to move his fleet away from the northern tip of Hokkaido and potentially leave the forces on the ground without fire support. That fire support was sorely needed however as the Britannian armored division was pressing hard with air support of their own. If he chased after the Britannian taskforce, the soldiers he was supposed to support might well be overrun.

The decision the admiral settled upon was relatively reasonable considering his tactical disposition. He outnumbered the Britannians significantly and so did not need to bring his entire fleet to bear to engage the enemy. And once he was able to range on the Britannians, the significantly heavier guns on his ships should provide a decisive advantage. And so the admiral split his forces in half, keeping the _Minsk_ with the force that remained to support the ground forces, and moved the rest to engage the Britannian taskforce.

The plan might have even worked, save for the fact that the Britannians were expecting it. And having expected it, they had prepared a trap to decisively defeat it. Aware that the balance of numbers might yet tip the advantage in their enemy's favor even with their technological advantage, the Britannians had elected to strip off every missile equipped destroyer from the Third Fleet taskforce steaming towards Area 11 and sent them on ahead. This left the rest of the carrier taskforce hideously vulnerable to say a submarine attack, but the risk was judged manageable. As such when the two sides met the Russians found themselves out significantly outnumbering the Britannian forces like they thought they would, but facing a force that was almost at parity. And then there was the _Missouri_.

The battleship onboard where the formal instruments of surrender were signed when Japan capitulated, the _Missouri_ was one of the four big gun warships still left in active service. Its 16-inch guns eclipsed the destructive power of all but the largest of the Empire's cruise missiles and its armor meant it could shrug aside the fire from lesser vessels with almost contemptuous ease. Then there was the not trivial task of actually getting close enough to even fire on the battleship, something the range of its own guns made just a tad difficult.

With the _Missouri_ acting as a vanguard and shield protecting the more lightly armored and gunned guided missile destroyers and cruisers, the Russian fleet found itself caught within a pincer maneuver and thoroughly savaged. Of the ships that engaged the Britannians, only three destroyers were able to escape. All the others were either destroyed outright or forced to surrender. The remaining ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet, suddenly finding themselves facing a much stronger Britannian fleet, were forced to withdraw and leave the ground troops stranded in Hokkaido. The next day they too capitulated, ending the immediate threat to the Empire's control over Area 11 and the opening round of the Pacific component of the Great War.

* * *

A knock sounded and Euphemia looked up from her sitting table. The princess was officially supposed to be resting in her bedroom, but at this point no one even bothered to pretend that was what she was doing in here.

"Enter."

The door opened to reveal Cornelia. Her sister gave Euphemia a resigned smile as she walked over.

"You are supposed to be resting, Euphie."

Almost no one pretended. Euphemia gave her best guilty smile, though she doubted it fooled her sister for a moment.

"I am resting," Euphemia said instead, waving at the thin stack of paper before her. "See? I am barely doing anything at all."

Cornelia shook her head ruefully and gave her sister an affectionate pat on the head.

"One of these days I will make you take a vacation, Euphie," she said with a wiry smile.

"Only if you yourself join me on it," Euphemia replied.

Cornelia chuckled. "Oh I intend to." Her expression quickly became somber. "I will be leaving for Pendragon within the hour. Victor will be going with me, but the reinforcements he brought will stay here and watch over you."

Euphemia blinked. "That soon? You should have told me earlier, I would have-"

"Arranged to come see me off, I know," Cornelia said. She then pulled her sister into a tight embrace. "Consider this me saving you the trouble."

"It would never be any trouble," Euphemia said, returning the hug.

The two remained together for several moments before releasing each other.

"I wish you could have seen Nunnally before you left," Euphemia said.

A pained look crossed Cornelia's expression. "I as well. But we both know that if too much attention is drawn to the Ashfords, she would only be placed in danger again."

"Would that the world was not so callous," Euphemia said.

Cornelia caressed Euphemia once more. "Give her my love, Euphie. And tell her that one day we shall welcome her back as the sister she is to us."

The younger girl nodded. "I know."

Cornelia took a deep breath. "I still do not agree with your knighting of Kallen Stadtfeld. I understand what it is you seek, and I pray to the gods that you succeed, but I still do not believe her to be worth the risk."

Euphemia nodded understandingly. "I know, sister. And I thank you for not forcing the issue."

"If I thought forcing the issue would do any good," Cornelia said dryly before shaking her head. "Do not grant her any allowance that you would not grant any of your other vassals, Euphie, that is all I will ask."

"I will ask no less of Kallen than any of my other armsmen," Euphie assured her sister.

Cornelia nodded. "Good."

The woman straightened, but before she could say anything else another knock sounded. Both sisters looked over and Euphemia raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?" she called.

The door opened and one of Euphemia's armsman stood at the threshold. "Apologies your highnesses, but Colonel Bright is on the line and is requesting to speak with the Princess Euphemia. He says the matter is very urgent."

Euphemia frowned. That did not sound promising. She looked up apologetically at Cornelia but her sister gave her an understanding smile.

"Duty calls as always," she said, giving Euphie one last hug. "When next you return to Pendragon, I shall see you welcomed with the distinction that you rightly deserve."

"A nice quiet family dinner would do just as well," Euphemia assured her sister.

The sisters parted once more and Euphemia watched as Cornelia took her leave. A part of her ached at the sight, another understood that this was the way it had to be. The Empire was at war and her sister needed to be at Pendragon to lead Britannia in it. Just as she needed to remain in Area 11 to see the territory and its people through their share of the conflict. Euphemia took a deep breath. This would not be easy. By the gods, it would not be easy.

Once Cornelia was gone she nodded to her armsman once more.

"Is the colonel calling in via radio or phone?"

"Phone your highness," the armsman said. "Secure line 3."

"Thank you private," Euphemia said.

The soldier clicked his heels at the dismissal and closed the door behind him. Euphemia picked up the receiver and connected to the line.

"Colonel Bright," she addressed.

"Your highness," the response came immediately. "My apologies but something urgent has emerged."

"Then let us dispense with the pleasantries," Euphemia said.

"Yes your highness. The gendarmerie has been assisting with the cleanup of the Concession and examination of districts hit during the uprising. In the process we discovered something extremely disturbing at the Babel Tower casino and hotel."

Euphemia frowned. Babel Tower was something of a misnomer, the combination casino and hotel was actually several buildings connected to each other, though the tallest one did qualify as a skyscraper in its own right. It was the largest casino in Area 11, a playground for the idle rich and relatively well to do. It was also something of an open secret that for the right price one could go there to have baser desires fulfilled, not surprising given Babel was located in the former Yoshiwara district. Euphemia had, while not exactly ignored the place, placed it relatively lower in her priorities due to all the other demands on her attention and time. Perhaps that was a mistake.

"Babel was hit as part of the attack," Cassius continued, "though that was probably entirely incidental. The fighting however really tore up the gardens and when the gendarmerie showed up to survey the damage, Babel's management was absolutely adamant about denying us access to the grounds. We, kind of forced our way in, and found what looks to be a mass grave, your highness."

The frown turned into something else entirely. "A what!?"

"We're still pulling bodies out, your highness. A lot of them, all that's left are bones that look like they were cremated, but there were a number of more recent bodies. Dozens of them in fact, that looked like they were dumped in a hurry. And the coroner's report indicates that all of them were female."

Euphemia's knuckles were starting to go white with how tightly she was gripping the phone.

"And what other conclusions was the coroner able to draw?" Euphemia asked in a completely flat tone.

"We're still waiting for results from the toxicology lab, your highness," Cassius said, "but, one of the managers, panicked and confessed. The, women were apparently all drug addicts, and, were basically sold into servitude to pay for their addictions."

Euphemia's breathing was remarkably level. Her heartrate was also steady with no sign of elevation. Her tone however carried with it the chill of Niflheim.

"Colonel. I will require that this investigation have no flaws, leave no trace of doubt, and provide no avenues by which those implicated in this crime might escape accountability and judgment."

"We have locked down the entire site and taken those staff that we could find into custody, your highness," Cassius said. "I assure you, we will not leave a single stone unturned in our investigation."

"See that is so, colonel," Euphemia commanded.

Without another word the princess set the receiver down. She sat there for several seconds, letting the fury within her burn until it reached a level wherein it more resembled a frozen serenity than a fiery storm. The princess picked up the phone once more.

"Get me Sir Finch," she ordered.

There was more work to do to ensure the full weight of justice would be meted.

* * *

The special military train on the last leg of their journey to Paris was ungodly uncomfortable. It was designed primarily for moving large numbers of personnel and munitions and so spared such civilian niceties as cushioned seats and leg room. That Lelouch and Charlotte were able to get a private cabin at all was basically a stroke of luck, as Lelouch was disinclined to use his geass for such trivial matters. Either way it was with some relief that the two disembarked, and found themselves met by a most unexpected sight. The two soldiers came to attention immediately.

"Marshal Juin," Lelouch greeted. "This is an unexpected honor."

Alphonse's mustache twitched as the elderly man smiled. "I had an inspection tour of the mobilization efforts and thought it might be an opportune surprise. Welcome back, Lieutenant Lamperouge, Lieutenant Dunois."

"Thank you sir," Lelouch said. "It's good to be back."

"Walk with me," Alphonse said.

Lelouch fell in step next to the marshal while Charlotte trailed behind the two.

"Unfortunate that the operation in Japan did not go as planned," Alphonse remarked. "Who would have thought so many resistance cells would openly side with their oppressors."

"Indeed," Lelouch agreed. "Euphemia's charisma was quite the unexpected wrench in the works. Perhaps I should have invested more effort in eliminating her, but what is done is done." A beat followed. "Any news on Captain Devigny?"

"The last message he managed to get out indicated he would try to escape the country," Alphonse said. "With the war having broken out and the fact that Japan is an island nation, well, I can but pray for his success."

Lelouch nodded. And even if the good captain was captured the failsafe should ensure he would spill no secrets.

"I suppose that is all we can do," Lelouch said. "How are the Russians taking the failure of the Hokkaido landing?"

"Grumpily," Alphonse answered. "They understood it was a long shot and that it depended heavily on the JLF actually tying the Britannians down in Tokyo long enough for them to seize a port, but losing half of their Pacific Fleet like that in a single engagement stung pretty hard. For that matter unless the Chinese pull through with their Philippines campaign we might well lose control of the Pacific and Indian Oceans to the Britannians."

Lelouch pursed his lips. "I must admit, I'm surprised things took such a downturn so quickly."

"We're far from out of the fight," Alphonse assured Lelouch. "The Russians are making noise about transferring their Baltic Fleet over to the Pacific, via the Arctic Ocean."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that rather risky?"

"Very," Alphonse agreed. "There's talk of attempting it this year but time is probably against them. The earliest reasonable departure date would be next spring or summer."

Lelouch nodded. "Hopefully the far east front will not have collapsed by then."

"All indications are the Empire will need at least that much time to marshal their own forces for any sort of offensive operation," Alphonse said. "And the time should also give the Russians an opportunity to increase the size of the fleet that will make the voyage." The marshal cracked a slight smile. "And it's not all bad news. We've made good headway against the Britannians in the Middle East, Baghdad fell yesterday and we were able to run down the forces trying to withdraw from it. At this point the Empire has lost a good half of the forces they had stationed there and if we can keep up the pressure we might succeed in ejecting them outright."

"Promising," Lelouch said. "If you can push the Britannian Fifth Fleet out as well, then the Empire really will be feeling the pressure."

"So we hope. But our progress on that front will have little to do with your own immediate concerns."

To that Lelouch made no immediate response. The two emerged outside and walked down to a waiting car. Charlotte got into the front seat while Lelouch and Alphonse climbed into the back. Only after the door closed did the conversation resume.

"Preparations are then complete for my insertion into the homelands?"

A nod. "What do you know of the Swords of Michael?"

"Christian dissident group in Britannia," Lelouch said. "Responsible for several terrorist bombings over the past decade. Remarkably well equipped and disciplined, some suspect that they are being backed by a faction at court to stir up trouble." The former prince smirked. "The SDECE also funnels resources to them."

"Correct," Alphonse said. "While we cannot claim any sort of firm control over the group, we do have enough sway that you can be inserted into their organization. From there it will be up to you to reforge the group into the instrument necessary for fulfilling your mission."

"And that mission would be?"

"Ideally, the decapitation of the Britannian court," Alphonse said. "Kill as many of the senior members of the imperial family as you can. The power vacuum that emerges would seriously undermine the Empire's cohesion and thus their warfighting capabilities."

Lelouch hmmed. "That will not be easy."

The marshal snorted. "Were it I would not have given the assignment to you."

That was not entirely true, but Lelouch made no comment in that regard.

"I presume my SDECE superiors will have the full details for me?" Lelouch asked instead.

Alphonse nodded. "We'll give you a few days to rest from your Japanese sojourn first of course."

"That won't be necessary, we can-"

A very loud clearing of the throat sounded from the front and both men directed their gaze forward. Charlotte however remained perfectly still, eyes front. Lelouch smiled wirily.

"A week should be sufficient," he said.

Alphonse's eyes twinkled in bemusement. "I am sure. Well, be sure to at least enjoy the downtime, God knows when you'll have any more."

"You might be surprised at how much sitting around we do while on a field assignment," Lelouch said with a chuckle.

The car came to a stop in front of a nondescript apartment complex and Lelouch and Charlotte climbed out.

"Thank you for the ride, marshal," Lelouch said.

Alphonse dipped his head. "Continue to serve France well, Lieutenant Lamperouge, and she will see you taken care of in turn."

The car drove off, leaving the two by the roadside.

"Taken care of indeed," Lelouch said dryly before extending an arm to Charlotte. "Well, shall we?"

The young woman hooked her arm around Lelouch's and nodded and the two proceeded into the apartments. Only a few others lived in the relatively small complex, all of them here because Lelouch wanted them close at hand. In fact as the two entered the lobby they found the other residents all waiting for them. A long silver haired girl with a patch over her left eye immediately stepped forth and planted herself before Lelouch and Charlotte.

"You're late!" she declared, finger pointing straight at the two. "You were supposed to be here at 0900 sharp!"

Charlotte let out a chipper laugh and detached herself from Lelouch to give the other girl a hug. "It's good to see you too Laura."

Lelouch chuckled in turn and gave the girl a pat on the head even as Charlotte continued cuddling her.

"Were the rest of us as punctual as you Germans, Ms. Bodewig, the world would not be so disorderly a place."

Laura hmphed even as a faint blush colored her cheeks. Lelouch looked over at the others and nodded.

"It is good to see all of you again."

"Good to have you back with us boss," a tall, well built youth said.

As if to give lie to that statement the two other women present, a blond and another girl with silver hair, though much shorter than Laura's, actually yawned. Lelouch let out another chuckle at the sight.

"It looks like Annie and Fie might think otherwise," he said playfully.

"Well you know how they are, always staying up late partying all night," the young man said jokingly, "no sense of restra-eck."

His lines cut off as a fist buried itself in his side.

"That's enough nonsense out of you Reiner," the blond haired girl said.

"That's our Annie," the short haired girl said in a deadpan tone. "Merciless as ever."

"And what of yourself Fie?" Lelouch said. "You certainly don't hold back the bite."

"I thought you said I needed to stop holding back," came Fie's response.

Lelouch let out a bark of laughter and gave Fie a pat on the head as well. "Well said, well said indeed."

The last of the youths walked over to Charlotte, who still had yet to let Laura go.

"Did you need any help with your luggage?"

"Ah, no thanks Bertolt," Charlotte said. "We traveled light. Oh! But I was still able to get some souvenirs for all of you."

"That was very thoughtful of you, thank you."

Charlotte flashed a grin, finally releasing Laura. "We should all go out for dinner. The restaurants are still open, right?"

"Sort of," Reiner said. "There's talk of rationing being instituted soon but it hasn't really started yet."

"Then we should go while the getting is good," Charlotte said.

"Fine by me," Lelouch said with a smile before his expression became somber. "Still, business before pleasure. There have been no problems in our absence?"

"Nah boss," Reiner said. "Spent most of our time training and prepping, but otherwise everything was quiet." The man tilted his head. "So, you got a mission for us this time? Or are we supposed to be sitting on our asses while you and Charlotte go on a world tour?"

"There is a mission indeed," Lelouch said. "How would all of you like to visit the New World?"

A wide grin crossed Reiner's face. "About damn time. We got a target?"

"Oh yes indeed," Lelouch said with a wide grin. "Oh yes indeed."

* * *

By the time the Krafts finally returned home for the day it was close to midnight. Normally this late the entire family and Hanna would have turned in, but for some reason the lights were still on. When they entered the two found all three in the living room, Nora seemingly struggling to stay awake while Hanna was napping lightly. The maid woke immediately upon the appearance of her master and mistress however and quickly hurried to the kitchen to prepare a pot of tea. The manner in which Cole, and Nora, regarded their parents simply added to the foreboding mood.

"Is something wrong?" Lawrence asked with a frown.

Cole grimaced and Nora actually looked like she might tear up. The young man stood, walked over to his parents, and held up a piece of paper. Both Lawrence and Eve gasped. Written atop the sheet in larger capital letters were the words, ORDER TO REPORT FOR INDUCTION. Cole tried, and failed, to smile slightly.

"I've been ordered to report to Tokyo Station in four days," Cole said.

"Oh gods," Eve whispered. "My boy, my baby boy." The woman wrapped her arms around Cole and squeezed hard.

Lawrence felt his jaw tighten. His immediate, reflexive reaction was to wonder if he could use his position in the princess' government to have Cole exempted from the conscription call. Just as quickly however he dismissed the thought. Her highness would almost certainly be sympathetic and might even be willing to try to grant him this favor, but the Empire's military regulations were extremely strict and there was a high probability that not even she could override them. The Princess Cornelia might, but going to such lengths when so many other parents did not have the option, he could not bring himself to do it. What was more, he knew that Cole would not want to escape his duty via such means.

Cole returned his mother's embrace as he felt the trembling of her form. He always thought of her as a steadfast, solid foundation in his life, someone he would always be able to rely upon. To see her going to pieces like this, it was more than a little unnerving. Yet he did not doubt for a moment just how difficult this moment was for his mother. There had always been the possibility that he might face conscription, even without the Empire at war against the two other superpowers. A low chance, due to his level of education and his intent to pursue higher qualifications and degrees, but a chance nonetheless. Now with the Empire as a high facing full mobilization there was almost no question that his son would be called to duty. Lawrence clapped a hand on Cole's shoulder even as his son continued holding his mother.

"Son," he said softly but firmly. "You come back to us, you understand me? You come back to us."

To that Cole could only manage a slight nod. All of them knew that there was always the chance that he would not be able to keep that promise, but he would still make it nonetheless. And maybe, just maybe the gods would see him make good on it.

End of Chapter 52

Are we in the first arc of R2? We are in the first arc of R2. No I'm not trying to get Cole killed. He is however of enlistment age and the Empire is basically calling in everyone. Not out of desperation per se, but they need all the warm bodies they can get to field the armies necessary to fight the Chinese and Europeans. In fact in the canon anime Rivalz really should have been conscripted during the R2 arc, at the very least when world war actually formally broke out. It pretty much tells you that the writers were not trying to tell an actual war story.

There will be battles that I actually portray instead of just summarizing. I just needed to get us past the initial hump so that the story could move along. It's actually rather interesting the missile vs gun design philosophy. In the past some effort was made to build ships such that they could actually survive their own armaments. Then came the battlecruiser, which was basically an upgunned cruiser that would meet very messy ends if it actually tried to fight anything similarly armed. And now modern destroyers and frigates don't even pretend to be able to survive a hit from an anti-ship missile, relying almost completely on their active defenses. Which is fair enough, considering there's pretty much no way you can armor a ship enough that it would survive multiple hits from a modern anti-ship missile. Or one of those big Russian battleship busters. The Russians obviously didn't have any here, but expect more modern ships of theirs to show up that will make life harder for the Britannian Pacific Fleet.

It might surprise some of you that the Britannian Navy was so quick to adopt new weapons technology, given the usual conservative nature of both the British and American navies over certain periods of time. Keep in mind in the Code Geass timeline that the Royal Navy failed to defend Great Britain from Napoleon, so its traditions aren't, quite as fondly looked back upon. Having so failed once, the Britannian Navy, the spiritual descendants, are much more flexible and when someone uses something that works against their ships, they take a keen interest in whether they can use it against someone else as well.

No comment on what Cassius will or will not do.

All of the real world characters that I've selected I've picked based on the feasibility of them actually holding their positions in the story. Juin, Rommel, and O'Connor are stretching the limits of plausibility due to their age, all three really should have retired by this point. Juin in fact dies in 1967 in real life. A minor spoiler, the war probably will not last that long.

The mentality of the Britannian Empire is more akin to Nazi Germany than the United States. I have also given no indication that there is an equivalent of the Geneva Convention, or at least that Britannia has signed it, in this timeline. What makes any of you think that there won't be massacres and atrocities akin to what happened during WWII? Especially after the snippet at the start of chapter 50? If the response is, because Euphemia as empress wouldn't allow it, she's not empress right now and she has very little say on how the military campaign is conducted beyond how it might directly affect _her_ subjects, whom are currently limited to those residing in Area 11. And the suggestion that Euphemia wouldn't allow things like strategic bombing of population centers and the like assumes that canon Euphie and mine have the same lines they won't cross, which I think I've already demonstrated isn't the case. Pretty sure canon Euphie didn't threaten to murder all of the JLF at the Kawaguchi resort incident.

I dispute the notion that Euphemia 'succeeds' when she takes the throne. There should be more than enough information in the story proper for all of you to make out the necessary inferences and foreshadows.

I also do not buy the notion that any lack of urgency or tension is due to Euphemia not 'losing' enough in the last arc, for two reasons. The first is that you all know she becomes empress, nothing that I throw in her way to the throne is of any actual use to generate major tension or anxiety, you already have the greatest assurance possible, that she does become empress. This assurance ensures that no stunt or twist I pull can succeed in gripping a reader by threatening Euphemia directly, or that the losses she suffers in any way actually endangers her chances of becoming empress. The second is that all of the tension was intentionally spread amongst the other main character, Kallen, and all of the supporting characters. If you are reading this as a heavily Euphie-centric story, then I can see why you might be inclined to judge the story based on what Euphie herself goes through, though as mentioned in the above reason that by definition can't work as a driving force since that question is already resolved. The story was always explicitly about not just Euphemia's ascension but also all of the people that ascension affected, and how those people in turn affected Euphemia herself. And for every character that I offer some plot armor for or sentence to death in the opening snippet, there are others whose fates remain ambiguous.

So no, not surprised, because you by definition can't feel any great urgency that something permanently detrimental can happen to Euphie, because you already know she becomes empress, so you know nothing permanently detrimental can happen. It's the people around Euphie that you need to worry about, but if you aren't interested in them, then what this story can offer you is drastically diminished.

As Euphemia will inherit the throne, she by definition cannot ever have been disgraced from the imperial court, as her eligibility for inheriting the crown is dependent heavily on her standing at court. And no, there is no practical way for her to seize the throne from outside the court, seeing as she would be trying to fight against the resources of the most industrialized power in the world and we all saw how that turned out for Japan in WWII. The only way she could win in that situation was if the Empire as a whole had disintegrated as a unified power, at which point there wouldn't be a Britannia for her to become empress of. I'm not even sure why there is any interest in seeing Euphemia break away from the Empire since any story that sees her put on the throne after such a break would be sheer fantasy without any pretense to realism. If those of you arguing for it are doing so in the belief that I can pull it off in a realistic manner, then you have much greater faith in my writing skills than I do. I personally believe that my writing is believable because I take care in how I choose to develop the story, not because I am somehow making the fantastical seem plausible.


	54. Chapter 53

Snippet spoiler: relatively minor

 _One of the more controversial stratagems employed by the Holy Britannian Empire was the herbicidal warfare program it conducted against the Chinese Federation. The Federation's massive population meant it was able to field large armies that, while not able to match their Britannian counterparts qualitatively, still represented significant threats. Combined with the fact that the fronts the Federation's forces were deployed on were all close to the Chinese mainland and logistically the Empire was at a major disadvantage. Recognizing this, the Britannian military sought to turn the size of the Federation's population against it. Shortly after the start of the war the Empire initiated Operation Ranch Hand, a concentrated effort to spray herbicides over China's farmlands to destroy as much of the year's crop as possible._

 _That the majority of the Federation's cultivated land lies in east and southeast Asia meant they were well within range of the Empire's bombers, and even more importantly within the range of the Empire's air superiority fighters for providing escort. The Britannian F-15 Eagle proved itself more than a match for the Russian supplied MIG-25s flown by the Chinese thanks to the considerably more developed doctrine employed by the Britannians, and so more often than not the Empire was able to strike very deeply into Chinese territory. And while the sheer size of the Federation meant there was never any realistic chance of the Empire succeeding in spraying all of its croplands, it did manage to effectively defoliate several million acres. The loss of such a substantial portion of the crop for that year resulted in significant hardship for the Federation's population, including outright starvation in many places. That the herbicides used by the Empire tended to persist in the soil resulted in significant long term environmental damage as well._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 53

Ex abundanti cautela

"Hello!"

Joshua blinked, and found himself staring at a young girl of approximate age beaming at him with a smile.

"Hello?" the boy said in confusion.

"Watcha doing?" the girl asked cheerfully.

The boy spent another moment or so just gapping at the girl. No one else had even approached him, which was the way it was supposed to work. Even without his geass he could easily blend into the background and not be noticed. But this girl, it was as if she had honed in on him specifically.

"Just, looking around," Joshua said as he tried to figure out how to extricate himself from this mess without drawing more attention.

"Are you here with your parents?" the girl continued her questions.

"Umm, yeah," Joshua said softly. "We're on a vacation."

"Cool! I'm here with mom! We're here to see my dad, he works here!" The girl paused, rubbing her chin. "Well, not here, but he's here a lot for work."

"I, see," Joshua said slowly.

The smile reappeared. "I'm Estelle! What's your name?"

"Joshua," the answer came before the boy even realized what he was doing. He blinked. Now why had he used his real name.

"Joshua! Well it's nice to meet you!" the girl's head bobbed up and down, her chestnut pigtails bouncing along.

"Estelle!" a voice called out.

The girl looked back and saw her mother waving at her.

"Ah, that's my mom, I gotta-" as she turned back around however there was no one before her. "Huh? Wha, where'd he go?"

Estelle looked about but could not see any sign of the boy. A bit confused she trudged back to her mother.

"Hey mom, did you see where that boy went?"

"Boy?" Lena asked quizzically. "What boy?"

"You know, the boy I was talking to!"

"You weren't with anyone when I called for you," Lena said. "Maybe he had already left?"

Estelle pouted. "No, he was right there." She spun about again but still saw no trace of Joshua. "Where did he go?"

"Well maybe you'll see him again next time we come," Lena gave her daughter a pat on the head. "C'mon now, your father is waiting."

"Alright," Estelle said uncertainly but took her mother's hand and followed along.

Some distance away, Joshua regarded the girl as she departed. He had not wanted to resort to his geass so early, with a code bearer and potentially two other geass contractors in the palace there was a significant risk of discovery. But there had not seemed any other way to escape the girl, at least without drawing more unwanted attention. Only once she was out of sight did Joshua drop his geass. His left eye started throbbing immediately. And there was the other reason he did not particularly like his geass. Either way, with Estelle gone he could continue on his mission. Any fortress had its weak points and all he needed to do was find this one's. Once done, he could then secure a route of retreat and then begin his true mission. Joshua felt a tiny flicker of pity for the Princess Euphemia. Whatever she had done to anger the Directorate must have really been something for them to send the Black Fang after her. At the least he could make her death a quick one. Assuming, of course, no further complications arose. The boy faded into the background once more before disappearing from the palace outright.

* * *

As he sat in the office Jeremy Finch was reminded of when the Margrave Gottwald recounted to him the Princess Euphemia's reaction to discovering the complicity of the Duke of Windsor in the Refrain trafficking. Her highness' expression was so devoid of any visible emotion that one could easily mistake it for indifference. This was in stark contrast to the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld, currently on rotation as part of the princess' security detail. The sheer fury embodied in the scowl on the knight's face was a sight to behold and Jeremy was more than a little tempted to cringe. But then the frigid chill that touched any that met the princess' gaze made clear just whose wrath one truly needed to fear in this room.

If Colonel Bright was at all affected by the pressure emanating from the two women he did not show it. His own expression was severe however, unlike his almost jovial mood when Jeremy first met the man. And deep down the lawyer found that he too felt a welling of wrath. What these men had done, it was beyond monstrous. He sincerely hoped they would rot in the freezing abyss of Niflheim when all was said and done, every last one of the bastards involved in this conspiracy.

"It is impressive that this charade has held for so long," Euphemia said in a seemingly indifferent tone. "And with such a gallery of customers at that."

Jeremy nodded firmly. "Yes, your highness. We are going through the seized accounts now to determine whom has purchased the, exclusive services of the casino. There was an obvious effort to obfuscate the source of payment, and I've asked Lawrence to help try to unmask the accounts."

The princess looked over at the third man present. "And how likely will you be able to do so, Sir Kraft?"

"I've given the financial statements a cursory examination already your highness," Lawrence said. "The accountants that set up the payment methods were clever, all transactions were routed through offshore accounts, specifically through Switzerland. Even taking into account their neutrality in the current war, the Swiss are not going to be cooperative about identifying whom actually owns those accounts, but there are other ways. The manager that already cracked has been naming names, with that information we can use warrants to subpoena the bank records of these suspects. If they were sloppy, they'll have only done a single hop between their Britannian accounts and the Swiss ones. Any transfers into Swiss accounts we know that were used to make, special, purchases from the casino, can be construed as proof that the owner of said account is the suspect."

Euphemia nodded as she followed the thread of logic. "See to it, Sir Kraft."

"Of course your highness."

The princess looked back over at her attorney general. "The manager that confessed, is he requesting any sort of preferential treatment for the information he is providing?"

"Just that he not be executed, your highness," Jeremy responded. "Do you, object?"

A brief pause passed before Euphemia responded. "I am willing to allow for life sentence without possibility of parole if he agrees to plead guilty."

"Very well your highness," Jeremy said. "And what of the others?"

"The others are also offering information in exchange for a lesser sentence?" Euphemia asked, eyebrow raised.

"Two of the others have done so, your highness," the lawyer answered, "along with Babel's chief manager."

"And do they know that one of their own is already revealing information?"

"Yes, your highness."

Again the princess took a moment to think over her answer.

"Life sentence to heavy labor if they plead guilty and cooperate," Euphemia finally said. "They will have one chance, and one chance only. If they decline, they will hang."

Jeremy's mouth thinned but he nodded nonetheless. He was not actually that broken up or torn about the pronouncement.

"Understood, your highness."

"In the meantime, what do you gentlemen intend to do to ensure that any victims that might still be out there are found and kept from further harm?" Euphemia asked.

"I have drafted a preliminary list of suspects, your highness," Cassius answered immediately, "whom were named to have made, purchases, from Babel. I would like permission to execute searches of their estates and properties to try to identify any of the victims and take them into protective custody."

"Consider the permission given," Euphemia stated.

"Very well your highness," the colonel said with an approving nod.

A thought seemed to occur to Euphemia. "Colonel, you have only arrived recently. How confident are you that the gendarmerie will be able to properly execute the searches."

There was no humor in Cassius' smile as he responded. "The men and women that I have selected are all seasoned veterans, your highness. And all of them have sons and daughters of their own."

Euphemia regarded the man for a second or so before nodding, seemingly satisfied.

"I will expect to be kept up to date on this investigation, gentlemen. And I will be extremely disappointed should any of the accused be able to escape judgment due to an error on our part."

"Your highness," Jeremy spoke up, "I think I speak for all of us when I say that _I_ will be extremely disappointed in us were that to happen."

The princess regarded her attorney general for a few seconds more before again nodding. This time however she felt no need to add on any additional qualifiers. The meeting adjourned, the three men stood, bowed respectfully, and took their leave. Euphemia sank back into her seat and glanced back at Kallen.

"I presume you have no objection to my handling of this matter?"

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "I am allowed to hold such an opinion, your highness?"

Euphemia snorted. "Is that not why you are here? To keep an eye on my policies so that if you ever feel I misstep, you can immediately make your displeasure known."

That was technically true, but there was something to be said for having a degree of tact.

"You yourself said that we need to learn to trust each other," Kallen said. "Is it an indication of trust if I am here just to keep an eye on you, and for you to regard me as such instead of someone charged with your safety?"

The edge of Euphemia's lips quirked. "My, how adroit your tongue has become since our first meeting." The princess stood. "Are you free this evening for dinner?"

Kallen blinked at the sudden shift in topic. "Umm, yes your highness."

Presumably her meeting with the ASEEC would have wrapped up by then. Though for what reason Euphemia could have for wanting to dine with Kallen, something told the girl it was likely not social.

"Milly has invited myself, and those whom I have confidence in, to dinner tonight. She specifically mentioned that she wished for you to attend."

Or perhaps the reason was social after all.

"I can make it," Kallen said before smiling slightly. "This formal or casual?"

"Knowing Milly she could well contrive to make it both," Euphemia said with an amused smile of her own. "Though as my knight I expect you to always present yourself in a respectable manner."

"As you command, your highness," Kallen said with a slight bow.

The princess' response was a slight chuckle before she moved onto the next piece of work, her hands flying over the keyboard to bring up an array of documents and data. The moment of levity over Kallen resumed her post, using her geass to sweep the palace once more. If there really were other geass holders that were going to target Euphemia she needed to be vigilant. At the very least she should be able to detect them if they set foot on the palace grounds. And if one did have the audacity to show up, well, contingencies were already in place to deal with them as permanently as possible.

* * *

Monica kicked aside a random rock in her way but paid it no mind as it tumbled along the floor. As she looked about the room the knight idly wondered just what was it about secret hideouts buried under mountains that fascinated Elevens so much. At least the camouflage of the Japanese Liberation Front headquarters was more competently done, unlike the amateurish efforts of the Blood of the Samurai. Not that either were still around to endure such critique.

Much like his previous pawns Lelouch had made sure that the senior leadership of the JLF would not be around to answer any questions. By the time Loki Regiment moved in to secure the JLF stronghold the blood that stained the walls and floors was already dry. One officer had even somehow managed to make a big splatter on the ceiling, which if nothing else was morbidly impressive. The computers had also all been destroyed with a thoroughness that the Inquisitio would even approve of, seeing as the hard drives were all either piles of twisted slag or itty bitty scraps. Not to mention the ashes that were all that was left of the hard copies of whatever documents and files the JLF kept on hand. Not that that mattered that much, considering the Sumeragi's cooperation saw them turning over a great deal of material. The likelihood of another JLF arising in the short term was effectively nil, which meant Monica could worry about other things instead.

"Milady."

The knight turned about and nodded for the acolyte to deliver his report.

"We have finished searching the barracks and have found at least a dozen complete journals and fragments of two dozen others. There are also scores of letters, many of which appear to date from just before the JLF began moving eastward in preparation for the attack on Tokyo."

Then again no matter how diligent the leadership was in trying to bury its secrets the rank and file could always be counted on to gossip incessantly. Human beings leaked like a sleeve, in more ways than one.

"Good work," Monica said. "Continue with the operation."

"Yes milady."

The acolyte hurried off, leaving Monica alone once more. While the rest of the Inquisitio would probably find something of use in the recovered letters and diaries, Monica's own quarry would be much more difficult to track. The knight circled the room again, kicking aside rocks absentmindedly while deep in thought.

From what Kallen and the Princess Euphemia had told her, Lelouch was effectively insane. C.C. was seemingly unable to corroborate that assessment however, and Monica suspected that there was much more going on with the compulsion the woman had been placed under. For one thing, it really should have been absolutely impossible for a geass bearer to turn their power on the code bearer that granted them the geass in the first place. Or rather, possession of a geass automatically conferred a degree of resistance if not outright immunity to the powers of other bearers. As such whatever compulsion C.C. was under Monica highly doubted Lelouch was responsible, directly at least.

The younger appearing woman, just how old C.C. really was Monica was not prepared to risk asking, was also definitely not lying about the existence of the compulsion. The backlash that Monica had suffered when her own geass tried to suppress it was painful proof of that. Yet the possibilities left were not many seeing as the only person that might possess the power to impose such a compulsion was another code bearer and the only other bearer Monica was aware of was sulking back in the homelands. The knight somehow doubted that V.V. would have kept quiet if he had managed to so severely cripple C.C. And yet there was the incident that resulted in the Princess Euphemia severing her link to V.V. while still retaining her geass. That should have also been impossible unless her highness' connect to C's World had been shifted from V.V. to another code bearer, a bearer that they were previously unaware of.

Monica had yet to broach the subject with Euphemia yet, if only because she knew the princess would be reluctant to trust her with more information. The knight pursed her lips. If C.C. was unable to properly explain what the geass and code were then it was likely that both Euphemia and Kallen did not completely understand what they possessed. Perhaps some strategic divulging of her own knowledge would get the princess to open up a bit, at least enough to tell Monica what happened when she entered the thought elevator. If there really was another code bearer, and he or she was powerful enough to do _that_ to C.C., then said bearer was almost certainly strong enough to outright kill V.V. should they meet. And such a person would be ever so useful in Monica's mission in permanently putting down that petulant, but still very dangerous, man child. Immortality was a very annoying trait to work around.

Her next course of action with respect to the princess settled, Monica's thoughts wandered back to Lelouch and how best to find the wayward imperial scion. The interrogations of the few rank and file JLF prisoners had indicated that Lelouch and Charlotte left Area 11 before the Tokyo uprising kicked off. They also made mention of another SDECE agent remaining behind to help coordinate things however. Chances were with the ports and airports locked down this André Devigny was likely still within the area, unless he somehow had enough cash on him to bribe a fisherman to risk sailing into the contested waters between Area 11 and the mainland. That might not be entirely impossible, the French intelligence service's reputation existed for a reason. Then again Monica's instincts told her the man was still in hiding, biding his time until things were calm enough to attempt an escape. His capture would however provide a prime specimen for Monica to study, seeing as there was no way Lelouch would not have put a failsafe in the captain to prevent him from spilling the young man's secrets. That would make capturing André alive more difficult, but not impossible, and for now Monica could only wait until the regular services and the other Inquisitio orders caught the man's scent.

As for Lelouch, it was actually pretty obvious what he would do next after reaching Paris. Tokyo was just a practice run and Monica did not doubt for a moment that the former prince would take to heart lessons from its failure. If he really was intent on taking down the imperial family, then the only logical destination for him would be Pendragon itself. There were a few princes and princesses of considerably lower precedent scattered about the homeland away from the capital, but with Cornelia's return her sister Euphemia was now the only imperial scion of measurable standing not residing in Pendragon.

Lelouch's next target would be Pendragon, of that Monica had no doubt. It would definitely take the young man time to get to the city and orchestrate an assassination attempt on the scale necessary to actually decapitate the imperial family, which gave Monica at least a bit of time before she needed to hurry back and head that off. Then again if it were not for the fact that Lelouch was technically in the service of a foreign power his actions would literally be par for the course for the truly ambitious amongst the emperor's children so in theory Monica could entrust keeping Pendragon from going up in flames to the other knights of the round, seeing as keeping his majesty from being offed by his own heirs was one of their jobs. That was probably asking a bit much however.

"Why do all the smart ones have to make so much work for me," the knight murmured to herself.

The young woman twitched her nose in a mixture of bemusement and irritation before kicking aside one last rock and taking her leave of the wrecked command center. That was enough woolgathering for the day, time to get her hands dirty again. The knight did not once give any thought as to whether her hands were never clean to begin with.

* * *

"Kallen?"

The girl turned about to see Laura behind her, along with someone else in the red of the Cadet Brigade.

"Oh, hey Laura, what's up?"

"I wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine, and to also ask a favor of you," Laura said before nodding to the young man beside her.

"The name's Rean Schwarzer," he said, bowing slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Stadtfeld."

"The pleasure is mine, and please, Kallen is just fine." The girl looked back over at Laura. "So, you two met in the brigade, or knew each other from before?"

"Rean and I met as cadets," Laura answered. "We were both part of the same training platoon."

"I see," Kallen said with a nod. "And you are also serving your roulement in Japan, Sir Schwarzer?"

"Rean is just fine," the young man said with a slight smile. "And yes. I'm currently attached to one of the knightmare battalions stationed at MacArthur."

Kallen nodded again and regarded Laura once more. "You said you also had a favor to ask of me?"

The older girl returned the nod. "Rean and I were both hoping to get a glimpse of your personal knightmare, the Guren. You mentioned that you were heading out this afternoon to check up on it."

Of the many possible favors Laura could have asked seeing Kallen's knightmare, was actually not that surprising of one. The other girl would obviously be interested seeing her own pending knighthood and Kallen had heard some rather exaggerated rumors floating about regarding the Guren, little wonder Laura's curiosity, and Rean's for that matter, might be piqued.

"Sure, no problem," Kallen said. "In fact this works out great, we can head to the Ashford's for the dinner afterward."

"That is an excellent point," Laura said. "I will need to bring a change of clothes. Are there shower facilities at where your knightmare is stored?"

"Very basic ones," Kallen said. "I _think_ they've got the hot water hooked up, but I'm not actually sure."

At that Rean actually chuckled. "Can't be any worse than the time the pipes froze over in the dorms and we lost hot water for, what, a week?"

"Was it a week? I thought hot water was restored after the third day."

"Oh right, they got the girl's dorm fixed up before the guys," Rean said with a rueful smile.

Kallen regarded the pair. "You two seem pretty close."

Rean feigned a cough as he cleared his throat. "Umm, yes. Close enough that, her father had words for me."

Kallen raised an eyebrow.

"That he apparently did," Laura confirmed, "though neither seem willing to divulge just what words _were_ exchanged to me."

"Oh come now Laura," Rean said quickly. "It wasn't much, just some stuff between guys."

"And that is intended to make it any less suspicious?" Laura quipped back.

Kallen chuckled at the interplay between the two. "Yes, I'd say you two are quite close."

The two knights-to-be both smiled in response, cementing that assessment.

"And what of yourself and, Cole was it?" Laura said.

Kallen's eyes widened ever so slightly. "How do you know about that?"

"Her highness spoke of Cole's determination to find you after the attack on Ashford Academy," Laura said. "She was most, impressed with his strength of will."

"Cole can be quite, stubborn," Kallen allowed.

The smiles on Laura and Rean's faces made clear that they heard the hint of affection in Kallen's tone loud and clear. This time it was her that feigned a cough.

"Anyway, shall we get going?"

A few minutes later, after both Kallen and Laura made quick runs to their rooms to get a change of clothes, the three piling into a Humvee with Kallen in the driver's seat. While Kallen did know how to drive, before her enlistment in Euphemia's guard the young woman did not actually hold a license. A day after notifying Villetta about this Lieutenant Armstrong presented her with a newly laminated license with her picture and name on it. Amazing how quickly bureaucracy could be cut through with the right friends in high places.

By the time the trio arrived there was already another car parked outside the warehouse that obviously did not belong to the soldiers stationed to guard it. It did have a government plate, so it probably belonged to the ASEEC representative scheduled to visit today. When Kallen and the others entered that guess was confirmed. The three respectfully came to attention before Cécile and Rakshata.

"Captain Croomy, I presume," Kallen said.

Cécile turned to face the trio and nodded in turn. "Yes. And you would be Lieutenant Stadtfeld." The woman's eyes shifted to Laura and Rean behind Kallen.

"Lieutenant Laura Arseid of the Knightmare Corps Cadet Brigade, currently serving my roulement with the Princess Euphemia's royal guard," Laura introduced herself.

"Lieutenant Rean Schwarzer, also of the Cadet Brigade," Rean followed. "My roulement is with the 7th knightmare battalion stationed in Tokyo."

"Captain Cécile Croomy of the Camelot Institute," Cécile introduced herself in turn. "I am here as part of the Advanced Special Envoy Engineering Corps to evaluate and field test next generation knightmare prototypes."

"Rahskata Chawla," the Indian engineer rounded out the introductions. "I am the designer of the Guren."

"Laura and Rean both requested an opportunity to look at the Guren," Kallen said. "I hope you don't mind, Dr. Chawla?"

"Not at all," Rakshata said with a slight smirk. "I am always happy to introduce my child to those that appreciate her qualities."

"Oh? Does that mean you will reconsider barring Earl Asplund from these premises?" Cécile said in an almost playful tone.

Rakshata took a puff of her pipe. "The Earl of Pudding is an exception."

One of these days Kallen really needed to find out just why Rakshata loathed the earl so much. If nothing else how she came up with that nickname for him would probably be amusing.

"Well then, seeing as you appear to be available, I leave our guests in your hands, doctor," Kallen said.

"Very well, come this way then, ladies and gentleman."

"Ah, lieutenant," Cécile suddenly said. "Might I have a moment of your time first?"

Kallen raised an eyebrow but nodded. "Sure."

"If you will excuse me doctor, I will be with you shortly," the captain said to Rakshata.

Rakshata nodded and led Laura and Rean off. Once the two were relatively alone Cécile turned to Kallen once more.

"Might we discuss this in private, lieutenant?"

The eyebrow stayed up but Kallen nodded in assent. "This way, captain."

The two headed to the space set aside for Kallen's personal use. The girl's geass was now on full blast. If the captain was going to try something, Kallen would not be caught unaware.

"Now, what is it you wished to discuss, captain?" Kallen said after the door clicked shut.

Cécile took a deep breath. "How well did you know Suzaku Kururugi, lieutenant?"

Kallen tilted her head aside. "What makes you think I knew him at all."

"Lieutenant, please. Suzaku described to me in rough terms the, insurgent, that he fought in the tunnels during the Shinjuku incident. Both of you were also students of Ashford Academy, and as much as he tried to pass off the problems he was having at school as simply having offended a popular girl there, it was obvious the root cause was much deeper. After your disappearance he was court martialed, formally reprimanded, and stripped of rank. While the official proceedings were classified, it is plain that he was punished for having kept _your_ secret." Cécile's eyes narrowed. "As such I would appreciate if you would at least show his memory enough courtesy to not feign ignorance."

With her geass Kallen could tell that the slight anger in Cécile's tone was entirely genuine. That was surprising, though perhaps it should not have been. As a senior officer in the ASEEC Cécile would have worked closely with Suzaku. That the captain might have respected him, and even considered him a friend, well, Suzaku's belief in peaceful integration had to have had some grounding in reality. Kallen clasped her hands behind her.

"You obviously want something from me, captain. So why don't we cut to the chase?"

Cécile dipped her head ever so slightly. "I considered Suzaku a friend, lieutenant. And I would like to think he felt the same way. His, betrayal, however came as a complete surprise to me. Suzaku gave no indication of any kind of dissatisfaction with the Empire, even after his court martial. If there was cause for him to rebel, he kept it a secret from me, much as he kept your secret. And so I have to wonder, whether _you_ were at any point in time privy to his reasons for rejecting his life as a soldier of the Empire."

Kallen kept her expression blank. True she knew exactly why Suzaku had turned on the Britannians, it was not of the young man's volition, but that truth was heavily classified. As much sympathy as Kallen felt over Suzaku's fate, providing the captain with piece of mind was not a good enough reason to reveal said classified information.

"The matter involving Suzaku has been sealed, captain," Kallen finally said. "I am not permitted to divulge _any_ details regarding it. If you believe you have a valid reason for being briefed on it, I suggest you take up the matter with your superiors."

Kallen did not even need her geass to know that the captain was immensely unsatisfied, and unhappy, with that response, even with the professional façade Cécile maintained.

"I have already done exactly that lieutenant," Cécile replied, "and this may surprise you but I received the entirety of the official record on the matter of Suzaku's actions. Do you know what those records said?"

Kallen simply shook her head.

"Ignoring the usual procedural documentation, the contents of the report were a scant five pages and all it did was summarize his actions that day, from when he fired on the Glaston Knights to his death when you, Lieutenant Stadtfeld, apparently destroyed the Lancelot with your Guren. No theories were offered as to what his motives might have been and there were no indications of any sort of investigation having been conducted to try to determine them. What does that suggest to you, lieutenant?"

"It suggests to me," Kallen said slowly and carefully, "that someone high up does not want any details regarding Suzaku's actions that day to be on the official record."

"Quite," Cécile said. "And seeing as any further attempts by me to pursue the matter officially is pointless since there are no official records for me to unseal I find myself having to come to those directly involved in that day, namely you, Lady Stadtfeld."

It was obvious that the captain was not going to let this rest. It was less obvious just what she expected her obstinacy to achieve. Kallen had every reason to keep her mouth shut as part of her deal with the viceroy, which meant that Euphemia was the only person that could make the call on whether Cécile could be trusted with the information about Suzaku, and by extension Lelouch. From experience Kallen knew that the princess was slow to trust however, and unless the captain could prove herself to be in some way very, very helpful in Euphemia's plans, she would get nowhere. Pressing too hard was more liable to see the princess decide Cécile was a threat to be removed, something that Kallen did not doubt in the least Euphemia would do if it came down to it.

"As I said captain," Kallen began again, "the matter is sealed. It is not within my authority to unseal it, and I have no reason to petition for its unsealing on your behalf."

"I see," Cécile said. "Then whom can I speak with that does possess the authority?"

Kallen was pretty sure the older woman knew the answer to that already, but she answered nonetheless.

"The Princess Euphemia." And then some. "I would however caution you in broaching the subject, captain. If her highness feels that you are digging into the matter without her permission, there _will_ be consequences."

"I will keep that in mind, lieutenant," Cécile said politely albeit a bit coldly. "Thank you for your time, I should return to Dr. Chawla."

The captain turned about and left the office and Kallen watched her leave with a sigh. It was not really her intent to make any enemies in the Britannian military now that she was a knight of honor. There was inevitably going to be some degree of jealousy and mixed feelings considering her history, but those Kallen was fairly certain she could handle. This though, it was clear that this Captain Croomy held highly her friendship with Suzaku. Kallen actually felt more than a bit of respect for the woman for that. The stakes at play were however much greater than merely Suzaku's involvement with the uprising, much greater and much more dangerous. In fact the conflict they had all stumbled into was one that even the game of court paled in comparison to.

Kallen sighed again. Things were so much simpler when she was just fighting for Japan's independence. Now, she was not even entirely sure who or what she was fighting. Times like this just knowing who was actually on your side was a triumph all by itself. And figuring out who were your actual enemies versus people simply caught in the crossfire that decided to shook back, well, that was not so much a challenge as a question of how long you were willing to keep being shot at while trying to sort out who was who. As much as Kallen did not want to kill people not directly involved in the fight, she was not quite prepared to sacrifice her own life or her own dream.

Without much else to do herself Kallen left the office and joined up with the others. Cécile spoke no further to her, beyond the bare courtesies, though Laura and Rean were quite eager to pluck her brain about the practicalities of piloting a knightmare like the Guren. That kept her busy enough until the time came to leave for dinner. Hopefully that was all it would be and no more surprises would get sprung on her.

* * *

Whether it was coincidence or accident Euphemia ended up arriving at the Ashford's at the same time as Kallen and Laura. The other two girls were wearing casual albeit proper clothing. Technically so was Euphemia herself, but seeing as the princess likely did not even own any outfit that cost less than the monthly salary of the average Britannian 'casual' could only be used to describe it in the loosest terms. When Euphemia appeared the two girls bowed respectfully, and immediately began eyeing the relatively large package being carried by one of the other armsmen. Euphemia however simply smiled.

"Shall we?"

Apparently they would need to wait before they would learn what the package was, assuming that happened at all this evening. The three women, the soldier acting porter, and the princess' actual security detachment climbed the steps of the Ashford family residence. The door opened immediately without any need to knock and the maid bowed in greeting.

"Miladies, welcome."

Euphemia smiled. "It is good to see you, Sharon. Thank you for taking such good care of the Ashfords."

"It is but my duty to provide the best service I can for my masters, your highness," Sharon said with a bright smile. "Please, this way."

Something told Kallen that the maid was both teasing and being completely serious at the same time. A rather remarkable feat all things considered. They all followed Sharon and arrived moments later in a large dining room. The other guests already present and seated. Everyone, save Nunnally of course, rose as Euphemia entered.

"Your highness," Ruben began.

"Please Ruben," Euphemia said with one hand raised. "No rank and class tonight. I am here as a friend of the family, nothing more."

The elderly man smiled slightly and nodded his head. "Very well, Euphemia."

The princess smiled back at him, and then nodded to the young woman behind her. Laura took the hint and stepped forth, bowing slightly.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances," she said. "My name is Laura Arseid."

The others around the table likewise introduced themselves one by one, until they reached Nunnally. The girl exchanged brief looks with Milly and Euphemia before smiling at Laura.

"Dame Arseid, you have my thanks for looking after my beloved sister. Please, call me Nunnally."

Laura froze. No words were uttered by the young woman in response, the complete lack of motion betraying her shock. And then her head stiffly snapped over to look at Euphemia. The princess nodded solemnly. Laura's eyes widened further, and the next moment she was before Nunnally on her knee.

"Your highness, this is an honour. Your sister has spoken often of you, and it gladdens my heart to see you alive and well."

Nunnally smiled gently and extended a hand. "There is no need to bend your knee to me, Dame Arseid. Here, I am simply Abigail Nunnally Ashford."

Laura met Nunnally's gaze and a look of understanding sank into the older girl's eyes. Understanding, tinged with a hint of sadness.

"You may be so known, your highness," Laura said. "I choose nonetheless to acknowledge your heritage."

Euphemia walked over to Nunnally's side and put a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"Laura," the princess said, and the older girl looked up at her. "For Nunnally's safety, she must remain with the Ashfords as a formal member of their family." Her expression softened. "I trust you with this knowledge, because I trust you with my own life."

Laura regarded the two imperial daughters solemnly before finally accepting Nunnally's hand. The young woman stood.

"I will uphold that trust, your highnesses," Laura said firmly.

Euphemia smiled. "I know you will."

Kallen regarded the scene with care. Based on Euphemia's actions that meant everyone here was considered trustworthy enough of knowing about Nunnally's secret. The Ashfords of course, considering they were the ones harboring the girl. Nina, who was not quite successful in hiding her unease at Kallen's presence, might as well have been part of the Ashford family so her being here was no great surprise either. And Laura's invitation also made sense seeing as she was apparently a very close friend of Euphemia's and someone whom might well be joining the princess' royal guard in the near future. The current set of armsmen went without saying of course. The real surprise then was the presence of Cole.

It was plainly evident that to pry the information about Kallen out of Euphemia Cole had needed to become much more involved with the princess' affairs. Apparently the degree of that involvement even extended to Nunnally's situation, which worried Kallen. Even the barest of involvement with court politics could be dangerous depending on whom one associated with, and as fourth in line to the throne Euphemia was automatically a person of interest for many people. And by association, so was anyone whom she showed any degree of favor or confidence in. Kallen grimaced slightly, seeing as she fell right into that category, if only through the strangest twists of fate.

Before her thoughts could run further Nunnally turned her wheelchair towards Kallen and smiled at her.

"Kallen. At the time I was too shaken to convey my gratitude, but you did save mine and Euphie's life. From the bottom of my heart, thank you."

Kallen gave Nunnally a gentle smile of her own. "You are most welcome, Nunnally. I'm glad I was able to reach the two of you in time."

And that was the honest truth. As far as Kallen was concerned Nunnally was an innocent, whatever her heritage, and Euphemia dying at that point would have likely resulted in Cornelia going on a rampage across Japan to avenge her sister, so even if she did have ulterior motives for saving the viceroy she was entirely sincere about not wanting to see her dead.

"I know that you and Euphie have your differences," Nunnally continued, "but I hope that you two are able to find not only common ground, but common cause. I would not see the person I owe my life to draw the blood of my kin."

Kallen kept her expression composed, and a quick glance at Euphemia made clear that that was not a prepared statement seeing the princess' own surprise. Not that Kallen really needed a reminder, but Nunnally was a child of the emperor, and the full sister of one Lelouch vi Britannia. It would have been literally impossible for her to not have some steel in her bearing.

"We are, making good progress towards that," Kallen said.

"I am glad to hear so," Nunnally said with an ever so charming smile.

For someone so young the girl was way too good at that. Or perhaps it was because of her relative youth. Before Kallen could say anything else however she started as Sharon suddenly appeared next to her. Now how had the maid snuck up on her like that? The woman gave Kallen a playful smile before addressing the room.

"Master Ruben, dinner is ready. Shall I begin serving?"

"Yes, thank you Sharon," Ruben said. "Please, everyone."

The guests settled into their respective seats, Euphemia next to Nunnally and Kallen beside Cole. She gave the young man a smile, which he returned in earnest.

"So, were you responsible for this evening's bounty, Cole?" Kallen said somewhat teasingly.

"No, today I am but a humble guest," the young man responded. "And unlike Milly, the headmaster is not one to, require, the services of his guests to ensure a meal is ready."

Chuckles sounded around the table, Milly included, even as she stuck out a tongue at Cole. The dishes that were brought by Sharon and Sayoko did not disappoint either and it was evident that the Ashford family chef was also very skilled. Wine was also poured into the glasses of all the guests, even for Nunnally. Well, for this occasion it was probably fine, though Kallen certainly was not one to judge the limits and freedoms set by someone else's family. Once everyone's places were set Ruben picked up his wineglass.

"A toast, ladies and, gentleman," he said with a slight twinkle in his eye. "To family and friends."

Kallen found her own mouth twitching in a slight smile as she raised her own glass. Cole really was in some ways here all by his lonesome, he did not even have Rivalz to back him up. The young woman took a sip of the wine. It was pretty good, a nice fruity flavor that was not too sweet and not too sour. As Kallen set down her glass and before she could pick up her fork and knife Cole however cleared his throat. Kallen looked over at the young man, and noticed that none of the Ashfords, nor Nina, had begun reaching for their own utensils. Apparently they had been expecting this.

"Before we all enjoy the hospitalities of the Ashford family, I would like to convey my thanks to Milly for inviting me, and for giving me an opportunity to spend one last evening with my friends and, close ones," Cole said with a slight smile at Kallen, and this time she was the one reciprocating, "before I ship out tomorrow."

The smile disappeared. In fact had Kallen not been so stunned she would have noticed that the only ones seemingly surprised were herself, Euphemia, and Laura.

"You-you're," Kallen stuttered.

The slight smile Cole gave her this time was tinted with a touch of regret. "I received my draft notification two days ago."

Kallen inhaled sharply as her mind raced. The fact that the Empire was at war was more than a mere intellectual awareness on her part, after all she had participated in the opening battle that was the Tokyo uprising. And it was not as if she had not given some thought to the practical consequences of a world war raging, seeing as Japan was one of the major frontlines. There was always the possibility that people she knew might get pulled into the conflict, much as the students of Ashford Academy were twice as a result of the JLF campaign.

But this, this was _not_ something she had even thought about, perhaps because it was not something she ever had to worry about. While the Empire did accept women whom wished to enlist in its armed forces, conscription was still limited to men. Not just that however, hearing of Cole's conscription brought forcefully to mind the possibility that, had the JLF actually launched its original plan and succeeded in conquering parts of western Japan, the Empire might have also mobilized at least portions of the civilian population in Japan, at which point Kallen might well have found herself fighting, and killing, people she knew in her Britannian identity. The hint of wine still in her mouth soon took on the taste of ash.

"Do you know which unit you will be assigned to?" Laura asked, breaking the silence.

Cole shook his head. "My orders are to report to Tokyo Station, from where I presume I will be transferred to wherever the military wants me."

"Tokyo Station," Euphemia murmured, causing Kallen to finally stop staring at Cole and shift her gaze away. "If I recall correctly from the mobilization plans, draftees summoned to report in tomorrow are to be transferred to a training camp in Hokkaido."

"Is that so your highness?" Cole said. "Well, that's at least one mystery solved. You have my thanks."

Euphemia smiled kindly at the young man. "You are answering the call of duty Britannia has issued. It would be remise of me to not offer what aid I can."

Kallen finally managed to find her voice once more.

"Cole," she half croaked. Found her voice, but still having trouble commanding it. "Are you, sure?"

No one had any difficulty inferring what Kallen meant, least of all Cole himself. The young man smiled slightly once more.

"Britannia is my home, Kallen, and with my home so threatened I cannot not answer the call to duty. Not when it has, for all its faults, provided me with the comfort and security that I have known all my life. A nation whose people will not sacrifice and toil for the prosperity that it offers have no right to such fruits. And if I decline to toil so now that the need is here, I would be adding to the decay that the Empire suffers from." Cole's eyes hardened. "I will not contribute to such decay."

Euphemia and Laura, and even Milly and Ruben, nodded solemnly at that. Kallen however found that she could do little but meet Cole's gaze. In some respects she really should be applauding Cole, his brand of idealism was just the type that might see the Empire be made a better place. In others however Kallen felt a great sense of unease at Cole's willingness to fight for the Empire in its current state. She could not claim he was wrong to do so, Cole was right, the refusal to take responsibility was one of the things that drove the abuses prevalent in the Empire. There was even a whiff of hypocrisy in her unease seeing as she had effectively signed on with the Princess Euphemia. The feeling did not go away however.

"In that case, might I ask a favor of you Cole?" Euphemia spoke up, ending the somewhat tense silence.

"Umm, yes your highness?"

Euphemia favored the young man with a playful smile. "Perhaps you should hear me out first before agreeing." And then her expression turned serious. "Despite my closeness to my sister Cornelia, I have very little understanding or familiarity with the military. I have no direct experience with respect to the rank and file or the officer corps. I wonder if you might be willing to, provide me with regular reports on your experiences in the military? Matters such as conditions, morale, and so forth. I am not asking you to spy on your fellow soldiers or your superiors, but I feel that a, pulse, so to speak, on the general conditions of the men and women serving in defense of the Empire would be, helpful, in my duties as viceroy."

"I, believe I could do this, your highness," Cole said.

"Please Cole," Euphemia said with another smile. "No rank tonight."

"Very well, Euphemia," Cole said stiffly but with a slight smile of his own. "How should I convey such reports to you?"

"Letters should be sufficiently nondescript," Euphemia said.

Cole nodded. "Probably, so long as they are not directly addressed to you."

Another feeling entirely arose in Kallen, a feeling that had nothing to do with her unease.

"Send them to me," she said.

The others all looked over at her and Kallen regarded Cole with a chiding gaze.

"Surely you intended to keep in touch with me as well, no? Simply include the letters to Euphemia with mine and I can make sure they get to her." Kallen smiled flatly. "I even promise not to read them."

"Umm, yes, that would probably work," Cole said with just a hint of nervousness. "Is that acceptable, Euphemia?"

"Yes, that should suffice," the princess said thoughtfully, and then nodded more firmly. "I can see no problems with the arrangement." A sly grin appeared on her face. "I trust that you will also be able to relay any responses I have to Cole, Kallen?"

"Yes, Euphemia," Kallen responded.

The red haired girl pointedly ignored the wide grin plastered all over Milly's face. She also ignored the other smiles of varying amusement. Kallen took another sip of her wine. For some blasted reason the alcohol was having absolutely no effect on her so she could not even blame it for the sudden burning in her chest. The rest of the evening, Kallen decided, would be long and trying.

End of Chapter 53

Poor Cole. This should get fun.

At this point I've settled on basically having three 'books' be the sources for the opening snippets. They are as follows.

Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I – Basically talks about how Euphemia rose to power from a political perspective, including her ascension and its immediate aftermath in the middle of the Great War.

Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I – Discusses the policies Euphemia pursued after the end of the Great War.

In Blackest Night: The Great War – Covers topics relating to the Great War that don't directly or only tangentially touches upon Euphemia.

I elected to split the sources because there were some snippets that simply didn't make sense to be part of Toward a New Dawn. Thematically all of the snippets however do fall into one of the three above, so that ended up being how I'm dealing with them. As for who actually wrote the books, you'll find out much, much later. Probably in the last epilogue.

I'm playing around with the ages a bit. Estelle and Joshua are obviously a lot younger than they would be relative to Rean and Laura in the Kiseki series proper.

Akito and company will probably not show up. I've never seen the OVAs and what I have read of their plots made so little sense even for the flexible storyline that is Code Geass that there really wasn't anything that I felt would benefit my story if I integrated them.

Whether Kallen will see more action depends on how the war goes and if Euphie sends her out on a task that specifically takes her to the frontlines. As a knight her job is to stay by Euphie's side and keep her safe. If a direct threat shows up, of course Kallen will fight. Otherwise she has no business joining the Empire's forces on the actual warfront. Anyway, this non-answer can be summed up as, wait and see.

I am not going to speculate on how Napoleon actually conquered Great Britain. I'm going to just leave it as an established fact of history without trying to justify it. Primarily because I don't want to make the effort to justify it in a manner that is actually logistically realistic.

Chapter estimates are anywhere between 80-120 chapters. Probably closer to 100, kind of all depends. The R2 sequence is actually rather annoying setting up. I will note that a bigger chunk of the story will revolve around what Lelouch gets up to in Britannia. In R1 he was a lot more nebulous. In R2, I intend for him to be a much bigger 'visible' threat.

I actually am confused as to why it's even questionable that there will be bloodshed on the scale that was seen in WWII. What about the Britannian Empire suggests that they will be at all restrained in the prosecution of the war?

People tend to overstate the relative weaknesses the factions standing in the way of 'underdogs' that successfully rise to the top. In many cases the underdog was no weaker than the other factions jockeying for power. In those where he or she (usually a he) is actually at a marked disadvantage, his or her success tends to happen because no one takes him or her seriously enough to wipe them out in the early days, giving the 'underdog' time to grow in strength while the more powerful factions are worn down fighting in each other. While being an underdog does require some guile and skill to pick up the pieces afterward, a lot of times being the last man (or fairly rarely woman) standing tends to help, a lot.

For example Napoleon did not become emperor by leading the people of Corsica in an invasion of France, he executed a successful coup d'état thanks to the badly weakened government at the time and the fact that he was popular with the French military and the general population. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the man that technically completed the unification of Japan and ended the Sengoku period, was able to do so because he had been elevated to a relatively high military rank from his commoner origins by Oda Nobunaga. And much like these other historical figures, Euphemia is positioned to assume power because she is not an underdog, but because she is already in a position of significant authority.

People seem to be forgetting that Euphemia is fourth in line to the throne. She is not powerless, in fact as viceroy she exercises a degree of direct power that not even Schneizel or Cornelia can, at least within Area 11. Combined with her standing at court, Euphemia is well positioned to carry out the reforms that she wants. And should the Empire fracture for whatever reason, a highly unlikely prospect considering I structured my version of the Britannian Empire to be pretty well unified at this point, Euphemia would by default emerge as one of the leaders anyway due to her high standing at court. For anything else to happen requires the circumstances of the story be vastly different than what they currently are.

True genuine successful underdogs are very rare in history and effectively nonexistent in the modern era. If you possess less wealth or a more fragile economy than your opponent, you will never conquer the other side. The best you can achieve, as the Afghans and Vietnamese did in the bush wars during the Cold War, is to make the other side decide it's not worth the effort to decisively crush you because you don't pose enough of a threat to them to warrant the necessary expenditure of wealth. In neither case did the Afghans or Vietnamese go on to conquer the countries that invaded them. And if the stronger economic power is genuinely determined to grind you into dust, that is what they will do, as the north did to the south in the American Civil War and pretty much the rest of the world did to Germany and Japan in WWII.


	55. Chapter 54

_Military conscription in the Holy Britannian Empire prior to the reformed constitution of Euphemia I applied only to full Britannian citizens, and only men at that. While subjects designated as Numbers could be drafted for labor purposes, they were never pressed into combat duties. Not even during the Great War when parliament approved full mobilization did the Empire ever call upon its lower tier subjects to bear arms for Britannia. The reasoning behind this is self-evident, as the Empire fully understood such subjects would be all too tempted to turn their military training against it. This is not to say there were no Numbers serving in the armed forces. Those Numbers that volunteered were, after some basic screening, accepted and could even rise through the enlisted ranks. A few examples of Numbers becoming commissioned officers also existed, though such individuals remained exceedingly rare prior to imperial writ 9981._

 _The reasons for such subjects to enlist were manifold, from the lack of any other opportunities to the genuine benefits that came with military service. Numbers that successfully completed their term of service were granted additional privileges upon being discharged and those that made a career in the armed forces tended to find the highly regulated environment of the military more stable than the lives they left behind. Not all prospered of course, but enough did that military service with the authority that oppressed their peoples was still considered palatable to many Numbers. Several events in the lead up to the Great War would however see a sudden upsurge in enlistment by Numbers, with the people of Area 11, the Japanese, at the head. By the end of the war fully forty percent of the armed forces was composed of such second-class subjects, a fact that many believe helped significantly in paving the way for the granting of equal status to these formerly downtrodden peoples._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 54

Ad fundum

As the evening wound down and the various guests prepared to leave Laura came to a halt at the front door and glanced back at Kallen.

"Will you be needing a lift back to the palace?"

Kallen blinked. "Huh? What?"

The older girl cocked her head aside. "Do you not want to spend some time with your beau?"

"My WHAT!?"

This time it was Laura that blinked in confusion.

"Is he, not?" she said, nodding at Kallen's rear.

"He-is-I mean-gah!" Kallen almost wailed in despair. How did one answer such a question.

"Kallen and I have actually only gone on a single date," Cole came to her rescue. "I had invited her on another but, certain events prevented her from giving me an answer."

"I see," Laura said. "Well, my apologies for making presumptions, to both of you."

"No apologies are necessary, Lady Arseid," Cole responded with a slight smile. "And who knows, perhaps in the future it will not be a presumption."

Recovering quickly from her previous shock Kallen snorted. "First you'll need to meet my father."

"Umm, yes, there is that," Cole said with just a touch of nervousness.

Laura smiled at the display before nodding to Kallen once more. "I will wait in the car until you are ready."

Without giving the younger girl a chance to protest she walked down the stairs. Kallen smiled ruefully over at Cole.

"Until I'm ready, she says," the girl chuckled.

Cole gave a slight laugh of his own before talking hold of Kallen's hands. "Well, I'd like to think I warrant at least a few minutes alone with."

"Oh you do," Kallen allowed. "A few minutes."

The two looked at each other before sharing a chuckle.

"Basic will be for ten weeks," Cole said. "After that, I'm supposed to get ten days of leave before I ship out for, well, more training. I think."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "You think?"

"What happens after basic will kind of depend on where the army wants me," Cole said. "And how the war is going. If things end up really bad in Area 12, well, Japan is a lot closer than the homelands so they might start shipping us out early if they think they need to."

Kallen grimaced. She really needed to remember that there was a wider world outside of Japan, or even the Empire, and that the war was taking place all over. The other cause of her grimace was however rooted in something else entirely. Even if the Japanese were slowly gaining acceptance as being Japanese, and Area 11 as Japan once more, there were other parts of the people whose people were not nearly as fortunate. The Philippines for example. And Cole, as much as Kallen liked him as a person, still possessed a very Britannian mentality. Kallen kept her peace. It would take time, and she needed to keep her own impatience in check. Biting off the head of someone whom was genuinely trying to change would not do her any good.

"I'll write as well," she said instead. "Not just to respond to your letters, but whenever I feel I want to let you know something." Kallen smiled slightly. "And like Hel I'm going to let the princess take up all of your attention."

Cole coughed. "Umm, I assure you Kallen, I was as surprised as you when her highness made her request. And I promise, there is absolutely nothing going on between us."

"You've got that right buster," Kallen said, leaning in and giving Cole a big smirk. "And if you even _think_ about cheating on me, I have a big knightmare that I'm not afraid to break out."

To that Cole actually smiled back. "So I guess we are official then?"

Kallen blinked, before a more natural smile crossed her own face. "Yeah, I guess we are." She leaned in again and gave Cole a peck on the cheek. "Official enough for that at least."

The reddening of cheeks was mirrored on both and after a few moments they shared another chuckle.

"I will come back to you Kallen," Cole assured her.

The girl's head bobbed up and down in a nod. "I know."

* * *

While the other guests departed after the very delicious meal Euphemia lingered to spend some more time with the Ashfords, and of course with Nunnally. With Ruben having retired for the evening the four girls were seated in the den enjoying a nice after meal tea. Euphemia owed her little sister at least a bit more time with her, seeing as Cornelia had not been able to see her and all the other secrets that needed to be kept from the girl. They chatted, Euphemia was introduced to Arthur, the cat Nunnally was taking care of, and a rather feisty little thing at that, and things felt almost like they did before their worlds were turned upside down. Almost.

Nunnally yawned, eliciting smiles from all of the older girls. Try as the girl might she was still the youngest here and needed to go to bed earlier. And then there was the fact that her body tended to tire quickly due to the trauma it suffered in the past. Euphemia gave her sister a squeeze.

"Nunnally, there's something that I'd like to show you before you hop off to bed," she said.

The girl blinked curiously at her sister. Euphemia nodded to her armsman and he issued a quick order over the radio. A few moments later another armsman entered carrying a rectangular object shrouded in cloth. The object was obviously not that heavy, though it was bulky enough that another armsman needed to help pull off the cover. Gasps sounded as the painting beneath was revealed, though for slightly varying reasons.

Of the four girls only three had actually ever seen the real thing. The oil canvas rendition of the Imperial Ares Villa was however so vivid, so lifelike, that one could be forgiven for thinking that what they saw was a photo, if not a window looking out at the real thing. The artist had employed the effects of light in a superb manner, creating ripples of color that gave a lushness to the gardens. And then there were the buildings themselves, nestled in the heart of the greenery in a seeming oasis of white reflections and shades.

Euphemia felt a tremor in her sister's form and she squeezed tighter.

"This is the home that was stolen from you, Nunnally," she said. "I know you have a new one here with Milly and Nina, but I promise, one day you _will_ be able to call upon Ares Villa as your own once more."

Nunnally looked back at Euphemia, a mixture of surprise but also longing. She pressed herself deeper into Euphemia's embrace.

"What I want you have already given me," she said. "I have my sister back."

Euphemia ran a hand through Nunnally's hair. That was true, in a sense, the two of them were no longer separated. But a part of Euphemia would never be able to accept anything less than Nunnally's restoration to her heritage. Perhaps that was a selfish sentiment, even a dangerous one, but it was still something she felt.

"Euphie," Milly spoke up. "Who did that painting?"

"I commissioned it from an artist named Arisu Yamazaki," the princess said.

The Ashford girl's eyes widened slightly. "A Japanese?"

A nod answered her.

"Huh. Is she available for other work?"

"Probably. Do you wish to commission something from her?"

Milly nodded in turn. "A painting of the academy and its grounds. Grandpa's been feeling, well, weathered, and I think it'll help lift his spirits."

"Of course," Euphemia agreed immediately. "I will see that you get her contact information. I can also arrange a meeting if you would like."

Milly smiled. "Thanks Euphie."

After a short discussion of where the painting should be hung, the current den eventually being selected and quickly installed therein, Nunnally was shepherded off to bed by Sayoko, leaving Euphemia to conduct the final piece of business for the evening. Milly also retired, but not before giving Euphemia one last pointed look before leaving her with Nina.

The bespectacled girl was noticeably nervous about being alone in the princess' presence. Well, not quite alone, but the pair of armsmen were doing their best to melt into the background and might as well not have been there.

"Nina," Euphemia said gently. "I believe you have at least an inkling of what I wish to discuss with you."

The girl nodded slowly. Despite being older than the princess she could not help but feel slightly cowed by the force of her will.

"When my sponsorship of your atomic energy work began, it was with the understanding that its fruits might be weaponized by the military. I gave my word that you would not be forced to participate in such an endeavor, that the work you personally participated in would only involve efforts to harness electrical power from it. I intend to keep my word, but I wish for you to understand that it is no longer a mere probability that the military will want to adapt your results for a weapon, with the war it is now an absolute certainty. Your person will be shielded from attempts to enlist you in assisting with such an effort, but I cannot shield the research that you produce. As such I want you to know that, at any point, you are free to withdraw from the project if you ever feel uncomfortable with how its results are being used."

Nina took a very deep breath as Euphemia finished speaking. "I understand, your highness. And I appreciate your consideration. But now that I have started, it does not feel right to leave the work undone. And to be honest, if the military does seek to weaponize my research, I feel if for no other reason I should at least continue working to understand its ramifications."

"Very well, Nina," Euphemia said with a nod. "I respect your decision, and I will try to make sure you are kept up to date on developments as much as military secrecy will permit."

"Thank you, your highness," Nina said with a weak smile.

Both knew that that 'secrecy' would not permit much at all, but one never knew.

"Now that that is settled, I was hoping for an update of the project's progress," Euphemia said. "I know you submit weekly reports, but I have often found that a briefing in person is always more informative than what might be set down on paper."

"Umm, of course your highness," Nina stuttered. "Umm, what would you like to know?"

"Well, for one, progress on the pile construction."

The girl nodded quickly, her glasses almost seeming to bounce on her face. "All of the graphite required to act as a neutron moderator has arrived, your highness, and we've made certain that they are boron free so that they won't absorb the generated neutrons. The actual construction of the pile is also on schedule, but the uranium oxide has been, well, harder to get. I'm not quite sure what the problem is, though Captain Croomy told me that she would deal with that matter."

That probably implied someone in the other atomic program was playing politics with resources, Euphemia mused. She made a mental note to contact Schneizel and get that sorted out posthaste.

"We've finalized a design for the shielding and cooling mechanisms and contracted out their fabrication. The first parts have already been delivered and the rest are expected by next month, after which we can complete installation. Assuming we can get enough uranium oxide, we should be able to attempt a criticality experiment in two months' time."

Euphemia nodded. "That is promising. And thus far indications are you should be able to achieve criticality?"

"Yes, your highness," Nina said with a firm nod. When the girl was discussing her field of expertise, her level of confidence seemed to rise. "Based on the calculations, this pile should be capable of producing approximately fifty kilowatts. The proposed shielding and cooling system should be sufficient for at least double that output."

"Good," Euphemia said, and then leaned back in her seat. "It has been only a few short months, but the progress achieved has been considerable. I am impressed, Nina."

"Thank you, your highness," Nina said with a very visible flushing of her cheeks.

Euphemia smiled slightly. "I wonder, if perhaps you might be willing to help me with another physics problem?"

"Umm, I will endeavor to try, your highness," Nina said immediately.

"Sergeant."

The soldier stepped forth and held out a folder to Euphemia. The princess took it, and then personally presented it to Nina. The older girl received it reverently.

"May I?" she asked somewhat nervously.

"Please."

Nina opened the binder, and found herself awash in diagrams, schematics, and mathematical equations. The girl was not an engineer by trade but she could still read basic figures and pieced together bits and pieces from the schematics.

"This, is a particle beam of some sort?" she said somewhat uncertainly.

"So it would seem," Euphemia said somewhat dryly.

Nina frowned, her curiosity piqued. Nuclear physics was still a developing field that saw major advances occurring with some regularity over the past decade or so. The Britannian Empire was actually at the forefront, having developed the first practical means of accelerating particles. Its attempts to weaponize the technology had thus far been less than a complete success, not that Nina herself knew about such efforts. That said, particle accelerators still tended to be somewhat esoteric and even with the use of sakuradite relatively bulky. The design before Nina however was much, much smaller. And assuming she was reading the numbers right, capable of emitting a lot more energy.

"Umm, I think this is a proton beam of some sort," Nina said, "at least that's what this notation would suggest. And it's, targeting this thing, which is made of iridium. I'm not sure for what purpose though, iridium has a very high melting point and hardness. Unless the proton beam is supposed to induce some sort of atomic reaction?"

"So you cannot think of any reason for such a system?" Euphemia asked.

Nina shook her head. "I'm sorry, your highness. This looks like an experimental setup, except I don't see any places where you're supposed to mount measuring instruments. Unless the measurement tools enclose the iridium somehow?"

Euphemia pursed her lips. In theory she could go to an accredited researcher to get another opinion, but she did not want to leak C.C.'s designs any further than she absolutely had to. Not even the engineers building the device were privy to the full documentation, with work split between different groups. That ran the risk of complications when it came time to integrate the different pieces, but she would much rather risk that than discovery by the Directorate what she was planning for the thought elevator on Kamine Island.

"That is fine," the princess said. "What you have managed to tell me is already of some use."

"I'm sorry I can't be of more help your highness," Nina said as she returned the binder. "But whoever came up with that experiment, well, they have to be working from a much deeper understanding of atomic physics than anything I've ever seen."

The princess refrained from raising an eyebrow. True Nina was not actually a certified physicist, though Euphemia had little doubt the young woman would become one in the near future, but her knowledge of atomic physics likely rivaled established researchers. If she did not understand what this was, then how could C.C. have come up with it? The frown that fought to appear on Euphemia's face took considerably more effort to suppress. C.C. had called this a surrogate, but a surrogate to what? Was there a device out there that could more efficiently do, whatever it was this contraption was supposed to do? If so, who had created it? And what did that say about the understanding that its makers must possess of the physical world? Euphemia had come here hoping for answers. She left with many more questions.

* * *

"AH!"

Joshua did not quite flinch, but his eyes flickered in surprise as the beaming girl ran up to him.

"There you are!" she exclaimed, drawing amused looks from all about.

The boy felt a slight unease at the attention. Something told him however that pulling away would only result in more attention. Estelle seemed to be extremely persistent if nothing else.

"Where did you go away to last time?" she asked as she came to a stop before him.

"I, saw my sister waving at me," Joshua lied.

"Awww, you shoulda let me meet her!" Estelle said with a slight pout.

Joshua was not even sure how he could respond to that. Restraint, and maybe also tact, was apparently not something Estelle cared one wit for.

"So whatcha doing here today?" she asked, the smile back on her face.

"I'm, just walking around," Joshua said.

"All by yourself!?" Estelle exclaimed.

"Umm, yes?"

"That's no fun," Estelle declared. "Ah! Have you been up to the gardens?"

Joshua shook his head. Thus far he had only been scouting the building interior. The roof garden, with its wide spaces and lack of cover, would have been a very suboptimal path of retreat should the need arise. His geass' range was not nearly long enough for him to be able to hide up there.

"Wanna come with me then?" Estelle asked with another wide smile. "I'm gonna meet Mama up there, she said Papa would be there too and we're gonna have a picnic!"

"No, I," Joshua began slowly.

The smile disappeared on Estelle's expression and she gave the boy a sullen look. "Umm, am I bothering you?"

Something deep within Joshua flickered. The boy was not sure what, but he could feel his heart become unsteady. The instincts that had been honed by long training and indoctrination screamed at him to get as far away from Estelle as possible. Yet he still hesitated.

"I need to go meet my sister soon," he lied. "But, I can come with you up to the garden and say hi to your mom."

The smile returned and Joshua found his heart flickering for an entirely different reason. There was just something about Estelle, something that made it so he did not want to ever see her lose her smile. Those instincts were more than screaming now, they wailed and thundered for him to part with the girl. Joshua did not however, instead letting Estelle grab hold of his hand and pull him along. The warmth of her touch made him deaf to the cries. Deaf, to all but one cry that his true self had made all those years ago.

* * *

A knock sounded on the door.

"Come in."

The man seated in the office that Kallen entered looked like he had a perpetual scowl on his face. The girl came to attention. Levi regarded Kallen, his expression unchanged. In other words he was still scowling.

"You would be?"

"Lieutenant Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki, of her highness' royal guard," Kallen answered.

The soldier stared at Kallen for a few moments before responding.

"Can I help you, lieutenant?" was the very guarded response.

"I hope so, sir," Kallen said respectfully. As a senior grade lieutenant the CO of Charlie company's third platoon technically outranked her even with her half-step up from her formal position of junior grade lieutenant. "I have some questions regarding your cousin, Private Mikasa Ackermann."

The man's scowl actually deepened at that. "Has there been a, problem, with Private Ackermann?"

"No sir," Kallen said, "not anything related to her duties. She has however been extremely reticent whenever an attempt is made to, socialize with her. I was hoping you might be able to provide some insight into why."

Levi's head tilted slightly aside. "These, attempts, are you referring to attempts made in general or attempts made specifically by you, lieutenant?"

Kallen grimaced. This again. "Sir, there is obviously some sort of history that seems to make Private Ackermann extremely uneasy around me. Can we stop dancing around the issue and just get to it?"

The platoon CO stared at Kallen and snorted. "And what makes you think I should feel obliged to tell you anything that Mikasa herself has elected to withhold?"

At this point Kallen was almost grinding her teeth. "Lieutenant, if Private Ackermann does have some sort of personal issue with me, I feel I should at least be aware of them."

"Even if those issues are of your own making?"

Kallen blinked. "I'm sorry?"

Levi leaned back, propping a leg up on the other knee. "Would you be going through this much effort for another soldier that seemed to have issues with you, lieutenant? Or is Mikasa somehow special in your eyes because of her heritage?"

"Are you saying Private Ackermann does not want the extra attention due to her heritage?" Kallen asked.

"Exactly so."

It was Kallen's turn to frown. "And why exactly is that?"

"Why should it matter?" Levi retorted. "Mikasa has elected to not put any emphasis on her Eleven heritage, what right do you have to impose such an identification upon her?"

Kallen's eyes flared. "I am imposing nothing, the private's heritage is not something anyone, least of all you or her, can change. She is _Japanese_ , regardless of what anyone else might think."

A sneer crossed Levi's face. "And how exactly is your imposition of the label Japanese on my cousin any different than the label of Eleven on the populace of this Area, when neither is welcome?"

"How-what are you even talking about!?" Kallen nearly exploded. "How are they at all similar!?"

"Mikasa does not identify herself as Japanese, lieutenant," Levi emphasized the rank. "She guessed, correctly it would seem, that your interest in her is solely because _you_ view her as Japanese. Why is she obliged, in any way, in pandering to your misconception?"

"How is it a misconception when she has Japanese blood running in her veins?" Kallen hissed.

"And what would your reaction be if someone decided to treat you solely as Britannian even though you obviously have elected to identify as Japanese?"

That finally caught Kallen short and she spent several moments taking deep breaths and trying to recompose herself.

"Respectfully, lieutenant," she finally said, "could you have not just said that to start with and skipped all the melodrama?"

"I might have been so inclined," Levi said, "had you not shown such disrespect to my cousin by coming here behind her back."

Kallen regarded the man. "You care about her. Your cousin."

"She is kin," Levi stated flatly. "Of course I care about her."

"You say that she identifies herself as Britannian," Kallen said after a brief pause.

Levi simply nodded.

Kallen's mouth thinned. "Is that by her choice?"

"What the Hel is _that_ supposed to mean?" Levi said with a slight growl.

"I have seen many instances where those of non-Britannian heritage, or those of mixed heritage, were obliged to adopt a Britannian identity in order to make a living," Kallen stated. "I have seen very few examples where the adoption of that identity was genuine."

Levi's eyes narrowed once more. "Lieutenant Stadtfeld. I would remind you that the actions and beliefs of others are their own, they do not exist to provide _you_ a sense of validation."

The level of irritation Kallen felt towards the lieutenant was not inconsiderable. At the same time her geass made clear that Levi was entirely earnest in his words, that he did care about his cousin. Which made his accusation that much more pointed. Why had Kallen approached Mikasa in the first place, and not one of the other armsmen? She was honest enough with herself to admit that it was because of Mikasa's obvious Japanese heritage. That the other girl did not seem to hold that heritage in the same regard as Kallen herself was, galling. Even disturbing. Yet as Kallen thought about it, perhaps that was also how Britannians might have regarded her own emphasis of her Japanese heritage over her Britannian one. And she could not claim that they were wrong to feel so.

"I apologize for the discourtesy I have shown both yourself and your cousin, Lieutenant Ackermann," Kallen finally said. "It is indeed presumptuous of me to, assert something on behalf of another."

Levi's expression remained unchanged but after a few moments he nodded. "Will that be all, Lieutenant Stadtfeld?"

Technically Kallen still had questions, but she knew that the likelihood of getting them answered were nil. If she wanted to learn more about Mikasa, she would need to earn the other woman's respect directly.

"No sir."

And besides, it looked like her time was up. A knock sounded as Kallen stood. She walked over to the door and opened it to reveal the woman holding a tray of food.

"Oh, pardon me," the woman said. "I didn't know Levi was meeting with someone."

"It's no problem, we were done," Kallen said before turning and clicking her heels together. "Thank you for your time, lieutenant."

Levi's only response was a curt nod. Kallen waited for the newcomer to enter before taking her own leave. It seemed like she would have much to think about.

* * *

"You're late."

Joshua regarded the other youth with a blank expression.

"I was not aware we were on a timetable."

His response however conveyed all the nuance he cared to.

Rolo Haliburton, officially Joshua's senior and minder for this operation, scowled at the younger boy. "Watch your tongue, Joshua. You are here to serve a purpose, and if you are found wanting there will be consequences."

Joshua's eyes narrowed. He had never liked Rolo, the older boy always came off as rather arrogant due to how often he was tapped for field operations. Rolo took that as a mark of approval from the Directorate's leadership, and the usefulness of his geass compared to the ones that manifested in others. In Joshua's opinion the older boy was letting his achievements go to his head.

"Your report," Rolo said after it was apparent Joshua was not going to make any further retorts.

Joshua relaxed against the wall. "The security at the viceroy's palace has several vulnerabilities in the outer perimeter, but the deeper you go in the tighter it gets. Access to the inner rooms where the princess herself works are all keycard controlled, even for the cleaning staff. They also use a two-factor authentication system, with what appears to be unique codes for each employee. Oh, and I am fairly certain there is some sort of passive detection system in place as well. There was an instance of a bird flying into one of the empty rooms and a guard arrived not long after to investigate."

The scowl on Rolo's face was for entirely different reasons now. "Their degree of paranoia is insane. What about the princess warrants such extreme measures?"

Besides the fact that there really were people out for their life, the two of them included, Joshua did not say aloud. Rolo was not an idiot, if he was he would have never been trusted to carry out field operations, but there were times.

"If the palace itself is effectively impregnable, then we shall have to strike at her when she is beyond its walls," Rolo said as he began pacing. "Yes, that should work. Twice now the defenses protecting her when she ventures outside have nearly failed. With our abilities, breaching those defenses, even if they are augmented, should be much easier than attempting to enter the palace."

That at least was true enough. When the princess was outside there were significantly more opportunities to strike at her. The princess' guard could only close so many possible points of vulnerability after all. The trick however was one guardswoman in particular, and the fact that both Joshua and Rolo's geass required that they be at relatively close range to be useful. The princess, and more importantly her newest armsman, the Lady Stadtfeld, would not be affected however, and the latter at the very least appeared to be a most competent warrior if her exploits during the Lake Kawaguchi incident were to be believed. Joshua was inclined to do so and therefore was wary of engaging the Lady Stadtfeld in any sort of open contest. And if the princess was at all inclined to prudence she would likely make sure the Lady Stadtfeld accompanied her whenever she did leave the safety of the palace. What to do, what to do.

"Without knowing her highness' schedule it will be next to impossible to move against her though," Rolo continued rambling aloud. "And any publicly announced appearances will have heavy security and large crowds. Hmm, the crowds could provide some cover if they were permitted close to her person."

"They would also hamper any retreat if a panic and stampede ensued," Joshua remarked.

"I am well aware," Rolo said tartly before he resumed pacing. "The best opportunity to strike the princess is in a place where she is believed secure, but which does not possess the degree of specialized security that the palace does. Perhaps when she visits MacArthur?"

Joshua raised an eyebrow. Surely Rolo was not proposing they attempt the assassination of an imperial scion in the middle of a military base. Sure the credentials provided by the Directorate would allow them access, thanks to the more centralized nature of the Britannian military, but there was still that problem of getting out alive after the fact. Bound as he was to the Directorate Joshua was not prepared to die for it.

Rolo came to a halt as his face lit up. "The Ashfords."

Joshua cocked his head aside.

"Her highness has dined with them several times since her arrival in Area 11, the most recent instance just last night."

The younger boy did not ask just how Rolo had learned of that. It was not like he was the only one performing reconnaissance after all.

"Security when she goes to the Ashfords tends to be light, no more than a squad of armsmen. Yes, entry into the Ashford residence should be much more straightforward than the palace."

"It would probably be even more straightforward to just take out her highness' limo with an RPG," Joshua said dryly.

"That is certainly a possibility," Rolo actually conceded. "Such an overt attempt would however see the royal guard close ranks and likely even forbid the princess from leaving the palace for a time. Though, perhaps a two prong approach would be best. If the primary attempt were to fail, then a follow up when she is retreating should be prepared." A dark smirk appeared. "One can never be too prepared."

That Joshua at least agreed with and he was already considering his own exit strategies should this operation blow up in their faces. He had to admit, the Princess Euphemia was turning into a surprisingly complicated target. While he could not necessarily claim that the security of some of his more prominent past victims was any less dedicated, the competency demonstrated by the royal guard was quite something else. The geass offered a substantial advantage and their own training had been, extreme, in more ways than one. A direct attack was still sheer suicide however, even one launched from long range.

"I will investigate the Ashford angle further," Rolo said. "Unfortunate that the school is currently in the middle of summer recess, but I can probably arrange for my enrollment."

"Even after what happened with that French spy?" Joshua pointed out.

Rolo frowned. "That will be but an irritant. My paperwork will stand up to far greater scrutiny than what even the Inquisitio can manage."

Probably because it would be the Inquisitio doing the doctoring, Joshua again refrained from remarking.

"If you're going to wait until the next term starts then we'll be here for a while," he said instead.

"This is a long term operation," Rolo replied. "And besides, there is also the matter of C.C. to attend to."

That was also true, though what exactly the two of them were supposed to do without more manpower was beyond Joshua. In theory they were supposed to be reinforced once a concrete plan, for now all they could realistically expect to achieve was gather intelligence. And in truth, that suited Joshua just fine. As one of the few geass holders permitted to leave the Directorate on field operations he was acutely aware of just how much of life's experiences were denied him and the others. Running away was impossible, not with the link that bound them to their code bearer, and any attempt was punished severely. The truly intransient were, well, their fates were not something Joshua cared to dwell upon. The chance that he might be able to enjoy more that omelet he had today, now that was something worth thinking about. And so he did.

* * *

"Lady Stadtfeld?"

Kallen turned about, finding herself face to face with a woman she recognized as one of Euphemia's aids.

"Yes?"

The woman curtsied politely. "My name is Jane Eyre. I believe you were acquainted, however briefly, with my uncle."

The girl's eyes widened and she nodded. "General Eyre was a good man. It is my regret that I did not get to know him better."

"That is kind of you to say," Jane said with a slight smile. "May I impose upon you a moment of your time later this evening?"

Kallen thought over her schedule. "I should be free. When were you thinking."

"Nineteen hundred hours, if it is so convenient."

A nod. "It is. Where shall I meet you?"

At the anointed time Kallen found herself in the study of the residency assigned to Jane. She was not alone with the other woman, the Baron Edward Rochester was also present, along with Brigadier Villetta Nu, the newly promoted Captain Roy Mustang, Lieutenant Alexander Armstrong, Lieutenant Claudio Darlton, and most surprisingly Private Mikasa Ackermann. It was certainly an eclectic collection of guests, even if heavily slanted towards those that had served with or under the general in one capacity or another.

"My gratitude to all of you for accepting my invitation," Jane began.

"Think nothing of it, Dame Eyre," Villetta said. "And should you have need in the future, do not hesitate to call upon us."

Jane smiled kindly. "Thank you, Brigadier Nu." And her expression turned solemn. "I have asked all of you here today, to carry out the last bequests laid forth in my uncle's will."

The gathered soldiers all regarded Jane with widened eyes. The baron noticeably did not share in their surprise, likely having been informed beforehand.

"My uncle was a meticulous man, and he went to great lengths to ensure that his affairs were always in order. As such one matter that he took care to keep up to date was his will, which mentions directly or indirectly, those whom I have invited here today."

Kallen was fairly certain she was one of those indirectly mentioned seeing as the day she first met the general was also the day he was killed in action. Her attention focused back on her immediate situation as Jane reached behind her chair and hefted two sheathed swords and set them on the table. The form was instantly recognizable to most in the room, seeing as barring a few exceptions all members of the Princess Euphemia's royal guard carried such blades.

"My family does not possess any storied history of military service," Jane said. "My uncle was only the third to join. These two blades before you hold no memories of my family, they were simply passed down to my uncle as gifts from those he served with. They however meant much to him, as they were gifted by those he respected greatly, and also imparted the art of the sword to him."

In truth Kallen knew little to nothing about the general's supposed martial prowess beyond what she was told by others. Jonathan was supposed to be a superb swordsman and the respect with which Laura spoke of the man's skill was enough reason for Kallen not to doubt the reputation. If these weapons really were from whomever had trained Jonathan, the girl could not help but wonder who originally bore them.

Jane picked up one sword. "Sir Mustang."

The man was visibly moved as he rose and stepped forward. Jane presented him with the blade and it was with clear reverence that he accepted it.

"My uncle held great faith in your abilities, as a soldier and as a leader," Jane said. "He believed one day that you would have surpassed him and gone onto greater things."

"I learned much from the general," Roy said solemnly. "I will never forget the lessons so instilled."

Jane smiled at the captain and nodded. She then picked up the second sword and looked straight at Villetta. The knight took a deep breath.

"Dame Nu."

Villetta stood and stepped forth and Jane held the sword before her.

"My uncle," she began. "He was, happy to have met you, Dame Nu. I think he saw a bit of his younger self in you, a time when he was hungry for advancement but still determined to do the right thing. He never married, and though he cared for me much as he would have any child of his, I believe that you are better suited to carry on his martial legacy."

Villetta bowed her head. "I will see that the legacy is honored, Dame Eyre. And I swear I will never give cause for the general to regard me with shame when we meet once more in the halls of Valhalla."

Jane nodded and released her grip on the sword. She then nodded to Rochester. The baron nodded back before disappearing into the other room.

"The final bequests left by my uncle," Jane said. "It was a, less than conventional request on his part, and he left the fulfillment therein to my discretion."

Rochester returned, carrying with him four wineglasses and a corked bottle. The baron placed the glasses in a circle on the table, then poked the cork and proceeded to pour an equal measure in each glass.

"My uncle was not much a drinker of wine," Jane continued. "He did appreciate it however, and had a small collection for the purposes of social occasions that required he entertain guests. In his will, he requested that a glass be shared with two groups of individuals. The first, those that participated in the insertion operation to save her highness the princess during the Lake Kawaguchi incident," Jane's gaze fell upon Kallen, "not excepting the Red Knight."

The girl's eyes widened ever so slightly.

"The second, those soldiers that stood with him when he fell, provided their conduct was worthy of their oath," Jane said, this time her gaze falling on one Mikasa Ackerman.

The Japanese girl breathed deeply. Rochester finished pouring the wine and set the mostly empty bottle in the middle.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Jane said, "please."

When she first heard that the gathering was for resolving the bequests left behind by the General Eyre Kallen had been at a slight loss as to why she was present. That confusion was gone now and Kallen had to admit she even admired the general a bit more for this gesture. She reached for the glass without hesitation, as did the others.

"Lord Armstrong," Jane said. "If it would please you."

"It would be my honour, milady," the man rumbled as he raised his glass. "A toast, ladies and gentlemen, to a man amongst men. A toast, to his courage, to his conviction, and to his eternal memory."

Kallen raised her glass in turn and took a sip with the others. When she finished and set her glass down, Jane was smiling at all of them gratefully.

"My gratitude, to all of you, for humoring my uncle's last requests."

A few more words were exchanged between the guests and Jane and even Kallen offered a few genuine ones of her own. The general had been open minded enough to side with her during the Tokyo Uprising, and in the process likely helped keep the battle from claiming the lives of countless innocent civilians. Japanese civilians at that. There was no need to feign polite regret, Kallen genuinely wished Jonathan had survived the battle. Even if everyone seemed to think that he would have run her into the ground even harder as part of her armsman training.

As the guests took their leave and Kallen herself prepared to depart a voice stopped her.

"Lady Stadtfeld."

Turning about, Kallen was hit by a distinct sense of déjà vu as she faced Jane once more.

"Yes, Dame Eyre?"

Jane did not face Kallen alone, for the Baron Rochester stood at her side cradling the mostly empty bottle of wine.

"I have, one last favor to ask of you, Lady Stadtfeld, but I will understand if it is beyond your measure or desire."

Kallen's lips quirked slightly. "Ask, and we shall see."

Jane nodded. "My uncle's will was, rather specific in certain regards, one of them being the sharing of the toast you just partook in. He specified that the toast was to be shared with _all_ those that participated in the rescue of her highness the princess, regardless of, what circumstances they had since found themselves in."

At that Kallen felt an eyebrow raising.

"Edward and I have already seen to the other two soldiers that had accompanied Sir Darlton and whom are no longer with us this day," Jane said, confirming what Kallen already suspected. "In the case of Sir Kururugi however, well, I will admit that I am simply at a loss as to how to proceed."

Kallen pursed her lips thoughtfully for several moments. In truth she actually could think of several manners in which to carry out the general's request despite only really knowing Suzaku superficially at best. That was not what caused her to hesitate however.

"I must admit, Dame Eyre, to a certain surprise at your request," Kallen said. "Are you, certain your uncle would have wanted this, especially after what Suzaku did during the Battle of Tokyo."

The nod that Jane gave her was firm and confident. "My uncle, he recognized that a man could change, for the better and for the worse. But he also believed that a man's achievements can never be taken from him. As such, I do not doubt that he would wish for Sir Kururugi to have been included in his bequest, regardless of his having so foresworn himself."

The young knight tilted her head, at a slight loss for words. She could not quite say whether she agreed with the general, but she did find that she admired his sense of ethics. Kallen nodded.

"I will see to it, Dame Eyre."

Rochester stepped forward and extended the bottle to Kallen. She accepted it with a surety of purpose.

End of Chapter 54

Jonathan was, very busy after his appointment as captain of Euphie's guard. Literally the first thing he did was to make sure that access to the princess was controlled in such a way that it becomes literally impossible for people to 'slip' in. If you did not have access to begin with, your chances of getting it are very, very slim. And the system is keyed in such a way that it will trigger alarms if strange patterns start showing up in the access logs, as in a key is used in two locations that are on opposite sides of the wing with no direct unkeyed access to each other, or the key of someone that's supposed to be off duty is used. Yes, he took security very seriously, and actually thought through contingencies for potential points of failure.

Made a slight mistake, the Glaston Knights should all have been senior grade lieutenants. Though during the Battle of Tokyo Claudio still would have deferred to Mustang, primarily because Mustang was actually the commanding officer of a detachment at Keio, whereas Claudio didn't really have a command anymore.

To the person leaving reviews with spelling/grammar/etc corrections, while I appreciate the sentiment, it is highly unlikely that I'll ever bother going back to reupload past chapters with corrections unless it is part of a major remaster or the error alters the meaning of something that I wanted to be explicit for plot purposes. None of the chapters get posted with any major proofreading effort on my part, beyond what spell check picks out, though my master copy incorporates corrections and even rewordings as I review after the fact.

The situation with Suzaku is actually somewhat complicated. Originally when I wrote those snippets at the start of the chapters I was expecting him to play a much larger role in the Black Rebellion. Namely, he was supposed to have nearly killed Euphemia. As we got closer however a couple of problems cropped up wherein I had difficulty framing his appearance in such a way that he could convincingly nearly kill Euphemia without actually killing her. With the possession of the Lancelot, that became nearly impossible. If the Lancelot had gotten to Keio while Euphemia was undergoing surgery, she would have died, period. If I were to go back and redo the Battle of Tokyo, I likely would have restructured Suzaku's contributions considerably. At the time however I needed to get that chunk of the story out and so I tried to at least give him a good showing where he overwhelmed the Four Holy Swords and nearly killed Kallen.

That being said, a couple of things can be inferred from a historical perspective by how Suzaku was described. Keep in mind that the histories were written much, much later. As such they are reflective of the cumulative reputations that have built up over the intervening years. This means that they really should not be used to directly guess the 'immediate' present in the story, since what you're seeing in the snippets is colored by a lot of different opinions and whatnot. Now you can of course ask yourself, why is Suzaku regarded so poorly historically despite his 'seeming' lack of contribution to the Black Rebellion. That answer by itself should give a hint as to how society's views developed over the years, and what the authorities did and did not do with respect to their treatment of Suzaku's reputation.

Quite a few things actually got changed regarding the Black Rebellion. One of the other scenes that I ended up dropping was members of Ashford's student body fighting back against the JLF advance. Specifically, I toyed with the notion of members of the cooking club, due to the fact that a bunch of them are avid hunters, would have broken out the emergency weapons Sayoko and Sharon keep, and acted as snipers basically. The problem with that idea was that if the JLF came under attack from marksmen, their response would have been to start shooting rockets at Ashford, which would have guaranteed a lot of casualties from the people taking shelter there. That didn't fit with how I wanted the battle to go, so I dropped it.

Ultimately I had enough material sketched out to increase the length of the Black Rebellion to two more chapters. I decided to not do that for pacing reasons, so ultimately a lot of the fighting that occurred between the Britannian forces proper and the JLF was not shown. Let's just say, once Akatsuki started calling in targeting information for the Britannian Navy, things went downhill very, very quickly for the JLF.

As I have said previously, the lack of detailed information about Lelouch, his ambitions, and the limits of his powers are intentional. They will be revealed in time as the story progresses. I will not answer any specific questions regarding them until then.

What makes one think Monica and V.V. would be on the same side? What makes one think Monica is telling the truth? So on and so on. The whole matter regarding the code and the geass is effectively a parallel storyline that is only just getting started. Only time will tell how it unfolds.

I don't have any real comment regarding background scenery in the Code Geass anime. The production team seemed to mostly rely on rule of cool and what they were personally familiar with to create the Code Geass world, so what they showed was not so much a Britannian society but modern Japan with some token 'foreign' buildings to show that, hey, the Japanese aren't actually in control of their own country.

To my French readers, language question. If you are addressing a woman that holds high office, say Madam President (not that you've had a female president, as far as I can recall), is it Madame la Présidente or Madame le Président? Grammatically I would have expected the former, but there seems to be some rule that the 'office' or title is still treated as masculine even if the holder is a woman.


	56. Chapter 55

_In contrast to its opponents the Britannian military was both on paper and in reality a highly standardized force. It had just transitioned to a new assault rifle, the M16, which used the smaller .223 Remington compared to the older .308 Winchester, and after the initial teething problems saw considerable success with the weapon. Furthermore the Britannian military used a single main battle tank, the M60 Patton, and while for much of the war it fielded two knightmare models, the Sutherland and the Gloucester, this was more due to the already in progress replacement of the Sutherland when conflict broke out and the lack of time to recall and replace all of the older knightmares already in service. Only fairly late in the conflict did the Vincent series of knightmares derived from the Lancelot begin making an appearance, and only in small numbers assigned to elite pilots at that._

 _As for the Britannian Air Force all of its frontline fighter squadrons were equipped with F-15 Eagles while its workhorse bomber the B-52 Stratofortress saw heavy usage in the areas where the Empire was able to establish air supremacy. The AC-130 gunship went on to become an absolute terror for those it was deployed against and the A-10 Thunderbolt would gain a reputation for almost unmatched durability, with reports of planes managing to return to base even after having parts of their wings shot off. The navy also had long ago standardized on the F-18 Hornet for its carriers and Marine detachments, though several squadrons of older F-14 Tomcats were also pressed into service due to the demands placed on its forces and the Tomcat's greater range._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 55

Obscuris vera involvens

"Your highness, Dame Kruszewski is here to speak with you."

"Send her in," Euphemia responded without even looking up at the phone.

"Yes your highness."

Only when the door opened did the princess' gaze shift from the documents displayed on her monitors as she looked up at the woman that strode in. If there was a single word that best described how the princess regarded Monica, it would probably be guarded. The princess remained courteous, for the most part, when dealing with the knight, but it was quite evident that she did not trust her. That was fair enough, only a fool trusted an inquisitor outright, and Monica needed the princess to not be one if her gambit was to work.

"Dame Kruszewski," Euphemia greeted.

"Your highness," Monica responded respectfully. "Thank you for making the time for me."

Euphemia tilted her head, as if to prompt Monica to get on with it without saying so outright. Monica cracked a slight smile.

"It occurred to me, your highness, that considering the condition Ms. Clermont is in, that she may not have been able to explain in detail certain matters," Monica said. "As a gesture of goodwill, I am prepared to share with you my understanding of the situation."

Euphemia raised an eyebrow. The princess remained silent for a minute or so before looking over at the armsman on duty.

"Privilege Red," she said.

The soldier clicked his heels and began speaking into his radio. A few minutes later a noticeably breathing heavy Kallen entered the office and bowed.

"Your highness."

"Assume your post, Kallen."

"Yes your highness."

The other armsman nodded to Kallen before vacating the room. Monica was more than a bit bemused by the fact that the princess had already set up a procedure for dealing with such situations.

"I presume your other guards will be observing via video but with the mics off?" she said offhandedly.

"Presume whatever you so wish, Dame Kruszewski," Euphemia said.

The knight's expression hardened slightly. "Your pardon, your highness, but I really do think it is in your best interest to ensure that no one else learns of these details. It would, add to the amount of cleanup I would have to perform should certain, conditions arise."

Euphemia's eyes narrowed. "I assure you, Dame Kruszewski, my insurance policy in no way requires foreknowledge from my armsmen to make life considerably more difficult for the Directorate, or yourself."

The smirk flickered over Monica's face again as the knight took note of the implicit threat. Or rather counter threat.

"Very well your highness," Monica said before she began pacing the room. "Before we begin, I just want to make note of something. The medical sciences have only recently reached a stage wherein we can properly investigate the geass." She came to a halt and turned to directly face the princess. "What I am about to tell you will therefore still have shades of conjecture and legend, especially for the what and why."

The princess nodded once. "It is understood, Dame Kruszewski."

Monica cleared her throat. "To properly explain the geass requires an explanation of, well, really more a hypothesis than a proper scientific theory. It is thought that there exists beneath the human consciousness, a subconscious domain that links all humans together. We call this domain C's World, and it might well be very much the sum and limits of all mankind."

Euphemia's expression tightened ever so slightly. _The sum and limit of man_. Those words reverberated in her thoughts. While Monica's declaration lacked the certainty of Zero's, something told Euphemia that both spoke a great truth.

"Normal humans are not able to tap into their subconscious, which also means they have no awareness of C's World and cannot interact with it," Monica continued. "There are those however that possess a direct link to it, those beings we call code bearers. And then there are the geass bearers whom they form contracts with, and through that contract are granted an indirect link to C's World."

At this point Kallen was also giving Monica her rapt attention. Her own understanding of the geass was limited by C.C.'s unwillingness or outright inability to explain the thing. And who knows, maybe Monica knew of a way to get rid of the bloody migraines her geass brought on whenever she taxed it.

"Now the point that probably interests the two of you are the abilities that manifest due to possession of a geass," Monica said. "And yes, everyone that receives a geass manifests an ability. The current hypothesis is that by possessing a connection to C's World, the geass bearer is able to interact with the minds of other people and thus alter their perceptions. As a consequence of this intrusion, the geass bearer is seemingly able to perform supernatural feats. In the case of our SDECE friend, impose a compulsion on other people."

While Euphemia kept her expression flatly neutral Kallen frowned. Monica's explanation made a degree of sense, assuming one bought into the notion of C's World, for how Lelouch's power operated. Her own however did not quite match up seeing as the effect of her geass seemed purely localized on herself. In fact the princess' power also did not entirely fit with the model the knight was describing, Euphemia apparently possessing the ability of, for lack of a more succinct description, a human calculator.

Monica raised an eyebrow. "It would seem my explanation is somehow lacking for you, Lady Stadtfeld?"

The frown turned into a scowl before Kallen managed to reign in her facial expressions. Thus far the two women had refrained from revealing with Monica just how their own geasses manifested. It would be sloppy if she were to end up giving the knight any hints of it now.

"Please, continue," she said instead.

Monica shrugged with a hint of nonchalance that was almost certainly feigned but did so.

"Possessing access to C's World is not without consequence however. Even if non-bearers do not have a way of initiating a connection, once you form one via a geass their, well, consciousness, can leak back. It is not as if you hear their thoughts or the like, but the pressure that these foreign minds exert is very real. Based on the research the Directorate has conducted, this strain usually manifests as migraines. The more you push your geass, the worse the migraines can get. And yes, they can be fatal, so I would appreciate the two of you not overextending your powers."

Kallen was pretty sure that her raised eyebrow this time did not reveal anything telling. Monica flashed an amused smirk before continuing.

"There are other dangers associated with the geass as well. For one, it is entirely possible to effectively lose control of one's geass and be unable to, well, turn it off, leaving your mind always open to the consciousness of others around you. In literally every recorded case of such loss of control, the inevitable result is a descent into insanity as your sense of self is effectively destroyed."

"How does one lose their sense of self if, as you say, they do not actually hear the thoughts of others?" Euphemia asked.

"I couldn't tell you exactly," Monica said, "seeing as I'm not on the verge of insanity myself. The Directorate has lost enough test subjects to it however I'm pretty sure it's a genuine danger."

"Test subjects," Euphemia repeated frostily.

"Hey, remember, I'm on your side," Monica said with upraised hands.

The beady looks from both other women made clear that they were still dubious of that.

"Alright, fine, I'm on the emperor's side, but on this matter he's on your side," Monica tried again.

Somehow that seemed to make the other two even less happy.

"Err, okay." Monica feigned a cough. "Anyway, moving on. Because a geass holder's connection to C's World goes through whichever code bearer contracted them, this also creates a direct link between the bearer and the holder. And by direct link, I mean the two can communicate telepathically and the bearer is also able to, eavesdrop, on the thoughts of the geass holder when he or she taps into the mind of others via C's World."

That cleared up at least one thing for Kallen, assuming of course that Monica was telling the truth. While she liked to think that C.C. would respect her privacy enough to not just go rooting around, that it was actually not possible for her to do so unless Kallen was actively using her geass was a relief. Though that telepathy would probably have come in damn useful in quite a few situations. She would need to try to test that later.

As for Euphemia the princess' thoughts turned to the times when she used her powers and what she used them for. Though her composure remained stoic the princess arrived at one conclusion very quickly. Nunnally's survival during the JLF attack on Ashford, she had lost control of her geass and got locked in a negative feedback loop trying to calculate it. If V.V. had been paying any attention, that would mean he was aware of her sister hiding amongst the Ashfords. The young woman quickly determined to look into boosting her security, someway, somehow, and sufficiently so that even if another geass wielder came at her Nunnally would still be safe.

"Now, because a geass holder's connection to C's World is through the code bearer, the severing of the connection between holder and bearer should also remove the geass the holder possesses." Monica regarded Euphemia intently. "In the case of your highness, however, that has _not_ been the case."

"Ah. And you wish to know how I have managed this, in exchange for all that you have revealed to us thus far about the code and the geass," Euphemia said.

"Only seems fair," Monica said with an openly cheeky smile.

The princess' gaze seemed to wander to the right as she adopted a pensive poise. When she looked back at the knight however there was no doubt or uncertainty in her eyes.

"I am prepared to reveal to you how the link was severed," Euphemia said. "I would however ask you to explain one other thing."

Monica raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be, your highness?"

"Your geass."

Kallen blinked and Monica herself simply stared at the princess for a few moments. The older knight then chuckled wirily.

"Well played, your highness. Very well, but I will have to insist that you go first."

Euphemia nodded. "Fair enough, you have been quite accommodating thus far."

Assuming you are telling the truth, went the unspoken insinuation.

"My connection to V.V. was severed by an individual that named himself Zero that I encountered when I entered C's World. I do not know how he achieved the feat."

Succinct, to the point, and conveying all the relevant detail without any fanfare. The abruptness might have caught Monica short and explained her momentary silence. The silence did not last.

"You met whom!?"

The other two women regarded the knight curiously, not having expected her to be so taken aback.

"A man whom named himself Zero," Euphemia simply repeated.

Monica's jaws worked soundlessly for a few moments before she clamped it shut and ground her teeth. She then walked straight up to Euphemia's desk. Kallen's hand instinctively came to rest on the tsuka of her blade.

"Your highness," the woman finally managed. "I am about to do something that I assure you is not meant to harm you, but I absolutely must verify the veracity of your claim. It will cause you some slight discomfort, so I would prefer that you warn the appropriate parties to _not_ attempt to interrupt."

Euphemia raised an eyebrow but after several seconds reached for her own radio and issued a few curt orders. Namely, unless Kallen herself acted her armsmen were not to force entry. That done the princess glanced over at Kallen and after receiving a nod of acknowledgment looked back at Monica.

"You may proceed, Dame Kruszewski, with care."

"Of course your highness," Monica said, no trace of her humor in her tone.

The knight closed her right eye and gazed intently at Euphemia with her left, obviously making use of her geass in some manner. Its capabilities seemed to extend well beyond simply canceling others, something that Euphemia was determined to pry out of Monica once it came her turn. And then she shuddered. The princess blinked. Another chill ran down her spine for seemingly no reason. Euphemia frowned, looking straight at Monica's left eye. There was, a slight blue glow to it that she was certain was not natural. A yelp escaped the princess as she nearly jumped.

"What are you doing!?" she demanded.

Monica continued regarding her intently, ignoring her protest. If anything the light in the eye seemed to glow brighter. Try as her might Euphemia found herself unable to tear her gaze away. Her mouth opened and closed, her breathing growing heavier. Just as it started to feel as if her lungs could hold no longer Euphemia collapsed in her seat with a massive sigh. Her heart throbbed, as if she had just ended a bout on the dueling grounds. Euphemia pressed a hand against her breast and felt it slowly return to a more regular rhythm.

"Your highness, are you alright?" Kallen asked.

"I appear to be," Euphemia said as she looked back up at Monica with a somewhat irked expression. "I presume you have an explanation, Dame Kruszewski?"

Monica gazed back at the princess, her own expression pensive. She stood there rubbing her chin for several moments before responding.

"In answer to your previous query," Monica said, with a degree of formalism that was far removed for her usual flippancy. "My geass is, not a natural one. In fact it would be more accurate to say that it is not a geass at all. It is an artificial device constructed specifically to, well, jam the link to C's World that allows a geass holder to manifest their abilities."

"That implies a considerably greater understanding of what that link is than what you suggested earlier," Euphemia stated.

"Yes and no your highness," Monica said completely seriously. "The Directorate has, identified, as it were, the mechanism over which the link functions. They are however utterly unable to actually explain why it works, nor empirically actually describe C's World. The model they have for the geass works, insomuch as observational data matches what the model predicts, but why the model works or why the model is the way it is they have no means of actually testing." The smirk returned, darkly at that. "Well, short of digging into the brain of a code bearer. And as you might expect, that little twit V.V. isn't about to let them do that to him."

"Even though he seems entirely willing to let them subject others to such treatment?" Euphemia said frostily.

"Indeed."

Euphemia mentally added another reason to the list of why she wanted V.V. put down. Not that she really needed any more.

Monica tapped the side of her temple. "When I first received my knighthood I was brash and foolish enough to let a prick of a noble goad me into issuing a challenge. We dueled, and for my arrogance I lost my eye. Bastard intentionally aimed for that too, the duel was only supposed to be till first blood but he wanted to cripple me such that my career would be ended before it even began." The knight sneered mirthlessly. "They don't let you pilot fifteen feet tall knightmares without depth perception after all."

Euphemia searched her memory. As the youngest person to ever be appointed a Knight of the Round Monica's rise had been the subject of some gossip at court.

"The son of the Marquess Norman," the princess said.

The knight nodded. "Whether it was providence or the fates simply had a sense of humor his majesty had taken note of me and made me an offer. The Directorate's understanding of the medical sciences, especially in things like neurology, is decades ahead of anyone else. As part of their work they had crafted a, prototype prosthetic eye, which they needed to test. If the prototype succeeded, he would have a task for me that would see me elevated to the highest circles of knighthood. If it failed, well, I was stupid and young and didn't care that I might have ended up a vegetable." Monica bared her teeth. "Like all of the other test subjects before me."

The princess was beginning to suspect Monica's seemingly lackadaisical attitude masked a steel will that could not and would not be tempered. Should Euphemia ever find herself opposed to Monica the resulting conflict promised to be brutal and with a permanent conclusion.

"It took six months for me to be able to do anything besides drool like an idiot," Monica continued. "It took another year for me to recover full motor control. It was about then that I learned the _other_ thing that the prosthetic was supposed to do, provide an _artificial_ link to C's World. Which it emphatically _failed_ to do."

"And instead it gave you the ability to jam those links instead," Euphemia surmised.

"Not quite, even though that is what ends up happening." Monica crossed her arms. "My eye is supposed to allow me to, well, tune into another geass user's link to C's World and basically piggyback onto their 'signal' for lack of a better word. What ends up happening is akin to destructive interference, wherein the frequency of my signal ends up canceling out the signal of the other geass user."

"Is there a limit to how many geass users you can, jam, at a time?" Euphemia asked.

"Depends on how big of a migraine I'm willing to suffer," Monica said dryly before shrugging. "If you're wondering if I would have any trouble jamming the two of you, you've already seen me do it."

That was true enough and Euphemia decided to move the conversation along. "Then when you interrogated the Gendarmerie private. You were able to, circumvent Lelouch's geass?"

"Only partially," Monica admitted. "He's done, something, that I've never seen before. And to be frank that scares the crap out of me." The knight grimaced. "No offense your highness, but if I ever run into him I'm going to be shooting first and asking questions maybe later."

"Noted," Euphemia said without any inflection in her tone. "Then the only question I have left for now is, what exactly were you doing to me just now."

The knight allowed the barest hint of a smirk touch the edge of her lips. "Each person's, signal, to C's World is distinct, your highness, but it also carries with it characteristics of the code bearer that serves as the, umm, final relay. What I did just now was to check whether I could detect V.V.'s pattern in your signal."

When Monica went no further Euphemia raised an eyebrow. "And did you?"

The knight pursed her lips before shrugging slightly. "I suppose it does no harm to tell you. No, I did not, your highness. And in fact the pattern that I did detect is distinct from even the one the Lady Stadtfeld possesses due to C.C."

"Which would imply that my, link, is now being routed to another code bearer," Euphemia summed up.

"Indeed."

The princess regarded Monica. "Something tells me this, other code bearer was not known to either you or the Directorate."

"He was not," Monica confirmed. "I think you can infer the ramifications thereof."

Euphemia nodded thoughtfully but said nothing further. The knight smirked once more.

"Well, this has been a most informative discussion, your highness," she said. Monica then proceeded to actually bow. "You have my thanks."

And turned about to leave without further dismissal. Euphemia held her peace and simply watched the knight depart. Kallen's mouth thinned but she too remained silent until Monica was out of the room. She then looked down at Euphemia.

"How much of that do you think was the truth, your highness?"

"Most if not all of it," Euphemia said. The young woman clasped her hands together. "It is also now evident that this conflict my family is caught up in is far more convoluted than I originally presumed."

Kallen frowned. "Oh?"

"Dame Kruszewski's artificial eye," Euphemia said. "It came from the Directorate, at the request of my father. That implies his majesty holds some degree of sway over the Directorate, even if he does not control it fully."

"But that's the thing," Kallen said. "Even if he doesn't fully control it, it seems like the Directorate at least listens to him. Why is he trying to destroy it?"

"The answer to that is obvious," Euphemia said. "He does not wish to destroy it, he wishes to seize _full_ control of it by killing V.V. And I suspect that my father also wants V.V.'s code for himself, so that _he_ may create geass holders at his own whim instead of relying on another."

Kallen grimaced. "The, thought of more geass holders running around serving the emperor does _not_ fill me with any great happiness, no offense, your highness."

"None taken, and I agree." Euphemia tapped her fingers against the other hand. "There are however two other factors at play here that we do not fully understand. Or rather that we understand even less than my father's position vis a vis V.V. What is C.C.'s objective? She was formally a member of the court, ostensibly as a retainer to the Empress Marianne before her assassination. Something tells me her death marked a schism of some sort between C.C. and V.V. But what C.C. hopes to achieve on her own, is uncertain."

That Kallen mostly agreed with. Her companion was nothing if not opaque about her motives.

"The other factor, and probably the even more important one, is the presence of a third code bearer, one that it seems evident none of the others were even aware of until I brought him to their attention."

"The one that severed your link to V.V.?" Kallen said.

Euphemia nodded. "Recall C.C.'s reaction at hearing of him. And Dame Kruszewski's just now. Something tells me his existence could well be crucial."

Kallen thought it over. The scowl returned.

"I'm not sure I'm any happy with yet another code bearer running around," she said. "There is no telling whom else he might have granted a geass to, and if he's been anywhere as busy as V.V., there could be a _lot_ of people out there with one."

"Perhaps, and perhaps not," Euphemia countered. "When I spoke with him, he stated explicitly C's World was not a realm meant for mortal souls. C.C. has made similar insinuations. Combined with Dame Kruszewski's information it is becoming quite clear that normal people cannot even reach C's World. If this Zero is a, natural residence, of the place, then perhaps the converse is also to a degree true, he is an existence that cannot survive in the mortal world."

Again Kallen spent a moment or so considering the princess' words. "That's all still speculation, your highness.

"Agreed," Euphemia said. "Which is why perhaps the time has come that I begin my own research program into the code and the geass."

"Pardon?" Kallen said, eyebrow raised.

"At present we do not know how much of Dame Kruszewski's information is accurate," Euphemia stated. "On the other hand we have here two geass wielders and a code bearer. Outside of the Directorate itself, I would say we are better positioned than anyone else to actively delve into the mysteries of C's World."

"I hope, your highness, that you are not proposing to replicate that, research program the Directorate is running," Kallen said frostily.

"I have no intention of becoming the very monster I seek to slay," Euphemia responded, a touch of impatience in her voice. "I will _not_ sacrifice others in so callous a manner."

That was not to say the princess would not sacrifice others period, but Kallen got the gist of it.

"And what if C.C. refuses to cooperate?" Kallen said instead. "If I were her I might have some serious, reservations, to playing guinea pig again."

The princess frowned but after a few moments nodded. "I will not ask of her anything she is unwilling to do."

"Good," Kallen said. "Then I guess it's up to me to help us figure out just what the geass is."

Euphemia looked up at her knight once more and Kallen cracked a smile.

"I don't think you'll have the time to sneak out and get your brain scanned, your highness." Kallen tapped the side of her head. "That means I'll have to be the one the boffins poke."

Euphemia's expression remained impassive for several moments before the princess took a deep breath and smiled gently.

"I, appreciate your dedication, Kallen. And, your faith." The smile disappeared and was replaced with a determined visage. "Especially for the trials yet await us."

* * *

The ring of the phone sounded and the tangle of bodies on the bed slowly stirred, reluctantly at that. As it was the ringing continued for quite some time before a, paw finally grasped the receiver and picked it up.

"Allô?" a groggy sounding Charlotte spoke into the phone.

Atop the girl a pair of large cat ears seemingly perked up. The head they covered shifted as Charlotte herself did so, her drowsiness quickly evaporating as she recognized the voice on the other side.

"Oui?"

The girl then became silent as she listened intently. After a minute or so she responded with far greater certainty in her voice.

"D'accord. Je serai la. Oui. Je comprends."

A click sounded, signaling the end of the conversation. After setting down the receiver Charlotte proceeded to extricate herself from the forms latched onto her. Not surprisingly two other cat eared heads reared up as her companions woke.

"Charlotte?" Laura said sleepily.

The French girl smiled and gave her friend an affectionate rub on the head. "Good morning Laura, Fie."

The two German girls murmured their responses and Charlotte resisted the urge to just cuddle up with them again and fall back asleep. The sun was well and up already however and even if they were off for the day it would not do to spend the entire time in bed. Even if Fie might be so tempted.

"Alright, let's get up," Charlotte said. "I'll make us all a nice big breakfast."

"…kay," was Fie's lethargic response.

Laura barely even managed that as the two hauled themselves up and trudged to the bathroom, the tails of their cat pajamas swaying in sync with their steps. Charlotte allowed herself an amused smile before stripping out of her own pajamas and changing into a fresh set of clothes. As adorable as those outfits were, they were a little impractical for day to day activities.

A short while later the three emerged in the communal dining room all of the residents used. Berthold and Reiner were busy double teaming Lelouch in a game of chess, though from the expressions of the first two they were having as much success as they ever did.

"Morning all," Charlotte greeted.

"Morning Charlotte," Reiner cracked a slight smile before his attention turned back to the game.

"I trust you three had a restful night?" Lelouch said as he pushed another pawn forward.

"Quite," Charlotte said and she looked around. "Where's Annie?"

"Sleeping beauty's still waiting for a prince to give her a kiss," Reiner said as he regarded the board intently. He then glanced up at Lelouch. "How about it? You think you're up for-ouh!"

A thud sounded as Charlotte withdrew her fist, the smile on her face as angelic as one could ask for. "You were saying Reiner?"

"Uh, nothing," the young man wisely answered.

Lelouch chuckled before looking over at Charlotte. "I was actually expecting to need to come wake you myself."

"I received a wakeup call," Charlotte said.

Despite no change in her expression Lelouch's own turned into a frown. "From whom."

Charlotte smiled wirily. "Can't hide anything from you, can I? It was from my family's butler. I am to attend dinner with my family this evening."

The room seemed to freeze as all attention fell upon Charlotte. Lelouch's face twitched, likely a completely reflexive reaction beyond the young man's ability to control.

"I see," he said simply. "Shall I, accompany you?"

Charlotte shook her head. "I was, given explicit instructions that this was to be a, family affair."

Grimaces appeared all around though this time Lelouch kept his opinion of the matter off his face.

"I see." The young man took a deep breath. "Well, far be it for me to intrude upon a, family gathering. Nevertheless I feel it my duty to at least see you home."

Charlotte flashed a smile. "That would be fine, Lelouch."

Several hours later the two rolled up to the Dunois estate in a car Lelouch had quickly requisitioned for the day. The young man was in his formal dress uniform, probably a bit much seeing as he was simply chauffeuring Charlotte instead of outright accompanying her. The manner in which he regarded the servant that appeared at the door as Lelouch stepped out to get Charlotte's door for her however made quite clear his point. He may not have been welcome but he would not allow the Dunois household to simply pretend that he did not exist. A shame that Charlotte adamantly refused to allow him to resolve her familial situation, permanently.

"I will see you when the evening's affairs are concluded," Lelouch said before planting a kiss on Charlotte's cheek.

Charlotte gave her lover a tolerant smile before heading up the stairs. There was no overt disapproval on the butler that was awaiting her, at least on his facial expression. His eyes however made it all too clear what he thought of the son of the former noble Lamperouge family. Snobbery, was not solely confined to actual blue blood.

"Mademoiselle Dunois," the butler said courteously with a bow. "Welcome home."

"Thank you Pierre," Charlotte responded with similar courtesy.

"The family has been notified of your arrival and will be awaiting you in the dining room."

"I shall not keep them then," Charlotte said.

She did not feign any particular joy in being back however. Rare were the memories that regarded this place with any affection. The estate was quite grandiose, as might be expected for one of France's richest industrialist families. The Dunois were an old family, originally landowners that managed a successful transition to manufacturing as the industrial revolution took its course. Then a little over thirty years ago the family provided the seed capital to a talented aerospace engineer named Marcel Dassault to create a company. Today, Groupe Industriel Dassault-Dunois S.A. was one of the largest industrial conglomerates in the French Republic and amongst the top tier in the entire European Union.

Before the age of ten Charlotte had not even known she was a member of the Dunois family and despite having been taken in after the death of her mother she did not feel much a part of it. That probably had something to do with the fact that her father had married since his liaison with Charlotte's own mother and had children by his legal wife. Charlotte's stepmother was openly hostile to the presence of her husband's illegitimate daughter in their household and her own children took their cues from their mother. Little wonder then that it was with some relief that Charlotte found herself sent off to the maisons d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur, which was ultimately how she became acquainted with Lelouch.

Meeting a boy like Lelouch while going to an all girl's boarding school was no small feat, though when they first met Charlotte found him to be an insufferable ass. He carried himself with a haughtiness that would have done the old Bourbon dynasty proud. Charlotte distinctly remembered punching the boy upon their first meeting and in theory that should have ended any further liaisons. Instead, their mutual loneliness saw them continue to run into each other until a tenuous rapport was established. A rapport that grew into much more as they both grew older. As such when Lelouch won entry into the Lycée militaire de Saint-Cyr Charlotte was right with him, over the vigorous protests of her family. Charlotte was pretty sure those protests were less about her entering a military high school and more about how her obvious attachment to Lelouch were ruining any plans her nominal parents had of marrying her off to some son of an associate when she came of age. In perhaps her only act of defiance against them, Charlotte had made clear that if they prevented her from going to the academy she would simply walk out of the family outright, which would result in all sorts of unpleasant attention socially. Her parents relented, though Charlotte was certain her stepmother never forgave her for successfully defying her.

Not that the girl cared in the least at this point. Despite all of the field deployments she accompanied Lelouch on she was well on her way to graduating, though with the sudden onset of hostilities the academy might well rush the current class through and just hand them their diplomas provisionally, with the expectation that they would either earn them via service in the armed forces or lose them due to getting booted out. Not that Charlotte would have even been in the country to take le bac, there was no telling how long they would be in Britannia for. The operation in Japan had taken close to ten months to pull off even if it ultimately ended in failure. And if she had not been summoned back this evening, Charlotte would have not bothered visiting before she and the rest of Lelouch's team shipped out at the end of this week.

As Charlotte entered the large dining room she caught sight of her two younger half-siblings. They seemed to grow more and more every time she saw them, not surprising considering how little she visited. Whereas in the past they put on a snide respect whenever interacting with Charlotte today there was a wariness in how they regarded her. It might have had something to do with the formal military uniform Charlotte had chosen to wear home. Boys would be boys after all, and France's societal obsession with the military could well match that of Britannia.

"Father, madam," Charlotte said politely but pointedly. "I have returned."

Christoph Dunois gave his daughter his ever charming smile, likely one of the reasons Charlotte's actual mother fell for him. "Welcome back, Charlotte. It is good to see you well. Is that not so, dear?"

"Indeed," Anastasia Dunois said, "your studies see you away at school for such long periods of time it is always a joy to have you back with us." Charlotte tried not to retch at the way the words just dripped out of her stepmother's mouth. "Although, was it really necessary to return home in your uniform, dear? Surely you had other clothes befitting your age, Charlotte."

That was more like it. Charlotte gave her stepmother her own charming smile as she responded.

"Apologies, madam, but most of my belongings have either been packed up already for my next mission or are still in storage."

Anastasia frowned slightly but could find no words to outright rebuke Charlotte. Disparaging her stepdaughter's dedication to France's service, even in the privacy of her own home, was recognized by the woman as a poor thing to do.

"Well, we are simply glad that you are home," Christoph said, saving his wife some face. "Sit, sit, there is no reason for you to simply stand there like that."

"Of course father," Charlotte said as she accepted the invitation.

Once Charlotte was so seated the servants emerged and began laying out the evening's meal. If nothing else her family knew how to put on a proper dinner.

"You say you already have a mission?" Christoph said after everyone's places were set.

Charlotte nodded. "I will be deploying in three days' time."

"Oh? Where to?"

Charlotte smiled thinly. "My apologies, but such details are classified."

"Really now, Charlotte," Anastasia chided her. "Surely it does no harm to at least tell your family where you will be going."

Charlotte looked over at her stepmother. "Military regulations do not provide any allowances for family, madam. And for this particular deployment I am afraid I will not be able to answer any letters either."

Not that she was technically able to do so the last time either, or that her family even sent that many letters to begin with. During her time in Japan the others on Lelouch's team had covered for her, or more specifically Annie had ghostwritten response to all three of the letters that were addressed to Charlotte. Upon her return Charlotte had read both sets to at least make sure she was aware of their contents and all indications were her ostensible family had not noticed the difference. The young woman was at this point beyond caring however.

"Where could they possibly be sending you that would be so restrictive?" Christoph said in mild disbelief. "You have not even finished lycée."

Her father's reaction could be interpreted as either outright condescending or genuine confusion since he did have a point, Charlotte was still technically a student, not an actual soldier, her simulated, and classified, SDECE rank notwithstanding. Charlotte tactfully responded based off of the latter interpretation.

"Britannia is one of the most powerful nations on Earth," she said. "The war with it will require the whole of Europe's wealth and manpower to win. I have been asked to partake in a mission, and as a daughter of France I will answer that call."

That was probably as transparent a non-answer as any Charlotte could have given but it again was not one that her family could dispute outright, especially not with their younger children also present. In fact Charlotte was mildly surprised that her younger half-siblings were even here.

"Does that mean you'll fire a gun?"

All attention suddenly fell on the young boy intently staring at Charlotte.

"Darian!" Anastasia admonished.

"It is quite alright madam," Charlotte said before looking back at the boy. "That possibility certainly exists, Darian, though if I do my job right I won't have to."

"But, you're a soldier," the boy continued, apparently confident enough due to Charlotte's answer that he pressed on despite his mother's chiding. "Aren't you supposed to fight?"

"Darian, your sister is still a cadet," Christoph took that one. "Whatever assignment the military may have for her, I am certain it would be appropriate to her station."

Indeed it would be, even if her father's opinion of her station did not match reality.

"Still, I am surprised that you already have another assignment," Christoph said. "I would have expected notification at the very least from the government."

Technically that might have been true, seeing as a fake field study had been fobbed off to her family to explain her absence while in Japan.

"It may just be due to the upsurge in activity with the war's commencement," Charlotte said, even as she made a mental note to herself to have Lelouch arrange another such false notification.

Christoph frowned. "Such a shame, I had hoped that you would be able to spend some time home during your summer recess."

It was a good thing Charlotte had not yet actually taken a sip from her raised wineglass. She looked back up at her father.

"Pardon?"

"This is your home, Charlotte," Christoph said nonchalantly. "And as you are in your last year of lycée I think it is high time you were properly introduced to the other families."

Charlotte's eyes narrowed warily. Then why did they not bother introducing her when she was younger, she did not say aloud.

"Indeed," Anastasia said. "In fact there is a soiree next week that the Dassaults are holding. That would be a wonderful opportunity for Charlotte's introduction, don't you agree my dear?"

"Yes it would be," Christoph nodded.

"Umm, that would technically put it beyond my deployment date," Charlotte tried to point out tactfully.

"Oh I'm sure something can be arranged," Anastasia said dismissively. "Surely the military can get by without one of their cadets for a single week? Christoph, perhaps you could speak with the Marshal about it?"

Charlotte felt her irritation spike. Okay, that really was condescending, and extraordinarily arrogant of her stepmother to expect her husband to be able to just go to the Marshal of France for a personal favor. Granted Christoph Dunois was one of the few people who probably could do that, but still. The girl took a sip of her wine to buy time to gather her thoughts even as her father shoved his foot even further into his big mouth.

"Hmm, yes, that is a thought. I am sure the marshal would not mind, especially given the most promising developments on that special project the company is doing."

Charlotte peeked up from behind her wineglass and saw the sly smile her father was directing at his wife. Anastasia returned it, though whether she actually knew in detail what Christoph was referring to Charlotte could not tell. The young woman on the other hand had a suspicion that she decided to follow up.

"Well considering the, gift, from Camelot, it would only be natural that Dassault-Dunois would make some progress, is that not so father?"

Christoph's eyes narrowed for a moment before they went wide as he gazed at his daughter. Charlotte took another sip, this time to hide the grin that she was not quite able to suppress. Bullseye. From the frown on her stepmother's face it was quite clear that she was not in on the Rafale project.

"Camelot, you say," Christoph said in a remarkably calm tone.

"Indeed," Charlotte said as she raised her wineglass in a toast. "And one day soon I am sure that Lancelot will be felled, never to rise again."

Christoph's eyes were locked on his daughter as he regarded her with a newfound wariness. He took up his own glass and returned the toast, more to obey the forms than in any sense of actual joy. The man found himself wondering at just what his daughter had truly been up to that she could insinuate knowledge of one of the most classified programs Dassault-Dunois was engaged in. And how she could possibly be aware of the trove of data the French military had provided the company a week ago, data stolen from the Britannian Camelot Institute regarding their Lancelot prototype. The man felt a slight chill as his eyes met his daughter's. There was a cold light in them, a sharpness that he had never seen before. Now how could he have missed that? Christoph took a sip of his own wine, and tried not to dwell on just how Charlotte might have regarded him and his family. That she did not see herself as part of it, for the first time he felt a genuine fright at that notion.

End of Chapter 55

Bloody hell, this entire chapter was only two scenes? I suppose Monica had a lot to say. I think I also did a infodump on Charlotte's situation a bit. I don't know if I quite got across the, attitude I wanted for the parents. To say that she does not have a happy family life would be, a mild understatement.

Well, Monica just gave a long spiel about how the code and geass works. How much of it is true, I will leave up to interpretation. She has however set Euphemia and Kallen on a specific path, and it will be interesting what Monica herself does next.

I am pretty sure that the French military lycées do admit female students these days, but I have no real idea if they admitted them back in the 1960s. Something tells me that they probably didn't, so in this particular instance I am making a tweak. That being said the Britannians are pretty equal opportunity about military service, surprisingly so, so I decided, what the hell, I can get away with some of that for the Europeans to an extent as well.

Lelouch and co will also be on the move soon. The next time we see them they'll probably be in Britannia proper and setting up there.

No actual questions for last chapter, and I don't really have any other comments to make. We are slowly trudging along towards the next big climax. Time will tell what other challenges spring up along the way.


	57. Chapter 56

_The classes of ships the Britannian Navy fielded were similarly standardized and the Empire even managed to avoid having to recommission antiquated ships from its reserve, instead relying purely on new builds, with the sole exception being the reactivated battleships. The most impressive of the ships were almost certainly the new Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers, named after the British victory at the Fourth Battle of Ticonderoga during Washington's Rebellion. The first class of ships to boast the new Aegis Combat System developed by the Britannian Empire, the Ticonderoga-class' combat capability was theoretically far superior to older designs. Its lethality was proven many times over the course of the war, not least in the Battle of La Pérouse Strait where a large part of the Russian Pacific Fleet was destroyed in the opening stages of the Great War._

 _By and large the Britannian military found its mix of weapons and equipment sufficient for the war and it ended the conflict with mostly the same systems it had begun with. There were two exceptions to this however, the first being the atomic bomb created by Project Muspelheim and the second the fruits of Project Damocles. Both would represent a fundamental, tectonic shift in the manner in which wars were fought, for better or for worse._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 56

Quae non valeant singula, iuncta iuvant

"It is a complex problem, your highness," Villetta stated. "Visibly increasing the Princess Nunnally's security at Ashford Academy will almost certainly draw the attention of the court, but short of such levels I am afraid it would be insufficient to protect her highness against such, esoteric threats."

The knight stood next to Kallen in Euphemia's office, having been summoned in the wake of Monica's little spiel to help consider what she rightfully termed a complex problem.

"If this Directorate is truly capable of producing individuals that possess abilities similar to, Agent Lamperouge, then short of the security measures employed here at the palace…"

It was a wonder how many secrets were no longer held so closely. Villetta had only been serving as captain of Euphemia's guard for a few short weeks, but if she was to do her job properly she needed to understand the full breadth and depth of the threats that might come for the princess, threats including her possibly insane long lost brother.

"I understand brigadier," Euphemia said. "Nevertheless as they say, you cannot expect your enemy to cooperate in the creation of your dream engagement. We will simply have to make do with what the fates have deigned to allow us."

Villetta covered up a cough by feigning clearing her throat. "Umm, as you say your highness. That being the case however and seeing as school is in its summer recess, might it be possible to have the Ashford family reside at the palace for a time?"

Euphemia considered the proposal thoughtfully. "Possibly. In fact with the reconstruction occurring at Ashford it would not be out of place for an invitation to be extended. I will have to discuss the matter with Milly, though we cannot expect either her or Nunnally to remain inside the palace all day during the summer. And once the semester resumes Nunnally will likely need to return to the academy proper and will once more be outside of its security." The princess' gaze shifted over to Kallen. "Although…"

For some reason Kallen felt a chill run down her back as she met Euphemia's eyes.

"Kallen," Euphemia said in an unnaturally light tone. "If I recall correctly, you still have one more year of your A-levels to complete."

The look on Kallen's face fell flat with such pronounced misery that both Euphemia and Villetta were forced to stifle chuckles.

"Oh, and I expect you to do justice to your standing, Kallen," Euphemia continued with a serene expression. "If you receive anything less than an A on your exams, well, that would be unbecoming."

The look of dejection on Kallen's face turned into something else entirely.

"Your highness does remember what my official duty is, I presume?" Kallen said dryly.

"But of course," Euphemia said with a wide smile. "You represent my honor, and it would be tarnished indeed if one I placed such confidence in does not demonstrate scholastic merit."

"This is getting back at me for something, isn't it," Kallen said sullenly.

"Whatever do you mean," Euphemia said with perfect pitch and tone. "An education is very important after all, Kallen. You of all people should be appreciate that."

Kallen reminded herself that, for all the dedication with which the Princess Euphemia carried out her duty the girl did possess a mischievous streak. And then a thought occurred to her.

"Does that mean you require all members of your guard to have completed their A-levels?" the knight asked.

Euphemia cocked her head aside quizzically even as Villetta caught on immediately.

"All those whom serve in my guard should be equal to their station," the princess stated simply. "Do you believe there is someone that is not yet so?"

"Well, just thinking about one of the new recruits," Kallen said. "Private Ackermann."

"Technically at this point Private Ackermann is still being evaluated for suitability to serve in her highness' guard," Villetta pointed out.

"Ackermann," Euphemia mouthed the name. "She was the one that followed General Eyre in taking down the JLF knightmares attacking Keio."

"Yes, your highness," Villetta said.

"And how would you rate her thus far, brigadier?"

"With the proviso that it is still far too soon to render any meaningful judgment, Private Ackermann has demonstrated herself to be an exceptional soldier. I have confidence that she will only grow more proficient with time."

"Is that so," the princess said thoughtfully as she looked back over at Kallen. "Hmm."

Kallen in turn kept her mouth shut, waiting for the princess to make an actual decision.

"Private Ackermann, she is around your age then, Kallen?" Euphemia said.

"A little older, your highness," Kallen said.

"But she could pass for a student," Euphemia continued.

Both of the princess' knights picked up where her line of thought was going immediately and assumed thoughtful looks of their own.

"How many overtly, Japanese, students has Ashford had in the past?" Villetta asked Kallen as delicately as she could manage.

Kallen actually grimaced at the question, for a variety of reasons. The only one she verbalized however was the one that was directly pertinent to the issue at hand.

"Suzaku," she said slowly, "was the only openly Japanese student at Ashford."

That elicited an audible sigh from the princess, a reaction that did not really endear itself to Kallen as much as she understood it. Suzaku may ultimately not have been responsible for his actions during the Tokyo Uprising, but all of them still needed to deal with the consequences of it.

"Brigadier," Euphemia turned back to the older knight. "Do you believe Private Ackermann to have the fortitude to endure such an environment?"

"I honestly cannot say your highness," Villetta said. "This would have to be discussed with her personally."

"Do so," Euphemia instructed.

"Yes your highness."

The princess glanced back over at Kallen with a bemused expression. "Already lobbying for your own cohorts, Kallen?"

"Umm, nothing like that your highness," Kallen said. "And, I'm pretty sure Private Ackermann doesn't like me very much."

Euphemia raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

A shrug. "That's really about all I can say on it, your highness."

"Is this going to be a problem?"

Kallen shook her head. "No, it's just, something that needs to be given time. And, the brigadier is right, Private Ackermann is quite the exceptional soldier. She'll follow orders, there shouldn't be any problems in that regard."

Euphemia continued regarding Kallen for a few moments longer before simply nodding. "Very well. I leave whatever personal issue is between you two to your discretion to handle. Do take care however, Kallen, that I will be most aggrieved if you should be responsible for rendering a promising soldier unfit for continued service."

"I assure you, your highness," Kallen said firmly, "that will not happen."

"Good." Euphemia turned back to Villetta. "I will leave the other security arrangements in your hands, Brigadier Nu, including any improvements that might be made to the Ashford residence as part of the academy's repairs."

Villetta licked her heels. "Yes your highness."

And took her leave at the dismissal, leaving Kallen alone with the princess once more. The younger knight looked over at her liege.

"You know, there are still a lot of unanswered questions, your highness," she remarked once the doors closed.

"Indeed," Euphemia agreed. "For one we still do not understand what means C.C. derives her seeming immortality from. And for that matter how one acquires a code in the first place. Or the relation of the thought elevator to the code and geass."

The princess could have gone on with half a dozen other things they were still in the dark about, but the point was made. And there was of course the question of whether everything Monica told them was the absolute truth as far as the knight was aware of.

"You know, there is one thing that stands out amongst the things we did learn," Kallen said. "Dame Kruszewski's geass. She said it was not a natural one. That means she doesn't have a, connection, back to this V.V. and her actions are basically completely unmonitored by him."

"That is so," Euphemia agreed. "In fact her artificial geass canceler makes her the perfect agent to search for the means to kill him."

"Kind of makes you wonder what else she might be up to that the emperor wants hidden from V.V.," Kallen remarked.

"It bears investigation," Euphemia said before giving Kallen a slight smirk. "Which I am afraid you will be too busy to engage in personally."

"You're enjoying this a bit too much," Kallen said, before adding on a belated, "your highness."

The smirk remained on Euphemia's expression as she answered. "I have no idea what you are insinuating."

* * *

"Sir Ashford, Sir Reinford is here to see you."

Ruben looked up from his desk. "Show him in."

The doors opened and a dapper looking elderly man strode in.

"Ruben, you old dog!" Gwyn said with great cheer as he crossed the room.

Ruben smiled, rising and coming around the table to greet his old friend. Their hands clasped and Gwyn gave him a firm shake even as he beamed at Ruben.

"I'm glad to see you're alright," he said, the smile still there but taking on a solemn air.

"And I am glad to be here to receive your sincere goodwill," Ruben said, his own smile matching his friend's. "Come, sit, sit."

Gwyn chuckled as he did so. "Have to admit, I wasn't expecting any reason to come out of retirement. Then that young whippersnapper Rochester calls me up, offering me a job. I thought he was yanking me chain at first."

"I cannot say I would have reacted differently. Nevertheless, that you are here is I take it proof that you have accepted both the veracity of Edward's offer and the offer itself?"

Gwyn bobbed his head once. "That I have. Truth to tell, I've missed the hustle and bustle of keeping a proper company running. And I'm sure there're plenty of spots for me to cast my rod if I have a hankering."

"I might have to join you," Ruben mused.

"Hah, excellent. Now all I need is to hire a few comely maids. You wouldn't happen to know any you could recommend me?"

Ruben gave his friend a well-practiced exasperated sigh. "You still haven't changed I see."

"No reason to. And so long as I get my work done, no one is going to mind me having some fun."

"Yes well, do take care with how you phrase such notions," Ruben cautioned his friend. "The, investigation regarding Babel has, turned up a great many disturbing revelations."

All humor left Gwyn's expression. "How bad is it?"

"Bad," Ruben stated plainly. "Lawrence, her highness' Exchequer, is still going through the financial records to collaborate the testimonies from the witnesses that have been arrested thus far." The elderly man's face hardened. "Whoever the bastards were who set up this scheme, they were methodical and clever. We might be able to nail a few of them, but the big fish, her highness cannot just go around executing people as she pleases."

"Damn right she can't," Gwyn said. "Still, if her restraint means some of those gutless pieces of shit get away, well, I'd feel sorely tempted myself."

Ruben nodded. "But you aren't here to discuss that matter."

"No, no I'm not," Gwyn agreed, cracking a slight smile once more. "It's been, what, five years since we last met? I just wanted to say thanks again for what you did for me, and my company. And I'm sorry I wasn't able to keep it going."

This time Ruben shook his head. "You have nothing to apologize for, old friend. I entrusted the fruits of the foundation's work to you, and you were able to make Reinford prosper with it. I have no regrets in that regard." A smile cracked on Ruben's face. "And besides, it cannot be said that my own family did not at least gain some benefit."

"Hmm yes, you did make a killing off of those shares I gave you," Gwyn said with a grin of his own.

When it became clear that the Ashford Foundation would be a casualty of the fallout from the Empress Marianne's assassination Ruben had moved quickly to transfer as much of its assets, most especially the research data and knowhow on knightmare control systems, to the Reinford Group led by his old friend. Some of this was done openly as part of the fire sale of the Foundation's assets, but much of it was performed more surreptitiously. One of the biggest ways was not the transfer of physical assets, but the hiring by Reinford of the many engineers that had worked on the knightmare project. Even when much of the data and records were seized by the Foundation's competitors and enemies at court, Reinford reaped a rich reward as it gained the understanding and knowledge that came from the people who originally developed the technology.

The importance of this knowledge became readily apparent when Reinford produced the Sutherland knightmare as its entry when the military began soliciting bids for a replacement of the Glasgow. The company handily crushed all other competitors and went on to win an extremely lucrative contract and the Reinford Group was catapulted to the top tier of defense contractors for the Empire. That was not to say that the company's fortunes were a complete and unmitigated success of course.

"And I doubt either of us could have guessed those noble bastards would resort to something so, plebian, as to try to buy up stock in Reinford to gain a controlling share," Gwyn said, his smile turning into a dark smirk.

"I had hoped you would have been able to put a stop to that," Ruben said.

"Oh, we did, sort of," Gwyn said. "I tell ya, that daughter-in-law of mine can be downright scary. She may have booted me from the chairmanship, but she also nixed any further attempts by the Rogners to take a larger stake in the company. Hels, knowing that girl, she'll end up milking their money to win back the military knightmare contract the next time it comes up for bid!"

"That would be the quite to sight to see," Ruben said with a chuckle.

"Well, until then it's probably a good thing I'll have something to occupy my time else I'd just spend all day reminiscing or whining about stuck up bluebloods," Gwyn said with a sly smile, "present company excepted of course."

"I am technically no longer a noble," Ruben pointed out jokingly.

"Pah, you're more noble than most of those wearing fancy titles right now. And I expect you'll get one again in due time. Can't see the Iron Princess not giving you your due."

Ruben raised an eyebrow. "Iron Princess?"

"That's the name that's been circling the tabloids back home. What, you don't read the news?"

"I wonder whether a tabloid that coined such an appellation could be considered actual news," Ruben said dryly.

"Ah well, if nothing else they offered some entertaining reading while I rocked away in me boat," Gwyn said. "That and a good pipe and retirement wasn't all bad." The man stood and beamed a smile at Ruben. "It was good to see you again, old friend. I'm glad you're back on your feet."

As if to lend further credence to those last words Ruben himself rose. "It was good to see you too, Gwyn. And I'm glad that you still have a belly full of fire."

"Ah well you know me," Gwyn chuckled. "Anyway, time I go hit up that Rochester fella. Something tells me I'll need to roll up my sleeves for this one, what with the right mess Kirihara Industries seems to be in."

"That you probably will. Good luck Gwyn."

* * *

"First step," Laura said as she turned the Humvee around a corner.

"Call in with unit designation or preassigned request number," Kallen answered from the passenger seat.

"Next step," Laura prompted.

"If a preplanned request, report precedence and priority," Kallen went on. "If an immediate, just the priority, all immediate requests are by definition precedence one."

"The priority levels?"

"One is for emergencies, two is high priority, and three is for routine targets of opportunity."

"Good." The vehicle came to a halt before a red light. "Next?"

"Report on what the target actually is," Kallen answered. "Number of targets, unit types, target mobility, along with potential engagement area." The girl cracked a smile. "After that the actual location of the target itself."

"Indeed," Laura said, exchanging a smile with the younger knight.

"Ah, blue light," Kallen said as she looked ahead.

"Blue light?" Laura said quizzically as she too looked ahead. The traffic light was now green.

"Ah, sorry," Kallen said as the Humvee began rolling once more. "In Japanese we refer to the go light as blue."

"Oh? Is there a reason for that?"

"Umm, I think it's just that linguistically the notion of 'going' is associated with blue in Japanese instead of green like in English."

"Huh, I see," Laura said thoughtfully. "Anyway, after target location, what comes next?"

"Time of attack," Kallen said. "They can be ASAP, NLT, AT, or TO."

"And the last bit for the requestor?"

"Desired result, what type of ordnance or what level of neutralization is desired."

Laura nodded. "Good, that was all of them." She flashed another smile at Kallen. "Well done."

"Thanks," Kallen replied.

The past few weeks had seen Kallen gain a much greater appreciation of the fact that, as capable of a fighter as she was, she was not a proper soldier. The amount of doctrine that went into being an effective member of a modern military was absolutely staggering and Kallen was also forced to basically unlearn a significant amount of things she had picked up in her days as an insurgent. Fortunately she had some fine instructors, such as one Lieutenant Armstrong when he was not ripping his shirt off at every opportunity, and Laura herself was more than happy to impart her knowledge. Case in point, their little review of the proper procedure for calling in close air support. Or, as the older knight called the manual, "How to Summon Bigger Fish." Kallen had spent a good minute or so laughing in response.

"We'll need to wait until a training exercise before you can actually get some proper practice in," Laura said. "Actually putting into practice the theory you've learned is important."

Kallen nodded. "Makes sense. Though will there be any exercises scheduled in the near term considering everything that is going on?"

"I am certain that Brigadier Nu will find a way."

That Kallen found herself also in agreement with.

The vehicle slowed once more as they reached MacArthur base's main entrance. After inspecting their identification the soldier snapped a salute as the gate was raised to let them through. The building that they parked next to still had workers swarming over parts of it, though that could be said for quite a few buildings on base. A good deal of the structural damage had been patched up, but work continued to effect more thorough repairs and reconstruction. The workers flowing in and out of the new home of the ASEEC were however here for more than just repair work, much as Kallen was not here for a social call. Laura technically was though.

It had come as a slight surprise to Kallen when the older girl offered to give her a ride to MacArthur this afternoon. When Kallen idly asked what Laura herself needed to be on base for, the other knight explained that she was meeting up with her boyfriend after he finished some sort of meeting with the ASEEC. That had really piqued Kallen's curiosity, which Laura was thankfully willing to indulge.

Apparently due to his extremely high scores as a knightmare pilot, Rean was being scouted by Camelot as a potential test pilot for its prototype knightmares. That suggested all sorts of things to Kallen, not least of which was that Rean himself must have been a skilled pilot on par with Suzaku and herself. Then again he was a brigade cadet, so perhaps that was not that much of a surprise. The other thing of note however was the fact that the ASEEC was apparently cleared to return to work and would still be building new prototype knightmares. If that was the case, she would need to have a chat with Rakshata about how much access they should really be giving to the ASEEC. And what they might be able to get back in turn.

The two entered the ASEEC hanger and found themselves amid a cacophony of construction. Equipment and tools that Kallen could vaguely tell were related to knightmare maintenance were being installed, as well as several large machines that she had no inkling what they might be for. Then again she was no engineer so that did not come as much of a surprise.

Amidst all this chaos in an oasis of relative calm stood a small group along with a man seated in a wheelchair. The only two that Kallen had personally met before were Rean and Captain Croomy. It was pretty easy to identify whom the wheelchair bound man was however. Earl Lloyd Asplund, or as Rakshata insisted on calling him, the Earl of Pudding. Kallen still did not have an explanation for that nickname.

"Colonel Asplund, Captain Croomy," Laura greeted.

Cecilé nodded respectfully though the manner with which she regarded Kallen could be described as coolly detached.

"Ah!"

Lloyd on the other hand immediately zoned in on Kallen, finger pointed at her. The girl raised her eyebrow at the rather impolite gesture.

"Lady Stadtfeld, I must protest this unfair treatment to my person," Lloyd said, seemingly oblivious to such trivial things as tact. "Why is it that Cecilé would receive permission to investigate the Guren when I, the director of the ASEEC, am denied?"

Everyone save for the earl himself gave the man a slightly askance look, Cecilé and Kallen being no exception. Cecilé's own expression seemed a mixture of exhaustion and exasperation while Kallen felt she was starting to slightly understand Rakshata's seeming enmity towards the noble.

"Dr. Chawla was the one that elected to deny you access to the Guren," Kallen said simply. "You will have to take it up with her."

"Rakshata?" Lloyd said somewhat quizzically. "Why would she do that?"

"I have no idea," Kallen said with a shrug.

"What _is_ that woman thinking," Lloyd muttered. "And after our years together as fellow students."

Cecilé rolled her eyes, apparently having some inkling as to why Rakshata held her current attitude due to having been with both the earl and the Indian woman during their time at university. That she still put up with the earl said much of her patience.

"What brings the two of you here, Lady Arseid, Lady Stadtfeld?" Cecilé asked, moving the conversation along while Lloyd mulled in his thoughts.

"Lieutenant Schwarzer and I had plans to meet up this evening," Laura said.

Envious looks were shot at the young man by the other ASEEC technicians and Rean smiled sheepishly.

"I had a personal matter that I wished to speak with you on, Captain Croomy," Kallen followed up.

Cecilé raised an eyebrow. "Very well then." She looked over at the red clothed young man. "Lieutenant Schwarzer, this should be enough for today. Thank you for your time."

"It was a pleasure Captain Croomy," Rean said. "I look forward to working with the ASEEC in the future."

Cecilé offered the young man a smile before looking over at the other engineers. "I will be in the office speaking with the Lady Stadtfeld. Look after the earl for me in the meantime."

"Yes ma'am," one of the engineers replied with a wiry smile.

"This way," Cecilé began walking.

Kallen followed with a parting glance at Laura and Rean as they took their leave. It must have been nice to have your boyfriend actually around. And seeing as Rean was officially in a different chain of command the two could actually openly fraternize. Kallen's thoughts wandered to her own situation with Cole. There was no telling where he would ultimately end up, though Kallen doubted the princess would select him as a member of her guard. If she did, well, Kallen would probably have words for the younger girl about messing with her love life.

Cecilé led the two of them to a relatively quieter corner of the hanger, though much as with where Kallen's own knightmare was stored it really was relative. The two would at least be able to hear the other speak privately at least.

"Now, what did you wish to discuss, Lieutenant Stadtfeld?"

It was clear from Cecilé's tone that the older woman was not expecting some massive change of heart on Kallen's part. At the same time she was not dismissing the possibility of that outright.

Kallen pursed her lips. "I am here to extend an invitation to you, Captain Croomy, to Suzaku's memorial service."

A still silence settled between the two women as Cecilé simply stared at Kallen.

"Umm, excuse me, but what?" the captain said after she overcame her initial surprise.

Kallen clasped her hands behind her back. "You considered Suzaku a friend, did you not? His family is planning on holding a memorial ceremony for him this weekend. I am here to extend you an invitation on their behalf."

A pained look appeared on Cecilé's expression. "I, did not know he had any family remaining."

"As far as I understand, of his immediate family, none remain," Kallen said. "He however has relatives that survived him, including Dame Kaguya Sumeragi."

"Dame Sumeragi?"

"She and Suzaku were cousins," Kallen stated. "In fact many members of the NAC, were, related."

Cecilé's grimace deepened. "I see."

Kallen smiled gently. "Well Captain Croomy? What is your answer?"

The older woman took a deep breath. "I will be there."

Kallen nodded. "I will be here to pick you up at 7AM this Saturday, ma'am. The service will likely take most of the day."

"Understood, lieutenant." Cecilé regarded Kallen. "I, appreciate the effort, Lady Stadtfeld."

Kallen smiled slightly once more. "I do not bear Suzaku any ill-will, captain. I hope you can understand what that means."

* * *

"Heinrich, glad you could make it."

The baron smiled wirily as he entered the large conference room. "I am sure."

Besides Heinrich himself the room was already occupied by three other men, only one whom Heinrich knew to any degree of familiarity.

Lawrence cracked a slight grin of his own before his face became solemn. "Please, have a seat."

Heinrich did so and glanced at the assembled. "I presume introductions are in order?"

"Indeed. I believe you've already met Jeremy Finch, attorney general for Area 11," Lawrence said. "This is Colonel Cassius Bright, commanding officer of the Tokyo section of the gendarmerie."

"Sir Finch," Heinrich nodded respectfully. "Colonel."

The two did likewise.

"So, how exactly can I help you with the Babel investigation?"

This time wiry smiles appeared all around.

"Seeing as you seem aware of the matter already," Lawrence said, "we were hoping you might, elucidate on some of the means one might employ to funnel money out of the Britannian banking system."

Heinrich raised an eyebrow.

"You have my assurances Baron Stadtfeld," Jeremy spoke up, "that nothing you reveal to us will be used to initiate any sort of investigation against you."

"Well that's mighty generous of you," Heinrich said with a dry drawl. "Alright, let's get started."

Jeremy blinked, seemingly taken aback at the baron's forthrightness. He quickly cleared his throat as Lawrence chuckled at him.

"See, what did I tell you?" the Exchequer said.

"I admit, I did not expect his lordship to be, that open to collaborating," Jeremy said with a degree of ruefulness.

"I did," Cassius said. "The baron's a proper father after all."

Heinrich's eyes flickered slightly at those words but he made no response to that declaration. Instead he regarded Lawrence.

"I presume there's something about how Babel's customers moved money around that's tricky enough that it's even giving you trouble."

"I may have been a banker," Lawrence said with a shrug, "and I may have witnessed incidences of individuals attempting less than ethical means of evading their legal obligations. I cannot however claim any great intimacy with just how, creative, some of these individuals appear to get in their efforts to obfuscate their financial transactions."

"Probably because no one would be stupid enough to actually go through IBB for any transactions they needed to properly hide," Heinrich remarked.

"Why thank you," Lawrence responded with a dry smile.

Heinrich snorted. "Anyway, there are quite a few ways to route money discretely, so let's stick with those actually applicable to the Babel case to save time. Presumably the hotel itself had some sort of offshore presence?"

"Indeed they did," Lawrence said. "We're counting at least five shell companies registered in Switzerland."

"Ah. And even if with access to those records, transactions with customers would have been through other offshore accounts which you're not going to be able to get access to."

"More or less. And our attempts examine Britannian bank transactions with foreign institutions have proven, difficult."

"Color me unsurprised," Heinrich said. "Though in truth I doubt you'll find too many of Babel's customers by trying to examine Swiss accounts."

"Oh? What makes you say that?" Lawrence asked.

"Assuming its customers are the type that also seek to evade taxation of their personal wealth, the general approach is to shift money to Monaco via its gambling industry. That being the case, most of their offshore wealth will be in Monacan accounts instead of Swiss ones. They may still pay into Swiss accounts if that's where Babel's offshore shells are incorporated, but if you're going to be looking for potential suspects, then you'll need to cast a pretty wide net."

"It would make sense," Lawrence agreed. "Though we are still forced to conduct what is effectively a fishing expedition, hoping that we might hook onto something."

"Offshore banking being what it is, that's somewhat inevitable," Heinrich said. The man tilted his head. "Although…"

The others looked at him expectantly. When he did not continue Lawrence cleared his throat.

"Although what?"

"Well these clients of Babel certainly did not set up these offshore accounts themselves," Heinrich said. "If you want to crack this, then the best bet would be to move against the lawyers and bankers on the Britannian side."

"We had considered this," Jeremy said, "but again we run into the lack of sufficient proof to actually execute the warrants needed to seize and search the needed documentation."

"Oh, is that all?" Heinrich said.

The attorney general raised an eyebrow. "That is not a trivial difficulty, my lord. It is not something that even her highness can simply demand without proper pretext."

"Well of course," Heinrich said dryly. "But you have pretext."

The three men blinked and exchanged quizzical looks with each other.

"I'm sorry, but what do you mean by that?" Lawrence asked for all of them.

"Simple," Heinrich said. "How many millions do you think I've smuggled out of Britannia with the help of said lawyers and bankers?"

Lawrence stared at the baron, mouth agape. Jeremy's worked soundlessly as it opened and closed. Cassius on the other hand was beaming at Heinrich with a wide grin.

"I'm sorry my lord, but let me get this straight," Jeremy finally found his voice again. "You are suggesting that in the course of, investigating you, we could draft warrants to search those individuals whom assisted you, and in turn uncover whom else they might have assisted in moving money offshore?"

Heinrich shrugged. "Why not?"

"Why not," Jeremy muttered before shaking his head wirily. "Why not indeed."

"I am certain we could arrange an amnesty for the good baron," Cassius put in with a wide grin. "A plea bargain, in thanks for his earnest cooperation in the matter."

"Yes, yes I suppose we could," Jeremy said as a smile slowly crossed his face. He regarded Heinrich thoughtfully. "I must admit, you have surprised me again, my lord."

Heinrich smirked. "Oh?"

The lawyer chuckled. "First you willingly share what you know of offshore finances with representatives of her highness' administration, and now you offer yourself as a, well, sacrifice, in order to allow us to ferret out those whom, partook, in Babel's services." The man's expression hardened. "I can see well from whom the Lady Stadtfeld inherited her mettle."

Heinrich regarded the lawyer, an eyebrow quirking upwards at the last bit.

"In truth," he said after a brief pause, "I doubt I could claim credit for anything besides Kallen's temper. All that is good in her, is from her mother."

The other men all smiled wirily at the remark, not that any of them felt a desire or need to dispute Heinrich's statement.

* * *

It was with some relief that Kallen slumped into the chair in her room at the viceroy's palace. The room was even more posh than her bedroom back at the Stadtfeld residence, not that she had been back even once since the attack on Ashford Academy. Fortunately the staff here had been willing to switch out the mattress for something that did not feel like she would sink and disappear into and so most nights she got a decent sleep. Before she settled for blissful unconsciousness however there was the matter of the surprisingly thick envelope on her desk. Kallen smiled wirily. It looked like Cole had a lot to say about his time at boot camp thus far. Then again the heft probably had to do with the fact that he was effectively sending two letters. The girl picked up the envelope and deftly sliced it open. She pulled out the pieces of paper and looked at the first page.

 _To my dearest Kallen,_

Kallen snorted in amusement. And then shook her head. No, not amusement, it was a tinge of embarrassment that elicited that reaction. To think that she would be addressed like that in a letter, it was a new but not unwelcome experience. Just a tad embarrassing. Kallen pushed those thoughts aside as she continued reading.

 _I've been assigned to the 104_ _th_ _training platoon, there are about 50 people total in the unit. There are ten others with me in my squad, all of them, interesting fellows. Good people for the most part, but definitely interesting. There's a shortish guy that seems to get his chops busted by the drill sergeant every other day for goofing off, and there's a girl in one of our sister platoons that, well, was eating a potato during morning roll-call one day. Her drill sergeant went ballistic and made her run another hour after the morning run. She ended up missing breakfast because of that. I think for her that was the true punishment. Everyone calls her Potato Girl now._

Kallen could not help but chuckle. Yes, these people did indeed sound quite interesting. Were it not for the fact that all of them were preparing to take up arms for the Empire, it would almost be touching, these little stories. Still, these were people trying their earnest best. She should not prejudice herself to them just because.

 _The boot camp itself is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We're surrounded by dairy country, so the base actually gets fresh milk every day which is nice. I'd love to be able to visit one of the farms sometimes, but there's not really any downtime in basic. Something to look forward to after I'm discharged after the war, I suppose._

That Kallen could smile unreservedly at, Cole being Cole. She recalled his stated interests in perhaps going into agriculture. Now that she thought about it, Cole's mother was also apparently involved in the trade, from at least a business perspective. Maybe he took after his mother more than his father in that regard.

 _I hope your own training is going well, Kallen. If your own instructors are running you as hard as ours here, well, you have my sincerest sympathies. Though considering the reputation that the various royal guards have, you're probably having an even rougher time than me. Knowing you though, I'm sure it's no sweat. Us mere mortals though, well, we're not made of quite as stern stuff._

Kallen found a rueful smile creep up on her face. It was true, she was being driven pretty hard, but from what she had learned the point of boot camp was quite different than the training she was undergoing. In some respects Cole had it worse than her, in others her own duties were more demanding. Still she appreciated and understood the sentiment.

 _Anyway, I better go get some sleep. I'm on mess duty tomorrow morning. No, I'm not doing any cooking, that's left to the actual chefs and whatnot, from what the other guys have said we just man the serving lane, mop, that sort of stuff. Wouldn't be too bad except I need to get up earlier than everyone else and stay later than everyone else. I'll only be on for a week, so that's something at least._

 _Love,_

 _Cole Kraft_

Love indeed. Kallen sighed as she ran her hand over the letter, flattening it out.

 _P.S. Could you take a look at the other letter? I wanted to try to give off a big brother vibe, let me know if I missed._

Kallen raised an eyebrow. Technically she had promised Euphemia that she would not look at the letters Cole wrote, but here he was asking her to do so. It probably made some degree of sense, to obfuscate the letters such that if someone saw him writing them they would not know he was communicating with the viceroy of Japan. She flipped over to the next page and looked at the top.

 _To my dearest sister,_

Kallen felt a vein seemingly pop on her head for some reason. She tried to keep her blood pressure down as she continued reading. It did not work. Eventually the red haired girl determined that she would have words with Cole in her own letter. Yes, she would have words.

End of Chapter 56

A point was raised tangentially in a review for the last chapter. There is a lot of background material that went into formulating this story and releasing it as the story progresses, obviously to avoid spoilers, would give insight into background material that I can't possibly cover in the opening snippets or the author notes without having them up pretty much be entire chapters in their own right. I'm considering what the best way might be to actually do that kind of infodump, and where for that matter. As I've said before, I'm not that big of a Code Geass fan, I'm just here to tell what I hope to be an interesting story, so I'm not actively engaged in the community, wherever it actually congregates. The easiest thing for me to do is probably to just open up a 'community' on this site and post infodumps there. Wouldn't require me to register yet another forum account somewhere else and so on. We'll see if I decide doing said infodumps is worth it.

A bit on the short side for a chapter, but the scenes ended up being more compact than I was expecting.

France's military high schools became mixed gender in the 60s? Hrm. That's way more liberal than I would have taken the French military for. Especially since, to my understanding, women still aren't allowed into combat roles. Officially.

The image I had of Kallen's expression when she found out she was being sent back to school as a student was the same as Holo when she had to eat nothing but porridge for dinner in the anime that one time. Seeing as they share the same VA, I thought it was appropriate.

Monica is slightly older in my version of the story than her, supposed age in the anime. The Japanese seem to have an obsession with having characters be impractically young. Oh, and I'm also channeling a bit of Amberley Vail when I write her. Which is kind of funny on a meta level considering Vail's opinion of the Ordo Mallus.

I wonder how many of you thought Heinrich's money laundering might enter as a plot point later on. Lots of interleaving threads, and it's only going to get more complicated as we go on.

The Ticonderoga-class actually are from the 1980s, so another bit of more 'modern' technology being brought forward. But again, considering the level of technology they have in the anime, eh. So long as I don't bring in something like the F-22, I think I'm in the clear. The, F-22 is pretty much such a game changer in air-to-air that uh, yeah. Unlike the F-35. Anyway, moving on.

Any questions or feedback, drop a review.


	58. Chapter 57

At this point if there is not a note up here, assume there aren't any major spoilers.

 _The officer corps of the Britannian military at the time of the Great War's commencement could broadly be categorized into two factions. The first was composed of mostly of titled peers or their scions, usually men that entered the military to obtain a measure of glory they felt would add to their dignities as nobles. These officers were generally certain of their own innate superiority due to their heritage and made little attempt to hide their prejudices towards the rank and file or anyone that was not of similar or greater social standing. And while certain members of this faction were highly competent officers and rose to their positions on genuine merit, many others were simply mediocre if not outright incompetent. While this incompetence could be tolerated, if only barely, when the Empire was busy putting down insurgencies, when fighting modern foes, the inadequacies of many such officers became telling. If nothing else combat attrition would see many officers unsuited to their commands directly removed, but such instances were often costly in losses of personnel and equipment._

 _The men and women that rose to replace those officers ultimately unfit for their commands were generally of the second faction of the officer corps. The vast majority were commoners or life peers, nobles whose titles were not inheritable. That was not to say there were no hereditary peers amongst their ranks, but they were fewer in number. The one thing that distinguished this faction however was its emphasis on genuine merit, not some accident of birth or other social consideration, as the measure by which one advances. These individuals as expected tended to be considerably more competent at their duties, a fortuitous fact indeed as the Empire was forced to find enough officers to command the massively enlarged army._

 _There were of course exceptions to the rule, and in many ways her highness the Princess Cornelia, Marshal of the Empire, was the greatest embodiment of this. While a highly competent warrior and commander, by all rights age if nothing else should have precluded her highness' assumption of the highest uniformed position in the Empire's armed forces when she did. Nevertheless as the eldest of the emperor's children that took an interest in military matters, she was named Marshal and charged with leading Britannia's military might against any whom dared challenge the Empire._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 57

Coniunctis viribus

The drive to the Sumeragi estate was done in relative silence. Or rather, there was plenty of noise out and about outside of the car, but the occupants themselves exchanged not a word throughout the entire drive. For that matter when they arrived on the estate grounds Cécile seemed more curious about their surroundings than anything else. It was likely this was the first time the Britannian officer had ever actually entered a classically Japanese residence like this. Then again Kallen's own familiarity was due to her visits to the Sumeragi estate as well during her time as the Red Knight.

The servant that appeared to greet them bowed deeply.

"Kouzuki-sama, Captain Croomy."

Cécile nodded but glanced over at Kallen curiously.

"Stadtfeld-Kouzuki," Kallen remarked to the woman. "I go by either."

"I see," Cécile responded.

The captain supposed that it should not come as any surprise that Kallen would be wholly comfortable with her Japanese identity. She thought back to her own interactions with Suzaku. The young man's heritage had very rarely come up, if at all. Cécile wondered if it was because Suzaku was intentionally downplaying it to better integrate, or if she had just been so insensitive that she never paid attention to it.

"Lady Stadtfeld."

Kallen looked over at Cécile as the two entered the grounds.

"I appreciate your compassion in this case, and I do not mean to sound ungrateful, but there is still a matter that is unresolved."

Kallen sighed slightly. "As I've said before, captain, that is not a topic I can discuss. You need to appeal to her highness directly yourself."

"That is not what I am speaking of," Cécile said, causing Kallen to look back at the older woman quizzically. "When we first met I asked how well you actually knew Suzaku. You, circumvented the question. I would still like an answer."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "I suppose I can't say I knew him that well," she nevertheless answered. "We met only a few times at school, and generally tried to stay out of each other's way to avoid more misunderstandings building up."

"I see," Cécile said, lips pursed.

"Was there something you wanted to ask, captain?" Kallen prompted.

Cécile sighed. "I simply wished to know if you had any understanding of what he actually desired, Lady Stadtfeld. I thought I knew, but now I am not so sure."

Kallen regarded Cécile again. After a few moments she spoke.

"He had demons."

Cécile looked over at Kallen again.

"One of the few times we spoke at any length," Kallen continued. "He attempted to justify his service with the Britannian military, even under the Prince Clovis. He said he wanted Britannians and Japanese to be able to coexist peacefully. When I called him on the fact that he was killing his own people in the process, he, well, he panicked."

"Panicked?" Cécile said with a frown.

"Not really any other way to describe it," Kallen said. "I think he was consciously trying to avoid confronting the fact that he was killing his own people. Or maybe he just never came to terms with that fact."

"Suzaku never showed any hesitation in carrying out his duty," Cécile stated.

"I'm not surprised," Kallen said. "He carried himself with a sense of duty, and he was determined to see through his duty. And yet, how much did he need to lie to himself to carry on like that?"

Cécile's jaw tightened but she could not bring herself to dispute Kallen's assessment. In fact she herself had sensed it, something driving Suzaku to succeed and live up to the expectations of his superior officers. His superior officers, including one Cécile Croomy. How much the young man must have hurt, and how little she herself had tried to soothe that pain.

"You, almost sound as if you pitied him," Cécile remarked.

"Pitied him?" Kallen cocked her head aside. "I'm not sure I would put it that way myself. He was someone taking the lives of others while subconsciously evading the true depths of his actions. If you want to call how I regarded him as pity, it would be one lacking in any sympathy."

"Then why are you here, Lady Stadtfeld?" Cécile asked.

Kallen came to a stop before they entered the main building. "I said before that I do not hold any animosity towards Suzaku for his actions during the Tokyo Uprising. That remains so. But the manner of his service to Britannia, the way he elected to deal with his conscience. That I extend no pardon or clemency for."

"That, does not make any sense," Cécile said.

" _People_ don't make sense," Kallen said. "You'll find your head hurting a lot less if you keep that in mind." The knight then hefted the package she was cradling under her arm. "Besides, I have a promise to keep."

Cécile regarded the wrapped cylindrical object, not sure what exactly it was.

"Oh yes, one more thing," Kallen said. "I have spoken to Dr. Chawla about granting Earl Asplund access to the Guren. The doctor is willing to let the earl examine it, but in exchange we want something."

"And that something would be?" Cécile responded calmly and coolly, not letting the sudden shift in topic rattle her.

"The railgun the Lancelot was equipped with," Kallen said, eliciting a sharp intake of breath from the captain. "The VARIS rifle, I believe it is called. I want it for the Guren."

Cécile stared at Kallen flatly. "Access to the VARIS is heavily restricted, Lady Stadtfeld."

"Take it or leave it," Kallen said. "That's our offer. If you need to kick it upstairs, then do it. I'm sure if you get a no, you can at least keep the earl from going behind your back and giving the rifle to me regardless."

Cécile gave Kallen an unamused look at that. Even if the younger woman was joking sad as it was Cécile could not actually guarantee Lloyd would not attempt such.

"I will, consult with my superiors," she said carefully.

With as satisfied a nod as any other Kallen turned and entered the building. Cécile was right behind and followed Kallen's example of removing her shoes. The two were escorted to a room deeper in by another servant, a room already filled with several others. Kallen nodded in greeting to Kaguya and Tohdoh. Ohgi was also present, despite not really having ever met Suzaku. Then again Chiba was also there, likely having accompanied Tohdoh.

"Kallen," Kaguya said as she approached.

"Kaguya," Kallen said and then nodded to Cécile. "This is Captain Cécile Croomy of the Camelot Institute. She is the one I spoke with you of."

"Ah, I see." Kaguya bowed respectfully. "I am pleased to finally make your acquaintance, captain. I thank you for the kindness you showed my cousin."

"I considered Suzaku a friend, Dame Sumeragi," Cécile said with a slight bow of her own. "Kindness to a friend should not warrant any special distinction."

Kaguya gave Cécile a wide smile and then nodded in turn to the man beside her. Tohdoh however conducted his introduction himself.

"Captain Croomy," the man said with a bow. "I am Tohdoh Kyoshiro, formerly of the Japanese Liberation Front."

Cécile's eyes widened ever so slightly at how easily the man made that admission. And then it widened further as the name registered.

"Lieutenant-Colonel," she responded respectfully. "I must admit to, some surprise at seeing you here."

"When Suzaku was a boy I attempted to teach him the way of the sword," Tohdoh said, and then looked across the room at the altar. "As I stand here, I cannot help but wonder if I failed."

Cécile's expression softened. "The times I spent with Suzaku, I believe he did earnestly try. I hope you will not consider your effort to have been wasted, Sir Tohdoh."

Tohdoh looked back at the Britannian woman and allowed himself a slight smile. "I thank you for those words, Captain Croomy."

The introductions concluded, Kallen and Kaguya moved over to where Ohgi stood. Kallen nodded to the man.

"Things alright Ohgi?" she asked.

"More or less," Ohgi said with a slight grimace. "A lot of people are getting riled up about the Babel case, some even have blood in their eyes. Colonel Bright's been very understanding though, and he's even having a few Akatsuki members with prior police experience work on the investigation."

"Really?" Kallen said. "Huh. Well, I guess he was serious about establishing a working relationship between the gendarmerie and Akatsuki."

"Looks that way," Ohgi said before smiling slightly. "And your old man's no slouch either."

Kallen blinked. "Huh?"

A quizzical look crossed Ohgi's expression. "You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?" Kallen nearly hissed.

"He, officially he's being investigated for money laundering," Ohgi said. "And uh, well, this may sound a bit awkward Kallen, but until now I never realized how, well, rich your family was."

"Wait, why is he being investigated for money laundering!?" Kallen demanded.

"It's a ruse," Ohgi said quickly. "Your father used a lot of, well, the same lawyers and accountants to smuggle his money out as apparently some of Babel's customers might have used to shift their money overseas to, well, pay the casino without it being directly tied to them. By using the investigation into your father's finances as an excuse, the gendarmerie and the attorney general's office are able to search those people and just maybe nail some of the suspected Babel customers."

Kallen frowned. "He's really doing that?"

Ohgi nodded. "You don't need to worry too much about him, I'm pretty sure a pardon has already been arranged."

"Huh." A thoughtful expression crossed Kallen's face.

"You mean you really weren't aware of this?" Ohgi said.

Kallen shook her head. "I've been busy the past week or so, and the last time we spoke he made no mention of it." The girl frowned slightly. "Feels like I should have been paying a lot closer attention."

"Then you are also likely unaware that your father now holds a 5% stake in the Sumeragi Group?" Kaguya spoke up.

Kallen gaped at Kaguya. "What?"

"Her highness levied a, substantial, fine on the Sumeragi Group as a sanction for our funding of the JLF," Kaguya said. "Your father, offered to pay it in exchange for a stake in the Group."

"Wait, which fine was this one?" Kallen said.

"The one billion pounds one."

Ohgi made a choking sound. Kallen was only slightly better as the girl feigned a cough.

"My, father had that much money lying around?"

"Apparently so," Kaguya said with a bemused expression.

Kallen sighed wearily. "I really, really need to sit down and talk with him."

"That might be prudent," Kaguya remarked.

The older girl snorted. "Any other insane stunts by my father I should be aware of?"

"Umm, don't think so," Ohgi said.

"Well, good. I think." Kallen turned towards Kaguya. "Can I put this somewhere on the altar?"

Kaguya looked over at the cylindrical object and tilted her head quizzically. "What is it?"

Kallen unwrapped it to reveal an almost empty bottle of wine and two glasses stacked atop. The questioning look remained on the other two's expressions.

"A promise," Kallen said. "To General Eyrie."

That still did not entirely answer the question, but it was enough. Kaguya nodded. Kallen walked up to the altar and poured out the rest of the wine into the two glasses. She set one before Suzaku's photo, there was no body, the Britannian government officially having disposed of it after, euthanizing, the braindead Suzaku. Kallen had her own suspicions, though she did not doubt the young man was dead. More likely than not though his corpse had been cut open by whatever shady underbelly of the Britannian Inquisitio that the Knight of Twelve, the one that actually ordered Suzaku's execution, was part of. It was not an end that Kallen would have wished on anyone, except perhaps that bastard of a prince Lelouch.

Kallen raised her own glass. "Compliments of General Eyre, Suzaku. I guess you were right about one thing, there are Britannians out there that will acknowledge what you've done, for better or worse."

* * *

The two men that entered the small motel looked as nondescript as any of the countless laborers that filtered through the area. The innkeeper barely paid them any attention as they came up to the desk.

"Need a room for two," the shorter of the two said.

"Fifty a night, pay upfront," the receptionist said without even looking up. "If you want dinner it's another ten."

A wad of crumpled bills was dropped on the desk. That finally got the woman to look up from her book. She countered out the cash before swiping them under and grabbed a key hanging off the wall.

"202, up the stairs, first room to your left."

The man caught the key as it flew at him. "Only one key?"

"Another five pounds if you want a second key," the woman said, her attention already back on her book.

"Tch. Alright."

The two headed up stairs and entered a relatively small and not entirely clean room. The single bed in theory was large enough for two people, assuming they were fine with some relatively close snuggling. The displeased look on the shorter man's expression made clear his opinion on that matter.

"As expected of such a disreputable establishment," he remarked, his annunciation shifting.

"Hey now, try not to slip into that posh accent of yours," his partner said. "We're day laborers, ya know?"

The other man ignored him, opening up the window to at least let some air in. This close to the port, it was a mixture of salt and grease that blew in. Still a marked improvement on the staleness before.

"Let's get to work," the shorter man said.

"Right behind you Thompson."

They exited the room and then walked the length and height of the building. The motel was only three stories tall so that did not take too long. Scouting out the first floor took a bit more doing, primarily because of the need to avoid arousing the attention of the receptionist. Not that that was actually difficult at all considering the woman seemed more interested in her reading than actually doing her job.

"Scuse me," Thompson said to the receptionist as they finished checking out the building. "When's dinner supposed to be?"

"1900." The woman peeked up from her book. "If you want dinner for the night you gotta pay up before 1500. Ain't no leftovers for you to buy."

This place really was stingy.

"Just checking," Thompson said as the two took their leave.

The other man even tried to shoot the receptionist a flirting smile. Tried, seeing as the woman was back to reading her book and ignoring them already.

"What a cold woman," the man remarked jokingly once they were outside.

"Spare me your antics Thomson," his partner said.

"Well one must find some way to pass the time," Thomson said. "After all, it sounds like this chef of theirs doesn't arrive to do the cooking until 1500 at least. Shall we wander the docks looking for work until then?"

"We already have work. I'll stake out the rear, you the front. If we see our target, we grab him, quick and clean."

"Hmm, when you put it that way it sounds positively dull."

"I'll dull your head. Now get going."

"Roger," Thomson said with a mock salute and a smirk.

As his partner disappeared into another building where he could observe the entrance to the motel, Thompson let out a sigh. As trying as Thomson could be there was a reason that Thompson had never requested a transfer after being paired up with the man. Both of them were highly competent at their craft and few could match their proficiency in their respective specializations. That explained at least one half of why the two worked so well as a team.

Thompson checked his watch. Another three hours before their target was expected to arrive. He settled into a spot of his own, disappearing into the shadows. The point of a stakeout was after all to keep one's quarry unaware that they were being hunted for. And while this part of the docks saw enough transients flow through on a daily basis that the two of them could hide in the crowd, bringing in more people would have made the locals instinctively uneasy. For all the resources that the Ordo Xenos could bring to bear, sometimes agents found themselves alone in the field even when operating in domestic territory. The man looked about. Then again, for all the viceroy's improvements to Area 11 parts of it were still barely civilized. Plenty of cracks existed for people to slip through if they were determined enough. Thompson gave his sidearm a comforting pat. It was his job to make sure that did not happen this time however.

The hours ticked away and Thompson watched the figures go by. None approached the motel's rear entrance however. Thompson frowned. It would be extremely irritating if their target had elected to finally skip town today of all days. And then the small earpiece hidden in his ear crackled.

"Target just appeared, entering front door."

Thompson raised an eyebrow and raised the collar of his coat ever so slightly. "The front door?"

"Went in with a bunch of other blokes. Probably trying to hide himself."

That was clever. Too bad for their quarry Thomson had a sharp eye.

"Meet me back," Thompson said. "We'll go in through the service door."

"Roger dodger."

Thomson appeared mere moments later. The two approached the rear door and a quick test confirmed that it was locked.

"Well that's something," Thomson remarked.

Thompson ignored his partner, pulling out a key and unlocking the door.

"Wait, when did you get a key?" Thomson asked quizzically.

"When you weren't paying attention," was the answer as Thompson entered.

Muffled conversation could be heard down the hall as people dropped in, several apparently paying the receptionist for their evening meal.

"Circle round to the other kitchen door," Thompson said.

"Gotcha," Thomson replied.

The other man stalked off and Thompson waited at his own position until he heard a click in his earpiece. He tapped the mic twice in turn, signaling for Thomson to enter.

"Oi, cook, got a moment?" Thompson heard from inside a moment later.

The sound of pots crashing about was all the signal Thompson needed to make his own entrance. As he charged in shouts sounded as the man at the stove opened up on his partner. Thomson reared back before toppling against the wall. Thompson did not give their target time to react to his own entrance, his sidearm was out and he opened fire. At this distance it was effectively impossible to miss and the tranquilizer rounds sank into the other man's shoulders. A sharp cry sounded and even as the gunner tried to aim at Thompson, the Inquisitio operative was closing in. Jumping over the table, Thompson slammed his boot into the other man's chest and sent him crashing against the counter. A quick punch to the face finished what the tranquilizers had started and the man slumped down.

"Thomson!"

"Right here governor," the other man responded with remarkable sanguinity as he leaned against the wall.

"Bloody Hel," Thompson said as he kicked aside his target's discarded pistol and knelt at his partner's side.

"Bloody is right," Thomson said, his hand clutching his bleeding side.

"This is Cane One," Thompson said into his radio. "Target captured, Cane Two is injured, requesting immediate extraction now!" Then to Thomson. "Let's get you out of those clothes."

"Careful Thompson, others might misconstrue your words if you were so overheard."

"That that is what comes to your head at this time and place says more about your mental state than this imaginary audience of yours," Thompson retorted.

Cries and shouts grew louder outside of the kitchen.

"Imaginary audience you say?" Thomson said.

"Stop squirming already," Thompson said as he finally cut away the coat and short over where his partner had been shot. "Alright, hold still, I'm going to take off this sleeve here."

"Are you that eager to see me unclothed Thompson?"

"Better your bare ass than your bare guts, Thomson."

"Well now-look out!"

Thompson spun about to see their target struggling to crawl towards the discarded pistol. The man immediately leapt forth and delivered a solid kick to the target's head. The man crumpled, this time staying down.

"Enough of that out of you," Thompson said.

"Good show there Thompson!" Thomson declared. "Now if you would be a gent and help keep me from bleeding out here?"

With an exasperated sigh Thompson returned to his partner's side and got back to work with a makeshift bandage. Thomson would probably survive. Which explained another reason why Thompson still put up with him, his partner was harder to kill than a roach. If the Empire was going to keep sending him after crazies that shot first like this, better to have someone who could take the shots than having to break in a new partner after every mission. Who knew, maybe someday they would get a mission that wouldn't see them get shot at at all. One could always hope.

* * *

"Mail call!"

The soldiers in the barracks perked up as the drill sergeant made the announcement. Cole was no exception, and the young man was duly awarded as his name was called.

"Kraft!"

Two envelopes were slapped into his waiting hands and Cole cracked a grin as he saw the return address on the top one, a PO box that was routed to the viceroy's palace.

"Oh, whatcha got there?" a shortish youth leaned over to get a look at Cole's letters.

"Nothing that has anything to do with you Connie," Cole said as he turned about. "Besides, don't you have your own letters to read?"

"Nah, told me mum to not bother fer now. Gonna be way from 'ome fer lot longer after boot camp after all, need to learn 'ow to keep the 'homesick away."

"You really are an idiot, aren't you, Connie," a tall lanky youth said.

"Ey, wot was that?" Connie protested.

"Guys, how about waiting at least until the sarge has left," Cole suggested.

Both youths went stiff and slowly turned around, only to see no one behind.

"Oh that was cheap."

Cole chuckled. "Well you make it so easy Jean."

"Ah, just cause you've got a girl waiting for you back there," Jean said.

"Being courteous and polite helps with that you know," Cole said with a smirk. "Now come on, I can't be the only one that got mail?"

"Well I got something last week, not expecting anything this week," Jean said. "And besides, that long letter you spent so much time on? Kinda curious what sorta girl you got."

"And do you _really_ think I'm going to let you see these?" Cole said, eyebrow raised.

"Bah, you're no fun," Jean said as he walked off.

Cole then gave Connie a look. As dense as the other youth could be there were times even he could take a hint. Cole chuckled and slit open the envelope. As expected the top page was a letter from Kallen.

 _To Cole,_

 _I hope you don't mind the lack of dear, that felt a tad embarrassing to put down on paper. Don't you stop though, a girl likes to feel appreciated._

Cole chuckled. In her own way Kallen could be quite adorable.

 _Things have been very, busy, as you might expect. In fact some days it feels like the guard is trying to run me through boot camp themselves. I can't say I'm enjoying that part of the experience. Though the weirdest thing has to be the food. One would think serving in the palace we would get really good food, and we do. For dinner. Breakfast and lunch though, it's supposedly the exact same thing as what the regular military gets in the field and what they serve at boot camp. Apparently it's to make sure we don't get too comfortable and soft in case we needed to go on an actual field deployment._

Cole actually found himself wincing in sympathy at that bit. Short though his time here was thus far, he was already sick of the fare. The only reason he shoved down so much during mealtimes was because he tended to be literally starving by the time he got to the mess hall.

 _But I am learning a lot. I thought I knew how to fight, and even a little about how to lead. Boy was I wrong. And the people teaching me, I think I can honestly say that they are good people. And, I suppose also rather interesting as well. Lieutenant Armstrong has a habit of ripping off his shirt at every opportunity, I think he actually has to pay for new uniforms himself now. And Lieutenant Arseid, well, I never thought I'd say this, but as a noble daughter Laura sets an example that I would want to actually follow._

That was a surprise, but one that Cole found himself honestly glad about. While it would be an exaggeration to suggest that he understood the depths of Kallen's feelings towards Britannia, he wanted to hope that some of the bitterness she felt would be healed. Despite everything Cole considered himself a Britannian after all.

 _I've actually had to do some thinking about what I want to do for the future. An armsman's career tends to be surprisingly straightforward, your station is dictated by where your liege goes and there's not really any instances of transfers. Advancement is also pretty straightforward, though as her highness' knight of honor I technically am already pretty high up, at least prestige wise. It's funny, I never actually thought about what I would after Japan was free, or the fighting was over. Well, Japan's technically still not free, and I'm still fighting, but I'm not fighting just for tomorrow or the day after, I'm fighting for a real future. It all feels, different._

Cole took a deep breath. Kallen was probably still working out her own complicated feelings on her present situation, but the important bit was that she did not seem to hate it. That was good.

 _I also met General Eyrie's niece, Jane. She invited me to a small gathering to help carry out one of the general's bequests. Apparently the general had stated in his will that he wished to have a toast be shared by those people that participated in the Princess Euphemia's rescue during the Kawaguchi incident. That surprised me, quite a bit. It's a shame that I did not get to know the general better, he seemed to be a good man. Especially since apparently the general would have wanted Suzaku to have joined in the toast as well._

A frown crossed Cole's expression. He knew of Suzaku, near everyone at Ashford did, if not because of his Japanese heritage then because of the seeming animosity between the young man and Kallen. At the time Cole had not given the matter much thought. In fact even after he grew closer to Kallen he did not think much of the seeming enmity between the two, he could not even recall running into Suzaku at school. After the revelation that Kallen was the Red Knight however things made more sense, though plenty of questions remained unanswered. After Suzaku's death, none of them seemed to matter anymore however. That Kallen now spoke so easily of the young man, it was not exactly an unease that Cole felt, but there was a hint of confusion. He continued reading.

 _I hope you are doing well, Cole. Boot camp is certainly to be a trial, according to Laura its point isn't so much as to make you stronger or anything as to grind you down so that you have a genuine taste of adversity. Just, try to stay safe. It's not just me that's waiting for your safe return, Cole. You have your, dearest sister to think of after all._

A strained look crept over Cole's face. He somehow doubted Kallen was talking about Nora there.

 _Love,_

 _Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki_

Well, that was at least promising.

 _P.S._

Or, not.

 _One could not help but blush at how, intimately you addressed your dearest sister. Surely as a proper gentleman you do not possess such, impolite thoughts towards her?_

Cole stared at those last two sentences. Surely his letter had not come across that way? Then again, it was hard to tell how the heart of a maiden beat. He flipped to the next letter.

 _To my beloved brother,_

Cole swallowed. Now why did those words make him so nervous. As he read, Cole found himself wiping away a nervous sweat from his forehead.

* * *

Monica watched intently as the soldiers of Loki Regiment hurried about with their preparations. Getting access to the thought elevator on Kamine Island had not been easy, especially since Monica needed to actually bring in some equipment along with her. The Princess Euphemia had ultimately restricted Monica to only a single squad escorted by a much large contingent of soldiers loyal to herself and the Princess Cornelia. Even then the knight was warned that if she attempted anything untoward, the princess would activate the contingency prepared for the thought elevator. The thermobaric bomb might not have been enough to bring down the thought elevator itself but it would most certainly be enough to kill Monica and her soldiers quite thoroughly, even if Euphemia ended up sacrificing some of her own followers in the process. Presence of said bomb was ultimately one reason why Monica allowed the princess to impose her conditions.

As it was the squad was barely large enough to prepare the device that they were hooking up to the thought elevator. The princess' own soldiers were recording their every movement and Monica did not doubt that she was probably revealing much more about the elevator than the Directorate would be happy with, but that could be contained, especially if she found some more answers about this Zero character.

"Milady, we are ready."

"Good," Monica said. "If I'm out for more than five minutes, sever the connection."

"Understood."

The knight walked over to the pedestal set up, placing her hands on two panels angled towards her. The Kamine Island thought elevator was completely out of power, not surprising considering how long it had sat there unmaintained. What little reserves it did possess were then drained when the princess inadvertently activated it. That was fine, the device Loki Regiment had installed could jumpstart the thought elevator and get it connected to the rest of the network already under Directorate control. That was officially the other reason she was dispatched to Area 11 after all. Before they actually tuned it to resonate with those other thought elevators however Monica fully intended to make use of it herself.

To those observing the knight nothing actually seemed to happen. For Monica herself she was enveloped in a blinding light before emerging in a large chamber lined with bookshelves. The knight looked about, getting her bearings. This was not the first time she had entered C's World but manifestation of humanity's subconscious was decidedly non-Euclidean. The way senses worked here could also be entirely unintuitive. Monica spun about. That way. The knight remained seemingly oblivious to the empty slot on the bookshelf that was immediately before her as she walked away.

Despite how seemingly nonsensical C's World appeared to be there was a certain method to the madness. Most mortal minds could not actually comprehend it, rightly so considering it was rooted in higher dimensional mathematics. What the human eye saw instead was a projection of those higher dimensions into the three dimensions it was capable of grasping. Even if that projection was a simplification it was usually enough for someone to be able to discern a few basic patterns, like the direction to the center of this particular nexus.

Time, that was another thing that did not entirely work the same way as it did in the outside word. It still progressed, it did not do anything nearly as insane as move back or stand still or anything, as far as Monica knew, but the rate of progression was vastly different. As far as the Directorate understood it when one's consciousness entered C's World its perceptions and mental processes were vastly sped up such that subjectively a great deal of time could pass inside while the real world seemed to slow to a crawl. If one was creative one might be able to take advantage of this quirk. There were however quite a few potential pitfalls involved, not least of which was the fact that if something happened inside C's World there was basically no time for anything outside to intervene.

As it was subjectively it felt like several minutes passed before Monica finally reached, what looked like a large sitting room in the midst of the forest of books. Seated in one of the large couches facing Monica but still ignoring her for now was a figure wearing a black helmet with crown-like spikes poking out the rear. The figure continued reading the book in his lap, flipping the pages one by one. Monica came forth and stopped a few short steps from him.

"Zero, I presume."

"Dame Kruszewski," Zero responded in a distorted, echo-like tone. "You have come."

Monica tilted her head. "You were expecting me?"

With a thud Zero closed the book in his hands and set it aside. From where she stood Monica could clearly see the title stitched across the binding. She regarded the man with a slightly irritable expression.

"It is not polite for a gentleman to peek in a lady's affairs, Zero."

An irritation that hid something else entirely.

"Oh?" Zero said in response as the figure clasped his hands together. "And what makes you think I am a gentleman?"

The edge of Monica's lips twerked. "Well, why don't you take off that helmet of yours and show me I'm wrong?"

"Ah, but where would the fun be in that?" Zero quipped. "After all a lord inquisitor should not require the acquiescing of others to complete her duties."

"Well maybe not, but it tends to be less work when those others aren't fighting tooth and nail," Monica said. "Are you going to make me earn my pay?"

"Only seems reasonable," Zero said, "considering the half-truths you paid Euphie for knowledge of my existence."

Monica's eyes flickered at that. Considering this Zero had been flipping through her 'book' it came as no surprise that he would know about her meeting with the princess. The implications of him doing so freely however.

"Considering you obviously know everything there is to know about me, how about you save me at least a little the need to tell you directly why I'm here?"

"Why not," Zero said with a shrug. "And the answer to your request is no."

Monica sighed and massaged her temples. "Alright, that was forthright. Mind telling me why?"

"The reason is simple." Zero stood. "You are incapable of meeting the price I would demand."

The knight smirked. "Try me."

"The head of your liege."

The smirk disappeared and Monica now openly glared at Zero. "What."

"There should be no difficulty in understanding my words," Zero said, holding aside a hand. "If you wish my aid in delivering unto Vivian a final death, then I demand the same for his brother Charles."

Monica stared at Zero, hard. "Who are you, who knows such things."

"The sum of man," Zero stated. "There are no secrets for those that dwell within C's World."

The knight's expression darkened. The Directorate had spent decades plumbing the secret of code and geass. With his code V.V. was absolutely invaluable to the effort, but there were limits to even what he could deliver when it came to C's World. True V.V. could enter and exist for far longer periods than other mortals, but even he would eventually find his mind slowly destroyed by the echoes and noise generated by the collective unconsciousness of mankind. In fact one thing he emphatically could not do was delve into the minds of others via their subconscious link to C's World, as represented by these books. Even touching one should cause an extremely painful mental feedback, even if one was trying to pick up one's own 'book.' That this Zero could do so with seeming impunity made clear that the nature of his existence was far different from that of other code bearers. Monica's hand twitched.

"You are then a resident of this world."

Zero said nothing.

"Tch. Well fine," Monica said, holding her hands up. "You obviously aren't going to help me with my task."

And then the woman lunged forth, a sword appearing in her hands from seeing thin air. Zero made no move to retreat or dodge. Instead his hand rose, a blade appearing and blocking Monica's swing.

"Tch, guess that trick isn't going to work on you," the knight said.

"Impressive," Zero said as their blades ground against each other. "To manifest something through sheer will, the doing of your artificial geass? Or your natural strength of will?"

"You tell me," Monica sneered.

The knight slackened the pressure of her sword, disengaging and distancing herself from Zero. The figure however pressed forward, thrusting his blade straight for Monica's heart. The woman executed a beat parry, using the bounce of her blade to carry into another swing at Zero. This time the figure dodged, spinning out of the way and launching another thrust as he came about. Monica raised her sword, catching the thrust against her lower blade. Again the two were firmly locked together, the metal of their blades ringing as they ground against each other.

"You're good," Monica remarked. "More tricks picked up from the books you've read? Or something you actually learned yourself?"

"One does not master the blade by relying on the skill of others," Zero responded, and demonstrated proof of his own qualities as he gave his sword a mighty shove.

The movement was not enough to actually push Monica back but it did angle the knight's blade downward. Monica should have disengaged, but whether out of stubbornness or belief that she could match Zero she stood her ground. A moment too late, Monica realized her mistake. With even greater strength than his initial push Zero forced both blades down, ramming them into the ground. Both weapons sank into the floor and there was no time for Monica to tear it free. In that opening, Zero dove in and slammed an open palm against the knight's chest. Monica cried out, pain shooting through her. She might not have physically been there, but the sensation felt quite real enough.

"Not yet," the knight spat out.

Even as she recoiled from the impact her fists tightened, before closing in on the grip of a new blade. She brought it slashing down, and felt just the tiniest resistance as it carved a slit across Zero's mask. The momentum of her fall was too much however and the cut was too shallow. Monica tumbled, rolling a ways before sliding back onto her feet.

"Impressive," Zero said, running a hand over the slit. "Not once, but twice. And the second time under great duress. You certainly are worthy of your seat at the round table."

"Your praise is ever so heartening," Monica said snidely. And then the woman blinked as she actually processed the no longer obfuscated sound of Zero's voice. "Wait, what!?"

A feminine chuckle sounded and Zero gripped the bottom of the helmet, pulling it off. From under the mask unrolled long strands of crimson hair. A pair of sharp blue eyes now gazed at Monica. The knight's mouth dropped.

"It is a pleasure to meet you once more, Dame Kruszewski," said one Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki.

Monica gaped at the woman, her obvious struggle to find words manifest in how her mouth worked soundlessly. Finally she settled for the most natural response.

"What the Hel!?"

Kallen smirked at the other woman. "You seem surprised to see me here."

"But-you-what-" Monica intentionally gave her tongue a bit to keep from blabbering further. "Ack."

This simply elicited a chuckle from Kallen. "Well, if nothing else you are quite the amusing personality."

Monica regarded the woman with a look of irritation. "You seem to be enjoying yourself a tad much at my expense, Lady Stadtfeld. Especially with how you played me during our encounters in Tokyo."

"Turnabout is fair play," Kallen said primly even as she tapped the two blades sticking out from the floor, making them disappear. "What was that nonsense about how your artificial geass performs destructive interference and that is how it cancels out others' geasses?"

Monica's gaze hardened. If Kallen really did know the truth behind her artificial geass, that made it all the more imperative to take her down.

"Oh, and before you launch into another futile attempt to murder me," Kallen spoke up, "did the Directorate ever tell you what happens when a thought elevator is destroyed?"

Monica froze. It was a rhetorical question, and the dark grin on Kallen's face made clear she did not need Monica to answer. And while the Princess Euphemia would be hard pressed to physically destroy the thought elevator, it was well within the means of a code bearer like Kallen Stadtfeld.

"It seems we are at a stalemate," Monica said very carefully.

"Umm, not quite," Kallen said as she rubbed her chin. "You want this thought elevator for the Directorate and your liege. Well, I'm afraid I can't let that happen."

The knight stiffened, her grip tightening on the sword projected in her hand. If Kallen was intent on destroying the thought elevator regardless, she would have to try to stop her.

"Oh don't be so dramatic," Kallen said with another smirk.

And then a glowing light appeared through the suit the woman wear. Monica winced but she could make out a bright crest shining above Kallen's breasts.

"Ragnarok requires possession of an outright majority of the thought elevators that exist," Kallen stated. "The Directorate has thus far synchronized three, and were counting on adding this one to its collection."

A roar of light swept out from Kallen and despite herself Monica buckled, dropping to her knees. There was no sound, yet it still felt as if she was in the midst of a hurricane. The knight looked up, meeting Kallen's cold blue eyes.

"I am afraid they will have to be disappointed," she said in a cold voice.

And then the light enveloped Monica. The next moment, the knight found herself lying on the ground inside the chamber on Kamine Island, one of her subordinates at her side.

"Lady Kruszewski, are you alright!?"

Monica groaned. "Bloody Hel, what happened?"

"You, you were thrown back from the console, milady."

The knight grunted and pulled herself off, dusting off her uniform. "Lovely. Status on the thought elevator?"

"Our connection to it has been severed," another subordinate answered. "It's, rejecting attempts to access it again."

That elicited a frown from the knight. This was just great. While she technically had discovered who the mysterious code bearer was, losing the thought elevator to Kallen was not a good thing. Even worse, if Kallen's code had really developed to such a point that she could seemingly enter C's World at will, then it was even more powerful than V.V.'s despite the many decades more the other bearer had possessed his. That made the Red Knight incalculably more dangerous than she had originally surmised. Monica grimaced. She would need to reconsider her stratagem, since killing Kallen Stadtfeld was no longer a realistic option. Things, were getting complicated.

Back within the thought elevator Kallen glanced about. After confirming that Monica had indeed been ejected she let out an exasperated sigh.

"There, that dramatic enough for you?"

A chuckle sounded and out from amongst the bookshelves another figure emerged. Said figure wore the same outfit as Kallen, the same gaudy purple suit, the same cape with the massively overstated collar, and most importantly the intact crowned helmet.

"My thanks, Kallen," Zero said, dipping into a slight bow.

"Thank me by not dragging me into more of this nonsense," Kallen said somewhat tartly. "I have enough work as it is."

"Indeed, and I do appreciate the, time, you are taking," Zero said. "To allow Dame Kruszewski to discover me at this stage would have been, problematic."

"So long as Monica finding out about _me_ doesn't end up biting me instead." Kallen sighed again. "Well whatever, shall we head back?"

"Indeed."

One moment, the two were standing amongst the couches and tables. The next, they were simply gone. All that marked their passing was the discarded helmet on the ground, and the gashes from where the blades once stood.

End of Chapter 57

As should be evident with Cole's boot camp scene, I do not feel any need to restrict myself to solely Code Geass characters or original characters. As I have stated many times before, I am not that invested a fan of the Code Geass franchise and I am perfectly willing to change aspects of the canon that in my opinion do not work and insert things that I feel will make a better story. I am, to be frank, writing a story using Code Geass. I am not in the strictest definition writing a Code Geass story. That is actually an important distinction.

That said, this was probably long overdue, but I obviously do not own the Kiseki series, Fullmetal Alchemist, Spice and Wolf, 40K, or Attack on Titan. Or I suppose at this rate TinTin.

I had considered whether to use the Aegis name or something else. Ultimately I decided to stick with it for a couple of reasons. The first is familiarity, to make it blindingly obvious what I am talking about when I reference the Aegis Combat System. The second is there is already precedence for the Britannian Empire, even my version, to use Greek names for some of its things. Damocles, for example. The third was basically to reserve Norse mythical terms for use of my own creations. So if there is need to put into the story something that would appropriately be named after a mythical shield, one is available instead of being used in place of Aegis.

I am well aware of what lycée means in French (give me some credit, I did take three years of French in high school). I was just being lazy a couple of chapters back and using it to refer to the military high schools without explicitly referring to them as military lycées. So I think this is an instance where both sides talked past each other.

I refuse to deal with wikia's accounts until they actually turn on https for their authentication. In this day and age the fact that they don't have it working indicates either criminal incompetence or inexcusable indifference. The fact that even this site has https enabled, for everything for that matter, should be telling. Yes, I work in the computer industry, and security is something that's a pet peeve of mine considering how poorly it is done by the majority of the industry.

There are obviously rules about whether evidence that is uncovered in an unrelated case is admissible and whatnot. It can be assumed that Jeremy and co are being very careful about how they use Heinrich's investigation in going after the other lawyers and bankers. It can also be assumed that said bankers and lawyers are shitting bricks right now.

Something that regrettably just wasn't possible in the original Code Geass anime, the issue of English accents. Now seeing as the colonies never actually broke away from Great Britain in this timeline, you can effectively merge the whole of American accents with British ones more readily to produce the 'modern' Britannian accent. In the case of my version, you can assume that Kallen, Milly, Cole, and the other Ashford students all speak with the Received Pronunciation accent, due to the fact that they are all either upper middle class or outright upper class. This sure as hell is not the accent that a lot of the general population uses, where you get a wide range of Southern, Midwestern, and so on accents that originated from the Americas, as well as accents from the old kingdom like Cockney, Glasgowian, though these cases tend to be rarer in Britannia due to the fact that, Great Britain is no longer part of the Empire.

Now the likes of Euphemia and the other prominent members of court also speak Received Pronunciation, but a heightened variant of it that is a bit stiffer with greater emphasis. To her and other members of the imperial family this is the standard way of speaking, with all the formalism and seeming snobbery it entails. Not to say that Euphemia is a snob, or that a lot of nobles aren't, but I'm sure all of you are aware of how accents can be perceived.

And the military, hah, the military, has its own fun with accents. Or more specifically, the military goes to great lengths to 'break' the accents of its recruits so that it is a neutral and hard to identify as possible, at least amongst the rank and file. For the officer corps, especially for those that go through the military academy, they all pretty much use the same Received Pronunciation as the upper class. Even those that rose from enlisted ranks ultimately adopt it.

What this boils down to is I do want to convey the fact that the people from the different walks of life are speaking in different manners. This tends to be tricky as all hell to do realistically, but I think I can do it. The main issue is making sure that the dialogue doesn't become so hard to parse that people give up reading it. I have enough of you complaining about C.C.'s speech after all.

Hmm, there anything else I should comment on? No? Alright. Well, hope you enjoyed. Tum te tum te tum.


	59. Chapter 58

_Before the Great War broke out Britannia was one of the Chinese Federation's largest trading partners due in no small part to the Empire's love of tea. In fact even to this day the Empire's tanks and armoured fighting vehicles are equipped with onboard water boiling vessels, officially for disinfecting water but more often than not usually used for making a pot of tea. Interestingly this modification came into being about the time the Empire took out of service water cooled machineguns, reportedly due to servicemen firing off hundreds of rounds so that they could use the water in the cooling jackets to make tea._

 _When war broke out however the Empire's primary source for tea, especially the variants from India so favored by the Empire's subjects, was cut off. As a consequence several regions of the Empire that could produce tea ended up benefiting significantly, not least of which was Japan. Soon enough the troop transports and cargo ships that brought over soldiers and munitions from the homeland were returning with their holds full of tea and a previously depressed agricultural sector was seemingly rejuvenated overnight. And while many other parts of the Empire faced rationing of the available tea, those subjects living in Japan were never left wanting in spite of the volume sent back to the homelands. Though it is likely an exaggeration that Japan was a highly sought after posting for the Empire's soldiers during the war due to its abundance of tea, there were likely those stationed on the islands that appreciated its comforts in light of the danger that proximity to Russia and the Chinese Federation entailed._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 58

Ignotum per ignotius

"So this t'Empire," Reiner remarked as they exited the airport.

"Were you expectin' the middle ages?" Annie said dryly.

"Nah, though," Reiner glanced over at one of the soldiers on duty. "Wot's wit t'tacky uniforms?"

"The Britannian court loves its theatrics," Lelouch said as he joined them. "It is a love that has, costs for the common people."

"I'll say," Reiner said. "Anyhoo, where's this 'pposed contact o ours?"

"They own a hotel in the city proper," Lelouch said. "That is where we will be staying."

"You sure we ain't walkin' into t'spider's parlor 'ere, boss?" Reiner asked as the group headed towards the taxis.

"These operations always carry with them a degree of risk," Lelouch said. "Though at present I would be more worried about your accent giving us away than anything else."

Charlotte snorted in amusement while Reiner grumbled inaudibly. Drilling in speaking English naturally was one of the things all of them underwent in order to pass off as actual Britannians. For Lelouch that was no problem at all of course, and Charlotte also quickly adopted a received pronunciation accent after some tutoring from Lelouch. Annie somehow ended up with a southern accent, while Laura and Fie settled into a rather plain Midwestern one. Bertolt's was also fairly generic, with a hint of Chicagoan according to the linguistic instructors they worked with. Reiner on the other hand was inexplicably such a dead ringer for a Yorkshire accent that no amount of vocal training had yet managed to undo it. There was at least one instance where even _Lelouch_ of all people had trouble understanding what the blazes Reiner was saying. Of course Yorkshire being in the old kingdom meant Reiner ended up being the one person that could not outright pass for someone from the Britannian mainland, which had entailed some creativity on the part of his cover identity.

With seven of them plus luggage they ended up in two taxis and a short while later they were in front of the hotel.

"Looks rather quaint," Bertolt remarked. "And a bit posh."

"Richmond still retains a fair amount of historical buildings," Lelouch said, "due to the concentration of wealth from many southern nobles and landholders. It is not known as the verdant city for nothing."

"The city itself was awarded to General Benedict Arnold after he was granted a patent of nobility for his services in Washington's Rebellion," Charlotte said. "Since then however Arnold's line has died out and the current lord of Richmond is Duke Felix Louis Cayenne."

"Another French twit," Fie quipped.

"Well, the Cayenne family haven't been French for over a century," Charlotte said with a dry smile.

"Indeed, I doubt the current duke could even pass off as a proper twit of la mère patrie," Lelouch said with a dramatic flick of his hair.

The others chuckled, both at Lelouch's remark and the fact that Charlotte was grinding the young man's foot into the ground with her own. The group entered the hotel without further fuss and approached the reception desk.

"Welcome to Hotel Esmeralda," the young woman manning said desk greeted. "How may I help you?"

"I believe there we have a reservation for three rooms, under Lamperouge," Lelouch said.

The woman did a quick search and nodded. "Yes, indeed. Rooms 302, 303, and 304. You will be with us for three days?"

"Correct."

"Very well." The receptionist turned about and picked out the seven sets of keys. "Here you go, Sir Lamperouge."

"Thank you miss," Lelouch said with a charming smile.

The woman reciprocated, politely of course, as she could clearly see the, telling smile on Charlotte's face.

"Will you need any assistance with your luggage?"

"No, we should be fine," Lelouch said as he handed out keys to everyone, making sure Annie, Laura, and Fie got keys all to the same room and Bertolt and Reiner likewise.

"Very well. Then I hope all of you will enjoy your stay with us."

"I am sure we will," Lelouch said in parting.

The group headed over to the elevators and though it was a bit tight all managed to squeeze in.

"How are we to meet up with our contact?" Laura asked, businesslike.

Lelouch glanced over at the girl, meeting both her eyes. The contact was doing a decent job of covering up the unnatural golden sheen of her left eye.

"They are supposed to contact us," Lelouch answered. "We will need to wait at the hotel this evening."

"Aww, no sightseeing?" Charlotte said with a playful smile.

"I shudder at the thought of what trouble you lot would embroil yourselves in," Lelouch responded with one of his own.

"You lot go get into trouble," Annie said with a yawn. "I'ma gonna get some real sleep."

"Me too," Fie said as she followed Annie into their room.

"There is still some time before evening," Lelouch said to the others. "I will remain here, the rest of you can take a look around the city if you wish."

"Alright then, c'mon Laura," Charlotte said, grabbing hold of her friend's hand.

"Wha-hey wait!"

Without waiting for further protest Charlotte dragged the other girl along to the elevators.

"You two are free to join them," Lelouch said to the two men.

"Nah, we can stay 'ere and watch yer back," Reiner said. "And sides." The man began rubbing his hands. "I still need t'pay you back fer that match fore we left."

"Hmm, well I could certainly use some warmup before the real thing," Lelouch said with a smirk.

"Oh you'll be regrettin' those words soon," Reiner said. "C'mon Bertolt! Time t'wipe that smirk off 'is face!"

Bertolt rolled his eyes as if to say, why me, before following Reiner into their room. A few moments later both returned with a chessboard and settled into Lelouch and Charlotte's room. Several hours later when a chipper Charlotte entered she saw Lelouch nodding off while the other two men stared intently at the board.

"Doing that badly huh?" Charlotte remarked as she closed the door.

"Shush you," Reiner said. "I'ma find some way outta this."

Charlotte walked over and examined the board, making a humming sound.

"Mate in three," she concluded.

"That's what Lelouch said as well," Bertolt said with a slight grin.

Charlotte chuckled. "I think the only one that's ever beat him was that Russian, Spassky."

Reiner snorted. "Only ones more nuts for chess than Lelouch 'ere are the Russkies."

"Oh? Even though you're the one that keeps asking for rematches?" Charlotte teased.

Before Reiner could protest further a knock sounded on their door.

"Room service."

Charlotte looked back. "Did you three order something?"

"No, we did not," Lelouch said, having roused. "Positions."

Bertolt and Reiner immediately moved to flank the door and Charlotte took up position in the bathroom. Lelouch straightened his clothes and after a nod to Reiner opened the door. A youth about his own age with a bandana wrapped around his head stood outside, beaming at him.

"Sir Lamperouge, right?"

"Yes?" Lelouch drawled?"

"Yo," the man said cheerfully. "Name's Crow, welcome to Richmond, and nice to meet ya. Now if that lovely young lady would come out of the bathroom and those two gentlemen behind the door will refrain from jumping me, why don't we all sit down and have a nice friendly chat?"

Lelouch raised an eyebrow before nodding slowly. "Very well."

He backed away to allow Crow to enter, visibly shaking his head to indicate to Bertolt and Reiner not to jump the youth.

Crow let out a low whistle as he entered the room. "Wow, swank digs. They put you in a much nicer place than the last group."

"Last group?" Lelouch said.

"What, you think you're the only ones that come here to talk business with us?" Crow said with a smirk as he settled down in front of the chessboard. He regarded it. "Ouch, mate in three. Who was winning?"

An inaudible mumble escaped Reiner. Lelouch ignored the quip as he took a seat across from Crow. Charlotte took up a position behind him.

"Hello there," Crow said with a wide grin.

The French girl pointedly ignored the greeting.

"I would not have expected a Sword of Michael to be so irreverent," Lelouch remarked.

"Right? Most people think the fundamentalists here in the Empire are all stogy and super serious," Crow said. "And then they meet my charming self and are only too eager to join up!"

Lelouch regarded Crow, his left eye focusing. "Shall we get to business, Crow, was it?"

"Pish, you're no fun," Crow said before his expression became somber. "Alright, you know why I'm here, and I know why you're here. So let's cut to the chase. What job do you want us to pull and what is it that you think you can offer us to make it worthwhile?"

"What makes you think we came here with a specific objective?"

Crow blew a raspberry. "What, your bosses sent all of you all the way here just for a vacation?"

Lelouch chuckled. "Fair enough. Our objective is simple. The assassination of the emperor and as many of his children as possible."

The young man stared blankly at Lelouch for several moments. "Damn, you guys don't think small, do you? Well, hate to break it to ya, but if the emperor was that easy to nail we'd have done it a long time ago ourselves."

"No doubt," Lelouch said dryly. "Is the problem on your end a matter of intel or resources?"

"A little from column a, a little from column b," Crow answered. "We've got the manpower for a surgical strike even against Pendragon's security, but we sure as hell don't have the in's to be able to know where exactly to hit."

The man frowned slightly, as if trying to understand why he had answered so frankly. Lelouch did not give him any time to ponder the matter.

"Well, I am sure both issues can be remedied with some creativity," he said.

"Wow, well aren't you an optimist," Crow said.

Lelouch shrugged. "I nearly got the Princess Euphemia in Japan. I see no reason why I will not be able to formulate an improved plan that will succeed against the other members of the imperial family."

The room fell deathly still as Crow stared at Lelouch. More like gawked.

"Fuck, that was _you_!?" he finally managed incredulously. And then shook his head. "Well, no offense, but you _did_ fail and the JLF got their asses handed to them in the process."

"Hmm yes, I had not considered the possibility that other resistance cells would openly side with the viceroy," Lelouch said before looking pointedly at Crow. "That should not be a problem with the Swords, I presume?"

"Course not, we're all one hundred percent dedicated to the cause." Crow blinked again.

"And as for whether this task is one that the Swords of Michael should attempt, well, I suppose that depends on what exactly is your objective."

"Our objective?" Crow heard himself respond. "It's simple. It's to tear down this entire rotting system. The emperor, the nobles, all of it. None of them give a damn about the common folk, they don't even think about all the suffering their personal ambitions cause."

Again the young man seemed a tad confused as to his own frankness.

"Excellent," Lelouch said, a hungry grin crossing his face. He clasped his hands together. "You and I will get along splendidly, Crow."

"I'm sorry, uh, what?"

"I feel much the same about the Empire and its upper class," Lelouch continued. "I have worked long and hard to create a force capable of tipping the scales that weigh this world. The time will soon come when Britannia will find that the debt it has accrued over the past century is due. And at that time I intend to stand amidst the ashes of the Empire to be amongst the first to collect." The savage smile disappeared into a frigid gaze. "Do you wish to be one of those that will stand there with me?"

Crow gazed at Lelouch silently for several seconds before blinking again. And then the young man chuckled.

"Well I'll say this much, you've got enough crazy to just maybe make it." He leaned back into his chair and propped one leg on the other. "Alright, let's hear what you've got."

* * *

"Yo, V.V."

The boyish figured glanced back at the man whom had so flippantly called out to him. A flicker of irritation passed his eyes but he did not verbalize it.

"What is it, Sir Bradley. I am a busy man."

Luciano Bradley, Knight of Ten and widely regarded as a loathsome son of a bitch by almost everyone that met him, smirked.

"Oh come now, no need to be so cold. You and me, we understand each other, no?"

"Understanding is often the first step to loathing," V.V. replied snidely.

Luciano sneered. "Fine, be that way. Though I suppose you're still up for some mutual backscratching?"

V.V. raised an eyebrow. "In what manner?"

"Well you see, that bi-I mean lovely young lady over there in Area 11's been making some waves. Now I _thought_ she'd be satisfied with busting the Refrain racket, but apparently women really are insatiable and she's digging deeper."

That got V.V.'s attention, though likely not for the reasons Luciano would have assumed.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, oh," the knight said dryly. "If that little girl keeps digging, she might end up poking her nose in things that _we_ don't want her to."

V.V. thought over the man's warning. "You procured some of the Directorate's test subjects from Babel?"

"Hey, they were offering a deal," Luciano said. "And you grab too many kids from the orphanages here, even they'll start asking question. Then there was the, variety, you were asking for. I simply went to where there was supply."

V.V. rolled his eyes. More likely Luciano had found some way to reduce the prices of his own, pets, by combining his purchase with that for the Directorate. There really was nothing even remotely redeeming about the man, though his willingness to engage in any endeavor so long as it benefited him in some manner did make him useful, up to a limit.

"And I presume you wish me to do something about Euphemia so as to preserve your, good standing?"

"No need to be so snide," Luciano said even as he himself smirked. "I was just thinking, if the princess manages to dig up connections to me, well, who else might she end up digging up connections to in the process?"

V.V.'s eyes narrowed.

"Relaaaaax," the knight drawled. "I'm not threatening you or anything, just pointing out that the viceroy doesn't seem to be the type to stop after just one bad egg. What'll happening if she comes knocking on your door?"

She already had, V.V. did not say aloud. Still, Luciano was raising a valid point, no matter how tactlessly. The problem was however with the speed with which the viceroy's administration was moving with the investigation, they might well uncover a connection between Babel and the knight of ten before the Directorate's enforcers could complete their mission. Irritating. Utterly irritating. Then again, derailing the investigation should be considerably easier than penetrating the princess' apparently very impressive security. After all the security that protected individuals such as her highness' Exchequer, her attorney general, that damnable gendarmerie colonel, or their families, would certainly be not nearly as stringent. Yes, there were possibilities.

"I shall consider the matter, Sir Bradley," V.V. said.

Luciano grinned and even bowed, albeit with hardly a hint of genuine respect.

"That is but all I ask."

And topped off one lie with another.

* * *

"Lady Kruszewski."

Monica's eye rolled over to regard the acolyte with scant humor. The knight did not bother rising.

"What."

The acolyte bowed. "Apologies for the intrusion, milady, but we have received a report from the Ordo Xenos. They have captured the Frenchman, André Devigny, alive."

Monica bolted straight up. "Really!?"

The acolyte simply nodded.

"Well it's about damn time one of the other Inquisitio Ordos actually did their jobs!" the knight said. "Request that Captain Devigny be transferred into our custody, invoke my authority as a knight of the round if need be."

"Yes milady."

"And contact MacArthur base to requisition their NMRI," Monica added on even as she slumped back down.

"At once milady," the acolyte said before dashing off.

The knight remained sprawled out on the couch, draping the cold cloth over her forehead once more. The migraine from her rather forceful ejection from the Kamine thought elevator by Kallen was still throbbing and was the primary reason why Monica was seemingly lazing about. The young woman sighed. That was quite the nasty surprise, and she was already contemplating on how to get back at Kallen for it. Not that she was being petty, of course not, it was just that she could hardly let such a serious threat to her liege run around so freely. Really.

The problem of course was whether she could actually do anything to neutralize Kallen. Even ignoring the fact that possession of a code made her in practical terms unkillable, going after the knight would effectively amount to a declaration of war against the Princess Euphemia and by proxy against the Prince Schneizel and Princess Cornelia as well. Monica's standing as a knight of the round and lord inquisitor was high, sure, but not quite _that_ high. And she doubted the emperor himself would be terribly happy with her pissing off the effective heads of both the government and armed forces.

Even more irritatingly she did not actually know what Kallen's geass was, nor the Princess Euphemia's for that matter. One would have thought that a code bearer would know just what kind of boon was being granted to their contractors, but no, that was not the way it worked and all Monica had to work with were the vague and utterly unhelpful remarks by V.V. about how Euphemia always seemed to have numbers in her head whenever her geass activated. Of course now that that link was severed there would be no future hints either.

All this left Monica with painfully few options. She could just give up and return to Pendragon to hunt for Lelouch, the renegade prince was almost certainly back in the homelands by this point, and he certainly a threat almost as significant as Kallen and C.C. Leaving the other two women unsupervised however was looking even less like an option than before. Was there a way to neutralize, or at least stall them. That was indeed the question.

As Monica mulled over the issue the acolyte returned and bowed. When the knight looked over she noticed a seemingly apologetic expression on his face.

"What," Monica said flatly.

"Your pardon, milady, but it appears that her highness the viceroy has, reserved usage of the NMRI. It is not presently at MacArthur and the medical staff do not know when it will be returned."

Monica frowned, rising once more. There was literally no way that the princess could have learned about André's capture quickly enough for her to already have taken the NMRI. The only other reason Monica could think of however gave her no great comfort either.

"Alright, arrange a secure line to her highness and inform that I wish to speak with her on a matter of some urgency."

"Yes milady."

* * *

The image on the display shifted to show Cornelia seated in her office at Pendragon. Euphemia smiled in greeting.

"Sister," the young woman said.

"Euphie. It's good to see you well. I'm sorry I have not called until now."

"It is alright," Euphemia assured her older sister. "With all that has been going on, both of us have been occupied."

"Indeed," Cornelia said with a wiry smile. And then her expression turned solemn. "I just returned from the commissioning ceremony. Workup should take another few months, but the _Prince Clovis_ is effectively complete."

Euphemia nodded. "I see."

And made no further remark on the topic. Even on a secure channel like this there was no reason to take undue risks. And besides, the entire point was for the _Prince Clovis_ and its siblings to be as big a surprise as possible.

"Maribelle asked after you," Cornelia likewise moved the conversation along. "She had been hoping to visit Area 11 before recent events, and she asked that I pass on her love."

That elicited a genuinely touched smile from Euphemia. Considering the number of wives and concubines her father had it could actually be genuinely difficult to keep track of all her official siblings, never mind those that might well be related but were simply not acknowledged as imperial scions. As a woman herself Euphemia felt more than a tad irritated at that particular aspect of the imperial family even if she refrained from openly expression that annoyance.

Every family had its idiosyncrasies, its various factions and groupings between those members that actually liked each other while merely, tolerating, others outside it. With a family as large as hers such unions and divisions were accentuated and Euphemia herself was no exception. There were half-siblings that she considered joys to be around and others that she did not even feign any courtesy toward. If there was one distinction that could be used to separate the two categories, it would be in how the extent of their distaste for the costs inflicted upon their family by the jockeying for power at court. And Maribelle mel Britannia, whose mother and sister were slain in an assassination bid many considered inspired by the death of the Empress Marianne, held those costs to be abhorrent indeed.

"She is doing well then?" Euphemia asked.

"Quite," Cornelia said with a slight smile of her own. "You know how she often is, so absorbed in her work that she barely sets aside any time for herself." The smile took on an amused air. "Much like another little sister of mine."

"Well, we had some excellent examples to follow," Euphemia quipped back.

Cornelia chuckled, acknowledging the point.

All of the more accomplished imperial scions were workaholics, from Schneizel on down. Even Odysseus and Guinevere could not be regarded as idle seeing all the official functions they were obliged to attend as the eldest of the emperor's children. Like Euphemia herself however Maribelle had elected to pursue more practical ventures than simply attending social events. Whereas Euphemia entered the civil service, Maribelle took an interest in law enforcement and had emerged as a patron of sorts for the Britannian Gendarmerie. Despite her officially being very low in the order of succession, Maribelle was still an imperial princess and her support was one of the reasons the Gendarmerie had begun reasserting itself against those that wanted it employed in more direct policing actions against the Empire's conquered subjects. It was a fine balance between protecting the people of the Empire and preventing them from doing harm to their fellow subjects, one that Maribelle seemed to have a good handle on while also making sure those that disagreed with her were not tempted to do something about said disagreement.

A pained thought crossed Euphemia's mind. Would there be yet more names for those ships yet unfinished to serve as namesakes for before the war was over? She prayed not.

"Oh, incidentally," Euphemia said. "Could you please pass on some good news to Schneizel? The project at Tokyo University has achieved its first milestone."

Cornelia's expression sharpened for the briefest of moments as the older woman grasped the subtext of Euphemia's statement.

"Is that so? I will be sure to do so." Cornelia took a deep breath. "That, is a remarkable achievement, Euphie."

"I will admit, I too was surprised at the speed of the development. The technical challenges of the project proved easier to resolve than expected however, according to the principals involved."

"I see." Cornelia cracked a slight smile. "I will admit to a certain ambivalence to the news, but better that the Empire be the one that achieves this first than our enemies."

That did sum up the state of the world, sadly enough. Perhaps in time something could be done to lessen the tensions that necessitated such a mentality, but that would need to wait until the war raging about them was over."

"Are matters on other fronts still under control?" Euphemia inquired.

Cornelia's lips thinned. "Olaf is doing what he can, but his proximity to Europe has him at a significant disadvantage. The Europeans seem to finally have gotten their logistical problems sorted out and they're pressing, hard. Even with the reinforcements we've managed to rush him, he's being ground down."

Euphemia considered the problem thoughtfully. "Is evacuation possible?"

"Not without tying down way more shipping than we can afford to right now," Cornelia said. "And not with the Indian Ocean still so heavily contested."

"I see," Euphemia said slowly.

"It's not all quite bad news," Cornelia said. "Much to my surprise, the contacts that you helped facilitate with the Indian resistance have, born fruit."

The young woman straightened. "Oh?"

"Our interactions are still tenuous," Cornelia said, "and the Indians are expressing reservations due to the actions of the East India Company prior to the fall of the British Isles."

That was to a degree fair considering the East India Company was directly responsible for inciting the Chinese to invade and conquer India. It was a most, emphatic, demonstration of just how deeply the Chinese despised the opium trade that underpinned much of the company's commercial activity in Asia. And the Britannian Empire certainly was not one to inspire any confidence even in the conquered subjects of other empires.

"Nevertheless, if we can come to an arrangement, having the Indians on our side would help immensely in securing Olaf's flank and even provide alternate means of supply." Cornelia shrugged. "For that, I think the Empire is willing to, concede certain provisions."

In other words Britannia was willing to promise not to try and conquer the Indians themselves once the Chinese were ejected. Euphemia allowed herself a measured smile. No point in being too open with her exuberance about the development. Not that she honestly cared that much about India itself, but she had promised Kallen that she would try and divert the Empire on the matter. It was important to keep one's word after all.

"That is indeed promising," Euphemia said instead. "Please keep me updated and do not hesitate to contact me if there are matters that I might be of some help expediting."

Cornelia snorted lightly. "I will keep that in mind, Euphie."

Before the two could continue the phone on Euphemia's desk began ringing. The princess raised an eyebrow. Her staff knew that she had a call with her sister scheduled and would not interrupt her lightly. She sighed.

"Apologies, sister," Euphemia began.

"It is quite alright," Cornelia assured her gently. "I will try and call again next week, Euphie. Until then, I wish you good fortune."

"You as well sister," Euphemia beamed a bright smile.

The link closed and the video stream ended. The smile disappeared into a look of slight annoyance as Euphemia picked up the phone.

"Yes?"

"I am terribly sorry your highness," Rachel began, "but Dame Kruszewski is on the line and insists on speaking with you."

Euphemia suppressed an exasperated sigh. That woman was truly starting to test her patience.

"Put her through Rachel," she said, doing her best to remain civil with her own staff. It was not their fault a knight of the round seemed to lack common courtesies.

"Yes your highness."

After a brief pause a click sounded, indicating the connect was made.

"Your highness," Monica greeted.

"Dame Kruszewski, there was a matter of urgency you wished to discuss?" Euphemia said bluntly.

"Yes your highness. Has the Inquisitio informed you of the capture of the SDECE agent André Devigny?"

Euphemia's eyes narrowed, not that Monica could see it. "Not as yet."

"Ah. Well, they have," Monica said with equal forthrightness. "This is an invaluable opportunity, your highness. If we are careful, we might be able to learn about the nature of the, compulsion, that has been used."

"You have reason to believe this French agent is also under compulsion?" Euphemia asked after a beat.

"Perhaps not of the nature the others suffered from, but I somehow doubt our, mutual quarry would not have put in some sort of failsafe to hide his secrets, much as he did to the gendarmeries."

That, was actually a good point, as loathe as Euphemia was to concede it.

"And what is it that you require from me, Dame Kruszewski?"

"Priority access to the NMRI that is supposed to be at MacArthur," Monica answered.

An eyebrow rose reflexively. That also made sense, if the compulsion was mental then perhaps indications of it might be apparent in the subject's brain. And short of cutting said brain open, an NMRI would allow for the most detailed examination of the subject. That was not to say that was all there was to say on the matter however.

"I presume you have come to me because you already know I have reserved access to the NMRI," the princess said.

"Yes your highness, and I am fairly certain that you intend to use it to examine, if not your own brain, then certainly Lady Stadtfeld's and, assuming you can convince her, C.C.'s. I have no intention of interfering with that endeavor, but I feel that the matter of Captain Devigny is more pressing. And considerably more time sensitive."

The latter was probably true, same with the former. Euphemia was still not entirely happy about this however.

"Dame Kruszewski, do you even have any specialists available that know how to operate the NMRI?"

"Umm, I was hoping I could borrow whomever you were trusting to poke around in, Lady Stadtfeld's head, your highness." Or your own, was the spoken addendum to that.

Euphemia massaged her brow. This was becoming more and more troublesome.

"You ask a far greater thing than you know, Dame Kruszewski."

"That may be so your highness," Monica responded with a renewed firmness. "I think however that the reward that we may yet reap are substantial indeed."

And again what Monica said was true, probably. If they could understand the manner in which Lelouch's compulsion worked, if that helped them understand the geass itself just a little better, then it might well be worth it all. The problem however was that this knowledge would not be confined to Euphemia and those aligned with her, but shared with one whom she had vowed to strike down. With that being the case, the degree of benefit did not quite so outweigh the costs.

"I will require something further from you, Dame Kruszewski, than merely the sharing of whatever knowledge is gleaned," Euphemia said.

"And that would be, your highness?"

"The schematic of that artificial eye of yours."

The line went silent for a seemingly long time.

"That, is not something I can give, your highness," Monica said very carefully.

"Then arrange for it," Euphemia responded. "Until then, the NMRI will remain dedicated solely to my research program. And you are welcome to, attempt, to transfer Captain Devigny back to the homelands for examination."

And Euphemia would do everything in her power to make sure any such attempt failed, was the implicit threat. Again silence lingered over the line.

"I will, discuss the matter with my associates, your highness," Monica finally responded, her tone tinged with a slight chill.

"Will that be all, Dame Kruszewski?"

"Yes your highness. I thank you for your time."

"Then a good day to you."

Euphemia hung up the phone and waited perhaps one second before picking up the receiver again. She would need to move quickly if she was to make good on her threat. It was important to keep one's word after all.

* * *

"Dr. Fenette," Kallen greeted courteously. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, Lady Stadtfeld," Richard answered. "And though you may have heard this many times already, thank you for having come to Ashford Academy's defense during the Tokyo Uprising."

Kallen smiled at the man. "You are welcome, doctor. I am simply glad that I was able to protect Shirley that day."

Richard's own smile was a bit more measured, though the man was entirely earnest in his gratitude. After all an argument could be made that on at least one occasion Shirley had been put in danger because of Kallen. Fortunately he did not seem intent on dwelling on that point.

"This is Captain Helena Blanche of the Britannian Army Nursing Corps," Richard introduced the woman standing next to him. "She will be assisting me with your examination."

"Captain," Kallen said, nodding respectfully. "Congratulations on your promotion."

Helena's lips quirked slightly but she returned the gesture. "Thank you Lady Stadtfeld."

In truth Kallen had already recognized the woman as the ranking nursing officer that had been attached to Keio before the Black Rebellion. Apparently she had performed her duties admirably enough to warrant an elevation in rank and assignment to a more, sensitive project.

"Her highness has already filled me in on the broad strokes of your request," Richard said. "Before we begin, did you have any questions yourself?"

Kallen shook her head. "Not really. Today we're just going to take some readings, and after you've had some time to figure out what they mean if anything, we go from there."

"More or less," Richard said. "At present there is simply very little data to try to determine the cause of your neurological condition."

In truth Richard knew that the excuse he had been fobbed off with was just that, an excuse. At the same time the good doctor was smart enough to know that he did _not_ want to know the whole truth of the matter even with the princess' assurances about the safety of him and his family. In fact Kallen was pretty sure that given a choice in the matter Richard would have preferred to remain entirely uninvolved, but seeing as it was too late for that the man was exercising prudence in trying to at least minimize his exposure. Not that he was likely to have any more luck than any of the other individuals that had, signed on, with Euphemia. Milly was right, Kallen mused. One really could end up enlisting with the princess without even intending to.

"Well then, if you would get changed Lady Stadtfeld, we can begin," Richard said.

Kallen nodded and headed to another room. There was a hospital gown waiting for her and the girl proceeded to strip out of her uniform. To her mild surprise there was actually surprising variation between the uniforms of the different royal guards. The guard of the Princess Cornelia wore maroon doublet style long jackets with rounded bars running across the front. Personally Kallen found those uniforms to look extremely tacky. While she did not know if Euphemia agreed with her, her own liege had elected a much different design for her own guard. The top was a white trimmed blue jacket that did not flow down past one's thighs and actually overlapped at an angle up front before folding over. Kallen was still not quite sure why the flap did that. The only other really distinguishing feature was the use of aiguillette instead of the epaulettes common on the uniforms of other units in the Britannian military. Rather understated aiguillettes at that, though Kallen was still leery about the risk of it getting caught on something at an inopportune time.

There was also, to Kallen's mild surprise and bemusement, actually a skirt option for the bottom part of the uniform. Not that any of the female members of the princess' guard actually went with that option, much to the lamentation of at least one of the men. Kallen was of course no exception and as she pulled off her pants she revealed well-toned legs. Next off was the shirt, and with her body down to only her bra and underwear Kallen donned the hospital gown. Tying it along the back proved, challenging, and the girl managed to get most of them save for only one. A knock sounded then.

"Lady Stadtfeld, may I enter?" a feminine voice called.

"Please," Kallen responded.

The door opened and Helena showed herself in.

"Will you be needing any assistance?" the older woman asked.

Kallen smiled ruefully and turned about. "If you would be so kind, captain?"

"Of course."

What timing indeed. The nurse walked over and helped Kallen with the last tie.

"A question if I may, captain?"

"Of course."

"Does your promotion mean you will no longer be working at Keio?"

"On the contrary," Helena answered. "I have been assigned as the chief nurse for Keio."

"Really? Well, though I have already said it once, congratulations again. Your promotion is well deserved."

"Thank you milady."

"Please, Kallen. Or lieutenant. I'm afraid I'm not much of an actual lady."

A tug notified Kallen that Helena was done with the strangler, as well as having fixed up the other knots. The young woman turned about.

"There are many marks of a proper lady," Helena said with a gentle smile. "Prudence, grace, and resolve. These things will come in the fullness of time, and complement that which you already possess."

Kallen found her own mouth softening into a smile. The nurses of the Britannian Army really were something else.

"Well, I seem to be ready," she said. "Shall we?"

"Right this way, lieutenant."

The captain led Kallen into another room that hosted a very large, sophisticated machine, and not much else. On one wall was a window behind which Richard was seated at some terminal.

"Lady Stadtfeld, are you ready?" the doctor asked through a microphone.

A nod. "Yes."

"Very well. Then a few basic points about the NMRI itself. To take readings it requires you to be absolutely still. Each set of scans will take approximately half an hour to complete, and as per yours and her highness' request we will be doing two sets. We will take a short break between the sets, let you stretch your legs."

That would probably be necessary, Kallen mused. Laying still was, not her forte. On the other hand, not being able to move for that long was likely to be the least of her worries. Kallen turned to the nurse.

"Captain, can we make sure to have a few cold compresses ready for me after the second scan?"

"I will see to it," Helena assured her.

Kallen nodded in thanks. There were only a few times when she employed her geass for such long continuous periods, and every time afterward she ended up with a blinding migraine. She would need to be very, very careful about the intensity with which she engaged her geass.

With all the preparations complete Kallen laid on the bed and was moved into the NMRI scanner. After that the young woman let her thoughts wander even as she made sure that her geass was _not_ active. Thoughts such as how C.C. would regrettably not have to suffer through all this with her. When approached on participating in the research the other woman's response had been a terse, concise, and eminently easy to understand, "No." Not that Kallen could blame her in the least after what she went through with the Prince Clovis. At least C.C. was behaving herself, whenever she was not helping with the construction of the device meant for accessing the thought elevator she would lounge around watching TV and eating pizza. Instead of having the palace's very well equipped kitchen make proper pizza however, she insisted on the delivery stuff from Pizza Hut. Just what C.C. saw in that franchise's, interpretation, of pizza, Kallen did not know. Though if she was entirely honest Kallen did admit a grudging jealousy of the other woman's ability to gorge herself without any change to her svelte figure.

C.C.'s refusal to participate ultimately meant that Kallen would be alone in getting her head poked and prodded, for now at least. Assuming the princess was ever able to steal away some time, Euphemia likely would want to understand what was also happening to her as well. By the time the first scan was finished the only thing that prevented Kallen from trying to take a nap outright was the noise the NMRI generated and the fact that she could not really adjust herself into a more comfortable position.

The hospital gown did not really allow for Kallen to stretch and flex that much but the young woman managed the best she could, bending over and side to side to loosen her stiff muscles. At the same time she activated her geass, exercising her increasing control over it to only focus on this room and the NMRI control room. Which of course meant she could hear the doctor even without the microphone on.

"This, can't be right," Richard muttered to himself as he flipped through the initial set of slides being printed.

"Is there a problem doctor?" Helena asked.

Richard pursed his lips. "I honestly don't know. I've never seen this sort of topology before." The doctor shook his head. "I'm, not sure what the Lady Stadtfeld's condition could possibly be to produce, well, this."

Well that was hardly encouraging, Kallen mused. Though so far the doctor was sounding more befuddled than outright alarmed. That probably counted for something. Hopefully.

A few minutes later Richard spoke into the microphone again. "Lady Stadtfeld, we are ready for the second set of scans."

"Alright," Kallen said, climbing back into the bed.

Her geass was still on and so restrained there was not even a hint of a migraine yet. Kallen somehow doubted that would last the entire thirty-minute run, but hopefully it would not be too debilitating. On the other hand, with her senses boosted the sounds of the machine felt much more audible. Kallen made a note to ask for earplugs the next time she did this. A minute or so into the scan however the machine stopped.

"Umm, Lady Stadtfeld?" a confused sounding Richard spoke through the mic.

"Yes?" Kallen responded, remaining still.

"Are you, doing something?"

Kallen blinked. "Technically, yes?"

"Hmm. Is this, activity, necessary for the second set of scans?"

"Yes."

"Ah. Well, that may prove a slight complication, Lady Stadtfeld. It, would appear that whatever it is you are doing is, umm, jamming, I think, the RF pulses of the NMRI."

Kallen frowned. "I'm not sure I understand."

"To be perfectly honest Lady Stadtfeld, neither do I," Richard admitted.

Well that was quite the kicker. True this little exercise probably did provide quite a few new nuggets of information, but there was still one question that remained unresolved. What now?

End of Chapter 58

There, another completely unsexy scene of Kallen stripping. Am I doing it intentionally? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I suck at describing clothes. I really do. It's something that I need to work on, but the problem boils down to my vocabulary is actually failing me when I try to describe clothes. For simplicity's sake, let's just assume that Euphie's guard wears uniforms similar to the FMA military cast. They don't have that waistcoat thing though, and I am mildly perplexed as to why Arakawa-sensei designed them to attach to the pants like they did.

In case it is not completely obvious, the person Thompson and Thomson were tracking last chapter was André. The good captain's luck has sadly run out and he is now a, guest, of the Ordo Mallus. Whether that is better or worse than being a guest of the Ordo Xenos or Hereticus, I leave to your imaginations.

I know officially that it's Marrybell mel Britannia, but seeing as that's not actually a conventional spelling of the name, I went with Maribelle instead. And I know that I have said I had no intention of using OVA characters, that still remains true insomuch as I'm not really going to be using the OVA characters, I'm recasting them into roles that I need them for. None of the OVA characters are at all usable in their canon form, the level of incoherent lack of common sense that seems prevalent just from a cursory reading of the Code Geass wiki is astonishing. And to be frank none of the Japanese characters from the OVAs are liable to be usable at all.

One of the reviews last chapter confused me for a bit until I realized that it was probably someone guessing that my Zero is Suzaku. To which I can unequivocally say, no.

Looking at the number of scenes I still have to work through before the next big event, yeah, still quite a ways to go.


	60. Chapter 59

_The Imperial Britannian Navy that entered the Great War carried with it few traditions from its spiritual predecessor, the Royal Navy. Due to the disgrace the Royal Navy suffered from the defeat at Trafalgar, the new Britannian Navy sought to downplay any overt connections to the old service. Combined with the vast territory the Holy Britannian Empire possessed, the Imperial Britannian Army soon assumed the role of senior service of the Empire's armed forces. For several decades the Britannian Navy operated only in local waters or the numerous rivers that cut across the Americas, usually playing a supporting role to army operations._

 _This all changed however in 1882 when First Lord of the Admiralty William Henry Hunt requested and Parliament approved funds to construct a modern blue-seas navy. The next decade saw a frantic pace of construction that transformed the Britannian Navy from a force that was barely able to muster a third of its commissioned ships to any sort of operational readiness into a force able to match any of the other naval powers of its time. Britannia would soon employ this strength as it completed its conquest of South America and began sailing across the Pacific. These were actions that did not go unnoticed by the Chinese and European powers that began to fret what might happen should this new navy be pointed at them. When war finally broke out they were to find their fears well justified as the Britannian Navy was finally granted the opportunity to avenge the Shame of Trafalgar._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 59

Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt

Euphemia regarded the two individuals seated across from her. An eyebrow rose.

"Kallen, broke the NMRI?"

"Umm, not as such your highness," Richard said quickly. "It is just that, it does not actually appear to work on her. Under certain circumstances."

The princess looked over at Kallen who offered a slight smirk. Euphemia rolled her eyes and looked back over at the doctor.

"Were you able to draw any conclusions at all from what scans you were able to take, doctor?"

"I would hesitate to call them conclusions, your highness, but I can make a few, tenuous observations."

"Please."

Richard pursed his lips. "A bit of background first, your highness. The human brain is composed of nerve cells that are connected to each other via axons, many of which are sheathed by a fatty substance called myelin that helps insulate the axons and allow for better transmission of the electrical impulses that nerve cells use to communicate. Now, the brain also has large bundles of these axons that we refer to as white matter, which helps connect different regions of the brain together. Based off of autopsies and images acquired by various scanning techniques, there is a distinctive flow of these bundles throughout the brain.

"In the case of the Lady Stadtfeld however, this flow is not, present. Or rather, from the scans it appears that there is a far greater volume of axon bundles connecting the Lady Stadtfeld's brain such that the degree to which the regions of her brain are interconnected is considerably greater than the norm. I examined the CT scans that Lady Stadtfeld had taken several months ago and while they do not possess the resolution of a NMRI, the degree of interconnection was not present to such a degree. How such interconnections could have developed in such a short period of time, is utterly beyond me."

"I see," Euphemia said thoughtfully. After all the same was likely happening in her own brain. "Then, could this sudden development of interconnections be the cause of Kallen's migraines?"

"It, would be a reasonable assertion," Richard allowed before shrugging. "I am sorry your highness, but there is simply no clinical data for me to draw any precedence from. Everything that I am saying now could turn out to be completely off the mark."

"I understand doctor," Euphemia assured the man. "Nevertheless as the domain expert even if you are guessing, your guesses will be far more informed than hers or mine."

Richard nodded, acknowledging the point.

"Now, the question is how shall we proceed with further examinations?" Euphemia asked.

"There are other scanning techniques we could attempt, your highness," Richard answered. "Lady Stadtfeld originally had a CT scan taken, which suggests that that would work. A PET scan is another option, though we do not actually have a scanner in Japan to my knowledge, and the procedure for doing one can be a tad complex logistically as it requires a tracer compound to be injected and we would need qualified personnel to actually operate the machine."

Kallen grimaced slightly. She could not claim to be a fan of having something injected into her brain.

"Hmm yes, without a PET scanner actually in Japan that would be difficult."

The princess on the other hand seemed entirely unperturbed. Probably because she would not be going first.

"In the meantime, are you in need of any other equipment or resources to continue the work, doctor?"

Richard shook his head. "Just some time to think over how best to proceed, your highness. I believe I can come up with some new ideas by next week."

"Very well doctor." Euphemia smiled. "Thank you for your efforts this far."

"You are welcome, your highness," Richard said, standing and bowing before taking his leave.

Once left alone with Kallen the princess looked back over at the other girl.

"Curiouser and curiouser."

"Really makes me wonder what's going on in C.C.'s head," Kallen said.

"Well until she agrees to an examination we will have to continue wondering," Euphemia said.

Kallen nodded. And then a thought occurred to her.

"Your highness, how many people know that Dr. Fenette is working on this?"

"Myself, you, Captain Blanche, Brigadier Nu, and the good doctor of course. Beyond that no one, unless one infers it from his absences from his official clinical duties."

"And how hard would it be to make those inferences?" Kallen asked. "Especially if they have access to the needed records?"

Euphemia cocked her head aside. "You are worried for the doctor and his family."

"Shirley's a friend," Kallen stated firmly. "And she nearly got killed once already because someone came for me. Now we're delving into stuff that involves an Inquisitio ordo that _no one_ , not even you, your highness, knew about, and some secret society that was responsible for murdering the Empress Marianne. Do you really think they would have any reservations to killing Shirley or her father, or even worse?"

To that Euphemia actually grimaced. It was good to see that the princess could be so moved. It was equally disconcerting that she apparently had not considered that possibility and consequentially was yet to take measures to prevent it.

"So your highness," Kallen said. "What are you going to do to make sure that _doesn't_ happen?"

Euphemia pursed her lips pensively. A long silence passed before she could find an answer.

* * *

Milly looked over the summary of the credentials of the young woman seated across from her. It was thin to say the least, not that surprising considering this Mikasa Ackermann had ended her formal education at the age of 16 before enlisting in the armed forces. Whatever additional qualifications she might have earned since then were decided specialized in her chosen profession. The Britannian girl idly wondered if either Kallen or Euphemia had actually considered that point before coming up with this, less than brilliant scheme.

"So, Mikasa," Milly said. "Tell me about yourself."

The Japanese girl looked slightly at a loss as she answered. "Ackermann, Mikasa. Private, First Class. For the past few months I have been assigned to beta company of the 100th infantry battalion, ma'am."

Milly massaged her forehead. "I'm not a soldier, Mikasa. Milly will do just fine."

A noticeably pained look crossed Mikasa's expression at that.

"And I can look up your service record if I wanted to know what unit you're with. Tell me something about yourself, something that doesn't have anything to do with said record."

If the expression on Mikasa's face could previously be described as pained, it was now verging on outright panic.

"Why," the young woman said softly, "do you want to know about that."

Milly clasped her hands together as she regarded intently. Something told her that this was a most sensitive matter for the other woman. She would need to tread carefully, and respectfully.

"Consider the matter that has been laid before me, Mikasa. Euphie seems to believe that due to your age you would be able to enter Ashford Academy and pose convincingly as a student while acting to protect not only my family and friends but also provide a degree of protection for the school at large. There are two complications with that idea however, and as yet I cannot say whether in this case Euphie has tried to be a tad too clever.

"The first issue is that Ashford however is a preparatory school and all students that enter it are ultimately aiming to complete their A-levels. You however ended your formal education upon enlistment in the military and regardless of your personal intelligence, there simply is a great deal of academic material that you simply do not know because you never encountered it during your time in the army.

"The second issue is that, your service in the military notwithstanding, whether you are capable of serving as a bodyguard. There is certainly overlap between the skillset of a soldier and a bodyguard, but there are also distinct differences. You, are a soldier, Mikasa, and by all indications a superb one if Euphie is actually considering you for this job in the first place. But your competency as a soldier does not necessarily equate your suitability as a bodyguard."

Mikasa stared at Milly intently for several moments.

"Is, that the sum of your concerns, ma'am?"

The Britannian girl smiled gently. "Milly is just fine. And what other concerns should warrant my attention?"

Mikasa took a deep breath. To say she was uncomfortable with all this would be an understatement. Nonetheless she could not run away and hide from the issue forever.

"Ashford Academy, admits Elevens?"

This time it was Milly's turn to stare dumbly at Mikasa. The number of Japanese that Milly had met in her life was not inconsiderable seeing as she had lived most of it in Japan. In fact there were several in her own household, people that her grandfather had hired upon being exiled from the homelands and sheltered in the immediate aftermath of the Empire's invasion. This kindness was repaid in turn by a fierce loyalty by the Ashford family servants, from Sayoko on down. And it was in this environment that Milly was ultimately raised.

As a Britannian it was impossible for her not to know about the Empire's racial policies and as a child she grappled with the complexities and contradictions between what she was supposed to think and what her experience taught her instead. For a time she even referred to the servants as Elevens, the memory of which still filled the girl with a great shame. But when she stood before all of them at the age of fourteen and delivered an earnest apology, Milly was answered by a warm hug from Sayoko and an assurance that she was already forgiven.

Milly did not like crying. She had done a lot of that when Nunnally was brought to her family, her body and heart broken. She never wanted to show such weakness or pain to her little sister ever again, if only so that Nunnally herself would never be given reason to suffer again so. That day however, in Sayoko's arms, Milly had cried, and she did not regret a single tear then, for with those tears came the strongest possible realization that no matter what label or name they were saddled with, people were still people. Now however, seated across from Milly was a young woman who seemed to very much define herself with that label. That was more than a little disconcerting for Milly. A mild irritation flickered through her head as she wondered if either Euphemia or Kallen had had any idea about this before suggesting their less than brilliant idea to her. In all likelihood not, especially for Kallen, whom seemed to emphatically refuse to accept any label others might attempt to yoke her with. That did not make this situation any less complicated however.

"Ashford does not have any restrictions on entry based on race," Milly answered. "The only conditions for entry are academic ability and payment of student fees. In your case, the latter is being handled by the viceroy's office. The former, well, will need to be assessed."

Mikasa gazed at Milly before uttering softly. "You really don't care."

"On the contrary, I care greatly."

The other woman blinked, and regarded Milly with mild confusion.

"The last student of Japanese descent that attended Ashford was Suzaku Kururugi."

This time Mikasa's reaction was to inhale sharply.

"Before you jump to any conclusions, allow me to finish," Milly said. "As far as I am concerned Suzaku's actions during the Battle of Tokyo has no bearing in my judgment of your person. You and he are entirely different people after all, and what he did is irrelevant to what sort of person _you_ are, regardless of any shared heritage."

Mikasa's mouth thinned and she spoke tersely. "We don't share anything."

Milly frowned slightly. "Perception is difficult because each person has their own. And while I personally do not have any problems with seeing you admitted, there will be others that object to it because of a misguided belief that you and he are cut from the same cloth."

At that Mikasa's eyes actually flared in anger but the girl did not say anything outright.

"I cannot dictate to others what to think," Milly continued, "I can only control my own actions. If you accept entry into Ashford, I will help see that you are academically prepared for the coursework and also that you will have the support of the student council once the term formally starts. Beyond that it will be up to you to weather any difficulties that might arise. While the academy will not brook any proven attempt to harass you, we also cannot be there to constantly, how do you soldiers put it, watch your back?"

Mikasa took a deep breath and nodded stoically. "Understood, Ms. Ashford."

"Ick," Milly stuck out her tongue. "It's Milly. I'm way too young to be a Ms."

The other woman simply cocked her head aside quizzically. Milly suppressed a sigh. Dear gods above and below what had happened to this girl in her childhood.

"Now that the issue of your admittance is settled," Milly said instead, "we should discuss the second matter, specifically your formal qualifications as a bodyguard."

Mikasa nodded again.

"According to Brigadier Nu you are still undergoing armsman training, which normally takes about six months before a soldier is considered ready for active duty and a year before full qualification. You've only been in the program for about a month. There certainly is not enough time for you to finish even the six-month program before the new term starts, especially with the remedial lessons you'll need for your academics." At this Milly flashed a smile, causing Mikasa to blink quizzically. "Fortunately we believe that during your time at Ashford it would be possible for you to continue your armsman training."

Now Mikasa really was confused. How was she supposed to continue that training without another armsman instructing her? Was Milly suggesting that the princess' guard would actually send someone along? Would they actually go to such lengths to make this deployment to Ashford work? The first person that came to mind was Kallen, which forced Mikasa to suppress a grimace, but she quickly dismissed that possibility seeing as Kallen was also a trainee at this point. Who else then?

And then a presence brushed pass Mikasa, causing the girl to reflexively reach for her knife. She just barely stopped from drawing it as a Japanese woman wearing a maid outfit walked about the table to stand at Milly's side. The speed with which she moved, and how close she got before Mikasa sensed her, the soldier somehow doubted she could have drawn her knife in time.

"Mikasa Ackermann," Milly introduced, "meet Sayoko Shinozaki, formerly of the Japanese Security Police."

Mikasa blinked again as she dug through her memories. There was a hazy recollection on briefings about potential remnants of the Japanese state that might cause the Britannian military trouble, one of them being the Security Police. The briefing was sparse on details, though it made mention on how the SP was tasked with protecting former and current government leaders as well as foreign dignitaries. In other words a duty very similar to that carried out by the royal guards of the various imperial scions. Mikasa's lips thinned. Perhaps this Sayoko could teach her a thing or too. Even if she was an Eleven.

* * *

The sound of gunfire rang through the air. Cole tried, not entirely successfully, to block it out. Maybe one day the army would be able to come up with a helmet could dampen the loud boom while still allow them to hear clearly vocal orders. That day was however not today. The platoon was on the range, practicing their marksmanship. Cole already knew how to shoot due to having hunted in the past, but the M-16 rifle had a very different feel than the rifle he used back then. He still put on a good showing however. And truth be told he actually did enjoy shooting the rifle. At metal popup targets. Gods only knew how he would feel the first time he actually shot an actual person, regardless of whether that person was shooting back.

As he finished his set of shots Cole locked the safety on his rifle and looked back over at the drill sergeant.

"Good work recruit," the man roared with an approving nod. "Next!"

Cole rose, falling back to join the others as Connie came and took his place.

"Nice shooting," Eren said.

"Thanks. How'd you do?"

"Well, I got the 1000 feet target on my second try."

Cole nodded. It had taken him three tries to hit that one. So far no one in their platoon was able to hit that consistently on their first try, though Eren probably came closest. The young man was at times a bit scary in how hard he threw himself into the training and how eager he seemed to actually be sent to fight.

"I don't see you having trouble qualifying," Cole said offhandedly.

"Maybe not, but I'm going to need to get even better if I want to get into ranger school."

Cole raised an eyebrow. "Ranger school? Isn't it a bit early to be thinking about that? Technically all of us still need to go into infantry school after basic."

"Need to plan ahead," Eren said. "There's a lot of options in the army, a lot of paths you can follow. I want to make sure the one I end up on is the one that will lead me to where I want to be."

"And where _do_ you want to end up?" Cole asked.

Eren's expression noticeably hardened. "Someplace where I'll never be powerless to stop bad things from happening."

Cole regarded his fellow trainee. Eren was always overly serious with his training and Cole could not recall any time where he saw the other man goofing off. That was not to say he did not have a sense of humor, he could laugh at a joke or about the misery inflicted upon others by the drill sergeants like everyone else. Yet the intensity with which he engaged in his training was an order of magnitude greater than anyone else in the platoon, maybe even in the entire training company. Something drove Eren, a something that Cole was fairly certain was tinted with tragedy. A tragedy that fed an anger that sometimes reared its head when Eren got especially engaged in the training, whether it be hand-to-hand or marksmanship. Cole wondered if that anger would end up leading Eren down a path he would ultimately regret. The young man kept his peace however, he was not here to judge or counsel others.

"Sarge, I think me gun's jammed!"

And even if he were the words that reached them caused both them and the other platoon members standing by to freeze up. All flinched as the drill sergeant exploded.

"Recruit Springer! Are those ears on the sides of your head just for show!? Or do you not have anything in between them to actually understand the words they hear!? This is not a gun! It is a rifle! You have been told this countless times already and I despair of how many more times you must be told this again! Drop and give me fifty now!"

"Bloody Hel, does that guy never learn?" another soldier muttered.

Cole smiled wirily as he glanced back over at Jean. The other recruit did have a point though, this was like the third time Connie had called his rifle a gun within earshot of a drill sergeant.

"Not even potato girl made that mistake again after she got her chops busted the first time."

Probably because the first and only time she made that mistake they had put her on short rations for a day. That was a somewhat unconventional punishment but for Sasha it was a very effective one, probably why the drill sergeants resorted to it when they really wanted to correct something about the girl's behavior.

"And we've still got the run back to base," Jean said with a sigh. "Poor, stupid bastard."

The three looked over at Connie as he did his pushups with his hands grasping his rifle.

"Well, have fun making sure he keeps up," Cole said.

Jean grimaced. As the shortest person in their platoon Connie had just a bit of difficulty matching the pace of the other soldiers. As the tallest person in the platoon Jean often got roped into dragging the other recruit along to try and make him keep pace. It could charitably be termed a massive pain in the ass for both involved.

"Tch, you and your lack of half an inch," Jean said.

Cole cracked a slight smile. Indeed he was very lucky to be the second tallest person in the platoon instead of the tallest. The group then went back to watching Connie be run into the ringer before they themselves were called up to take more shots. After another hour or so they then proceeded to spend yet another hour policing all of their spent casings and lead before running back to the base. When he first received his conscription notice Cole had determined to see this through the end, to serve his country to the best of his ability. Having so vowed he really should not be complaining overly much. And yet as he ran, he concluded that there were days, there were definitely days when he probably earned the right to a little complaining. He idly wondered how Kallen was doing. Surely her own training was nowhere this mind-numbingly monotonous and draining. Armsman training had to be much more stimulating, right?

* * *

Kallen's body slammed against the wall as the blow from Laura tossed her back. She bounced and tumbled to the ground, struggling to recover her breath. Laura gave her no chance to do so and aimed another solid kick at Kallen's stomach. The girl just barely managed to block it, as in block the blow from actually impacting her stomach, not stop it outright from basically lifting her off the ground. The older girl was, in a word, strong. Kallen crumbled on the ground, holding up an arm in surrender. She would have verbally signaled it save for the fact that she was still wheezing for breath.

"Are you alright Kallen?" Laura asked as she knelt down.

"I'll…live…" Kallen managed before coughing. "I think."

Laura chuckled and offered a hand. Kallen accepted and let the other girl pick her back up.

"You really don't pull any punches," she remarked.

"But of course. One must push to the limits if one desires to improve." Laura cocked her head aside. "Where did you learn hand-to-hand?"

"Oh umm, just picked it up from a few former colleagues," Kallen said. "Otherwise I'm mostly self-taught."

"I see," Laura said, not pressing the matter. "You have good instincts Kallen, and your natural strength and speed serve you in good stead. Sometimes you rely on your instincts a bit too much however, leaving yourself more open than need be."

"Oh?" Kallen straightened, having mostly caught her breath. "How so?"

"Assume your regular stance."

Kallen obeyed, shifting her back feet such that it was perpendicular with her front. She raised her arms in front of her at about shoulder height. In other words she was settled into a standard back stance.

"Part of the issue is that you are fighting too much like a martial artist," Laura said as she stood in front of Kallen. "I know, that might sound strange coming from a swordswoman, but hand-to-hand combat has a distinctively different goal than traditional martial arts. It is meant to take down an opponent as quickly, and as permanently, as possible. Now, if I threw a punch at you, what would you do?"

"I'd block," Kallen stated bluntly.

Laura assumed a stance. "Alright, then block."

The girl lunged forward, her fist flying at Kallen's face. Kallen raised an arm, parrying the blow, when suddenly Laura's fist opened and she grabbed hold of the blocking arm. The older girl spun about, slamming a palm into Kallen's shoulder even as she twisted Kallen's arm. The next moment Kallen was leaned over even as her arm was wrenched upward. Painfully.

"Ow ow ow ow!"

Laura relaxed her grip and Kallen's arm stopped feeling like it was going to be pulled out of its socket.

"I believe it is now evident that a simple block is not sufficient?"

"Against you definitely not," Kallen agreed.

Laura smiled slightly. "Against any skilled combatant it would not be. If you make physical contact against an enemy you need to maintain control of the engagement the entire time."

"Alright," Kallen said as she wound her arm about to loosen it up. "Shall we try again?"

"By all means," Laura said, assuming a stance of her own.

Kallen resumed her own stance, keeping her eyes locked on Laura's. Fighting someone who was a fully trained martial artist, even if what she was doing now was not quite the same thing, was an entirely different experience than taking down the usual thugs she used to run into in the ghettos, or even some of the Britannian soldiers that she had roughed up before. Then again Laura was in the process of joining Euphemia's royal guard so little wonder she was of an entirely different caliber.

And then all such thoughts vanished from Kallen's mind as Laura charged, throwing another punch aimed at Kallen's head. This time the younger girl ducked before her arm shot out to seize Laura's. With her grip secured Kallen tried to wrench Laura's arm upward, to do to the other girl what she had done to Kallen previously. What actually happened was a sudden twist in Laura's arm allowed the older girl to turn about to face Kallen once more. Face her, and throw a punch at Kallen's side. It was probably a very good thing they were wearing padded armor for the training, otherwise Kallen was pretty sure she would be suffering from some bruised kidneys as she crumbled, clutching her side.

"Okay," Kallen said in between ragged breaths. "That was just mean."

Laura chuckled slightly as she came down on a knee. "You will learn. That is the point after all."

"And how many more times am I going to be tossed onto my ass while I do that learning?" Kallen asked.

"The burned hand teaches best," was Laura's laconic response.

"If it's all the same to you I'd prefer to stay out of the fire _and_ the frying pan if I can."

"And what happens when you are thrown into either regardless?"

The two women turned about to see another soldier approaching them. Neither came to attention outright but they did at least face the man.

"Lieutenant Darlton," Laura greeted.

"Lieutenant Arseid," Claudio responded, and then far more warily. "Lieutenant Stadtfeld."

Kallen nodded. "Lieutenant."

Claudio looked back over at Laura. "You are teaching the Lady Stadtfeld hand-to-hand."

"I am."

"Would you object to my lending a hand?"

Laura glanced over at Kallen whose gaze was still fixed on the lieutenant. His breathing was even, his heart steady, but his eyes, there was a strange light in them. This was a man that had made a decision.

"Sure, why not," Kallen finally said.

"Very well then," Laura said as she looked back at Claudio. "Remember however, Claudio, this is a training exercise."

It seemed one did not need a geass to pick up on Claudio's mood.

"I assure you, Laura, I am fully cognizant of that."

Laura nodded, both accepting and making clear that she would hold Claudio to his word. She then stepped back to allow the man to enter the sparring mat. Claudio positioned himself opposite Kallen.

"So Laura was put in charge of your hand-to-hand training?" he remarked.

Kallen simply nodded.

Claudio allowed himself a slight smile. "She can be quite merciless in the ring. Many are quite caught off guard by her statuesque grace." His expression hardened. "As I suppose many were when you revealed the steel beneath your silk."

Kallen snorted, her eyes locked onto the knight. "Do you count yourself amongst them, Sir Darlton?"

"We shall see."

And then Claudio launched himself at Kallen. The man was fast, probably as fast as Laura. Kallen still saw him start his motion before he actually moved and was already responding. She deftly dodged the punch that was thrown, allowing her motion to flow into a kick aimed at Claudio's shin. To his credit Claudio saw the attack coming and actually carried through with his lunge, drawing himself past Kallen and avoided the blow without tripping over the girl's legs. Claudio spun about to face Kallen once more, the two circling the mat.

"You are very quick, Lady Stadtfeld," Claudio remarked.

"Yeah, well you're not too bad yourself."

"I'm not so sure about that," Claudio said before launching another attack.

This time the knight came in low, throwing a kick aimed at knocking aside Kallen's legs. The girl jumped, and had her arms already in place to block the follow up elbow strike that was the true attack and not the feint. The impact pushed Kallen back a bit but she was back on the ground and balanced instead of wobbling like Claudio probably intended. Balanced, and in position to launch her own counterattack. Kallen threw a quick jab aimed at Claudio's center of mass. The knight blocked it with ease, seizing hold of Kallen's wrist and twisting it about. Claudio's grip was strong, way stronger than Kallen had initially presumed. Her attempt to twist her arm about was immediately evident a nonstarter. Instead she used Claudio's grasp as leverage, latching onto his arm with her free hand and spinning her body up to land a solid knee to Claudio's jaw. That got the man to let go and Kallen stuck the landing even as Claudio staggered back. The knight gave himself a shake as he recovered from the impact.

"Impressive, Lady Stadtfeld," he said, a hint of irritation in his tone. "I wonder what other tricks you have hidden up your sleeve."

"Why don't you come and find out?"

"I intend to."

The knight charged once more, going for a straight center punch. Kallen blocked, or more like deflected as Claudio immediately withdrew the moment of contact. He followed up quickly however with a rapid sequence of strikes, not giving Kallen any chance to counterattack. Quick kicks below, thrusts with his arms or swings of the elbow, Claudio threw everything he had at Kallen and despite her knowing exactly what the knight was going to do it was all she could do to physically keep pace. And the worst of it was Claudio did not seem to be slowing down in the least. The man's stamina was absolutely unreal.

Without a way to break through Kallen disengaged, pulling back to try to put some distance between the two of them. Claudio was having none of that however and stayed right with her. This however still left a momentary lapse between his barrage. In that moment Kallen's leg shot out and nailed Claudio squarely in the chest. The knight staggered back, wheezing hard as the wind was knocked out of him. He still remained on his feet however, doing his best to maintain his guard. It was evident that Claudio intended to continue the fight.

"That's enough!"

His intention however was his own. Laura stepped onto the mat and walked over to Claudio.

"Are you alright, Claudio?"

"I am…fine," Claudio insisted.

It was a rather unconvincing assertion.

"I think this will be enough for today," Laura said firmly.

Claudio grimaced but did not argue. He straightened, took a deep breath, and regarded Kallen once more.

"You are a skilled adversary, Lady Stadtfeld. I will be mindful of what surprises you might yet produce."

Kallen grimaced. It was blindingly obvious what Claudio was insinuating, especially considering what happened to him during the Battle of Tokyo.

"You are perfectly free to do so, Sir Darlton. I would however expect the courtesy of during your observations you do not interfere with my duties."

Claudio tensed ever so slightly but did not rise to the remark. After gazing at Kallen for a few moments longer his head turned to regard Laura once more.

"I apologize for taking up your time, Laura. I am sure we will bump each other again soon."

Laura nodded. "Take care of yourself Claudio. And of your father as well."

Claudio smiled slightly. "I will try."

And took his leave with not another word to Kallen. In truth that was probably the best she could have hoped for. The knight obviously did not trust her, might not even be able to after what happened with Suzaku. He was not openly lashing out due to his distrust however. For now, that would just have to do.

Once Claudio was gone Laura glanced over at Kallen. "Claudio is a very skilled hand-to-hand combatant. We generally tend to be well matched whenever we have fought." An eyebrow rose. "Have you been holding back against me?"

"Huh? Oh uh, I, kind of cheated against Sir Darlton," Kallen said, her voice trailing off towards the end.

"Really?" Laura said as she assumed position across from Kallen again. "Then allow me to bear witness to this, cheating."

Kallen flinched. Oh this was going to suck, so very much.

* * *

"Impressive."

Crow smirked at Lelouch's remark. "What can I say? We've got some good shit here."

The good 'shit' that Crow was so proud of was a large warehouse filled with small arms and light weapons. In most circumstances Lelouch would have had some words about having all one's eggs in one basket like this. Then again seeing as this was an official armory for the Virginia provincial guard, of which Crow was a certified armorer for, that was not likely too large a risk. After all, if and when the Swords of Michael would need to take enough weapons from the armory to be noticed by the authorities, they would likely not be in a position or have the need to return them afterward.

"What of heavier arms?" Lelouch asked.

The smirk turned into an outright smile. "That's at the factory down the road."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. The only factory down the road he was aware of was the one owned by Duke Cayenne that built the Gloucesters for the Britannian military. The extent of the Swords' resources was looking more and more impressive. It was also equally evident they were involved in something much more than petty terrorism.

"What does Duke Cayenne gain from backing the Swords?" Lelouch asked.

"The cogger's related to the imperial family," Crow answered, "but he's like, so far down the line of succession that he's not even formally listed on it. But if something were to happen to the emperor and his line, well, as one of the most prominent dukes of the Empire he could credibly make a claim for the throne."

"Ah," Lelouch remarked dryly. "One of those."

"Yep. But hey, he's got the dough and the shiny toys."

"But does he have an actual plan?" Lelouch asked. "Or was he simply hoping that reliance on amateurs would see him closer to the throne?"

"Ouch man, you sure don't pull any punches. But you're right, he doesn't seem to have an overarching plan at this point. He has the same problem we do, Pendragon's too tough a nut to crack without a lot better intel and probably more firepower than can be mustered discretely. It's not like the Virginia provincial guard can just march north towards the capital, the moment they crossed into Maryland the rest of the Britannian military would bomb them straight to hell."

"Assuming the defense net is still online for the military to receive notice of the movement and coordinate such a response," Lelouch remarked.

"Err, well, sure, but if the defense net was that easy to take down, do you really think we wouldn't have tried already?"

"I would hope you would have refrained until all the other pieces of the operation were ready," Lelouch responded.

Crow regarded Lelouch with a raised eyebrow before shrugging. "Well aren't you the clever little monkey. Alright, so what are the other pieces then?"

"Location information on the various members of the imperial family of note, intelligence regarding their security screens, opportunities to move substantial forces north to Pendragon, and of course you need those substantial forces available for moving about in the first place."

"You didn't mention an exit strategy," Crow noted.

Lelouch snorted. "Do you honestly think any of us would emerge alive from an operation like this?"

Crow tsked. "Always have an exit strategy, even if you don't think you'll be able to use it. If nothing else it'll force you to think about how your opponents will react and try to bug out of the combat zone, which can be pretty useful by itself."

"Speaking from personal experience here?" Lelouch said.

"Hey man, a leader has to be thorough. I mean sure you might get some of your guys killed in an op, but it better damn well not be because you screwed the pooch and got them killed without even achieving your objective."

Lelouch's face twitched ever so slightly at those words. That described the debacle in Japan a bit too well for his tastes. Then again at least he was able to admit the operation was a failure, if only to himself and Charlotte. The Pendragon operation however he fully intended to be meticulous in the preparation to ensure there was no chance of failure.

"It will take some time to assemble all the necessary pieces," Lelouch said. "Especially to gather the relevant intelligence."

"Still not sure how the blazes you expect to be able to get anything useful," Crow said. "Security for the royals is handled by their armsmen, and those people are crazy dedicated. No armsman has ever been turned against their liege, not once. And the protection surrounding the emperor is even tougher."

"I am an intelligence operative," Lelouch remarked. "Leave procuring such intelligence to me."

"Well ain't you sure of yourself," Crow chuckled. "Alright, I'll play it by ear for now. But know this, if we think you're just stringing us along for a fall, well, we have means."

"Please, Mr. Armbrust. I would like to think we are beyond such garish threats."

Crow snorted. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure of that. And here's another one, call me Mr. Armbrust again and I'll sock you a good one."

Lelouch chuckled and then looked about at the racks and racks of weapons. "Do you actually have such numbers that you could make use of your access to the provincial guard's armory?"

"You're sure full of questions, aren't ya?"

Lelouch glanced back at Crow, locking the gaze of his left eye to meet the other man's eyes. "I must know the limits of your resources if I am to formulate a proper plan."

"Stop fussing over it," Crow said. "We've got enough guys and gals to put an entire regiment into the field if need be."

"And are they actually trained?" Lelouch asked.

"Of course they have. What, you think we spend our weekends going to church and just praying? No my good man, our sermons are full of spent casings and hot lead."

That still did not necessarily make these fanatics trained soldiers, but they had some time to work on that.

"Are you likely to be running any operations in the near term?"

"Well, depends on if we can find any targets of opportunity," Crow said, scratching his head. "If we get the military too riled up they'll run us to the ground, no question. And if we off a member of the imperial family too soon, even a low ranking one, that's going to turn the heat up something awful."

"So a more clandestine target would be preferable," Lelouch said.

"Righty-oh."

A smirk appeared on Lelouch's expression. "What of the Inquisitio?"

Crow let out a low whistle. "Man, you don't think small do you?"

"Are you suggesting the Inquisitio is beyond the reach of the Swords of Michael?"

"Nah, but like I said, we gotta find an actual target first. The Inquisitio doesn't exactly go around announcing their presence and what not."

"That is so, but they do maintain some public offices and branches," Lelouch said. "And drawing the Inquisitio out of the shadows should provide leads to more, profitable targets." The smirk darkened into something else entirely. "And besides, do you not wish to pay back the agents of the emperor for the suffering they have inflicted upon your people?"

Crow snorted. "Oh I'll be doing plenty of that regardless." The young man rubbed his chin. "Still, it would be nice to strike some fear into those godless heathens." An equally ferocious grin crossed Crow's face. "And I know just the way to do it."

"Then by all means, Mr. Armbrust, let us get to business."

The older youth raised an eyebrow. "You know I wasn't kidding about socking you if you called me that again."

"And here I thought you were seeking to win dear Charlotte's favor."

"Tch, cheap shot."

* * *

The safe house that Joshua and Rolo were using was fortunately fairly large. Fortunately, as it was now having to accommodate many more people. The reinforcements that were supposed to be provided before they actually launched any operations were finally here, and it was composed of three squads of Ordo Hereticus black teams. Still going up against the security apparatus protecting the princess, that might yet prove insufficient. For the newest mission they had been handled however, they were probably massive overkill.

"Richard Fenette," Rolo read off the paper. "Helena Blanche. Cassius Bright. Heinrich Stadtfeld. Lawrence Kraft. Jeremy Finch. And if possible or practical members of their families. Hmm."

The young man paced about. Joshua regarded the sight flatly, his own thoughts running parallel to Rolo's. The list was a mixture of straightforward and potentially complicated targets, depending on when they tried a hit. Gunning for any of the princess' cabinet members while they were working in the palace was probably a nonstarter, and the same was likely true for Colonel Bright when he was on duty with the gendarmerie and Captain Blanche. Dr. Fenette and Baron Stadtfeld were however likely less well guarded during, at least compared to the others. And their families were another matter entirely. Well, save for one Kallen Stadtfeld of course, going after her was only liable to get the entire team killed in some spectacular fashion.

"We will need to tail them," Rolo stated. "Determine their daily routines, any vulnerabilities in whatever security exists." He looked over at the Hereticus operatives. "Alpha team will handle the Baron Stadtfeld, beta Dr. Fenette."

Joshua pushed himself off his seat. "I will deal with Colonel Bright."

Rolo raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Joshua allowed a thin smile to cross his face. "He is a security officer. Defeating such systems to reach a target is my specialty."

"Fine," Rolo said brusquely. "Charlie team and I will investigate Sir Kraft. We will leave the others for after we have completed preliminary reconnaissance on the first four targets."

If the men and women that composed the Inquisitio detachment found it at all odd to be taking orders from a teenager they showed no signs of it. Probably because this batch had conducted operations on behalf of the Directorate before. Joshua idly wondered what the viceroy's response would be to such an attack on persons close to her. One thing was for certain, she would not be turning the other cheek. And who knew, maybe she might be able to put a real dent into the Directorate if she were properly motivated. Joshua would shed no tears if that came to be.

End of Chapter 59

As a note, Pendragon is not located in the same place as Washington DC. At this point I'm inclined to have it sited in where Philadelphia is. Think of it as a giant FU from the newly established Britannian Empire to the colonial secessionists by turning Philadelphia, the city where the declaration of independence was signed, into the heart of the new imperial state. The Britannians were big on symbolism like that.

Never changed my mind, Thompson and Tomson are Xenos operatives and that's how it's always been. Monica is Mallus, and she's requested André be transferred into her custody. Don't see anything in my notes or otherwise that would contradict the above.

I'm simplifying some aspects of the espionage tradecraft. I've already noted that technically Charlotte shouldn't have been using her name when she enrolled in Ashford. At this point it's primarily so I can avoid having to constantly keep track of all the aliases that would be necessary to actually make it realistic. That's one consequence of having so many characters floating around.

Was also pretty explicit that Japan was not the only tea growing region in the Empire that benefited from tea imports being cut off by the war. There are other regions that grow tea in the Empire, parts of Australia, the Malay Archipelago, and parts of South America come to mind. Ultimately however even all of them combined are not sufficient to make up the loss of the imports and this is implied in the rationing, in the non-tea growing regions. Japan however got a mention in the book because, well this is a Code Geass story, and also because of how many troops got stationed there in preparation for the amphibious invasion of Korea and sat there for a while during said preparations. Kind of like the US troops that were quartered in the UK waiting for Operation Overlord. The other regions either did not have nearly as many troops filter through or were sites of active battle which, were not conducive to large tea harvests being reaped in their area. Also, well aware of the distinction between green and black tea. Both can come from the same plant however and the difference is due to a step in the processing. Guess what step the Japanese tea processors started doing more of to satisfy Britannian demand for black tea. Oxidation FTW. Yes, I consider these details. Ironically this would result in a slight shortage of green tea for the Japanese population.

I think I've seen Shirley's father referred to as Joseph before, but I never could source it. This in another one of those untranslated side materials?


	61. Chapter 60

Spoiler rating: potentially major

 _The Geneva and Hague Conventions were a series of international treaties that sought to regulate the conduct of military forces in war and provide certain protections for combatants and civilians alike. Originally a product of the European nations, Asian nations such as the Chinese Federation, Japan, and the Philippines eventually also became signatories. Efforts to negotiate the Holy Britannian Empire's inclusion in the treaties however proved fruitless due to the Empire's objections to applying the protections to the insurgents that plagued it in its newly conquered territories. The European powers, several of whom had lost their American holdings to Britannia, were equally emphatic in demanding such insurgents not be exempted and the matter was still unresolved when the Great War commenced._

 _Considerable concern arose on the part of the European populations as to whether the Empire, despite not being formal signatories, would at least informally obey the conventions. For the early part of the war this was a moot point as the successes of the Allied forces saw Britannia pushed back with few opportunities to take prisoners. The Allies on the other hand found themselves with considerable numbers, especially in the Middle East campaign. The Allied civilian and military authorities determined that for the time being they would accord their Britannians the protections of the convention in the hope that such courtesy would be accorded to their own forces if the Empire did manage to take large numbers prisoner in the future._

 _For the most part the Empire did adhere to the principles laid out in the conventions and a directive was personally issued by the Princess Cornelia to that effect. Observance to the directive was of course not perfect as several Irish units were massacred by overzealous Britannian soldiers and after the Battle of Pendragon the entire Britannian military could be described as going on a near-berserk rampage to avenge all the deaths that resulted. Nevertheless most historians agree that had the Britannian Empire elected to ignore wholesale the conventions, the war would have been far bloodier and destructive than it already was._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 60

Historia vitae magistra

The individuals that assembled for the meeting were all known for their punctuality and so all arrived at effectively the same time. As the most junior person present, something that was actually quite rare for the Duke Zechs Vander due to his position as chief of the general staff and his high precedence amongst the peerage. Then again his duties did see him come into contact with the other holders of high office in the Empire, two of whom he was currently bowing respectfully to.

"Your highnesses," Zechs greeted.

"Marshal," Schneizel responded with a polite nod.

The three, plus entourage, entered the conference room and wasted little time settling down, after which Schneizel nodded once more. No further pleasantries were needed to get the meeting started. With a few taps of his terminal Zechs brought up the situation map on the main projection with practiced ease.

"Your highness, the situation in Area 18 has I am afraid degraded significantly," the marshal reported. "General Craig has been forced to pull all the way back to Doha in an attempt to keep his supply lines short. We still have effectively complete control of the Persian Gulf, but all territory north and west in the Middle East have been taken by the EU."

Schneizel acknowledged the statement with a dip of his head. He had had inkling of how dire things were in the Middle East and nothing that Zechs said now was exactly news. This was only the marshal's preamble however and the prince did not doubt more unpleasantness would be revealed in due course.

"At present we are still able to get supplies and reinforcements to him, but we are now starting to scrape the barrel of our standing reserves. We still have a few divisions that can be transferred overseas, but until the current wave of recruits complete their training our existing commitments prevent us from further redeployment. The problem however is that we have learned of a planned operation by the Chinese Federation that threatens to cut off Area 18 by seizing substantial portions of the Indonesian Archipelago from the Empire. At the beginning of the war the Federation had a large number of forces stationed in the Malaysian Peninsula that simply sat there without supporting the Area 12 offensive. We now believe that they did not act because the Chinese were simply not finished with their preparations for an invasion along that route. Indications are however in a month's time they will have completed those preparations."

Now this was news. Schneizel pursed his lips thoughtfully.

"I presume, marshal, that those current commitments mean we do not have the forces to shift to defend against this impending invasion?"

"Not entirely, your highness," Zechs responded. "I currently have three divisions in Australia waiting for deployment to a combat zone. They can reach either our Indonesian islands or the Middle East within the next month, but for strategic reasons they should be committed to one objective and one objective only, either to reinforce General Craig or to attempt to fend off the Chinese invasion of Sumatra."

Schneizel frowned. "Even if they are deployed to Middle East, what good would they do if the Chinese succeed in cutting General Craig's supply line by taking the Indonesian Archipelago?"

"Olaf has been building up a massive stock of supplies in his rear," Cornelia spoke up. "Right now he has enough resources to last his current forces for at least eight months. If we send him the three divisions, we'll also be cramming as much supplies with them as we can. If he's careful he should be able to keep fighting for at least another six months, by which time we should have been able to at the very least route supply convoys through the Tasman Sea to the Indian Ocean if the Chinese do end up taking the Indonesian islands."

Schneizel looked over at his sister. "And so you believe that General Craig should receive priority for these reinforcements?"

"I believe that if we don't get Olaf more troops, by the time the first wave of conscripts are ready to deploy he won't have any place left to land them."

That elicited a grimace from Schneizel. The prince looked back at Zechs.

"Do you agree with this assessment, marshal?"

"I do, your highness," came a noticeably slow answer.

An eyebrow rose. "I hear a but unspoken."

Zechs grunted. "But that might still well be the case even if we send General Craig reinforcements now, our highness. The Europeans are pressing him, hard, and it is a minor miracle that he has managed to hold thus far. And if the Chinese decide to use their forces stationed in India to reinforce the Europeans, Olaf simply would not have the numbers, even with the three divisions, to hold."

Cornelia grimaced but she did not dispute Zechs' assessment. Or even reprimand the man for speaking so frankly and in seeming disagreement with her priorities. That would have defeated the purpose of the general staff after all, as its members were supposed to provide impartial technical advice to their superiors, not fudge the numbers to accommodate whatever the current policy du jour was. For all Britannia's myriad faults, one sin its senior leadership had managed to avoid was succumbing to the temptation of shooting the messenger. Personal catharsis did not an empire run.

"But is there a reason to nonetheless still make the attempt?" Schneizel asked.

"There is, your highness," Zechs said. "The Middle East represents a major strategic position. If we can retain position of it, we deny the Europeans easy and ready access to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea, which conversely eliminates the most direct oceanic route between the Chinese and Europeans. In addition, as mentioned in the briefing held when the war commenced, Area 18's proximity to Europe means it can be used as a foothold to launch an invasion directly against the EU. If we lose it, we would have to mount a major amphibious operation to take a new one, or try to fight our way across Asia before we can reach the European nations. To be frank, neither option is especially palatable."

In point of fact those were not the only options available to the Empire, or at least would not be once Britannia actually had enough troops ready to launch a major offensive. The three principals in the room all knew this. Not all of the attendant staff did however and so not a word was said of those other options.

"That is a dilemma," Schneizel instead agreed. "Is there any possibility to attempt to stall or defeat the Chinese invasion of Sumatra without reinforcing them with the three divisions?"

At this both Cornelia and Zechs shook their heads.

"The problem is that the situation in Area 12 is still fraught," Zechs explained. "The Chinese are throwing substantial forces at Luzon Island and we need Seventh Fleet's assets to remain in the vicinity to maintain pressure on the Federation's supply line and naval assets. While Sumatra is not that far from Luzon, taking Seventh Fleet off station for even a day or so would be disastrous if the Chinese took advantage of its absence to significantly reinforce the troops they have already landed."

"I see," Schneizel said.

And he really did. The Empire was fighting a war on a massive, global scale, whereas their enemies were basically fighting on their front doors. That was all around a mixed blessing for all sides involved, seeing as being forced to fight so close to home meant one's opponents were also within striking distance of your home. The Empire's problems were simply reversed. As secure as the homelands were, having to get all the implements of war to where they were needed was no easy feat.

"Tell me general," Schneizel said. "What do you believe is the best course of action to take then, between the two options that you have presented."

Zechs took a deep breath. "I believe we should reinforce General Craig, your highness."

Schneizel regarded the man. "Why."

The marshal's jaw tightened but there was a surety in his voice as he answered. "Because if we do not, we will be all but abandoning Olaf and his forces to their fate, sir."

All eyes were now on Schneizel, from Cornelia to Zechs to the various staffers that were attending the meeting. The prince returned Zechs' gaze for several long seconds before he finally nodded.

"Very well marshal, I accede to the general staff's recommendation." Schneizel looked out at the entire room. "Now, prove to me that you can do it."

Smiles cracked all about as the tension bled away from the others present. Their work was just beginning, but one more step had been taken. Now they simply needed to continue on their chosen path.

* * *

"Good morning Mikasa."

The person in question stiffened but fought down the instinct to come to attention. She was after all not on base and even if she was technically in the field, this field was not exactly a battlefield. Or rather, it was a battlefield of an entirely different sort than she was used to, one she thought she had left behind many years ago.

"Good morning Mrs. Bright," Mikasa greeted in response.

Lena Bright, the newly hired history instructor at Ashford Academy, smiled kindly at the young woman. Despite herself Mikasa felt calmed by the older woman's expression. It was a very motherly smile, one that reminded her of a very long time ago.

"I hope you are well this morning?"

"Yes ma'am."

"I am glad to hear it," Lena said. "Now then, shall we begin?"

Mikasa nodded, her textbook already laid out before her.

"We finished the conquest of the Louisiana territory last time and I asked you to take a look at the subsequent developments that occurred afterwards. What would you say were some of the major consequences?"

"A lot of people moved west to settle the new lands," Mikasa said. "The government encouraged them to go by passing various laws. As more people went however they got into fights with the natives and also the Spaniards. Eventually war broke out, and the Empire conquered the rest of the Americas."

Lena nodded. "That covers the broad strokes, yes. The conflict between Spain and Britannia did not happen in a vacuum obviously and there were many factors behind the war. Now, let us take a closer look at the nature of the Empire itself at the time," Lena said. "Britannia was still a relatively immature state back then, its formal founding only having occurred some thirty years ago. While many of its institutions were inherited from the British colonial administrations, the loss of the British Isles meant the government needed to be effectively reconstituted after Elizabeth III fled to the New World.

"That being said for the most part the government was strong enough that there was little risk of a repeat of Washington's Rebellion occurring. The most serious challenge to the central government came in the form of the Quebec Rebellion, which saw subjects of French descent attempt to secede after the Britannian government revoked the Quebec Act of 1774 that allowed those subjects to retain aspects of their heritage in the governance of the province. The rebellion was however quickly put down within a month of its outbreak, and Quebec's provincial government was reorganized along Britannian lines.

"Ultimately the government of the time was well confident of its ability to rule over its domain and its leaders were not actively seeking further expansion, especially with the Empire's attention focused on more closely integrating its existing possessions. The government also recognized the relative weakness of the Spanish colonies and did not consider them a threat and so was content to ignore them for the time being. Most of the government's attention was instead focused on expansion westward into the Louisiana and Columbia territories to solidify Britannia's claim to the lands. This expansion however soon put the central government at odds with one faction of the aristocracy, the southern landholding nobility."

The teacher brought up a map of the Empire's North American holdings on the projector.

"Even as early as the 1800s it was becoming evident that the industrialization happening in the northeastern provinces were generating substantial wealth which growth was outpacing that of the south. This saw the rise in influence of a middle class and formerly lower ranking nobles that had invested in such enterprises. Whereas in the past wealth and power came from the holding of land, the newly rich derived their wealth from industry and capital."

The map zoomed into the southeastern part of the homelands.

"On the other hand of the original provinces, it was the southern ones whose economies relied upon plantations worked by large numbers of slaves. Many of these slave owners had been supporters of Washington's Rebellion due to the British government's increasing hostility to the system of slavery. After the war their holdings were seized and redistributed to loyalists, but the plantation system as a whole remained intact, along with its dependency upon slave labour, thanks in part to technical advances that allowed for the profitable mass cultivation and harvest of a few cash crops such as tobacco and cotton. Attitudes towards slavery in the northern provinces however remained hostile and the Britannian government also was ambivalent about its continuation due to the fact that many runaway slaves fought on the loyalist side during the Rebellion."

Mikasa listened intently. Her reading last night had also mentioned that the incorporation of runaway slaves into British forces set the precedent for allowing peoples lacking the standing of full citizens into the armed forces, and rewarding such service with greater privileges. A precedent that Mikasa herself was taking full advantage of.

"With the increased industrialization of the country and the shifting of economic and political power northward, the peers and landholders of the old American south found their standing gradually eroding. Their efforts to stymie this decline was to try to increase their numbers, but the more northern territories that made up the vast majority of the Empire were unsuited to the plantation style agriculture that required slave labor. Their solution to this problem was to incite a war against the Spanish colonies, to seize them and then push for the expansion of the plantation system to the new southern territories."

Lena paused and waited for Mikasa to nod to acknowledge she was following along.

"Spanish control of its American colonies had already weakened due to the Napoleonic Wars. In fact the upsurge in republicanism and liberal sentiment in mainland Europe was causing a major split between the more traditional authorities in the Americas, such as the Catholic Church, and in its weakened state Spain was not expected to be able to actually enforce its dominion over its colonies. The presence of the Britannian Empire in the Louisiana territories however served as a deterrent to outright secession, as there was significant concern that the Empire would not hesitate to attempt to seize the colonies were they to lose the support of the Europeans. The hope was that the Empire would not dare threaten territories that were still nominally under Spanish dominion for fear that the other European powers would find cause to declare war on the Empire in such an action."

The map shifted, this time to the province in question and its surrounding regions south.

"The southern nobles were aware that the Empire was not interested in actively conquering New Spain at the time, and so created a ploy to incite a conflict between Spain and Britannia. Texas was back then a New Spain province that directly bordered the slave holding regions of the Empire. For many years the southern nobility had attempted to convince the Spanish authorities to allow them to establish plantations in the region, but the Spanish authorities, rightfully suspecting that such efforts were intended as a Trojan to precipitate outright annexation of the territory, steadfastly refused. The nobles were not deterred however, instead encouraging their fellow Britannians to continuingly encroach upon the Spanish territory, supplying them with resources and even using their provincial guardsmen in disguise to provide a degree of protection. Soon enough a substantial portion of Texas was effectively occupied by Britannian settlers. The Spanish government protested strongly to the Empire, demanding that these settlers either leave or renounce their Britannian citizenship. While the Britannian government was not actively involved with this scheme, it was still interested in acquiring more territory and offered to buy Texas. Spain refused, not wanting to set such a precedent." Lena paused. "Any questions this far?"

Mikasa shook her head. "No ma'am."

The teacher smiled gently again. "Mrs. Bright is just fine, Mikasa. You're at school here."

"Yes, Mrs. Bright."

Lena nodded and then continued. "Tensions between Britannia and Spain remained high but neither side desired an actual war over the matter. The Britannian government already suspected the involvement of the southern nobles in inciting the crisis and did not want to allow them such a public victory, whereas the Spanish government knew they could not hold their overseas colonies of the Empire made an outright attempt to conquer them. Events however quickly outpaced either government's intentions as the Texan settlers rose up in revolt against the Spanish authorities. The local Spanish forces were however able to substantially defeat the Texan militias, and the southern nobles used the news of Britannian citizens being cut down by Spanish soldiers to rile up public opinion in the Empire. The government was forced to respond and did so by sending several regiments of the army to protect Britannian civilians. Spain interpreted the deployment of such numbers of soldiers as an act of war, and thus began the first Spanish-Britannian War."

The first of three, Mikasa knew from her readings, though the third one also involved Portugal as Britannia sought to conquer the Kingdom of Brazil in the process of completing its annexation of the last of the Spanish American colonies.

"The war itself was brief, the Spanish unable to muster reinforcements from Europe or convince their fellow Europeans to lend them substantial aid. The forces they did have in the colonies proved insufficient against the greatly strengthened Britannian Army and after a year Britannian forces led by General Winfield Scott had occupied Mexico City. The Spanish sued for peace and ceded to Britannia the Viceroyalty of New Spain in exchange for fifteen million pounds, which is approximately 51 million pounds today."

As someone whom such numbers would likely always remain abstract concepts Mikasa was not terribly moved. She might have understood that the numbers represented substantial wealth, but seeing as she had never experienced any of the comforts or possibilities such a large amount of money might offer, she simply could not relate.

"While the ploy by the southern nobles did succeed in forcing the Empire to annex a substantial amount of territory that was suitable for expansion of the plantation system," Lena continued, "their involvement in precipitating the war had not gone unnoticed. The government took an extremely dim view of having its foreign policy so manipulated and the Emperor Charles I stripped from many of them their titles and properties, including their slaves, as compensation for the expense born by the state for carrying out the war. His majesty also refused to sell on the slaves, decreeing that they remain under the ownership of the imperial family in perpetuity unless they were emancipated outright. In addition, with the removal of so many slaves from the plantations the system's decline was heavily accelerated and by the 1850s most southern plantations were broken up due to a lack of available manpower. Formal emancipation came in the same decree Charles I issued that freed his own slaves, and many of the descendants of those former slaves remain loyal retainers to the imperial family even now."

And there lay yet another contradiction in the Britannian system. For a society that so emphasized racial superiority and social Darwinism, there were genuine examples of loyalty that literally ended only at death's door. And that loyalty was very often repaid in kind by the Empire's leaders. Mikasa had noticed these tidbits from her piecemeal education in the orphanage but she was never actually afforded the opportunity to learn more about such matters. At least, until now.

"These, retainers," Mikasa said. "Umm, excuse me, Mrs. Bright."

"That's alright, if you have a question, speak up."

Mikasa nodded slowly. "These retainers, what do they do for the imperial family?"

"Well, I know that the Princess Euphemia has one on staff as her main receptionist," Lena answered. "I believe her name is Rachel. And I have heard of others that serve as part of the Fenrir Guard, the royal guard of the Knight of One responsible for protecting Pendragon."

The young woman nodded again, more thoughtfully. Lena smiled at the expression. It always warmed her heart to see a student actually consider the lessons instead of simply listening blankly. And it was clear that for someone in Mikasa's situation the import of these lessons came not from mere facts and numbers, but from the ideas that they inspired.

"If you would like I can refer you to some references that talk about the Emperor Charles I's slaves in more detail," Lena said.

"Umm, yes, thank you, Mrs. Bright."

Lena's smile remained its gentle visage even as it widened ever so slightly. "You are very welcome, Mikasa."

* * *

Technically Joshua did not actually need to be inside the classroom to monitor the two. Technically he did not even need to hang around for the entire lecture to learn Lena Bright's schedule. Nonetheless he was in here, seated in the back and making use of his geass to mask his presence. He needed to be careful how long he kept it active of course, but so long as neither of the other two actually looked in his direction he did not need to turn it on full-blast to remain hidden. That of course left him with at least some concentration to spare, concentration that ended up being used thinking over Lena's lessons.

While the Directorate provided a basic education for its test subjects, primarily so that those deemed fit for field duty would not be so completely lost about how the world worked, that education was extremely bare bones and abjectly uninspiring. The instructors that they had were doing little more than going through the motions of drilling in the basic knowledge and their evaluation was based on rote memorization. All in all Joshua could not really claim to have learned much of anything from those lessons. The ones Lena was conducting for Mikasa however, the instructor was actually able to make the material interesting and engaging. And she even invited Mikasa to indulge her own curiosity. What a novel concept.

Still, a part of Joshua knew that such an experience would not last. At the very least eventually the Eleven girl's remedial classes would be completed by the start of the term, and in all likelihood the Directorate would execute its plan to disappear its targets beforehand, one Lena Bright included. And one Estelle Bright too. The thought elicited a slight throbbing in Joshua's head and the boy nearly let his geass slip. It should not have bothered him that the girl that had randomly bumped into him was now marked for a very dark fate. If she was lucky she would simply be killed to set an example for the Directorate's enemies. If not, she might end up like him. Joshua's fist tightened. For some reason that thought really bothered him. Maybe he could do something about it however. He could see to it that Estelle met a swift, clean end. Their orders did not explicitly state that the secondary targets had to be brought in alive after all, just where it was feasible. Joshua made up his mind. Estelle was a nice girl. There was no reason she should be made into a monster like him. That much he would do, that much was all he could do.

* * *

The target downrange was a solid block of steel five inches thick angled at 65 degrees leaning against the side of a large hill. This made it comparable to the armor of the standard Britannian M60 main battle tank. Penetrating the frontal armor of one was no easy task, something that the Patton's own main gun had difficulty with if at range. One moment the block was simply sitting there, its gray sheen a stark contrast to the grassy background. The next, a smoking crater burned and what was left of the block was smeared across the hillside.

"I like this gun."

Thus was the succinct assessment of one Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki as she leveled the VARIS rifle in the Guren's left arm.

"Well, I'm glad you're having fun," Rakshata said dryly.

Kallen chuckled to herself. "Hey, you agreed to the trade, doctor. A bit late to be having regrets."

"Regrets? Certainly not. I am however not obliged to feign any sort of euphoria at the arrangement."

"Well, fair enough." Kallen shifted her knightmare. "So, how's the sync with the rifle's telemetry?"

"No major errors thus far," the engineer reported. "We're still dropping a few packets that our parser isn't programmed to interpret yet, but according to Cecilé most of those are just diagnostic messages that we can ignore for now."

"Umm, okay," Kallen said.

An audible sigh sounded over the radio. "Things are fine, the things that don't work don't matter and we'll get them fixed later."

"Well, when you put it that way," Kallen said, hefting the rifle at another target. "Ready?"

A brief pause followed while the technicians and engineers prepared for the second shot.

"You may fire when ready Lady Stadtfeld," Cecilé herself granted Kallen permission.

The personnel attending to the weapons test were a mix of Kallen's support staff and members of Camelot. The VARIS was still in development and each one built was basically a manually assembled prototype. They were also extremely expensive, one could have bought a tank for what it cost to build one, which probably said more than a few things about the ASEEC's budget considering how many had been destroyed over the course of the Lancelot's career. And while the first one for the Guren was complementary, Cecilé had been very clear that any replacements would require someone else to cover the costs. That was a conversation Kallen did not want to ever have with Euphemia, trying to explain why she needed a couple hundred thousand pounds for a new weapon.

That said building a new VARIS rifle was still cheaper than building an entirely new knightmare and without the Lancelot the ASEEC did not have a unit to actually test some of the constituent pieces of technology they were developing. As such their granting of Kallen access to the VARIS also came with the requirement that they be allowed to gather telemetry and measurements of her usage of the weapon, which the young knight found more than reasonable. After all, in exchange she got a really nice gun to complement the radiant wave surger. Kallen took aim at another target. And watched in satisfaction as it too literally seemed to disintegrate upon impact from the railgun round. Yes, this weapon was a good complement for the Guren indeed.

An hour or so later the initial test run was complete and Kallen climbed out of the knightmare. Or rather, her part of the test was complete. Technicians were already clambering over the Guren, examining the various joints to check for stresses. Powerful the VARIS might be, it also had a significant recoil that could put severe strain on the knightmare firing it. Time would tell if the Guren would require any upgrades to proper support the weapon.

Once on the ground Kallen was met by Cecilé and Rakshata.

"I trust you are satisfied with the VARIS?" the Britannian captain asked levelly.

"Eminently," Kallen responded. "It is a most impressive weapon."

Cecilé accepted the praise with a simple nod. There was still a degree of tension between the two of them, probably accentuated by the fact that the older woman was likely making no headway in her quest to discover the truth of the matter regarding Suzaku. Or rather, she had yet to demonstrate herself to be of such use to Euphemia that the princess would be obliged to take her into such confidence. That must have been frustrating for the captain but Cecilé was not one to whine. She simply doggedly pressed onward as best she could.

"How long will you need to analyze the data from today's test?" Kallen asked Rakshata.

"A couple of days at least," the engineer said. "I don't foresee the need for any additional tests for at least the next two weeks."

"Alright," Kallen said, a hint of disappointment leaking into her voice. "Well, that should work out fine. Getting permission to take time off from my training isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world either."

Rakshata chuckled and turned to supervise the work on the Guren while Cecilé moved over to do likewise on the VARIS rifle. With her own role concluded for the day Kallen hung about, observing the engineers and technicians as they hurried about. A knightmare really was an exceedingly complex machine, requiring significant resources to support its deployment in the field. Little wonder that despite its tactical superiority over most any other ground combatant the Empire still relied on infantry and tanks for the bulk of its army.

Still, there was certainly a mystique associated with them that made knightmares something of a symbol of Britannia's might. Little wonder the JLF had attempted to establish its own corps by repurposing old Britannian units and the Europeans were even now deploying their own designs against the Empire. And the few times that Kallen's old resistance cell was actually able to make use of the knightmares that came into their possession they scored notable victories. It would certainly be interesting to see what the future would bring, what new improvements would see knightmares become ever more lethal and durable, and whether some new wonder might make these weapons completely obsolete much as guns had rendered the knights of old irrelevant. Interesting, and just a tad frightening to contemplate.

When Heinrich opened the door to the apartment he was greeted with a most appetizing scent coming from inside. A smile cracked on the baron's face as he entered, tossing his suit onto one of the couches in the living room on his way to the kitchen. The trays were already filled with a variety of food and Kotone was diligently minding one last pan in the kitchen. When she heard Heinrich approach she looked over with a smile.

"Okaeri, anata" she said.

"I'm back," Heinrich responded in English.

Even back when they lived together before the war Heinrich very rarely actually used Japanese while at home despite speaking it fluently. It was one of those marks of laziness that only those truly close to the baron would be shown. And Kotone Kouzuki, the love of his life and bearer of his children, was witness to many more. Heinrich placed his arms around his wife and gave her a peck on the back of her neck.

"Not now," Kotone chided. "I'm not done cooking yet."

"Hmm," Heinrich murmured as he reluctantly released her. "What is one less dish when you have already prepared a feast?"

"Oh, then you are fine with foregoing the yakiniku?"

"Err, no, please, by all means, take however much time you need."

Kotone giggled at her former husband's antics. Heinrich wandered back over to the trays and noted the selection for this evening's meal. There was a healthy portion of vegetables, mercifully no fish, he never did develop much of a taste for it, and tempura. One tray in particular had noticeably more pieces of the fried shrimp and vegetables. Heinrich snorted.

"You spoil Kallen a bit too much."

"Maybe so, but that is a mother's prerogative," Kotone said as she picked out the slices of grilled meat and apportioned them. "And it is not just Kallen that I spoil."

A few extra pieces were added to another tray, presumably Heinrich's seeing as it was the only one with western utensils instead of chopsticks. Heinrich smiled and gave Kotone another peck on the cheek. That was all he had time for before the sound of the door opening could be heard.

"Tadaima," a voice called out.

"Welcome back," Heinrich greeted his daughter.

Officially this apartment was now Kallen's, and Kotone's, formal residence, so the girl was entirely correct in announcing that she was home. On the other hand most of the time she resided in the viceroy's palace due to her duties and generally only stopped in once or twice a week. At least once a week however the three of them tried to have dinner together, as a family.

"How was your day?" Heinrich asked.

Kallen yawned, eliciting a chuckle from her father.

"That bad huh?"

"We were out doing some field tests today," Kallen said, being intentionally vague on the specifics. "There was a lot of traveling involved."

"Ah," Heinrich said, refraining from pressing. "Well, have a seat and take a load off. Your mother has decided that for all your hard work you should be rewarded with a bounty of tempura."

Kallen noticeably perked up at that and her gaze followed the trays Heinrich and Kotone carried out. And then a smirk appeared on her face as she noted the portions on her father's tray.

"And what is mother rewarding you for, father?" she teased.

"Why, for being the handsome rogue that I always am, of course."

Kallen snorted, eliciting a playful smirk from her father. This all still felt a bit strange, seeing her parents again at the same dinner table, but it was far better than the alternative wherein her mother stood off to the side in a maid outfit. The apartment did not actually have any servants here, Kotone having elected to try to keep it up herself. Kallen and her father were both slowly prodding her to hire at least one other person to help, if only out of concern for what might happen should she relapse suddenly. Her mother was slowly coming around to it, but Kallen was finding that her stubbornness did not in fact come from her father. She got her temper from that side instead.

"Your father works very hard in his advisory role to the viceroy's administration," Kotone admonished her daughter gently. "You should be proud of the good he's doing."

Kallen looked over at her father with a quizzical look. "That reminds me, you now own a large portion of the Sumeragi Group?"

Heinrich shrugged. "An investment. Since Edward was, recruited, by her highness the sakuradite market has seen a degree of instability. The brokers that have tried to fill in the gap have not shown the degree of foresight necessary to keep the market healthy, so it seemed an opportune moment to step in and try to sort things out myself."

That seemed a mite of an understatement, though then again the level that which her father operated at did seem to treat transactions numbering in the billions of pounds as routine. Kallen recalled the earful she got from Euphemia about how Heinrich had threatened to tank Japan's economy to keep the government off her back. She would not have thought it possible for a single person to so influence an entire country. She still did not understand how her father could have achieved this even after Euphemia's explanation. Some things however Kallen was learning she needed to take on faith. Like the current arrangement of her family.

Officially Heinrich and Kotone were still divorced. In fact Heinrich was now a bachelor once more, having also divorced Catherine shortly after the Battle of Tokyo. And despite the relative prominence of his ex-wife's noble family Heinrich was unlikely to face too many repercussions. The baron's own wealth easily eclipsed that of the Walker family and there was the not so minor fact that people seemed to be under the impression Heinrich was now under the patronage of one Euphemia li Britannia.

While Kallen was not inclined to any sympathy for the former Baroness Stadtfeld that had so abused her mother, she also did not take any particular satisfaction in the casting aside of her step-mother. That woman certainly deserved it, but wishing misery upon others was something that Kallen was learning did not come without some cost to her con conscience. After all, it was from a dark, dark place that sprung her burning desire to see Lelouch vi Britannia dead.

Kallen took a deep breath. Gentle thoughts. Calming thoughts. Like how her mother and father really could get together again if they wanted to. They had not yet, but that would probably change soon enough. Like when her mom stopped beating herself up over separating the family in the first place. Yeah, stubbornness really did run in the women of the family.

"I hear you will be reentering Ashford for the new term," Heinrich said.

"Huh? Oh, yes." Kallen made a slight face. "Her highness insisted."

"And so she should. An education is very important, young lady, and I expect you to do your name proud."

Kallen gave her father an unamused look. "I do have more pressing responsibilities, father."

"But that does not mean you should ignore the slightly less pressing ones," was Heinrich's retort. "After all one day you will be Baroness Stadtfeld, and you will need the education and skills to properly manage the estate."

And then the current baron adopted a thoughtful expression that Kallen had seen all too many times before. The girl's geass activated reflexively.

"You know, it would be nice to have some grandkids running around while I still wear the title."

Kallen did not slam her head against the table. She did not because right in front of her was the tray full of delicious food her mother had put such effort into preparing, including a very large helping of her favorite tempura. That, and only that, was the only thing that kept said table from meeting her forehead this night. Then again, the night was yet young and she was sure her father would have no difficulty embarrassing her further. Parents were like that.

* * *

The Holy Inquisitio was not a very public organization. Its existence was well known and widely acknowledged of course, keeping such a large and powerful organ of the state a secret was impossible in this day and age and even counterproductive to its purpose. Its activities on the other hand were kept as opaque and out of the public eye as possible. All of its records were officially sealed, the only persons authorized to scrutinize its activities being the emperor himself and any specially designated agents. This made tracking the Inquisitio an extremely difficult, but not impossible task. And sometimes Inquisitio assets could be caught in the crossfire completely by accident. Whether the bombing of a seemingly nondescript office building in Manhattan was an instance of the former or the latter was the responsibility of Captain Claire Rieveldt, Interrogator of the Ordo Hereticus.

"From what we can tell the bomb was set in an office right under ours," an acolyte reported. "That one is actually used by the Exchequer, it's one of their audit offices, so it could have been just a case of some kind of deranged protest against taxes."

"Could have, but how likely is that to be the case?" Claire said with raised eyebrow.

"Umm, not very ma'am," the acolyte admitted. "Especially considering the placement of the bomb. Whoever planned this op either got improbably lucky or knew exactly where, and when, they needed to plant the bomb to assassinate their target."

It was an analysis that Claire agreed with completely. What was more, that this specific Hereticus office was targeted might provide further clues as to whom was responsible. The province of New England to the northeast of New York had one of the largest concentrations of Christians of English heritage, mostly descended from Brownist English Dissenters and so-called Puritans that fled Great Britain over three centuries ago. Many had been supporters of Washington's Rebellion, and consequentially were punished severely after said rebellion failed. Even to this day there was an instinctive suspicion on the part of many Britannian authorities with respect to their Christian subjects, and the Manhattan Hereticus office that had been destroyed, with its assigned inquisitor assassinated, had been responsible for the monitoring of potential seditious acts by that population.

"And yet so far no group has claimed responsibility for the bombing," Claire remarked.

"No ma'am," the acolyte said, "which is strange. Most terrorists like to make it known they were the ones behind a particular attack as a means of bolstering their profile." A shrug. "Stupid of them, since it just gets our attention all the faster."

Stupid it might be but that did not change the fact that people tended to already have died before the Inquisitio was alerted. For all its powers and resources the Ordo Hereticus could not be everywhere and stop every attack before it happened.

"And has forensics been able to tell us anything about the bomb?"

"Nothing too special about it, though indications are it was on a timer instead of remote detonation."

"Alright. Pull whatever surveillance records that are still intact and have our analysts run through them. And check the mail records, see if there were deliveries that came in the past few days."

"Yes ma'am."

Then again as a government office building any packages that came in should have been searched. To bypass the security protocols implied an inside job of some sort. Claire tilted her head thoughtfully. They would need to look through the employee records as well, see if there was anyone with suspicious connections or personal problems that could be exploited. That would all take time however. The information age might have provided the Inquisitio with a wealth of data, but the haystack one needed to sort through to find that needle was more than a bit daunting. Then again that was why Claire had a job. One did not rise to the rank of interrogator without being good at connecting the dots in even the sparsest of conditions. And when she found the culprits, the captain vowed to make them pay for shedding the blood of her comrades.

End of Chapter 60

The inflation numbers for the 15 million pounds are for 1960 times. If we were to look at how much money that would be today, it'd be about $410 million. And I'm assuming the Britannian pound is more akin to the US dollar than the British pound at this point. I might enjoy these infodumps a bit too much. The little history lesson by Lena took up a good chunk of the chapter. It was also significantly restructured midway through writing it to be more coherent. And even then, it was much easier to write than anything in the last chapter.

I know that some of you will reflexively think it out of character for a Britannian emperor to have freed slaves. Or for the Britannian government to have been at all interested in abolitionism in general. That reflexive reaction is however indicative of the shallow stupid-evil caricature that was Britannian society, especially its upper crust, as portrayed in the anime. A system of governance cannot hold if it is so decrepit and rotten that the norm for the behavior of its leaders is chaotic evil. It's not believable or realistic, and an Empire that has lasted as long as Britannia must have certain institutions that are well run and able to cut through the crap, as it were. And besides, it's not as if the emperor freed those slaves purely out of the goodness of his heart, he did it partially, if not predominantly, to break the power of the southern landowning nobles. Dark is not necessarily evil, nor is evil necessarily always bad. It's one of those shades of gray that make the real world interesting, and which makes the incongruent nature of black and white depictions of the world in fiction all the harder to ignore.

Kotone's words translate to basically, "Welcome back dear." That's not the direct translation, but it's the actual meaning. And yakiniku is somehow already in the English dictionary in MS Word.

I'm trying to move the story along, chronogically. We're well towards the end of July and going to be in the middle of August by the start of next chapter. This consequentially means that I'm basically skipping scenes that I could have written but which needed to take place in the July timeframe. And believe me, there were quite a few scenes that I could have padded this story with. Milly's birthday by itself could have easily taken up an entire chapter. Ultimately however I need to move the story on, and to do that I need to move the time along. I also expect attention to shift more to Lelouch's activities as we build up again. There's still about a year before the next big event however, so we're still a ways yet.

I feel like a lot of the interest in seeing more of Lelouch is some hope that he will emerge some sort of redeemed hero or something or to offer comfort for people who did not want him to die at the end of the anime. This isn't that sort of story, so don't say you weren't warned.


	62. Chapter 61

_To say that the Sanctus Inquisitio possessed a reputation would be a vast understatement. Feared, respected, loathed, and even admired, opinions regarding the Inquisitio are as varied as they tend to be pronounced. Its origins can be traced to the Star Chamber created by Henry VII of England, its purpose being to try and judge prominent individuals whom the ordinary courts dared not convict due to their standing. The Chamber soon gained a reputation for arbitrary and even capricious rulings and was formally disbanded in 1641 CE. The institutions that had built up around it however survived and were reorganized into the Inquisitio and would play a pivotal role in the defeat of the Parliamentary side in the English Civil War._

 _Officially the Inquisitio possessed two major Ordos, the Ordo Hereticus responsible for dealing with crimes of sedition and treason, and the Ordo Xenos responsible for intelligence gathering and other espionage in foreign lands. In fact for much of its existence the Ordo Xenos was Britannia's only foreign intelligence agency. Even the Britannian military did not possess an in-house intelligence organ, all of its personnel serving in that role in actuality Xenos operatives on effectively detached assignment. Because any Xenos operative embedded in a military assignment were required to meet the standards expected of soldiers and officers and combined with the fact that Xenos was quite open to recruiting talented individuals already in the military that desired a career in intelligence, Ordo Xenos was regarded with considerably less suspicion and misgivings by the larger population than its sister Ordo and had far fewer unsavory rumors associated with it, domestically at least._

 _-Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I_

Chapter 61

Ubi amor, ibi dolor

Were it not so cliché Kallen would have described the room as deathly silent. It would still have been accurate however seeing as no sound was made by the two women staring intently at each other. It was quite the sight, Her Royal Highness the Princess Euphemia li Britannia and Knight of Twelve Dame Monica Kruszewski holding each other's gaze without flinching in the least. Neither showed any indication of backing down, but this little battle of wills was already moot seeing as the true struggle had already been decided by the piece of paper before Euphemia on her desk.

It was the first time Kallen had actually seen an imperial writ and not surprisingly the paper on which it was printed was made out to be grandiose indeed. The border was lined with a gold trim and the letters were some fancy cursive font that was near impossible to actually read. Then there was the giant signature at the bottom, an actual honest to god signature if Kallen's eyes were not deceiving her, along with a large seal in red wax that bore the crest of the emperor himself. She was also pretty sure the paper itself was of some ridiculous quality. It certainly looked thick and solid enough to hit someone over the head with. When his majesty wanted to make a statement, he did not stop at half measures.

As to the content of the writ, it was basically a direct order from the Emperor Charles to Euphemia to cooperate fully and unconditionally with Monica's investigation of Lelouch. Meaning, no more stalling and attempting to strong arm from the knight of the round more information about her artificial eye. Or rather, this time it was Monica that was doing the strong arming by presenting the princess with an order she could not disobey without losing everything. It was abundantly clear that Euphemia was extremely displeased with this turn of events. It was equally clear that there was not really anything she could do about it.

"The writ has been received and acknowledged, Dame Kruszewski," the princess said frostily.

"Then might I request that we begin examination of the SDECE operative immediately, your highness?" Monica said courteously. "If we keep him in an induced coma for much longer there may be permanent brain damage."

Euphemia took a deep breath. "I will have to contact Dr. Fenette." And openly glared at Monica once more. "And explain to him the necessity of examining an unwilling subject."

The knight nodded. "I shall make preparations to transfer the prisoner here then." And bowed. "Good day, your highness."

Without waiting for a dismissal Monica turned and left. The glower on Euphemia's face remained even after the door closed and Kallen idly wondered if it was safe yet to reassert her presence. After a minute or so of simply standing there the knight cleared her throat. Euphemia's gaze slowly turned to regard Kallen.

"Your highness," Kallen said carefully. "Dame Kruszewski may have outmaneuvered us, but this is not necessarily a fight we want to pick."

The princess took another deep breath before finally leaning back against her chair. "That may be so, but acceding to Dame Kruszewski's dictate carries with it costs as well."

Kallen cocked her head aside quizzically.

"At present Dr. Fenette already knows enough that there are parties that would gladly see him dead. If he were to discover something crucial about Lelouch's geass from his examination of this SDECE agent, how much greater danger might he be in?"

That elicited a grimace from the older girl. "There's no one else that we could bring in?"

"Is there anyone else you would be prepared to trust with this information to begin with?" Euphemia responded. "And the worst of it is if my father really does decide that Dr. Fenette knows too much, there is literally nothing I can do to protect him short of getting him and his family out of Britannia outright. And even then they may not be beyond the reach of the Inquisitio."

The grimace turned into an outright scowl. "You aren't seriously going to let something happen to Shirley and her family?"

"Kallen, there are genuine limits to what I can do," Euphemia said unhappily. "This is not even about my personal desires, this is about the very finite limit of my powers and authority. I cannot countermand my father and there are organs of the state that I cannot bluff or threaten or even stall."

"So what, you're just going to give up?" Kallen demanded.

Euphemia clasped her hands together before resting her chin in them. "Far from it. But I may need to take a different approach." The princess looked back over at Kallen. "What does Shirley's mother do for a living?"

"Huh? Umm." Kallen searched her memory. "I think she's an accountant." And then raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting you'll hire her?"

"It would be far easier to protect Mrs. Fenette if she were to spend her workday here in the palace," Euphemia said. "And once the term starts up once more, does Shirley stay in the dorms?"

"Only during the week," Kallen said. "She goes home for the weekend like a lot of other students."

"Then in theory she can also fall under the same umbrella as protects Nunnally," Euphemia said before sighing. "This will have to do now until a more permanent solution can be found."

That Kallen was not entirely satisfied but the girl was realistic. "We should tell Shirley as soon as possible."

"Agreed. Would you be able to bring her here today?"

Kallen nodded. "I'll get on it right away."

* * *

"Tired doctor?"

Richard stifled his yawn. "Umm, excuse me captain. And, just a tad."

Helena offered a comforting smile even as she kept her attention on the road ahead. The two were in a military Humvee headed for the viceroy's palace having been summoned rather suddenly. The past few weeks had seen Richard's schedule quite packed, which meant he was spending less time than he really should with his family. Shirley especially, considering she was on break. Then again these days she often seemed to be out with a boy. As a father Richard felt just a slight hesitancy at seeing his little girl blossom into a young woman, but as he had said to her so many years ago if she found someone that could genuinely make her happy he would support her all the way. And if this young man did anything to hurt her, well, Richard was also a firm believer in the traditional duties of a father.

"Well you seem to be making considerable progress in the research, doctor," Helena said. "I'm sure her highness and Lady Stadtfeld would be perfectly willing to allow you a short recess."

Richard smiled wirily. "In all likelihood her highness would. She has been quite considerate. Yet very determined."

Helena nodded in agreement. Determined was a very accurate summation of the princess. If there was something Euphemia wanted achieved, she would work doggedly at it until it was done. There were both upsides and downsides to that determination of course, but so far the princess' actions were proving more of the former than the latter.

"Umm, did her highness say anything at all about why I was so urgently summoned?"

"I am afraid not," Helena answered. "She did say however that she would personally explain when you arrived, so I can only presume the matter is of some importance."

"I see," Richard said thoughtfully.

The Humvee came to a stop at an intersection and Helena spared a quick glance at her passenger. "Is something bothering you, doctor?"

"Well, just a nagging feeling," the man responded. "I haven't managed to shake off the concern that if the development in the Lady Stadtfeld's brain continues, she might suffer some sort of permanent damage."

"And you fear that that is what prompted the summons today?" Helena asked.

Richard smiled wirily. "I can't claim any proof beyond a gut feeling, but yes."

The nurse pursed her lips thoughtfully. "The Lady Stadtfeld's mother actually works at Keio Memorial as a nurse. I have spoken with her several times and she has shown no indication as to anything being wrong with her daughter."

Richard blinked. "I, did not know that. Lady Stadtfeld's mother is a nurse?"

Helena nodded. "She is by all indications a conscientious and hard working woman."

"I see." The doctor let out a sigh. "Well, hopefully my instincts are in this case entirely missing the mark. I suppose it is just the fact that the Lady Stadtfeld's condition is so without precedent that I find myself grasping for any potential insight."

The nurse smiled slightly as she started the car rolling once more. "Nevertheless you are making progress." A van passed them before changing lanes and settling in front of the Humvee. "I am sure you will solve this enigma in due-"

Its doors swung open and Helena had a single moment to recognize the large caliber machinegun pointed out its back. The next a hail of rounds smashed into the right side of the Humvee as Helena some miraculously managed to swerve the vehicle about, putting herself between the doctor.

As originally conceived Humvees were not armored to withstand intense small arms fire much less machineguns. This flaw was very quickly recognized by the Britannian military and so all Humvees in service now were an up-armored variant with an updated chassis to support the increased weight. Even so there was a finite limit to how much the basic design could be improved and even with the increased protection enough firepower could overwhelm the Humvee's armor. Nevertheless the Humvee the two were in might have held out long enough for them to break contact and flee, except that the machinegun had primarily been to disorient and distract. The explosive device that was tossed out under the Humvee was another matter entirely. Helena had just enough time to hit the panic button before it detonated, blasting through the relatively thinner floor armor. Their deaths were mercifully quick, the concussive force of the blast killing them almost instantly. The ramifications of those deaths would however reverberate for a very long time.

* * *

"Thank you very much for everything, Mrs. Bright," Mikasa said with a genuine smile.

"It was my pleasure Mikasa," Lena said. "And I look forward to having you in my class when the term starts."

So was the young woman. In fact a great deal of her anxieties had died down since the idea of her first attending Ashford had been broached. While Lena was the only one to begin with a completely genial attitude towards her, the other instructors that had tutored her all eventually warmed up to her after seeing her intense diligence. There was still of course how her fellow students would regard her but the thought of that was bothering her a lot less now, especially considering how friendly the student council president was. The rest of the student council also seemed nice, including the wheelchair bound girl that was the younger Ashford daughter. The only one Mikasa really had any reservations about was Kallen, though fortunately the other girl seemed to be keeping to her word and giving Mikasa space. Time would tell how long that would last once school actually started.

That was for the future however. Today all Mikasa really needed to worry about was biding a temporary farewell to her instructor before reporting to Sayoko for more training. That half of the plan was also turning out to be surprisingly fruitful. While the maid's skills did not entirely overlap with that of the armsman program Mikasa had to admit some of them were quite handy. If only she had known them sooner, like on that fateful day when she followed General Eyrie on that near suicidal attack on the stolen Glasgows, things might have turned out differently. More of her comrades might have lived. The general might have lived.

The past was past however and dwelling on it too much would do no good. After bowing respectfully to Lena Mikasa made her way towards the Ashford residence. As she separated from her teacher however something seemed to tickle the young woman's senses. Mikasa's hand instinctively drifted towards her sidearm. While some staff members were still uneasy about students walking around school actually armed, the events of the past few months had pointed to a genuine need for a select few to carry weapons.

Mikasa positioned herself in a somewhat obscured location and glanced about. The only other people around were two men dressed in workman outfits. They did not actually seem to be doing much work however, instead seemingly chatting about on some sort of break. Then the conversation ended and they began walking, in the same direction as Lena. The soldier frowned. Now why would they be doing that. She plugged in her earphone and turned on her radio pickup.

"This is Ackermann, Miss Shinozaki, please respond."

"This is Shinozaki," came the very prompt response.

"Was there work scheduled for today by outside contractors?"

"No," Sayoko answered immediately. "Where is your location?"

"Main building, front entrance. Moving to follow, subjects are outside heading west."

"Understood, I will be there to back you up shortly."

Mikasa was already on the move, her sidearm now drawn even as she angled it behind her to obfuscate it. She made sure to stay out of sight of the two workers as well, or rather the two men pretending to be workers. By this point she was certain they were anything but, the way they carried themselves was too certain, too intent. They were trained killers, just like her. But until they did something, Mikasa did not intend to reveal her hand.

The two were definitely following Lena, though why Mikasa could not tell. Her teacher had reached where a bunch of other children were, where another teacher was looking after them. Mikasa could not make out what the two were saying but she immediately noticed the older woman stiffening. Lena began looking about, a nervous energy running through her. The other teacher likewise seemed to grow more and more concerned. And then Lena hurried off, pulling out a cellphone as she did so. As if that were some sort of signal the two men began moving faster.

Off to the side Mikasa caught sight of Sayoko appearing, no longer wearing her maid outfit and instead in a loose fitting uniform. The older woman flashed a series of hand signals that Mikasa acknowledged with a nod. They still did not know what these men were doing here and it would be prudent to find out more. At least, so long as they did not present a direct threat to anyone else. Mikasa's eyes narrowed. They were closing in on Lena. Mikasa shot a quick look at Sayoko. She received a short set of instructions via hand signal. That was all she needed as Mikasa bolt out, gun raised.

"Halt!"

The two men were obviously practiced operatives, and perhaps more importantly had considered possibility that they might be compromised. One spun about, already drawing his weapon. The other was doing likewise, but kept his sight set on Lena. The teacher herself was turning about but never would have made it, at least not if she were alone. Mikasa opened fire, dropping her target with cold precision. The other man's gun was halfway up towards Lena, but the only shot he got off went wild as a knife slammed into his arm. He cried out in pain but the sound died in a gargle as Sayoko landed a solid strike on his throat. The man staggered back a single step before another knife was slammed under his jaw. He was dead before the body finished toppling over.

Sayoko turned about and was at Lena's side in an instant. "Mrs. Bright, we need to go now."

Lena's eyes widened as they darted between the dead bodies and the other two women. "W-what is going on!?"

"Those two men were following you ma'am," Mikasa said, slipping into her usual speech. "They looked suspicious so I trailed them."

"Now Mrs. Bright," Sayoko said, taking hold of the other woman's arm and starting to pull her along.

"Wait, my daughter," Lena said. "Estelle's not with the other children!"

Mikasa startled at that. She looked about the area but there was no one in sight.

"Ackermann, contact her highness' guard," Sayoko ordered. "Report this incident and Miss Estelle's disappearance."

Mikasa immediately began working her radio. Time was of the essence.

* * *

The ringing of a cellphone sounded and Shirley gave Rivalz an apologetic look as she reached into her purse. After a quick glance at the incoming number she answered.

"Hello?"

"Shirley, this is Kallen. Do you have some time right now?"

"Umm, kind of. Is this urgent?"

"Sort of. Do you think you could drop by the viceroy's palace? Or should I come pick you up?"

"Oh uh, we're actually at Ginza," Shirley said.

A brief pause. "We?"

"Oh, Rivalz is with me," the girl said.

"Ah. Well, this shouldn't be urgent but-"

Silence suddenly cut in but it was not from the call disconnecting. After waiting a second Shirley tried testing it.

"Kallen? Are you still there?"

"Shirley, where exactly are you in Ginza?" Kallen asked, her tone suddenly taking on a far firmer note.

"Uh, we're standing in front of a department store on Harumi Avenue."

"Alright stay there and wait for me and only me, I'm coming to get you now. And whatever you do stay where there are a lot of people, alright?"

"What? Kallen, what's going on?"

"I'll explain when I get there, but stay right there, can you do that Shirley?"

"I, yes?"

"Alright, I'll see you soon."

A click indicated the end of the call and Shirley looked at her cellphone quizzically.

"Something wrong?" Rivalz asked.

"I'm, not sure," Shirley said with a frown. "Kallen told me to stay here and wait for her to get here. And, to stay out in public?"

Rivalz blinked a few times blankly. And then his expression darkened as he glanced about. There were lots of people around, people going about their business. It did not look like there was anyone whose attention was on them.

"Alright, let's do what she says. Stay right here and make sure we're in plain sight by everyone." Rivalz kept glancing about. "Even better, in a crowd."

Shirley's own face began paling. "Rivalz, is, do you really, no, no not again, no, no nonono-"

"Breathe Shirley, breathe," the young man said, taking hold of his girlfriend's shoulders. "Focus on me, alright? I'm right here with you."

The eyes that met Rivalz's had a panicked, frightened light in them. They seemed to firm however as he held his gaze.

"It'll be alright, okay? You're right here with me." Rivalz pulled Shirley into an embrace. "It'll be alright."

The shaking in the girl's body slowly subsided.

"Miss Fenette?"

And returned with a vengeance as Shirley heard her name called. Rivalz turned about to see two police officers standing before them.

"Is, something the matter, officers?" he asked.

One of the officers raised an eyebrow. When he answered he was directly addressing Shirley.

"Miss Fenette, we are with the Tokyo police force. Your father has been involved in a serious accident. Her highness has requested that we bring you to the hospital immediately."

Shirley clasped her hands over her mouth. Rivalz grabbed hold of her as the girl's knees buckled.

"Miss, here, let me help-"

And pulled her back out of the reach of the police officers. The two men frowned.

"Young man, what are you doing?"

Rivalz regarded the two suspiciously. "We've already been notified. And were told to wait for a specific person here. You two aren't her."

It was for a brief moment but Rivalz caught sight of it, the two supposed police officers tensed up. It was gone the next instant, but he was sure they had reacted.

"We're out here in public," Rivalz continued. "Are you really going to try something out here?"

That did not. The two men dropped all pretenses of actually being police officers.

"Young man, we are uniformed officers," one said. "Do you really think anyone would come to your defense if you resisted arrest?"

Rivalz placed himself between Shirley and the two men. He could feel her futzing about but with his back to her could not know exactly what she was doing.

"Well I don't know about that," Rivalz said with a dark sneer. "The gendarmerie did shoot up Ashford Academy. Who knows if the regular cops are also full of crooks?"

Their displeased expressions made clear they were treating Rivalz's threat seriously. And by treating him seriously, the gloves were coming off. One lunged, seizing hold of Rivalz and slamming a knee against the boy's chest. Or at least that was the intent as Rivalz swung an arm down, blocking the blow. It was not enough however as the larger man instead shoved Rivalz's aside. Only to suddenly stagger as Shirley stabbed him with a fully charged stun gun. The fake policeman jerked, his body twisting unnaturally from the shock.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY FATHER!?" Shirley screamed.

The other man seemed taken aback by the sudden turn of events. His response was to resort to a most permanent solution. His gun was in his hands in an instant and he took aim seemingly not caring that his partner was paralyzed and in the way.

"Like Hel!"

Memories of a day not so long ago flashed through Rivalz's head. A time when the world seemed so much simpler, when he thought there would be nothing special about his life. And how that illusion had been shattered when he attempted a bout of heroism and nearly met his maker in his foolhardiness. Not this time however. Not. This. Time.

Rivalz landed a solid kick against the paralyzed officer, sending him careening towards the other man. He then added to the momentum, slamming his shoulder into the man.

"Run!" Rivalz screamed.

Shirley toppled back, trying to scramble away. Shots sounded.

* * *

It had taken Kallen a minute to get down to the garage after she hung up on Shirley. It took her another five minutes to get to Ginza with the siren on the guards Humvee going full blast and running every red light on her way. It would have taken her eight except two minutes into the drive her sighting of Shirley and Rivalz with her geass had revealed two police officers seemingly approaching them, at which point the young woman hit the accelerator and blasted through the streets. When a slightly uneasy Laura asked what was wrong Kallen's only answer was to tell her to be prepared to go in hot. To the other girl's credit she did not pry further, instead grabbing hold of her rifle and readying it.

By the time they arrived the crowd had already dispersed, the sound of gunfire having scared any reasonable minded person away. It had also drawn the attention of other law enforcement and several real policemen were at this point present. Interestingly enough weapons were trained on both Rivalz and the two fake officers that Kallen had spied from a distance.

The Humvee had barely come to a stop when Kallen threw open the door and exited. Laura was right behind, her rifle pointed down, for now. The officers not directly overseeing the suspects snapped to attention at the sight of their uniforms.

"Ma'am!"

"With me," Kallen snapped.

"Yes ma'am."

When the still conscious operative caught sight of Kallen and Laura his face twisted into a grimace. His jaw then clamped down before his mouth promptly began frothing.

"Shit!" Kallen swore as she rushed to the man's side.

It was too late, the operative keeling over and collapsing on the ground. Kallen turned the man over but his eyes had already rolled back. Very carefully she pried open his mouth and foam spilled forth.

"What, what happened?" one of the real police officers exclaimed.

"Poison, probably a false tooth," Kallen remarked. She glanced over at the unconscious man. "Gag him, don't let him commit suicide when he wakes up."

"Y-yes ma'am."

"And release them," Kallen nodded to Rivalz and Shirley.

Not that the other girl was actually being held under guard, if anything the police officer standing by her was hovering almost protectively over her.

Rivalz picked himself up and nodded to Kallen. "Thanks."

And immediately was at his girlfriend's side. Kallen was not far behind.

"Shirley, everything's okay, now, Kallen's her," Rivalz said.

Shirley shook her head.

"Shirley, Rivalz's right, everything is alright," Kallen tried, smiling gently at her friend.

The girl looked up, hints of tears in her eyes. "My father."

Kallen froze, her expression stiffening unconsciously. Shirley's hand shot out, seizing hold of Kallen's arm.

"Where's my father Kallen? Those, men, said he was in an accident. That was a lie, right? He's okay, right?"

Every word drove a dull blade into Kallen's heart. The report of the attack on Richard Fenette had just reached Kallen when she was in the midst of the call with Shirley. In the time it took her to reach Ginza the police and soldiers on site had already been able to pronounce the doctor deceased, along with his escort the nurse Helena Blanche. And these bastards had the gall to use that information to try to trick Shirley. The twisting pain turned into burning rage. Kallen took hold of Shirley's hand.

"I'm sorry."

Shirley's face went rigid, and then crumbled as tears erupted from her eyes. She collapsed into Rivalz's arms and buried her face in his chest, muffling the sound of her sobs. Kallen heard them loud and clear however. Heard them, along with the thundering rage with which her own heart beat.

* * *

The Euphemia li Britannia that thundered into the palace wing that Monica and her subordinates were using cut an imposing stride. In fact quite a few of the members of Loki Regiment quailed at her passage. There was only one way to describe the expression on her face, it was one out for blood. Without knocking one of her armsmen opened the door to Monica's office for the princess and she strode in without announcement or further courtesy. The knight turned about and regarded the princess, a sinking feeling welling up in her chest.

"Dame Kruszewski." Euphemia's voice was frigid and hard. "What the HEL is the meaning of this!?"

"I assure you your highness," Monica began, "I would like to know as much as you-"

"As much as I!?" the princess cut her off. "Dr. Fenette and Captain Blanche are dead, Dame Kruszewski! Killed, murdered in what was obviously a targeted assassination attempt. And that is not even the end of it, attempts were made on the lives of Lena Bright, Colonel Bright's wife, their daughter Estelle is missing outright, and another attempt was made on Shirley Fenette, Dr. Fenette's daughter! And all you have to say is you would like to know as much as I!?"

Monica pursed her lips. The princess was obviously beyond furious, and rightly so. The knight mentally cursed that fool V.V., count on him to launch his stupid vendetta at the worst possible time.

"Your highness, I knew nothing of any plan involving any of these people," Monica tried again. "I was entirely earnest in seeking Dr. Fenette's services in examining the captured SDECE operative. What good would it do me to desire his assassination, especially before he even had a chance to conduct the examination?"

Euphemia's eyebrow twitched and Monica immediately regretted the slightly untactful wording of her statement. It was too late to take it back however and she could only hope the princess would grasp the sincerity behind those words. More of the princess' guard filed in, all of them in full tactical load outs. Monica's mouth thinned. This, had the potential to get very, very ugly.

"Dame Kruszewski," Euphemia began once more. "It is obvious that the Directorate has other assets in Japan that I have yet to ferret out. If you wish to demonstrate your sincerity in your lack of involvement in this blatant assault upon those subjects whom I personally swore to protect, then surrender the identities and locations of those operatives, _now_."

The princess' guardsmen had finished filtering in and from the count a good half of their total numbers had accompanied Euphemia. Amongst them was one Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki, who somehow managed to look even more pissed off than her liege. Her rifle was also raised and aimed squarely at Monica.

"Your highness," Monica said very carefully. "I am not privy to all of the Directorate's movements."

Euphemia stared, hard, at Monica. And then gave a brisk nod to Kallen. The rifle shifted from Monica and took aim at, the wall. The knight's eyes widened as Kallen fired off a quick burst. Cries sounded from the room behind them and Monica did not even need to look to confirm what had happened. Somehow Kallen had known exactly where André Devigny had been restrained, and shot him. It had to have been due to her geass, that would have been absolutely impossible for anyone else.

"Stand down," Monica said very quickly into her own radio. "I repeat, stand down."

The last thing she needed was for her soldiers to get into a firefight with the princess' guard. Not that her highness' actions this day could go without consequence. Monica glared at Euphemia.

"That was utterly unnecessary and even borders on seditious, your highness," the knight said coldly. "Regardless of your personal feelings towards those subjects that have been harmed, Agent Devigny was our only lead to Lelouch Lamperouge. Killing him significantly hinders _our_ investigation, and does not in any way entice me to be more cooperative in dealing with the current situation, especially when at present I simply _do not know_ where the Directorate operatives are or whom they might be."

"On the contrary," Euphemia said with a serene harshness. "Removing Agent Devigny will play its part in ensuring that one more weapon aimed at the Directorate remains at large for that much longer."

Monica's face blanched. "You-your highness, you can't be serious!?"

The hardness of Euphemia's eyes made quite clear she was.

"But-he tried to kill you as well!" Monica continued to protest.

"And whom were responsible for Lelouch's descent into madness?" Euphemia hissed. "The very same people that _you_ seem to be paying scant attention to despite your protestations that we share a common cause. Instead you spend your time and effort on trying to hunt down one whom would see the Directorate reduced to naught but ash. Tell me Dame Kruszewski. Are you _really_ on a mission to dismantle the Directorate, or was that assertion simply camouflage for your real mission, to remove any obstacles that stand in the Directorate's way, obstacles such as my brother, and myself?"

"Your highness, you are reaching, significantly, in presuming that Lelouch is actually aiming for the Directorate and not simply seeking to bring down the Empire, and your entire family, as a whole," Monica hissed.

"On the contrary, I have the word of the second best person to know that Lelouch aims for the Directorate," Euphemia responded.

The knight's lips twisted into a grimace. C.C. The witch would know, and apparently was willing to reveal bits and pieces when it suited her whim. Perhaps she did need to be removed from the Princess Euphemia's custody after all.

"You have made your point, your highness," Monica said. "It is obvious that you will not broker opposition to your chosen path. But know that there comes a cost to your actions this day."

"The lesson that I have taken, Dame Kruszewski," Euphemia said coldly, "is that I have not been nearly proactive enough in my efforts to find and root out the Directorate's influence, if they believe that they can carry out such blatant operations in my domain. It is a mistake that I assure you will _not_ be repeated."

* * *

The conference room that had transformed into a mini-command center was bustling with activity. When the door opened to reveal Euphemia the men and women inside did not halt their work, though a few did approach to greet the princess.

"Your highness," Cassius said. He then nodded to Kallen. "Milady." And finally regarded Monica warily. "Your grace."

"Colonel," Euphemia said. "Dame Kruszewski has agreed to assist in the investigation. Please show her the evidence that has been collected this far."

"Understood your highness." Cassius turned back to Monica. "This way, your grace."

The two did not move far though Euphemia did not follow. At the table was laid out several photos, the majority showing corpses. As Monica examined them and the other documentation she could not help but be slightly impressed. The gendarmerie had been thorough and very efficient in their process.

"These are the three that were killed in their attempted kidnappings," Cassius pointed out the photos. "This one we took alive and managed to extract his false tooth filled with cyanide before he woke. None of them have prints on their fingers, in all likelihood they were burned off, and when we tried to search for dental records they did not show up in any of the databases that we can access."

Monica looked over at the man. That last statement was almost certainly deliberately worded.

"What do you mean, colonel?"

"When we entered the data for our search nothing came up," Cassius answered, "but shortly thereafter I received an inquiry from the gendarmerie main office in Pendragon as to what we were investigating. It seems obvious that the search triggered some sort of filter."

The colonel was a sharp one. Monica looked at the images again. She frowned. There was only one conclusion, and it was not one she especially liked.

"You've stumbled across an Inquisitio wetwork team, colonel. And now the Inquisitio itself probably knows you have them."

Murmurs sounded about the two though Cassius himself remained composed.

"If that is the case would you have any ideas as to why the Inquisitio seems to have shown an interest in those persons affiliated with the Babel investigation and their families?"

Monica looked up at the colonel. "What?"

"My daughter is not the only one that has gone missing, Dame Kruszewski," Cassius said firmly. "Ms. Kouzuki, Baron Stadtfeld's former wife and the mother of the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld is also missing, along with Cole Kraft, Sir Kraft's son. Combined with the outright murder of Captain Helena Blanche, a liaison at Keio Memorial that was helping us identify and interview Refrain victims, and Dr. Richard Fenette, a noted neuroscientist, the conclusion should be obvious."

Looked from that angle Monica could see how the colonel arrived at such a conclusion. And in any other situation it would almost certainly be the correct one. The knight frowned. In fact, it might actually be entirely accurate. Accurate, but incomplete.

"Excuse me a moment colonel," Monica said before rejoining Euphemia. "Your highness, a quick word?"

Euphemia nodded.

"The colonel has already shared with you his hypothesis regarding the motive behind the attacks?"

Another nod.

"Well, I don't think he's entirely off the mark, but I think your subordinates might have inadvertently drawn the attention of the Directorate irrespective of your own actions."

The princess raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"The Babel case," Monica said very carefully. "It was a human trafficking ring. Well, the Directorate often has, need, for new blood to conduct its tests on."

To the princess' credit her own visible reaction was a slight flicker in her eyes. Monica was pretty sure that this day was seeing new records set in just how monumentally pissed her highness could get.

"So you believe the objective was to make an example of those that dared tread upon the Directorate's interests?" Euphemia asked flatly.

"I believe so, your highness," Monica said.

"Colonel Bright," Euphemia called out.

The officer in question came to attention.

"Arrest all of the suspects in the A and B lists for the Babel investigation."

"By your order, your highness," Cassius said and marched out of the room.

The princess looked back at Monica. "I think, Dame Kruszewski, that you might want to tap your, other, contacts and see whether they are prepared to give up the identities of these operatives."

Monica grimaced. Euphemia obviously still believed that Monica possessed closer ties and higher standing with the Directorate than the knight truly did. Unfortunately for the princess no matter what she believed reality was not obliged to bend to her whim. And then an idea struck Monica. She would never get anything out of the Directorate, that was a nonstarter, but there was another way.

"Your highness, I wish to speak with the agent that was taken alive by your subordinates," Monica said. "I could, compel him to share details of his operation by using my position as a direct, operative, of his majesty."

An eyebrow quirked as Euphemia inferred the secondary meaning there. After a brief moment the princess nodded to one of her armsmen.

"Escort Dame Kruszewski to the prisoner."

The soldier clicked his heels together and gestured for Monica to follow. They would need to move quickly if there was to be any chance of finding the victims still alive. And from keeping this disaster from spiraling even further out of control.

* * *

"Here."

Heinrich blinked and looked up to see a gently smiling woman holding out a cup of tea.

"Oh, thank you Mrs. Bright."

The baron accepted the cup and took a sip almost automatically.

"You are holding up?" Lena asked as she took a seat next to Heinrich.

"Maybe. I'm at least not trying to tear the place apart. Trying to not think too much or too hard about anything. When I do, I feel this burning rage start building up and I'm not sure I'll be able to control it."

Lena nodded and gazed forward for several moments. "Would you care to tell me about your wife, baron? Kotone, I believe her name was?"

Heinrich grimaced, his heart twisting at the mention of her name. He forced himself to answer however.

"She was, a wonderful person. She did not care about rank or station, she simply decided that she saw something in me that she loved, and accepted both my strengths and my faults. The years that I spent with her here in Japan, were the happiest of my life. She gave me a strong-willed son, and a beautiful daughter." The baron took a deep breath. "And every time she truly needed me, I failed her. I failed her as a husband, as a father to our children, as a man." The cup of tea began to tremble upon the plate Heinrich held. "I failed her."

Lena placed a hand on the baron's shoulder. "I always wanted a little girl, to share with her the love that my mother showered upon me. When I met Cassius, he was a rowdy, boisterous lad. But he also had a kind heart. And I knew that any daughter of ours would be someone I would cherish with all my heart." The woman pressed a hand against her breast. "And because I treasure her, I will wait here for her to come back to me. Or if need be, I will go forth and find her myself."

Heinrich chuckled dryly. "Is that what they call a mother's conviction? Or a woman's?"

"I think it is just the strength that anyone whom truly loves another possesses," Lena said. "And that includes you as well, baron."

"Listen to Lena, Heinrich," another voice sounded.

The two looked up to see Eve standing before them.

"You do no one any good moping like that, least of all yourself," she continued. "Stay strong so that when Kotone returns, you are there ready to welcome her back."

Heinrich regarded Eve before taking a deep breath. "So long as I draw breath I would wait for her to return. And yet, I cannot but fear that I will never feel her warmth in my arms again." The baron closed his eyes. "Kotone only has a day's worth of medication with her. If they do not find her in time, if they do not…"

The baron's voice trailed off as it lost all strength. No further words left his lips and no words of comfort could shake him from the thoughts that echoed in his mind. If, if, if. If he never saw Kotone again, if he never held her again. He needed her, far more than he had ever realized. And so Heinrich Stadtfeld, Third Baron of Denton, prayed to the gods and the fates that he would behold Kotone once more, and that she would once more grace him with her kind, beautiful smile.

End of Chapter 61

I would say things have taken a very, dark, turn. Euphemia is about one step away from basically declaring outright war with the Directorate, and she's pissed off enough that few things could stop her from actually taking that last step.

I don't exactly have a reason for pairing up Rivalz with Shirley instead of Milly. Part of it was just that Rivalz's, affection, for Milly felt so over exaggerated in the anime proper that it was kind of like a, really? sort of thing. And so I decided to see if I could craft a more realistic relationship in its place.

Shirley's stun gun was one of the measures that was added to try and offer Richard's family some increased measure of security. One of. There were others, but the security as one can see was not that strong.

Cecilé literally was a spelling error on my part, it's meant to be Cécile. That's fixed now.

In the Britannian history Stephen Austin is not liable to have played any role in the Britannian settlement of Texas. Remember that the Spanish emphatically did not want any Britannian colonists moving in, so they never would have granted Austin's father a grant for land. Samuel Houston might have played a role, but if he did so it would have been something similar to what happened in real life, him commanding a local militia that was severely outnumbered and outgunned, and let's be honest here, Houston owed his victory to a great deal of luck and screw-ups on the Mexican side, things could have turned very differently if Santa Anna hadn't been an idiot at San Jacinto. But anyway, that's all tangential to what happened in my timeline.

The Britannian nobles that previously supported the settlements would not have sent any significant support once the fighting actually started, their goal was to basically cause the deaths of those settlers to incite public opinion in the Empire to force the government to go to war with the Spanish for Mexico. As such while they had previously provided some men and weapons, most of that support had been pulled or pruned back to very minimal levels once the shooting actually started. If Houston had played any sort of role similar to what his real-life counterpart did, it would not have been with the backing of the Britannian nobles.

It's mentioned by Lena that slaveholding colonists were major backers of Washington's Rebellion so yes, you can assume that a bunch of Virginians got hammered after the British won. It's explicitly stated that a lot of them lost their property, which was promptly handed to supporters and nobles, which ended up creating the set of landowners that conspired to start the war between Britannia and Spain. The second time around the government decided to just break the power of that particular social group instead of just shifting it around, hence the emancipation of the slaves.

There was also no equivalent of the civil war in this timeline. The conditions simply did not exist to allow it to happen. The notion of state's rights never existed in the Britannian Empire seeing as the first whiffs of it were emphatically snuffed out by the failure of Washington's Rebellion, and the absolute authority of the central government was reasserted by the crushing of the Quebec Rebellion. As such any attempt by a noble to break off from the Empire would have unambiguously been treason, there was no political ideology that could have been used to self-justify it as anything else, and it would have been off with their heads. The Britannian government as a whole was considerably more autocratic, and though there existed some legal protections and the like, the crown had far more mechanisms for nipping sedition or rebellion in the bud than the American government even without having to resort to measures that were actually illegal even for them.

Bottom line is, regardless of how history played out in the real world, they serve only as the loosest framework with which I've constructed the history for my version of Code Geass.


	63. Chapter 62

_The Ordo Hereticus of the Inquisitio on the other hand was the subject of many a whispered tale about its dogmatic determination to hunt down any and all enemies of the Empire. Unlike the regular policing agencies there were no legal limits on the means by which the Ordo could obtain evidence short of outright fabrication, and rumors persisted that even that was not beyond this branch of the Inquisitio if it was absolutely intent on seeing a guilty verdict delivered. Then there were the actually documented cases of extrajudicial abductions and even executions and Hereticus was regarded with a great deal of wariness by a not insignificant percentage of the Britannian population, both nobles and commoners alike._

 _Rank was no protection from Hereticus' reach and several noteworthy instances wherein a noble that had previously escaped punishment by the judiciary due to their standing was brought to heel by the Ordo saw it earn a degree of begrudging respect. In fact many of those recruited into Hereticus tended to be law enforcement whom felt stymied in their pursuit of crime by the legal limits they were forced to operate under. With the considerably increased power and resources of the Inquisitio, these men and women found freedom to relentlessly pursue any whom would endanger the peace and security of the Empire. On too many occasions however the lengths that these men and women went and the lines that they crossed exacted a cost beyond what could be termed constructive._

 _-Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I_

Chapter 62

In re ira

"Your highness, we've just received a call, someone claiming to be responsible for the attacks."

The entire room seemed to freeze as attention fell on the gendarmerie officer that spoke. To the man's credit he kept his attention focused on the princess herself and remained composed.

"He is requesting to speak with you."

"The trace?" Euphemia asked.

A shake of the head. "It's, actually coming from a secured line from the homelands. We can't trace it further than that."

Murmurs sounded at that particular bit of news, though in truth all it had done was confirm that whomever was behind the attacks had the backing of some very powerful organizations. Very powerful Britannian organizations at that.

"Very well," Euphemia said. "Are we recording?"

"Yes your highness."

"Then patch me through."

The officer twiddled with a headset before presenting it to the princess. Laura was the one that actually took it however before handing it to Euphemia. She put it on and a nod to the officer had a click sound as the connection was made.

"This is Euphemia li Britannia. With whom am I speaking?"

"You may address me as R," came a distorted by somehow still self-important sounding voice. "Allow us to skip the pleasantries. I have in my possession three individuals of whom are some personal importance to those that serve you, your highness. I am prepared to release them, in exchange for an individual in your custody. I believe you refer to her as Cecilia Clermont."

Euphemia's eyes narrowed. So that was what this was about, the Directorate wanted C.C. and so grabbed hostages whose deaths would severely undermine her administration.

"What guarantee do I have that the hostages are still alive?" Euphemia asked. "Your operatives made no attempt to take Dr. Fenette or Captain Blanche alive."

"Because we had no intention to do so," the voice answered. "But as for proof, here."

Some shuffling sounded but then silence fell. And then a thwack echoed before a cry of pain carried through. It took a few moments more before someone else began speaking.

"Your highness," a familiar and noticeably pained voice sounded.

Euphemia's eyes widened. "Cole!?"

"Don't give these bastards what they-gah!"

Another thud echoed through the call as the young man was silenced by a strike of some sort. Euphemia's fists tightened.

"Apologies your highness," the first voice returned. "It would seem at least one of our hostages here is not at all eager to regain his freedom."

"I suggest you handle these persons with greater care, R," Euphemia said coldly. "Without them, there would be no reason to treat with you."

"But I do have them, your highness, and I suggest you do not forget that fact. Now, do you agree to the exchange or not?"

Euphemia looked over at three sets of eyes in the room. Cassius nodded immediately whereas Lawrence did so with much greater reservation. Kallen held the princess' gaze for a seeming eternity before finally nodding.

"I do not," Euphemia said only after receiving the assent of the others. "My counteroffer. You free all the hostages in your possession and I shall refrain issuing a warrant of summary execution for all of you."

Silence answered the princess for several moments.

"Your highness, I do not believe you actually understand your position."

"On the contrary, I believe it is you whom have miscalculated. The Empire does _not_ negotiate with terrorists and insurgents, and it certainly does not negotiate with traitors to the crown. The moment you set out on this endeavor the only result it could have brought about is your own deaths."

Again a silence.

"I shall give you some time to reconsider, your highness," the voice finally said. "Perhaps in a few days' time, when Ms. Kouzuki's condition has deteriorated, you will recognize the folly of your stubbornness."

A hiss sounded across the table. Kallen looked about ready to crush the headset she was listening into. Before she could give into the temptation however the connection was severed.

"That's it, they've hung up on us," the officer said.

Euphemia took a deep breath as she took off her own headset. She then looked over at the others.

"Thank you, Colonel Bright, Sir Kraft, Kallen. I know, this is not easy for you."

"We have placed our faith in you, your highness," Cassius said for all of them, though even his demeanor held a certain pained tinge to it. "And we will do what we can to see that faith answered true."

* * *

Cole's side was still hurting when he was dragged back to the cell. Getting tossed haphazardly in probably did not help things any either. Then again not having to be around those assholes was a relief all by itself, especially that stuck up little brat that seemed to be the one giving the orders.

"Cole, are you alright?" a voice called out.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, sorry for worrying you, Ms. Kouzuki." Cole took a deep breath. "What of yourself and Estelle?"

"I am fine," Kotone answered. "Estelle has fallen asleep for now."

That was probably a good thing, a little girl like that should never have had to experience something like this. That they grabbed her still probably pissed Cole off more than anything else, even more than his own abduction. And the abduction of Kotone Kouzuki for that matter. Of all the circumstances that Cole though he might meet Kallen's birth mother under, this was far outside the realm of his imagination. Not that he had seen much of her and Estelle beyond a fleeting glimpse before being tossed into his cell.

"Did they do anything to you?" Kotone asked.

Cole took a deep breath, trying to moderate his fury. "No, no, they just wanted me to speak with her highness to show that they actually have us."

"I see." Another pause. "You sound, winded?"

The young man grimaced. "I, wasn't entirely cooperative with their demands. But I will be fine, Ms. Kouzuki."

"Do be careful Cole," Kotone said. "These people seem willing to carry out great evil in pursuit of their goals."

That Cole did not for a moment doubt, especially based off of the few pieces of information that Euphemia had deigned safe enough to share with him. He supposed he should not have been surprised that he would be targeted due to his increasing closeness to her highness, though in this case it was looking more like he came to their attention due to his father. That certainly had to be the case for Estelle at least.

"Cole," Kotone spoke up again.

"Yes?" the young man immediately responded.

"Umm, could you, tell me a bit about Kallen? What she was like at school."

Cole blinked. And then recalled how Kallen had said she spent basically all of her adolescence estranged from her parents, even though they were all technically under one roof.

"I would be happy to," Cole said. "I only really met her last year though, so I might not be able to tell you too much."

"That is fine," Kotone assured him. "Just, anything would help."

Cole frowned slightly as he thought he heard a slight strain in Kotone's voice as it trailed off. He shook it off however and began speaking.

"I met Kallen, let's see, when I was trying to chase down Milly, the student council president, to sign a few papers for me. I was organizing the catering for the school dance, and Milly had, as usual, made herself scarce around the time I needed the funding approved to pay for all the food." Cole smiled wistfully. "That was the first time I actually saw Kallen, but I was more focused on Milly. We weren't formally introduced until the day of the dance itself. I had dropped by with some sandwiches and Kallen was the only one in the student council room. We chatted a bit, and I was about to leave when Milly showed up, with the Princess Euphemia." A chuckle sounded. "And then Milly started dropping hints that maybe I should be asking the princess to the dance. I sort of panicked, and, well, when the dance finally came around I ended up asking Kallen instead. And she accepted. It was a, rather eventful first meeting."

"I see," Kotone said, her voice noticeably softer. "Did, Kallen enjoy yourself?"

"I think so," Cole said. "She was, smiling a lot that evening. And shooting Milly scowls. I don't think she had particularly wanted to come to the dance, but I think she ended up having a good time regardless."

"I'm glad," Kotone said. "Thank you, for helping her enjoy the evening."

Cole leaned against the wall. Had Kallen truly enjoyed the evening? He dearly wanted to think so. Against all odds he had after all.

"Ms. Kouzuki? Do you mind telling me a little about Kallen?" Cole asked. "She's never really talked about her past much. I think, she still finds it a bit hard to. But, it's an important part of her, and I feel like if I really want to be there for her, I should know a little bit about it."

"I would be happy to, Cole," Kotone said after a brief moment. "Kallen, when she was a child, was very energetic. She liked running around and was always tagging along with her older brother and his friends, and they did not begrudge her presence. She was also very bright, she applied herself at her studies, and seemed to have a thirst for knowledge, a drive to excel at anything she tried."

That did sound like Kallen, Cole nodded to himself. Of all the things he had seen her commit herself to, she seemed incapable of not giving it her all, whether it be helping with the student council work or apparently acting as a vigilante.

"What, did she want to be when she was younger?" Cole asked.

The answer took a while to come.

"She wanted to be a chef," Kotone said. "She said that, she wanted to make people feel as happy as she did when she herself ate a good meal."

Cole's breath caught.

"That's the first thing she said she wanted to be," Kotone continued. "Then she wanted to be a police officer, because she wanted everyone to feel safe like she did with her family. And then, a teacher. Because she wanted to show everyone just how wonderful the world is."

A slight smile appeared on Cole's face. Always thinking about someone else, that did sound very much like Kallen. And disappeared as quickly. The desire to help others was still there, that Cole did not doubt. How much purer might it have been had the Empire not destroyed her life?

"I wish I could have seen Kallen back then," Cole said. "She sounds like, she was a handful."

A slight giggle sounded. "She was." And then a cough. "She was."

Cole frowned. "Ms. Kouzuki, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Kotone tried to assure him, before another fit of coughs overtook the woman.

"Ms. Kouzuki," Cole said, rising.

"I'm-I'll be okay," Kotone said softly. "My, body hasn't been very strong after I, got sick."

Cole grimaced. "Is there anything we can do?"

"It's alright," Kotone said. "You, don't need to worry."

That was blatantly untrue but separated as they were there was little Cole could do. For that matter even if they were in the same cell Cole was not sure what he would be able to do.

"Ms. Kouzuki, please hold on," Cole said. "I'm sure her highness, Colonel Bright, your daughter, I'm sure they'll do everything they can to find us."

The coughing subsided though the sound of heavy breathing could still be heard through the walls.

"I know Cole, I know," Kotone said.

Cole sighed as he sat back down again. He hoped that his words would not turn out to be empty platitudes. Something told him that Kallen and her highness would not give up until they found them, but that was not the same as finding them in time. And from the sounds of it, whatever Kallen's mother was suffering from was taking its toll.

"Aunty Kotone?"

The young man's ears perked up as another voice spoke up.

"Estelle, did you sleep well?"

"Uh huh. Thank you for being with me."

Cole could not see what was happening, but he could imagine it. Imagine Kotone stroking Estelle's head like the mother she was.

"Aunty Kotone, are you alright?" the girl asked gingerly.

That caused Cole to start. Estelle could see it? He grimaced. And uttered a prayer for Kallen and Euphemia to hurry.

* * *

"There are three Hereticus wetwork teams involved in the operation," Monica said, "and two Directorate operatives. They're down to one whole team and two halves, so technically two teams, but the two teams that lost members won't exactly just merge and carry on like before due to the nature of these teams."

The men and women assembled before Monica did not interrupt the knight as she briefed them, instead waiting for her to finish before launching into questions. That was the nice thing about working with professionals, they did not feel the need to hear their own voice to mask their ignorance.

"They identified around a dozen different locations that they could use to hide the hostages, most of them fairly out of the way." Monica quickly punched in a series of coordinates on the map. "The operative indicated that they probably would not be moving around too much, especially not with their depleted manpower. They've got enough supplies to last for a while though, so in theory they can afford to be patient. They're also operating completely black, meaning they expect no support from the government or even from the rest of the Ordo. If they are to complete this mission, they need to do it with what resources they themselves can procure."

A few heads nodded at that one. In theory that put these operatives at a disadvantage. It also meant that they might be all the more desperate when finally cornered.

"That's all I've got," Monica finished.

"We can do a sweep of all these locations," Jeremiah said. "Simultaneously if need be. The military has enough troops for it."

"If the Hereticus operatives notice the searches they might decide to execute the hostages," Kallen said, before looking over at Euphemia. "Get me close enough, and I can scout each one without alerting them to my presence."

Monica kept her expression impassive. Kallen's assertion almost certainly had to do with her geass, and if it really was one that extended her perceptions there was no telling much further it would have been boosted as part of its transformation into a code. This information was probably the only useful thing to come out of this entire Charlie Foxtrot.

Before Euphemia could accept or dismiss Kallen's suggestion however another man spoke up.

"Excuse me your highness, milady, but a question for Dame Kruszewski if I may."

Monica cocked her head aside. "Ask away, Colonel Bright."

Cassius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Seeing as you were able to order the Hereticus operative we have in custody to divulge all this information, could you not do the same and order the others to stand down?"

All gazes were now on Monica and the woman had to admit the colonel's question showed a remarkable degree of insight.

"Maybe, if I could actually get a completely secure line to them," Monica said. "The, means, that I used would be rendered ineffectual if I attempted it over radio or phone, even secure military lines."

"Does this ops team not have such secured communications already established, for their internal use at least?" Jeremiah asked.

"They do," Monica said, "but that even I can't pry out of our prisoner. One thing that a wetwork team will not compromise, not even on a direct order from his majesty the emperor, is her team's communications net."

Kallen snorted. "Bloody lovely." She looked over at the princess again. "Then our only option would be to try and find them directly."

"Agreed." Euphemia in turn looked over at Jeremiah. "General Gottwald, can you arrange for transport for Kallen and the gendarmerie strike teams?"

Jeremiah blinked. "Umm, yes your highness." And glanced over at Cassius. "But, you intend to employ the gendarmerie for the actual strike as well? No offense intended, colonel."

Cassius smiled thinly and at a nod from the princess answered himself. "The operation may be paramilitary in nature, General Gottwald, but it will be predominantly a rescue operation. That is the sort of exercise that the gendarmerie is supposed to specialize in."

That Jeremiah was forced to concede was true. He nodded.

"I will see to it that Lady Stadtfeld and the gendarmerie are provided with whatever they need." The general's expression hardened. "We will render whatever assistance is necessary to avenge Captain Blanche."

Monica pursed her lips. For her own part she was as outraged at the murder of a Britannian army nurse as any other member of the armed forces. As a soldier one did not shoot one's comrades in the back, and one especially did not cause harm to the women dedicated to saving the lives of their fellow servicemen and women. Of course the Inquisitio operated under a completely different set of rules, one wherein nothing was sacred. Even so the Hereticus wetwork teams should not have been so colossally stupid as to kill an army nurse captain, especially not one credited with having helped save the life of the Princess Euphemia. These operatives were damn lucky that it was the gendarmerie that was going to be sent after them, regular army units would have been on an absolute warpath.

A chill ran down the back of Monica's neck and when she looked over she saw the Princess Euphemia and Kallen both regarding her. Monica grimaced. It looked like they still did not trust her. And that was not entirely unreasonable either, seeing as she had not been completely honest with either of them. And still was not for that matter. But if they were angry with her, that anger paled in comparison to the utter hatred both must be feeling towards the Directorate. V.V. really had screwed the pooch on this one and Monica doubted that killing the French SDECE operative to destroy the only lead to Lelouch, and only living example of the effect of his power, would be the end of their retribution. The knight could almost feel sorry for the little bastard. Almost.

* * *

"And where doust thee think thou art headed?"

Kallen spun about and gaped at C.C. in surprise.

"Wha-what are you doing here?"

"That be mine query," the other girl responded as she regarded Kallen sharply. "Thou be girded for war, and yet deigns not to inform me?"

Kallen grimaced. "This is personal, C.C., along with being part of my duties to her highness. You don't need to get involved with the mess."

C.C. scoffed. "And whom hast so stirred thy liege's wrath? Tis known to you they are mine enemy, nay, more, an enemy unto you all. And no great friend to any lord."

Kallen stared at C.C. blankly for a second. "I'm pretty sure that's not how the line actually goes in that play."

The smirk made clear C.C. did not care.

"Well, you _would_ be very helpful against a bunch of geass wielders," Kallen admitted.

"Then it be decided," C.C. declared. "Ready mine arms and stead, dame knight, and we shall ride to war side by side."

This time Kallen's response was a bemused snort. "You seem to be getting more poetic over time."

"Thy compliment be sincerely noted."

* * *

By the time Kallen and C.C. got to MacArthur Base there were several light trucks with the gauntlet insignia of the gendarmerie already parked inside. To her surprise there were several others that had the red sunrise of Akatsuki as well. When she hopped over to the airfield where the helicopters were waiting the girl's suspicions were confirmed by some familiar faces.

"Ohgi! Minami!" Kallen stared in mild disbelief. "Lieutenant-colonel. Tamaki?"

"Oi, what's with that reaction?" the boisterous man said with a grin. And then said expression disappeared from his face. "We all heard what happened Kallen, and we're here to back you up."

Kallen's eyes widened further and she looked over at Ohgi. The man nodded.

"It's only been a few weeks, but we've been doing a lot of drilling with the gendarmerie." He waved at the other Akatsuki members. "And everyone else here has previous police experience. When the colonel asked me to put together a team to help with the rescue operation, well, the hardest part was telling some people no."

"He tried that with me," Tamaki said, grin returning. "I wasn't gonna just sit around when Naoto's mom's in trouble though."

Kallen's expression softened into a smile before she looked over at Tohdoh with a solemn expression.

"I did not expect to see you here, lieutenant-colonel." The girl glanced over at another figure hanging a bit further back. "Or a member of your Swords."

"Our differences were made plain last we met, Kouzuki," Tohdoh said. "But those differences are of method, not purpose." The man returned Kallen's solemn gaze. "Her highness has kept her word, and even gone beyond it on occasion. She is not one whom I could bend knee to, but she is no longer one whom I consider merely a lesser evil." He took a deep breath. "There are many whom would govern much more poorly."

The smile returned to Kallen's expression. "Thank you, lieutenant-colonel."

"I renounced my rank when I finally cast my lot against the JLF," Tohdoh said. "There is no need to address me so anymore."

From the corner of her eye Kallen caught sight of an irritated looking Chiba. The young woman suppressed a smile.

"Need has nothing to do with it, lieutenant-colonel," Kallen said instead. "You stood by me even after having legitimate doubts. You may not have completely trusted me, but you did hold true to your word to me. And I will not show discourtesy to one whom has stood by my side."

Tohdoh's expression softened and the man bowed his head for a brief moment.

"It wasn't just us that were with you, Kallen," Ohgi said firmly. "You were also there every step of the way with _us_. We're not going to let you down now. So, what's the game plan?"

"Right." Kallen looked about. "We've got a dozen sites that the Hereticus operatives could be hiding at, and even with a helicopter to get me from site to site it'll still take a few hours to search all of them if we're unlucky. And if we're really unlucky, they might have gone to a location that the guy we caught doesn't know about, but we're hoping that the Fates are feeling at least somewhat merciful today. After I find where they're holding the hostages, I call the cavalry in and we storm the site to rescue them." The girl's expression hardened. "And we kill the bastards that tried to pull this shit."

Ohgi frowned. "Is that, an actual order from her highness?"

Kallen nodded. "What's happening, it's actually a lot more serious than you might think, Ohgi. Her highness has grown powerful enough that whomever kicked off this op could not do so with the Empire's official organs of state, they had to resort to a completely black wetworks team. In all likelihood even if the emperor himself did not order this op, he's aware of it and is watching. If we fail to bring these bastards to heel and they get away, how do you think that will make the princess look?"

Most people would regard Ohgi as a generally very kind man. That did not mean he could not think in ruthless terms.

"But if we do get them, it would serve as a warning, maybe even a deterrent, that going after the princess and her interests might be more trouble than it is worth," Ohgi said.

"Exactly," Kallen said with a nod.

"And yet I can't quite help but think that revenge is also playing its part in her highness' order," Ohgi remarked. "And your execution of them."

A dark grimace crossed Kallen's face. "Ohgi. These fucking bastards went after my mom. They went after one of my few true friends at school. And they killed her father, _and_ the Britannian army nurse that's been coordinating things at Keio. So yes, revenge definitely has a part in this, for _all_ of us."

Ohgi regarded Kallen for several moments. And then to the girl's surprise he actually nodded.

"That it does indeed."

At the somewhat bewildered look Kallen gave him Ohgi reached out and gave the girl a ruffle of her hair.

"I've fought in the insurgency for a lot longer than you have Kallen," he said. "As much as I preach the need to keep a cool head and not let things get personal, sometimes the other guy doesn't listen. And when they don't, well, I'm not afraid of going down to that dark place if that's the only place left to go."

Kallen continued staring at the older man. She then took a deep breath and nodded.

"Thanks Ohgi. For being there for me."

"Anytime Kallen, anytime."

* * *

"Your highness."

Euphemia turned about to see Jeremy approach her.

"Sir Finch," the princess said with a nod.

"We've had a rather, unexpected breakthrough in the Babel case, your highness," the lawyer said. "The sudden arrests seem to have, well, frightened several of the suspects enough that more of them are willing to accept your opening offer instead of trying to negotiate a more lenient plea bargain."

Euphemia's eyebrow rose. "Is that so?"

"I will admit to some mixed feelings on this development, your highness," Jeremy said. "Nevertheless, some of the information that they have shared has proven, enlightening as much as it is disturbing. And, I think we've cracked who is at the center of this entire affair on this side of the Pacific, your highness."

That grabbed Euphemia's attention far more than the initial statement.

"Who?" the princess asked almost forcefully.

"Renaldo Douglas, your highness," Jeremy answered.

The princess took a moment to search the name in her memory. And frowned.

"He was on the C list of suspects."

Jeremy nodded, seemingly impressed at the viceroy's impressive recollection ability.

"We had suspected that he might be involved in money laundering via Babel, but the connection was so tenuous that that we did not believe he had any direct involvement with the human and drug trafficking. Based on the new confessions however, it seems he was the point of contact for several, extremely lucrative transactions involving someone back in the homeland. Whom this other party is, no one seems to know however."

"But this Douglas individual probably would," Euphemia surmised.

"Yes your highness."

"Bring him in."

Jeremy bowed his head. "By your order, your highness."

Even as Jeremy left to carry out those orders Euphemia's own thoughts were turning to how to proceed after the man's arrest. Bringing him in was only a start, they needed to actually extract the name of his homeland contact to progress with the investigation. And if this contact really had made these purchases for the Directorate then it might well offer leads to the wider network of agents and operatives embedded within Britannia. The question was how to get that information out of Renaldo and doing so without killing him before he surrendered everything of value that he might know.

Handing him to an Inquisitio interrogator would probably produce results, save for the fact that it was becoming apparent Hereticus was thoroughly infiltrated by the Directorate if not outright suborned. Monica was another option but Euphemia simply did not trust the knight, there was all too likely a possibility that the suspect would suffer a far too early unfortunate ending at the hands of the self-proclaimed lord inquisitor.

Xenos. Now there was an interesting possibility. The Ordo Xenos was focused mostly on foreign intelligence gathering, not domestic enforcement. And many of its members were also active duty military personnel, likely to be as furious with Captain Blanche's murder as any of their non-Inquisitio comrades. Euphemia determined to see if that might be the solution to her little problem. And if she played her cards right, the man would be blabbing his secrets even before the blade of the interrogator was unsheathed.

* * *

Cole had not slept well. It would have been bad enough just with Kotone's condition deteriorating, but trying to calm down a frantic Estelle while not being in the same cell as them had not been easy. The woman had first begun to suffer the shakes before her body seemingly started to cramp up. Estelle predictably panicked, yet for a ten year old she had held up remarkably well, actually taking the initiative to wash down Kotone with some of the water they had and trying to get the woman to drink a little to keep hydrated. When Cole asked her how she knew to do these things, for a moment Estelle's demeanor had brightened as she exclaimed that her papa had taught her these things. Colonel Bright could be justifiably proud of his daughter.

Eventually Kotone had fallen unconscious and Cole had stayed up to talk to Estelle, to keep the girl's mind occupied. To his surprise her mother was apparently the new history teacher at Ashford. And that Estelle herself was enrolled to start the new term there. Cole even found himself smiling at the obvious petulance with which the girl informed him of that fact, it was obvious Estelle was more the type to want to run around outside playing than sitting diligently in class. Cole's jaw tightened. To be free, not rotting away in this cell.

The sound of footsteps stirred him and Cole rose. His cell opened and standing at the doorway was a boy about Estelle's age. Someone that the little girl actually seemed to know.

"Joshua," Cole said coldly.

The boy cocked his head aside, and held out a tray of food. Cole took a deep breath. It was ever so tempting to try to attack the boy, to toss him aside and make a break for it. Yet something told him it would not be nearly so easy. While being led back to his cell the previous day he had seen Joshua perched on a ledge with perfect balance. And then there was the boy's eyes. They were a dull almost macabre yellow, but their gaze did not flinch or waver. They were the eyes of someone whom knew how to draw blood and would not hesitate to do so.

"Breakfast," Joshua said simply.

Cole looked at the tray. He barely restrained a sigh.

"MREs," he noted dryly.

Joshua shrugged. "We aren't eating any better."

Cole took the tray. And then regarded the boy quizzically.

"Is there a reason you're keeping me separated from Estelle and Ms. Kouzuki?"

Another shrug. "Not that I know of. Just that you're a guy."

"Then do you mind if I moved into their cell with them?" Cole asked. "Ms. Kouzuki isn't doing very well and Estelle's too young to be looking out for her."

To Cole's surprise Joshua's gaze did waver, if only for a brief moment. After another moment the boy actually nodded.

"That should be fine." He backed out of the room and cocked his head aside. "Move."

Cole obeyed, still carrying his tray of food. Not surprisingly Joshua continued watching him even as he opened the other cell. The young man entered, setting down his tray before accepting the other two meant for Estelle and Kotone. Both were still asleep, Estelle having cuddled up with the woman. As Joshua closed the cell behind Cole however the girl began stirring.

"Mrmm…"

Cole bent over and stroked the girl's head. She looked up at him drowsily.

"Huh? Who are you?"

Cole could not help but smile slightly. "Good morning Estelle.

Estelle slowly rose, looking about lazily, and then her eyes went wide as she caught sight of the boy turning away from the cell door.

"Joshua!"

Half falling out of the bed Estelle scrambled towards the door.

"Joshua! Wait!"

The boy hesitated, but did not turn back and started walking away again.

"Joshua! Please! Let me help you!"

Cole's eyes widened. And at the same time Joshua froze in his tracks. He slowly turned about to regard Estelle with a slightly stunned expression.

"Don't be like that Joshua," Estelle said. "You should be smiling! So c'mon, let me help!"

For a long moment Joshua remained rooted to his spot. In truth even Cole found himself somewhat bewildered by the girl. Here she was, not begging for herself or the other prisoners, but asking their captor to let her help him instead. The girl had heart, and a pure one at that.

"You, really are something," Joshua uttered.

And then with clear effort pulled himself away as he seemed to run away.

"Joshua!"

Only the receding sound of footsteps answered her and Estelle gazed out of the cell with a forlorn face. Cole walked over and gently stroked the girl's head again.

"It'll be okay Estelle."

The girl looked up and gave him a smile. A smile that was clearly forced on her part. What a difference it made, when one was truly smiling and one was merely putting on an act.

"I know," Estelle said, though her voice could not entirely hide her sorrow. "I mean, Joshua was the one that let you in here, right?"

That, was true, Cole had to concede. Yet he was still nowhere near to sharing Estelle's optimism. Still he tried to give her the best smile he himself could muster.

"C'mon, breakfast is going to get cold soon," he said. "We should eat."

"Alright!" Estelle cheered. "I'll go wake Aunty Kotone!"

Estelle hurried over to the bed and Cole let out a slight sigh of relief. With all of them in the same cell now he could at least help look after Kotone instead. That was something.

"Umm, Aunty Kotone? Wake up? Breakfast is here!"

Cole sucked in his breath, and was immediately at the bedside. Kotone remained curled up, her form still.

"Cole, why won't Aunty Kotone wake up?" Estelle asked worriedly.

Cole reached over and touched the woman's wrist. There was a pulse, but it was very faint. He next checked her breathing. It was regular, but effortful.

"Ms. Kouzuki?" Cole said.

He tried to turn her about but Kotone's body was rigid and refused to budge.

"Ms. Kouzuki?"

The woman's eyes finally flickered and she tried to rise. Her efforts however were obviously pained.

"Ms. Kouzuki, please, stay down," Cole said.

Kotone's head tilted slightly to look up at Cole. Confusion marked her expression.

"Anata, dare?"

Cole frowned. As a Britannian, even one living in Japan, he barely knew any Japanese. That his response ended up as an attempt to answer Kotone was more chance than anything else.

"Ms. Kouzuki, it's me, Cole."

Kotone continued to regard him quizzically. She then slowly, ever so slowly, looked about.

"Watashi, doko?"

Estelle wedged herself between Cole and the bed, leaning towards Kotone.

"Aunty Kotone?"

Reacting to her name the woman looked over at Estelle. The barest light of recognition flashed through her eyes. Her next words were however offered no solace.

"Kallen?"

* * *

Over the course of the search for the Directorate and Inquisitio operatives Kallen had unexpectedly learned something new about her geass. In fact it could be said that she learned something very important about it. While trying to sweep the various hideouts Kallen found that her range was far short of the five kilometers that she had achieved during the Battle of Tokyo. In point of fact her range was barely a kilometer, and the degree of detail that she could actually see beyond the helicopter itself was absolutely abysmal. At first Kallen thought something was actually wrong with her power, but at the second site they searched a chance discovery ended up giving the girl insight into just what her geass was doing.

Whereas the first site had been completely abandoned, there was a group of vagrants camping out in the dilapidated buildings of the second. And wherever the vagrants themselves were, Kallen could see their immediate surroundings in crystal clarity. Not to the level of detail she was used to in the city, but still far more than any camera could achieve at this distance. The areas where the vagrants were not immediately occupying on the other hand, some places she could still sort of see impressions of, but others were completely opaque. All this saw Kallen arrive at a simple conclusion, that her geass did not merely boost her own senses, it was literally tapping into the senses of other people to augment her own. The more people about, the more information she would receive. The fewer, the less. Monica's explanation about the geass serving as a link into the minds of other people was starting to sound more plausible.

As illuminating as this new revelation was however it did not help in Kallen's current mission, finding her mother and the other hostages before it was too late. When after the fifth site also turned up empty the young woman found her patience wearing seriously thin. As such Kallen's initial reaction to the survey of the sixth site was an elation that they had found their target. She had never actually used her power on Cole before, not specifically on him at least. Now though Kallen could see every breath, every beat of the heart. And every frantic motion as Cole tried to wake her mother. The elation at finding the hostages disappeared in a tide of anger as Kallen tried to get a read on her mother, tried and found only the barest of impressions.

The geass was supposed to provide a link to the mind of others, at least according to Monica. If that was so, and if Kallen's extended senses were due to her tapping into the senses of others via their mind, then she should have been able to see, hear, and feel what her mother felt. Instead all she saw was a cold darkness, all she heard was a silent abyss, and all she felt was a numb void. Creaks sounded as Kallen's fists tightened in their gloves. Had the girl actually been holding onto anything it would probably be crumpled scrap at this point.

"Calm, Kallen," C.C. said.

Kallen looked over at the woman and saw she was staring at her intently.

"Sorry," she muttered.

Taking a deep breath Kallen shifted her focus onto the other presences she detected. There were eight others whom she could get a hard lock on, and two other nebulous sensations that had to be the geass holders dispatched by the Directorate. The princess' words echoed in Kallen's thoughts.

"Priority is of course in rescuing the hostages alive, but the Directorate's agents must not be allowed to escape from Japan alive, Kallen. You and C.C. are the only ones that stand a chance against them so it will be your responsibility to see that they fall. I trust there are no objections."

No, Kallen had no objections with that particular order. In fact she could barely restrain herself from ordering the helicopter down now. With her geass even an Inquisitio wetwork squad would be little more than poor lambs waiting for the slaughter. But the young woman fought to restrain her rage as she spoke into the radio.

"Targets located, I repeat, targets located. Roll in the cavalry."

Back at MacArthur Base a surge of bodies swarmed towards the waiting helicopters. Mere minutes were all they needed to board and strap themselves in and one by one they received clearance to take off. Aboard the first one in the air Colonel Cassius Bright glanced at his antique pocket watch, an heirloom passed down from his wife's side of the family and given to him after they married. In it was a photo of him and Lena with Estelle shortly after she was born. By now the photo was looking somewhat faded. Whether out of sentiment or nostalgia Cassius had kept putting off changing the photo for a newer one.

Well, no more of that. Cassius closed the watch. After his daughter was returned they would take another photo, one that celebrated the wholeness of their family. And one day he would give this watch to Estelle, for her to put a photo of her own loved ones into. This he swore.

End of Chapter 62

Bloody hell, I really am writing myself into a corner with some of the characters. This is going to make a few future developments much harder.

The Code and Geass works a bit differently in my version than in the canon anime. That Monica believes that Kallen possesses a Code and also can use a Geass is indicative of that.

Rivalz is 17, not yet 18. He'll get conscripted 'next year' basically, but only after he graduates Ashford since having completed A-levels would mark him as potential specialist or NCO material. Or rather, he's already preregistered that way like Cole was. Assuming his father does not die. If Rivalz's father dies in military service, the Britannian military would grant him a waiver from the current wave of mobilization, but would still conscript him if the war drags on and they need more troops. One reason he's spending so much time with Shirley is in the expectation that he will have to leave her and go fight.


	64. Chapter 63

_The Empress Euphemia was no great fan of the Ordo Hereticus either, especially after one of its covert black ops teams conducted an operation that saw several persons close to her majesty killed or harmed during her reign as viceroy of Japan. Upon her assumption of the throne her majesty immediately revoked the writ that allowed Hereticus to operate outside the bounds of the law. This move did not go unopposed but with the military and gendarmerie both supporting her majesty those Hereticus operatives that refused to curtail their activities were brought to heel or outright executed._

 _After the end of the Great War the Ordo Hereticus was disbanded outright as part of the reorganization of the government, with its more moderate elements folded into a new national police force whose foundations came from the gendarmerie. As such this left the Ordo Xenos the only official major ordo of the Inquisitio, though the Britannian government has continued to treat Xenos as subordinate to the larger institution known as the Inquisitio. This has given rise to many rumors that other, completely classified ordos still exist, though the government has adamantly refused to comment on the matter._

 _-Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I_

Chapter 63

Vi et animo

Joshua had just returned from delivering the meals to the hostages when he walked into Rolo speaking into the radio.

"-report, what is your status?"

The hiss of static was all that answered the youth. He let out a curse.

"Arm yourselves, now," he ordered.

The Hereticus operatives immediately reached for their gear, suiting up into full tactical loadouts with practiced ease.

"What is going on?" Joshua asked.

"Sentry isn't responding," Rolo said. "We should have had two out there. Stupid, stupid, stupid."

The boy frowned. The reason they did not have two sentries topside was a combination of not wanting to draw too much attention and the simple fact that they were severely limited in manpower. The sentry was also supposed to have been well hidden so it was not like any attacker could have just picked them off from far away. Joshua frowned. Then again, their brief had mentioned that the princess' knight of honor was a geass wielder. They still did not know exactly how her power had manifested, but it would not be outside the realm of possibility that she possessed an ability that would have allowed her to neutralize the sentry without giving him any time to sound an alarm.

A ruffling noise started filling the air, until the unmistakable of helicopters echoed through the halls of the abandoned prison. If they needed any further confirmation of what was happening, this was it.

"Joshua, with me," Rolo said.

The boy fell in behind Rolo and the two made their way down a particular set of halls, a path that Joshua knew instinctively led to the hostages.

"Where are we going?"

"To finish our job," Rolo said. "Our orders were clear, if we're compromised, we eliminate the hostages before withdrawing, no witnesses. Or have you forgotten?"

That Joshua had not. The boy's fist tightened even as he felt something seemingly grip his chest. Before he could muster a response however the sound of metal clinking above them could be heard. Joshua threw himself back, and a moment later explosions tore through the ceiling above them.

* * *

Even before the other helicopters arrived Kallen was already issuing orders for approach vectors to insert teams as close as possible to the hostages and to cut off any attempt by the Directorate or Hereticus operatives to reach them before they could be secured. The only wrinkle that remained was the sentry that was oh so cleverly hidden atop one of the towers of the abandoned prison. The lookout had already noticed the single helicopter in the area, though the approach was made such that he lost sight of them before they turned back. Nevertheless they could not risk the sentry noticing their return and alerting the others so Kallen pushed her geass to its absolute limit, trying to lock onto the man from outside her normal range.

At two kilometers out the girl felt as if her head was trying to split itself apart, yet she could still sense the others and lock onto them. She could still take aim with the M2 Browning machine gun, and put the .50 BMG round right through the head of the unsuspecting sentry. Kallen nearly collapsed after taking the shot and barely heard the incredulous exclamation of her spotter. As it was C.C. ended up needing to grab hold of her to keep the young woman from keeling over entirely.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Kallen said, completely unconvincingly as she tried to steady herself.

"Sentry neutralized, all units move in now," the spotter said over the radio.

"Lady Stadtfeld, shall we hold position here?" the pilot asked, looking back worriedly at Kallen.

"No, take us in," Kallen said firmly.

"Yes milady."

By the time the helicopters were above the abandoned prison the enemy operatives were already on the move. Despite the migraine Kallen kept her geass active, keeping track of all of their targets.

"Squad 2, grenades through second floor windows now!" Kallen snapped.

The men obeyed, popping pins and tossing them down before taking cover. The explosions did little to rattle Kallen's sight but she nevertheless lost her fix on the two figures headed towards the hostages. Something told her that was not because they had actually been caught in the blast.

"Damn," the girl muttered. "C.C., with me."

Grabbing hold of the line Kallen zipped down, barely slowing even as she hit the ground running. Taking another rope she hooked herself to some exposed rebar and swung further down, arriving at the target level. The others scrambled to keep pace though Kallen could actually feel C.C. right at her back. Even if the other woman felt like little more than a cold void.

"Squad 4, you've got two Hereticus operatives waiting around the next corner to your left," Kallen continued providing reports. "They've got no one covering their rear though."

"Roger that," Cassius said. "Squad 4, get their attention and pin them in place. Squad 3, double back and take that second right and move to flank."

And left it to the pros to actually issue orders based on that intel. For her own part Kallen knew exactly where the Hereticus operatives in her way were. She flashed a quick signal to C.C. before splitting off. A few seconds later the sound of gunfire rang out in the hallway. Kallen made another turn, and nailed the Hereticus operatives busy taking potshots at C.C. before they even knew she was there. Against unsuspecting and less capable opponents Kallen did not doubt the Ordo Hereticus could be unholy terrors. Against a geass wielder like her, they were babes in the wood.

"Squad 6, you should be coming up on their command center now," Kallen heard Cassius' voice over the radio.

The girl frowned as suddenly one of the four man teams disappeared from her sight in rapid succession.

"Squad 6, report."

It looked like the same was true for the gendarmerie and Akatsuki when facing other geass wielders.

"Colonel, strength in numbers," Kallen said. "Consolidate your forces together but don't let them get too bunched up. They need to be able to support each other without all getting caught together."

"Acknowledged lieutenant," Cassius said before he began issuing orders to that effect.

By now some of the squads were catching up and soon Kallen had eight more soldiers providing her with support. Rounding one last corner they finally reached the hostages. When Cole caught sight of him his face was palpable with relief. And then recognition as they closed in.

"Kallen!?" he exclaimed.

"Cole, hang tight, we'll get all of you out of there," Kallen said. She waved to another soldier. "Blow this open, now!"

The other soldier opened up a bag and began kneading the plastique.

"Kallen, your mother," Cole began before words seemed to fail him.

"I know," Kallen said hurriedly. "She rang out of her medication. Just, don't worry, we'll get all of you out of here safely, okay?"

It was clear Cole was not convinced by the front Kallen was putting on but he nodded nonetheless.

"Alright, stand back," the other soldier said as he finished setting the detonator.

Cole grabbed hold of Estelle, pushing her onto the bed and then covering both her and Kotone with his own body. The other soldiers all moved aside.

"Clear!"

A boom sounded and a swift kick on the cell door sent it toppling over. Kallen looked about, still not seeing anyone with either her own eye or the geass.

"Here, I've got her," Cole said, picking up Kotone. "C'mon Estelle!"

The little girl nodded, putting on a brave face. And then she noticed the insignia on one of the uniforms.

"Ah! Papa wears that!"

The gendarmerie gave her a smile. "He sure does. And he's here right now waiting outside, so let's go see him now."

"Yeah!"

The party moved out, Kallen taking the lead and C.C. bringing up the rear. If the soldiers found it at all odd to have point and rearguard taken up by two women that were seemingly younger than them they did not give voice to it, especially not after seeing just how lethally competent Kallen was. They proceeded down the hall towards the main entrance.

"Confirmed kills on six Hereticus operatives, I repeat, confirmed kills on six Hereticus operatives," Cassius said. "That leaves three targets at large. Be warned that we've lost contact with squads 6 and 2."

Kallen grimaced. Squad 2 was supposed to have secured their extraction route.

"Colonel, last Hereticus operative is holding out on second floor, left wing, by the corner window. Hawk 2 should be able to nail him with its gun."

"Acknowledged lieutenant. Hawk 2, do you see the target?"

"Wait one. Roger, target sighted."

"Take him out"

"Engaging."

Somewhere not too far away the roar of a machinegun sounded for a few seconds.

"Target neutralized."

Kallen breathed slightly easier.

"Kallen!"

A moment too soon. The girl spun about to suddenly see all of the soldiers, Cole, and Estelle frozen.

"The Hel!?"

"Look out!"

C.C. raised her rifle and Kallen had the good sense to duck. The single shot was all C.C. managed as suddenly a massive knife slammed through her arm.

"Gah!"

There was no time to think, only to react. Kallen felt her geass surge and she spun about, letting out a burst in full auto. Behind her one of the other soldiers toppled over as the shot meant for Kallen struck him dead center. Kallen's own shots were completely off the mark but it at least forced her attacker to retreat. Her attention was split however as something was happening on the other side, but her geass was proving completely useless trying to lock onto another wielder.

"Gods damn it! Wake up!" Kallen screamed.

Her left eye throbbed, and to her amazement the others began moving again. Instincts override their confusion as they searched for targets, only to find none.

"Lady Clermont! What-gah!"

A sickening thud sounded as the blade sank into the soldier's chest.

"Out of the way!" Kallen shouted.

For some reason the other soldiers could not see their attacker, a boy probably no more than Estelle's age and wielding a pair of large daggers. If she could just get a clear shot she could drop him. The boy was however obviously as aware of that fact as Kallen as he maneuvered to keep the others in between the two of them.

"Joshua!"

The figure froze. And then cried out in pain as C.C. slammed a knife into his back.

"Joshua!" Estelle screamed again, tearing herself loose from the soldier trying to hold her back and dashing for the boy.

Kallen cursed as her line of fire was obscured again. "Estelle, get down!"

The girl paid her no need, instead grabbing onto the boy.

"Joshua! Please stop! It's me!"

The boy looked at her, a trickle of blood trailing down his mouth even as he continued gripping his knives.

"Estelle. Why?"

"Didn't we promise to go to the gardens again?" Estelle said, smiling through her tears. "And you said you'd introduce me to your sister!"

Joshua gazed at Estelle, as if unable to believe what he was hearing. His form flickered in Kallen's senses, his geass apparently destabilizing along with the boy's mental state. And then he screamed, the blades dropping from his grasp.

"Joshua!"

"No, stay away, please!" he cried.

Estelle somehow continued grabbing on even as C.C. tried to pry her off to deliver the killing blow.

"Begone lass! He be beyond thee!"

"No! Joshua's my friend, and I'm not letting you hurt him!"

Kallen felt a sense of sheer incredulity well up in her. The girl was insane.

"Get her off of him!" she ordered.

The gendarmerie moved to obey, when suddenly they froze once more. Kallen cursed, but this time she had a solution ready. Popping the pin on her grenade she tossed it, bouncing it around the corner. A cry was just beginning to sound when it exploded and the soldiers began moving again. Despite the sudden echo of an explosion that from their perspective came out of nowhere, they wasted no time being confused and finally managed to pry Estelle off.

"NO! LET ME GO! JOSHUA!"

The boy's body twitched and suddenly his fist slammed back, hitting C.C. on the temple. The woman reared from the blow, loosening her grip. Despite the blade in his back Joshua dashed forward, seizing one of his daggers.

"Shit!"

Kallen tried, again, to find a clear shot. There was one. And then, Joshua came to a halt.

"I-I have to, no, complete the, no, I won't hurt her! I have to-GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

The dagger spun about in Joshua's hand, and suddenly slammed into his heart. This time Kallen too was as frozen as the others. The first to react was not her.

"JOSHUAAAAAAA!"

The boy looked up, and gave the gentlest smile he could.

"I'm sorry, Estelle. Thank you."

The light left his eyes and his form crumbled to the ground.

"JOSHUA! LET ME GO! JOSHUA!"

Despite her screams, despite all her kicking and flaying, the gendarmerie holding onto Estelle refused to let her go. Kallen looked at the scene, her mouth agape. Had the boy just committed suicide? To escape whatever bound him to the Directorate? She grimaced and glanced over at the corner. Walking over, Kallen carefully regarded the scene. There on the ground was the broken form of another young, this one closer to her age than the boy named Joshua. The grenade had got him good, his entire side was shredded and his face was a bloody mess.

Kallen knelt down at the body's side. There were no real identifying marks on him, nothing to indicate a name. Would this boy have also rebelled against the Directorate? Or had she killed him before he could make that choice. This mission was to rescue her mother, Cole, and Estelle, and kill all those that participated in their kidnapping. There should have been no ambiguity, no doubt about who was right and who was wrong here. That was not how things felt now though. These, children, were also victims of the Directorate, as much as her mother and the others were. And she had killed them.

"Lieutenant Stadtfeld."

Kallen looked back to see one of the soldiers peeking out from around the corner.

"We should go ma'am."

The girl sighed and stood. "Roger that." She then looked down at the body. "Bring both of them."

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

The viceroy's palace was equipped with many facilities including medical wards, a very well equipped machine shop, and even a small prison. Not surprisingly the cells ranged from Spartan bare to downright luxurious. The one Renaldo Douglas was confined in had a bed, a toilet, and a sink and nothing else. There were not even any windows to let in some natural sunlight. In Euphemia's considered opinion such amenities were well beyond what such a cretin deserved.

As the princess entered Renaldo pulled himself up from the bed, which considering his girth probably required some effort.

"Your highness," he began immediately. "This is an outrage. Why am I being treated like a Number when I am a full citizen of the Empire?"

There were idiots and there were idiots. Euphemia was pretty certain the man might yet surprise him with further demonstrations of stupidity. The princess waited however for her guest to enter before speaking. The redheaded man that appeared at her side had a jovial smile plastered over his face. That it was so disarming probably helped create an even greater shock when he showed his true face.

"Renaldo Douglas," Euphemia said. "You have information that I require. Until you have provided it, you will be denied the mercy of death."

The man gapped at Euphemia before managing to splutter a response. "M-mercy of death!? This is ludicrous your highness! I demand to know what crimes you think me guilty of so that I may answer them in a proper court!"

"If you will provide me with the names of the homeland contacts with whom you've engaged in human trafficking with," Euphemia continued, ignoring the man's outburst, "I will order you be given a clean execution."

"Human trafficking!? That is absurd your highness, I have never been involved in such disgraceful business in my life!"

"If you decline to cooperate, I will have Captain Arundel here extract that information from you via more direct means."

Renaldo looked over at the smirking man. "This is all a misunderstanding, your highness, truly. I know nothing about any human trafficking ring, and I certainly would not know whom in the homelands might be engaged in it."

The princess rolled her eyes and turned about. "Captain Arundel, the prisoner is yours."

And proceeded with her exit without further pleasantries.

"Wait-your highness! Wait! You cannot seriously think this will stand!?"

Euphemia paid the protests no mind and exited the room without missing a step. The captain regarded her departure with a bemused expression before turning back to the prisoner.

"Well, that's that. Before we begin, allow me to introduce myself." He reached into the pocket of his suit and pulled out a pair of white gloves. "I am Captain Lechter Arundel, interrogator of the Ordo Xenos."

Renaldo's face paled until it matched the gloves that Lechter was putting on.

"Her highness seems to be in a bit of a rush and instructed me to get the information she wants out of you as quickly as possible," Lechter continued, "so I'm afraid we will have to skip all of the simple stuff like sleep deprivation and feeding you crappy army food." The smile was back. "Well then, let's get started."

* * *

The medical wards in the palace were equipped with some of the best instruments in the world and were staffed by people whose dedication easily eclipsed even that standard. Even so sometimes these men and women would encounter a situation where their own skills fell short and thus have need to consult outside assistance. Even when said assistance was provided however there was no guarantee of success.

As Kuroba exited the ward Kallen and Heinrich both stood immediately. The doctor was trying to keep on a strong front but for their own reasons both Heinrich and his daughter were extremely adept at reading people.

"Stadtfeld-san," the doctor began. "Kallen-san. Kotone-san has slipped into a coma."

Heinrich accepted the news stoically while a growl sounded from Kallen. The girl immediately moved to enter her mother's ward.

"Kallen!"

She paid her father no mind, pushing through the door and catching sight of her mother's form slumbering peacefully on the bed. The attending nurse looked up in surprise at the sudden intrusion.

"Lady Stadtfeld? What are you doing in here?"

"She is my mother," Kallen said frostily as she bent over at Kotone's side, taking hold of her hand.

The nurse's mouth opened but as she saw Kuroba and Heinrich follow behind the girl she closed it wordlessly.

"Kallen," Heinrich called out to his daughter again.

And again Kallen ignored him. Instead all of her attention was focused on her mother. Her breathing was level, her heartbeat steady, but her eyes were completely still, as if no dreams filled the slumber she had fallen into. Kallen concentrated harder.

"Mom, I'm right here."

Heinrich frowned and looked over at Kuroba quizzically. The doctor however was staring intently at Kallen, as if actually expecting the girl to somehow make a difference. The baron's frown deepened as he looked back at his daughter.

"Mom, can you hear me?"

Still nothing. Monica had said the geass was an indirect link to C's World, and through that link allowed a geass wielder to reach other to other minds. If there was any truth to that Kallen was determined to reach out to her mother's.

"Mom."

Kallen's head was starting to ache now, yet she still only had the barest of impressions of her mother. Kotone was physically there, but now that Kallen had a better idea of how her powers worked she could tell that everything she saw of her mother was coming from the sense of other people augmenting her own. From Kotone herself, nothing.

"Mom?"

And then, she saw it. A tiny flicker, the barest spec of light. It disappeared almost immediately, but Kallen swore she had seen something in her mother. Something just waiting to be called out to and roused.

"Stop."

Kallen's concentration cracked as a hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. She reflexively tried to slap it away only to have that hand seized as well. Looking back the girl found it was C.C. standing behind her.

"Thou art not ready for such a step."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Thou seeketh to divine from the mind of another the lambent of her soul. Thou art not ready."

"I don't care," Kallen snapped. "She is my mother and if I don't-"

"Kallen!"

Her words cut off mid shout as Kallen's head jerked about towards the source of the voice. Heinrich stepped around Kuroba and stood before the girl and to her surprise reached out, grasping the side of her head. When his hand withdrew, Kallen's eyes went wide. Blood stained his fingers. Her own hand shot up to her head and what she thought were tears, was blood.

"Gods Kallen," Heinrich said as he looked at the nurse. "Get her to a bed, now."

The woman needed no further prompting and immediately took hold of Kallen by the shoulders, leading her away. The girl herself was too stunned to resist as she tried to grasp just what was happening.

Heinrich looked over at the green haired woman. "Ms. Clermont, was it?"

C.C. returned Heinrich's gaze and nodded. "Aye, tis mine appellation."

"You mean your alias," Heinrich said. "No matter though. My daughter hired you on as her personal assistant. I expect you to carry out the duties that title entails to perfection. Am I clear?"

C.C. raised an eyebrow before smirking. "Kallen knoweth not how blessed she is, to have a sire so ardent." The smile disappeared. "I shall be true to my troth, Sir Stadtfeld, of that fear not."

And proceeded to follow after Kallen. Heinrich regarded her for a brief moment before looking down at Kotone.

"Our daughter," he said softly. "She is a spirited one." And smiled. "I think she gets that from you."

The man leaned over and planted a gentle kiss on Kotone's forehead before hurrying after their daughter.

By the time Kallen was literally hauled onto the bed her head was pounding. Her vision was also getting blurred and she was having trouble staying upright and balanced.

"I don't-I don't feel so good," the girl said.

Kuroba, whom had followed the nurse and Kallen, looked at the girl in alarm. He was immediately at the bedside.

"Kallen-san. Can you focus on me?"

The girl's head slowly turned towards Kuroba even as she struggled to nod.

"Is there a CT machine at the palace?" Kuroba asked.

"No-wait," the nurse began, "one was installed last week."

"We need to take a scan right away," Kuroba said. "Get a gurney in here now."

The woman was in and out in a minute and brought help with her as she pushed in the gurney. Kallen was carefully shifted over and pushed out of the room she just entered.

"Where are you taking her?" Heinrich asked as he caught up.

"Kallen-san might be having a stroke," Kuroba said. "We need to get her under a CT to determine its extent."

The baron's eyes widened and he kept pace with the gurney, taking hold of his daughter's hand.

"Stay with me Kallen."

The girl looked at her father groggily. It was getting hard to concentrate. "Father?"

Heinrich's grip tightened. "Stay with me, alright? I can't lose you too."

It took all her effort to nod but Kallen managed it. Everything after that was but a blur.

* * *

"Come in."

The door opened to reveal Cassius. Cole straightened from the bed he had been forced into but the man quickly waved him back down with a smile.

"No need to work yourself up on account of me," the man said. "I just dropped by to see how you were."

"Well enough sir," Cole said. "Thank you for taking the time."

"It was the least I could do after you looked out for Estelle," Cassius said. He then nodded politely to the woman keeping Cole company. "Miss Kraft."

Nora returned the motion. "Colonel Bright. Thank you for everything you have done for my brother."

"Please, Cassius is just fine," the man said. "Your father and I have been working closely together for several weeks now." The smile somehow grew wider. "Or Uncle Cassius if you want to be formal."

The Kraft siblings could not help but chuckle at Cassius' jovial attitude. Cole could easily see where Estelle got her infectious enthusiasm from.

"How is Estelle?" Cole asked. "And Ms. Kouzuki for that matter."

"Estelle is holding up," Cassius said. "She's shaken, but she's a strong girl." The man's demeanor became more somber. "Incidentally, I have a question regarding your imprisonment if you are willing to discuss it now."

Nora fidgeted but Cole simply nodded. "Anything I can do to help."

"The boy, Joshua. How did he conduct himself during your captivity?"

Cole frowned thoughtfully. "He was always the one that brought our meals. And every time Estelle saw him she, well, asked to help him. I, think that shook him. And he was also the one that let me move over to Estelle and Ms. Kouzuki's cell so that I could help them out."

Cassius nodded. "I see."

"I, don't think Joshua was especially happy about what was going on," Cole said. "I think, that if things had turned out differently, we might have been able to save him too."

That elicited a raised eyebrow from the older man. Cole shrugged.

"I watched him kill himself, colonel. There was no ambiguity in his actions. He didn't want to keep doing what he was doing, so he took the only escape he could think of."

"I see indeed," Cassius repeated before shaking himself. "And I think you might be right on the other points as well. Joshua, was not unknown to me."

This time it was Cole's turn to look quizzically at the man.

"He had run into Estelle several times before here in the viceroy's palace," Cassius explained, "and was even introduced by her to my wife Lena. Whether Joshua was simply, casing the place, I do not know for certain, but from what Lena has told me the boy seemed to genuinely enjoy being around Estelle." A sad expression fell upon the man's face. "What could have been."

What could have been indeed, Cole agreed silently.

"But as to your other question," Cassius continued, "I am afraid Ms. Kouzuki's condition, is not looking promising."

Cole grimaced. He had feared as much as Kotone had fallen unconscious shortly after mistaking Estelle for her own daughter.

"What, exactly is wrong with her?" Cole asked.

"You mean you do not know?" Cassius said in surprise.

The young man shook his head slowly. "Know what?"

Cassius stroked his chin before nodding. "This is perhaps something Kallen should be the one to tell you, but after what happened you have a right to know. Ms. Kouzuki suffered a large Refrain overdose several months ago."

Both Cole and Nora looked at Cassius with stunned expressions.

"She has been on medication to treat the aftereffects, but her particular case was extremely severe. Missing an entire day, seems to have caused her to go into shock."

Cole's face quivered. "I-I hadn't known." And darkened. "I hadn't known."

"Don't be too hard on yourself about it," Cassius said. "There was nothing you could have done. Nothing anyone could have done."

"Maybe not," Cole said. "But ignorance isn't an excuse I want to ever use."

If the smile on Cassius' face was any indication he approved of Cole's thinking.

"What do you intend to do now?" the man asked.

"Well, I'll be spending a day with my family," Cole said. "After that I need to get back to boot camp."

"Oh? Just a single day? Surely considering your circumstances the military would be willing to grant you longer leave."

Cole smiled wirily. "They probably would. But if I miss too much I'd have to join up with another training platoon in mid-cycle."

To that Cassius nodded, a twinkle in his eye. "Well, I would tell you to treasure your time with your family, young man, but I think you already know that."

Cole nodded while Nora favored her brother with a smile.

"Should you have some time during your leave after basic, feel free to call upon my family," Cassius said. "I'm sure Lena is just itching to cook you up a feast to thank you for looking after Estelle."

"I will see what I can do about," Cole assured the man.

As Cassius opened the door to take his leave the sound of a rolling gurney passed them. In that one brief moment Cole caught sight of a tuff of red hair laying upon it, and a tall sandy-haired man grasping the hand of the person being moved. Cole's eyes widened. At the same time Cassius' own expression darkened. The young man pulled himself out of bed.

"Cole?"

"I need to go," Cole said to his sister as he made for the door.

A hand came to rest on his shoulder and Cole looked up at Cassius.

"Do not crowd," he said simply before letting go.

A curt nod and he was off. Cole would not get in anyone's way, but he would be there.

* * *

"So, how is Kallen doing?" Euphemia asked.

Kuroba took a deep breath. "She is stable. We were able to drain the blood and she is asleep right now. I have prescribed some medication to help deal with the other symptoms."

Euphemia nodded. "Thank you very much for your help, doctor."

The doctor nodded in turn but remained where he stood.

"Yes?" the princess prompted.

"Your highness, does not wish to know what caused Kallen to suffer a stroke?" Kuroba asked pointedly.

Euphemia pursed her lips. That was sloppy of her.

"I have an inkling, doctor. In fact Kallen was undergoing examination already to try and determine the, extent, of her condition."

And serve to provide a future reference for Euphemia's own, the princess did not say.

"And what condition would that be, your highness?" Kuroba pressed.

Euphemia frowned slightly. "You seem, very interested in the matter, doctor. Beyond the fact that Kallen is your patient."

Kuroba blinked. Did the princess really not know of his relationship with Kotone and Kallen? That was entirely conceivable, Kuroba could not recall ever mentioning knowing the two to her highness and if Kallen herself never brought it up then Euphemia would have no reason to be aware of their connection.

"Your highness," Kuroba began. "Before the war Kotone Kouzuki was a nurse at the Keio University Medical Campus. Kallen herself was born at the hospital."

The princess' eyes widened ever so slightly.

"I watched her grow up over the years, until I lost touch with her family after the invasion." Kuroba took a deep breath. "The first time I met Kotone again was after she wandered to the hospital while hallucinating from a Refrain overdose."

Euphemia closed her eyes. It seemed fate did possess a sense of humor after all, a sick one at that. So much suffering swirling about her, so much pain. She opened her eyes.

"Understand, Dr. Kuroba, that if you wish to know more, you will be bound to me and your life almost certainly put in danger. The murder of Dr. Richard Fenette and Captain Helena Blanche gives testament to the lengths my enemies would go."

"Your highness, I am a doctor. I heal. I will not stop simply because someone threatens me with harm for practicing my calling." Kuroba almost shrugged. "Besides, I have likely already seen too much just from Kallen's CT scan."

There was that, Euphemia agreed. The princess nodded. "Very well then. Kallen, and I, both have what appears to be a neurological condition. It can be a potentially fatal one if certain factors arise, and Dr. Fenette was researching the condition to try to understand, and if possible, treat the condition."

Kuroba gaped at the princess. "A, neurological condition?"

"This is not public knowledge," Euphemia said firmly.

The doctor nodded. "I understand, your highness. My word."

Euphemia returned the motion. Then tilted her head aside. "Your specialty, doctor. You were a neurosurgeon before the Empire's invasion, were you not."

"I was, your highness," Kuroba responded, the look in the man's eye making clear he knew exactly where the princess was leading.

"And you were the one that operated on me when I suffered my head wound during the Battle of Tokyo, that stabilized me so that I could be moved back to the palace."

"Yes, your highness."

Euphemia clasped her hands together. "Then would you be willing to continue with Dr. Fenette's work?"

"Yes, your highness."

The princess regarded Kuroba. If nothing else the Japanese man was certain of his convictions. And of whom he cared about. Euphemia wondered if Kallen had any idea just how lucky she was, that people adored and cherished her for being her.

"Very well doctor, when can you start?"

* * *

The viceroy's palace was too large a place to monitor with security cameras so there were plenty of places one could duck into for a bit of privacy. Heinrich's access to the various wings had grown considerably since he first stepped into the palace after his return from the homelands, by now he could probably wander around a good third of the place without raising undue suspicion. The wing that held the viceroy's offices and quarters were still locked out of course, but the baron had little need or desire to head there unless summoned.

Today he was in one of the unoccupied conference rooms, waiting impatiently for his liaison to arrive. Fortunately the man was punctual and so Heinrich's irritation was only for the period between his early arrival and the appointed time.

"Baron," Lechter greeted with a playful grin. "Long time no see."

Heinrich regarded the man. "I see you have not changed at all, Lechter."

"Why change when I'm ahead?"

The baron snorted, then regarded Lechter with a no-nonsense gaze. "The documentation I requested."

From under his arm Lechter pulled out one of the two folders he was carrying and slid it towards Heinrich.

"A copy of my report to her highness."

Heinrich stopped the folder and flipped it open, skimming the precis. "Mr. Douglas seems to have been, most cooperative."

"Folded like a cheap suit," Lechter said. "For a supposed criminal mastermind he didn't have much spine. I had just gotten out my uh, instruments, before he started blabbing."

The baron grunted even as he continued reading. His face soon creased into a frown.

"The knight of ten?" He looked up at Lechter. "Are you certain?"

"Unless Douglas was lying even after I started working on him, then yeah, his homeland contact was Sir Luciano Bradley. Real piece of work if even half the rumors are true."

Heinrich closed the folder. "I will examine this in more detail later." And stood. "Thank you for the information."

"You know if you came back we wouldn't need to do this on the down low," Lechter remarked.

"My profile as a baron precludes me acting as any sort of field agent," Heinrich stated.

"Nah, I don't mean that way. We could always use more analysts. Way Xenos has grown, we're almost drowning in all the intel we manage to glean. And I'm sure her ladyship would be more than happy to bump you to full inquisitor right away, you spent long enough as just an interrogator."

Heinrich snorted. "Considering how much of my daughter's elicit activities I hid? Doubtful."

"Welllll," Lechter drawled. "Uh, yeah, maybe. I heard though, your daughter really is something."

The baron looked at Lechter quizzically.

"Her shot during the rescue op. She nailed a target over a mile away with a machinegun. From a hovering helicopter. _And_ without a scope. You've got a hell of a girl there, baron."

"My girl, as you put it, is currently recovering from a stroke she likely suffered from the stress of the past few days," Heinrich said flatly.

"Yeah," Lechter said more reservedly. "Heard that too."

Heinrich shook his head but he did not press further. Instead he changed the topic. "And how is your own sister?"

"Who, Claire? She's technically not my sister."

The baron snorted again. "Have you ever thought of kissing her?"

"What, no, of course not."

"And why is that?"

Lechter said nothing, simply giving Heinrich an unamused look. The baron chuckled, his point made.

"Claire's been busy," the younger man finally answered. "You know those bombings back in the homeland?"

"I've heard mention of them in the news," Heinrich said.

"Yeah well, something they're not mentioning in the news is that they've all been targeting Hereticus offices and personnel."

That elicited a frown from the older man. "Really?"

"Yep. They're still not sure who's behind it, the usual suspects have been mum so far. That's showing a degree of restraint we haven't seen before, which could be trouble."

That it could be. Heinrich shook himself. He was out of that game now, no point in dwelling on the matter. And besides, Claire and those like her notwithstanding, Hereticus could use a good bloodying after all the nonsense they had just pulled here in Japan. Heinrich gripped the folder a bit tighter. Besides, he had his own business to take care of first.

* * *

The young man that entered Euphemia's office bowed respectfully. "Your highness."

"Rivalz," Euphemia greeted with a kindly smile. "Please, have a seat." Once he did so the princess nodded. "Now, how may I help you?"

"I have come to ask of you my boon, your highness," Rivalz got straight to the point.

It took Euphemia a moment to register the words. "Very well. What would you ask of me, Rivalz?"

The young man's lips thinned. "I request that your highness take care of Shirley, that her needs are always provided for and that her safety be guaranteed to the best of your personal ability as an imperial scion."

The request was not a complete surprise, both Kallen and Milly had mentioned that Rivalz was in a relationship with Shirley and cared for the girl greatly. With the recent events little wonder he would want to do something, anything, to make sure that the girl he held such affection for would not need to suffer again so in the future.

"Your pardon Rivalz, but I need to ask," Euphemia responded. "Are you certain?"

Rivalz gave a firm, even determined nod. "Your highness, it was pretty obvious that even before what happened you, or at least someone, was worried about Shirley and her family's safety. She did not start carrying around a stun gun on a whim, I know this for a fact. It's also clear that the measures originally taken were nowhere enough to actually have protected her. We got lucky, your highness, when those bast-uh, fake police officers tried to grab her. And everything might have turned out the same in the end with all the hostages alive, but it might not have as well. I _don't_ want anything like that to happen to Shirley again, your highness, so I'm asking. Please, do whatever needs to be done to keep her safe."

Euphemia regarded Rivalz. The young man was entirely earnest in his request, and obviously aware that even if she agreed it might not be enough. But he was going to try nonetheless, because if he could make just the slightest difference then it was worth the effort. And yet, that effort might well be redundant.

"You should know, Rivalz, that both Milly and Kallen have demanded that I see to Shirley's care," Euphemia said. "I do not seek to demean your request, but Shirley's needs would be seen to even were you not to use your boon for it. And so I ask one last time, are you certain?"

Rivalz made a slight face, a mixture of irritation but also exhaustion. He then nodded.

"Your highness, I don't exactly want for much," he said. "I have my family, I have my friends, and no matter what I might receive materially from any boon from you, it wouldn't mean much if I did not have them to continue sharing my life with." The young man's eyes hardened. "I want to share that life with Shirley, your highness. And I do not want her to ever wonder whether _her_ life is something worth sharing with others."

Again the princess simply gazed at Rivalz. It was clear now that Rivalz's request was not simply him seeking assurance from Euphemia, it was an act of reassurance for Shirley herself. In some ways Euphemia could almost envy the girl, to have someone in her life that was so steadfast. Perhaps this was also what Kallen saw in Cole. Euphemia could certainly sense a gentle strength in the letters she exchanged with him.

"Very well Rivalz," the princess finally said. "I shall see to it that Shirley is looked after."

A deep sigh left the young man. "Thank you your highness."

"It is rare to find men of such caliber," Euphemia said with a slight smile. "Should you find that a career in government might be of interest to you, Rivalz, I could do with someone of your integrity and character once you have completed your studies a few years from now."

The offer seemed to catch Rivalz off guard and all he managed as a response was a slight gurgle.

"You will need to work on your oratory a bit in the meantime," the princess remarked lightly.

End of Chapter 63

Yes, I know that a two kilometer sniper shot pretty much puts Kallen within the top ten longest sniper kills in the world. In fact at this point in time Kallen's shot would have made her the holder of the longest sniper kill period. Let us just say that her action does draw some attention.

Some of you wondered why Heinrich was willing to basically stare down Monica when they first met as his residence. Some of you also wondered whether his surprise at Kallen's actions were an act. I think the last chapter has explained it quite nicely. And also provides some explanations for how Heinrich got his hands on some fairly classified documents. It also raises all sorts of awkward questions as to just what Heinrich was doing in Japan before the invasion. Suffice it to say if Kallen ever found out about that, umm, yeah.

What else. So, you guys get to see more consequences of what happens when you push the geass too hard. Beyond that, not much else. This particular arc is done and over, Rolo and Joshua are out of play, and so on. I was pretty certain that Rolo would be offed, but Joshua was a tougher call. It's pretty obvious that there's going to be a high body count in this story so I don't exactly need to kill him off to show I'm serious or anything, but them taking Joshua alive would have led Euphemia way too quickly to the Directorate, at which point all she would need to do is phone up Cornelia and there would be a massive missile strike/bombing run on the Directorate's HQ and they'd be pretty much wiped out. Charles could order the attack off if he knew about it soon enough, but the chances would not have been in his favor.

I know I keep saying this, but after this we really will be shifting over to Lelouch more. I don't have anything lined up for Euphemia and co for the next couple of months save for a few character development scenes, so most of the plot stuff is going to be happening in Britannia proper. The next arc will therefore see lots of Lelouch, his team, and Claire and other Britannian law enforcement trying to nail Lelouch and Crow and co. And reveal a bit more about what Lelouch is after in Britannia, besides trying to kill his family of course.

I'm not sure what exactly some of you are expecting to happen after people around Euphemia die. By virtue of the fact that she is continuing to grow in political power there will always be people that will rally to her side to replace those that have fallen. In fact because she is growing more powerful she will accrue more and more followers, easily making up for those people that do die. This is however by no means easy on the princess, she does not want the people around her to keep dying, and to lose so many is taking its toll. She already cracked a little bit after Jonathan's death, and while it's not entirely evident now, she is feeling considerable strain after what just happened. The long term effects remain to be seen.


	65. Chapter 64

_To answer which Britannian soldier holds the record for the longest confirmed sniper kill during the Great War is actually not straightforward. The two contenders generally recognized as having the most credible claims are the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki, at the time serving as the knight of honor to her highness the Princess Euphemia, and Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Norman Hathock of the Imperial Britannian Marine Corps. The issue is ultimately the actual range of their respective shots. The Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki is generally recognized as having performed the more difficult shot, from a hovering helicopter in the air, with a range generally acknowledged to have been approximately two kilometers. Sergeant Hathock's kill was of firmer measurement at 2,286 meters. As such whose shot was from a greater distance depends on the margin of the Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki's 'about' two kilometer distance._

 _Interestingly both the Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki and Sergeant Hathock used the same weapon to achieve their kills, an M2 Browning machinegun. Sergeant Hathock mounted a scope on his, while it is claimed that the Lady Stadtfeld-Kouzuki used no such aides in her shot, which if true makes her achievement all the more remarkable. After the war the Britannian military would explore a new generation of extreme range sniper rifles based around the .50 BMG round used by the machinegun, eventually giving birth to the Barrett family of anti-material rifles._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 64

Causa latet, vis est notissima

"Well that's a right mess," Crow remarked.

Lelouch simply nodded. The two were off to the side of a crowd gawking at the latest bombing attack to hit a government office in the last month. Only this time, the Swords of Michael had had nothing to do with it.

"I figured it wouldn't be that long before a copycat showed up, but man." Crow shook his head. "Bombing a post office? Now that's just freaking sad."

"On the contrary," Lelouch said. "Depending on the circumstances the attack could well make sense. The news reports have been speculating that the other attacks were carried out via packages. If that really is the case, perhaps this copycat was trying to use the postal service to launch a similar attack. The bomb may have detonated prematurely, or it might have been detected by the post office's security measures and detonated by security personnel either because they failed to disarm it or they concluded that it was safer to detonate it in situ. The lack of any actual fatalities implies the latter."

"If they did detect the bomb, you think they got any forensics off of whomever sent it?" Crow asked.

"Depends on how amateurish the perpetrator is," Lelouch said. "Considering the size of the hole it made in the wall, that was far from a small explosive. But then again, skill with volatile substances does not necessarily translate to good operational security."

"True that," Crow agreed. "But either way having the Inquisitio forced to chase another lead should make it that much harder for them to track down the source of the other bombings, no?"

"It depends on whether Hereticus actually elects to devote significant resources to this matter," Lelouch said. "After all, they may well conclude that this incident has no relation to the other attacks and leave it to the regular authorities to resolve."

"Huh. That's certainly a possibility." The two men drew away from the crowd and began heading on their way. "So, how are our own plans shaking out?"

"Well enough. We have likely done enough damage to Hereticus' network that its ground level operations are in a bit of disarray. It will take them some time to reassert control, time that we can exploit to hit more prominent targets."

"Huh, that the case? Well, I suppose your credentials as a spy are for real."

Lelouch smirked. "We prefer intelligence operative. Spy has such, negative connotations."

"Didn't think you people cared about PR."

"Well, even intelligence agencies have to recruit new members," Lelouch said. "And if the public knew just how much of a bloody nose Hereticus has suffered of late, it might shake their aura of invulnerability and cause some to, hesitate."

"Well you're the one that's suggested we keep a somewhat low profile with the attacks," Crow pointed out.

"Indeed. And now that we have drawn them out, what say our next event be a bit more of a, spectacle?"

"Sounds fun. What did you have in mind?"

Lelouch stopped in front of a bakery, stroking his chin. "Charlotte has been complaining about the lack of decent baguettes here. Something about them being fatter than proper baguettes."

"Wouldn't know," Crow said with a shrug. "Though if you want proper French food there's a really good restaurant back in Richmond that claims to serve the authentic thing." Now Crow was the one stroking his chin. "Huh, maybe I should invite her there myself."

"I see you learned nothing from Laura's beat down," Lelouch said.

"Hey, true love conquers all."

"Including thick skulls it seems." Lelouch straightened and headed into the bakery.

Crow followed, already used to the Frenchman's idiosyncrasies. After a minute or so browsing the various foods on display Lelouch picked out a selection of donuts and a few chocolates shaped like rabbits. As the two exited Lelouch offered one of the donuts to Crow.

"Souvenirs for the others?" Crow said as he accepted it.

"Fie has a sweet tooth," Lelouch said, "and Laura has a soft spot for rabbits."

"You really do treat them like they're your litter sisters," Crow remarked before taking a bite.

"We have been together for quite some time. And all of us pretty much have no one else but each other."

"True comrades eh? They're worth more than all the gold in the world. Be sure to treasure them."

Lelouch hefted the bag of sweets. "I most certainly do." The man took a bite of his own donut and chewed. "As for our next target, I suppose that depends on the level of impact that is desirable. Do we wish for a strike that will make clear how great of a threat we pose?"

"Hmm, well some of the group's been getting a bit impatient with the whole baiting thing. You did promise us a big score after all."

"One would think after all this time your people would understand the importance of patience." Lelouch took another bite.

"We are but mere mortals, with all the flaws inherent," Crow quipped.

"That is true enough," Lelouch agreed. "In fact I have been mulling over potential targets. Going after a royal at this early a juncture would be too risky, and killing one outright would see the security on the others intensified. On the other hand, there are targets whose humiliation would strike an equal blow to the Empire's dignity."

"What, you talking about some stuck up noble like Cayenne?"

For all the duke's support of the Swords of Michael there was little actual affection or respect for the man. The Swords knew Cayenne's support was conditional and the moment the noble's ambition was achieved the first thing he would do would be to tidy up loose ends like the Christian terrorists that had been doing his dirty work for him.

"As enjoyable as that would be, the downfall of a non-royal noble would not measurable affect the Empire. What was that saying? They are a dime a dozen? I was thinking of someone closer to the emperor, someone whom he has invested great trust in despite not being related."

Crow frowned. "You're talking about his knights, aren't you?"

"Quite."

"And you expect offing one to be _easier_ than going after a royal," Crow said dubiously.

"On the contrary, I expect humiliating one while still leaving him alive to be orders of magnitude more difficult than merely assassinating one of the emperor's less prominent children. But the effect would I think be a bit more impactful, would you not agree?"

Crow shoved the rest of the donut into his mouth, as much to finish it as to stall and give himself some time to mull over a response.

"Do you actually have a plan?" he finally asked.

"It depends." Lelouch glanced over at the other man. "How would you rate your own swordsmanship?"

That elicited a snort. "You've seen me with my blade. How would _you_ rate it?"

"Sufficient for the role that needs to be filled," Lelouch said with a smirk. "Come, let us return to Richmond. There are plans to be drawn."

* * *

Over the course of her career Claire had met a fair number of inquisitors, all with their little idiosyncrasies. One did not rise to such hallowed rank without the skill and tenacity to overcome great adversity, and the combination of such traits tended to manifest in interesting quirks of personality. Claire herself was guilty of such quirks as well, though she liked to think hers was less pronounced than some of her subordinates, colleagues, and superiors. Then again said compatriots also probably thought much the same about their own unique personalities.

The inquisitor that had parked herself in Claire's own chair in the captain's own office however seemed to not care a wit about what others thought, up to and including the actual owner of said room what with the way she was lounging in the chair and feet propped up on the desk. That she was an inquisitor at all had come as a slight surprise to the interrogator, but Monica Kruszewki, Knight of Twelve to his majesty the Emperor Charles, had known the appropriate signs and codes to get into this office. If she was not a fellow member of the Inquisitio then there was something very, very wrong with Hereticus' security measures.

"This is a very comfortable chair," Monica remarked. "I'll have to see about getting one myself."

Despite being fairly straitlaced herself Claire was used to dealing with such personalities, if only due to long practice. Having grown up with irreverent and flippant not-quite siblings probably had something to do with it.

"If your grace likes, I can recommend to you the store that sells them. They tend to be backordered though due to their popularity with their customer base."

"That so? Hmm, might have to toss them some money from my own accounts. Pretty sure the Exchequer's too stingy to let me order proper furniture for my own offices."

That was probably overstating things seeing as Monica was a knight of the round, though like all bean counters even the Empire's accountants could be a bit tightfisted with expenditures. Then again seeing the opulence that seemed to pervade certain parts of the government more of that might not necessarily be a bad thing.

Monica rose, circling the table before plopping down on one of the seats facing the desk. "But where are my manners, I believe that to be yours, Captain Rieveldt."

Claire moved opposite the knight and settled into the still-warm seat. "Thank you, your grace. Now, how may I help you?"

The knight herself had reasons for her present mood, or at least what she was openly displaying as her mood. With V.V.'s imbecilic attack on the Princess Euphemia's supporters costing her the only solid lead to Lelouch there was little for Monica to do in Area 11. Whatever compulsion C.C. was under made her absolutely useless as an intelligence source until it was broken, which the Directorate might be able to do, but any attempt to remove the woman from the area was liable to have provoked a lethal response from the princess, which not even Monica's status as a knight of the round and lord inquisitor would have likely saved her from. It would have taken a great deal of gall for the Princess Euphemia to order her death, but Monica had to give the younger woman some credit, when her highness decided on a course of action she saw it through to the end. And again thanks to V.V.'s conspiring the knight had effectively zero allies in Area 11 so it would not have even been that difficult for the princess to cook up a cover with the willing cooperation of all the major organs of state that would be needed to pull it off.

In trying to interfere with the Refrain investigation, which in Monica's opinion was completely idiotic as a precursor op to the one intended to actually try to off the princess herself, V.V. had basically managed to piss off every major governmental entity in Area 11 and set them against not just the Directorate but also anyone whom they suspected of being affiliated with it. And seeing as Monica's affiliation was basically a known fact to the princess, Euphemia's open distrust of the knight was being openly mirrored by the rest of her administration.

The civilian government was already staunchly loyal to their viceroy, they did not need any further reason to follow Euphemia in resisting any overt pressure from Monica. V.V. of course had to go and give them one by arranging for the kidnapping of the son of one of the princess' cabinet ministers. Even worse said son was in the process of being inducted into the Britannian Army, which did not take kindly to Hereticus interference in its affairs in the best of times. Combined with the murder of a nursing corps captain and the disappointment that its units were not dispatched as part of the rescue taskforce the army's irritation with Hereticus, and Monica by proxy, palpable. Then there was the gendarmerie, whose morale was just starting to recover from the debacles that presaged and included the Tokyo Uprising. Wariness of the lack of accountability of some of the Empire's more powerful security apparatuses was turned into outright hostility after one such apparatus targeted the wife and daughter of their new and highly respected leader.

The other Inquisitio ordos should have been more sympathetic to Monica but even there the knight had found no solace. Xenos for some reason blamed her for the death of the French spy they had captured even though it was Kallen that actually shot the man. That one Monica found really unfair but she had not been able to clear it up before her departure for Pendragon. On the other hand Hereticus had plenty of reason to be unhappy with her since she was responsible for outing and getting killed three of its black wetwork teams. And granted Hereticus' reputation was nothing to boast about to begin with, having it dragged even more in the mood did not make the ordo feel any more cooperative. Even if the op that caused all this was on V.V.'s fault and Monica herself had had nothing to do with it. Life, was unfair.

It was by any measure one of the least successful missions Monica had been dispatched on by his majesty, a point reinforced by the emperor's rather curt acceptance of her report. And the irritating part was that very little of the events that led to this massive cockup were in any way under her control. She certainly could not have reined in the Directorate or V.V. and there was no way she could have predicted that Kallen of all people would develop a code so quickly. Or at all. And then proceed to hijack a thought elevator. Yes, not one of Monica's finer moments. Her failures however did not mean the end of the world, or end of more work, and seeing as someone had been busy giving the Hereticus branches here in the homelands a bloody nose during her absence there was plenty of work to do indeed. Especially since Monica's instincts were whispering hints as to just whom this someone was.

"For the past two months someone has been bombing Hereticus offices, not just the public ones but a few that were supposed to be off the books," Monica said. "These attacks have also been targeted, knocking out mid-level Hereticus officers that coordinated lower level operations in their respective regions, with the consequence that the ordo's counterespionage and countersubversion operations have taken a major hit in efficiency."

Claire said nothing, waiting for the knight to get to her actual point instead of repeating information she already knew.

"I believe that these attacks are a precursor to a larger operation, one that will attempt to strike at the heart of the Empire."

Not that Claire herself had not contemplated the same thing, but instinct alone was not enough to tell her who was behind the attacks and what their ultimate target was.

"You have information on whom these malcontents might be?" the captain asked cautiously.

Monica smirked. It was not a pleasant expression.

"What do you know of the Tokyo Uprising, captain?"

The interrogator's eyes flickered. "It was an assault on the Tokyo Concession launched by the insurgent group calling itself the Japanese Liberation Front, with assistance from the French foreign intelligence service and timed to coincide with the worldwide offensive against the Empire's overseas territories by the European Union and the Chinese Federation."

Monica nodded. The captain's description captured the broad strokes succinctly enough.

"What is not generally known is that one of the primary objectives of the uprising was the assassination of the Princess Euphemia," Monica said. "The Princess Cornelia likely would have also been targeted save for her having left for an inspection tour of western Area 11 shortly beforehand."

Claire's eyes narrowed. "And you know this how, your grace?"

"Come now, should it not be obvious?" Monica asked. "The JLF did not expend two of their French supplied cruise missiles against the hospital her highness was visiting on a whim."

"That may be so," Claire conceded, "but you are suggesting that the JLF's attempt to murder her highness went beyond simply targeting her for her role as viceroy of the area."

The other woman was quick on the uptake. That was promising.

"It did indeed," Monica said. "Tell me captain, what would happen to the Empire were his majesty and the most capable of his children to fall?"

"The throne would pass to whomever was next in line," Claire said even as other possibilities ran through her head.

"Are you sure about that?"

The captain grimaced. "What are you implying, your grace."

"At present there are ten princes and princesses that could credibly ascend to the throne should the unthinkable happen," Monica said. "Of those ten only the top five have a strong enough power base to be secure on the throne upon their ascension. The rest have yet to actually make their debut into high society and however intelligent they might be simply do not have the experience or support necessary to navigate the imperial court. As such the most devastating thing that could happen to the Empire in the middle of a war for our very survival is if the upper echelons of the imperial family was to be wiped out, especially considering the positions held by several of them."

"And yet how likely is that possibility, your grace?" Claire asked. "The security measures protecting the imperial scions, much less his majesty himself, are considerable."

"Considerable, but not perfect. And if those seeking the deaths of the imperial family are able to move more freely thanks to the disruption of Hereticus' surveillance net?"

Claire clasped her hands together. "You obviously believe the chance is considerable, your grace. And presumably you have come to me because you feel that I might be of some help in mitigating it."

The grin this time revealed teeth.

"Tell me captain, if you were to have need of a large body of troops that you could be assured would remain in the homeland and not be sent off overseas, where would you look?"

The woman took a deep breath. "The provincial guard."

Monica leaned back with a self-satisfied expression. "And which provincial governor do you think would be stupid enough to try to make a play for the throne even when the Empire is in the midst of a war for its very survival?"

"With the right outside encouragement," Claire finished the thought.

The knight's head bobbed up and down.

"This bears investigation," the captain stated.

"Then we better get started," Monica said, emphasizing a particular word.

* * *

Even with an open window and a fan blowing Charlotte made sure to put some distance between her own work and Fie and Laura's soldering. Explosives and other, energetic, substances were the domain of the two German girls while Charlotte tended more towards intelligence analysis and infiltration. Today she was doing more of the former than the latter as she carefully looked over the latest dump from Lelouch's growing network of informants. So far it did not seem like the Ordo Hereticus was having any success determining who was attacking its offices but that could change very quickly if they got sloppy.

The door opened and another member of their little family entered. Charlotte smiled and waved at the last girl of their group. Annie walked over, presenting a CD to the French girl.

"The documentation regarding Pendragon's security apparatus."

Charlotte's eyes widened as she accepted the disk. "You got that data collated already?"

"What there was of it," Annie said as she settled into a seat across from Charlotte. "Security in the city itself is mostly handled by the police and the Swords have been keeping up to date on the locations of all of their stations and mustering points. The real trouble is however going to be the military garrison. Or I should say garrisons."

Charlotte nodded. "There are at least five in and about the city if I recall correctly."

"At least," Annie agreed with the qualifier. "There are those two oversized regiments of royal guards of the round, the battalion that protects Valhalla Base, and the combined garrison of the royal guards of the Prince Odysseus, Prince Schneizel, Princess Guinevere, and Princess Cornelia." The girl shook her head. "And that's just counting the regular forces. There's also at least eight regiments' worth of knightmares guarding Pendragon, even if they're scattered about the various commands, as well as a couple squadrons of fighter-bombers. Cracking that place is _not_ going to be easy."

"A frontal assault would almost certainly fail," Charlotte agreed as she regarded the disk thoughtfully. "The Swords of Michael would be vastly outnumbered and outgunned if they attempted any sort of operation in the city. And even the Virginia provincial guard would be hard pressed against such numbers. Well, I suppose none of this should come as a surprise, Pendragon is widely regarded as the most heavily defended city in the world. Though for the Britannian military to concentrate that much combat power in one place, they must be either really paranoid or genuinely worried about some sort of revolt."

"Probably more the former than the latter," Annie remarked. "From everything we've seen thus far the Britannian government has a pretty tight grasp on society. And not just purely as an authoritarian fist squeezing the people either, a lot of people seem to be genuinely loyal to the Empire and the imperial family."

"Propaganda and indoctrination can do that," Charlotte said. "Still, the Empire is not entirely without enemies within its own borders, otherwise this mission would have been impossible."

"True enough." Annie slumped into her chair lazily. "So, any ideas what genius plan your boyfriend will cook up to actually get us into Pendragon and preferably out afterward?"

Charlotte pursed her lips as she flipped through the documents she had been reviewing. "Lelouch has been paying especially close attention to the communications net the Britannian military uses. The Empire uses a microwave radio network to tie its forces into the command net. There are redundancies, but it should be possible to sever the command net by taking out enough of the repeater stations."

"That does not sound easy," Annie said dryly.

"It won't be," Charlotte agreed. "All of the repeaters are well guarded. On the other hand they also tend to act as central communication hubs for their respective regions, so knocking them out would do more than just sever the Empire's nationwide network, it would also cause problems for local communications as well."

"Huh." Annie cocked her head aside. "How many would we need to take out to knock out the command net?"

"Along the American east coast? Twelve."

Annie gave Charlotte a flat look and the French girl smiled back serenely.

"Our window after the net gets taken down isn't going to be that long," Annie said. "This is sounding like it'll take a lot more manpower than just the Swords of Michael are going to be able to provide."

"It may well," Charlotte concurred. "And if that indeed is the case then we will just have to find them."

Annie's response was a simple shrug. Anything further she might have had to say on the matter was deferred when Laura and Fie approached the two.

"Done," Fie said flatly, holding up improvised explosive devices in both hands.

"Alright," Charlotte said, eyeing the devices both girls were carrying warily despite knowing that Fie and Laura were very, very good at their craft and unlikely to have made any catastrophic mistakes. "Stow those safely with the others and we'll go grab lunch." She looked over at Annie. "Want to come?"

"Nah, Bertholdt's cooking something up for the two of us already," Annie said as she rose. "You three have fun."

"You as well," Charlotte said with a wide smile.

Annie snorted but made no further remark as she took her leave.

* * *

Cornelia grimaced as she looked at the map. The Empire was, not winning. It was not exactly losing either, but that was little consolation with the Chinese and European advances. And if the Empire's enemies kept advancing then it could very well end up with Britannia losing.

The intercom beeped. "Your highness, Marshal Vander and Duchess Vail are here to see you."

Cornelia tapped the console. "Send them in."

The door to her office opened moments later and the two entered. The princess straightened from looking over the map and nodded in greeting.

"Marshal, Duchess."

The two bowed in response.

"Your highness," Zechs spoke for both of them.

"The matter that you wished to discuss?" Cornelia asked, cutting right to the matter.

"Your highness, there has been a development with our Indian contacts," Zechs answered. "A development that could, substantially alter the calculus of the Area 18 theatre."

That got Cornelia's attention and her eyes immediately fell upon the woman that had accompanied Zechs. Publicly Duchess Amberley Vail was the Superintendent of the Imperial Military Academy at West Point. To a few select members of the Empire's highest ranking authorities she was also known as Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos.

"Our efforts to gain the trust of the Indian resistance movement has borne fruit, your highness," Amberley said. "Based on the intelligence that they have provided and combined with our own experiences with the Chinese, it's become evident that the Federation has diverted a substantial portion of its troops that used to be stationed in India to the Indonesian Archipelago campaign. This is the weakest the Chinese forces there have ever been, and the resistance movements are scenting opportunity."

"So a revolt, much as what the Elevens tried in Tokyo," Cornelia said with a hint of distaste.

Amberley gave the younger woman a chiding smirk. "All is fair. And if the Indians rise in revolt that would offer General Craig a potential avenue for evacuation if his position becomes truly untenable."

Cornelia's head lowered ever so slightly in acknowledgment of the duchess' point, and implicit critique of her own attitude.

"Very well. So how do we turn this if into a when?"

"A demonstration of our commitment to helping their rebellion succeed," Amberley said, "instead of just using it as a distraction and abandoning them like the Europeans and Chinese did to the JLF."

Cornelia looked back over at Zechs. "And what means do we have of demonstrating this commitment?"

"Based on what Duchess Vail has told me your highness, none," Zechs stated bluntly. "The Indians want actual boots on the ground, but we simply do not have any reserves that can be deployed. And even if we did, they would need a place to actually land. This would require either significant resources be committed to an amphibious landing of India or the Indians themselves seizing a port that we can then use."

And back over at Amberley.

"Zechs is quite correct on both points," the duchess said, referring to the marshal with a familiarity that only one whom went through the academy with him would dare. "Right now we do not have any reserves that could be committed to assisting the Indians with evicting the Chinese. But that is right now."

"And what exactly is the timetable the Indians are contemplating?" Cornelia asked.

"Two months."

At that point there was no need for Cornelia to call upon Zechs to further elucidate. The princess made it a point to be up to date to the various strategic plans the military was pursuing in its prosecution of the war and immediately inferred what the duchess was suggesting. And why Zechs was less than enthused with it. For that matter Cornelia herself could not claim to be particularly keen on it either.

With the Empire's standing forces stretched thin trying to hold its overseas possessions it was a given that the Chinese would likely be able to gain a substantial foothold in the Indonesian Archipelago once they actually launched their offensive. Instead of wasting soldiers and resources trying to defend all of the islands Britannian forces had consolidated on Borneo and Java with only a token garrison remaining on Sumatra. When the Chinese finally landed the objective of the garrison would not be to actually stop the enemy's advance but to harass and gather intelligence in preparation for the inevitable counteroffensive, a counteroffensive that would be composed of the soldiers the Empire was even now training.

The first wave of five hundred thousand conscripts and recruits were nearing completion of basic and would be proceeding to advanced training shortly. A second wave of a million was just starting basic in the newly expanded training camps and the military was still sorting out the logistics of calling on an even larger third wave. By the end of the year the goal was to have close to three million soldiers ready to deploy.

The Chinese and Europeans were not sitting idle however and reports indicated that they were also starting to call up more men to serve. With its massive population, even when just limited to the Han Chinese, the Chinese Federation could field an army far larger than any other nation, Britannia included. Equipping and supplying so many soldiers was of course another matter entirely but Britannia still needed to be prepared to face such numbers. And while the Europeans would not be sending such massive waves at the Empire, the individual qualities of their soldiers would make up for their relatively fewer numbers. Relatively, since based on the best intelligence and analysis the Empire possessed the combined European armed forces numbered approximately twenty million. Not all twenty million were being thrown at the Middle East of course, otherwise Olaf would have been overrun a long time ago. But the totality of the forces arrayed against the Empire predicated the strength with which Britannian needed to respond with.

All this meant that even once the Empire did start having significant numbers to deploy overseas they would need to choose carefully where to commit forces. The original plan had been to force a landing on Sumatra to beat back the Chinese forces and secure again passage to the Indian Ocean, after which significant reinforcements would be deployed to Area 18 to help bolster General Craig, assuming he had not been forced to surrender by that point. The plans already drawn up committed effectively the whole of the ten divisions being raised in the first wave, with only a single division being earmarked for Area 12 to try to at least relieve the forces there of some of the pressure they were facing. Of course that might prove unnecessary should the Britannian Navy finally succeed in breaking the back of the Chinese fleet supporting the Area 12 invasion, but war offered no guarantees, for good or ill.

The catch here however was the timeframe the Indian resistance seemed to want to hit for their own uprising. The first wave of conscripts and recruits would have been constituted into proper divisions by that point, but they would still be in transit for all intents and purposes. Furthermore to support the Indians the Empire would have to divert forces from one of its two operational objectives. All the forces committed for one of the objectives for that matter, as sending reinforcements in piecemeal to either the Middle East or Sumatra would have been pointless. The problem of course was if the Empire failed to retake Sumatra then passage to the Indian Ocean and Area 18 would remain heavily threatened, but if they failed to reinforce General Craig, depending on his situation then the former might well be a moot point. It was a strategic dilemma, and one that Cornelia needed to make a call on.

"General Craig currently has blunted the European advance, has he not?" Cornelia said, more statement than question.

"He has, your highness," Zechs affirmed.

Cornelia began pacing thoughtfully before her two elders. Fifth Fleet was being strained hard maintaining open lines of supply to Area 18 as well as fighting the Chinese South Seas Fleet, even with support from Seventh Fleet. Whether they would be in position to support an Indian operation was very much an open question. Undoubtedly they would need to be reinforced, if only just to make up the losses they had suffered thus far.

The other factor at play was not just the mass mobilization of manpower to raise new army divisions, there was also the hurried construction of new ships to reinforce the Empire's current fleets and new planes for the air force and navy both. Training up the personnel to man those systems would be much more time consuming than raising new divisions for the army, and with the accelerated construction schedule they would probably have more ships and planes than people to actually use them. The entire navy reserve had already been allocated to the current flight of ships being built and Cornelia knew that the second sea lord was seriously contemplating transferring personnel from the coast guard to make up for the expected shortages for the next flight.

The princess grimaced. The Empire really had been caught off guard by the Chinese and Europeans. While its reserves were substantial, it was not expecting to have to fight both powers at the same time. They were being stretched too thin as a consequence.

"Third Fleet," Cornelia suddenly said. "They're currently anchored in Area 11, but the Russians lost effectively their entire Pacific Fleet and the Chinese only have their North Sea Fleet in the area. We could divert Third Fleet's carrier groups to support operations in Area 12, and shift some of Seventh Fleet over to the Indonesian and Indian Ocean theatres." The princess stopped pacing and turned to face Amberley and Zechs. "That might be sufficient to credibly attempt a landing on the Indian subcontinent, _if_ the Indian resistance is able to seize control of a port for our troops to actually make a landing at."

Zechs cocked his head aside. "Does that mean your highness wishes to pursue this approach?"

Cornelia nodded firmly. "An outright uprising in India would force the Chinese to divert some of their resources to try to contain it. Presently our enemies are the ones that have selected which fronts to engage us upon. It is time we were the ones that controlled the decision."

"Then which detachment should we divert to India?" Zechs asked.

"The one earmarked for General Craig."

That earned Cornelia a raised eyebrow from her subordinate. The princess smiled wirily.

"Easier to hide our intentions with ships and soldiers that are already headed into the Indian Ocean." The smile disappeared. "And by that time Olaf will have either stabilized his situation and can hold out until the next wave is ready, or he will be in serious need of evacuation, which the troop transports would be in a position to provide once their passengers have disembarked in India."

Zechs nodded at the logic of the decision. He still did not seem entirely enthusiastic about it, but then again there probably were no perfect solutions to the dilemma facing them.

"I will see about the drafting of the necessary plans, your highness," he said.

Cornelia nodded, and then looked over at Amberley.

"And I will see to it that the Indian resistance understands their end of the bargain," the duchess said, a glint in her eye, "as well as the consequences for failure."

* * *

"Yo, Cole."

The young man looked over to see Eren, Jean, and Connie walking over.

"So where you headed man?" the shortish youth asked.

"You mean after my leave?" Cole said with a wiry smile. "Logistics school."

"What, seriously?" Jean said. "You lucky bastard."

Connie looked back at his friend. "What's lucky about that?"

"Think about it Connie," Jean said. "Quartermasters get to sit behind the lines battling paperwork instead of enemy soldiers. Personally I'd prefer to be pushing pencils than bullets."

"Yeah, that does sound like something you'd enjoy," Eren said snidely.

"What was that!?"

Cole sighed. "It's not quite like that, you know. I'm still expected to know how to fight. And making sure everyone in my unit has food and ammo and whatnot won't be an easy job."

"Yeah, but you'll be on the fast track for promotion if you do it good," Jean said, breaking off his glaring contest with Eren. "Man, I'd kill for that posting."

"So where are you being sent then?" Cole asked.

"Infantry," Jean responded irritably.

"Same here," Connie said with one hand raised.

"Me too," Eren said.

"Huh, really? No one qualified for one of the other specialties?"

"I tried applying for knightmare corps, but they wouldn't even look at my scores," Jean said. "Bunch of stuck up noble pricks. Uh, present company excepted of course."

That elicited a snort from Cole. "I'm not exactly a blueblood myself, Jean."

"Oh please, your mom's a noble and your old man's part of the viceroy's cabinet," Jean remarked. "And what's this I hear about you being personally escorted back here by her highness' armsmen last month?" The young man shook his head. "I don't know Cole, you're definitely a noble, if a weird one, but the princess' probably out of your league."

Cole felt his jaw drop. "Where the Hel did _that_ come from!?"

"What, you get pulled out of basic and pop back in a week later as if nothing had happened with her highness' guard?" Jean said. "And all those letters of yours, they're addressed to the palace."

Cole blinked. "Wait, what? How do you know that?"

A mischievous grin appeared on the other man's face. "I didn't."

Cole scowled. He should have known that seeing as all of his letters to Kallen, and yes the princess, were all addressed to a PO box.

"Wow, nice bluff there Jean," Connie said.

"You should see me at poker," Jean almost preened before pulling Cole into a headlock. "But now that the cat's out of the bag, spill man. We've been buddies all this time and you didn't tell us you were schmoozing around with royalty? That's cold."

"I haven't been schmoozing around with royalty," Cole protested as he worked to pry Jean's arm off of him. After over two months in basic all of them had put on some muscle so this ended up being no mean feat. "I just, I know someone who works in the palace, and I promised to keep in touch."

"Someone?" Jean said. "Has to be a girl. Right guys? No way Cole here'd write all those letters so diligently."

"Oh come on," Cole said, finally extricating himself. "Is this all you guys have been thinking about?"

"Well can you blame us?" Jean said with a grin. "It's such juicy gossip. Imagine, us being bunkmates with a future royal consort."

Cole tried not to look completely incredulous at Jean. He settled for shifting his gaze over to Connie and Eren.

"Jean's full of it," Eren said. "That or he's just jealous that you actually have a girlfriend while he's still all alone."

"Oh and like the two of you have had any more luck than me," Jean said. "We've all been stuck here in this camp with hardly any feminine charm."

"What about all the girls in the other training platoon?" Connie asked.

"What, potato girl and her friends? You're kidding right?"

"I don't know, some of them were pretty cute," Connie said.

"I guess there's no accounting for taste," Jean said with a sigh.

"That's rich coming from you," Eren sneered.

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"I've seen the way you keep making eyes at that Eleven woman that works in the kitchens," Eren said.

"Oh, you're one of those," Jean said with a sneer of his own. "You been living under a rock? Times are changing. A lot of _Japanese_ are perfectly happy to be loyal subjects of the Empire. Just like _you_ and _me_."

"I'm nothing like them," Eren snapped. "And aren't you the one forgetting that just three months ago they rebelled and tried to kill the viceroy?"

"And are you forgetting that a bunch of them fought on the Empire's side to protect her highness?" Jean countered.

"They're probably just biding their damn time," Eren retorted. "Pretending to be loyal until they get another chance to strike."

"Man, what the Hel is wrong with you?" Jean said. "You've got a real stick up your ass about Numbers."

Eren's mouth twisted into a grimace as he struggled to come up with a response. Whatever drove his hatred of Elevens it seemed to be deep-seated and more than a bit sensitive. Cole sighed, straightening and looking Eren in the eye.

"Eren."

The other man looked over and met his gaze.

"We're friends, right?"

Eren nodded slowly. "Yeah. I don't know about Jean, but you and Connie are alright in my book."

Jean looked about ready to say something but a quick glance from Cole saw the man close his mouth wordlessly.

"The girl I've been writing letters to," Cole said. "Her name is Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki."

Both Eren and Jean inhaled sharply. Connie simply looked at the three blankly.

"She's risked her life countless times, for me, for her highness, and for her people. Both of them. And she's done it despite the fact that her fellow Britannians have treated her fellow Japanese like trash. She does it because she knows that just as not all Britannians are bastards, not all Japanese are saints. But regardless of who or what they are, they still deserved her consideration, and protection."

Eren's fists tightened, but he made no move. After a moment he spun about, leaving without a word. Cole sighed as he watched his, friend, depart. Hopefully after this point they would still be friends. Some things however were more important than mere friendship or camaraderie. Truth was one of them, no matter how unpleasant. And if getting Eren to realize the truth ended up costing Cole the other man's friendship, then that was fine. The memory of that friendship was worth that much at least.

"So," Jean said, breaking the awkward silence. "You and the Lady Stadtfeld huh?"

Cole chuckled wirily. "You have a one track mind, you know that Jean?"

"That's not exactly a bad thing," Jean said with a smirk.

"Ey Cole," Connie spoke up. "Whoos this Kallen girl anyway?"

Cole barked out a laugh alongside Jean.

"Don't ever change Connie," he said.

End of Chapter 64

Let's see, lots of things to discuss. When Monica introduced herself to Claire she did so as an inquisitor, she did not mention that she was a lord inquisitor. That's intentional.

A note on computer technology, what the characters have right now is basically early 2000 technology, so basically think Pentium 4/Athlon 64 era computers. Having a room temperature superconductor really helps. Ahem. Anyway, at this point laptops would still be fairly large hulking things that don't really have much battery life and all actual work is still done on desktops or workstations. There are LCD flat panels but they're pricy, so Euphemia probably has a couple thousand pounds of computing equipment right there in her office. There are times when I really shake my head at the lack of imagination with respect to the applications of sakuradite. I mean, a room temperature superconductor. Just the possibilities would make any computer or electrical engineer salivate.

Interestingly enough having a room temperature superconductor doesn't help quite as much with getting things into space. It's a different type of engineering problem. As such the world is still working on establishing a space presence. No one has a communications satellite network, yet, though Britannia had been working on one and one reason the Europeans kicked off the war when they did was to preempt the Empire deploying and putting into use said network. They grasp quite well just what sort of strategic advantage the ability to do communication worldwide would offer the Empire.

Cole was grabbed by a Hereticus operative pretending to be a regular officer. As far as the boot camp is aware nothing out of the ordinary happened, and Cole came back to them with a special dispensation from the Princess Euphemia herself for the days he missed. Publicly the fact that there were hostages in the recent terrorist attacks has been kept very quiet so beyond the people actively involved in the rescue operations and the family members of said hostages the details are not public knowledge.

While the numbering of the princes and princesses in the anime seemed to imply they were numbered based off of their order of birth, as a whole the franchise has not actually set down a hard rule about it and based off of what information I've gleaned about the non-anime characters they basically didn't bother trying to keep things consistent, so let's just get this out of the way and say that in my version of the story the numbers do indicate their order of birth. That being said, in my story Lelouch's former title was not the Eleventh Prince, I'm bumping him up to avoid having to explain why all of the sons between him and Clovis were such twits that Euphemia was able to jump the order and be named fourth in line to the throne above all of them. Note that that isn't to say she doesn't have some older brothers other than Odysseus, Schneizel, Clovis, and Lelouch, just not as many as the original implied.

Officially the Red Knight is not actually wanted for Clovis' murder. Officially the Empire still has no idea who actually murdered Clovis. While it is generally recognized that the Red Knight participated in the fracas that was the Shinjuku Incident, the authorities officially can't pin Clovis' death directly on her because no one actually witnessed Clovis' murder and it could have been another insurgent group that struck while the Red Knight and her compatriots were distracting the Britannian forces in the area.

Unofficially the people who actually matter in the Britannian hierarchy either suspect or know outright that Kallen was responsible. However with Euphemia having made clear that Kallen has her backing, and the fact that the majority of those people who know or suspect and might actually care are in Euphie's camp (or she is in theirs), they're prepared to not publicly raise the point. Privately, well, let's just say that Cornelia and Euphemia's little discussion regarding Kallen got, somewhat heated. One might even say volcanic.

As far as Charles himself goes while he does know that Kallen killed Clovis, by inference if nothing else, that by itself would not give him cause to move against her. After all, it's not like he cares that much if one or two of his children falls, it's happened several times already as part of the court intrigues. So far since Kallen's doing a very good job of distracting V.V.'s attention he's content to leave her be despite the danger her geass (and what he thinks is Kallen's code) represents, since going after Kallen would require going after Euphemia, which would effectively put him at odds with Schneizel and Cornelia. While he is the emperor, the balance of power at court is still not something that he can just muck around with without consequence. If Schneizel and Cornelia feel that they have nothing left to lose, they can and will trigger an actual coup d'état militarily instead of just waiting for Charles to bugger off naturally. Both Schneizel and Cornelia have built up enough personal loyalty in the government and armed forces that there really would be a question of whether a direct order to arrest either of the two would be obeyed, or even if some parts obeyed it if other segments of the government and military would just stand idly by as it was happening.

And of course the people on the Japanese side who know that Kallen killed Clovis are keeping their mouths shut. Tamaki included.

That Kallen is the Red Knight is at this point basically an open secret. However a significant chunk of the Britannian population regard her not as an insurgent but as a vigilante that had been fighting the abuses of the authorities. As much as Clovis was personally popular, people were aware that there were problems with the administration. As such as far as they are concerned Kallen openly siding with the Princess Euphemia is an indication that the vigilante has basically gone legit. Not that everyone is so quick to accept her, and that will show up from time to time, but no one is going to move against Kallen (openly) when she has Euphemia's strong support.

As far as dealing with the likes of Luciano, let's just say that Schneizel and Cornelia have a, kill list, of people who they intend to immediately arrest or even execute (by due process of course) the moment Schneizel comes to power. These people tend to be far too dangerous and powerful to let them linger on in the new monarchy and if Luciano was not on the list before, Euphemia informing her siblings what he's been up to would definitely put him on it now. And again, as has been demonstrated assassination is not something factions of the imperial court shy away from. If Luciano pushes too hard and gets enough people pissed off at him, it won't matter how much Charles publicly supports him, someone somewhere will organize a plot to off him. The only reason that Schneizel's faction has refrained from resorting to that kind of bloodletting is because they are explicitly trying to stem all this backstabbing in the court and the imperial family. They recognize that once they themselves start partaking in it, they become no better than any of the other factions. It's also why Schneizel and Cornelia do not want to kick off a coup unless they are absolutely backed into a corner. This of course does not stop them from fighting back of course, any assassin that goes after them are fair game and if they can conclusively trace said assassin back to someone at court there will be consequences, but they are trying to do things according to the word and intent of the law.


	66. Chapter 65

Snippet spoiler: meh

 _Of the civil protections in the old imperial constitution, one of the more curious principles enshrined was the right to a clean death. This has generally meant that when an individual is sentenced to death, the government is obliged to execute said individual in a quick and efficient manner. From a practical perspective the consequence of this principle was that the convicted could not be tortured to death. In comparison to the often brutal and vicious nature of court politics, the right to a clean death was often regarded as a mark of civility in the otherwise sordid affairs. Combined with the fact that those convicted of a certain class of crimes such as treason must face the death penalty and it could even be regarded as a final mercy._

 _Of the principles set forth in the original constitution, this was one that endured in the new constitution set forth by the Empress Euphemia. No sovereign has ever violated this principle and her majesty is no exception. Few regard the manner in which her majesty dealt with the Lord David to have been anything less than a relatively quick and clean death, no doubt because the swordsmanship of the Brigadier Eyre would have made anything less impossible. And while the manner in which her majesty neutralized Luciano Bradley, the Knight of Ten, might be termed excessively thorough, again none could accuse the empress of intentionally seeking to prolong his death. Sir Bradley would be the only Knight of the Round appointed by the Empress Euphemia's father that her majesty actively sought to remove. When Sir Bradley resisted, her majesty's response was emphatic indeed._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 65

Morituri te salutant

Kallen regarded her reflection in the mirror. It was still the same face that stared back at her, mostly. She was a bit too young to be showing any lines from stress just yet. Though if age were not a consideration Euphemia would probably have her beat in that department. No, it was mostly her face, mostly because one of the eyes that stared back at her did so with a crimson iris. When Kallen had first woken up from her stroke the sudden shift of her eye color had shocked all those present, from Kuroba to her father to Cole to the nurse. Kallen herself had spent a minute or so wondering what the blazes was going on, loudly at that, before a mirror was brought before the girl to show her. The undignified scream that she let out when she saw her reflection was not something Kallen was especially proud of.

After spending another minute or so staring at said reflection Kallen took a deep breath and straightened. There was no point in worrying about something she could not change, and besides it was not like she needed to walk around with heterochromia. Reaching to the side of the sink, Kallen picked up the contact. She had used a similar one in the past to hide her blue eyes. Now however she was using it to restore her nature eye color. It was almost funny, in a dark sort of way.

Once the contact was in place Kallen blinked a few times to get used to the sensation. She had to admit this one was a lot less uncomfortable than the ones she got previously, probably something to do with the obscene amounts of money her father had thrown at the optician to make the best damn contact suited to Kallen as possible. The girl doubted her father personally cared in the least whether she walked around with a different color in each eye but once it was decided that to minimize the number of questions that might be raised with Kallen suddenly developing heterochromia Heinrich had spared no expense. Even though Kallen was pretty sure Euphemia would have covered the costs herself without hesitation. Her father, could be stubborn like that.

As Kallen headed to her appointment she tried to tune out all of the people around her. That was getting harder and harder to do, and the young woman felt a palpable concern that one day she might not be able to block out all of the senses and sensations from other people. That she might go insane and die just like those Directorate test subjects Monica had mentioned. That would be a less than pleasant fate. Kallen shook her head. No, she would keep herself together. There was still work yet undone and she would see all of it to the end. Even if that did kill her.

Kallen entered into the waiting room outside of Euphemia's office and nodded to the secretary seated at her desk.

"Hello Rachel, her highness should be expecting me."

"Indeed she is," Rachel said with a slight smile. "Please."

With another nod Kallen pushed open the door and let herself in. Seated at her own desk Euphemia was gazing intently at, a chess set at the center of her desk. Kallen regarded the scene with a bemused smile.

"Did you invite me just for a game, your highness?" she asked lightly.

Euphemia returned the smile and tilted her head towards one of the chairs across from her. "If you are up to it. There were also some other matters that I wanted to discuss."

"Don't you have actual work to be doing?" Kallen said playfully as she took a seat. She glanced over at some papers next to the chess set. "Like all that paperwork?"

To Kallen's surprise the princess actually grimaced. When she answered Kallen however there was no irritation or anger in her tone, just a weariness.

"These are death warrants," Euphemia said, "for the individuals that have been judged most complicit in the human trafficking at Babel."

Kallen's eyes widened slightly. And then she looked down at the chess set.

"Well, I hope you won't have too high of an expectation for me," she said, changing the topic as tactfully as she could. "I'm complete crap at these sorts of games."

"Really? Despite having outmaneuvered both myself and the military on occasion during your time as the Red Knight?"

Kallen crinkled her nose. "Being good at a game doesn't necessarily translate to real-world competency. And vice versa."

Euphemia chuckled. "Well, I suppose that is true enough. Do you have a preference for a side?"

"You can be white," Kallen said, smiling playfully. "The color suits you after all."

"Thank you, I think," Euphemia responded with similar frivolity.

Reach over, she picked up the pawn before the king and set it down two spaces forward. And then regarded Kallen more sternly.

"This chess set was one of the items confiscated from Babel."

Kallen raised an eyebrow and then looked down at the pieces and the board. There was definitely a sparkling of light coming off of each piece, even the black ones. She picked up a pawn and examined it more closely.

"What is this made of?"

"Opal," the princess answered.

Kallen's eyes widened. "Wait, really!?"

"One of the most, prestigious, forms of gambling at Babel was betting on chess games by the players. In fact Mr. Douglas was, reputed, to be the best chess player in Tokyo, and had earned himself the moniker the Black King. All indications are however all of his games were staged as a means of laundering money."

"You don't say," Kallen said, putting down her pawn directly in front of Euphemia's.

"This particular set was only used for the highest level matches, ones involving millions of pounds."

Euphemia advanced her knight forth, positioning it to take Kallen's pawn.

"Seems appropriately decadent," Kallen said as she pushed forward another pawn a single space to guard the other one. "So anything that the government confiscates you get to play with?"

"In a manner of speaking," Euphemia said, picking up the pawn before her queen and placing it diagonal from Kallen's first pawn. "This chess set is now technically the property of the government. It will remain here as the property of the viceroyalty of Japan after my tenure is complete unless my father deigns to gift it to me."

"Or your brother," Kallen said offhandedly as she mulled her present situation. And then a thought occurred to her. "Wait, are you using your geass to compute all the possible moves?"

"Why, whatever would make you think that?" Euphemia asked innocently.

Said act did not fool Kallen in the least as she half-glowered at the princess. She still pushed forward another pawn by one to guard her first pawn, creating a triangular vanguard in front of her king.. Euphemia immediately followed up by picking up her bishop and setting it halfway across the board.

"Check."

Kallen snorted. As checks went this one was extremely easy to guard against. She was mildly surprised the princess had bothered.

"So what else did you want to talk about?" Kallen asked as she pushed forth another pawn to block Euphemia's bishop.

"I intend to go on a tour of western Japan next week, to examine the extent of the damage from the Chinese bombing campaign," Euphemia said. "I was wondering if you would be available to accompany me."

The princess picked up a pawn and pushed aside Kallen's first pawn.

"Technically all you need to do is order me to come along," Kallen said, studying the board. "You are my liege after all."

"True, but you do have your studies to attend to," Euphemia said. "How are those proceeding by the way?"

Kallen grunted. "They're fine, and things are fine at school too if that's what you're getting at. No one's tried anything after that little dustup at the start of the term."

That was true enough, though there was still a wariness from quite a few students even aside from the idiots that had tried haranguing her and Mikasa during the first week. Kallen tried not to hold it against them, seeing as the last time she had been at school an assassination attempt on her ended up getting a lot of her classmates killed. The teachers at least seemed willing to welcome her back, and there were of course Rivalz and Shirley. And Nunnally.

"That is good to hear," the princess said, watching Kallen intently as she counter captured Euphemia's pawn and seemingly left the black queen exposed.

The princess immediately moved her knight forth, continuing the domino that was clearing the center of the board. Kallen picked up her pawn to finish the cascade of moves but just as she was about to lift the piece her eyes narrowed. She then shot the princess a glower. Euphemia simply smiled blankly at Kallen. The red-haired girl promptly let go of the piece without moving it and pushed up another pawn a single space, taking up a seemingly innocuous white square. The princess nodded, as if complimenting Kallen for the move, before proceeding to castle with her right rook.

"I should be able to come," Kallen said. "The student council doesn't have any real work that the rest of the members can't handle, even after you poached Nina."

The older girl continued regarding the board intently even as out of the corner of her eye she watched for any reaction from Euphemia. To the princess' credit she revealed none. Not seeing any really good options Kallen decided to start advancing her other pieces and pushed out a bishop into position to take Euphemia's forward knight the next turn. The princess countered by maneuvering her own bishop into an offsetting position.

"That is good to hear. And what of Private Ackermann?"

"What about her?" Kallen asked, more and more of her attention being diverted to the game than the actual conversation as she tried to not fall into any traps the princess might set.

She again reached for a pawn to push it forward and threaten Euphemia's bishop, and again stopped herself when she noted the relative positions of the white queen and the black king. Eventually she settled for pushing forward another pawn to threaten Euphemia's other bishop on the other side of the board.

"Has she been acclimating well to Ashford?" Euphemia asked, taking her forward knight and capturing one of Kallen's pawns.

The older girl raised an eyebrow as the maneuver threatened her own queen. It was again something very straightforward to get out of and the princess would be on the losing side in terms of pieces captured. She pushed a pawn diagonally and took the knight. The eyebrow stayed up when Euphemia advanced with her queen and took Kallen's bishop. While this technically did threaten Kallen's queen again, all this would end up as was a case of mutual annihilation.

"I suppose she is," Kallen said. "Rivalz actually recruited her to the student council as a secretary."

And again Kallen was pretty sure that Euphemia would be on the losing side of this exchange. She pushed her queen forward, knocking off Euphemia's. The princess predictably responded by taking her queen with a bishop. Kallen finished the whole set off by knocking out the other bishop. Euphemia seemed unperturbed, moving up the pawn in front of the castled rook two spaces.

"Really? And how has the private taken to that?"

Kallen responded by pushing up a pawn to threaten the piece even as another covered it.

"She's not complaining," she answered the princess, watching Euphemia accept the challenge and capture the pawn. "She's taking a bit of time getting used to the paperwork, but she tries hard." Kallen looked up at Euphemia. "And she seems to have taken a liking to Nunnally."

The girl knocked off the advancing pawn with her own. And cursed the moment her fingers came off the piece.

"Is that so?" Euphemia said almost thoughtfully as she pushed her rook across the board next to Kallen's king. "Check."

That was a really stupid mistake to have made, Kallen knew straight away. In fact she was pretty sure it was fatal. But she was not going to go down without a fight. She moved her piece diagonally in front of Euphemia's only remaining bishop.

"Maybe because Nunnally herself is very considerate of her," Kallen tried to continue the conversation as if she was not about to lose.

She maneuvered her knight diagonally between Euphemia's bishop and rook. Maybe that would buy her some time. Euphemia simply moved her rook back a single spot, threatening the knight. And on and on it went as Kallen found her ranks decimated as the princess systematically chased her across the board, knocking off the black pieces as she went. And then one of Euphemia's pawns made it onto the other side and Kallen watched as the princess put back into play the white queen.

"I think we can call it there," the girl said glumly.

She might not have been very good at chess but she still hated losing.

"A good game, Kallen," Euphemia said. "And thank you for taking the time."

Kallen looked up, slightly surprised at the sincerity in the princess' tone. And then she returned the smile.

"It was my pleasure, your highness. It can be, nice, just relaxing like this."

"Euphemia."

Kallen blinked.

"I think by now in private the need for such formality is beyond us."

Kallen's smile returned, wider this time. "Very well, Euphemia."

The princess glanced over at the clock. "I believe you will need to head down to the station soon?"

Kallen followed Euphemia's gaze and nodded. "Yeah. Cole's train should be arriving in about an hour."

"Please give him my warmest regard."

Kallen shot the princess a quizzical look. Euphemia continued feigning innocent nonchalance. The knight snorted.

"I'll be sure to make sure he understands just how much his, dear sister, appreciates him."

The two women continued holding each other's' gaze, before breaking out into mutual heartfelt laughter.

* * *

Cole was not the only soldier returning to Tokyo on leave and he was certainly not the only one to have family and friends waiting for him. In fact he was not the only one to have a sweetheart amongst those waiting for his return. He did not care and eagerly embraced all of them on the station platform.

"My dear boy," Eve said, seemingly unwilling to let go of her son.

Cole was in no hurry so let his mom hold onto him as much as she wanted. After a few minutes Eve finally let go, though reluctantly at that. Next was his sister Nora, who seemed to be competing with her mother in how tightly she embraced him. And then Kallen, who fought down a blush to give him a peck on the cheeks as well.

"Welcome back Cole," she said.

"It's good to be back," Cole said. "And, I'm glad to see all of you again."

In point of fact he had spent a day or so with his family in the aftermath of the kidnapping, but even that felt like a long time ago. And Kallen, the last time he had seen Kallen she was still bedridden from her stroke. It was good to see her out and about.

"C'mon, let's get you home," Lawrence said. "You are of course welcome to join us, Kallen."

"Thank you Mr. Kraft," Kallen said as she smiled at Cole. "Umm, will there be any problems parking the Humvee at your residence?"

Cole chuckled at that. "It'll be fine." And wrapped an arm around her side. "You know, your father invited me to dinner tomorrow."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Said something about how it was about time I, answered, for courting his daughter and helping her debut into high society."

All of the Kraft family members were now smiling in bemusement. Kallen herself had more wiry one.

"That does sound like my dear old father," she said. And sighed.

Despite how little time he could actually claim to have spent with Kallen Cole still managed to pick up on her mood.

"How is your mother?" he asked gently.

Kallen looked at him in mild surprise but answered nonetheless. "She's, still in her coma. The doctors don't know when, if, she'll wake up."

"I see," Cole said solemnly. His hold on Kallen tightened ever so slightly. "If you don't mind, I'd like to visit her before I need to report in."

Kallen smiled. "Thank you Cole."

Cole nodded, returning the smile. "Oh yes, Colonel Bright also invited us to dinner."

The girl blinked. "Us?"

"Well, he thought it would only be fitting if he invited both of us," Cole said with a playful grin even as he eyed his family. "It looks like you guys will only have to feed me for part of this week."

"Now none of that young man," Eve chided playfully. "Hanna has been so eager to have you back, she's wanted to show you all the new recipes she learned while you were away."

"Oh, that does sound tempting," Cole said. "Have you met Hanna?"

Kallen shook her head.

"Ah. She's been with us for, four years now? Father was the one that hired her."

Lawrence nodded. "I knew her former employer. An elderly man whom had a sheep raising business. After he passed away, I offered Hanna a position in my household." The man chuckled. "And with Lawrence away, Hanna is the only reason the meals meet the standard set by the, lady of the house."

Eve clicked her tongue. "Well if we left you to decide the meal every day we'd all be eating porridge day in and day out." The woman looked over at Kallen. "A word of warning dear, Cole also inherited his father's miserliness. While he can do wonders in the kitchen with the right ingredients, you'll want to keep an eye on just what he ends up bringing home after grocery shopping."

Kallen allowed herself a chuckle. "I will keep that in mind, Mrs. Kraft."

"Please, Eve is just fine," the older woman said with a smile.

In the end Kallen ended up with Cole and Nora both in the Humvee she had checked out from the palace motor pool. On the other hand the one actually at the wheel was Cole, who claimed he wanted Kallen and Nora to have a chance to talk, but Kallen was pretty sure he just wanted to show off that, yes, he did know how to actually drive. Boys could be like that. In the end Kallen did get to know Nora better, and also learned a few tidbits about Cole in the process. That was probably not what Cole had intended. Maybe that would get him to think twice about showing off in the future.

* * *

The underground arena that Charlotte found herself in was not actually physically underground, but that did not make it any easier to get into. The people guarding the entrance were big, intimidating looking types, who still somehow managed to pull off the veneer of sophistication required of those that presented a public face at places frequented by high society, or at the very least the well moneyed. It was all a façade however seeing as the things that happened inside the arena were as far from sophisticated as one could get.

Luciano shoved the blade into his opponent's stomach and twisted, messily disemboweling the man. The crowd cheered as blood gushed from the hapless victim as he slumped over. Yanking his sword out, the knight raised the gleaming weapon high as he drank in the adulation of the crowd.

"AND VICTORY GOES TO THE LORD LUCIANO BRADLEY!" the announcer cried out.

The man Luciano had gutted was left to bleed out on the floor as the crowds continued cheering. Charlotte watched silently in the back, her finger itching for the submachine gun strapped around her shoulders. It was not time yet, but it was ever so tempting to just pump the bastard full of bullets and leave him to bleed out like the man he had just murdered. A shame that the plan called for him to live. Charlotte could not recall the last time she so wanted a person to burn in hell.

Scattered across the arena were other men and women dressed in black tactical gear and armed like Charlotte, ostensibly providing security for the audience and serving as a response team in case any of the arena participants got uppity. Or at least a specific category of participants. Today however all of them had been compromised or outright replaced for a very special exhibition. So special that no one in the audience knew just what kind of spectacle was about to unfold before their very eyes. Said spectacle just barely made Luciano worth more alive than dead. Barely.

The knight's latest victim had finished bleeding out and was dragged out of the arena grounds. Luciano nonchalantly wiped down his blade before tossing the rag aside. He then pumped both fits into the air.

"Whom else dares challenge the Vampire of Britannia!?" he shouted.

More cheers answered him. Luciano grinned like a madman at the adulation. Then again in the opinion of many people he fit all the criteria to be considered one outright. He was so fixated on the crowd that he did not notice the gates to the arena opening once more and a lone figure stepped out. The audience on the other hand did not and their cheers slowly died down. Luciano frowned and turned about. At the sight of the intruder he sneered.

"And who the Hel are you? You've got balls just waltzing in like this."

The man that stood before Luciano matched the knight in height and build but his face was obscured by the V-shaped visor of his crown-like helmet. A black cloak was draped diagonally across his shoulders but peeking out the side was the end of a long blade.

"You may address me as C," a heavily distorted voice sounded. The cloak was brushed aside as the double-sided sword was revealed in full. "And while I appreciate the, compliment, I am afraid you lack the necessary, characteristics, for me to reciprocate."

The entire arena went deathly silent save for stunned gasps here and there. One could almost sense the boiling rage building up in Luciano and he slowly turned to fully face the intruder.

"What did you just say?" he asked in a soft, ominous voice.

"I'm sorry, did I use too many big words?" C replied. "Then allow me to elucidate. That means explain. You. Have. No. Balls."

If the previous silence was deathly this one could almost be described as deafening. Deafening as boots sounded of several security personnel moving to the edge of the arena. Deafening as the grinding of teeth by Luciano was somehow echoing throughout the chamber. And then the knight burst out in maniacal laughter. The audience remained frozen, trying to grasp just what was happening and what Luciano was finding so amusing. Or at least some of them were struggling to do so. There were plenty of other psychopaths scattered amongst the audience that also arrived at the conclusion, yes, there was something funny about this turn of events. They still kept their mouths shut however.

"Oh this is splendid," Luciano said with an exaggerated flourish. "Just splendid! Someone who actually is delusional enough to think they can match my blade!" The knight twirled his sword about. "You won't mind if I carve my name into your ass after this is over, I presume? And maybe strangle you a bit with your own intestines. There's a way to do it, you know, it requires a real artisan touch."

C chuckled, the sound made raspy by his vocal distorter. "Seeing as the best you ever seem to manage is to gut drugged urchins, I think I'll look forward to you groveling on your knees."

The look of amusement disappeared from Luciano's face, replaced instead by a blank coldness. The knight raised his sword.

"On your guard, whoever you are."

And then with his other hand issued a signal. From the arena side one of the guards behind C raised his rifle. The burst that he fired, missed the intruder entirely. And perforated Luciano's knee and leg. The knight screamed out in pain, dropping his weapon as he grabbed his bleeding appendage. The audience gasped and a panic filled the air as the other guards turned about and leveled their weapons at them. None opened fire, yet at least.

C let out an exaggerated sigh. "I had hoped you'd at least have the nerve to meet my blade." He approached Luciano's fallen form, tossing aside his own sword. "Instead you rely on others to compensate for your utter uselessness." And kicked away the knight's weapon. "I will not stain my sword with the blood of one so unworthy." C cracked his knuckles. "Instead you shall have a taste of my fists."

The knight was still reeling from the pain of his shattered knee but as C came upon him he somehow mustered the will to lunge at the man. A hidden knife slid out from under his sleeve and Luciano tried to shove it into C's gut. Tried, only to have C grab hold of his wrist and twist, hard. A crack sounded and the knight screamed out in pain again. Said scream was cut off by a thud as C's fist contacted the knight's jaw. Another punch landed, leaving Luciano with a bruised eye. More followed until the knight's face was left a bloody pulp. The knight finally collapsed and lay still, any movement only serving to invite more pain. C stepped back and regarded his handiwork before nodding in satisfaction. He then turned to regard the audience. An audience that had been watching in morbid fascination as the Knight of Ten was reduced into a sniveling wreck.

"Ladies and gentlemen," C's distorted voice carried throughout the arena. "The Swords of Michael thank you all for visiting this, fine, establishment today. We have noted whom are amongst our most, esteemed, guests, and we will not forget your patronage."

A sense of dread began spreading amongst the audience at those words. If this was not one big bluff, then this nightmare was far from over. C bowed theatrically.

"We hope that you have enjoyed your entertainment this day, and we bid you, good night."

The lights suddenly cut out and chaos erupted in the arena. The masses immediately surged for the exits even as C and his fellow conspirators made their own escape. By the time help arrived for Luciano the knight had already lost a great deal of blood. He would survive, but he would need time to recover. The same could not be said of his reputation.

* * *

To Monica's mild surprise she was the last one to arrive at the meeting. It was rare for all the Knights of the Round to be summoned, and even rarer for all of them to actually be in Pendragon to answer said summons on such short notice. Then again not all of them were present seeing as Luciano's hospitalization was the reason Bismarck had called this meeting. The Knight of One nodded as Monica entered.

"Well, I'm technically not late," Monica said somewhat flippantly as she assumed her seat.

A couple of the others cracked smirks at her attitude, though Bismarck was not one of them. He tended to be overly stodgy in Monica's opinion. Then again he was the Knight of One and having to corral the other knights of the round and keep them in line was hardly a task to be achieved by whimsy. With everyone here Bismarck began the meeting.

"I have summoned you all here today in response to a challenge and provocation against us, and through us, against his majesty the emperor," he said. "All of you already know that Luciano was assaulted yesterday and badly injured. The doctors expect it will be several months at least before he is able to return to his duties."

None of the other knights, Bismarck included, looked terribly broken up at that news. In fact if the slight smiles were any indication the majority seemed almost pleased to hear it. The Knight of Ten was not especially popular with his fellow members of the round.

"Serves the bastard right," Nonette Enneagram, Knight of Nine, said aloud.

Bismarck raised an eyebrow to which Nonette simply snorted.

"You know I'm right. Luciano kept participating in those underground gladiator bouts even after you warned him to stop. Someone was going to use that against him eventually."

The Knight of One sighed. "I cannot dispute that point. Nevertheless we Knights of the Round cannot as a whole simply ignore the assault on Luciano. It is evident that the perpetrators intended to humiliate him as much as it was to remove him from active duty. Such a challenge cannot go unanswered."

That much was true even if Luciano himself was a complete ass.

"So, who did it?" Anya Alstreim, the Knight of Six asked even as she continued playing her handheld game.

"Witnesses report that the perpetrators called themselves the Swords of Michael," Bismarck answered, not deigning to notice the younger knight's seeming nonchalance.

"Those guys huh?" Gino Weinberg, the Knight of Three said. "This has to be the biggest stunt they've pulled in, ever. Surprised the fanatics didn't gun down all the other sinners watching Luciano's games."

"Likely because they intended for as many people to spread what they witnessed as possible," Michele Manfredi, the Knight of Two, pointed out. "Though it is interesting that they left Luciano alive. What would they gain by that?"

"That's obvious," Monica said. "They wanted to send a message. Probably multiple messages. In fact we should be seeing future attacks probably on some of the more prominent spectators pretty soon. The Swords only need to let them live long enough to spread the word, after that they're more useful as additional examples."

"And letting Luciano live somehow sends a stronger message than just killing him?" Nonette said dryly.

"If you encountered a threat, would you leave it alive to run away with its tail between its legs and come back, or would you put it down for good?" Monica countered.

"That a rhetorical question?" Nonette responded.

"What Monica is probably trying to say," Michele cut in, "is that by leaving Luciano alive, the Swords are implying that they are not worried about him. That despite his status as a Knight of the Round they do not view him as an actual danger to their cause."

"Pretty stupid of them," Anya put in.

Gino nodded in agreement. "Luciano's a nutcase, but he's still a knight. And if he guns for someone, he won't hold back any dirty tricks."

"Foolish or not this is the course of action the Swords have chosen," Bismarck said, redirecting the topic back to the actual matter at hand. "They have issued a challenge, and we must decisively respond lest we be regarded as impotent against petty terrorists."

"I already have an investigation going with the Ordo Hereticus," Monica said. "I wasn't looking at the Swords of Michael originally, but now that they've openly declared themselves it's pretty obvious who's been behind the bombings the past few months."

"Hereticus has not had much luck tracking down the perpetrators," Michele said. "Even knowing it is the Swords of Michael, are they likely to have any better luck? These terrorists have been around for years if not decades. They are a persistent lot."

"That's what makes fanatics fanatics," Monica said with a shrug. "Persistence. But the gloves are off now and we'll run them to ground. The Swords might be persistent, but they still have a thing or two to learn about ruthlessness."

Despite the rather blank expression on Monica's face a few of the others felt a shiver as they regarded the young woman. Monica was not the youngest of the knights, nor even the second youngest, and she was most certainly not the oldest or most experienced. And yet she had been the one his majesty selected as the Knight of Twelve, a duty that saw Monica away from Pendragon more often than not. They could almost pity the Christian terrorists that had drawn Monica's attention. The only mercy they would be granted was the fact that the knight was not a sadist like Luciano, even if she shared the man's tendency to not leave any survivors.

* * *

"Liking what you see?"

Charlotte looked up to see Crow leaning against the doorway. She raised an eyebrow.

"Simply wondering where you came up with this idea," she said, hefting the helmet she was holding.

The young man walked over and took the helmet from her. "It's supposed to be a chess motif, sort of." He rotated the top towards Charlotte. "See these streaks? They're supposed to resemble the points on a crown." And flipped it about to show her the visor. "And blue's the color usually associated with the Archangel Michael, so that's what we made the visor tinted as."

"Huh. So it wasn't just because you thought it would look cool?"

"Ouch, give me some credit," Crow said with a grin. "I may not be as smart as your boyfriend, but my head ain't totally empty."

The young man set the helmet down and picked up the double-sided sword.

"Now this beauty here," he said proudly, "this was all me. Took a long ass time to make her, but she turned out right purty."

Charlotte cocked her head aside. "A double-sided sword. You don't see weapons like that much outside of fantasy stories. Wouldn't a single blade work better? Or I suppose even two separate blades."

Crow grinned. "Funny you should say that." He twisted the hilt and suddenly the weapon detached into two. "Heh? What do you think?"

Charlotte could not help but smile ruefully. "So the single weapon thing is just for show?"

"Oh I can use it just fine when it's attached together," Crow assured her, "but sometimes it is more practical to have two separate blades." He twirled one of the swords about. "Getting the balance just right on the two of these was a real pain. You should have seen how many failed swords I went through before I got these two working."

"What type of steel did you use?" Charlotte asked.

"L6 tool steel," Crow answered. "Hard as all hallelujah and a complete pain to work, but when you need something that won't deform under impact, it's your best bet."

"Was there a reason you made the swords? Why not just use a gun?"

Crow shrugged. "It was more of a hobby than anything else. Never actually expected to use the blades. Still haven't for that matter, that knight turned out to be a little chicken shit."

To that Charlotte nodded. "Then you believe you could have defeated Luciano Bradley in a duel?"

"Can't know for sure till you cross blades with someone, but yeah, I think I could have taken him. The sword he was using in that arena was crap, and I was wearing armor while he wasn't. Cocky bastard."

Charlotte nodded again as she recalled the butchery she had witnessed. She then looked at the sword again.

"You said you made others? Were they actually failures or was it just the balance did not match?"

"Only actually finished a few of them," Crow said. "They're all usable, though probably need some buffing and sharpening after having sat in storage for so long. Why, you want one?"

"I've been looking for a good close combat weapon," Charlotte said. "One of your swords would probably be too large to be practical, but would you happen to have a knife made of tool steel?"

Crow's grin grew wider. "Ah, a woman after my own heart. If only Lelouch weren't around."

"Mr. Armbrust," Charlotte said, giving him a charming and chilling smile.

"But alas he is around," Crow said with an exaggerated sigh. "Sure, I could probably whip something up. It'll probably take a few days though, working the L6 steel isn't easy."

"Take whatever time you need," Charlotte said. "This is a favor after all and I would not want you to feel too obliged in fulfilling it."

"Nah, just leave everything to me," Crow declared. "I'll make sure this will be the last knife you will ever need or want."

Charlotte chuckled. "I can hardly wait."

As Crow allowed himself to bask in Charlotte's seeming praise another voice sounded.

"Crow, are you in there?"

The two looked over to see Lelouch appear in the doorway.

"Ah, Charlotte," he said before looking back over at Crow. "We need to discuss planning for the next target."

"Right you are," Crow said, setting down his swords and heading over to join Lelouch.

Charlotte followed as well, knowing full well that Lelouch would want to call upon her expertise as well. It was one of the reasons why he valued her so much after all. And for now, that was good enough.

* * *

Cornelia took a sip of the tea and smiled. "An excellent Earl Grey as always Philip. Odysseus is lucky to have you."

"Thank you your highness," the butler said with a slight bow.

"Trying to lure Philip away from me again?" Odysseus said with a playful grin.

"I would if I thought my attempts had any chance of success," Cornelia responded. "But seeing as Philip has been taking care of you since you were a mere boy, that seems unlikely."

Odysseus chuckled before taking a sip from his own cup. "I'm glad you were able to drop by today, Cornelia. You've been working yourself hard these past few months."

"That is inevitable," Cornelia said. "I am Marshal of the Empire and with Britannia at war it would be negligent of me to put in any less effort than my subordinates."

"Quite so," Odysseus agreed, "but it would do no one any good if you burned yourself out. And it is good to have a reminder of what you are fighting for, no?"

"Yes," Cornelia said with a sigh. "Yes, I suppose that it is." Her lips quirked upward. "Did Hilda set you up to this?"

"She has, expressed some concern," Odysseus allowed. "Tactfully of course."

"Of course," Cornelia said, hiding the smile behind another sip of tea. "And what of yourself, brother? You have hardly been idle these past few months either."

"No, I think we can all agree I have not," Odysseus said with a sigh of his own. "I will be leaving for San Diego tomorrow to put in a showing at the naval base." That elicited a slight smile from the prince. "It will be good to feel the sway of the waves again."

Cornelia chuckled at her brother's sentimentalism, not that she did not understand it. In his youth Odysseus had served in the Imperial Britannian Navy for five years after graduating from Annapolis. He had risen to the rank of lieutenant before being honorably discharged and put into the active reserve, of which he still was a member even if his role as heir primus precluded him from actually being called up again. By now he had risen to the rank of commander in the reserve, though no one, not even Odysseus himself, was deluded enough to think he could actually assume such a post without a lot of preparation beforehand.

"I'm sure the men and women of the navy will be heartened by your appearance," Cornelia said completely earnestly.

And that was true enough. As marshal Cornelia understood well the importance of morale and ensuring that those you commanded knew their efforts were appreciated and acknowledged. While Odysseus was at best a reluctant participant in the politics of the court, his love of the navy was well known and the navy in turn reciprocated with respect for not just his person but also the rank he held, a respect that was greatly enhanced by Odysseus' refusal to use his royal prerogatives to accelerate the glacial pace with which he would eventually rise senior ranks.

"Don't dally too long in San Diego though," Cornelia said. "With how busy Schneizel is keeping Parliament on track we'll need someone to organize the Winternights celebrations."

"Is it actually alright to go ahead with that when the Empire is at war?" Odysseus asked.

"Life must go on," Cornelia said simply. "Britannia may be at war and sacrifices must be made, but we must not forget for what we fight for."

"Yes, I suppose that is so," Odysseus said, recognizing his own words in Cornelia's response.

A flicker crossed his eyes and Cornelia frowned. She set aside her teacup as she regarded her brother.

"Is something the matter?"

"Just, thinking," Odysseus said. "Have you heard about what happened to Sir Bradley?"

Cornelia nodded.

"The reports say the perpetrators were a group of Christian terrorists. I had thought the Empire was beyond such fanatics."

"Religion often motivates people to extreme lengths," Cornelia said. "The Arabs in the Middle East employed a great many suicide bombers in the belief that martyrdom would see them to their paradise. Seeing as Islam and Christianity have so much common ground, I am not surprised the followers of Abraham that reside in the Empire are any better."

"I suppose so," Odysseus said glumly. "It is a shame. They are subjects of the Empire and I would like to do right by them. But if they reject the hand that is extended, what else can be done?"

"If they deign to decline the olive branch that has been extended, then they will find that next time they face the sharpened point of a spear," Cornelia declared.

End of Chapter 65

Do you know what's really hard? Mapping out a chess game and remembering all of the moves. You'll notice that about two thirds of the way through I stopped describing the moves. I actually played through to the end and got black into mate, but I ended up getting too far ahead and basically lost track of all the intermediary moves. The crucial bit was the misplay by Kallen about halfway through. After that it was really just a matter of time. For those interested, Kallen was down to her king and two pawns while Euphemia had her king, her queen, a rook, a knight, and three pawns. For those of you really interested, the mate positions were black king at B4, white queen at C5, white rook at A5, and white pawns at B2 and C2. Kallen was not getting out of that one.

In the canon anime Odysseus was portrayed as a very mediocre prince. This, doesn't make a lot of sense considering the implied bloodthirstiness of the imperial court. If he really was that much of a nonentity the only reason he would not have been bumped off was if someone else was protecting him, which is entirely possible that Schneizel or Cornelia were. I've decided to tweak Odysseus a bit. He's still not as exertive a prince as Schneizel but he isn't a complete waste of oxygen like his anime counterpart was. As an aside, Odysseus was actually still in the navy when Marianne was murdered. At the time he just happened to be on leave, which was why he was at court when Lelouch barged in and got disowned.

Don't know if I'll actually breach one million words with this story. As it stands in truth we're only at about 520k in my master draft, which includes my world building notes as well as a couple of drafts written for future chapters including what I think are some really, really awesome scenes that I had to get out of my system before I could go back and write the stuff that happens in between. And one of the epilogues. Yes, one of. Those of you who read _In Tune_ will have an inkling what I mean by that. It all kind of depends on how much stuff I want to show happening between the start of my R2 phase and the next pivotal event. There's at least 10 months before we get to that point though, and while a lot can happen in ten months, well, it all depends on if I can come up with enough interesting things to show instead of just doing time skips. We've already gone from the middle of August to the middle of September. The one event that I am going to guarantee will happen is a combined birthday party for Euphemia and Nunnally. That's not really a spoiler. Beyond that I'm going to have to work hard to keep my own interest going as far as portraying the buildup to the next big thing. And keep this going until the R3 phase. That, might be a spoiler.

Uh, no, I'm not really giving Kallen too much credit. Everything that she has achieved in this story has been within the ability she demonstrated in the anime. How she was portrayed in the anime just got stupidly inconsistent in R2. We already know that Kallen is intelligent, she's somehow passing tests with flying colors despite missing class, so unless she at least had some book smarts and a good memory, she should have been failing. Tohdoh was also never a general, he was a lieutenant-colonel in the anime, which is two steps below the lowest rank of general, and indications are he never held anything higher than a company or battalion level command during his time in the army and JLF. And while Kallen was officially recognized as the leader of Akatsuki, her degree of control was nowhere near Lelouch's for the Black Knights, intentionally so. The people actually running Akatsuki were Ohgi, Inoue, and Minami. Kallen may set strategic objectives and policies and lead them into battle as a field commander, but she does so with their (plus Tohdoh and Kaguya's) input and advice, and if all of her advisors are against something, Kallen's smart enough to follow their advice.

Akatsuki was also never as large and powerful as the Black Knights were portrayed, because realistically the Black Knights should never have grown to be that powerful in the middle of the Britannian occupation. By the Tokyo Uprising Akatsuki had a battalion or so worth of troops, but the JLF had an entire division plus all their knightmares. Akatsuki only had the five Burais Tohdoh brought with him and Kallen's Guren. They had become the single most powerful resistance movement in Tokyo, but outside of the city they had almost no presence.

Kallen's saved Euphemia's life twice thus far. Euphie still resents Kallen for having killed Clovis, much as Kallen still hates parts of the Britannian Empire for killing Naoto, but both have put that aside for the greater good. It was not easy for either of them, and the first 40 chapters of the story basically involved the two working out their own feelings to get to the point where they could unite. And said 40 chapters took place over the course of basically an entire year.

Umm, as regarding West Point, not really? West Point originally referred to the geographic location where the academy is presently located. Historically the fort that was at that location was renamed to Fort Clinton before being torn down to make room for the academy. These days the geographic name is synonymous with that of the academy itself, and something similar happened in my timeline. The name of the fort itself, either name, has little to no relation to West Point as used in contemporary times.


	67. Chapter 66

Snippet spoiler: Hehe

 _Even before the Empire successfully detonated its first atomic weapon, Britannia was developing doctrines for how to employ the devices. During the development of the prototype a possibility was raised that detonating an atomic device had the risk of igniting the atmosphere. While further calculations eventually set the risk to be extremely small, the implication of just how powerful these weapons might be was not lost upon the military planners working with the scientists. One hypothetical use for the weapons was the complete sterilization of a location, employing multiple atomic weapons if necessary. This scenario was given the codename Exterminatus and was at the time treated mostly as a theoretical exercise exploring the limits of atomic weaponry. As the Empire continued to develop more powerful nuclear weapons and its effects became better understood however the parameters of Exterminatus continued to be updated to take into account the latest designs. By the time the Freyja warhead was developed, the upper bounds of Exterminatus were theoretically capable of sterilizing the entire planet._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 66

Condemnant quod non intellegunt

By the time the small convoy of Hereticus Humvees arrived at the scene there was already a heavy gendarmerie presence. From the expressions of the troopers manning the perimeter they were less than enthused about the sudden appearance of the Inquisitio. Relations between the Ordo Hereticus and the gendarmerie was touchy at the best of times due to Hereticus' habit of taking over gendarmerie investigations without any explanation. Today's events were likely to further strain those relations.

Claire climbed out of the lead car and regarded her surroundings. The bombing was reminiscent of those that had struck Hereticus' own offices. This time however the victims were wholly unaffiliated with the Inquisitio. Nevertheless the Swords of Michael would have had many reasons to still seek their deaths. Those that frequented the underground gladiatorial arena likely offended the moralistic sensibilities of these Christian terrorists.

"And whom would you be?" a feminine voice sounded.

Claire turned about and smiled politely. "Captain Claire Rieveldt of the Inquisitio."

"Ah, a Hereticus operative," the purple haired woman said somewhat scornfully.

"I believe it is only polite to introduce yourself, captain," Claire said serenely.

The woman scowled at Claire but did so. "Captain Sarah Valestine of the Gendarmerie Pendragon Branch."

"Well captain," Claire said respectfully. "I am afraid that this matter is now under Inquisitio jurisdiction. I will have to ask the gendarmerie to withdraw."

The scowl turned into an outright glare now but both women knew that Claire's authority trumped the gendarmerie captain's. After staring at the other woman for a few more seconds Sarah reached for her radio.

"This is Valestine, all units withdraw."

From the movements of the other troopers they understand what just happened and were as angry as their commanding officer. While Claire did sympathize she had her own duties and would not let sentiment get in the way of their fulfillment.

"Thank you for your cooperation, captain," she said politely.

Sarah snorted. "Just don't screw this up."

"The Inquisitio does not suffer failure," Claire responded.

"Riiiight, that's why all those bombs have been going off all along the east coast," Sarah said dryly.

Claire raised an eyebrow. There was no way that the gendarmerie could know the true targets of the bombings, so Sarah's jab was likely just about Hereticus' seeming inability to stop the attacks. When Claire did not rise to it the gendarmerie captain stepped past and headed for her own vehicle. As the other troopers withdrew Claire's own subordinates took up positions along the perimeter. There would be no lapse in security during the handover.

Once the gendarmerie had fully withdrawn the rear door on Claire's Humvee opened and Monica climbed out.

"Phew, took them long enough," the knight said. "Alright, let's see exactly what we have here."

The knight regarded the shattered windows and charred walls. The Swords had been as thorough with this attack as they had been in their efforts to disrupt Hereticus operations. This one however was a pure terror attack seeing as the victims were all civilians with not a single connection to the more nefarious organs of state, at least as far as Monica knew. Somehow the knight doubted Lelouch could have discovered a connection even she was not aware of, even with that compulsion geass of his. If he had penetrated that deeply they were all beyond screwed anyway.

Claire issued orders to her forensics teams as they took over the work that the gendarmerie had already started. If nothing else the gendarmerie were professionals and very good at their jobs when not getting undermined by other governmental agencies. They had been very careful to preserve the sight even as they gathered evidence. Claire frowned. And removed some of them. Whether that was out of spite or simple distrust of Hereticus to actually properly investigate the attack she did not know, but she would need to have words with that captain.

"So, what say you," Monica said. "This match the MO of the other attacks?"

"It would seem so," Claire responded. "We will need to do some tests on the explosive residue, but I expect they will match what we found at the other sites."

"Hmm, this could get annoying," Monica remarked. "There were well over three hundred spectators at that arena, and if the Swords of Michael really decide to start going after them there is no way they could all be protected."

Claire had been briefed, in general terms, about the attack on the Knight of Ten, and in the interrogator's opinion none of those people deserved protection. In fact were she not occupied with the Swords of Michael and their co-conspirators she would be sorely tempted to open an investigation on those very same potential victims. As ruthless as Hereticus could be it shed blood for a reason, to uphold the order of the Empire, not for base amusement. It sickened her that amongst her fellow Britannians were those that felt otherwise. And the less said about the Knight of Ten himself the better.

"Still," Monica continued. "This is an interesting development."

"What is?"

The knight pursed her lips. "This is the first attack to actually take place in Pendragon. Well, first bombing attack. Combined with their little stunt at the arena, it's obvious that the Swords are preparing to up the stakes."

That Claire found she was in agreement with. "Are you suggesting they are about to launch a major operation?"

"I'm not sure," Monica admitted. "My instincts say it's too soon, they can't have put together enough assets to actually try cracking Pendragon. And the agents keeping an eye on the provincial guards haven't reported any major activities either." The knight rubbed her hands together thoughtfully. "They might be testing us."

"Us?"

"Or at least Pendragon's emergency response system," Monica clarified. "The gendarmerie showed up right quick, for example. These are probably probing attacks, to map out how prepared the authorities are and the like."

"And by targeting people they identified at the arena, they can soothe their conscience about not getting innocent people killed in the crossfire," Claire said with a nod.

"Bingo." Monica began pacing about the premises. "Stopping these attacks outright may not be feasible, but to just let them keep happening would be bad for civilian morale."

"The easiest solution would be just to do a sweep of the known terrorist sympathizers and see if we can use them to track their underground comrades," Claire suggested.

Monica smiled thinly. "If it was that easy to break these fanatics, why hasn't Hereticus already done that?"

Claire wisely remained silent. The knight massaged her temple. It was a damn shame the Directorate never managed to get one of its subjects to manifest a compulsion geass like what Lelouch apparently possessed. That would make this entire mess so much easier to deal with. Instead they would need to do this the hard way. Monica sighed. There was no way around it. She would simply have to take her frustrations out on Lelouch and his cohorts once they were found. That was at least something to look forward to.

* * *

"Whaddaya make of that?" Crow asked.

Lelouch lowered his binoculars with a frown. "A Knight of the Round accompanying our Hereticus captain. It seems we have elicited quite the reaction."

The two were in a building some distance away from the actual scene of the crime and had been observing the gendarmerie combing the site before the Inquisitio showed up. Reiner and Berholdt were also with them, though the two German youths were acting as lookouts on the ground floor.

"Still, Hereticus got here pretty fast," Crow said. "You think they suspect a connection with the bombings that hit them?"

"Almost certainly," Lelouch said. "This could work in our favor."

"Oh? How so?"

"If I could compromise the good captain, then we would have a direct line into Hereticus' investigations on the Swords. That way we can stay one step ahead of them."

"Uh, okay, so I know you've pulled some crazy-freaky stunts already, but I think turning that babe's probably beyond even you."

"Have some faith Crow," Lelouch said with a slight smile. "And there is one other factor we might want to consider. What does it mean that the Knight of Twelve is accompanying this captain?"

"That the Knights of the Round are pissed we beat one of their own into a bloody pulp?"

"Tell me, before today if I had asked you to organize a hit on any knight that was not the Knight of Ten, would you have had any idea where to even start?"

Crow started opening his mouth. It remained open for several seconds as he processed Lelouch's question. The sound that he ultimately made was not the one he originally intended.

"Huh."

As befitting their stations all of the Knights of the Round had almost palatial residences in or around Pendragon. The security protecting each of those estates was quite formidable and that of the formal workplaces of each knight was similarly impressive. Really the only gap in the protection surrounding the knights was when they were in transit, though seeing as the routes they took when traveling by car always changed even then it would have been extremely difficult setting up an ambush. Which made it all the more thoughtful of one Luciano Bradley to leave the in-depth and thorough security he normally possessed to participate in the underground gladiatorial arena. Seeing as none of the other knights shared such a similar vice, opportunities to simply kill them outright were few and usually out of reach. Until now.

"We'll have to decide which will be more useful to us in the long term," Lelouch said, "compromising the Hereticus captain and using her to tap into the Inquisitio's network, or as a pawn to assassinate the Knight of Twelve."

"You don't think small, do you?"

"Ambition is not numbered as one of the deadly sins," Lelouch said.

"No, but pride is," Crow replied. "Just don't get too cocky. If you're the one that ends up getting compromised, we're all fucked."

That Lelouch needed no reminder of. His manifold failures in Japan had been a most humbling experience, and one he took to heart. This time however, this time he would make sure not to make any mistakes.

* * *

Mikasa still felt weird wearing such a short skirt, back at the orphanage the clothes she was given tended to be more modest and dour. And in the army she only ever wore very practical pants. The princess' royal guard apparently did have a skirt variant of their uniform but when she was issued her set the quartermaster had not even bothered asking which option she wanted. The young woman only found out there had been an alternative option after she overheard some of the others joking about it.

At Ashford Academy however the standard girl's uniform seemed to put more emphasis on femininity than practicality. As such Mikasa found herself walking about feeling like there was a constant draft blowing. Though in some cases the draft was more of hot air than cold. The students that had moved to surround her had chosen a relatively out of the way part of the academy to do so. She recognized at least two of them as from the group of troublemakers that tried harassing her the first week of school. Tried, only to have all of their tricks turned on them by Kallen. Mikasa was still not quite clear how the other girl managed to detect, and then move intact, all of the unpleasant surprises that lot had concocted, but the screams and cries that erupted at the lockers had not come from herself or Kallen, but from the would-be pranksters. Despite her wariness of the other girl Mikasa had to give Kallen some credit there.

After the first week the attempts stopped and Mikasa had hoped it was because they had learned their lesson. Considering her present situation that was evidently not the case. The young woman reached into her pocket and hit a button. She continued walking as if she was oblivious to the other students. One intentionally veered towards her, as if to feign bumping into her. The problem with said stratagem however was the fact that Mikasa was likely far more fit than any other student at Ashford, save for maybe Kallen herself. The results of another body colliding with hers was thus predictable as the young man literally bounced and tumbled back.

"Ah hey, watch where you're going bitch!"

Mikasa regarded the boy coldly. "It is impolite to accuse someone else of your own fault."

"What did you just say!?"

"You obviously heard me."

The young man snorted. "Think you're all high and mighty just cause the Ashfords took pity on you and let you attend. Don't get too uppity, you Eleven bitch."

Mikasa's eyes narrowed dangerously. She could easily knock the bastard on his ass along with any of his friends that tried to help him. It would serve as a very stern warning to them to not to try any such nonsense in the future. Whether that would solve the problem in the long run however was an open question. Still she had not been sent to Ashford to cause trouble and so the young woman elected to dismiss the student in her way instead of forcibly removing him from her presence. She moved to step around her.

"Hey I'm not done with you!"

A hand shot out and seized Mikasa by the shoulder. A second later a scream sounded as Mikasa grabbed hold of said hand and twisted the other student's arm about. If she pushed just a bit harder it would dislocate outright.

"Someone get her off me!" the student cried.

Before anyone could respond to his pleas another voice cut in however.

"What is going on here?"

For a tone so calm to carry such a weight of authority to cause everyone to freeze, Mikasa released the youth and with everyone else turned to face the speaker. Seated at the corner in her wheelchair was Abigail Nunnally Ashford, the younger sister of Millicent Amelia Ashford and another member of the student council.

"Lady Ashford," Mikasa greeted with a slight bow.

Nunnally favored the older girl with a smile before looking sternly at the others. "I ask again, what is going on here?"

To that Mikasa gave no answer, not least because she was not the one that Nunnally held in her gaze.

"Sh-she attacked me, Abigail!" the student that had accosted Mikasa exclaimed. "I wasn't doing anything and she grabbed my arm!"

"My, is that so?" Nunnally looked back at Mikasa. "What do you say, Mikasa?"

"I was not the one to first lay my hand on another," the young woman responded.

"Says you!" the male student persisted. "Everyone here saw her hit me first, right!?"

A few of the others nodded even as some looked more uncertain.

"I see. Then I presume you will want to file a protest with the instructors?" Nunnally continued.

Having committed himself thus far there was no way for the student to back out. "Ye-yeah, you bet I will!"

The young girl nodded. "Very well then. Mikasa, I presume you will have something to say in your defense?"

"Yes milady," Mikasa said, finally taking her other hand out of her pocket.

Gasps and sharp breaths sounded all around her as she revealed the recorder she had been using. Mikasa clicked the button again, ending the recording. Nunnally regarded all of the other students pointedly.

"Now, I believe you were saying, Dylan?" Nunnally said after a few moments of silence.

The young man stuttered incoherently before finally clamping his mouth shut. When it was clear that he would not be regaining his composure anytime soon Nunnally looked at Mikasa again.

"Mikasa, I believe it is time we head to the student council room," she said. "We can discuss your conduct there."

"Of course, milady," Mikasa said as she walked over to the younger girl.

"And as for the rest of you," Nunnally said. "I trust you will all, reflect, on ensuring that you do not run afoul of such unbecoming conduct in the future. Am I clear?"

Nervous nods and mumbles of acknowledgement answered her. Satisfied, Nunnally turned her wheelchair about and set it rolling away with Mikasa at her side. Once they were some ways away the girl looked up at her companion.

"Are you alright, Mikasa?"

"Yes, milady."

Nunnally smiled slightly. "Out here just Abigail is fine, you know."

"Umm, yes, Abigail."

The smile widened slightly before Nunnally's expression became more stern. "I am sorry you have to endure such unwarranted treatment from your fellow students."

"It is alright, Abigail. I entered Ashford fully aware of the difficulties I might face."

"That does not change the fact that you should have no need to deal with such bigotry in the first place," Nunnally said. "Though it may be in vain, I hope that will be the last time something like that happens."

"I will be ready if it is not," Mikasa assured the younger girl.

"I have no doubt you will be," Nunnally gave Mikasa a confident and assuring smile.

* * *

"Your highness, my lord," Brigadier General William Childs Westmoreland greeted the two with a crisp salute. "Welcome to Stilwell Base."

Andreas returned the gesture while Euphemia dipped her head politely. "General Westmoreland. It is good to see you again."

"You as well my lord," William said. "Please, this way."

The two followed General Westmoreland past an honor guard of Britannian soldiers with Kallen, Laura, and Claudio trailing behind. While Laura was surveying their surroundings for any threats and Kallen was using her geass to do the same, to the knight's mild irritation Claudio was keeping his sights on her instead. She would not have taken the older knight as someone who obsessed so but evidently that was the case. Something would need to be done about that lest he did something genuinely rash. For now though Kallen kept her own attention on her duty. Even if she was suffering a mild migraine in the process.

The party arrived at the command center and were ushered into a large conference room. Assembled were several other officers, presumably the ranking commanders for western Japan. Introductions were made and everyone, save for the armsmen of course, took a seat.

"Thus far the bombing campaign has not affected us too badly," William explained. "The air force has been able to keep most of the Chinese attempts from getting through, and those that have managed to penetrate our airspace has done only minimal damage. In truth I am somewhat worried that the civilian population may become too complacent if this continues and start ignoring the air raid alerts. If that happens and one of the bombers does get through we could see significant casualties."

Heads turned towards the princess. She was the senior most civilian authority in Area 11 after all.

"My administration is working on setting up more drilling for the civilian population," Euphemia said. "People are creatures of habit. If we can instill within them the procedure for what to do when an alert arrives, that should help somewhat."

Those same heads now nodded. Instilling behavior until it was second nature was a major part of military training so the men and women assembled could see the merit in Euphemia's plan.

"That would help immensely, your highness," William said. "So far the Chinese seem to be trying to hit industrial targets instead of population centers, but that might change if they think they would have a better chance making it through to the latter instead of the former."

"And will they have a better chance, general?" Euphemia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course not your highness," William quickly reassured her. "Especially with the way the cities in Area 11 are laid out, the industrial zones tend to be in the outer zones. In order to break through to the residential districts they would need to also pass our fixed anti-air defenses, all of which are sited outside of city limits."

Euphemia seemed to think it over before tilting her head slightly. For a bunch of grizzled veterans it was almost amusing how the tension seemed to bleed out when she did that.

"So far all indications are the Chinese do not have the forces to attempt a second landing," Andreas spoke up. "They are however concentrating a significant number of units on the Korean Peninsula, though there is as yet no indication they are also gathering the landing craft necessary for a future attempt. If the Chinese do intend to try to invade Japan again, it will be some time before they can logistically execute on that intent."

More nodding of heads. And even a few looks of relief. With the forces already present all Japan would be seeing for the near term none of the officers were terribly enthusiastic about trying to fight off another landing, especially if it managed to gain a foothold.

"Now then, shall we go over the schedule for her highness' tour first and then proceed to the rest of the strategic briefing?" Andreas suggested.

"Of course sir," William said.

Kallen already knew the rough outline of the tour though details were still being nailed down when they departed Tokyo. As she listened in it seemed like most of them had been resolved while they were in the air. Not only would Euphemia be visiting the soldiers stationed in this region, she would also be making a showing in a few of the cities, in both predominantly Britannian and Japanese districts at that. It was a very demanding schedule and would see almost constant travel for the week and a half they were here, without even a break on the weekends. Kallen had seen the dedication with which Euphemia performed her duty often enough since signing on with the princess. She was still a bit awed at the pace with which the princess pushed herself. Hopefully she would not burn herself out in the process.

"And that generally sums up the schedule, your highness," William finished several minutes later. "I must however emphasize again my concern about your plan to visit some of the, outer residential districts with such a small security contingent."

Kallen kept her expression impassive at that remark. This was not the time and place to take offense at the remark, and besides Euphemia could handle it perfectly fine without her interjections.

"Your concern is duly noted and appreciated, general," Euphemia said respectfully. "Nevertheless I have confidence that the arrangements that have been made shall be sufficient. Too heavy a security presence will complicate efforts to directly interact with my subjects, which is one of the principle objectives of my visit." The princess smiled thinly. "Risk is not something that one can ever eliminate, it must be balanced against the possible rewards to determine if it is acceptable. And on balance, I have found it to be so."

And that settled that, Kallen noted with a slight bemusement. No one was going to be challenging a royal that had made up her mind, not even these battle hardened soldiers. This week promised to be quite the experience if nothing else.

* * *

The student that was summoned to the student council office tried to put on a brave face. Anyone who saw him however would not be convinced in the least. That he took a deep breath before knocking on the door to the room certainly did not help.

"Enter."

The voice that answered was male, which considering the current student council president was probably not a surprise. It also did not offer much in the way of reassurance like it might have in the past considering Rivalz' reputation for a genial and easy going personality. When Dylan entered the room he found that it was a very different impression being given off by the student council president. Rivalz was alone, which was also far from reassuring.

"Have a seat," the young man more commanded than invited.

Dylan did so, remaining silent and waiting for the other man to continue.

"Since Milly became the student council president, not once has a disciplinary matter been referred to the teachers," Rivalz finally began. "She has always been able to get people to, if not make up their differences, agree to disagree and live and let live. Well, I'm afraid I'm not Milly, no matter how much I respect her. It's barely the second month of the new term and I find that I might already be failing to live up to the incredible standard she set. Tell me Dylan, is that going to be happening?"

The young man swallowed and tried to maintain his composure. "You can't blame me, or anyone else, for feeling comfortable with having another Eleven attending Ashford, Rivalz. The last one that did was also in the army, and he turned traitor. How can we know this one will be any different?"

"And what proof do you have that she and Suzaku are of the same ilk?" Rivalz responded coldly.

Dylan flinched slightly. He did not back down however.

"Innocence doesn't prove anything."

Rivalz regarded the other student and then gave a snort. "If you're going to quote that old line then at least get it right. Innocentia Nihil Probat. The motto of the Inquisitio. Tell me, are you suggesting that you also possess a writ from his majesty the emperor to judge others as you see fit?"

That shut Dylan up as he forcibly clamped his jaw shut to avoid blurting out anything else.

"Mikasa Ackermann was admitted to Ashford Academy on the recommendation of her highness the Princess Euphemia," Rivalz continued. "And as a student at Ashford, she is entitled to the same courtesy as any of us. One such courtesy is the lack of interference with her education. Do you know what the penalty for interfering with another student's education is, Dylan?"

The young man's eyes now widened. "Y-you can't do this! I'm not the only one that thinks this!"

"Many wrongs do not make a right," Rivalz snapped. "Now you have a choice, Dylan. You can either leave Mikasa, and Kallen, alone from now on, or you can face a board of teachers on expulsion charges. How many of them do you think will share in your arrogance and ignorance?"

Dylan's mouth was now dry as he struggled to muster a response. Rivalz however was not feeling very patient at the moment.

"Are we in agreement, Dylan?" he said coldly.

After a few brief seconds under Rivalz' forceful gaze the young man nodded. That however was not good enough.

"Yes, or no?"

Dylan's face twitched, a bit of anger starting to surface from beneath his panic. The latter however still drove much of his actions.

"Yes," he hissed.

To that Rivalz himself nodded. "Good. Then the matter is closed. Have a good day, Dylan."

It took a few seconds for Dylan to work up the will to actually rise. As he did so however he tried to muster a parting shot.

"This might be over for me, Rivalz, but I'm not alone."

"And if anyone else wishes to follow your example in stupidity I will have a word with them as well," Rivalz said. "Just keep in mind that both Kallen and Mikasa are trained soldiers. I'm going to do my best to keep anyone of becoming martyrs of stupidity, but I've seen enough of what they're capable of that I hold no illusions as to how they would respond if pushed too far. I suggest you try to keep that in mind."

* * *

Only a few things could get Laura's rapt attention. A cute stuffed bunny, tasty food, and a good knife were amongst them. Hence the adorable manner in which her eyes lit up as she beheld the knife Crow presented to Charlotte. Fie and Annie also were looking a bit envious for that matter. As for Crow, he could well be described as, crowing, at all of the attention the fairer half of Lelouch's team was now paying him.

"Managed to get the balance just right," he said. "Still wouldn't advise you to throw it in a fight, but if it ever gets that bad it'll fly straight and true."

"Thank you Crow," Charlotte said with genuine appreciation.

She accepted the blade and examined it. Laura's gaze remained locked on it and never wavered as Charlotte swiped it through the air.

"A good blade," the French girl pronounced before she sheathed it.

A look of palpable disappointment appeared on Laura's face when she did so. Crow scratched his head at the sight.

"Wasn't that much trouble," he said. "I mean, I could probably forge another one in a week or so."

"REALLY!?"

Suddenly the youth found Laura actively pressing herself against him.

"Woah! Hey now, easy there," Crow said as he literally took a step back.

"I'd like one too," Fie chimed in.

"A good knife is hard to come by," Annie also added.

"Uh, yeah, I'll see what I can do," Crow said nervously.

Lelouch chuckled and gave the other man a pat on the shoulder. "I see you are making some inroads. Just remember, big brother is watching."

"And big sister too," Charlotte said with her trademark smile as she wrapped an arm around Laura's shoulder.

"Yeah, that I am fully aware of," Crow said with a slight smile.

"Anyway, if we are done with the theatrics for the day," Lelouch said, "shall we get to the matter at hand?"

"Right, right," Crow said, trying to ignore the fact that Laura was still staring at him intently. "Umm, my guy should be here any moment now."

A knock sounded.

"Ah, there he is. Come on in!"

The door opened to reveal a gray-haired bespectacled man. While it was unlikely unfair to the man something about his face just seemed to ooze deviousness.

"Michael my man!" Crow greeted. "Everyone, this is Michael Gideon, the guy that handles most of our intel and analysis."

"I really wish you would not so flippantly reveal that, Comrade C," Michael said with a well-practiced sigh.

"Ah, don't be like that. If we can't trust them, then they already know way too much for one more detail to matter."

Lelouch regarded Michael. "I presume Crow here is properly compartmentalized from things he does not have an immediate need to know?"

"Of course," Michael responded, sharing a sly smile with the Frenchman.

"Ouch," Crow said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I've told you about them before, but for some proper introductions. The guy you're being all buddy-buddy with is Lelouch Lamperouge, and the lovely lady here is Charlotte Dunois. The girl she's hanging onto is Laura Bodewig, and the girl next to her is Fie Claussell. Guy back there is Reiner Braun and his best bud Bertolt Hoover. And the young lady with them is Annie Leonhart." The young man chuckled. "And of course you already know me."

"Indeed I do," Michael said dryly, then to the others. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances. Shall we skip the pleasantries and get right down to business?"

"That sounds eminently reasonable," Lelouch said as everyone took their seats.

"Very good." Michael opened up the binder he had brought. "The meeting today is purely for informative purposes, to outline the collated information on Pendragon's defenses. If you have no objections, I would like to start with the civil authorities and move onto the military ones."

Lelouch nodded.

"As the capital of the Britannian Empire, Pendragon is headquarter to many of the Empire's institutions," the man began. "Consequentially there are many overlapping and outright conflicting jurisdictions from the police to the military to the Inquisitio, and even within the groups themselves. For the most part law and order is the purview of the Pendragon Metropolitan Police. It handles the day to day policing duties and also is responsible for investigation of crimes committed within the city and its outlaying suburbs. Much to the Metropolitan Police's irritation however depending on what type of crime has occurred or where it occurs other government institutions have a tendency to interfere or outright supersede its investigations. The Ordo Hereticus of the Inquisitio is especially prone to this, especially when it believes that a crime might have national security implications," Michael's gaze drifted towards Lelouch, "such as the bombing attacks that recently began in the city."

The Frenchman's own expression remained stoically impassive and after a brief pause Michael continued.

"Of the other institutions the police force actually has the best working relationship with the gendarmerie. The gendarmerie's Pendragon branch makes it a point to involve the police in their own activities and outright invites their cooperation for any investigations it might get handed, barring a few exceptions of course. The gendarmerie has also not been shy about using its influence to make sure the Met is not cut out of the loop by other organizations, as much as it can, and the police in turn are much more openly cooperative with the gendarmerie.

"The same of course cannot be said of the Ordo Hereticus branch responsible for Pendragon. Like all of its counterparts in other parts of the Empire the Hereticus operatives are secretive in the extreme about their operations and can even be somewhat contemptuous of the other law enforcement agencies. It must be emphasized though that in the capital Hereticus can actually be put into two categories, the units specifically assigned to perform counterintelligence and the like for Pendragon itself, and the administrative element that coordinates Hereticus operations nationwide. While we cannot know for certain, we suspect that there might even be a degree of tension within Hereticus itself between these two elements."

At that Lelouch actually nodded. It was something speculated by the SDECE but like the Swords of Michael they had no way of actually confirming it. He supposed grabbing that Hereticus captain would do the trick though.

"It should be noted that all three organizations maintain rapid response teams," Michael went on, "though the nature of their equipment varies. The Met is primarily equipped to take down soft targets, their weapons almost exclusively fire hollow point rounds save for a few specialist long range weapons, and they have effectively zero anti-armor capabilities. The Pendragon gendarmerie branch on the other hand is probably the only branch in the Empire extensively equipped with anti-armor weapons. They would still stand no chance against the military of course, but the thinking seems to be to have the gendarmerie actually be able to fight alongside the military in a worst case scenario. And of course Hereticus' equipment is purely speculation, but it would not surprise us in the least if they actually possessed some heavy weapons."

Michael flipped through the packet of documents he brought along and pushed up his glasses before proceeding onward.

"Which brings us to the military and the royal guards, the situation of which is actually even more complicated than that of the civil institutions. Officially security of Pendragon is the sole responsibility of forces directly under the command of the Knights of the Round, and by proxy his majesty the emperor. The regular military, with a few exceptions, is not permitted to approach Pendragon in force. Nevertheless Pendragon is where the military's central command is located, the so-called Valhalla Base. The base isn't a proper military base of course, it is just a collection of buildings near the center of the city a mile or so out from the palace district, and it only has a single battalion of soldiers providing security. All in all the battalion by itself would not be sufficient to fight off a determined attempt to take the city from, say, a mutinous provincial guard.

"Some of the other smaller units, or rather group of units, in the city are the royal guards of the various imperial scions that actually reside in Pendragon. Individually none of them are very large, but the Prince Odysseus, Prince Schneizel, Princess Guinevere, and Princess Cornelia have actually established a sort of joint command for their guards. This is somewhat unprecedented and some at the court have openly wondered whether this amounts to an attempt to circumvent the fifty armsmen limit imperial scions are limited do, but the emperor has not ordered the joint command be dismantled. Lieutenant-General Victor Areseid has been acting as the overall commander after the retirement of Lieutenant-General Philip Runall, and combined they have the equivalent of a company of soldiers. The thing that sets them apart however is their possession of knightmare frames, and the increased mobility and firepower offered by the knightmares actually makes them a more potent threat than the army battalion at Valhalla.

"The bulk of military forces in Pendragon however would have to be the commands of the Knights of the Round. A proper brief on them will also require a briefing on the knights themselves. If no one has any objections I will go over the knights from order of relevance, not their individual numbers."

More nods and Michael adjusted his glasses again before continuing.

"Defense of the city is technically split between three different knights and their respective royal guard, but it is without a doubt the Knight of One, General Bismarck Waldstein, that holds overall command. General Waldstein, or I suppose Duke if you are so inclined, is listed as the commander of Fenrir Regiment, the ground forces contingent of Pendragon's defenders. It may be called a regiment, but in truth it's more the size of a full division. It all by itself has six battalions of knightmares, or for our European friends, the equivalent of three regiments, almost half of all the knightmares in the city. The good general himself pilots a highly customized knightmare, though presumably in an actual battle he would be commanding his forces, not getting caught in the thick of battle himself.

"Fenrir Regiment actually has two other Knights of the Round as senior commanding officers, the Knight of Three Gino Weinberg and the Knight of Six Anya Alstreim. Those two are the youngest of the knights, and in fact Lady Alstreim is the youngest person to have ever achieved a knighthood, much less rise to the Rounds. In all likelihood they hold positions under General Waldstein so that they can gain more practical experience as officers before being given independent commands of their own.

"The other two commands are for the naval and air forces, held by the Knight of Two Michele Manfredi and the Knight of Four Dorothea Ernst respectively. Vice-Admiral Manfredi commands a small taskforce named Jörmungandr that is composed of four destroyers, two missile cruisers, and the battleship _Wisconsin_ defending the oceanic approaches to Pendragon. At the same time his forces are capable of offering significant fire support for Fenrir Regiment and the other imperial forces should the need arise. As for Major-General Ernst, her Veðrfölnir has two squadrons of dedicated fighter-interceptors, one squadron of fighter-bombers, and two squadrons of close air support aircraft in the form of A-10 Thunderbolts and helicopter gunships."

There was a very still silence as all present absorbed this information. Abstractly they had all known bits and pieces of it, but now to have it all laid out at once the reality of the challenge they were facing was made all the more stark. And Michael was not even finished yet.

"There are three other commands of significant size, though here the numbers get a bit muddled. We know for a fact that the Knight of Nine, Major-General Nonette Enneagram, commands four of the remaining knightmare battalions, or two regiments if you prefer. General Enneagram's responsibility is actually to support the royal guards of the imperial scions in protecting his majesty's heirs, though who would actually hold overall command in that situation is unknown to us. The Knight of Ten, Brigadier-General Luciano Bradley, commands a further two battalions, which officially are supposed to act as a sort of forward reconnaissance and harassment element. Indications are that the remaining knightmare battalions are all part of Loki Regiment, commanded by the Knight of Twelve Brigadier-General Monica Kruszewski, but with how often General Kruszewski travels it is very difficult to ascertain how much of her regiment is actually stationed in Pendragon and whether any of her knightmares might be in transit. Assuming General Kruszewski remains in Pendragon for the foreseeable future, we will have to assume that the bulk of her forces will also be here, and thus serve as another force that we must take into account in our plans."

No one said anything for a moment or so. It was finally broken when Crow let out a low whistle.

"Well, ain't that a kicker," he said before turning his chair about to regard Lelouch. "So, where do you propose we find enough firepower to crack sixteen battalions of knightmares?"

At that Lelouch grinned. It was not a pleasant expression.

End of Chapter 66

Did I just infodump? I just infodumped. The forces defending Pendragon are as you can see, extensive. And it's pretty safe to assume that guile is not going to reduce the number of troops enough to give the Swords of Michael a chance of actually winning a standup fight. So they'll have to try something else.

I was not actually expecting to finish the next chapter this quickly. I think we're moving along at a decent pace. Happy 4th to those of you who celebrate it. Try not to start any fires with excessive fireworks.

I've actually had to reshuffle how I was going to sequence part of the story, so we'll be hitting the next pivotal point a bit sooner than I was expecting. It's still probably at least three or four chapters away, but when it hits, it's going to be, interesting.

Forgot to mention this in last chapter's notes, but there is a deal that has been struck between the Indian resistance movement and Britannia where the Empire promises not to try to annex India. There's some question on the Indian side as to whether Britannia will actually keep its word, but Schneizel is prepared to do so in deference to Euphemia's wishes.


	68. Chapter 67

_One of the initiatives undertaken by the Princess Euphemia during her tenure as viceroy of Japan was a savings and microfinance scheme to ease the Japanese population back into the formal economy and financial system. The venue from which her highness' program sought to reach the Japanese populace was through the Britannian Postal Service, which already offered savings accounts but only to Honorary Britannians. In addition to lifting that particular requirement the viceroy also arranged for the postal service to partner with Imperial Bank of Britannia to offer small loans. IBB's involvement was generally limited to providing the working capital needed to jumpstart the program, which it did by purchasing a special fixed rate bond series issued by the viceroyalty._

 _Restrictions of course existed as anyone applying for a loan needed to have a savings account with the postal service and the initial amounts people were eligible for maxed out at two hundred pounds. Those who built up a credit history with the postal service however became eligible for larger loans, the largest which the post office would service directly amounted to ten thousand pounds. Any higher amount required the loan seeker to directly apply at one of the commercial banks, by which time someone whom would have need and ability to seek such loans would in theory have built up sufficient credit history with the postal service to qualify for them._

 _The appeal of the loans came in not only their accessibility but also in the extremely low interest rates. The loans offered by the postal service were set at a fixed 7.5%, well below that charged by commercial banks. The government was ultimately in effect subsidizing the loans by assuming almost all of the administrative overhead associated with them as the interest earned tended not to fully cover the costs in issuing them. Over time as Japan recovered the rates were raised so that the government at the very least broke even on the microloans. Combined with the other poverty reduction programs run in conjunction with the savings and microloan initiative, substantial progress was made in reducing the level of poverty in Japan and setting the Japanese people to become productive and prosperous subjects of the Empire._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 67

Nervos belli, pecuniam infinitam

The district that the princess' entourage was currently passing through could charitably be described as somewhat rundown. If the local neighborhood leader was to be believed this was an improvement from how things were before, and from what Kallen saw the place was actually bustling with activity and even a fair bit of construction. A lot of activity for that matter. As Kallen took in all of the multitudes hoping to catch a glimpse of Euphemia she began regretting being so cavalier about the security arrangements. It was obvious she still had a lot to learn about being a proper guardsman.

"Why the blazes did I let her highness talk me into this," Captain Roy Mustang, the field commander for this particular trip, muttered under his breath.

No one was probably supposed to hear that but with her enhanced senses Kallen literally could not help but eavesdrop, on damn near everyone. It was getting mildly irritating having to filter out all that noise. She had to however, if she was to detect the actual threats that might come at the princess. A bottle of whitish liquid was presented to Kallen. The knight took a sip and recognized the slightly sweet milky flavor immediately.

"Calpis," she pronounced. "Have you ever had it before, your highness?"

Euphemia shook her head, accepting back the bottle and taking a sip herself. "Hmm, it quite agrees with me."

The shop owner that had offered the drink seemed pleased with the reaction and did not look offended in the least, everyone in the district having been warned beforehand that any gift, whether it be an item or food, would be examined or tasted beforehand by the princess' security detail. In practice this meant Kallen had been presented a steady stream of candies, snacks, and drinks throughout the day in the hope that her heightened senses would pick up any poisons immediately upon tasting them. Despite some very choice offerings, the girl was starting to feel a tad sick of all the food. Too much of a good thing and all that.

"Well Mr. Kobayashi," Euphemia said. "I hope that your store will continue to prosper."

"Thank you your highness," Kobayashi said with a polite bow. "For everything you have done for us."

Euphemia smiled kindly. And then the Japanese man turned somewhat hesitantly to Kallen.

"Umm, and you as well, Lady Stadtfeld."

Kallen blinked in surprise. She had not been expecting to be directly addressed by anyone out here. Having been so however she recovered quickly and nodded.

"You are welcome, Kobayashi-san. And please feel free to address me as Kouzuki." Kallen's lips quirked a bit. "It is as much my name as Stadtfeld."

The shopkeeper returned the smile and bowed again. As the party moved on Kallen noticed a bemused look being directed at her by the princess. She feigned ignorance of it however, focusing on her job. Euphemia could find her amusement elsewhere.

"Your people seem to be finding their footing, Mr. Yamazaki," Euphemia said to the local neighborhood leader.

Yamazaki smiled slightly. "That they are, your highness. The changes made to the school and the reopening of the hospital has, reinvigorated us. For many years we simply, existed. Far too many people simply saw no point in trying harder, of even thinking about the future. But now, we can see one where through hard work we can better our lives."

"I am glad to hear that," Euphemia said. "If there is something that the government can assist with, within reason, we will do our utmost to help."

"Your highness has already done much," Yamazaki said. "You, are governing. Those years that we lost, by our own effort will we make up. But we will remember that you gave us the chance to do so, your highness."

Euphemia nodded solemnly. Yamazaki might have been laying it on a bit thick but the man's honestly and earnestly were quite sincere. She would not belittle it. As they walked Euphemia continued asking questions, making inquiries about the state of basic services and infrastructure. No one doubted that the princess would remember in detail every answer she was given and despite Yamazaki's assurances it was clear that, while substantial progress had been made, there was still much left to be done.

As Yamazaki had mentioned there was the improvements to the local school and the formal reopening of the hospital. Besides the greater quality of teaching the additional resources provided by the government allowed, Ruben had proposed and Euphemia had agreed to a subsidized meal program that provided each student with cheap, and sometimes outright free, breakfast and lunch. At present the meals were available to every student with no need to prove need, though as things improved and more formal statistics could be gathered that would likely change. For now though spending a few pounds per student to make sure they did not go hungry during lessons should prove a sound investment in making them better able to concentrate.

The restoration of the local hospital into a proper place of healthcare was also extremely uplifting to the morale of the populace. Much like Keio there had been volunteers that tried to provide at least a basic level of service, but they had been even more strapped for medical supplies than their compatriots in Tokyo. At least in the Area's capital Keio was physically close to the Britannian concession and opportunities existed for acquiring needed supplies. Now with proper support, the doctors and nurses here were able to once more practice their trade and see after those that came to them for help.

The group reached their final destination, the local post office. The postal service was perhaps the one service that the Britannian government had bothered to properly maintain even outside of the concessions, even more than law enforcement. The reason for it could not quite be counted as altruistic, seeing as a major motivator was to reduce the motivation of the Japanese populace to develop its own courier network independent of government control. If at least the mail got through safe and sound, the need for the Japanese people to build up their own network decreased, or so the reasoning went. In any case the presence of the post office here and in other Japanese neighborhoods offered Euphemia an opportunity to take one more step in her program of reforms.

The crowd that was gathered in front of the post office was already quite large even after one took into account the decent media presence. Euphemia had been explicit in making clear that reporters would not be welcome to tag along with her during her walk through the neighborhood, and any that did would get their parent broadcaster barred from press events for the next six months. So far the only news company stupid enough to have tested that threat was Fox and Kallen did not in the least regret personally smashing the camera that crew had brought along to try to take discrete photos of the princess. She had been tempted to smash in the face of that ponytailed reporter, but one could not have everything one's way in life.

There was still ten minutes or so before the princess was set to address them so there was plenty of them for it to grow even larger. So far no one seemed to be looking for trouble, or at least those that did seem nervous did not have anything on them that could be used to start trouble. That could turn out really bad for everyone here, especially with the number of families that seemed to be gathering. Euphemia really was getting too popular for her own good. When the time came for Euphemia to speak the streets were completely packed. Kallen already knew the contents of the speech so kept her focus on all the people about them.

"Before we begin I would like to thank all of you for indulging the disruption I am sure my visit has had on your neighborhood today," Euphemia said into the prepared microphone. "I do not get many opportunities to simply walk the streets, my guards seem to take a dim view of that."

From the chuckles that sounded it was clear a good number of the crowd understood English well enough to get the little joke. The guards in question of course kept their faces impassively stoic. That was their job.

"Having had a chance to see your neighborhood however I am heartened to see the progress that has been made, and today I hope to provide one means of helping all of you help yourselves."

Murmurs rippled through the crowd as people tried to discern what the princess meant. More help was always welcome, especially if it was geared towards allowing them to better support themselves. No one could be content to forever rely on charity after all.

"Many of you likely already know this, but the Britannian Postal Service provides not only mail service but also savings accounts. The latter however required one to be an Honorary Britannian to take advantage of. As of today, that requirement has been rescinded."

Surprise now colored the murmurs. To many of the youngsters that had grown up after the invasion the notion of formal banking, while not completely foreign, was more often than not simply inaccessible. For those who still remembered how life was before the invasion however, they understood just what a safe place to keep their savings meant. In fact even the younger generation understood, abstractly at least, how important that was. Euphemia was not finished however.

"In addition to providing savings accounts," the princess continued, causing the murmurs to become hushed, "starting November 1st, the Japanese branch of the postal service will also offer loans even to individuals lacking a credit history."

For a few moments no audible reaction came from the crowd. As Euphemia's words slowly sank in however an excited, almost impatient air emerged as people began chattering. Again it was the older generation that grasped more firmly the ramifications of the princess' announcement, but even amongst the younger generation there were those that immediately saw the potential in what was being offered. Plenty of people were engaged in businesses after all, many as a means for simple survival while others more fortunate were actively working to improve their lot. Access to a source of credit, especially one that did not require past history that none of them possessed, held the promise of great opportunity.

"The system that will be instituted will seek to provide not only access to capital but also a means for imperial subjects to begin building a proper credit history," Euphemia said. "There will be requirements and obligations that must be fulfilled, but all are intended to ensure that no one falls into the trap of perpetual debt. The goal of this program is to create opportunity, not destroy it, and it is my hope that all those whom are my subjects will find theirs."

At the smile that Euphemia graced the crowd applause and cheering began breaking out. The princess waved in response, causing the noise to grow even louder. Kallen massaged her temple, trying to keep all that noise from building up into an even bigger migraine. Finally giving up, she popped an aspirin and swallowed it dry. While she did not want to develop a dependency, she needed a clear head if she was going to do her job today.

Though her address was done Euphemia would not be leaving just yet. She climbed down from the stands and proceeded to personally greet the many people that had come to see her. True to their habit the Japanese formed into semi-orderly queues out of instinct and one by one offered their thanks as they shook Euphemia's hand. By the time they were done the sun was starting to dip below the horizon.

* * *

When Cornelia entered the dining room she was greeted not only by Schneizel, the one that had invited her to the working dinner, but another member of her family. Her family, not her brother's.

"Uncle!" the woman said in surprise.

Augustus Henry Velaines, Duke of Halifax and maternal uncle to Cornelia and Euphemia li Britannia, rose and came over to greet his beloved niece.

"It is good to see my favorite niece again," the tall sturdy built man said as he planted a light kiss on her cheek.

Cornelia smiled wirily. "Is that what you also say to Euphie whenever I am not around?"

"But of course," Augustus said with a beaming smile. "And when the two of you are together, I simply say my favorite _nieces_."

Said niece gave a rueful chuckle. "It is good to see you as well, uncle." She then glanced over at her sibling. "Though Schneizel made no mention of you attending this evening."

"I thought you might enjoy the surprise," Schneizel said with a playful smirk.

"I am sure you did," Cornelia responded as she took a seat next to Augustus. "I presume then that the matter you all wished to discuss is of a financial nature?"

"Indeed," said Augustus. "Though I would not say no to simply enjoying a fine dinner with family."

"A fine dinner I can promise," Schneizel said with exaggerated solemnity. "Enjoyment is however not something I can simply order, even as Heir Secundus."

Cornelia snorted even as Augustus gave a hearty laugh. With all the guests here the servants came forth to set their places and bring out the food. Cornelia took in a deep breath.

"Roast mutton. My but you do know how to spoil me, brother. One can only imagine how you will treat your wife."

"He needs to find such a lucky lady first," Augustus put in before Schneizel could respond. "Spends all his time doing nothing but work, barely gets out." The duke cast an eye at his niece. "Much like certain other royals I could name."

Cornelia bit her tongue. She should have seen that one coming. Schneizel simply cleared his throat.

"Perhaps we should attend to the business at hand before delving into further, pleasantries?"

Despite the grin on Augustus' face the older man deigned to have mercy. "Very well, your highness." He then looked over at Cornelia more seriously. "Your brother and I asked you here today to discuss a few things about the financing of the war."

Cornelia could already feel a headache building. From the looks the two were giving her they could also see it plainly on her face.

"You already know that the declaration of war from the EU and the Chinese Federation caught us off guard," Augustus continued. "As high as tensions were none of us thought the EU or the Federation actually had the nerve to start an outright war. Well, we turned out to be wrong, and the truth is the Empire was not prepared for a major war to break out, much less one that encompasses the entire world."

Cornelia nodded. That much was already evident given the disposition of the military and the frantic pace with which it was trying to expand to meet the demands of the fronts. She began cutting into the mutton.

"Fiscally the Empire was doing fine before the outbreak of war," Augustus said. "We were running a budget surplus, even if some of the overseas Areas were acting as a drain on government revenue. That has slowly been changing however and most of our American holdings have reached the point where they are net contributors. In fact projections over at the Exchequer was that Area 11 would also become a net contributor within the next decade, in no small part thanks to Euphie's masterful handling." The duke shook his head with a sigh. "That girl really needs to stop giving me heart attacks."

To that Cornelia had no argument with. As proud as she was of her little sister's achievements, there was literally no way she could not worry about all the dangers and risks Euphemia faced.

"Unfortunately a solid fiscal balance during peacetime does not translate into having the financial resources to fight a war," Augustus said. "The projected expenses that the general staff sent the Exchequer are, extensive. And quite frankly we don't have the cash on hand to meet those expenses, at least not for the long run."

"But I presume you have a plan," Cornelia said after she finished swallowing.

"We do," Augustus responded as he worked his own knife. "We're putting the finishing touches on a bond series that we're hoping will raise approximately a hundred billion pounds. That will help substantially in meeting the projections, but we'll likely need additional sources of revenue if the war drags on for more than a year or two."

Cornelia grimaced. "It will almost certainly be longer."

Augustus nodded. "I know. Hence the other options we are considering." And popped a slice of meat into his mouth.

With his Exchequer so occupied Schneizel spoke up. "One of those other options is a general increase in the level of taxation, or an adjustment of the percentages of taxes that flow to the central government versus what the provincial governments are allowed to keep."

Cornelia raised an eyebrow. "And you expect to get that through the Lords?"

Schneizel shrugged. "The conservatives will complain, certainly, but they will go along with it if only to avoid accusations of being unpatriotic. Or to prevent the Exchequer just printing the money the government will need to finance the war."

The eyebrow stayed up as Cornelia looked over at her uncle.

"Believe me Cornelia," Augustus said. "If I have to resort to such means, it will only have been after I've stripped the House of Lords of every gilded spoon and fork to pay for the bullets and guns the military will need. The Lords know this, and they won't dare to play games with me on this. Especially since the next step after that is to levy a direct tax on their holdings."

The eyebrow still stayed up. Augustus snorted.

"No need to look so worried, my dear. Schneizel and I have given much thought on this and the majority that your brother commands in the Lords should be enough to push this through. Albarea and Cayenne and others like them might complain about the erosion of noble prerogative, but they know that if I'm forced to circumvent Parliament, or at least the Lords, in order to fund the war, that will set an even greater precedent that they won't like. They'll cooperate, even if they're kicking and screaming the entire time."

"Hopefully that does not end up causing problems in the long term," Cornelia said with a sigh of her own. "And this is why I chose a career with more straightforward methods and means."

"True enough, but someone has to keep the wheels of government turning," Schneizel said with a slight smile, "as thankless as the task might be."

"But which I for one am very thankful you elected to shoulder for the rest of us," Cornelia said with her own smile. She then glanced over at her uncle. "I presume the two of you did not call me just to assure me that there will be money to fight the war however?"

"Well, that was part of it," Augustus said. "The other however was to discuss rationing provisions. This war is going to take a lot of oil to fight, for one. And we'll need to make sure there's enough left over for the farms and factories, and then for getting all of their products to where they are needed."

"Not to mention the allocation of the other inputs and of course outputs of those factories and farms," Schneizel said, "and also the manpower needed to keep everything running."

"Rubber," Augustus chimed in. "That's another one. The majority of our rubber comes from our Indonesian possessions. With all the fighting in the area, getting the rubber back to the Empire for manufacturing will undoubtedly be tricky."

"We could go on," Schneizel said with a wiry smile, "but I think you get the point."

"Quite," Cornelia agreed. "Zechs has already warned me that we're drawing down our strategic oil reserves at an extremely fast rate."

"Areas 5 and 8 have substantial reserves fortunately," Augustus said. "In fact we do have reserves of most strategic materials that will be necessary for the prosecution of the war. The issue is ultimately paying for them. The economy is going to be distorted something awful from how much we're going to need to commandeer to begin with, but I would like to try to keep the pound from becoming completely worthless in the process." The duke regarded Cornelia again. "And if there is some way we can make it more difficult on our enemies to prosecute the war economically, I would shed no tears."

"I know the general staff did an economic analysis of Britannia's potential enemies," Cornelia said. "All indications are both the Chinese Federation and the European Union would find it difficult to sustain a long running war as well. The Federation, while possessing significant absolute wealth, is not as heavily industrialized as the European powers, and the majority of its industry is concentrated in its coastal cities, cities within range of our bombers."

"Conversely does that not mean the places we launch our bombers from would also be in range of Chinese planes?" Augustus asked.

"It does, but so far our integrated air defense systems seem to be doing a much better job than the Chinese's," Cornelia assured her uncle. "I expect once more of our forces are ready, we will be able to keep the Chinese bottled up while we knock out the Europeans."

Augustus frowned slightly. "Keep the Chinese bottled up? You are not planning on forcing a landing?"

Cornelia actually grimaced at that. "There is a plan to do so, but realistically trying to fight a land war in Asia is an extremely difficult endeavor. If all we manage is to keep the Chinese pinned long enough to take out the EU, I would be prepared to offer terms to the Chinese after that."

"Really? Despite what you said about the Federation's economic base?"

"The majority of the Federation's wealth may be concentrated along the coast, but the totality of its domain is well over five million square miles, uncle," Cornelia explained. "Even if we seized every major coastal city, that is a lot of ground into which their forces could retreat to and to run them down would likely require tens of millions of soldiers, never mind the numbers that would be needed for an outright occupation."

Augustus mouthed an inaudible ah at that point.

"The European populations on the other hand are concentrated on a much smaller landmass, and this is the case even for the Russian Federation," Cornelia continued. "If our forces manage to break out into the European lowlands their armies will have no choice but to fight us, at which point we should probably be able to decisively defeat them. There will be no place for them to retreat, at least for the central and western European powers, and we should be able to dictate terms at that point."

"And what terms are the Empire contemplating?" Augustus looked back over at Schneizel.

"At minimum likely the restoration of the British Isles and Gibraltar," Schneizel said. "We might also demand the European African colonies and a portion of Siberia as indemnities. Father has not really indicated any desire to take control of the European nations directly."

"Hmm, I see," Augustus said, stroking his beard. "And the Chinese? Presumably if your intent is to get them to accept terms without decisively defeating them, they will be less punitive than that demanded of the Europeans?"

"The terms will be less onerous," Cornelia agreed, "though whether the Chinese will consider them less punitive will have to be seen. We intend to demand their withdrawal from India, to allow it to become an independent state. We are also thinking of demanding Singapore."

"I suppose I understand evicting the Chinese from India," Augustus said, "but not for the intent of reclaiming it for Britannia?"

Cornelia shrugged. "Euphie helped arrange an agreement with the Indian resistance movements to aide us in the fight against the Federation, and to also provide a route of withdrawal for our Middle Eastern forces. So long as the Indians live up to their end of the deal, the Empire should uphold ours."

"I had not heard about this deal," Augustus said cautiously. "Should I be hearing about it now?"

"Well you have always been very discrete," Cornelia said with a slight smirk. "I doubt you will be going around shouting to all the tabloids about it."

Augustus chuckled. "Quite." The man took a sip of his wine. "Still, Euphie helped arrange all this?"

Cornelia nodded.

"My, but my little girls have all grown up," Augustus said with a smile.

"Uncle…"

The duke chuckled. "And they have grown into fine young women."

* * *

"Ah good, you're here."

A bundle of ribbons was shoved into Kallen's hands.

"Help me string these up," Milly said.

Another bundle was, presented, to a mildly confused Laura.

"Ah, you're definitely tall enough to reach the hard to reach places."

As Rean cocked his head aside quizzically Milly's hand shot out and grabbed hold of his arm.

"You look strong, we've got some heavy things that need moving."

And dragged him away leaving Kallen and Laura staring after the two.

"Ah-hey!"

Rean's protests however went unheeded as Milly began listing the tasks that she saw fit to press him into. Across the room Rivalz gave his new compatriot a sympathetic smile even as he went about his own tasks.

"She is, a very forthright person," Laura remarked as she watched her boyfriend follow after Milly haplessly.

Kallen chuckled. "When Milly sees something she wants, very few things can stop here." She then looked down at the ribbons in her hands. "Though how are we supposed to put these up without someone to show us where they go?"

"Please leave that to me, Lady Stadtfeld."

Kallen started and spun around to find a cheerful looking maid standing behind her. She immediately recognized her as the one that had served them at the dinner a few months back. The maid had somehow snuck up on Kallen back then as well.

"Hello Sharon," Laura said before Kallen could find any words. "It is good to see you again."

"And you as well Mistress Laura," Sharon said with a curtsey. "Though it may not be my place to say so, it is good to see you and Master Rean together."

Laura smiled. "Thank you Sharon."

Kallen looked over at the older girl. "Umm, the two of you know each other?"

"Sharon used to be employed in the estate of the Princess Cornelia," Laura said. "I met her several times when I would visit Euphie."

At that Kallen nodded in understanding, on more than one point. She regarded Sharon with a slightly more wary eye. Maybe it was not a coincidence after all that allowed the maid to sneak up on her. Sharon however simply smiled at Kallen nonchalantly. This woman, Kallen determined to be very careful around her.

"Now then," Laura said, "I believe you were to show us where these decorations are to go, Sharon?"

"Indeed Mistress Laura, and thank you very much for lending your aid in the preparations."

"Not at all," Laura said. "Euphie and Nunnally both deserve a chance to simply relax and enjoy themselves. It is the least we could do, right Kallen?"

To that Kallen nodded. The princess had been running herself ragged keeping on top of the demands of her office, from provisioning for the expected influx of soldiers that would be using Japan as a staging ground to making sure her subjects were not short of the essentials even as wartime rationing started coming into full effect. As a soldier in service to her highness Kallen was pretty much assured of having whatever she needed, but not everyone was so lucky and she made it a point to check in on her old comrades in Akatsuki. So far they too were doing reasonably well, in fact all indications were they were doing better than before even with the rationing. For all that the princess had achieved, she most certainly deserved a bit of downtime with her family and friends.

With Sharon guiding them Kallen and Laura followed the maid through the rooms that would be used for the celebrations. The Ashford residence was not small by any means, though compared to the estates of certain nobles it was still rather understated and even cozy. There were other servants at work too, quite a few of them Japanese at that. Besides the dinner invitation Kallen had never actually visited Milly's home and this was the first time she had ever gotten a good look at it.

"Was Cole able to get leave to come?" Laura asked as they worked.

"Umm, yes, he was," Kallen quickly responded. "It probably helps that his quartermaster training is actually taking place at MacArthur Base. They've kept him very busy though."

"I can imagine," Laura said. "From what Rean has said Cole seems to have impressed the instructors and has been put on the officer candidate track."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "Really? How did Rean find out about that?"

"Rean's been serving as a mentor to the prospective candidates," Laura explained. "That's how the two ended up meeting."

"Huh. Small world." Kallen handed another ribbon to Laura. "It seems they're keeping Rean busy as well. Isn't he also working with Camelot?"

"Indeed, though he does not say much about that, much as I do not discuss in detail my duties as part of Euphie's guard."

"You two really do keep your respective professional lives separate, don't you?"

"It is ultimately a matter of duty and responsibility," Laura said as she finished pinning down another ribbon. "Over the course of our careers we are presented with matters that should not be shared with those outside of our chains of command, no matter how close we personally might be with such a person. And also regardless of whether such information is ultimately benign, or actively endangers all who know it."

Kallen had had far more experience that she ever wanted with the latter type and the young woman knew full well just how costly possession of such information could be.

"Still, I suppose you have to be somewhat curious what he is up to," Kallen said somewhat lightly. "The fact that he might get to ride in a fancy new knightmare has to get your blood running a bit hotter."

Laura chuckled. "That I will admit."

The rest of the preparations went smoothly without any hitches and an hour later the guests of honor finally made their appearance. Getting Nunnally out of the house so that they could prepare was a surprisingly easy thing to do, though no one believed for a moment they were actually going to surprise the girl. She would of course pretend to be surprised when the time came, that was only polite, but so long as everyone enjoyed themselves that was of only minor importance. The real surprise was for Euphemia herself, whom had in her workaholic tempo barely even paused to acknowledge the fact that she was now seventeen. That was something one Milly Ashford would not accept, hence all of her plotting to make sure Euphemia actually celebrated her birthday, even if it was in conjunction with a party thrown for Nunnally.

Excited chattering could be heard from the main entrance as Nunnally and several of her friends returned. The official reason for Nunnally's absence was an invitation to bring her friends to a tour of the viceroy's palace and a lunch picnic on the garden roof. From the sounds of it everyone had enjoyed themselves immensely, and the party was yet to even formally start. When the gaggle of girls, and even one shy looking boy, entered the living room, gasps sounded as they saw the decorations and the large banner hanging from the ceiling, a reaction that was echoed by Euphemia herself as she caught sight of the words on the banner.

Happy Birthday Abigail Nunnally Ashford. Happy Birthday Euphemia li Britannia.

A smile forced its way across Euphemia's face as she shifted her gaze to Milly.

"This was your doing, I presume?"

"But of course!" Milly said proudly. "C'mon Euphie, you've been hopping back and forth Japan all of this month, you didn't even bother celebrating your own birthday! Did you really think I would let that slide?"

"Well, we technically had dinner together on the 11th," Euphemia tried.

Milly blew a raspberry. "Yeah, no, that was so not a proper birthday party." She beamed at the princess. "This is, and I expect you to enjoy yourself."

"Very well Milly," Euphemia said in mock resignation. "You're right."

"Of course I am," Milly said, pumping up a fist. "Knowing how to have a good time is a skill passed down for generations in the Ashford family!"

Kallen found herself shaking her head in bemusement at the sheer exuberance the older girl was presenting. She somehow doubted she could ever truly keep up with Milly. And then a nervous voice spoke up next to her.

"Umm, excuse me?"

Kallen looked over to see a girl about Nunnally's age with ribbon tied pigtails standing before her.

"Yes?"

"Are you, Princess Euphemia's knight?"

Kallen nodded. "Yes, I am."

The girl squealed. That really was the only way to describe the sound she made.

"That's so cool! My name's Alice! It's a pleasure to meet you, Dame Knight!"

At that Kallen could not help but smile. "Likewise, Alice. My name is Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki. And this is Laura Arseid, whom probably knows a bit more about being a knight than me."

Laura chuckled. "Do not sell yourself short, Kallen. You have the heart of one, and that is the most important part."

"We got to see some of the knightmares at the palace as part of the tour," Alice continued. "Which one was yours?"

"Oh uh, the large red one," Kallen said.

"The one with the claw hand? It looked wicked!"

Kallen smiled slightly. The girl's tastes were, quite something.

"You seem very interested in knightmares," she said.

Alice nodded vigorously. "Uh huh. I'm going to be a knight!"

At that Laura chuckled lightly. "An admirable goal, Alice. We wish you good fortune in its pursuit."

"Thanks Miss Knight!"

"Well, that was, something," Kallen remarked as Alice hurried back over to join the other girls.

"I take it you have never met young girls like her with such a dream?"

"To be honest, no I haven't," Kallen said. "Most of the other girls at Ashford were more focused on, boys. And clothes."

"Truthfully that could be said of most of my classmates during secondary," Laura said, "but there were quite a few of us that intended to pursue a martial career, and we drifted together."

"Did you go to school with her highness as well?" Kallen asked.

"Only a single year," Laura said. "Even back then, she knew exactly what it was she sought and worked at it with steadfast resolve."

"Does she ever stop to take a breath," Kallen muttered.

"Sometimes I fear that she has simply forgotten how to," Laura said. "Which is why it is important that others remind her from time to time."

Kallen chuckled. "I suppose so. Well, let's get about with that reminder."

As the two approached Euphemia smiled wirily at them. "I presume Milly asked you to keep quiet about her little, surprise, Kallen?"

The red-haired girl smiled mischievously. "Surely you did not think someone of your stature could evade a more festive celebration of your own birthday, your highness? Imagine how the rest of high society would react!"

Euphemia gave Kallen a beady stare. "I shall remember this, Kallen, when your own birthdate arrives, and we shall see what new surprises Milly can be counted upon to spring."

For a brief moment Kallen wondered whether it really was a good idea to tease the princess. She however kept the smile on her face and eventually Euphemia sighed in seeming resignation.

"Regardless of the circumstances, you should take this as an opportunity to relax and simply enjoy yourself," Laura said. "You have been pushing yourself, your highness."

"Well, if I am to relax, then we should dispense with the formalities," the princess said. "No more highnesses, from any of you tonight, am I clear?"

"Yes, Euphie," Laura said with a bemused smile.

"Of course, Euphemia," Kallen echoed. She was not about to get that informal with her liege.

The princess smiled serenely at them and looked about. "I see Rean has already arrived, is Cole not here yet?"

"I don't know," Kallen said. "I thought he said he would be able to make it early."

"No need to worry," Milly said as she joined up with the trio of girls. "Cole's in the kitchen looking after the birthday cake." She flashed a grin at the princess. "Look forward to it."

"I see you are ever industrious in putting your guests to work, Milly," Euphemia teased.

"Hey, I've got to get a few more uses out of him before Kallen locks him up as her exclusive property," Milly said.

Kallen shot the other girl a pointed look but Milly simply grinned back at her. The Ashford daughter was utterly unrepentant.

"I'm going to check up on him," Kallen finally said. "Do try to make sure Milly doesn't abscond with Rean in the meantime, Laura."

Finding her way to the kitchen ended up requiring Kallen to actually ask one of the servants. The layout of the Ashford residence was distinctly different from that of her father's main estate here in Tokyo. It was substantially bigger for one. When Kallen finally did find her way she was greeted with a bustle of activity as the staff continued their preparations for the evening's meal. Those that noticed her nodded or smiled politely but otherwise they remained focused on their own tasks, much as Cole was doing in front of a very large cake. Kallen snorted and walked over to him.

"Hey."

The young man looked up calmly. "Oh, Kallen, you're here already?"

"Yes," the girl drawled. "I'm here."

Cole smiled slightly. "Sorry. The cake ended up taking a bit longer than I expected. Has Nunnally and Euphemia both returned?"

"They have." Kallen raised an eyebrow. "So, you are on first name basis with the princess?"

"She insisted," Cole said, picking up a tube of frosting. "The princess can be, surprisingly forthright about a lot of things."

"Tell me about it," Kallen muttered.

The chuckle that sounded indicated Cole had heard her loud and clear. "I heard you traveled with her highness on her tour of western Japan. How was it?"

"Busy," Kallen said bluntly. "We went through three different cities in just the week and a half, so we were traveling a lot. If the princess was not attending some meeting with local officials, she was putting in public appearances. I don't know how much the news have reported about those."

"Quite a bit," Cole said as he began wreathing the edge of one cake layer with frosting. "Having the postal service officer microloans was a big one, and I'm pretty sure my father has been very busy helping get that organized."

"Yes, he is the Exchequer," Kallen agreed with a nod.

"Well, not just that." Cole moved onto another layer, his movements so deft and fast that Kallen just realized he had finished with the first one. "He used to be the branch manager of IBB in Japan."

"Oh? I think I remember reading about that when he was first appointed to the princess' cabinet."

"Well, that was a while ago, and not too many people have paid much attention to what he did before he became Exchequer," Cole said. The young man leaned back and examined his handiwork. "Hmm, almost done."

Kallen looked it over. "A three-layer cake. Mighty ambitious."

"Well, it's been a while since I've been able to flex my muscle in the kitchen," Cole said with a smile. "And besides, a special girl deserves a special birthday cake."

"And which special girl would you be referring to?" Kallen asked slyly.

Cole chuckled. "Well, just think of this as a preview for what I'll cook up for your own birthday."

At that the young woman found her cheeks reddening slightly. "My but you have a silver tongue."

"It helps with the ladies, or so I've been told," Cole said as he finished decorating the third layer. "And besides, Nunnally wanted a cake large enough to share with the household staff as well."

At that Kallen nodded. "That does very much sound like her."

Cole smiled at Kallen. "I'll be out before too long, you go and enjoy yourself Kallen, the princess isn't the only one that's worked hard the last few weeks."

Kallen chuckled. "Alright. But from what I've heard they've kept you busy at MacArthur as well, so don't forget to take some time to relax as well."

"I will keep that in mind."

Before departing Kallen gave Cole a single peck on the cheek. He deserved at least that much for all the work he was doing.

By the time she returned to the living room the other guests had already broken up into games and the like. Rean and Rivalz were sharing a drink and looking mighty relieved to have completed their manual labors and a slightly weary looking but otherwise steady Shirley was seated next to her boyfriend. Kallen walked over and took a seat across from her.

"Shirley," she greeted.

"Oh, Kallen," the other girl said and smiled. "It's good to see you again."

"You as well," Kallen reciprocated. "I trust Rivalz here has been treating you well?"

"He tries," Shirley said, giving the boy in question a teasing look. "He certainly tries." The young woman took a deep breath. "And, what about you and Cole?"

"Well, it seems that for the moment he would prefer the company of the kitchen than his girlfriend," Kallen said playfully.

Shirley giggled while rueful chuckles sounded from the two men.

"Well, you are the soldier, Rean. What course of action would you suggest here?"

"A tactical retreat seems the most sound," Rean answered. "Perhaps if we avoid too heavy losses we might be able to ask for favorable terms, assuming the womenfolk are feeling merciful."

To that Kallen let out a hearty laugh even as Shirley let out a more subdued giggle.

"What's this?" Milly's voice suddenly sounded even as her arms wrapped around Shirley from behind. "A man should be decisive and bold! Just because the two of you have managed to snag such bountiful beauties is not time to let your guard down, lest I snatch them from you myself!"

"Prez," Shirley said chidingly.

"Ah ah ah, I'm not the student council president anymore," Milly corrected her friend. "That would be your beloved beau here." She released the younger girl and took a seat next to her. "Still, who would have thought that all my juniors would be getting ahead of me in the romance game?"

"Well you were the one that kept sabotaging your own marriage interviews," Rivalz pointed out.

"But of course! All those men my parents set me up with were noble twits. I shall only allow a proper man to cradle me in his strong arms against his bosom."

Kallen's laugh this time was more of a bark even as Rivalz and Rean feigned coughs.

"Say Kallen, you're basically around Euphie all day," Milly said. "She have her eyes on anyone?"

The younger girl raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think I would tell you that, Milly?"

"Oh, so there is someone?"

Kallen sighed and shook her head. "I can neither confirm nor deny, so don't even bother."

"Fooey, you're no fun."

"Being fun is hardly in my job description," Kallen noted dryly. "And I am expected to keep Euphemia's confidence from everyone, even those she considers family."

"Yes, I suppose you are," Milly said. "Still, take care of her, Kallen. You probably already noticed it, but Euphie's under a lot of strain right now. She might have her brother's support, but ramming down all those provisions granting rights to the Japanese has not been easy, and there's been a lot of passive resistance. She's, tired, and she's trying to hide it. That's not healthy."

Kallen nodded. "I know." And smiled slightly. "It's why I agreed to help you spring this little surprise on her."

Milly beamed right back at her. "Speaking of which, you also need to remember to find time to enjoy yourself."

"Well I would," Kallen retorted, "except you decided to draft my boyfriend to help in the kitchens again."

"You saw the size of the cake he was working on, are you really going to complain?"

Kallen regarded Milly for a few moments before finally shaking her head. "Utterly unrepentant."

"Why thank you."

"Most people would not consider that a compliment," Kallen remarked.

Milly's grin grew wider. "But you meant it as one."

After another second or so Kallen chuckled ruefully. Maybe she did.

"Ladies and gentlemen," a strong and clear voice sounded, drawing all their attentions. "Dinner is now served. If our honored guests would please all come to the dining hall."

"A dining hall," Kallen remarked as she stood.

"Well with this many people we couldn't exactly fit everyone in the dining room," Milly said matter-of-factly.

Looking at the gaggle of people crowded around Nunnally, Kallen had to agree with that.

"Your sister is very popular."

"That she is," Milly said before smiling knowingly at Kallen. "Charisma and charm must be a genetic trait."

Kallen forced herself to smile back at Milly. Looking at Nunnally and Euphemia, yes, that was believable. But then there was one Lelouch vi Britannia, also known as Lelouch Lamperouge. Was her charismatic? Perhaps, in a twisted way his compulsion geass made him so. But Kallen found it hard to believe that the kindly Nunnally could be related to someone as unfettered as Lelouch. Hopefully Nunnally would never find out what her brother had become and could continue holding onto the memory of a time when he was apparently as loving and compassionate as her. And so Kallen kept smiling, even as she deceived not just Nunnally but Milly as well.

The guests entered the dining hall and gasped at the sight of not just the dinner but also a large chocolate covered cake at the front of the table. A noticeably, and rightfully, proud looking Cole was standing by it and Kallen found herself giving him a genuine smile. At seeing her he walked over and offered an arm.

"May I escort you to your seat, Lady Stadtfeld?"

The laughter that sounded from Kallen was crystal clear. "Of course, Lord Kraft."

"You know, I'm technically not a lord," Cole said, smiling as Kallen took his arm.

"I'm sure we could convince Euphemia to swing a title for your father," Kallen said jokingly.

"Not too loud there," Cole said. "If her highness hears you, she just might do it for her own amusement."

To that Kallen laughed again and allowed herself to forget those darker thoughts from just a moment before. Today was a day of rest, of time spent with friends and loved ones. She would cherish it.

End of Chapter 67

Yes, I know the guy is called Augusta in canon. That name however makes no sense seeing as that is a woman's name. Hence Augustus. I've also heavily altered him because, umm, well, at this point it's pretty obvious that I really do not give a crap about the characterization of the characters from the OVAs. Probably because there was so little of it. So I'm more just reusing names than anything else.

Looking back while I spent about forty chapters building up to the Black Rebellion, I probably spent another ten chapters dealing with the rebellion itself and its aftermath. From the looks of it I'm not going to need to spend nearly as long building up to the next big boom, I think, so I suppose look forward to it.

As a general rule I will not answer any questions about what happens to characters beyond what I have elected to review in the opening snippets. If a character is not mentioned in there, do not expect me to answer any questions about what happens to them.

There's a distinction between hating scenes, hating the characters in scenes, and hating the characters themselves. Each basically has a different motivation behind the respective dislike and knowing which it is can be informative to a writer. Hating a scene, insomuch as hating it because one does not think the scene was very good, is instructive, to an extent. As is hating a character because one does not think said character is very good. Hating a character for being said character, well, there's really not much that can be done about that.

With respect to one of the more incoherent reviews I received last chapter, my only response is to suggest the reader go back and reread all of the author notes wherein I discuss the problems with the stupid-evil manner with which Britannia was portrayed in the canon anime, and how I am going out of my way doing the same.


	69. Chapter 68

_When war broke out it was widely recognized that the nation that was best able to maintain its supply of the crucial raw materials of industry would be the one that emerged victorious. One of the more mundane yet most pressing of such resources was rubber, and the great powers went to some length to secure sources that would not face disruption due to conflict. The Chinese Federation's control of Indochina gave it a large source of natural rubber, as did Britannia's conquest of the Indonesian Archipelago. European efforts to cultivate rubber in their African colonies had met with failure, forcing them to turn to technological solutions. By the time hostilities broke out the Germans had succeeded in developing a synthetic rubber that was able to meet some of the EU's needs._

 _Despite the abundant sources of natural rubber possessed by Britannia and China, the fact that the entire Indochina and Indonesian region was a site of major campaigns raised significant complications for both sides. The Britannian government's response was to introduce a massive rubber recycling program, as well as a concentrated effort to mass produce synthetic rubber. At the same time the Britannian government began to reexamine the possibility of producing natural rubber on a large scale in the Americas._

 _Previous such efforts had all failed due to the fungi Microcyclus ulei, which causes South American leaf blight. From such failures agronomists had however noted that the loss of rubber trees was not 100%, indicating that there existed natural resistance to the blight. The Britannian government dispatched teams into the Amazon and these teams returned in triumph, with samples of rubber trees that were demonstrably resistant to the leaf blight. These trees were cultivated at the Turrialba experimental station in Costa Rica and over the course of the next four years the researchers there solved many of the technical problems of producing a high-yield disease resistant rubber tree. While too late to have influenced the war, the result of this work would go on to allow Britannia to create rubber plantations across its South American holdings, significantly enhancing the economic wealth the region produced._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 68

Cui bono

Despite how busy the terrorist attacks were keeping Claire the Hereticus interrogator still managed to find some time off to unwind. It was not as if they were making no progress at all in the investigations after all, as witness reports had allowed the Inquisitio to create composites of several individuals likely to be responsible for their delivery. They even had enough information to actually identify one of the terrorists and other Hereticus operatives were tailing the suspect even now to try and determine the source of the explosives. Such investigations took time, but Claire was a very patient woman. Too bad the general public was less son, or at least a very vocal portion of it was not.

While Hereticus was not exactly accountable to the general populace, pressure could still be exerted upon it via indirect means. If other government agencies thought Hereticus was not doing a very good job, passive obstruction to its activities could substantially undermine its capabilities. Even invoking the imperial writ that authorized Hereticus' wide ranging powers was only useful up to a point. Overuse it and the writ would start losing some of its mystique.

Claire sighed as she pushed those thoughts away. She was supposed to be on leave and constantly dwelling on these matters hardly made for a relaxing leave. Not that her current destination was entirely for pleasure. The woman slid her car into one of the parking spaces and climbed out. The school she had arrived at was filled with both nostalgic and less than pleasant memories. Some of the instructors had been in Claire's opinion overly rigid and strict, but on the whole she regarded the place warmly. The Schola Progenium was an academy established by the Empire to house and school the orphans of those that died in service to Britannia.

Claire's own parents served in the Britannian military and were killed in the campaign that finally broke the back of the leftist insurgents in Area 6. The Empire had effectively burned down thousands of acres of rain forest in its effort to flush out the insurgents, and had offered no quarter when it finally pinned them down. Considering the brutality the insurgents had visited upon not only their Britannian opponents but also any local civilians that had tried to avoid getting entangled in the fighting, Claire shed no tears for the mass executions that ultimately ended the insurgency. And as much as the young woman regretted the loss of her parents, she was still proud of their contributions to the campaign.

With all the low level conflict, and even small wars, that the Empire often found itself embroiled in, there were plenty of others whom had lost both parents like Claire. For all these children the only ones that they could really count as family were their fellow orphans, and Claire was no exception. During her time at the Schola she was near inseparable from her cohorts and even now she kept in touch with many of them. Not all of them had gone into the Ordo Hereticus, or the Inquisitio for that matter, though the surrogate brother she was closest to was an interrogator in the Ordo Xenos. Then there were the surrogate siblings, some too young to have decided on a career path yet.

"Claire!"

Two such siblings appeared to greet her, one waving with enthusiastic cheer. The young woman smiled and waved back as they approached.

"It's good to see you again Millium, Altina."

Altina nodded slightly, her motions considerably more subdued than her energetic twin.

"Did you bring us any souvenirs?" Millium asked excitedly.

Claire chuckled and gave the girl an affectionate pat on the head. "You'll need to be a bit patient and wait for that bit."

"Aww, but I like doing the fun stuff right away!" Millium protested even as she beamed at Claire.

"Millium," Altina chided her sister.

"Okay, okay. Anyway, the headmistress' waiting for ya, so let's go go go!"

Claire followed after the girl as she literally bounced off while Altina sighed in resignation.

"How has school been?" Claire asked the stoic girl.

"It's alright," Altina said, then seemed to think over her answer a bit. "We're learning about the Mexican War right now."

Claire nodded. "Yes, that was when the Empire first started making a push to expand southward."

"A lot of people died," Altina said matter-of-factly.

The captain smiled gently at the girl and placed an arm around her shoulder. "Yes, they did."

"The teachers say it was worth it," Altina continued. "They said it made the Empire stronger."

"It did make the Empire stronger," Claire said. "But whether it was worth it, for you, that is something you have to think about and decide for yourself. No one else can tell you that. Understand?"

Altina nodded. "Yeah, I understand."

"Good."

At that moment Millium came racing back to them.

"Aww, what's keeping you two slowpokes? C'mon Altina, forward!"

The girl took hold of her sister's hand and began pulling her along.

"Millium…"

Claire chuckled at the sight of the two. They were so different, and yet always together. The two were in some respects luckier than many of the other orphans here in that they actually still had family left. Perhaps that was why they stuck together so much, for fear of losing that last remnant.

The three finally arrived at one of the offices and Millium knocked rapidly. It was a marked improvement from the past where she would simply barge in.

"Enter," a clear voice sounded.

Without further ado Millium pushed open the door.

"Excuse us," Claire said for all of them.

The room they entered was positively overflowing with books, with shelves covering basically every inch of the wall. More were piled atop the desk at the center of the room and the only clear spaces were the chairs facing the desk, likely a courtesy to guests whom would otherwise find no surface upon which to sit.

Claire clicked her heels, coming to attention. "Colonel Varrot."

The woman on the other side of the desk rose and smiled warmly at Claire. "Captain Rieveldt, it is good to see you again." She then looked over at the two girls. "Thank you Altina, Millium, you may go."

As one both girls turned to look at Claire, with Millium openly expectant while Altina simply stared stoically. Both older women smiled at that and Claire reached into her bag, pulling out a package.

"Here you go," she said.

"Yay!" Millium accepted the package but immediately held it out to Altina. "Thanks Claire! Bye headmistress!"

Altina bowed her head courteously before following her sister out, hugging the package tightly. Claire continued watching them until the door closed.

"I sometimes wonder," she said, "whether my visits here are enough."

"It is folly to presume that we must be the one that does everything," Eleanor said.

Claire looked at the older woman and smiled ruefully. "Maybe so, but I still feel the urge to try."

"And that is also good. It means you have heart."

Claire sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever be as wise as you, ma'am."

Eleanor chuckled. "Well, these wrinkles aren't just for show, young lady. Now, have a seat and let us get to business."

"Yes ma'am."

Once the two were settled in Claire took out another item from her bag, a thin and nondescript looking notebook, and set it between them. A teacup was set before the woman and she nodded her thanks, taking a quick sip.

"I met an interesting woman on one of my recent investigations," Claire said, as she wrote something down on a blank page. "A gendarmerie captain that I thought looked familiar. And then I recalled that she too was a student here at the Schola. A Sarah Valestine."

Eleanor took a moment to think before answering, in both forms. "Yes, I believe she is a year older than you. An extremely bright and capable young woman, though very laid back." The older woman smiled. "Somewhat like Lechter."

Claire chuckled even as no humor touched the eyes that read Eleanor's writing. "I see. Do you recall anything else about her? I might have need to call upon her, cooperation, in the near future."

"Well, I suppose if you believe that anything I remember might be of any actual use," Eleanor said as she watched Claire write another question. "Let's see, she was not much for book learning, but she greatly enjoyed the physical regimen at the Schola. She also had a very intuitive mind, often able to solve abstract problems in her head, but anything that relied on rote memorization she tended to receive lower marks for."

Claire nodded. That was not surprising in the least. Her attention was however mostly focused on what the colonel was writing down.

"Let's see, the last year she was at the Schola she got in trouble for being caught sneaking alcoholic drinks into the dorms. You probably heard of that."

To that Claire nodded again, that was in fact the reason she recalled Sarah being a fellow alumni. Eleanor finished writing and Claire forced herself to keep her breathing level as she read the words.

"My understanding is that only a small percentage of Schola graduates go join the gendarmerie," she said calmly. "Most tend to join the military or the Empire's other security and intelligence services."

"Well, that may be true, but the raw numbers are not insubstantial," Eleanor said. "The gendarmerie also do actively recruit from the Schola these days, and have seen a larger portion of graduating classes choose a career with them."

"Really?" Claire said. "That did not happen when I was a student."

"They began about three years back," Eleanor said. "And while the nature of their service tends to see considerably lesser chance of both parents falling in the line of duty, there has also been talk of allowing such children to also attend the Schola."

"Huh," Claire said thoughtfully as she worked to compose her next question. "I presume there is some resistance to this from the more conservative elements of the Schola and the government."

"There is," Eleanor agreed, "but the idea is gaining significant traction. The government is slowly recognizing that service to Britannia includes as much service to its people as to the state." The woman smiled. "It is a good start."

"Indeed," Claire agreed as she set the pen down.

Eleanor picked up her own and began writing immediately. "And as for Miss Valestine herself, I suppose the only other thing to note is that she has been an active recruiter for the gendarmerie since she became an officer in their ranks. In fact she was one of the speakers at the last graduation ceremony."

"Oh," Claire said. "My apologies again for having to cancel so suddenly like that."

"Not at all dear," Eleanor assured her. "You were not the only one whom suddenly found their schedules disrupted by the rising tensions that presaged the outbreak of war." The colonel withdrew her pen, twirling it in her hand as she waited for Claire. "I have actually been considering asking Sarah if she might be interested in teaching some of the self-defense courses here. The gendarmerie have developed quite a few techniques targeted at taking down opponents nonlethally. An awareness of them would at the very least expose to the students the fact that alternatives exist."

That Claire agreed with, though she made no remark as she wrote. Her attention was now almost completely on this background conversation. Eleanor however raised an eyebrow, tapping the end of her pen on the paper but not immediately writing her response. Claire grimaced slightly. Indeed, images did need to be maintained for the bugs planted in this office.

"Do you believe she would accept such an appointment?"

"Perhaps," Eleanor said as she began writing again. "Otherwise I would not have considered it."

"Well, I suppose that says something about her character as well," Claire said. She pursed her lips. "Would you happen to have her personal contact information?"

"In fact I do," Eleanor said, taking out a well-worn notebook and flipping through it. "Ah, here it is." And on an entirely different piece of paper jotted down a number, the scratching of her pen covering the sound of Claire's. "Here you go dear."

"Thank you ma'am," Claire said.

"You are very welcome," Eleanor said with a wide smile even as her pen was silently drawn across Claire's notebook in one smooth continuous motion.

The younger woman's eyes narrowed as she looked at the name. The implications, she quickly cut herself off there. Best not to lose herself to speculation right now.

"Well, this has all been very helpful, colonel," she said with a smile. "Thank you very much for your time."

"It was my pleasure Claire," Eleanor responded with one of her own. "Do drop by when you can, it is always a joy to see my former students."

"I find that even after so long I still learn much from you, ma'am," Claire said as she rose. "In that I will always remain your student."

The captain clicked her heels together once more before taking her leave, her mind already racing with all that had been revealed to her this day. Despite being an officially inactive colonel of the military intelligence branch of the Ordo Xenos, Eleanor remained privy to a great many secrets, including details of the many odd occurrences that had taken place in Area 11 over the past year. Had Claire attempted to obtain this information through official channels she likely would have needed to wait weeks, assuming access was actually approved. There was a fair deal of tension between the upper echelons of Hereticus and Xenos despite both organizations officially belonging to the singular entity known as the Inquisitio.

As a consequence successful Inquisitio field operatives tended to establish networks of their own with counterparts in the other Ordo, where more informal means of information exchange could be done. There was a risk to this of course, if one was caught sharing information outside the Ordo the sanctions could be very hefty, but then again one did not rise to the rank of interrogator, much less inquisitor, like one Eleanor Varrot, by being afraid of risk. And Claire liked to think that she was doing her old teacher proud, even if she had chosen a slightly different career path in serving the Empire.

The relationship the two maintained even so was proving to be fruitful once more, not least because of the additional tidbits about what the Knight of Twelve had been up to in Area 11. Monica was obviously not telling Claire everything that she might know about the SDECE's involvement in the Tokyo Uprising, including the not so minor detail of the names of the SDECE operatives that incited the Japanese Liberation Front into launching their attack. André Devigny was one that Claire knew already, as was Charlotte Dunois. The third and most elusive of the three however, that was the one that no one seemed to be able to produce a name for, officially at least. Unofficially word had flowed through the network of contacts Eleanor was part of, producing the name of Lelouch Lamperouge. Lelouch, the same name shared by the deceased son of the fallen Empress Marianne. Lamperouge, the empress' maiden name before she wed the Emperor Charles.

There was much for Claire to ponder, much to consider. Including just to what extent the events of the last few months were simply an extension of the politics of the court, and how much of a role that the Knight of Twelve herself may play in said politics. And how genuine her desire to bring to justice those responsible for the terror attacks actually was.

"Claire!"

The call and the sound of barking interrupted the woman's thoughts as she looked over to see Millium running over with two dogs in tow. She smiled at the sight. Today's visit was not entirely for pleasure, but the same could be said about business.

* * *

The cane that sounded against the marble floor seemed to carry with it the anger of its holder. The aides that trailed after the man tried to avoid drawing his attention, while the officer immediately at his side treated the situation a bit more laconically.

"Well, that could have gone better."

Alphonse snorted. "You don't say."

Erwin cracked a wry smile. "I suppose it was optimistic of us to think that the Council would somehow become a nimble and proactive decision making body instead of its usual stodgy and cover your ass self just because of something so minor as a war."

The marshal snorted again. "War. Sitting in a council meeting you would not even think that one was raging outside these halls."

Technically Paris remained quite untouched by the war that was now under way, but both men knew exactly what Alphonse meant.

"I suppose the question is what now," Erwin said as they made their way towards the exit.

"What now indeed," Alphonse echoed. "I could almost wish we were not on the brink of victory in the Middle East, the increased risk might have added just the urgency needed to hurry along full mobilization. The fools think that just because Britannia's forces have been pushed back all the way to Doha that they are no longer a threat, forgetting that our own forces are over a thousand kilometers from our borders in Turkey, and that we need to truck every ounce of supplies to them over land. Pah!"

A few heads turned at the outburst but Alphonse ignored them as he strode through the main atrium.

"I am going to have to have a word with Charles and get him to stiffen Robert's spine, the EU is at war and unless we commit ourselves wholesale to it we risk losing everything."

"Herr Marjorlin seemed supportive of your position in today's council session," Erwin said carefully.

"Perhaps so," Alphonse said, "but Robert's expertise is in economics, and he's viewing the war with Britannia too much as a purely economic affair. He and the rest of the council thinks that they can win this war cheaply, without substantially straining the domestic economies. In fact they're probably in outright denial that we might be fighting an extended conflict with Britannia, which you and I both know is stupid."

It was probably a good thing the two of them were now outside as the wider spaces made it all the less likely that someone would overhear the marshal's rantings. Not that Erwin disagreed in the least with his friend.

"The call up of reserves is still proceeding," the German said diplomatically. "By the end of the month we should have another twenty-five divisions ready to deploy, on top of the thirty that have already been called up."

"Which will in theory allow us to match the numbers the Empire itself has managed to muster, yes," Alphonse said as the two slowly walked down the steps. "And we are fighting on fewer fronts than the Empire, I know. But once we have gone through the reserves, will we have further manpower to call upon? On paper we may have twenty million soldiers, Erwin, but you and I both know that that is just on paper. Over half of them were reservists that we're still in the process of properly mobilizing, assuming we can actually call upon them without massive disruption to the industries they work in. And of the combat ready units." The Frenchman stopped before their car and regarded his companion. "How many of those are stuck here in Europe or in Africa babysitting areas of 'strategic' importance instead of being sent to help finish off the Britannian forces in the Middle East?"

Erwin's lips thinned. "Too many."

"Damn right."

The marshal climbed into the car and Erwin was right behind him. Once the door slammed shut Alphonse gave his friend an appreciative look.

"I suppose I should not be taking my frustration out on you, old friend, but the situation is extremely trying."

"It is a frustration I fully understand and share," Erwin said. "The politicians want the Middle East campaign won, now, and they think it can be won on the cheap. They are also deluding themselves into thinking the Empire will not commit the totality of forces necessarily to actually invade Europe." The German shook his head. "Sometimes I think the democracy that we enjoy has made our politicians far more susceptible to self-delusions."

"They believe themselves in the right because they won an election, you mean?" Alphonse snorted, resting his head against the back of his seat. "There could be something to that. Nevertheless the oaths we swore were to our respective republics and the ideals they embody. We cannot simply break them when it becomes inconvenient."

"Perish the thought," Erwin said with a thin smile. "It should be perfectly possible to fulfill our duties to our respective nations while still upholding our oaths. We just might need to be a little, creative."

Alphonse looked back up at his friend, waiting for the man to elucidate.

"I think that we are both agreed that one of the major problems is that the European Union as an institution is not committed enough to the prosecution of the war against Britannia. The lack of commitment can be directly traced to the fact that those member nations that did not want the war are basically dragging their feet in all the matters related to it. This is causing deadlock within both the executive council and parliament. On the other hand, we do not necessarily need the complete cooperation of these nations to effectively prosecute the war, just that they not get in our way. And what better way to do that than to bypass the institutions that require their cooperation to employ?"

Alphonse frowned. "You are suggesting reverting to the national command structures instead of the European wide institutions."

"Exactly."

The Frenchman's mustache twitched. "And which national governments do you believe would sign on with this, maneuver?"

"I've spoken with the chancellor, and his frustration with the lack of support for our forces in the Middle East is palpable," Erwin said. "I've also talked with Pytor, and the Russian government feels much the same. They're especially determined to not let the losses they've suffered in the far east go to waste, and I'm pretty sure they'd be conducting independent operations over there even without coordination with other likeminded countries."

"And what of Richard?"

To that Erwin pursed his lips. "Richard understands that we cannot conduct a proper war with the limitations we currently suffer from. He also recognizes that his own government is at least partially responsible for those limitations, what with the British public's general ambivalence about fighting their Britannian cousins. He is however as bound to his oath to his country as we are to ours, to do our best for their sakes."

"So in all likelihood if we pursue this course of action, Richard would almost certainly be forced out," Alphonse said somewhat unhappily.

"That is unfortunately correct," Erwin said, not sounding any happier.

The marshal took a deep breath. "Voting for war in the executive council is one thing, circumventing the EU in order to prosecute it is another. Whom else can we count on?"

"The Austrians are with us," Erwin said. "The Spanish, conditionally so, provided France, Germany, and Russia fully commit. I think the Italians can also be convinced, with the right cajoling. The Portuguese will almost certainly try to lodge some sort of objection, especially considering their special relationship with the British. Hungary too, if only because the Austrians are with us. I'm not really sure which way the Poles will swing, and Belgium and the Netherlands won't like anything that undercuts the EU, since it allows them to punch above their weight in European affairs." The man shrugged. "As for the rest, they are mostly inconsequential."

The people of those other nations would probably disagree with that statement, but the gist was clear enough.

"We could do it," Alphonse said. "In doing so we may significantly undermine the European Union, but we could do it."

Erwin regarded his friend, waiting for the man to decide, knowing they could, whether they should. After a few moments of silence Alphonse tapped his cane on the ground.

"Our oaths were to serve our nations to the best of our abilities. To the _very_ best of our abilities. And that is exactly what we shall do."

* * *

"Report."

Zechs turned about and watched as Cornelia entered the situation room.

"It is much as we expected, your highness," he said. "Chinese forces have landed in force on Sumatra. We estimate at least five divisions on the ground now, with another ten waiting to be transported over." The field marshal grimaced. "The forces we still have left on the island won't be able to even slow them down."

"That is not what they were left there for," Cornelia said. "We should therefore not delude ourselves into thinking they can."

"Indeed," the man agreed, turning back to look at the situation map. "Fifth Fleet has a taskforce in the area and they can try to apply some pressure against the Chinese forces, but with how narrow the Strait of Malacca is, they will need to keep some distance to avoid getting pinned themselves."

Cornelia stroked her chin. The situation in the Indonesian Archipelago was tenuous, though not quite desperate yet. Up further north the Chinese Federation's campaign in Area 12 was floundering thanks to the massive pressure Seventh Fleet was putting on the Chinese navy and the reinforced Britannian troops on Luzon Island were grinding down the Chinese forces effectively stranded there. If the Chinese were expecting their sudden advance from the Malay Peninsula to force the Empire to divert forces and reduce the strain on their Philippines expedition, they would be sorely disappointed however.

The revised strategy the general staff had drafted upon learning of the Indian insurgency effectively sought to trade space for time. The staff was fairly confident that the standing forces on Luzon were sufficient to defeat in detail its Chinese opposition, so long as there were no diversions of those forces to other theaters. As such the Empire was prepared to concede significant ground on Sumatra, or even the island outright, to have the time necessary to decisively crush the Chinese forces in Area 12, after which Seventh Fleet should be able to prevent any further landing attempts for at least the near term.

Once their northern flank was secure, Britannia could then divert a much larger contingent of forces to Sumatra to engage the Chinese forces there. That campaign promised to be significantly harder fought if the Chinese were able to maintain control of the Strait of Malacca and feed supplies across from Singapore. Of course the entire point of the Empire's cooperation with the Indian insurgency was to make that just a tad difficult.

From all indications the Indians would be able to make their timetable, and in a few short weeks the Empire would be opening up a new front by landing forces in Mumbai. Whether that would provoke the Chinese into diverting forces to try to put down the Britannian supported uprising was still an uncertainty, but there were factors at play that suggested they would. While the Chinese could pursue a similar strategy as the Britannians had employed, trading space in an attempt to crush Britannian forces in Sumatra before pulling any troops back to fight the Indians, the strategic considerations were not quite the same. The loss of Sumatra would have inconvenienced the Empire, but it would not have been especially damaging. For the Chinese Federation to lose ground in India could result in its entire southwest border becoming exposed, not to mention the avenues of attack on Indochina that would be opened up.

Cornelia snorted. The strain the Empire was currently under trying to keep its troops provisioned was immense, yet indications were their enemies were under even greater strain despite fighting with considerably shorter lines of communications. That suggested if the Empire was able to push just a bit harder some of their fronts might collapse outright.

"Middle of November," Cornelia said aloud. "By then the first wave of recruits will have been formed up into new divisions. It'll still take time to get them overseas, but if we can, we can tip the balance decisively in several places."

Zechs nodded. "Indeed. The question is if our enemies will give us that time."

Cornelia regarded the map projected on the main display. "The Chinese are pressing hard, but they are still more or less bottled up. Their navy simply is not strong enough to support additional landing operations. The Europeans though, their mobilization has been much slower than we anticipated. Or at least they have not been deploying as many forces as they should be able to."

"There is that," Zechs agreed. "We're still not entirely clear what is going on there, your highness, but it is entirely possible the Europeans were only intending to pursue a limited campaign, to eject Britannia out of Area 18 and stop there. Olaf has been putting up a ferocious fight however, and if they are running into stiffer resistance than they were expecting, they might have already burned through whatever stockpile of munitions and supplies they had prepared and so cannot press any further at the moment."

"Were I the European commander-in-chief, I would be working to make damn sure Britannia was not aware of this," Cornelia said, "as well as trying to remedy the situation as quickly as possible." The princess clasped her hands behind her back. "Though I do wonder-"

"Excuse me your highness, your grace," a junior officer said, "but we've received an update from Fifth Fleet Taskforce 33, forwarded to us by Fifth Fleet Command."

The two much more senior officers turned about.

"Deliver it," Cornelia ordered.

"Yes your highness," the officer said, holding up the document as he began reading. "From CTF Thirty-Three commander to Fifth Fleet CINC. Chinese fleet plus troop transports sighted sailing south, southeast. Detached destroyer to trail. Will keep apprised."

For several moments Cornelia and Zechs simply stared at the officer after he finished reading. Then the princess blinked several times before finally responding.

"Dismissed, lieutenant."

The officer clicked his heels and returned to his other duties. Cornelia then turned to her field marshal.

"Southeast? Are they intending to force a second landing on Sumatra? Or perhaps Java?"

Zechs' frown mirrored that on Cornelia's own face. "This, seems a strange move on the part of the Chinese, your highness. Our forces are heavily dug in on Java, and a second landing on Sumatra seems extraneous." He looked at the map. "Unless?"

Cornelia followed his gaze and raised an eyebrow. "You must be joking."

"We shall have to see," Zechs said. "Though if the Chinese commander is insane enough to make the attempt, I wish him the best of luck."

As Cornelia regarded the map she found that she could not disagree with Zechs. After all, there was a reason that the only garrison in the entire region was around the city of Perth. Which was home to a little base called Campbell Barracks. Cornelia sighed heavily.

"Gods above and below, are we fighting bloody idiots?"

"I suppose we will have to wait and see," Zechs said, his mustache twitching ever so slightly at his barely suppressed smirk. "I'll notify the garrison, we'll probably need search and rescue teams on standby. If your highness feels we should, extend, such courtesy to our enemies."

As tempted as Cornelia was to just let nature take its course she was enough of a soldier to feel some sympathy for the rank and file that found itself under the command of imbeciles.

"Do it," she ordered. "And who knows, maybe that'll encourage a few more parts of the Federation to break off, if they think they can cut a better deal with us."

"By your command, your highness."

* * *

Claire sighed as she enjoyed the cup of hot chocolate. Most Britannians were more partial to tea, and there was a surprisingly large number that were brave enough to openly subscribe to coffee over tea. For Claire however the drink that would always have a place in her heart was hot chocolate. And what better way to top off a delicious dinner than a cup of her favorite drink.

Due to how busy she tended to be Claire rarely found time to cook for herself. And considering how little practice she got, her efforts usually left much to be desired. Fortunately with her pay as a captain within the Inquisitio she could afford to eat out quite a bit, and shortly after settling down in her posting she found this nice little diner tucked away in one of Pendragon's quieter neighborhoods. The atmosphere was nice and peaceful and the food had a homely flavor to it that Claire found almost comforting. And then there was the hot chocolate. She took another sip. Absolutely heavenly.

"Excuse me miss," a voice interrupted Claire's mellow mood.

She looked up to see a young man dressed in a waiter's outfit smiling at her, holding a plate with a cake on it.

"Compliments of the owner," he said.

Claire blinked. "Why, thank you, that is very kind of Mr. Heming."

"He said you seemed wearied, miss, and hoped that a nice dessert might restore some of your cheer."

Claire chuckled. "Please let him know I appreciate the thought, umm?"

The man bowed slightly. "Julius Kingsley. I just started working here, miss."

"Julius. I am Claire Rieveldt. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Julius flashed a most charming smile. "The pleasure is all mine, Miss Rieveldt. I hope you will grace us with your patronage again soon."

That elicited a more amused chuckle. "Oh, you can probably count on that." Claire picked up the fork laid across the plate. "Thank you once again Julius. And Claire is just fine."

"My pleasure, Claire," Julius said, flashing her another smile before withdrawing.

For some reason Claire found herself continuing to regard the young man as he moved to attend another customer. The woman shook herself after a brief moment. What could she possibly be thinking? Julius was obviously high school, at most university age. He was probably just a student working part-time to earn a bit of cash. Well, good on him, that indicated at least some degree of initiative. And his mannerism was quite courteous. He would likely go far. Claire bit into the cake and savored its slightly bitter flavor. Dark chocolate was still not much of a thing in the Empire, but there were its adherents. And as a connoisseur of such delicacies, Claire knew quality when she tasted it. Yes indeed, this little diner was quite the gem, a safe spot where she could retreat from the complexities of the world and the Inquisitio. She hoped that would never change.

* * *

As he watched Claire leave Lelouch let out a sigh. Finding this place had taken a significant amount of time and effort and only now were they moving onto the stage where he could attempt to get close to her to employ his geass. Their first meeting had gone well, the Hereticus operative not seeming to realize the subtle order to visit again instilled into her mind. A few more sessions and she would be completely under his sway without even realizing it.

"I am taking my leave," Lelouch announced to the diner owner.

The man simply nodded, accepting of any statement or order from Lelouch without batting an eye. The young man changed out of the waiter outfit into something less conspicuous and made his way out through a backdoor. Waiting for him a few blocks away in a borrowed safe house was Charlotte and Reiner. When he entered the two had their hands resting on their weapons but upon seeing him they relaxed.

"Welcome back boss," Reiner said. "Everything went good?"

"I made contact with the target," Lelouch said. "I expect she'll be back tomorrow evening as well, so long as there are no incidents that require her presence."

"That mean the Swords will have to hold off on any more bombings?"

Lelouch nodded. "For at least the next week, though they will likely need to launch something soon after so as to not rouse further suspicion."

"Because terrorists that don't commit acts of terror are so suspicious," Charlotte said dryly.

Lelouch gave his lover an apologetic smile. The targets of the bombings might have all been cretins, but that did not mean innocents were not caught up in the attacks. And despite her chosen vocation, Charlotte had a gentle and caring heart that hated to see such people hurt.

"Alright, so what are we gonna do for the rest of the night?" Reiner said, shifting the topic. "Crash here, or head back?"

"It would probably be better to remain here for now," Lelouch said, settling into one of the vacant seats. "Have there been any updates that I should be aware of?"

"Well," Reiner drawled. "It seems the Chinese have decided to commit suicide by stupidity."

Lelouch cocked his head aside quizzically.

"They've landed forces north of Perth, Australia," the other man explained.

"You jest," Lelouch blurted out.

"Nope," Reiner said, shaking his head. "Swear to God."

Lelouch looked over at Charlotte as if still unable to believe the news. The young woman nodded.

"The BBC just announced it, which means the information is already out of date. In fact they were reporting that Chinese attempts to advance on the city were repulsed, and that they're sort of, wandering around, the outback."

"Was the Chinese commander a complete imbecile?" Lelouch said.

Charlotte shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe they thought Perth's small garrison wouldn't be able to stand up to the forces they landed."

"Small-did they at all think about why the garrison is small?" Lelouch said incredulously. "Christ, how badly were the Chinese mauled?"

"The report didn't give any hard numbers," Charlotte said, "though we can probably get them eventually."

Lelouch shook his head. "Alright, is there any _good_ news?"

"Well, the Chinese do seem to have managed to solidify their control of Sumatra," Reiner said. "That's going to make things a tad more difficult for the Britannian forces in the Middle East if nothing else."

Lelouch grunted. "Assuming the EU can actually commit the forces to finish them off. They should have overwhelmed the Empire's forces there months ago."

"I'm sure the marshal is doing the best he can," Charlotte said.

Lelouch sighed. "What of our own operations?"

"Intelligence gathering is proceeding as planned," Reiner said. "Fie and Laura have finished scouting the gendarmerie barracks, they estimate at least a battalion's worth of gendarmes. They'll be poking around Fenrir Regiment's base next."

"Tell them to be careful," Lelouch said. "The forces that serve the Knights of the Round are rightfully considered some of the best in the Empire."

"They know," Reiner assured him. "Annie and Bertolt too. They've been poking around the imperial palace itself, went on a couple of tours of the place. Damn place is huge. They've made some rough sketches of the rooms they've been in, but that's only going to be a fraction of the palace."

"Hopefully once I've compromised our Hereticus operative she might be able to provide us with proper schematics of the palace."

"That would be nice," Reiner said. "Anyway, Crow did mention that next time we report in he'd have a little surprise for us. Something about a solution to how badly we're outnumbered and outgunned."

"That would be quite the trick," Lelouch said before a yawn overtook him. "Well, I suppose that will have to wait until we have completed our part here."

Charlotte rose and came over to Lelouch's side. "Let's get you to bed, it's been a long day."

The young man allowed his lover to take his arm as he stood. "That it has."

"Just don't end up making it an even longer night," Reiner said with a smirk.

Charlotte stuck her tongue out at the youth while Lelouch simply chuckled.

"We'll see you tomorrow Reiner," he said.

"Night you two."

End of Chapter 68

The party at the end of the previous chapter could have gone on for quite a bit longer text wise. While they were not mentioned, Nina, Mikasa, and Estelle were also guests, and I likely could have written another thousand lines or so with their interactions. Something I might do if I ever go through this story like I'm doing with _In Tune_ to produce a definitive version.

I don't recall if I've mentioned this before, but in my version of the Code Geass universe Charles does not have 88 wives. That is an absolutely absurd number, and it is a number that is derived from Asian culture, not European. Historically Chinese emperors have had 88 concubines, because the number 8 has been treated as lucky. There is no cultural reason for a dynasty that originated from Europe to follow the convention, and there sure as hell would be a lot of economic (supporting spouses and children is expensive) and political reasons to not go that overboard with lovers.

Still, Charles has had many lovers, both official ones and unofficial ones. On the safe side one can presume that he has had about six or seven officially recognized concubines or wives, and a lot more lovers who never received official acknowledgment. As for the number of children, one can safely presume twenty or so officially recognized heirs in the line of succession, and probably at least double that in terms of illegitimate children. Only the officially recognized ones receive official support from the crown, though presumably Charles has seen to it that those he still favored but did not recognize officially at least were given a small modicum of money to see to their education or were placed with trusted families to see that they were raised well. Just another divergence from canon that I thought should be brought up.

One generally is never ever fully prepared for war. There is always more preparation that could be done. The decision of the Europeans and Chinese to kick off the war when they did is ultimately a large combination of factors. Lelouch certainly played his part, manipulating a few key figures to act as war hawks in the EU leadership. There was also however the larger strategic picture. With the conquest of the Middle East the Empire was basically at Europe's doorstep, and if given time to consolidate could have turned Area 18 into a massive staging ground for one final push to topple the EU. The Chinese were already sweating very badly from the fact that Britannia was basically completely encircling its eastern and southern approaches. The leadership (or at least some of them) of both powers pretty much thought, this is a do or die moment. Either they fight back and try to wrest control of some of Britannia's overseas territories from it, or slowly wither away as the Empire basically strangles them.

While the Europeans and Chinese could have been more prepared for the war, that is not to say they were completely unprepared. The political and social conditions within them however made preparations more difficult than it could have been. A good half of the European nations did not actually want war with the Empire, a lot of them feared they would be defeated, or that even if they won their economies would be badly wrecked. And the Chinese Federation is not quite as, united, as it really needs to be to effectively take on Britannia.

Also one needs to keep in mind the strategic objectives of the respective factions. Neither the Europeans nor the Chinese believe that they could actually outright defeat Britannia militarily. What they want is to force Britannia back, to wrest control of the overseas territories that allow it to strategically threaten them. If they achieved this, the political leaderships would be willing to try for a negotiated end to the war with the Empire. Whether Britannia would be willing to play along is another matter entirely however, and as was evident in the last chapter the Empire is prepared to commit the totality of its resources to outright defeat at least the Europeans. There's, a lot of bad blood, let's just say, between the EU and the Empire. Or more specifically between France and Britannia.

Ultimately at least some of the European nations (or at least their political leaders) are participating in the war in the belief that it will be brief and the Empire can be made to negotiate a settlement, without the need to engage in total war. Whether the Chinese government, or whichever faction is most prominent right now, is also seeking such limited aims, is something that will be explored in future chapters. Conflicts however have a tendency to spiral beyond the control of those that start them. See WWI. And WWII. So whatever the aim of the Europeans and the Chinese, they might find that the limited scope war they were hoping for may turn out to be something else entirely.

While I did borrow Alice from Nightmare of Nunnally, she's just a regular girl in my story. If she had a geass Kallen would have noticed immediately during one of her periodic sweeps of the school grounds with her own geass. Which should also indicate to all of you that Sharon does not possess a geass either.

There are a couple of things to note about the comparison between Lelouch and Euphemia. The comparison itself is in a history book, which implies that knowledge about Lelouch Lamperouge (but not Lelouch vi Britannia) is at that point in time public knowledge. Note however that none of you have any idea when the histories the snippets are coming from were written. It could be a decade afterwards, or a century for all any of you know. At the point in time in the story itself, knowledge about Lelouch is most definitely not public, and the only ones that know about him, either as the SDECE operative Lelouch Lamperouge or as the renegade Prince Lelouch, have no reason to go blabbing about it to the public. So, no, ultimately there is no reason to believe that the public will be making comparisons to Euphemia and Lelouch anytime soon.

I'm not sure what I'm expected to say about Jerusalem? As far as the Empire is concerned it's just another city that they conquered in the Middle East and incorporated into Area 18. Right now the Europeans are holding it after having pushed the Empire back to the Persian Gulf, but presumably if the Empire manages to retake the offensive they'll reconquer it. It's not as if there are any actual states left in the Middle East that could stop the Empire if they manage to boot out the Europeans, and it's not as if anything the civilian population could do would make a difference against a modern military force.

Seeing as I personally enjoy doing world building, economics, and the like in my writing, as well as doing actual character development, expect to see more chapters like the previous one, not less. And there will be a lot of politics in later chapters that details Euphemia's consolidation of power after she takes the throne.

A word regarding what type of story this is. This is not a fic intended to serve as validation for readers' preferred interpretations of existing characters or pairings. It is not intended as a fix fic to offer a more comforting ending for the various characters in the Code Geass universe (make of that statement what you will). And it is definitely not intended to be approachable in the same manner as the Code Geass anime. I would suggest readers that need any of the above in order to feel satisfaction or enjoyment in a story to consider very carefully whether it is worth your while to continue reading this story, as I will not be delivering any of the above and any requests that I alter the story to do so will not be acted upon.


	70. Chapter 69

_The origins of the European Union can be traced back to the War of 1914, the last major conflict between the European powers. While at the time the nations engaged were a mixture of liberal democracies and authoritarian monarchies, it is generally agreed that the war represented the final death-kneel for European nobility. By the end of the war the remaining monarchies in Austria, Germany, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia had all collapsed and were replaced by nascent democracies. In a show of surprising tolerance the victors of the conflict did not seek punitive terms from the defeated, instead inviting them into a pan-European framework of economic and political cooperation. The result was a rapid recovery from the war and ever greater economic integration that led towards greater political integration._

 _By the time of the Great War the European Union was a fully established institution, though it was starting to run up against the limits with which its constituent parts were willing to cede authority. Rising nationalism and resentment by what some parties regarded as overreach on the part of the EU administration threatened a rupture of some sort and differences between the various member states started coming to a head as the war commenced. The economic situation was also more tenuous than desirable, in part because of the Holy Britannian Empire's continued annexation of territory. The loss of Japan and the Middle East as reliable supplies of sakuradite and oil was especially painful, and the EU's inability or seeming unwillingness to prevent the Empire's victories was a cause of much frustration._

 _As the war dragged on the problems with the EU's structure became more and more evident as the differing priorities of the member nations severely hampered the Union's ability to adopt, much less execute, a coherent strategy. The impasse this created was not lost upon the military, which quickly resorted to bypassing EU institutions and organs and forging lines of cooperation between nations directly. The creation of a multinational military hierarchy separate from the combined EU command greatly alarmed the Union's bureaucrats and politicians, but attempts to rein in these officers ultimately proved futile when their respective national governments refused to allow their dismissal. The consequences of these events would be felt long after the conclusion of the Great War._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 69

In nomine Domini

"They did what?"

Jeremiah cleared his throat. "The Chinese managed to land a single division north of Perth before the naval detachment stationed at the city was able to force them to pull back further north, your highness."

Euphemia stared at the general. "Perth."

"Yes, your highness."

"As in, Perth, Western Australia."

"Yes, your highness."

"Isn't that where Campbell Barracks is located?"

Jeremiah blinked, somewhat surprised the princess knew about the place. Then again her older sister was Marshal of the Empire.

"Yes, your highness," he said once more.

Euphemia let out an exasperated sigh. "I presume the Chinese forces were repulsed?"

"Umm, yes your highness," Jeremiah answered. "Three of their companies were badly mauled by our forces before they withdrew. The last report indicated they were attempting to maneuver around to approach the city from the west."

"Isn't there a large forest to the west of the city?"

"Yes, your highness." The margrave was growing more and more impressed with the princess' seeming encyclopedic knowledge. "We theorize that they are seeking to use the forest as cover against our air support, but at present they seem to be having some difficulty navigating it. Further out west is mostly farmland, at least for another hundred or so miles. After that though you hit the outback, and presumably the Chinese forces are not that insane to try to cross that."

"One would hope," Euphemia said, shaking her head. "Then again they apparently seemed to think trying to invade Australia was a good idea to begin with."

The margrave smiled dryly at that. Much of the military had been thinking the very same thing.

"Moving on," the princess said. "You also had an update for me on the status of the buildup in Japan?"

"Yes your highness," Jeremiah said, straightening slightly. "The first wave of recruits are being constituted into formal units now, and we have enough manpower locally to form three new regiments of infantry. Indications are they will be supplemented with specialist units currently training up in the homeland to form a division."

Euphemia nodded. "And other units?"

"The second wave is scheduled for arrival at the end of November," Jeremiah answered. "Japan has been allocated five divisions as reinforcements and the expectation is that they will be stationed in Hokkaido and western Honshu. Those divisions are still intended to serve as deterrents to any further landing attempts by the Chinese or Russians however. Only with the third wave of recruits will we start receiving forces intended for our own landing attempts. That should start happening mid-January."

"January," the princess said thoughtfully. "Will the military have had enough time to assemble temporary housing by then, or should my administration take a more proactive role in that matter?"

"The engineering corps is making progress, but my understanding is that they are facing some manpower constraints," Jeremiah said. "General Darlton is preparing a request for labourers and should be forwarding you some hard numbers tomorrow."

"Very well, I shall see what can be done."

"And that is about it, your highness," Jeremiah said. "The matters of lesser importance are in the report I brought with me."

"Thank you for taking the time, margrave," Euphemia said with a smile.

"It was no trouble, your highness," Jeremiah said, bowing his head before rising.

"Do enjoy the rest of your evening, margrave," the princess said.

The statement caught Jeremiah off guard and the man momentarily froze. Euphemia continued smiling at the man serenely. After a few moments Jeremiah returned it.

"Thank you, your highness."

Over the past year Jeremiah had come to learn much about the Princess Euphemia. She was demanding, exacting, but she could also be kind and warm to those she held worthy of her trust. And she had a mischievous sense of humor that only showed itself to those that she considered part of her inner circle. To have her tease him so, it was a mark of how far he had come in her eyes. Having failed so many times in the service of the imperial family, it brought Jeremiah a not insignificant amount of comfort.

It was with a noticeable spring in his step that the margrave left Euphemia's office and headed towards his next appointment. The sun was already setting outside and quite a few people had already left for the day. Others however basically resided at the palace due to their duties, which considering the palatial rooms and dedicated staff was far from any great hardship. In fact for certain individuals the comfort was almost excessive.

Jeremiah knocked on the assigned room of one such individual.

"Enter," Villetta's voice sounded.

The margrave pushed open the door and smiled at the sight. When they first met he had known immediately that Villetta was a remarkable woman. Steadfast, loyal, and perhaps most importantly capable of initiative, there was no doubt in Jeremiah's mind that she would go far. And now here she was, brigadier-general and captain of the royal guard of an imperial scion. Envy was an unbecoming flaw, but in this instance Jeremiah felt no shame in admitting it. Yet that envy did not diminish in the least his joy at seeing his former subordinate rise to such heights.

"Ah, your meeting with her highness has concluded?" Villetta said, turning away from the window.

"That it has," Jeremiah said. "Her highness' reaction to the news about the Chinese Federation's incursion into Australia was surprisingly, exasperated?"

Villetta chuckled as she made her way to the small dining area with Jeremiah. "One must not forget just whom is the princess' elder sister. Her highness is probably quite familiar with the military's various assets."

"That is certainly true," the margrave said. "Her highness also, had comment regarding my evening plans."

That elicited a slight sigh from Villetta. "The princess at times seems determined to remind all that she is still a teenage girl."

"No bad thing for her to do so," Jeremiah remarked as he took a seat. "With how much she pushes herself, the princess could do with some time to simply enjoy herself."

"Agreed," Villetta said as she sat opposite of Jeremiah. "Fortunately there are many people around her highness that think the same, and as loathe as I am to admit it, the Lady Stadtfeld is one of them."

Jeremiah raised an eyebrow. The knighting of Kallen Stadtfeld, the self-admitted Red Knight, had come as a major shock to him. At first he could not understand just why the princess would trust a known insurgent with her life, but when not even the Princess Cornelia protested the appointment, as far as he knew that is, Jeremiah had refrained from making known his own reservations. Even as the months passed and Kallen seemingly stayed true to her oath, Jeremiah could not quite shake off the suspicion that the woman was simply biding her time. For what, he could not say, but he had made it known to Villetta that should the day ever come when the need arose to remove Kallen she would have his full support. Thus far however that need had not arisen.

"Apparently she helped the Lady Ashford organize a surprise birthday party for her highness," Villetta explained. "A belated one, seeing as the princess was actually on tour in western Japan on the date of her actual birthday."

"I see," Jeremiah said guardedly.

The way in which Villetta's lips quirked upward made clear the woman heard the reservation in his voice.

"Well, I am sure you did not come here tonight to listen to me fuss over my duties," Villetta said, removing the cover over the dishes.

"Perhaps not," Jeremiah said with a smile of his own, "but fine company can make up for a multitude of things."

Villetta made a most unladylike snort. "Flatterer." She uncorked the bottle of wine and poured into both their glasses. "But enough about work, her highness is not the only one that could use some downtime. How has your sister been?" The woman hefted the bottle. "She certainly seems to be sending you quite a few bottles."

"That she has," Jeremiah said as he fiddled with the wineglass. "Elizabeth has been quite, enthusiastic, since I told her about you."

Villetta chuckled as she began cutting into her steak. "Oh, are we that far along, my lord?"

"Certainly enough that such formalities are unnecessary," Jeremiah said with a sly smile, "Villetta."

The smile that answered the margrave was equally playful. "If you say so, Jeremiah."

The two shared a mutual chuckle before digging into their meals.

"I see the palace staff truly do deserve their reputation," the margrave remarked after taking a bite. "Being able to dine like this every day certainly has to be one of the larger perks of being assigned to the palace."

"It certainly is a plus," Villetta agreed as she took a sip of her wine. "Though there is the risk that if one becomes too used to such food, all other food will be effectively ruined."

"Well, I suppose I could attempt to hire away one of the palace chefs," Jeremiah said.

To that Villetta let out a bright laugh. "Considering several of them arrived from the homeland with her highness, that might be a tad difficult."

"Really?" Jeremiah regarded his plate. "Well, that does put things under a different light."

"Oh I'm sure your own family chefs are perfectly capable of producing fare of similar quality," Villetta said. "Perhaps you could invite one of them once the time comes for you to establish a proper estate?"

"Assuming Elizabeth would be willing to part with them," Jeremiah said with a wry smile. "She has a fine eye for the culinary arts. Though perhaps I could convince her to handle the hiring for any servants that would be needed."

"Hmm, yes," Villetta said thoughtfully. "In all my effort to obtain a noble title, I never did think too much about all the effort that goes into actually maintaining it."

"It can indeed be a time consuming affair," Jeremiah said, "especially for the nobles of higher precedence. They must manage not only their estate but the districts associated with their titles."

"Is that not the case for your own family?" Villetta asked.

"It is," Jeremiah said after taking another sip of wine. "My family is responsible for the North Sacramento Valley in the province of California, and we have been heavily involved in the agricultural field for generations. It has however long been tradition that the eldest son of the family serves a tour of duty in the military, as a reminder of how my family earned stewardship of the land originally."

"If I recall correctly, your family was rewarded with a noble title and patent for its service during the conquest of New Spain."

Jeremiah nodded. "My ancestor served as an officer in the Britannian Army when they advanced into California."

"Well, I would say you have done your heritage proud, Jeremiah," Villetta said with an assuring smile.

"I would like to think so," the margrave said, his own smile less certain. "And yet, looking back upon my career, I find many a black marks. From the murder of Empress Marianne, to the fall of Prince Clovis. All under my watch. Have I truly lived up to my family's legacy?"

As Jeremiah reached for his wineglass again a hand met him as he gripped it. The margrave blinked and regarded Villetta.

"You will have only failed that legacy if you give up, my lord," Villetta said firmly. "And I do not see you ever doing so."

Jeremiah held Villetta's gaze for several moments before smiling, this time a bit more serenely.

"I believe we decided to dispense with the formalities this evening, Villetta."

Villetta smiled back at him. "As you wish, Jeremiah."

* * *

"We meet again, Claire."

The woman looked up and smiled wirily. "Shouldn't you be spending some of your evenings doing homework? Or at least socializing with your friends?"

"But I do," Julius said. "After all, it is not as if you have dinner here every evening."

"Oh, so are you saying if I came here every day there would be days I do not see you?" Claire said playfully.

"I'm hurt, Claire," Julius responded. "Is my company such a chore?"

Claire let out a merry laugh. "I think you're a few years too early to be trotting out lines like that, young man."

"Perhaps so, but one can never start too soon to learn how to flatter a lady."

"Oh, you must be an absolute menace to the girls in your class," Claire teased.

"Hardly, they are always telling me not to get too full of myself," Julius countered. "Well then, I should probably get your order before the owner gets cross with me."

Claire chuckled. "I'll have the beef stroganoff tonight, with the merlot."

"Right away," Julius said with a playfully exaggerated bow.

As Claire watched him leave she chuckled to herself again. He really was an amusing fellow, and quite charming too considering the way he seemed to hit it off with all the other regulars. And remarkably sensitive to boundaries. Despite all the playful compliments he never crossed into even light flirting with her, which Claire was fine with. Julius was far too young for her own tastes and she was not in any particular hurry to find a boyfriend to begin with. Still, had he been a few years older and herself a few years younger, something might have sparked. Claire smiled in bemusement at her own musings. Funny how her train of thought could wander so.

As she waited for her meal Claire took out the evening paper and thumbed through it. Most of the coverage was about the war, of course, and a bit scant on detail at that what with the military being its usual secretive self. Then there was another article that talked briefly about the most recent bombing, one that had through sheer luck failed to actually kill anyone. It certainly was not from lack of trying considering where the bomb was placed, and forensics was fairly certain that it was the same type of bomb used in the other attacks. While it was somewhat reassuring that the Swords of Michael could still screw up even with their meticulous planning, it would be a very bad idea to count on Murphy tripping up their opponents.

Claire flipped past the article, knowing far more about the bombings than it could have told her. That was not why she was reading the papers anyway. She turned to the funnies and began reading her favorite comic.

"A hundred and twenty million pounds," Claire muttered as she read. "On dog medical care." She chuckled. "I wonder how much of that is going towards Millium and Altina's pets." Claire cocked her head aside. "Wonder how much of that money is mine."

The rest of the funnies were not quite as entertaining in Claire's opinion but they did at least help pass the time and by the time she was done Julius was back with her order.

"Beef stroganoff and a glass of merlot," he deftly placed the plate and glass before her. "Bon appetit, mademoiselle."

"A very passable impression," Claire remarked.

"I studied French for my A-level," Julius said with a wry smile. "That may yet turn out to have been a rather poor decision."

"No need to be so pessimistic," Claire said encouragingly. "The Empire may be at war with France right now, but once the fighting is over we will need people to help rebuild the bridges that have been destroyed. And besides, knowing French might actually prove useful in the immediate present."

"Perhaps so," Julius said. "And yet, I find that the war has rent all my plans asunder. Who knows if I will even be around to try to pick up the pieces after the fighting is over."

Claire regarded Julius sympathetically. The young man was at the age to be called up for service, and in all likelihood he would be soon enough. This war was upending a lot of people's lives, and even those that came back would never be the same again. That was a regrettable aspect of war, but an inevitable one.

"Anyway, do enjoy your meal Claire," Julius said, putting on his best smile.

The strain behind that smile was quite evident to Claire as Julius withdrew. She continued regarding him for several moments before sighing and picking up her fork. Regrettable, and inevitable. That however did not offer any comfort, especially when directly faced with one whom would face that regret and inevitability firsthand.

The beef was tender and the sauce flavorfully complementing of the wine. The meal was by any measure delicious. Nevertheless she found herself unable to fully enjoy at as her thoughts continued to drift around Julius. In truth she could not claim to know much about the young man, beyond a few tidbits he let slip here and there. Yet Claire found it so natural to open up to him, to talk to him as if he were a familiar friend. A useful skill for someone working in the service industry. Claire wondered just what it was he wanted to do for the future. And whether she and Britannia as a whole would be able to let him achieve his goals instead of demanding he be sacrificed upon the altar of war. That possibility was starting to bother Claire a bit more than it would have in the past. Perhaps the saying was true, a million truly was a statistic, whereas a single life could be so much more personally felt.

"Shall I clear the plate?" Julius suddenly appeared before Claire.

The woman did not quite start but it took her a moment to respond.

"Ah, yes, thank you very much."

"Not at all," Julius said with a smile. "Any interest in desert tonight?"

The woman chuckled. "No thank you, not tonight. If you could get me the check? I need to be heading home."

"Of course," Julius said, and returned a few moments later with the bill. "Oh yes, I just wanted to let you know, I will be away for a couple of days. Several friends and I are planning a small trip to New York City, as a going away party for several that have been called up."

"Oh?" Claire said as she pulled out a wad of bills from her purse. "Any reason you are going to New York and not just staying here in Pendragon?"

"Several of them are from New York," Julius explained, "and the trip is also to visit their families. And, well, there have not been any attacks on NYC recently, as compared to the capital…"

Claire nodded in understanding. It was regrettable that people needed to take into account such things in their plans, and if Hereticus could just nail the terrorists they would not have to.

"Well, I do hope you enjoy yourself," Claire said, setting a number of bills atop the tray. "Keep the change, Julius, and use it to have some fun."

Julius' eyes widened slightly but before he could protest Claire rose, gave him a beatific smile, and took her leave. She was not trying to buy off her sense of guilt, an overly generous tip would not even begin to do that. But still, she deserved feeling a tiny bit of solace with her actions. And besides, was it not the little things in life that could reverberate and maybe even change the world?

* * *

"Sushi," Kallen said with a smirk. "For all the skills of the chefs at the palace, none of them know how to make proper sushi."

The pertinence of the remark was made clear as a plate full of sushi was brought to the table by Tamaki.

"Heh, so you're saying that I've shown up all those fancy cooks?" the boisterous man said.

"Well, if you can make a decent filet mignon then we can start talking," Kallen said with a mischievous grin.

"Aww, give me a break there Kallen," Tamaki responded. "You know how expensive beef is?"

"True, but on your salary you're telling me you still can't afford it?" the girl said teasingly. "Exactly what have you been blowing your money on, Tamaki?"

All the others save Tohdoh and Chiba laughed, though even Tohdoh allowed a slight smile to appear. The get-together had been Kallen's suggestion, though when she brought it up she was originally only thinking about a few people in the original resistance cell. It was Ohgi that suggested inviting the former JLF lieutenant-colonel, and once he was invited Chiba absolutely insisted on accompanying him. The woman remained suspicious of Kallen and while she probably thought she was being discrete Kallen knew that she was being observed almost constantly. She did not hold it against the former JLF soldier, and so long as Chiba did not actually do anything Kallen would leave her to stew.

"I've been pinching every cent to make sure today would be a gorgeous spread," Tamaki said, setting the plate down. "Behold my friends, otoro, tako, and unagi, only the finest for my guests."

As Kallen regarded the pieces she smiled. "Nice. Maybe you should go into the restaurant business, Tamaki."

The man rubbed his nose. "Well if things keep going the way they are, I just might. Always wanted a place of my own, like my folks did."

Ohgi and Minami nodded at that and even Kallen could recall, very vaguely, the old Tamaki restaurant in the neighborhood where she grew up.

"Well you certainly have a good eye for ingredients," Minami said as he put his hands together. "Itadakimasu."

The others echoed him before digging in.

"Gonna be a bit before I can open a place though," Tamaki said after downing a slice. "Prices been going way up, even outside of the Concession."

"I suppose that's both good and bad," Kallen said. "Shows people have money to spend now."

"Yes, but some of the price increases almost certainly comes down to speculation," Ohgi said, "and that's not quite as good a thing."

"True," Kallen agreed. "Want me to poke the princess about it?"

Ohgi shook his head. "No, things should settle down by themselves soon enough. And I'm pretty sure her highness isn't oblivious to the matter either, the way she seems to keep a pulse on everything in Japan."

"The princess might be good, but she's not all knowing," Kallen said, even as the girl was more than ready to admit privately that Euphemia's geass made the girl disturbingly close in some respects. "Still, I see your point, no reason to pester her about every little problem."

Ohgi gave the young woman a smile before he grabbed another sushi.

"By the way Kallen," Minami spoke up. "A labor call just went out yesterday from the viceroy's office. Do you know anything about that?"

"Oh, that," Kallen responded. "The military is building a lot of temporary accommodations for all of the soldiers that'll be stationed in Japan as part of its buildup. Apparently they're running a bit low on manpower, and so asked the government to try to find more workers."

"I saw the wages they were offering," Ohgi said. "They're not bad, especially for people that still haven't managed to find steady jobs yet."

"Certainly better than the labor drafts in the past where the military just pressganged people," Minami said. "Though they do seem to need a lot of people."

"This is just the first call," Kallen said. "Don't spread this around, but the government is preparing another one that's intended to reclaim a lot of farmland in preparation for spring. And the people who sign on, they'll be getting options to purchase the land they help work on after the war ends."

That raised eyebrows all around.

"And what of the people whom previously owned the land?" Tohdoh asked.

"Assuming they can produce some sort of documentation or credible attestation that the land was theirs, they can get it back," Kallen said, "or if they don't want to work it anymore the government is prepared to buy it off their hands for a fair price. In fact that bit you can spread around. The problem is that right now a lot of the farmland is just lying idle with no one to work it. Her highness wants to get agriculture jumpstarted again in Japan, and she doesn't want to do it in a way that stirs up resentment. But she does want to move quickly, so the more time people have to try to find documentation and the like before the program starts, the better."

"That's, impressive," Ohgi remarked. "I can see a lot of people being interested in this scheme."

"There's a growing number of opportunities out there for people," Kallen said. "It won't be easy, but now people's hard work will actually mean something."

Not everyone nodded, but even so Tohdoh and Chiba did not look like they disagreed outright with Kallen. Their wariness was fine with her though, perhaps it would allow them to notice something that the rest of them might overlook in their relative optimism. And that was important too.

As Kallen popped another slice of sushi into her mouth the sound of a cellphone went off. Everyone looked over at her. As she reached for her phone however another phone began ringing. The room froze as the gaze shifted over to Ohgi. And then another cell sounded. In the end four phones in total were ringing away. Kallen flipped hers open as Ohgi, Minami, and Tohdoh did much the same.

"Hello?"

"Lieutenant Stadtfeld," a voice she recognized as an NCO in the princess' guard spoke. "There's been a bombing in the outer wards. Please report back to the palace at once."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "Where was the bombing?"

"The post office in Shinjuku ward," the sergeant said. "General Nu is putting the guard on alert."

The girl's mind raced. "Sergeant, I'm currently with the senior Akatsuki officers. If I accompany them to the site I might be able to gather some on the ground intel."

"Hold one lieutenant, I'll need to check with the general."

The line clicked and for several seconds all Kallen heard on it was a slight buzz of static. She could hear plenty else from the others' conversations however, including just how many people were estimated to have died. Thankfully the number was not that high, the post office having been closed, but a few civilians had still been caught in the blast.

"Permission to investigate the site approved, lieutenant," the sergeant said when he reconnected.

"Thank you sergeant, I will update once I get there, Stadtfeld out."

As Kallen hung up the others were also seemingly finishing their own calls. The looks on their faces said it all.

"Well, what are we waiting for?"

They looked at her in mild surprise.

"You're, coming with?" Ohgi asked for all of them.

"I've gotten permission from the general," Kallen said, before tapping her left temple. "And I just might be able to find something useful."

That elicited grimaces from Ohgi and Tamaki both.

"Be careful Kallen," he said. "If you push yourself too hard, you could end up suffering another stroke. Or worse."

"I'll be fine," Kallen assured him. "Besides, someone just murdered a bunch of our people, and I want to know who did it."

Ohgi smiled slightly. "Alright."

Tamaki rose. "Give me a sec, need to stuff this into the fridge."

Kallen smiled slightly. "Sorry Tamaki."

"Nah, this ain't your fault," the man said as he hurried into the kitchen. He was back in mere seconds. "Alright, let's get moving!"

The drive to the bombing site required a detour to the Akatsuki barracks to grab some gear. As they closed in Kallen swept the area, trying to discern if there were any lingering threats. There was not, at least nothing overt. Then again it was entirely possible mixed in with the crowd was the bomber or their confederates examining their handiwork and the reaction of the authorities. If only she could pick them out from the crowd. Kallen tried focusing a bit harder. And immediately started seeing specks of light as a migraine hit her. The girl reeled back her senses. That, was probably not a good thing.

"Kallen?"

The girl looked over at Ohgi to see a worried expression on his face.

"We're here."

"Alright," Kallen said, pulling herself out the car.

Fortunately she did not end up toppling over but it still took her a few moments to fully get her bearings. She looked about, letting her senses naturally extend instead of trying to force it. The migraine was gone, but the pressure was still there. It would have to do. She quickly popped another aspirin before following Ohgi to the officers already onsite.

"Report," the man said.

"Sir, the bombing took place half an hour ago. It was hidden in the bush next to the main entrance. Damn good thing this happened after hours, otherwise there might have been a lot of people caught in the blast."

Kallen looked over to see several Britannian officers examining the scene.

"Gendarmerie?" the girl remarked, noting the emblem they wore.

"Colonel Bright lent us some forensic specialists to help cover the gap we have right now," Minami explained before walking over to consult with them.

"I don't suppose we were lucky enough to have any witnesses?" Ohgi said to the Akatsuki sergeant.

"No sir, but, this is a Britannian post office," the man said. "Don't those tend to have security cameras and the like?"

Ohgi nodded. "There is that. I'll contact the postal authorities, see if they can give us access to any footage. Dismissed sergeant."

"Sir!"

Kallen looked about. "Who the hell would bomb a post office?"

"Hasn't there been reports of something similar happening back in the Britannian mainland?" Ohgi pointed out. "Something about some domestic terrorist group."

"Yeah, the Swords of Michael," Kallen recalled her security briefings. "Bunch of religious nutjobs. But Christianity never had a very large foothold in Japan to begin with, we're mostly a Buddhist and Shinto society."

"True, but someone else opposed to Britannia might have taken inspiration," Ohgi said. "We'll have to see whether-"

"Sir!"

The two turned about to see the sergeant that had just spoken with Ohgi running back woards them.

"Sir, we've just gotten a statement from a group claiming responsibility for the bombing!"

"What does it say?" Ohgi asked, eyes narrowing.

"They-here sir," the sergeant said, thrusting a piece of paper at Ohgi.

Kallen peered around Ohgi at the hastily scribbled transcription. A frown darkened her face.

 _We, the Katanas of the Rising Sun, demand an end to the false promises and chattel chains cast forth by Britannia. If the viceroy does not end and repudiate her scheme to shackle our people via pecuniary deceit, we shall unleash a campaign of fire and blood upon those servants that spew her vile lies._

Kallen scowled. "Oh for the love of…"

"Pecuniary," Ohgi murmured. "Are they talking about the princess' new microloan and savings scheme?"

"Sounds like it," Kallen said disdainfully.

"Katanas of the Rising Sun," Tohdoh said before looking at the sergeant. "How was this message conveyed to us?"

"The bombers issued a statement to the Asahi Shinbun," the sergeant said. "They contacted us immediately upon receiving it."

"Did they also contact the Britannian authorities?" Kallen asked.

"Umm, I'm not sure ma'am," the sergeant answered.

"Guess I better make sure then," Kallen said, pulling out her cellphone.

As Kallen set about notifying her superiors Ohgi turned to Tohdoh.

"Something worries you, superintendent?"

The older man straightened. "This, message. It has the air of a fanatic. A, nationalist."

Ohgi frowned. "You mean one of the right-wing groups?"

"Indeed," Tohdoh said. "They were a political force before the Britannian invasion, but the Empire was extremely thorough in suppressing them. The viceroy's, relative, lenience might be seeing them reasserting themselves."

"Begging your pardon, Tohdoh-san," Ohgi said respectfully, "but how suppressed were they really? I recall before the war that many in government, and the military, were sympathetic to their espoused ideology, of which a substantial portion refused to stand down after Japan's capitulation."

"That is a fair statement," Tohdoh conceded. "Though if your suggestion is that whomever is responsible might have some sort of military background, the exact nature of the explosive device they employed should give some indication as to their technical capabilities."

"Then let us see about that," Ohgi said, walking towards one of the gendarmerie officers with Tohdoh and Chiba in tow and called out to him in English. "Lieutenant?"

The man looked up. "Ah, Commissioner." He shook his head. "Bloody mess we've got here."

"So I see," Ohgi agreed. "What can you tell me about the explosive device?"

"Fairly simple thing," the gendarmerie officer said. "From the fragments we've gathered it looked to be your standard pipe bomb. We'll need to run some tests in the lab to determine exactly what they used for the explosive material, but my money's on something derived from nitrogenous fertilizer."

"So the bomb itself was not that complex?" Ohgi asked.

The lieutenant shook his head. "No, and I get the feeling it didn't go off as planned."

Ohgi blinked. "What do you mean?"

"The placement of the bomb was obviously meant to inflict maximum casualties," the lieutenant said. "From what I hear the number of people using the post office has increased significantly as of late. If there had been a line waiting to get in, well, you get the idea."

That Ohgi did as he grimaced. "So you're suggesting the bomb failed to detonate when originally planned?"

"Looks that way. Pipe bombs tend to be extremely unreliable, and frankly they've probably killed as many would be bombers as they've killed actual victims. Whoever did this probably did it on a shoestring budget."

"I see. Thank you lieutenant."

The gendarmerie nodded and went back to his own work as Ohgi turned to Tohdoh and Chiba.

"So, our bomber is using extremely improvised explosives," Ohgi said in Japanese.

"One wonders then whether there is even a we at all," Tohdoh remarked.

"Maybe it is a lone bomber, but that could make the guy even harder to catch," Ohgi said. He looked over to see Kallen approach them, her call done. "Anything from your superiors?"

"They hadn't received the statement yet," Kallen said. "And so far it doesn't look like any of the Britannian news agencies have gotten it either."

Ohgi frowned. "Strange. The message was obviously directed to the authorities."

"Maybe it really is just some nutcase trying to make himself seem a bigger deal than he is," Kallen said with a scowl.

"Maybe so," Ohgi said before sighing. "There doesn't seem much you'll be able to do here, Kallen. Why don't you head back to the palace. We'll make sure to keep you and the viceroy up to date."

Kallen regarded the man for a few moments before nodding reluctantly. "Alright. But if you do need me, just give me a ring."

"I will Kallen." Ohgi smiled slightly. "And I'll let you know next time we have sushi at Tamaki's too."

Kallen flashed Ohgi a smile back before turning towards her car. The girl suddenly stumbled, falling to her knees.

"Kallen!"

"I'm-I'm, uh okay, I am NOT alright," Kallen mumbled as her head seemed to spin.

"Let's get you to the hospital," Ohgi said.

"No-no hospital," Kallen immediately responded. "The palace. They-they have equipment set up there. And medicine."

The girl fumbled for the bottle of pills in her pocket but Ohgi quickly grabbed hold of her hand.

"Kallen, how many of those have you been taking?" he asked worriedly.

"I, I don't know," Kallen said, inhaling deeply.

Ohgi grimaced. "C'mon, let's get you back to the palace."

As he helped her rise another hand took hold of Kallen to keep her steady. The girl looked over and blinked as she met Tohdoh's gaze.

"You are pushing yourself too hard, Kouzuki," he said sternly.

Kallen smiled thinly. "I set out with a goal, Tohdoh-san. I can't just stop now."

"Perhaps not," Tohdoh said solemnly. "But I would not have you fail to see the fruition of your dreams."

Kallen blinked again. She and the former JLF lieutenant-colonel had not spoken at any length since the Burais were surrendered into her custody. For a time Kallen wondered if Tohdoh resented her for forcing his hand. Yet underneath the stern visage, there was worry. A genuine worry. Kallen took another deep breath.

"I will, try, sir."

Tohdoh nodded and with Ohgi helped Kallen over to a waiting car. The girl barely remembered the drive to the palace.

* * *

"How is she?"

Kuroba pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sleeping. I took a few quick scans and the inflammation in her brain seems to have been reduced, but for how long I do not know. And, I am afraid that her medication is starting to do more harm than good at this point."

Euphemia accepted the news with a solemn nod. And then she openly glared at the green haired woman seated next to Kuroba.

"Well?"

There was none of the princess' usual courtesy or geniality in that single word. C.C. however did not look perturbed. In fact she looked downright thoughtful. The woman stood.

"Come."

And responded with a single word of her own. As she turned about Euphemia and Kuroba exchanged puzzled looks before rising to follow the woman. They passed through the office section of the palace to one of the residential wings and arrived at the room C.C. had been assigned. When she opened the door Euphemia and Kuroba found themselves staring at a disheveled sitting room that had seemingly been transformed into a small workshop. Euphemia sighed.

"If you needed someplace to work, the palace has a machine shop," she said, "instead of making the maids' jobs even more difficult."

C.C. ignored the quip, instead walking over to her desk and picking up, a pair of glasses. She presented them to Euphemia and the princess looked at her quizzically.

"What, is this for?"

"A physic, howbeit imperfect."

Euphemia took the glasses and Kuroba leaned in, regarding it through his own.

"These lenses aren't angled," the doctor noted with a frown before looking at C.C. "What are they for then?"

"A physic," C.C. repeated with a slight bit of exasperation.

"Medical treatment," Euphemia explained to the doctor. "That is the archaic definition of the word."

To that C.C. nodded. Euphemia held up the glasses and looked through the lens. There was no distortion, so as Kuroba stated these were not intended to correct someone's sight. Or were they? The princess put them on. And tried activating her geass. Her eyes widened. She took the glasses off and a torrent of numbers filled her head.

"How?" she asked, causing Kuroba to look at her in confusion now.

"Thy geass grants thee vision of the lambent of the soul," C.C. said. "That be what weighs upon thy own anima. Bind thy sight, and thou woulds lift the weight."

Euphemia frowned, looking down at the glasses. "And you've had this for how long?"

C.C. snorted, waving about her room. "Thou thinketh such sight be so easily bound?" She tapped the top of a closed bucket. "What lies in thy hand but be the last of many not up the mark. Alas but time waits for none. For now this half-measure must suffice."

The princess and Kuroba both looked about the makeshift workspace and realization slowly dawned. All the tools, the equipment, the bucket of fine powder, all this was for the grinding of lenses. C.C. had made the lenses of these glasses by hand.

"Is this not something you could have asked a professional to do?" Euphemia asked.

"Nay," C.C. immediately dismissed.

The woman did not bother offering an explanation but Euphemia could make a few educated guesses. She looked down at the glasses. If these things really were capable of blocking a geass, she must have done something very special indeed.

"Umm, your highness," Kuroba said politely. "I am not sure I understand what is going on here."

The princess sighed. "Apologies, doctor. As you know part of Kallen's symptoms include significantly heightened senses. Those senses are unfortunately creating something of a negative feedback loop, overstimulating Kallen's brain and stressing it further. Cecilia here believes that these, glasses, should be able to help dampen those senses, and thus relieve some of the strain."

"Really? May I see them?"

Euphemia held the glasses out and the doctor took them carefully. He looked at them, even peered through them.

"I, do not see anything distinct about these lenses," he finally said.

"I assure you they work doctor," Euphemia said. "My own, condition, lessened slightly when I put them on. And Cecilia here has actually survived this condition for, many years."

C.C. snorted at the last bit but still said nothing further. Kuroba still frowned but he handed the glasses back to Euphemia.

"I will have to take your word for it, your highness. There are obviously factors at play that I do not understand, but if you honestly believe this can help Kallen-san, then we should attempt it."

"Fret not doctor," Euphemia said. "For all Cecilia's antics, one thing that can be said is that she has gone out of her way to see to Kallen's care." The princess looked at C.C. "Is that not right?"

At that C.C. smiled slightly, and nodded.

* * *

"Hey, welcome back," Crow said with a grin. "So, which base did you get to with the Inquisitio hottie?"

Charlotte pointedly raised an eyebrow as she regarded Crow.

"Hey Charlotte," Crow said with a beaming smile. "Miss me?"

The French girl let out a seemingly exasperated sigh and did not even bother responding.

"Is the operation in place?" Lelouch asked, sticking to business.

"No sweat," Crow said. "Bomb's on the way and we've got redundancies in place to make sure it's a big one. Once you get back the good captain's gonna be all ready to nurse you back to good health after hearing about the attacks."

Lelouch snorted. "Do take care, Crow, lest Charlotte decide to you would make for a good first blooding of her new knife."

At that Charlotte put on an angelic smile.

"Youch, no mercy huh?"

"Anyway, you were the one that insisted I return for this meeting and thus necessitated the whole charade," Lelouch said. "Shall we get to it?"

Crow rubbed his hands together. "Right on, come this way."

The two followed Crow through the warehouse to one of the back offices. When they entered quite a few other people were seated waiting for them. Charlotte instinctively reached for the blade she had tucked into her belt but at seeing Lelouch's raised hand she relaxed, minutely.

"So one of the big problems that we've all been wracking our heads over is how to overcome the vast numerical superiority of Pendragon's defenders," Crow said with a dramatic flair. "They've got, what, close to two divisions' worth of troops or something protecting the city, and even if we called in every single Sword of Michael, we'd still be hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. Well, turns out the solution to that problem's actually pretty simple."

Crow turned and nodded to the others whom had all risen. The man on the far right of the table bowed slightly.

"William Potter Gale, of the Swords of Uriel."

Lelouch's eyebrow rose even as his gaze shifted to the woman besides William.

"Shirley Orlando, of the Swords of Gabriel."

And then the next, a big hulking man.

"Vulcan Arngarmr, of the Swords of Azrael."

And the next, and the next, until all eleven newcomers had introduced themselves. By the end of it Crow was smiling so much his face looked as if it might split.

"Allow me to reintroduce ourselves," Crow said. "Lelouch Lamperouge, we are the Swords of God, and in His name will we smite the heathens that have trod upon our brothers and sisters."

The smile that Lelouch returned was equally wide. His eyes however cast a far darker light.

End of Chapter 69

Wonder how many people will be able to figure out what Claire's favorite comic is.

I feel like I'm making Lelouch seem more and more of a bastard for the things he's doing. Ah well.

Just a note to my readers, try to keep in mind that the story is technically taking place in the 1960s. 1962 specifically, and we're in the November timeframe at this point. There is a slight technological mismatch that I'm attributing to sakuradite, but don't take for granted that things we have today exist in the timeframe my story is taking place in.

So Kallen is now a meganekko. If any of you need an actual specific reasons for why Kallen's getting glasses instead of contacts, it's down to mostly practicality. Kallen's geass is very action oriented, and having to stop to take out contacts is going to get old fast. With glasses, on and off very quickly. Also it was a lot easier for C.C. to make the glasses than contacts. Lelouch does have contacts in this story, and believe me the process he went through to get them was not trivial by any means. There's also the fact that the speed with which Lelouch can seemingly remove and reinsert his contacts in the anime is, not believable. As fast as my version of Lelouch maybe he, he's still not as fast as the canon version.

Lelouch's geass actually is still one of absolute obedience, and I do mean absolute obedience. As a consequence it has a couple of caveats of which only a few have been mentioned. A while back when Charlotte was first formally introduced his internal monologue mentioned how she was his finest work and how his absolute obedience if used directly simply created unimaginative slaves, which is less than useful for dealing with complex problems. Lelouch's slow and steady approach is one way that he's developed to try to work around that problem. That and he's also had his geass for a lot longer than Euphemia or Kallen, so he needs to be a lot more careful so as not to basically end up a vegetable via overuse.

Also, Lelouch's motives are intended to be part of the greater mystery that is swirling around C.C., the geass, the code, and so on. All of you are going to have to wait until much later in the story before you find out why he wants his entire family dead.

I'm going to blame mixing up the 88 vs 108 reference to the fact I wrote those author notes at something like 1AM. I know I saw a reference to 88 somewhere in the Code Geass side materials, not in reference to his wives, but something else. My main point still stands though, having 108 officially recognized wives is imbecilic from a practical perspective. Not even Louis XIV got that high, officially.


	71. Chapter 70

_Five months into the war the Chinese Federation achieved a major strategic victory when it managed to seize the island of Sumatra, severing the Britannian Empire's most direct lines of communications with its forces in Area 18. This in theory should have allowed the Chinese to regain the momentum in the wake of its faltering Philippines campaign, but the regional military leaders determined that the next stage of their offensive would not be the logical targets of Borneo or Java, but Australia in an effort to threaten the Empire's primary strategic reserve in the southeastern hemisphere. In what is widely regarded as one of the greatest strategic blunders by the allied powers in the entire war, the Chinese Federation landed two divisions on the Australian continent, one north of the city of Perth and another on the northwestern coast due to heavy opposition by the Britannian forces._

 _The campaign was ultimately a disaster, with the division north of Perth finding themselves facing a company of the Britannian Special Air Service, generally recognized as one of the most elite formations in the entire Britannian military and on par with that of the royal guards of the imperial scions and knights of the round. The Chinese division's initial attempt to take Perth saw three companies badly mauled by the combined efforts of the SAS and its close air support. Falling back, Chinese forces attempted to maneuver west to approach the city through the Mundaring Forest, apparently in the belief that the forest would provide some protection from the Britannian Air Force. This proved to be a monumentally bad idea as the Chinese forces quickly found navigating the forest to be much more challenging than they originally expected, whereas the SAS company knew the forest intimately due to their training and used that knowledge to set ambushes and generally outmaneuver their opponents. Three weeks into the campaign the Chinese forces, suffering heavy casualties and running seriously low on supplies, surrendered._

 _The division that had been landed further north fared no better as in the confusion of the engagement with Britannian naval forces they had been dropped off right next to the Toolonga Reserve. The division spent several weeks trying to get its bearings but due to a lack of proper maps for the region ended up attempting to march further inland. By the time the Britannian military was able to actually locate the division several thousand soldiers had died from exposure, dehydration, and poison from Australia's many venomous wildlife. In some respects the Chinese forces that attacked Perth could be considered the luckier ones, as the Britannians were at least around to accept a surrender._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 70

Iniuriae qui addideris contumeliam

Kallen was in front of a mirror again, once more examining her visage. She adjusted the glasses, testing how they felt and whether the lenses distorted her vision in any way. Most of all however Kallen allowed herself to simply enjoy the silence about her. No more hushed chattering, no more ripples of touch, no more vivid colors assaulting her senses. Just the simple sight, hearing, and touch of her own eyes, ears, and skin. In some ways it felt as if she was half blind. In others it was as if she could actually hear herself think again.

Kallen took the glasses off and felt her senses sharpen once more. She focused, listening in on a pair of servants chattering away as they cleaned, watched as a pair of armsmen made their rounds, and felt the breeze blowing in through an open window. There was a pressure in her head but no pain, at least not yet. She put the glasses back on and the pressure receded along with the sensations from beyond this room.

"That'll do," Kallen said to herself.

The young woman walked out of the bathroom into the bedroom where C.C. was sprawled lazily on the bed. The green haired girl rolled about so that she could regard Kallen upright.

"Thou art gay once more?"

"More or less," Kallen said. "No migraines anymore." She regarded C.C. "Umm, thanks. For taking the trouble."

C.C. smiled slightly. "Thou and I art bound by a plight, one which I shant foreswear."

"Good to know," Kallen replied with a slight smirk of her own. She plopped down next to C.C. on the bed. "So, how long will this work for? I got the impression that these glasses aren't perfect, and the something tells me that if my geass keeps growing stronger then they won't be able to block it."

"Sooth," C.C. affirmed. "Fret not, the time is nigh when you shalt make good on thy part of the plight. If thou is met with speed, thy boon shall no more see thou wanting."

"But you still won't tell me what my part of this promise is," Kallen said irritably.

To that C.C. gave her an almost sympathetic smile as she placed a hand on Kallen's head.

"But that I am forbid," she began.

"To tell the secrets of my prison-house," Kallen continued for her. "You know, that is _not_ an encouraging quote to use."

That elicited a merry sounding laugh from C.C.

"Mayhap not, but tis as much sooth as I can grant."

Kallen sighed as she let herself sink into the bed. "You know, life was so much simpler before I met you. No crazy dead princes, no magic powers. No strokes trying to kill me."

"Thou art not one to cry in mere mortal pain," C.C. said, resting herself atop Kallen's back. "Thou seems to find sweetness in the uses of adversity."

Kallen furrowed her brow. "I never did understand that line in that play."

Another laugh sounded from C.C. and Kallen herself cracked a grin. And then a voice called out to her.

"Kallen, you in here somewhere?"

The girl in question tried to rise, only to find that C.C. was surprisingly heavy. The other girl was apparently not feeling entirely cooperative as she made no effort to make way for Kallen.

"Will you get off," Kallen hissed.

The sound of shuffling bodies and sheets seemed to draw the attention of the person looking for Kallen and a blond head poked through the door.

"Hey Kall-eh, what are you two doing?"

The sight that greeted Milly was of Kallen trying to get off the bed even as she was somehow tangled up in the sheets with C.C. leaning against her. There was, significant opportunity for misinterpretation.

"Milly, it's not what it looks like!" Kallen protested immediately.

The Ashford daughter regarded Kallen, then looked at C.C. who flashed a large grin, then back at the increasingly aghast looking redhead.

"Umm, I'll leave you two alone," Milly said, head withdrawing from the doorway.

"No-wait-Milly!" Kallen cried as she dragged herself, or at least tried to, out from under the mess. "Hey! Watch where your hands are going!"

"Merely seeking to lend thee mine aid," C.C. said with a mischievous grin.

"Don't worry, I won't tell a soul what I saw!" Milly's voice called out from outside the room, and after a brief pause, "though Cole would probably find it pretty hot!"

"No-Milly don't you dare!" Kallen shouted, finally extricating herself and chasing after the older girl.

C.C. toppled over, gripping her sides as she burst out laughing. Once the sound of a door slamming reached her however the woman's expression turned solemn as she gazed up at the ceiling.

"The time _is_ nigh," she muttered, "whence thou will be, or not."

* * *

"Well, that's that," Lieutenant-General Olaf Craig, commanding officer of Britannian forces in Area 18, remarked sourly.

His aide, one Colonel Matthias Neithardt, nodded stoically. "All forces have boarded the transports, sir. We should probably get moving as well."

Olaf took a deep breath. "Never thought the day would come where I would need to cut and run."

"A tactical withdrawal," Matthias said to his commanding officer. "We still hold a significant amount of territory along the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea."

Olaf shorted. "Starting to run out of ground, colonel. If we keep this up the next ships we'll be boarding will be bound for Australia."

That Matthias did not dispute and the colonel remained silent as he waited. Olaf took another deep breath and turned to proceed to the waiting ship.

"Well, at least reinforcements will be arriving shortly," the general said. "We've managed to hold fast against the Europeans for five months now, and we've bled them. If command can keep this up we'll be in a position to start pushing our enemies back."

"Indeed sir," Matthias agreed. "It's been a minor miracle that they've been able to send as many forces as they have, though with the loss of Sumatra that could become slightly more difficult."

The general grunted as he climbed up the ramp. "Perhaps so, but you and I both know the reason Sumatra fell was because reinforcements were diverted to us to allow us to hang on. I will be most aggrieved if we fail to live up to the expectations placed upon us."

"Indeed sir," Matthias said with a slight smile.

The ramp was reeled in behind the two and they headed to the bridge. When they entered the captain nodded respectfully, a motion Olaf returned. Making sure to stay out of the way the general stared out the viewport.

"I will not miss this blasted landscape," Olaf said. "Then again I suppose our destination will not be much different."

"Perhaps not sir, but then again Area 18's value is hardly from its scenery."

"Quite so," Olaf said softly.

Above them as the ship slowly slipped out of port a pair of jets flew past. Off in the distance European scouts observed the last of the Britannian forces withdraw from the port of Doha. The bulk of their forces could still not approach without drawing withering fire from the Britannian Fifth Fleet, of which the fighters were a part of. Efforts by the European air forces to crack the defenses had met with only middling success. True enough they had bloodied the Britannian carrier wing, but not enough to establish air superiority to bring in their own ground attack planes to pound their enemy in turn. And with every centimeter of ground the Europeans advanced another centimeter was added to the distance their supplies needed to traverse.

With the Empire still firmly in control of the Gulf of Oman, even with European control of Kuwait City and soon Doha EU forces would still not be able to practically transport supplies by boat. One needed to get ships into the Persian Gulf to have something to do the shipping after all, and the Britannians had sunk or burned everything that floated that they could not take with them as they retreated. Still, the Europeans were pushing their opponents back, and if their own supply lines were proving challenging the Empire faced far greater difficulties. They simply needed to keep this up a bit longer. The only place left for the Britannians to retreat to was the ocean.

Back aboard the transport a communications rating approached Olaf.

"Sir, we've received a message from Pendragon, for your eyes only."

The general frowned, an expression mirrored on Matthias' face. The two men followed the rating off the bridge to the communications room. The soldier sitting at the terminal typed in his own key, which brought up a second prompt. He moved aside and Olaf himself took his place, typing in another key. Only then did the block of text appear. The other soldiers in the room made sure none of them could be construed as trying to read over the general's shoulder, not least because Matthias was pointedly making sure of it. Olaf spent a few long moments reading over the message. In fact in the time that passed most would have presumed he could have read it many times over. Finally the general closed the message, effectively deleting it from the message queue. As Matthias turned to face his CO the man was met with a scowl.

"Sir?"

"With me, Neithardt," Olaf said brusquely.

The colonel obeyed, trailing the general as he left the room and emerged on the deck. The two climbed up until they were on the top in an empty part of the ship. Olaf leaned against the railings, his face still stiff with irritation.

"Sir?" Matthias said again.

"The message was from Field Marshal Vanders," Olaf said, causing his subordinate to stiffen as well. "It was a, personal explanation, for why we will not be receiving our next wave of reinforcements."

Matthias looked at the general in confusion as he tried to make sense of the news. "But, the ships are already in the Indian Ocean. Are they being turned back?"

"No," the general said. "They have been diverted however. In fact news should filter down in the next day or so. But for now, all I can tell you is that we won't be getting any reinforcements until late December at the earliest."

Matthias' mouth thinned as he considered the news. He knew the field marshal personally, having been classmates and friends with the man's nephew at West Point. If the decision had been made to divert the reinforcements originally earmarked for Area 18 it would not have been made lightly. And while Matthias could speculate, he like his commanding officer would not be giving voice to the possible places where those reinforcements were headed.

"Then we must stand fast with what forces we still have," the colonel said.

"Indeed." Olaf straightened. "We will have to revise our stratagems." He turned to face Matthias. "The Seventh Division and Ninth Divisions. They should have finished refitting, no?"

"Yes sir."

The general began pacing on the deck. "The Europeans are dangerously overextended right now. We were going to hit them on their western flank. It could still work, but if we deploy the Seventh and the Ninth we'll be using up our only strategic reserve."

"The other divisions should be refitted soon, general," Matthias said.

"Soon will not be soon enough," Olaf stated. "With the reinforcements we could have kept the pressure on the Europeans, perhaps even have broken their advance. If we wait until the other divisions have finished refitting, the Europeans will have had time to reinforce their forward positions and, more importantly, been able to build up stocks of supplies." The general nodded crisply. "We will have to risk it. Though we may not be able to fully exploit any advantages we might gain, knocking the wind out of the European advance will give us time, time for the other divisions to reequip and reorganize, and time for the Empire to get us reinforcements."

Matthias nodded. It was not as if they had much of a choice, either they fight and win or die trying. After all, there was nowhere else to run to, and he for one had no intention of trying to swim to Australia.

* * *

"The government actually has money for this right now?"

Euphemia raised an eyebrow at Kallen. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, there is a war going on," the girl remarked, pushing up her glasses. "It feels a bit, weird? That the government would be planning Yuletide celebrations."

The two were having dinner inside one of the more intimate dining rooms in the palace, something that they had started doing more often together since the birthday party. C.C. was also a frequent participant, though this evening saw only the two of them, plus of course the two armsmen on duty. Kallen could recall standing watch herself during dinner and having to suffer through the delicious aromas. It, in a word, sucked, and the guards had her sincere sympathies.

"The preparations do not amount to much," Euphemia said. "Simply some decoration of the streets and a few public buildings. And of course the tree. To not do so might save some money, but ultimately keeping morale and spirits up is worth it."

Kallen shrugged, slicing off a piece of her steak and popping it into her mouth.

"Well, not like I'm complaining or anything," she said after swallowing. "It gets me out of school for two weeks after all."

"Which means you will be available to accompany me on the various events I need to attend," Euphemia said with a slight smile.

"Of course," Kallen drawled. "Have those already been decided and scheduled?"

"Some, but not all," Euphemia responded. "I will be hosting a feast at MacArthur Base on the Winter Solstice itself, to thank the men and women that serve. There has been discussion with Keio for me to drop by on New Year's Eve to host another feast, one for my Japanese subjects."

That got Kallen's attention, as the smile on Euphemia's face indicated the princess was well aware of.

"The logistics of that are still being worked out. General Nu has expressed, reservations, about me putting in such an appearance after what happened the last time."

"I'll have your back, your highness," Kallen said. "And so will all of Keio and Akatsuki. We won't let anything like that happen again."

"And what of the strain your geass puts on you when active?" Euphemia asked.

"Well, C.C. might think them imperfect," Kallen said, tapping the frames, "but these have been doing wonders. When they're on I don't see anything beyond what my own senses can see. And when I do need to use my geass, I just take off the glasses and I can basically pick out everything within a mile or so. I've experimented a bit, and I can keep at it for about an hour before the migraines start."

"I see," Euphemia said thoughtfully. "Have you had Dr. Kuroba examine you afterwards?"

"Mild inflammation," Kallen responded. "That's all he's been able to detect. Well, on top of what's already happened to my brain so far. So it seems if I use my geass in moderation, I'll be okay, for at least a little while."

"I am glad to hear it," Euphemia said. "Still, do not press yourself too hard on my account, Kallen." The princess regarded the almost completely cleared plate before other girl and her own still half full of food. "Shall we call for another steak?"

"Umm," Kallen murmured, patting her stomach. "Actually, yes, if that wouldn't be too much trouble."

"I am impressed," Euphemia said as she nodded to a servant whom quickly left to fulfill the order. "Or perhaps amazed is a more accurate word? You have been eating quite a bit over the past few weeks." The princess almost pouted. "And yet still maintain such a figure."

"Not sure I can explain it," Kallen said. "I just, find myself really hungry during mealtimes. Have been ever since the raid on the Hereticus wetworks teams."

"Another side effect of the geass?" Euphemia speculated. "An accelerated metabolism?"

"Maybe. Then again I've seen C.C. wolf down entire pizzas by herself. Maybe it's something all of us eventually develop? The ability to pretty much eat as much as we want."

The sigh from the princess this time was definitely envious, especially seeing as the servant was returned with another steak for Kallen. The kitchen staff was now well used to the knight's appetite. The older girl began packing it away with gusto.

"Well there will at least be plenty of fare at the planned dinners," Euphemia said.

"By the by," Kallen said after another mouthful. "Why New Years for the Keio visit?"

"My understanding is that it is something of a holiday for the Japanese," Euphemia said. "It seemed an appropriate date to throw a feast."

"True," Kallen agreed. "Hmm, do you know the various traditions associated with New Years?"

"Not as such," Euphemia said. "Care to enlighten me?"

"Don't mind if I do," Kallen said somewhat playfully. "Let's see, there's the traditional shrine visit on the first day of the new year. You go with family and friends and wish for good fortune for the coming year. A lot of girls dress up in traditional clothing like kimonos or yukatas for that."

"Will you?" Euphemia said teasingly.

Kallen snorted. "Yeah, no. General Nu would probably read me the riot act if I wore something like that on duty. Kimonos don't tend to be very easy to move quickly in."

"Well, so long as there is no trouble, what harm is there in having a little fun?" the princess said with a grin.

"You're starting to sound like Milly," Kallen remarked dryly. "Although it's starting to sound like _you're_ the one that wants to try on a kimono."

"I? Perish the thought, I just thought it would do wonders for morale for your comrades to see you donning such classical dress. What is it they call it, fan service?"

"Okay, now you really are sounding like Milly," Kallen said even as she grinned back at the princess.

The two shared a chuckle before resuming working away at their meals.

"Oh, right," Kallen said. "There's the food as well. New Years families tend to have a few special dishes. Biggest one has to be mochi."

"Mochi?"

"It's a rice cake," Kallen said. "Usually accompanied by a soup of sorts. They'll almost certainly serve some at Keio."

"I see," Euphemia said thoughtfully.

"Before the occupation most families just ate store bought. With how completely screwed up the markets became though, mochi ended up becoming something of a delicacy. Some places were able to start making their own, but others weren't."

There was no condemnation in Kallen's tone, the young woman was just stating facts. As such Euphemia was equally dispassionate in her response.

"Shall we see if Keio has a supply then?" she suggested. "And if not, see if one can be arranged? I am sure the patients and workers there would appreciate having a taste of nostalgia for this New Years."

"I think they'd appreciate that," Kallen concurred.

"Though we will need to see how many people Keio can actually accommodate," the princess said. "I would like to be able to invite not just the people of on duty and the patients, but also their families as well."

"Yeah, not sure Keio's cafeteria is that large," Kallen said.

"A shame the weather will not be so accommodating as allowing an outdoors event."

"Well, not necessarily," Kallen said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Euphemia asked.

"The patients obviously can't be going out and about," the older girl said, "but the campus grounds itself could be used to accommodate people. Have basically a mini-festival. Use it as a chance to showcase the local businesses and whatnot, a place for families to come to spend the day and have fun."

"Huh. A worthwhile idea. I will pass it on to the hospital and see if they are receptive to it." Euphemia cocked her head aside. "Though that would mean far more people for you to need to keep track of."

Kallen smiled wirily. "I'll be fine. Besides, isn't it a good thing that I can eat so much without adding on a gram of fat?" The girl waved the chunk of steak on her fork. "Something tells me you'll be offered quite a few stall snacks come New Years, your highness. Do be sure to savor every last bite."

Euphemia's eyebrow rose, the unspoken subtext heard loud and clear. Kallen might be able to eat as much as she wanted without needing to watch her figure, but the same could hardly be said for the princess herself. The look Euphemia gave her knight made clear that she would remember this, and would find some way to pay Kallen back in full. Then they would see who was laughing.

* * *

"Thank you Mr. Hemming," Claire said as she received the change back. "Dinner was as always delicious."

"I'm glad to hear it," the man said with a warm smile. "And I am glad to see that you still enjoy my menu's offerings despite how regularly you have been."

"Oh well," Claire began before clearing her throat. "Things have been rather busy at work, so I've had even less time to cook for myself than usual."

"Mmm, I see," Hemming said, obviously not buying it. "You are not the only one worried, Claire."

The woman smiled faintly. "That obvious, huh?"

"Several other regulars have inquired about Julius," the owner said. "There is nothing to be ashamed of, being worried for a friend."

"A friend?" Claire said softly. "Yes, I suppose he is a friend."

Hemming looked at Claire. "Is something the matter?"

Claire smiled wistfully. "No. Just, it is nice to have friends. And, I would rather not have lost one."

Hemming nodded. "I as well."

The bell at the front door rang and Hemming turned about. "Welcome, how-Julius!?"

Claire's head shot up and she looked over at the entrance. There he stood, the black haired youth with clear violet eyes. The young man's hair was a bit disheveled, but the thing that truly stuck out was the arm hanging limply in a sling. Claire's eyes widened.

"Umm," Julius said, scratching the back of his head with his good arm. "My apologies for worrying you, Mr. Hemming."

Hemming stood there several moments gapping before he finally recovered.

"Young man, you gave us all quite the fright," he said, walking over and clapping his hands on Julius' shoulder.

"Apologies," Julius said again with a sheepish smile. And then his eyes met Claire's.

The young woman found herself unable to look away. The two held each other's gazes for a seeming eternity even though only a few seconds passed. And then Claire smiled back at Julius. She rose and walked over.

"It's good to have you back Julius," she said warmly.

"It's, good to be back," the young man responded.

Claire looked down at the broken arm. There was no need to verbalize the question.

"Oh, this little scratch?" Julius tried to dissemble.

"Julius," Claire said sternly.

The young man's mouth closed and after a few moments he sighed. "I was, at the plaza that got hit by the bombing."

By this point several of the regulars were surrounding the young man and several gasped at hearing this. Claire however kept her composure.

"Your friends?"

Julius' face twitched as he fought to keep a stoic mask. "One's in the hospital. Another…"

"Oh Julius," Claire said, reaching out and pulling him into an embrace. "I'm so sorry."

"Me too," Julius whispered as his body began shaking. "Me too."

The two spent several long minutes together like this but Claire eventually let him go. Julius was somehow still keeping up a brave face but she could see the struggle it was.

"Umm, Mr. Hemming, I'm afraid I won't be able to work like this for a while," Julius said.

"That is alright," Hemming said. "Do not worry, I will have your wages ready as always."

Julius seemed taken aback while Claire looked at the owner quizzically. That was extremely generous on his part.

"Mr. Hemming, you really don't need to do that," Julius protested.

Hemming however smiled, taking hold of Julius' good hand. "How could I not for someone whom so diligently pursues his dream?"

Julius' mouth moved soundlessly but eventually the young man nodded. "I, thank you very much. And I'll make sure to come back to work as soon as I can."

"Not a day before the doctor says so," Hemming said firmly.

Julius smiled slightly. "Of course, sir."

Satisfied, Hemming gave a nod of his own, and then regarded Claire. "Would you mind seeing Julius home, Claire?"

"Not at all," Claire said before Julius could protest again. "Shall we, Julius?"

The young man again seemed to struggle for words and again resigned himself to the inevitable. He nodded, and then looked at the other diners.

"Thank you, everyone, for the past few weeks. I hope to see all of you again when I return."

Those words were echoed by the customers and it took a good five or so minutes before Claire and Julius were actually able to make it out the door. Snowflakes were slowly drifting down outside and Claire pulled her jacket tighter. She then took hold of Julius' good arm.

"Shall we?"

"This really isn't necessary, Claire," the young man tried one more time.

The smile Claire gave him was one mixed of tolerance and just-give-up. Julius sighed again but the edge of his lips quirked upward.

"Where do you live exactly?" Claire asked.

"Oh uh, a few blocks south from here," Julius answered.

"Alright, then let's get going," Claire suggested. "Wouldn't want you to catch a cold."

Julius chuckled. "I'm not quite that fragile."

As the two headed in the direction of his residence Claire regarded the young man. There was obviously a lot more to his situation than he had let on, especially with that last little bit from Hemming.

"Curious about me?" Julius said as he looked back at Claire.

"Just a little," Claire admitted. "I won't pry, but Mr. Hemming obviously thought it would be a good idea for me to walk you home for a reason."

"I suppose he did," Julius said wryly. "Well, there's not much point in hiding it now, you'll find out soon enough." The young man took a deep breath. "I'm, an orphan. Both of my parents passed away when I was only a child. None of my relatives wanted to take me in, so I ended up in an orphanage run by the government. You're cut loose when you turn sixteen though, so I ended up taking odd jobs to try and pay for food and rent while still going to school. It hasn't been easy, and to be honest there have been times when I thought it would be better for me to just drop out. But, Mr. Hemming was willing to pay me a lot better than a lot of previous jobs I've had, and he lets me take some of the leftovers." Julius crackled a slight smile at Claire. "And the tips aren't bad either." He then sighed. "I thought, I was finally turning things around. But now, this. Rent, is going to be interesting for the next month or so."

Claire frowned. She had suspected this the moment Hemming mentioned continuing to pay Julius even with his injuries preventing him from working. Though to hear it, and to hear the resignation in Julius' tone, that did not sit well with her in the least.

"How much is your rent?" she asked. "If you don't mind telling me."

Julius shrugged. "Around two hundred pounds a month. It's a small studio, doesn't even have a kitchen. Cheap, but then again it's not really rent that's that expensive, it's the school fees."

Even as Claire listened her mind was working away. When presented with a problem it was literally impossible for her to not contemplate solutions. An obvious one was already in her head, the question was whether it was a good one.

"Say, Julius," she began. "Is your lease on contract or month to month?"

"Month to month," Julius said. "It's one reason it's so cheap. Why, do you know of a cheaper place?"

"In a manner of speaking."

What the Hel. Hemming seemed to think highly of the young man and everything Claire had seen of him indicated he was a trustworthy person that despite the hand dealt him was working hard to better himself and his life. That was worthy of her help.

"How would you like to stay at my place?" she suggested. "I don't live too far from the diner, so once your arm is healed it would not be any more difficult for you to go back to work."

"But-are you sure?" Julius said, his tone tinged with shock. "I mean, that's very generous of you Claire, but, I mean, I don't want to cause you any trouble, especially with your neighbors."

Claire smiled gently as the two slowly came to a stop. "It won't be any trouble at all. And, well, don't fuss too much about the neighbors. There are opinions one should care about, and opinions one should not let stand in the way of doing the right thing."

Julius continued staring at Claire and the woman felt his form slowly tremble. He sniffed, and wrapped an arm around Claire. The woman accepted the embrace and let him rest his head on her shoulder.

"I-thank you, Claire. Thank you, very much."

Claire smiled, not that Julius could see it as he struggled to hold back his tears. And unnoticed by the woman herself was the barest glint of red in her own eyes.

* * *

"Alright, what do we have here?" Ohgi asked as he approached the gendarmerie soldier.

"Another pipe bomb," the man said. "From what we can tell it's no larger than the one that was tossed into the bushes by the Shinjuku office. A bomb squad is working to defuse it now."

Ohgi looked over to the group of gendarme in large bulky suits huddled around a large box. "Will that contain the blast?"

"Based on the yield of the last bomb we found, it should," the gendarmerie answered.

Suddenly one of the bomb disposal specialists raised a thumbs up.

"All clear," Ohgi heard over the radio.

"Shall we take a look sir?"

"Yes, let's," Ohgi said, following the man over.

As they approached one of the specialists rose with the pipe bomb in a box.

"Sir," the man said respectfully.

"Sergeant. Anything of note regarding this bomb?"

"Not as such sir," the specialist said. "From the looks of it this isn't much different than the bomb at the post office. Fairly sloppy handiwork, wasn't too difficult to disarm."

"I suppose that's something," Ohgi said.

"We can try to get some prints off of it, but, well, that'd be less useful here than it might be in the homelands."

Ohgi nodded in acknowledgment of the statement. A forensic database was something that took time to build up and as a policing force Akatsuki was still well in its infancy.

"So at this point it still appears that the bomber is an amateur working alone," Ohgi said.

"Amateur, yes," the gendarmerie agreed. "Whether they are working alone or not however is hard to say. There could well be several disenfranchised individuals about. And we cannot discount the possibility of copycats popping up."

That elicited a sigh from Ohgi. "Sometimes I wonder if you Britannians even have an optimistic side."

The specialist flashed a smile. "That _was_ the optimistic assessment, sir. The pessimistic one says that all this is a decoy, to trick us into thinking the bombers we're up against are incompetent, to lower our guard for the real attack."

"Not particularly encouraging," Ohgi said dryly. "Well, carry on sergeant."

"Yes sir."

As the gendarmerie carefully carried away the disarmed explosive Ohgi scratched his head. Thus far luck more than anything else had kept the body count of this bombing campaign low, but the next attempt could go all too well for their mysterious bomber, amateur or not. Ohgi looked up at the building the bomb had been planted next to. Not even a post office this time, but one of the postal warehouses that acted as central sorting and clearing houses for mail and packages.

"Ohgi."

The man looked back to see Minami approaching him.

"Hey. Any luck?"

"Yes," the bespectacled man said. "We got really lucky in fact. The cameras don't cover this side of the building, but there are two that at least cover the approaches, and one of them caught our suspect wandering over here."

Ohgi's eyes narrowed. "Do we have a positive ID?"

Minami nodded. "Or close enough to it. We were right, it was a postal employee who did it. Guy's not even Japanese."

"Seemed to know the language pretty well," Ohgi remarked, "what with his message to Asahi Shinbun."

"Assuming that was him in the first place," Minami pointed out.

That gave Ohgi pause as he nodded thoughtfully. "Though, why would he be bombing his own workplace?"

"That's something we'll have to ask the perp," Minami said, "though that does raise an interesting issue."

"I presume he lives in the Concessions?" Ohgi said.

"Bingo. We could grab him if he leaves, but I'd rather we nail this guy now instead of waiting. Who knows when he'll plant his next bomb."

"I'll put in a call to Colonel Bright," Ohgi said. "The gendarmerie has jurisdiction inside of the concessions, and they'll want to bring him in as much as us."

"Well, if they do, you think they'll let us sit in on the interrogation?" Minami said.

"Probably," Ohgi said. "You going to be needing me for anything else here?"

"No, I've got everything under control," Minami assured his friend. "I'll let you know if we find anything else."

"Alright. I'll head back to HQ and get in contact with the colonel."

As Ohgi headed for his car he mentally went over all of the things on his plate right now. Besides the various fires that popped up like these bombing attempts, there was also the simple day to day policing that Akatsuki was responsible for outside of the concession. And not all of the one-off incidents were as distasteful as what he was dealing with now. There were also security arrangements for the princess' upcoming visit to Keio, accompanied by a lot of pressure to make sure it did not end up as a repeat of the Tokyo Uprising.

Running a police force was much different than an insurgency, or even a small army like what Akatsuki grew into before the Battle of Tokyo. Back then even as Akatsuki tried to carry out some policing of the ghettos they did not actually need to worry about things like forensics or due process. It was important to pay attention to such details however, rebuilding their society required that they not take shortcuts or make compromises. That did not make any of this any easier. As he climbed into the driver's seat Ohgi sighed.

"Really wish you two were still with us, Naoto, Inoue." Ohgi chuckled wryly. "At least then I'd have someone to help with all the paperwork."

From behind the windshield he watched the crowd of onlookers and the Akatsuki personnel maintaining the perimeter. It felt so long ago when he was just a teacher, trying to do good by his students. Now so many other people were depending on him to not screw up. Not just the members of Akatsuki, but also those very people standing there gawking. Ohgi cocked his head aside. One of the gawkers was staring rather intently. His eyes were not wandering around like the others, he was carefully studying everything he looked at. Ohgi reached for his radio.

"Minami, you there?"

A beat passed. "Right here Ohgi. Something up?"

"Bystander in the crowds west of the warehouse, wearing a gray jacket and black pants."

Another pause. "I see him. Something wrong?"

"Not sure, just, something feels off about him."

"Want him brought in for questioning?"

Ohgi pursed his lips. When Akatsuki was formally granted the charter for policing the Tokyo wards outside the concessions a set of regulations were also formalized regarding its conduct, of which stated that without due cause Akatsuki could not arrest an individual. This was in fact a considerably more stringent standard than that employed by Britannian law enforcement, but after having suffered through years of capricious policing the Japanese people were not prepared to suffer more from their own fellows. And Ohgi was certainly not going to inflict it upon his people.

"Do we have anyone in plainclothes that could act as a tail?" Ohgi asked.

"Yeah, I've got two patrolmen that could pull it off."

"Position a few of our men about in case he tries to make a run for it," Ohgi finally said, "then ask if he's willing to answer a few questions. If he makes a break for it, we bring him in. If he says no, we'll have your men tail him."

"Understood."

Ohgi remained in his car, noting the discrete shifting of personnel. Hopefully their suspect would not notice until it was too late. Minami himself was the one that then approached the man and Ohgi watched as he began speaking. The shift in body language was visible even from this distance, as was the crowd backing away. Suddenly the man lunged forth, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Die traitors!"

Minami backpedaled but the man was too close and moving too fast. Ohgi stormed out of his vehicle, weapon raised but lacking a clear shot. A cry sounded from Minami and Ohgi heard the crack of his armor being punctured. The body armor available to Akatsuki was far from top of the line and while with luck they could stop a pistol round, they were far from stab proof. One of the other Akatsuki officers reached the assailant, tackling and pushing him off Minami. The man continued struggling but two more officers piled on, pinning him down. That did not do anything about his mouth however.

"You're all traitors! Sellouts! You're no better than those that signed on with the Britannian army! You-gah!"

A punch to the stomach knocked the air out of the man's lungs, one of the officers pinning him having gotten sick of his ranting. Ohgi ignored the pile of bodies however and dropped to his knees at Minami's side.

"Minami! Are you okay!?"

The man coughed. "I-I think so. The-the blade's not in too deep."

"Alright, hang tight. Medic!"

The call was entirely unnecessary as a paramedic was already running towards them.

"We need to get this armor off," he said immediately upon reaching them. "Careful!" The man sliced the sides of the vest but kept the plate at the same position so as not to disturb the knife. "When we pull out that blade, we need to do it fast, then apply pressure on the wound."

"Got it," Ohgi said.

"Alright, on the count of three. One, two, three!"

Minami bit back another cry as the blade was pulled out. His armor vest was tossed aside and a pair of hands clamped down on his side.

"Easy does it," the medic said.

"You'll be alright," Ohgi assured his friend.

Minami gave a pained smile. "Never doubted it."

As the paramedic worked to stem the bleeding, at least enough to allow them to move Minami, Ohgi looked over at the assailant. The man was no longer screaming but the look in his eyes said it all. There was a great hate boiling within him, a hate that had yet to be fully vented. Ohgi frowned. How many more people like him were out there? And when would they strike next? And how much would these attacks cost his people, in blood and in spirit?

End of Chapter 70

I messed up the GDP numbers for Britannia way earlier in the story. For now just ignore them, I'll do a fixup eventually once I've got a better set of consistent numbers worked out.

I've technically portrayed the Britannian officer corps as being far more technologically savvy than their real world counterparts are. There are still generals in the US military that don't even know how to use email, instead having their emails printed out and etc. That is, less than encouraging, shall we say.

The internet exists, but it's still at the stage of dialup for most people if they even have it. Government and military installations have better setups like T1 connections and the like, and a few of the richest or prominent research universities as well. Everyone else is stuck on their equivalent of 56k.

Lelouch is an intelligence operative in my story. Why would he be leading armies? That's not his job. His job is to gather intelligence and organize assassinations here and there. Again, I remind readers to not try to equate the roles the characters had in the anime with the roles they play in this story.

I do not recall Lelouch ever mentioning the need to have to reinforce Charlotte's geass. He did mention needing to reinforce his control over the JLF leadership, but that was only because his control over them was not fully established yet. Once the control is fully in place it's as absolute as it was shown in the anime, but before then someone of sufficient willpower or creativity can use loopholes to work around it, assuming they actually think to do so. And once the control is fully in place, then so is the failsafe, at which point currently even if someone like Monica showed up to try to disrupt the geass, the person geassed is probably going to suffer a fatal stroke.

In the real world the solution to an enemy knightmare isn't another knightmare. Much as with tanks that actually do exist it's an air to ground missile, preferably fired by something moving too fast for the enemy knightmare to even see, much less engage. Second best would be artillery. It's only when neither of the other two options are possible do you call in your own knightmares to face the enemy's. In modern military tactics you do not try to meet an opposing force with equivalency, you want to engage them with overwhelming superiority. You want to attack their weaknesses with weapons that they cannot defend against. Every single time that there has actually been knightmare on knightmare battles in my story, they have happened not because the people involved thought countering knightmares with other knightmares was a good idea, but because the preferred solutions were either outright unavailable, Lelouch and co did not go through so much effort trashing the military airfields for nothing, or there was not enough time to scramble them, as happened when Kallen hit Fuchu prison. As such, no, knightmare aces are still only useful at a tactical level. Strategically they are still pretty much individually insignificant since with sufficient firepower, which isn't even that much in the grand scheme of things, they can be taken out pretty quickly.

And as I have also stated very firmly, the scale of technology is nowhere as utterly unbalanced in my story as it was in the canon anime. No machine will approach the likes of the Lancelot Albion or the fully upgraded Guren. At its very best the Guren in my story might be able to take on one or two knightmare platoons all at once, but even with Kallen at the helm it'll likely be completely trashed afterwards. And if a concentrated airstrike is called in, the Guren would be unequivocally fucked.


	72. Chapter 71

_Infrastructure in the Holy Britannian Empire has long been a mixture of public and private ventures. While the Empire has generally tended towards a capitalist free enterprise model for its economy, it has also recognized that certain common resources cannot be run on a purely for profit basis without exacting large indirect costs on the wider economy. Nevertheless state intervention tended to be tepid at best if only because many of the more powerful peers of the realm did not wish to cede any prerogative to the crown and central government. Ever so slowly however the Britannian government assumed more authority and oversight powers over the economy, one of the largest expansions taking place during the Great Depression. Under the dynamic guidance of the Emperor Charles, the imperial government pursued a series of policies that sought to prevent any repeat of the circumstances that led to the Depression. Speculation in the financial markets became considerably more regulated with the imposition of more stringent margin requirements for stock purchases. The government also enacted a massive program to wrest the soil erosion occurring in the American prairies, planting trees and training farmers in better dry-soil farming techniques._

 _It was also during this time period that the government began taking an active role in the construction of infrastructure. Previously left to the purview of provincial governments or even private industry, the Great Depression saw infrastructure spending drop precipitously, a problem the government recognized quickly. The government's response was a massive public works program that served the dual purpose of providing work for unemployed subjects and also improving infrastructure across the Empire. Roads were improved or expanded, land reclaimed, bridges built, power plants raised, and telephone wires strung. The last two were to have especially long term repercussions as it effectively marked the beginning of nationalization of the Empire's power and telecommunications utilities. These utilities remain today under public ownership, with the government retaining responsibility for the core and backbone infrastructure while leasing out what is oft termed the 'last mile' to private entities to sell to consumers. The government's position as the owner and maintainer of the nation's electrical generation also allowed it to expedite deployment of new power generation systems such as solar and wind, and starting in the 2010s CE, nuclear fusion._

 _-Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I_

Chapter 71

Inveniet quod quisque velit

The conference room Ohgi entered was already filling up with the senior Akatsuki officers as well as a representative from the gendarmerie. Minami was still in the infirmary, the doctors having insisted he stay off his feet for the next day or so, an order Ohgi reinforced with one of his own. Now they just needed to make sure there were no repeats of this incident.

"Alright, let's get started," Ohgi asked as he took his place at the front of the room. "Superintendent, how did the interrogation of the suspect go?"

Tohdoh clasped his hands before him. "The man spent a great deal of time ranting about injustice and unfairness, but he had little to say about the actual bombing besides to say he wished it had actually gone off instead of being disarmed. There does not however seem to be any direct connection between him and the suspected bomber, he was simply a malcontent that came looking for an opportunity to cause more trouble."

"Not exactly promising," Ohgi remarked before looking over at the gendarmerie. "Captain Nardin, what of the interrogation of the postal worker?"

"He's kept his mouth shut so far," Kurt said, "besides explicitly denying sending that threatening message to the Asahi Newspaper. Otherwise he refuses to answer any other questions and is insisting on a lawyer. The government has however indicated they want the investigation handled by a, specialist team."

In the past that would have meant the Inquisitio, at which point it would not have mattered how tightlipped the person was, they would eventually spill everything they knew. Of course seeing the general distrust of that particular government institution, or at least of the Hereticus branch, the lack of enthusiasm amongst the assembled was quite understandable.

"This is starting to sound like some other group took advantage of the bombing to issue a statement to rile people up," Ohgi said.

"That was our preliminary conclusion as well," Kurt said, "save for the fact that by all indications while the suspect was responsible for planting the pipe bombs, he was not the one that made them."

"Oh?"

"We thoroughly searched his apartment and combined with the preliminary interviews of his neighbors the suspect is, not very technically inclined. There was also no bomb making material at his residence and thus far we have also found no residue on any of his clothing. This suggests that he has an accomplice that is still at large, but that he is at present not willing to give up."

"Even at the risk of being subjected to more, rigorous, interrogation?" Ohgi asked.

"Apparently so. We're going to see if we can sweat him a bit more, to try to get him to talk without having to hand him over," Kurt said. "We'll keep Akatsuki updated if he reveals anything else."

Ohgi nodded, leaning back into his chair. "So we can't quite rule out some sort of conspiracy. Lovely."

"If this postal worker was not working alone, then we need the consider the possibility that more bombing attacks will be launched," Tohdoh stated.

"Agreed," Ohgi said, "but the question is whether they will continue on a campaign against the postal offices or if they will shift targets. Tokyo is a very large city and there are countless places that they might strike at."

"It is impossible to protect everything," Kurt said, "but it should still be possible to make targeting a few places more trouble than it is worth."

The others looked over at the Britannian.

"Do you have a suggestion, captain?" Ohgi asked.

"Sniffer dogs," Kurt responded. "Both the gendarmerie and the regular police have K9 teams trained to detect explosives. We could loan you a few to station around high priority sites."

"That would be very useful," Ohgi said, mentally adding yet another item to the list of expertise that Akatsuki needed to develop internally. "How many teams do you think could be made available?"

"Probably about a dozen," Kurt said. "I know it's not a lot, but we don't have that many K9 units ourselves and we need to cover a few sites in the concession as well."

"Understandable," Ohgi said. "Still, any help that can be provided would be appreciated."

"I'll let the colonel know," Kurt said.

They really had come quite far, Ohgi mused, from the days of the insurgency. Getting genuine help from Britannian law enforcement to maintain order in the ghettos was a marked improvement from being suspicious of any Britannian that ventured out beyond the concession. Still he needed to be careful. Akatsuki could not go relying on the gendarmerie forever for the expertise and resources that it did not possess. Colonel Bright seemed a decent and hardworking person, but there was no guarantee that future gendarmerie commanders would be equally willing to lend them a hand.

* * *

When Claire arrived home she found Julius in the kitchen slowly working away at preparing dinner. She smiled at the young man's diligence.

"Need any help?"

"Hmm, well if you would not mind cutting these potatoes," Julius said. "I've already got the carrots and onions ready."

"Very well," Claire said, moving to the sink to wash her hands first.

As she looked at the counter she saw several chunks of meat.

"What are you making?"

"Lobby," Julius answered.

At Claire's quizzical gaze the young man chuckled.

"It's a beef and potato stew that we often had at the orphanage. The caretaker that often cooked for us had family from Staffordshire, and she claimed the recipe originated from there."

"Staffordshire, from the old country?"

Julius nodded. "Claims the recipe has remained unchanged since it was handed down to her by her grandmother." The young man flashed a smile. "And that there would be Hel to pay if we made any changes ourselves."

Claire giggled as she began slicing up the vegetables. "Sounds like you had a stern matron."

"She was, but she was also fair. And she encouraged all of us to make something of ourselves, not just settle for the good enough."

"Sounds like you had a very wise matron," Claire amended.

"That she was," Julius agreed again as he dumped the prepared meat into the pot. "So how has your day been?"

"Busy," Claire said with a sigh. "There haven't been any further bombings since the one you were caught up in, but we haven't had any luck tracking who is behind them. Thus far all we know is that the bombs are definitely hand assembled, and by someone who really knows their way around explosives."

Julius nodded. "And since they could have sourced the parts from anywhere, that makes it all the harder to trace their origins."

"Quite." Claire flashed a grin at the young man. "You know, you have a pretty good head on you. Have you ever thought of applying to become an analyst?"

"I do believe I would need to complete university to meet application qualifications," Julius pointed out.

"Technically true, but the Inquisitio does groom promising candidates from secondary as well."

"Well, I will certainly keep that option in mind," Julius said thoughtfully. "I suppose it would be a place to put into practical use my French abilities."

"Almost certainly," Claire agreed. "Here, these are done."

"Ah, thank you," Julius said. "If you would put them into the pot?"

Claire did so, careful to avoid splashing the boiling water. As the vegetables were added the water simmered down.

"What of the knight you are working with?" Julius asked as he stirred the pot.

"Dame Kruszewski has been, somewhat frustrated with the lack of progress. All of the suspects that we have managed to track turns out to have also fallen victim to the bombs themselves. And yet none of them showed any inclination to carry out what amounts to suicide attacks." Claire frowned. "It is, a most disturbing trend."

"I can well imagine," Julius said softly.

Claire smiled gently. "I am sorry if this brings up unpleasant memories."

Julius took a deep breath. "No, you are doing your best to track down these criminals. The least I can do is at least be here to act as a sounding board, to give you someone to talk to."

"Thank you Julius," Claire said gratefully.

Julius flashed his trademark charming smile at Claire in return.

"Still, there is no clue at all as to who is responsible?" Julius remarked.

"Not as such," Claire said. "We know it's the Swords of Michael, but the few sympathizers that the Inquisitio knows about do not seem to have played any sort of role in the recent attacks. For that matter those sympathizers have been keeping a very low profile and seemingly avoiding any contact with their compatriots." The woman frowned. "Almost as if they know they're being watched. But if that was so, then that would suggest the Swords know which of their members are compromised."

"Hmm, a rather unpleasant thought," Julius said. "Could they have infiltrated the Inquisitio?"

"Unlikely," Claire said, "but not impossible. A determined, long term effort to plant their own agents in the Inquisitio is not out of the question, especially considering the degree of professionalism the Swords have demonstrated recently." She stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Though if they really are being supported by conservative nobles and foreign elements, perhaps it is not them that initiated the infiltration."

Julius blinked. "Pardon?"

"Well, one possibility that Dame Kruszewski postulated was that the Swords of Michael were being backed by certain members of the nobility or even foreign intelligence services. The latter especially would have invested considerable effort into trying to penetrate the Inquisitio."

"All quite true," Julius agreed. "Did Dame Kruszewski actually have any nobles she actually suspected of such treason?"

"Hmm, let's see, Duke Albarea and Duke Cayenne were two possibilities she mentioned. They happen to be two of the most powerful nobles of the Conservative Association."

"The provincial lords of Carolina and Virginia respectively," Julius said. "I find myself, unsurprised."

Claire chuckled. "Well, the American south provinces have always tended to give rise to nobles that seek to, test, crown authority. Whether Duke Albarea or Duke Cayenne would have the courage to attempt something so blatant is, still under investigation, though a different Inquisitio group is looking into the matter."

"I see," Julius said, sprinkling some herbs and a pinch of salt into the broth. "And the foreign element?"

Claire frowned slightly but when Julius met her gaze she blinked and responded.

"This is a bit more sensitive, but there is a suspicion that operatives from the French SDECE might somehow be involved."

"Really?" Julius said. "That seems rather specific."

"One was involved in orchestrating the Tokyo Uprising," Claire said, "and to instigate locals into some sort of targeted insurrection would fit the style of this group of operatives."

"A targeted insurrection?" Julius said. "Is that what the Inquisitio suspect is happening now?"

"It is, considered a major possibility," Claire said, "but unless the Swords of Michael are much larger and better equipped than our intelligence indicates, they would face even worse odds in any sort of operation in the homeland than the JLF faced in Area 11 when they attempted to take Tokyo."

"I see," Julius said. "That is certainly reassuring."

"Indeed," Claire agreed.

The young man raised his spoon, taking a sip of the broth. He then scooped up some more and presented it to Claire.

"How is it?"

The woman took a sip, careful not to burn her mouth. She smacked her lips and let the taste roll over her tongue. Suddenly her stomach growled, causing Claire's face to flush. Julius chuckled.

"Well, I'll take that as a good sign." He stirred the stew a bit more. "By the way, what does the Inquisitio know about the SDECE group that popped up in Area 11?"

"Regrettably not much," Claire admitted. "We know that there were three of them, two men and a woman. One of the men and the woman left the area before the uprising started but another stayed behind. He was captured, but apparently there was an incident after his capture that saw him expire."

"I see. Regrettable that, I'm sure the Inquisitio could have learned much had they been able to properly interrogate him."

"We certainly had a lot of questions for him," Claire said. "Especially about the other male operative."

Julius glanced over at Claire. "Oh?"

The woman's face tensed again for a moment before she answered. "This isn't confirmed, but we do have a name, and, well, there are a lot of implications if the name is real."

Julius' eyes narrowed. "What is the name?"

The pause this time was much longer before, with clear effort, Claire answered.

"Lelouch Lamperouge."

Still holding her gaze, Julius responded. "Why does that name mean anything?"

"Lelouch was the name of the Fifth Prince of the Realm," Claire explained. "And Lamperouge was the maiden name of his mother."

"So you are suggesting that this Prince Lelouch, is not deceased?" Julius said.

Claire nodded slowly.

"That, would be quite the development," the young man said as he continued staring at Claire. "Were it true."

"Were it true," Claire agreed, and began breathing more easily as Julius finally looked away.

"Things certainly seem to be getting complicated."

"That they are," Claire said, wondering just why she seemed so lightheaded.

"Well, you're home now and this should be a time of rest. The stew will be ready in a bit, want to help me slice the bread?"

"Oh, sure." Claire grabbed one of the loaves and another knife. "What is this one?"

"Sourdough," Julius said. "Goes quite well with the stew."

"You certain seem to know your way around the kitchen," Claire said with a teasing friend. "I'm sure you'll make a lucky girl very happy."

Julius scratched cheek with a sheepish smile. "Well, I'd like to think I'm doing a bit of that now."

Claire chuckled. "I think you are a few years too early to be making remarks like that, Julius."

The young man flashed his smile again. "I shall bear that in mind, Claire."

* * *

The Guren's red form stomped over the grassy plains, hefting a mock VARIS rifle in its left hand and flexing the claws on its right. Opposite it some distance away was a gray knightmare reminiscent, but distinct, of the Lancelot. It was not simply the color that distinguished this knightmare from its predecessor, but also the red wings mounted on its back that Kallen had never seen before. She had heard rumors about a knightmare float system but this was the first time the young woman had seen it.

"Liking your new mount, Rean?" Kallen said over the radio.

"A lot," came the enthused voice of the older youth. "The Lancelot Valimar is like a dream to pilot."

Kallen chuckled. "Boys and their toys."

"Are you telling me you didn't feel the same the first time you climbed into the Guren?" Rean countered.

"Well..."

Technically the first time she piloted the Guren she kept landing on her ass, not that Kallen was quite prepared to let Rean know that. Another voice cut in however, saving Kallen from having to respond.

"Lieutenant Schwarzer, Lieutenant Stadtfeld, are you in position?" Cécile's voice sounded over the radio.

"Yes ma'am," Rean responded.

"Yes captain," Kallen echoed.

The two were effectively alone on the field, the observers staying well away even with all of the weapons dialed down or replaced with practice versions. The two knightmares squaring off were after all the most advanced examples of their kind in the world and no one was under any illusions how much destruction they could wrought in the right hands. Considering one was piloted by the Red Knight and the other by a brigade cadet, they probably were in the right hands.

"Alright, we're set up on this end as well," Cécile said. "Beginning countdown. Ten, nine, eight-"

The two were more than two miles away from each other but that might as well have been spitting distance for the VARIS rifles each possessed. Actually scoring a hit on the other hand was another matter entirely as even with the railgun's speed it was still not quite a point and shoot weapon. Not quite.

"-five, four, three, two, one, mark!"

The two knightmares immediately took off, each popping off a single shot from their rifles. Rean's fell short, creating a splash of dirt in front of the Guren. Kallen's hit, barely, glancing off the edge of the Blaze Luminous shield and likely significantly draining its reserves. To his credit Rean was unfazed and got off a second shot, this one landing the right distance and scoring a mark on the ground where the Guren was a moment ago. And unlike the gray knightmare Kallen's did not possess a defensive shield so a single hit would effectively neutralize her. The young woman focused, locking onto Rean with her geass and squeezed the trigger. And watched in bemusement as Valimar leapt into the air with a short burst from its float system, cleaning evading her shot.

The jump allowed Rean to close the distance between the two and he continued advancing in an arcing trajectory. Unlike the paved ground of roads or cities the bumpy terrain of the plains made landspinners damn near useless, forcing knightmares to move using their legs. This tended to significantly reduce the speed advantage knightmares usually possessed, especially for the older generation models that relied on auto-balancing systems. Aces tended to disable the auto-balancer and could move much faster in bipedal mode, whereas neither the Guren nor Valimar even possessed one, relying purely on the haptic feedback from their pilot's controls to keep the machine upright. This made both knightmares much, much faster than their predecessors, but meant that only a very small number of people were capable of even piloting them in the first place. As Valimar broke out into a flat out run, it was clear that its pilot at least was more than up to the challenge.

Even as he moved Rean continued taking shots at Kallen, remarkably quickly at that. His VARIS rifle was cycling much faster than her own, suggesting Camelot had made some improvements in the weeks since they had grudgingly given her one. Combined with Valimar's shield and float system, one could say the odds were rather stacked against her. Fortunately for the young woman she liked a challenge. Kallen took aim, not at Valimar itself, but at the ground right before it. The shot carved a small crater into the ground, which Rean neatly jumped over with another boost from his float system. It also left him momentarily hanging in the air, a moment that Kallen now took advantage of to close the distance.

Right before he landed Rean fired off another shot from his VARIS, this one squarely on target. Kallen made no move to dodge however, instead raising the Guren's right hand and igniting the radiation surger. A sheath of plasma appeared for a brief moment in front of the red knightmare, just in time to turn the railgun round into molten slag. As it dissipated Kallen leveled her own VARIS and responded in kind. Her own shot was equally on target and having just landed Rean was unable to make another saving leap. The Blaze Luminous activated, projecting a green glow in front of his knightmare. Kallen's shot smashed into it, shattering the barrier even as it bled away all of the kinetic energy from the round.

The two were now only about twenty meters away from each other, point blank for all intents and purposes. In one deft motion Rean stowed his rifle and moved to draw his maser sword. Kallen did not wait, taking the opportunity this created to try to finish the fight. The Guren charged in, the radiation surger locked down but still ready to deliver a simulated coup de grace. Suddenly Kallen thrust the Guren's right arm downward as Valimar spun about to reveal that it already had a sword drawn in his left hand. She had seen the motion, otherwise she would have never been able to deflect the slash, but the speed with which Rean carried it out still had caught her by surprise. And then the right hand too held a sword and Rean executed a horizontal slash at the Guren.

Kallen threw her knightmare back, evading the strike but was now forced onto the defensive as Rean charged. Another quick burst from the float system sent him flying at Kallen far faster than her knightmare could possibly physically respond. And as the young woman was realizing, knowing what Rean was doing did not necessarily mean she understood how Valimar's controls worked well enough to predict how his actions would translate into the knightmare's movements. The loud crack that sounded marked the end of the duel as the Guren was sent tumbling back by the solid blow of Valimar's sword.

"Engagement complete," Cécile called out over the radio. "Both combatants stand down."

Valimar assumed an at ease stance as it stowed its weapons. It then extended a hand to the Guren.

"Are you alright Kallen?" Rean asked.

"Fine, just fine," Kallen said as she had her knightmare talk hold of the hand. "Hopefully Rakshata doesn't chew me out for banging up her baby."

The young man chuckled. "It was a good fight. I thought you nearly had me a couple of times there."

"Nearly tends to be about as useful as not even close on the battlefield," Kallen said dryly.

"True enough," Rean agreed as he finished helping pull the Guren up. "But that is what training is for, to provide the opportunities to see which nearly has the best chance of becoming a for sure in an actual battlefield." Kallen sensed the man shrug inside his cockpit. "Besides, knightmare on knightmare duels are extremely rare. Your skill in them is only a rough indicator of your skill as a knightmare pilot."

Kallen blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it," Rean said. "How many foreign powers possess knightmares in significant numbers? Before the Germans showed off their Panzer Hummels, the answer was zero. And even the Hummels do not possess the versatility of the Empire's frames. The way you would engage one of those is markedly different than how you would fight a Britannian knightmare."

"I haven't really taken a look at the German knightmares," Kallen admitted.

"Well, it's a very different design philosophy than what the Empire pursued," Rean said. "You should be able to access the general briefing that was issued for the knightmare corps, it has a decent analysis of its characteristics."

"I'll have to look that up," Kallen agreed even as her thoughts cast a wider breadth.

What Rean said earlier was striking a chord with her, especially about the bit of how rare knightmare duels actually were. The resistance movements had always seen knightmares as symbols of the Britannian occupation, both because of the role they played in the conquest of Japan but also for the fact that the Empire used them so heavily in urban pacification due to their maneuverability and general versatility. As a consequence the mentality of many resistance fighters focused around how to fight knightmares effectively, whether it be using ambushes and traps or trying to obtain knightmares of their own to meet Britannian forces on equal footing. Few cells actually had much success with the latter, Kallen's own more or less obtaining theirs through sheer dumb luck more than anything else. Still the mentality stuck and knightmares as actual enemies was deeply ingrained in the mentality of the Japanese.

The Britannians on the other hand did not share this mentality, not least because for much of the knightmare frame's existence the Empire was the only one to possess them. In fact probably the first time the Empire had ever fought a large scale engagement against other knightmares was during the Battle of Tokyo when the JLF revealed its four battalions. Of course Britannia had not been complacent about the threat that knightmares in enemy hands might pose, they did at least have all the examples of Kallen giving them bloody noses every time she showed up in one. While Britannian forces did not possess the hard won experience of the insurgency in fighting knightmares, they did have doctrine designed for such contingencies, doctrine that turned out to be pretty effective all things considered. Doctrine that did not involve taking on knightmares with knightmares. As it turned out, fire support from the navy and what airpower the Britannians were able to scrape together even with their airfields trashed were pretty effective against the bipedal mechs.

Still for all the rarity of knightmare duels Rean had shown himself very proficient in its practice. And as much as she preferred it to not happen, she could not rule out the possibility that one day she and Rean would genuinely be standing opposite each other, which put these practice duels under a completely different light. And unlike Suzaku, whom while a seeming natural in a knightmare, Rean possessed not only talent but also extensive experience thanks to his brigade training. If he had been the one in the Lancelot instead of Suzaku back when she was still an insurgent, Kallen was under no illusion what would have probably happened.

"Both knightmares return for system evaluations," Cécile ordered.

"Yes ma'am," Rean acknowledged.

Kallen said nothing but followed after the gray knightmare. She supposed they would no longer be able to call the Lancelots white knights now.

"Say Rean," the girl spoke over the radio. "Why is the Lancelot grey now?"

"Oh, that was a personal request on my part," Rean said. "White tends to stand out a bit too much, grey at least can blend into certain backgrounds. That and white's not really my colour."

"I see," Kallen remarked as she took out her glasses from her case and put them on.

Camouflage. Technically her bright red was not terribly useful for that either. If the Guren really was to ever go on a combat deployment, it probably would need to be repainted. Something else to discuss with the good doctor, along with what other ways they might be able to improve the knightmare. Kallen idly wondered if they could perhaps work out another trade with Camelot for the Blaze Luminous. Then again there was probably a limit to just how much classified weapons technology the Empire would be willing to share with what was technically a foreign engineering team. The float system might be easier to get ahold of, since that was mostly public knowledge. Though it was supposed to be really inefficient. If the Empire really had made strides to improving its efficiency, there certainly had to be other uses than simply making knightmares fly. Kallen shook her head. That was all ultimately not her concern. She had more immediate matters to deal with, like making sure she would not be getting her ass handed to her by Rean the next time they dueled. One must always set one's priorities straight after all.

* * *

"So both the Carolinian and Virginian provincial guard are planning training exercises?" Claire remarked.

"Yes ma'am," the acolyte said. "In fact more than one. The official statement from the Dukes Albarea and Cayenne is that with the Empire at war they wanted to ensure their forces were ready to assume any duties that the regular military may need to vacate due to manpower constraints."

"But of course they have not volunteered to place their guard at the disposal of the military for overseas deployments," Claire said dryly.

"No ma'am. Probably because that would actually make sense."

Claire allowed an amused chuckle to sound. Not expressing impolite opinions about certain members of the peerage would have raised more eyebrows within the Inquisitio, or for that matter much of the central government.

"When are they scheduled?" Claire asked.

"After the new year, ma'am," the acolyte answered. "In all likelihood they'll need at least that much time to muster all of the logistics to support these exercises."

Claire nodded. While her own military training was fairly limited she did understand that modern armies tended to need a great deal of support in order to function.

"The thing that's a bit disturbing however ma'am are a few remarks that seem to imply this won't be the only training exercise those two provincial guards will be running next year."

"Really?"

This time it was the acolyte's turn to nod. "Yes ma'am."

Claire pulled up from memory the arsenal the two guards possessed. As the standing forces of two of the more prominent provincial lords the Carolinian and Virginian provincial guards were actually equipped with fairly up to date weapons, at least as light arms went. They had transitioned to the M16 rifle with the military and their basic kit was no worse than what the standard soldier in the army might receive. Their heavier weapons tended to be army surplus however, not least of which because there was literally no plausible rationale for provincial forces to have state of the art tanks and the like unless they were planning something untoward. Not even the Duke of Cayenne was stupid enough to be that blatant though. As such the armored regiments of the two guards were composed of M48 Pattons instead of the M60s in service with the military now.

On the other hand the Virginian provincial guard was the only one in the entire country that actually possessed knightmare frames. Not just models retired from the military, but the latest Gloucester series. The official rationale was that the guard was serving as testers for the knightmares, something that was actually plausible sounding seeing as Duke Cayenne owned the company that designed and was manufacturing them for the Empire. The duke obviously enjoyed the prestige that came from actually having knightmares under his direct control, though the crown had ordered that he keep those numbers to a single company's worth or face outright seizure of the Gloucester production lines.

"These training exercises will be using up a lot of oil presumably," Claire said. "And put a lot of wear and tear on their equipment. I would have thought the military would have protested."

"Valhalla has already issued a statement making clear that no additional allocations of rationed resources will be provided to make good any breakdowns caused by the exercises," the acolyte said. "There was also a, less than subtle remark that if the nobles really wanted to make a contribution to the war effort they would be volunteering their provincial forces for overseas deployment."

"Tiamat will let go of its tail before that happens," Claire said. "Alright, so these exercises might well be in preparation for an actual move against Pendragon. Though even with two provincial guards they would still be facing considerable odds against the capital's defenses. Though." The woman pursed her lips. "The Virginian provincial guard does have an actual fighter squadron. F-4s, old, but still quite capable. And they can serve as bombers."

"Surely the air force's F-15s would have little trouble sweeping them aside?" the acolyte said.

"During the Tokyo Uprising the instigators went to significant lengths to neutralize the Empire's air assets," Claire said. "It would only be nature for them to attempt that here as well."

The acolyte looked skeptical but did not give voice to any further doubts.

"It will be something we should at least make the military aware of," Claire said, "assuming they are willing to listen to us."

That the man nodded. There was very little love lost between Hereticus and the military. Perhaps Claire would need to go through one of her Xenos contacts, or have the Knight of Twelve act as the messenger. Claire frowned.

"Where is Dame Kruszewski anyway?"

"Umm, I am not sure, her grace was supposed to be here for this briefing."

"Huh, strange." For some reason that was bugging Claire a lot more than it should have otherwise. "Well, we will need to make sure she is informed of these developments if she is not already."

"Yes captain."

* * *

As Claire rose and left the room Monica carefully observed the woman on the display. There was no change in her movements, no new ticks in her mannerism. At first glance the interrogator was acting completely normal. The knight grimaced.

"Well I have to give the prick credit, he's subtle."

None of the others in the room made any quips of their own. They knew the knight well enough that her own remark was not an invitation for their own commentary.

"So no indication at all that she's putting anything less than 100% into her work."

That however was a prompt.

"No your grace, as with this time every previous instance where someone left out a detail or made a rushed conclusion she would interject and raise the issue."

The knight sighed. "And her data access patterns?"

"Audits of her database queries show no discernable deviation from over the last six months. That's as far as they go back. She has been accessing more information about Pendragon's defenses, but that's expected in light of the investigation."

"Unfortunately," Monica said sullenly.

It was probably a damn good thing everything about Loki Regiment in that database was fake.

"And the tail put on her?"

"Captain Rieveldt generally goes immediately home upon completing work," another acolyte said. "There are not too many places that could serve as dead drops, at least that she visits frequently enough to serve as such. Only one neighbor has called upon her home since we began staking it out and the preliminary background check is clean. Checks on other neighbors and others seen in the area are still ongoing."

And taking a long time, was the unspoken statement.

"Alright. Continue with your duties. Dismissed."

The acolytes proceeded out the room, leaving Monica by herself. Once the doors closed the knight sighed. She had to give Lelouch some credit, the young man had a lot of gall to not only go for a Hereticus interrogator but actually succeed in compromising her. Granted his compulsion geass made things a lot easier, it still took some balls. Then again considering who his mother and father were that should come as no surprise. The problem that Monica now faced was manifold. She needed to find Lelouch, stop Claire from doing too much damage with her access to the internal Hereticus database, while keeping the interrogator from realizing others knew she was compromised and triggering the geass failsafe long enough to have her brain examined to try to figure out just what the Hel Lelouch had done.

Monica did feel some sympathy for Claire. Her short time working with the captain made clear that the other woman was a competent and loyal servant of Britannia. Fair too, which was actually something of note for someone of her position in the Empire. Had this matter not come up the knight would have been prepared to recommend Claire for promotion to full inquisitor. Now though the interrogator would be lucky to make it out of this alive and not end up a vegetable. Monica would make every effort to try to undo Lelouch's geass plus its failsafe, but since the captain would be her first attempt her best was no guarantee of success. The knight sighed again. If only the Princess Euphemia had not had the French SDECE operative executed. And if only V.V. had not been a whiny brat and pissed off the princess and everyone in her administration. For that matter if V.V. had not gone on his jealous rage and murdered the Empress Marianne, Lelouch would still be an imperial prince and putting his considerable talents in Britannia's service. Having seen the degree of ruthless efficiency the young man was capable of Monica would have loved to have him as a subordinate instead of having to fight him.

Regrettably however Lelouch was at present an enemy of the state, which meant Monica needed to put him down. And that was exactly what she would do once Claire led her back to the fallen prince. The knight would try to make the death quick at least, the young man was a monster created by Britannia after all and so was the Empire's responsibility to put him down. Hopefully in their efforts they would not end up simply making him stronger.

* * *

Heinrich pinched his brow as he walked down the palace hallway. He really was not getting enough sleep, but then again if anyone else was he would be rightly amazed. As he turned the corner he was greeted by the sight of an elderly man yawning, giving proof to that.

"Gwyn," Heinrich greeted.

The man turned around, grinning widely as he saw the baron. "Heinrich my boy! Punctual as ever."

Heinrich gave a slight smirk. "I have heard it called a virtue."

"The sooner meetings start, the sooner they end," Gwyn said with a nod.

"That we are both agreed on," Heinrich said as he opened the door to the conference room and held it for the older man.

The two were the first to arrive so had their pick of seats. Gwyn immediately made for the one directly opposite where the princess would be and plopped himself down. Heinrich simply snorted.

"Best seat in the house," Gwyn said with a grin.

"You're a dirty old man, Gwyn."

Said dirty old man cracked another grin before his face became more serious. "Had a call from Irina a few days ago."

"Oh? You two on speaking terms again?"

Gwyn snorted. "Hmph. She's the one that stopped listening, not me. Anyhoo, I wasn't the one that she wanted to talk to, she just wanted me to act as a messenger boy."

Heinrich took perhaps a moment to make the inference. "Kallen."

Gwyn nodded. "More specifically, that knightmare of hers. Reinford wants to examine it, quiet like."

"That will be up to my daughter," Heinrich said. "Though I don't know what Irina thinks Reinford has to offer Kallen, it's not like she'd be interested in any sort of monetary compensation."

"With you as her father? Not likely. About the only thing I can think of that might interest your girl is maybe something she could use for her knightmare."

Heinrich rubbed her chin. While his daughter probably was not aware, he knew that she had already cut one deal for access to the Guren, receiving one of Camelot's experimental weapons in exchange.

"I'll pass it on to her," Heinrich said.

"Good enough," Gwyn said with a nod. "Not like I'm going to be doing any lobbying on my daughter-in-law's behalf."

"Well, she did give you a granddaughter," Heinrich remarked.

"True, true, and Alisa has grown into a fine young woman. Now if only she can find a nice young man to settle down with and give me a few great-grandkids!"

Heinrich let out a bark of laughter but before he could respond the door opened once more to reveal the princess and her staff. The two rose and bowed respectfully.

"Your highness," Gwyn greeted.

"Sir Reinford," Euphemia said with a polite smile. And then nodded to Heinrich. "Baron Stadtfeld. You may know this already but Kallen is participating in a training exercise and will not be back to Tokyo until tomorrow."

"Kallen made brief mention of it, but thank you for informing me, your highness."

Euphemia proceeded to the head of the table and seated herself, with Rochester and Lawrence right behind her.

"No Eve today?" Heinrich remarked to his friend.

"No, today's just industrial matters, not agricultural," Lawrence said. "And yes, you do need to be here."

"Of course," Heinrich drawled. "Though in that case, should not Dame Sumeragi also be present?"

"She was invited," Euphemia said. "We still have however a few minutes before the scheduled time."

That was true enough so Heinrich settled back into his seat to wait. The wait was not long however as a minute later the doors opened for the third and probably final time before the meeting commenced and Kaguya Sumeragi and an assistant entered.

"Your highness," the young woman bowed.

"Kaguya," Euphemia greeted. "Please take a seat, we can then begin."

"Of course your highness."

Once everyone was relatively comfortable the princess spoke.

"The military has issued the second set of industrial mobilization directives, this one regarding local manufacturing. They have produced a list of items that will be required to equip the divisions that are being raised both here in Japan and also that are being sent here. The general staff intends that Japan serve as the primary staging point for the Asian campaign and wants to ensure a ready supply of equipment, munitions, and spare parts." Euphemia looked over at Gwyn. "Sir Reinford, my office will be providing you with a list of production contracts shortly. I believe their terms to be fair, to allow Kirihara Industries to make a reasonable profit in the course of fulfilling the needs of the military."

In other words the princess would not be very flexible in changing the terms of remuneration. Then again that would probably not be necessary, as Euphemia had said these contracts tended to be fair even if they did not grant opportunities for massive gouging of profits.

"Baron Stadtfeld," the princess continued, shifting her gaze over. "In addition to the buildup of fuel discussed at the last meeting, some progress has been made on the importation of raw materials that the area's industries will require. As I am sure you are well aware of, Australia has bountiful deposits of raw materials but its industrial capacity is still underdeveloped, even when compared to Japan's depressed economy. In fact Japan possesses the greatest potential for quickly ramping up industrial production for the Empire on this side of the Pacific, so long as its raw material needs are met. The navy believes that it will be able to secure the route between Japan and Australia, and for that matter between Japan and the Areas southwest of us, thus also ensuring the relatively safe transfer of products goods that will be manufactured here in Japan that are needed by the other Areas."

Heinrich assumed a thoughtful expression. Assuming this all panned out, the mobilization plan had the potential to turn Japan into an industrial powerhouse if it really did end up supplying all of the Empire's Pacific possessions. And with the Chinese and Russian navies bottled up, the chances that Australian resources would actually reach Japan were fairly high. Of course getting those products to the Philippines and the Indonesian Archipelago would be a tad trickier, but no more so than what the Empire was currently facing in trying to supply its troops from the homelands.

"Finally," Euphemia said, widening her gaze to all of the assembled, "due to the massive manpower demands of the military and the equal if not greater need for workers in agriculture and industry, the Departmento Munitorum as requested that audits be performed in companies assigned production contracts to try to ensure that critical workers do not end up getting drafted. The specific means to apply for an exemption will be published later this week. Do note that those that are found guilty of abusing the exemption policy will face punitive sanctions. Am I understood?"

Heads nodded all about. Then again neither Kaguya nor Gwyn were likely to need to utilize the exemption much for their employees seeing as both the Sumeragi Group and Kirihara Industries were primarily staffed by Japanese. Still they did do a great deal of business with more Britannian companies and so the two could at least help get the word out, and vouch for any employees in those other enterprises that were indirectly crucial to their needs.

"Very well. That about sums up the updates from the central government. Now I would like to move onto progress on the initiatives begun since the last meeting. Baron Stadtfeld, if you would please update us on progress on the fuel depots."

"Of course your highness," Heinrich said.

For all the new bits of information revealed today there were countless other pieces of old news that still needed to be kept fresh. And as much as Heinrich did not particularly want to get dragged back into governmental work again the closeness of his daughter to the princess made such a return inevitable. If that was the case, he was going to do the damn best job he could and nothing less. He had his pride after all. And a deep sadness that needed burying.

End of Chapter 71

The complete lack of what is running through Julius' head during his conversations with Claire is intentional.

Nine out of ten times the A-10 Thunderbolt would win against a knightmare. That one time would be in a situation where the knightmare possesses a Blaze Luminous to survive the initial strike and also has a railgun to actually inflict enough damage on the A-10 to actually bring it down. Those things are tough. But suffice it to say, a standard knightmare is woefully inadequate to take on air threats. If the Britannians had not lost their airfields during the Tokyo Uprising they would have had a much easier time taking down the JLF. The same holds true for the European knightmares as well. One big reason the Britannians are still holding on in Area 18 is because of judicious use of airpower. In fact Fifth Fleet's aircraft carriers are pretty much stuck in the Middle East until the Empire can get more forces over there to support Olaf.

After WWII the United States had literally the largest economy in the world. Its industrial output eclipsed that of every other nation on Earth combined. While the circumstances are a bit different in my story, plus we're almost two decades after that time period, Britannia does control basically half of the world's landmass and all the resources that entails. At a minimum the Empire has a huge amount of raw materials, from oil to iron to rubber and so on. And tungsten. Tungsten is very important. Anyway, by this point in time the western hemisphere has been fairly well industrialized, both North and South America. North America more so, but South America is a lot more industrialized in this timeline than it was in the real world. So while Britannia might not decisively eclipse the other nations in terms of economic and industrial power, it comes damn close.

In a western society, incest between half-siblings probably would be illegal, even in a society like Britannia's, or at the very least frowned upon. Japan, umm, yeah. It's pretty obvious all of the subtexts are derived from the Japanese cultural background. If Euphemia and Lelouch had been cousins it probably would not raise nearly as many eyebrows what with the way bloodlines tended to get so mixed up in European nobility, but siblings would almost certainly cross a line.

On the other hand if one was simply examining the respective personalities of the two, there is a certain appeal to a Euphemia and Lelouch pairing. I can see why I would have readers shipping the two, just for how interesting their interactions would be. Such interactions will however have to remain purely theoretical.

I actually know exactly where the Cornelia and Euphemia conversation about Kallen would happen. My estimate is that it'd probably be between one to two thousand words long all by itself. That was one of the primary reasons I didn't write it, I was getting burned out by how long that particular arc had gotten.

The only response that I have to one of the reviews for the previous chapter is a shrug. I'm certainly not feeling any need to not write more chapters like the last one.

Whether Lelouch is a tactical or strategic genius is not something that is determined by what I say in my author notes. That has to be a judgment readers make for themselves based on the text of the actual story. I could claim all sorts of nonsense in the notes but if a reader does not find textual proof of it in the story proper, nothing I've said in the notes means a damn thing.

On that note, a further remark regarding characters in general. I have to be extremely careful about what I have each character do in the story. I cannot give characters new abilities or powers as the plot demands, everything they do needs to be believable and feasible for them to achieve. Kallen did not become leader of the second most powerful resistance group in Japan overnight, it took her about a year to build up to that plus a lot of lucky breaks. Euphemia spent about ten years turning herself into the woman she is today and building up her power base at court. Cole right now is undergoing military training, presumably so that he can actually put that training to use. Mikasa is being trained to become a guardsman because she will presumably serve in that capacity in some point in the story. So on and so forth.

The one thing that I cannot afford in this story is to create the impression that I am granting any particular character undue favor by overusing them in situations where there are better characters to handle the events, letting them get away with stuff they really should not, or having other characters keep singing their praises. Every comment, every compliment, every disparaging remark has to be rooted in something beyond that piece of dialogue, there has to be actual events that warrant whatever is said about a character by others in-universe. It is also because I am trying to avoid one single character being good at everything that I have so many characters. Euphemia is a bureaucrat, not a warrior, hence why she left military matters in the hands of the professionals beyond giving them overarching objectives. Jeremiah could not have been both conducting military operations in Area 11 and also took care of Euphemia's security. Villetta was not ready for that kind of role yet, she was too junior, so I brought in another character, Jonathan, to do so. There are plenty of other examples as well.

There is, ultimately, simply too many things happening requiring distinctly different fields of expertise that no single character could realistically cover one, maybe two tasks. And that last bit, realism, is what I've been striving for since the start of the story. The real world rarely has a single individual be responsible for everything in even a middle sized organization. For governments, you need entire legions of people. The top tier might be kept down to a dozen or so, but that dozen is only able to do their jobs because they have more staff behind the scenes supporting them. And as new tasks crop up and there is not an existing character that could credibly have the expertise to handle that task, I would rather introduce another character than suddenly have someone be an instant expert in something they had shown no indications of knowing about earlier. That's one advantage of not having to worry about a budget for actors.


	73. Chapter 72

_The Indian Uprising that erupted in early December, 1962 CE marked the point in the Great War where the Chinese Federation and European Union began to waken to the fact that the war they had instigated would not be of limited scope, that Britannia's intent was not merely to defend its overseas possessions but also to decisively defeat its opponents. The Britannian government had been put into contact with the larger Indian resistance movement by the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki, whose knightmare the Guren had actually been built by one such group. From these initial communications the Empire agreed to lend aid to the Indians in their efforts to achieve independence from the Chinese Federation. Crucially, Britannia also promised to not attempt to replace the Chinese and seize control of India in the aftermath of the uprising. There were significant doubts on the part of the Indians as to whether Britannia would actually adhere to such an agreement, but to the surprise of many, not least the Empire's enemies, Britannia did indeed respect Indian independence at the conclusion of the war._

 _In the immediate context of the war the Indian Uprising caught the Chinese Federation off guard, its reduced garrison facing significant difficulties trying to put down the rebellion. These difficulties were further compounded by the large number of defections by persons of non-Han descent encouraged by the rebellion. In a few short months the Chinese situation in India was becoming desperate and combined with the failure of the Philippines and Indonesian offensives the Federation was soon contained, permitting Britannia freedom of navigation of the Pacific and Indian Oceans._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 72

Mors certa, hora incerta

"-and we come to you now with breaking news in the war. The Britannian army has landed several divisions in the port city of Mumbai with the cooperation of local insurgents and have engaged Chinese forces stationed in India. The city garrison had already been suborned and imperial forces are even now advancing further inland."

Kallen muted the television and set down the remote. "Well I'll be damned. They actually did it."

"And now to see how true Britannia will be to its word," Rakshata said, letting out a poof of smoke.

"Well, so far they've had a decent track record," Kallen said.

Both women knew that that was not necessarily an authoritative indicator of the future of course. Still, the ramifications if India was actually to break away from the Chinese Federation would be significant, especially if other regions conquered by China tried to follow suit. Then there were the obvious ramifications on territories conquered by Britannia.

"Are you not worried this might incite another uprising attempt in Japan?" Rakshata asked.

"Oh, I'm worried alright," Kallen said, "and so are a lot of other people. In fact I'm pretty sure that the issue of independence is never going to die down regardless of how much Japan might integrate into Britannia. There will always be people looking for a cause to invest themselves in, and even if their motivations might be misguided the core of their position is not wrong."

"Not wrong, until they attempt to impose that position upon others," Rakshata said.

"Exactly."

"And yet, is that not what we are doing even now?" the engineer pointed out. "Much as there are people who continue to desire Japan's independence, there are those in India whom are content to remain part of the Chinese Federation."

"Also true," Kallen agreed. "But the world isn't perfect, and we can't always get what we want. While the world isn't a zero sum game, there are still definite limits."

"Easier for those that do have what they want to wax poetic about it," Rakshata said. "Still, it is as you say, the world is not perfect, and there will always be those that lose out. The question is how to minimize that number."

Kallen grimaced. "As much as I hate to admit it, more people in Japan would be better off if they were part of a properly run Empire, especially one that did not trample our dignity."

"Oh? What makes you say that?"

"My father and I had a talk recently," Kallen said. "That wasn't why we were talking, but it ended up being brought up. He wasn't really trying to convince me one way or another, he was just laying out some basic points and figures, namely the fact that Japan isn't actually that big, in land or population, especially compared to the other great powers." The girl smiled mirthlessly at Rakshata. "Or even nations like India."

The engineer returned the smile with one of her own.

"Anyway, Japan only has about seventy million Japanese, plus another ten million or so Britannians. And its total landmass is outright eclipsed by some of the larger provinces. Besides sakuradite it doesn't really have a lot of natural resources, and the fact that the islands are so mountainous means that land suitable for agriculture is relatively scarce. Even before the invasion we weren't entirely self-sufficient in food, we imported a lot from China. But Japan could afford to import food, and raw materials, because our industries made a lot of finished products that other countries wanted. We were the source for almost all of the high end electronics and machines China imported. And we could be a major manufacturer again, only this time selling to the rest of the Empire."

"My, aren't you the budding economist," Rakshata said. "Still, everything you said is true, abstractly at least. Whether Japan can succeed in reviving its industries remains to be seen."

"True," Kallen agreed again. "Which is why despite how horrible this war is going to ultimately be, I can see why so many people are seeing it as a boon. My father gave me a few numbers of just how much money the government is spending buying all the things it needs to fight it, and those people who're able to make the stuff, well, they're going to make a killing in the process."

"That does have some dangers," Rakshata pointed out.

Kallen nodded. "My father termed it the military-industrial complex." The girl grimaced once more. "In fact one could say that almost all conquest in the past was driven by commercial considerations."

"An astute assessment," Rakshata said. "Humans are insatiable creatures, we can never have enough, whether it be physical possessions or emotional satisfaction." The engineer gave her pipe another puff. "Remember well, the refusal of those that have to give to those that have not can be no less ferocious than the desperation of those that have not in trying to seize something, anything, to improve their lot."

Kallen took a few seconds to line up the words coherently in her head. When she did the girl nodded.

"I will."

"Good."

"Oh right," Kallen said as the engineer started lounging back into her seat. "The other thing my father spoke to me about. Apparently he was contacted by the Reinford Group and they're, well, asking to take a look at the Guren."

Rakshata raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

Kallen held up a hand. "If your answer is no, then that's what I'll tell them. Don't feel like there's any pressure on my end to let them take a peek at your child."

The engineer smiled slightly. "Noted. I suppose the obvious question is, of what benefit would there be in allowing Reinford access?"

"Umm, honestly? Not sure. I mean, they did create the Sutherland, and supposedly they're working on next generation designs to try to win the knightmare contract back. But beyond that I have no idea what they might be working on that would be of interest to us."

"Quite," Rakshata agreed. "And even if they were working on something interesting I somehow doubt the Britannian government would permit them to share it with me."

"Well, Camelot did give us the VARIS," Kallen pointed out.

"Indeed they did," Rakshata said. "But that is all they gave us, a VARIS rifle, not the schematics or any of the technology underpinning it."

"Ah." Kallen nodded. "I see what you mean. So, a no then?"

Rakshata fiddled with her pipe. "Have they actually made an offer?"

"Not really. It was just a request to examine the Guren, with an implication that we would somehow be compensated. They didn't actually lay out what the compensation would be."

"Typical negotiating tactics," Rakshata said. "Let them make a firm offer first, and make clear that I have no interest in monetary compensation. If Reinford actually believes they might have some technology that would interest me and that can actually be transferred, then we can talk."

Kallen nodded. "Sure thing." The girl grinned. "Still, if they do have something, I won't say no to getting the Guren upgraded and kicking Rean's ass the next time we duel."

"Oh, I will expect you to do much better the next time as well," Rakshata said. "After all, it would not do for my child to be shown up by the Earl of Pudding."

Kallen snorted. "What do you have against the earl anyway? You two obviously have some history."

"He and I were part of the same research group at Cambridge," Rakshata said. "The earl has a tendency to overstep, to presume permission when none has been given."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. The engineer's words could be inferred in multiple ways, at least one of which held some extremely unpleasant implications.

"There were several incidences where Lloyd would intervene in projects others were involved in. If he was not making uninvited changes, he was outright stealing ideas." The engineer's grip on her pipe tightened. "The man is utterly lacking in tact and etiquette."

Kallen almost let out a sigh of relief. It seemed the earl was simply just socially tone deaf.

"If all he did was steal ideas, would he really have gotten as far as he has?" Kallen asked.

"Oh, Lloyd's brilliance is not in doubt," Rakshata said. "He simply does not recognize any limits. Let's see, say if you were a brilliant researcher and you were invited to join a project that sought to produce a weapon capable of immeasurable destruction. How would you respond?"

"I'd probably have to think long and hard as to whether I should participate," Kallen answered.

Rakshata nodded. "As would I. There are certainly circumstances where such a weapon might well be genuinely needed, but once birthed there is no pretending it does not exist anymore. Lloyd however would sign on without hesitation, if only because he would view the technical challenges of the project as a puzzle to solve."

"Oh," Kallen said softly.

Rakshata sucked in deeply from her pipe before letting out a long sigh. "Let that be another lesson. It is not just those whom preach an ideal that can be dangerous, those whom are unfettered by such sentiment can be even more so."

"So to sum up, people suck," Kallen said."

Rakshata chuckled. "Succinctly put."

"Yeah, well, even if people do suck, I like to think that they can still better," Kallen said. "Otherwise what's the point in trying to help anyone?"

* * *

"Major Yang, open up." Li Xingke waited a few seconds before knocking again. "Yang, I know you're in there, don't make me break down this door."

Shuffling could be heard from within the apartment before the lock clicked and the door was pushed open. A disheveled man in pajamas greeted Li Xingke with a yawn.

"What is it?"

Li Xingke sighed in exasperation. "Look at you, is this really how an officer of the Federation army should be dressed?"

The other man cracked a wry smile. "Not all of us can live up to your exacting standards, Captain Li. Besides, I'll be shipping out tomorrow, I think I deserve a bit of shuteye until then."

Li Xingke sighed again. "You haven't changed a bit. If you would only apply yourself a bit more you might already be a senior colonel, sir."

"With my lack of connections?" Wang chuckled. "I'm lucky to have made it this far. And if this war had not broken out I would have happily spent the rest of my career in peace until I could retire."

Li Xingke knew it was pointless to discuss this matter any further and so settled for one more sigh. "Never mind. I came to have a chat before you shipped out."

"Oh? Well, come on in," Yang said. "I can probably get a pot of tea going."

"That will be perfectly fine," Li Xingke quickly said.

Yang chuckled dryly. "Suit yourself."

As Li Xingke entered the sprawl of Yang's residence became even more evident. "Have you considered hiring someone to help keep this place tidy? You should certainly be able to afford it."

"Too much trouble," Yang replied. "Besides, it's not as if I use this house that much."

That was certainly true considering how often Yang was dispatched. As slovenly as his home was, the man was a very skilled tactician, a trait that was at least begrudgingly recognized by their superiors.

"Then find yourself a wife already," Li Xingke said. "Or do you intend to remain single forever?"

"That certainly has some appeal," Yang smirked as he pulled out a seat and plopped down. "Make yourself comfortable, wherever."

Deciding that trying to dig out the couch was probably an exercise in futility Li Xingke did likewise.

"So what did you want to talk about?" the older man asked.

"The situation in India. The high eunuchs are really strung up about it, they're worried that other regions like Tibet and Indochina might follow their example."

"If I were an independence group there, I'd certainly be tempted," Yang said. "Of course the presence of Britannian troops does put things under a different light."

"Agreed," Li Xingke said. "It seems doubtful the Empire will simply withdraw once the war is over, especially if they are the ones dictating terms in the imperial palace."

"Not quite what I meant," Yang said. "If the Indians had been revolting all by themselves, then the threat would have been somewhat localized and the army would probably have been able to put it down eventually, though the civilian casualties would have been horrendous. The Britannians however bring with them lots of logistical experience and support, and assuming they can actually organize the Indian resistance fighters, they might have the ability to strike outward instead of being holed up behind the Himalayas."

Li Xingke took a moment to consider the point before nodding. "And you believe the Britannians would seek to have the Indians enter the war fully on their side?"

"It would certain cause us all sorts of difficulties," Yang said, yawning again. "The war has not exactly been going that well for us. First the debacle at Okinawa, then the slow strangling of our Philippines forces. The only genuine success we've had thus far is seizing Sumatra, and the higher ups decided to squander the advantage by trying to land troops in Australia of all places. Apparently they didn't quite think through just why western Australia does not have a large military presence."

"And that the presence it does possess is of a different caliber entirely," Li Xingke said glumly.

"Quite. Oh, I'm sure our own elite formations might have been able to give the SAS a proper fight, but the regulars that were sent against them were ill-equipped for the task. And I doubt the Britannians will making such an amateurish mistake when they decide to press any advantage they might gain."

"Then we really are looking at the risk of an actual invasion of the mainland," Li Xingke said.

"Almost certainly."

"The obvious choices would be via the Malay and Korean Peninsulas," Li Xingke said. "With the Indians, they might try to cross into Burma as well."

"The Britannians might encourage the Indians to do it, but logistically I doubt they actually want to try to open up three entire fronts against China. But you are right about the peninsulas. And something tells me the Korean Peninsula is going to be especially vulnerable."

"Because of Japan?"

Yang nodded. "Unlike the nations of the Indonesia Archipelago, Japan was effectively industrialized before the Empire conquered it. While its industries may have deteriorated due to neglect, the core infrastructure is still there, and that viceroy that was dispatched last year has put considerable effort into restoring the economy. With Japan, the Empire will have a massive support base to launch a Korean campaign, not to mention it's close enough that they could station lots and lots of airpower there to provide direct fire support."

"And yet if the Empire attempts to attack Korea, are we not technically in an even better position to defeat the invasion? The peninsula is Chinese territory after all."

"Oh sure, we stand a very good chance of actually defeating the invasion, but if they actually manage to gain and secure a foothold, our home field advantage so to speak doesn't count for quite as much as you would think. After all, if Britannia can actually break out into the peninsula proper it'll be in a position to trash a lot of factories and whatnot located there. And if they can strike into Manchuria, that's an even larger portion of China's industry, not to mention all the farmland there."

"Would it not be the same if we were able to force and secure a beachhead on the Japanese islands?" Li Xingke pointed out.

"Only to a certain degree. Japan's terrain is much more mountainous, and as we've already seen the Britannian navy is no slouch. Furthermore even if we manage to severely damage Japan the core of the Empire's industries will still be there back in its American possessions. So even if the Empire loses Japan outright, it won't be anywhere near as crippling a blow to them as it would be to us if we lost Korea or Manchuria."

"Fair enough," Li Xingke said. "So what would you suggest to try to keep that from happening?"

"In truth? Not get into this war in the first place."

"What?"

"I'm assuming the high eunuchs got China into this war because they feared Britannia was slowly encircling us in preparation for an invasion. I think that assessment is incorrect."

Li Xingke crossed his arms thoughtfully. "How so?"

"The Britannian conquest of the Middle East. I don't think it was intended as an encircling maneuver or something to cut us off from the Europeans, I think it was a stepping stone to Europe itself."

"You mean the Britannians did not intend to seek a war with China, but was in fact merely building up a network of territory in preparation for a war with the EU?"

"Exactly."

"That, seems excessive on the part of the Empire."

Yang shrugged. "Not really. Look at it from their perspective. Africa is completely claimed by the European powers, so unless the Britannians wanted to conduct some sort of trans-Atlantic amphibious invasion, or go through Siberia, there were few options available."

"But this would imply a decades long campaign in preparation for war with the EU," Li Xingke pointed out. "Do you really believe Britannia's leaders to be capable of such long term planning?"

"Why not? The Britannian imperial family are not fools by any measure, and the cutthroat nature of their court would require that any that ascended the throne, or were high up in the order of succession, to possess at least a modicum of cunning and intelligence."

"Alright, I'll grant that, but would even they go to such lengths just to seek a war with the Europeans?"

"I suppose that depends on just how deep their animosity with the French are for having ejected them from the British Isles," Yang sand. "And how determined they are to reclaim the old kingdom."

That, Li Xingke found, was a very good point. People could be driven to excessive lengths over the merest of slights, real or imagined. And the Holy Britannian Empire was a nation founded after the humiliation of its predecessor state. The lengths such a nation would go to avenge that humiliation, it might well be prepared to invest decades of effort into it.

"So then China should have stayed out of this entire conflict."

"Indubitably," Yang said.

Li Xingke rubbed his chin. And then he stood.

"You've given me much to think about, major. Thank you."

"Always a pleasure," Yang said with a dry smile. "Though, don't think too hard, captain. I would hate for you to let your imagination lead you down an unfortunate path."

Li Xingke chuckled and bowed respectfully. "I assure you, major, that I will not blame you if that were to occur. You have my word."

As the younger man showed himself Yang sighed. The words he uttered next did not reach Li Xingke's ears.

"But I would."

* * *

The beeping of his cellphone caught Lelouch's attention. This particular phone and number had been specially prepared for his stay at Claire's residence, though it was a far cry from actually being secure. As such it was only to be used in case of emergencies and as a last resort. He picked it up.

"Yes?"

"Claire has almost certainly been compromised," Charlotte's voice sounded. "We've seen a couple of people poking around the neighborhood, and at least one car that's pretty obviously a stakeout."

"Understood," Lelouch said, his eyes narrowing as he considered his options. He quickly settled upon one. "Put contingency three into motion."

A beat passed. "Are you sure?"

Lelouch's own response came with no hesitation. "Yes."

Another pause. "Understood. We'll get on it. ETC, three days."

A click signaled the end of the call and Lelouch flipped the phone shut. He had prepared for this possibility, in fact one of the reasons it took so long to suborn Claire was because of the time he put into compromising all of her neighbors beforehand. Pulling off contingency three would still be a bit tricky, especially with the neighborhood apparently under surveillance now, but if it worked the payoff would be, considerable.

On the other hand if the Inquisitio decided not to give him the three days he would need to lay the groundwork, he would need to be prepared for that as well. It was too risky for him to remain here any longer, at least beyond his part in the contingency, but if the Inquisitio really was searching for him he needed them to think he was still here. Lelouch pulled out a piece of paper and began jotting down instructions for Claire when she got home. His control over the Inquisitio captain was solid enough now that he did not need to be physically present to ensure her compliance anymore.

As he wrote Lelouch pursed his lips. He did not hold Claire herself any ill will, the woman was obviously one of the more compassionate Hereticus agents, and certainly one of the fairer ones. Had the rest of the Ordo been like her, for that matter had the peerage had more people like her, the Empire might not have been such an unredeemable snake pit. Instead the nobility were filled with self-righteous pricks that shirked all responsibility while exploiting the common people in order to continue living in comfort and privilege. Lelouch would have no regrets about burning the whole edifice down when the time came.

The captain however, the captain Lelouch was prepared to show some consideration for. She would still need to be removed, but the time he had spent with her had allowed him to implant a more refined failsafe. Once it triggered she would simply forget, everything, instead of suffering a fatal stroke. Had it been possible for him to target specific memories he would have simply wiped the last month or so instead but his power did not permit that level of precision. For that matter his power was not technically capable of memory manipulation at all, but Lelouch had discovered long ago that by inducing specific side effects he could achieve much more than simply mentally dominating someone.

Lelouch finished writing the instructions and set it on the dining table. In theory he could have tried to extract Claire as well, give her a place amongst his little family. All indications were she would have fit right in, save for one point. Every other person in his surrogate family was there by choice, everything they went through done so willingly for each other. Claire however would not have been, and that kind of difference could well break the family. And ultimately it would have been disrespectful to Claire herself. Lelouch doubted she would have wanted to retain her memories if the cost was to continue betraying the Empire she had sworn an oath to. Even if Britannia was utterly unworthy of said oath.

Satisfied with his preparations Lelouch grabbed his coat and headed for the hidden exit. Whether out of paranoia or simple prudence Claire had installed a means of getting out of her home without having to use any of the visible doors, though she probably was not expecting it to be used by an enemy of the Empire to hide his presence in her own home. It could only be used a few times before sheer probability would see it discovered. Fortunately those few times should be enough. Lelouch gave the home one last look. Despite it all he had found some enjoyment in his time here. The worries that he had feigned were so much simpler than what he truly faced. But that was not meant to be and he was set upon his path. Time would tell how much more blood would be shed before he reached his final destination.

* * *

"Your highness, Captain Croomy is here for her appointment."

Euphemia pressed the intercom button without even looking up at the phone. "Send her in."

The doors opened and Cécile entered, coming to attention before the desk. "Your highness."

The princess leaned back into her chair. "Captain. Please, have a seat."

"Thank you your highness."

Once the older woman was settled in Euphemia spoke.

"According to the last status report construction of Keystone was nearing completion and that you now have a firm understanding of what the device actually is."

"Indeed, your highness. After thorough review of the designs, I am confident that the Keystone device is an advanced, and very compact at that, particle accelerator."

Euphemia cocked her head aside. "A particle accelerator. Like the one at Brookhaven?"

"Indeed your highness, though that accelerator is of a slightly different design," Cécile said, mildly surprised the princess knew about them at all. "The Cosmotron is a synchrotron, a circular accelerator which accelerates protons and antiprotons together to perform annihilation reactions. The Keystone design is a linear accelerator, one that generates antiprotons by firing a very high energy proton beam into iridium. The antiprotons are then, well, directed to an output aperture which presumably is pointing at something."

The princess was now frowning thoughtfully. "If I recall correctly the particle accelerator at Brookhaven is housed in a very large building."

"Yes your highness, traditional particle accelerators require a significant amount of infrastructure to utilize."

An eyebrow rose. "Traditional."

"While this particle accelerator design will also require substantial amounts of electricity and cooling, it is considerably more compact than any other design that has been conceived of, your highness. In fact I conducted a review of the existing scientific literature and I cannot find anything like the Keystone design."

"Really," Euphemia said flatly.

"Yes your highness. Most traditional particle accelerators perform their acceleration using electromagnetic fields created by extremely powerful electromagnets. It is one reason accelerators are so large. This design however, assuming I am not fumbling the numbers, uses an electric field, a wakefield, generated by a plasma wave. And assuming this technology scales, a plasma wakefield accelerator has the potential to far eclipse the energy levels of other designs."

"Interesting," Euphemia said very carefully. "When will we be ready to conduct tests?"

"By the end of the month your highness," Cécile said. "And assuming all of the equipment is validated, we can put it into production in January."

"Hmm, that is remarkably fast," Euphemia said. "The one at Brookhaven took several years to complete."

"The Cosmotron was also essentially a research project even as it was being constructed," Cécile said. "Particle accelerator design at the time was still very much a work in progress. It still is, for that matter. The Keystone designs are, however, complete and detailed. Assuming it works of course, your highness."

"Considering how much money has been sunk into it, it had better," Euphemia said with a sigh before meeting Cécile's eyes. "You seem to have a remarkable grasp of particle physics, captain."

"I was responsible for overseeing the maintenance of the Gawain's hadron cannons, your highness. They are also a form of particle accelerators, albeit still extremely immature."

"I see," Euphemia said. "Well, I suppose I am fortunate that you had some hands on experience with the technology. Very good work captain."

Cécile nodded respectfully.

"Now, were there any other matters regarding any of the other projects?"

At that Cécile pursed her lips. "Not, as such, your highness."

Euphemia easily caught the subtext. "But?"

The captain took a deep breath. "Your highness, over the past year you have handed me responsibility for a variety of sensitive projects, ranging from analyzing Miss Einstein's atomic research to overseeing construction of this bleeding edge particle accelerator design. Your highness obviously holds a significant degree of trust in me, for at least some matters. In others however you apparently find me wanting."

Even before Cécile had finished speaking Euphemia knew what the captain was insinuating.

"You want to know what happened to Suzaku Kururugi."

Cécile took another deep breath. "Yes, your highness."

The princess clasped her hands together as she regarded the older woman. "And what would you do with the information, captain?"

That elicited a slight grimace. "I would take what comfort I can from knowing the truth, your highness, nothing more."

"So you would not seek to use the truth to try to rehabilitate Private Kururugi's reputation?"

"No one would believe me, your highness," Cécile stated bluntly. "And Suzaku, the Suzaku that I knew, I don't think he would have wanted me to destroy my life trying to somehow redeem his legacy."

The princess continued regarding Cécile silently for another minute or so before speaking.

"It is true that you have been immensely useful to my efforts, Captain Croomy, and that I do deem you trustworthy enough to carry out projects that are extremely sensitive. The matter of Private Kururugi however is on another order of magnitude entirely, and for you to be brought into my confidence on it requires a commitment above and beyond what you have been asked for up till now. You will, for all intents and purposes captain, have tied your fate to my own. And should I fall, you will fall with me."

Cécile pursed her lips but the steely determination remained in her eyes. "Your highness, are you suggesting that I might have reason to regret such a commitment?"

Euphemia smiled thinly. "I would like to think that you find my actions thus far to be fair, and that you find in them reason to no cause to hesitate in aligning with me. But simply having confidence in me is not enough, captain, you must also have faith as well, faith that matches those that are sworn to me."

Cécile regarded the armsman that was standing behind the princess. She liked to think of herself as an analytical person, not subject to the whims of emotion and passion. Then again her pursuance of the truth regarding Suzaku could not be considered entirely rational, so perhaps she was not quite as levelheaded as she thought.

"I will not ask you for an answer now, captain," Euphemia said. "Give the matter some thought. Only once you are completely certain of your decision would I even be willing to contemplate accepting your fealty, and then only if I believe your fealty is truly given to me, and not in exchange for some other cause."

That, was going to be hard, Cécile knew. Both of them knew that the only reason the older woman was even approaching Euphemia about all this was because she did have another cause she was working towards. There would always be a, not suspicion, but undercurrent of doubt, as to what was driving her actions. But that was not all.

"I will consider my decision with the gravity that this obviously warrants, your highness," Cécile said. "I would however ask a single thing from you as well."

Euphemia cocked her head aside. "And that would be, captain?"

The older woman inhaled deeply. "Do you believe that Suzaku's loyalty to Britannia was a lie."

Euphemia held Cécile's gaze. There was much unsaid in the captain's question, much that was implied. If Euphemia answered the princess did not doubt that Cécile would keep the matter to herself, to demonstrate that the token of trust granted to her would not be betrayed, no matter how much she might personally want to see Suzaku's reputation rehabilitated. And in being granted that trust, Cécile's own faith in the princess would be that much strengthened.

"Private Kururugi's loyalty to the Empire was genuine," the princess finally said.

Cécile continued looking at Euphemia silently for several moments before she finally let out an almost relieved sigh.

"Thank you, your highness."

* * *

"That cheeky son of a bitch."

The acolyte that had brought Monica the report remained silent as the knight examined the photographs. Front and center was a young man signing for a package that had been delivered to him not half an hour ago. The operatives on stakeout had wasted no time reporting in once they snapped shots and now Monica had immediate and incontrovertible proof of where exactly her quarry was hiding, right in Claire's own residence. The sheer gall to no just suborn the interrogator but to also use her own home as his base of operations. Little wonder there was not any indication of Claire using dead drops to pass on information, she was probably spilling everything she knew whenever she got home. Another spike of rage ran through Monica. And the gods knew what else Lelouch was doing to her. The knight almost felt sick. Monica looked up at the clock. It was just a little before noon and the captain was at work. There was still time.

"Have Captain Rieveldt neutralized immediately," she ordered, "and stand up two companies. Get me a secure line to General Waldstein, inform him I need to clear a strike op in Pendragon now."

"Yes your grace."

The acolytes about Claire hurried to carry out her orders and in mere moments one was presenting her with a headset.

"General Waldstein your grace."

Claire took it and put it on. "My lord."

"Dame Kruszewski, what is this about a strike op in Pendragon?"

"My lord, I've found Agent Lamperouge," Claire said. "Permission to take him out, permanently."

Amongst the Rounds Bismarck was the only other one that knew about Lelouch's existence, and that of the young man's compulsion geass, making him also the only one that truly appreciated just how dangerous the fallen prince was.

"Permission granted. Do you need any support beyond Loki Regiment's forces?"

"Yes my lord, I would like access to Pendragon's missile batteries."

That produced a much longer wait. Nevertheless Bismarck seemed to understand what Monica intended.

"Very well, Dame Kruszewski. Make this quick and clean. Good hunting."

"Thank you my lord, I will keep you updated as the situation develops."

That matter dealt with Monica turned to another Loki regiment officer that was approaching her.

"Your grace, alpha and beta companies will be ready to move out in ten."

"Good," Monica said. "Get them rolling, I want them five minutes out when the missiles light off."

"Yes your grace."

"Put me through to battery command," Monica ordered, ticking off the preparations needed for the strike. Hopefully their response would be decisively quick enough that Lelouch would not be able to slink away.

* * *

The residents of Pendragon were growing somewhat acclimated to the heightened security procedures instituted to try to stem the tide of terrorist bombings in their city. The success of those measures was questionable since the bombings certainly had not stopped, though they were sparse enough to begin with, and seemingly primarily targeted at the wealthier parts of the city, that the general populace did not feel particularly in danger.

On the day of December 6th, 2017 a.t.b. however, shortly after noon, a massive roar could be heard in the skies followed not long after by an equally loud explosion in one of Pendragon's suburbs. The immediate thought of many citizens was that the terrorists had finally shifted targets, no longer able to launch attacks in the other districts. The truth was however considerably more complicated.

"Well damn," Reiner remarked before looking over at Lelouch. "They really wanted you dead."

"So it would seem," the young man said, lips pursed.

At this distance it was impossible to tell exactly what had happened but it was fairly easy to surmise. After discovering Lelouch's location the military had opted to, instead of sending in a team to surgically neutralize him, launched a cruise missile to completely level the residence where they thought he was hiding. They probably ended up leveling most of the block for that matter. About the only consolation might have been that most of the people would be at school or work and so there would be relatively few collateral casualties. Still it said much about how seriously the authorities were taking him as a threat to resort to such overkill. Or not, seeing as he was still alive.

"Their response teams should be arriving shortly," Lelouch said. "Are our forces in position?"

"In position and ready to move," Charlotte said, one hear pressed against her radio. "Laura's estimate was two companies of troops though. Our own numbers aren't enough to face them in a standup fight."

"We just need to bloody them a bit," Lelouch said. "Primary objective is the Knight of Twelve, assuming she shows. Until we've got confirmation one way or another our forces are to keep their heads down."

Charlotte nodded as she went back to listening in on the radio.

Lelouch stroked his chin. Organizing this ambush had not been easy, not least of which because of the time needed to get enough Swords into the neighborhood quietly. The only reason it was even possible was due to all of the groundwork he had spent those weeks laying down before actually moving on Claire. Now though it was starting to look like that investment was going to pay off, especially if they could take out the Knight of Twelve and some of her personal forces. That she seemed to be so heavily involved in trying to track him down suggested that Monica Kruszewski was more than just another of his father's lapdogs, that she might be involved with the Geass Directorate as well. That made her far more dangerous than the psychopathic Luciano Bradley, and up there with the Knight of One Bismarck Waldstein himself. If an opportunity arose to neutralize her he would take it regardless of all the attention it would draw.

"Laura just called in," Charlotte interrupted Lelouch's musings. "A helicopter just took off, and she spotted General Kruszewski onboard."

No mean feat, even for the eagle eyed German girl.

"Then this is it," Lelouch said. "Once General Kruszewski touches down, launch the attack. If remains in the air, first priority is to bring her helicopter down."

"Understood," Charlotte said, passing on the orders.

"I think that will be that then," Lelouch said, rising. "We should be making our exit now."

"Hope some of them will be able to get away once all this is over," Reiner said softly as he headed for the door.

All of them knew that was probably a forlorn one. The Britannian military was not known for restraint or mercy, and those that served in the guards of the Knights of the Round were considered amongst the very best the Empire had to offer. Still they ought to be able to give them a good blooding if only because of the element of surprise. Hopefully that would at least make their sacrifices worth something. That was probably not so forlorn.

* * *

As Monica's helicopter hovered over the scene she watched the Inquisitorial storm troopers sift through the rubble. The cruise missile she launched against the residence had hit squarely on target, flattening the building. The two immediately adjacent had also collapsed from the blast wave but all in all collateral damage was remarkably light. It still would have been enough to kill anyone in those buildings.

"No sign of the body yet?" Claire said into the radio.

"No your grace, but we're still trying to dig through a good amount of rubble. The target could have-"

The sudden roar of gunfire cut off the conversation and Monica found herself hanging on for dear life as the helicopter shuddered.

"We're hit!" the pilot shouted.

More bullets peppered the helicopter though from the sounds of it whomever was attacking them was limited to small arms. The armor on the Black Hawk should be able to withstand it, if only barely. Still it was a very bad idea to be loitering in the air when someone was trying to bring you down.

"Get us out of here!" Monica shouted.

The helicopter veered to the side, trying to move away from the source of the attack even as the soldiers on the ground began advancing to neutralize the threat. And then in the opposite direction a rocket shot out from the ground, nailing the rear of the helicopter. Monica cried out as the heat from the blast washed over her. All she probably suffered from was a light singeing but that was the least of her worries as the Black Hawk began careening out of control.

"Controls unresponsive! We're going down!"

At this height she was both too low to jump with a parachute, assuming she had one, and too high to not break every bone in her body if she jumped without one. With no other options Monica braced herself, praying that the crash would be controlled enough so as not to crush her upon impact. In the end the knight did not even realize she was on the ground until she found herself staring up at the sky. Shakily she sat up, only to have bullets pepper her position.

"Shit!"

Scrambling back, Monica drew her sidearm and returned fire. Her shots proved truer than her attackers and a figure reared back before collapsing. More were coming however. The knight pulled herself up, scrambling to find some sort of cover. The smoldering helicopter behind her would do, so long as her attackers did not have another missile ready. Monica scrambled for its relative safety even as her body screamed in pain. That probably meant nothing was outright broken.

More shots zipped past Monica and the knight almost tripped over her own feet. She slid behind the smashed tail of the helicopter, peeking out to see at least three or four assailants approaching. One was being a tad too adventurous however and Monica popped off a single shot, nailing him in the chest. One did not become a Knight of the Round without superlative marksmanship.

Suddenly from behind them a hail of bullets brought down the other attackers and it was with some relief that Monica watched as several storm troopers came into view. More followed, establishing a perimeter even as the first group clustered about Monica.

"Your grace," one said, kneeling down to examine her.

"Status," Monica said almost reflexively.

"Enemies are still putting up a fight, but we've managed to seal them off. It should be just a matter of time now."

"What of our own losses?" Monica asked even as another soldier held her head still as the first began bandaging it. Only then did she notice the trickle of blood running down the side of her face.

"Light, but we lost a few troopers when they first opened fire."

"Gods damn it," Monica swore.

Lelouch had played her, again. The young man had obviously known he would be discovered, in fact the entire thing this morning was probably bait. And she had rushed like an amateur, nearly getting herself killed. The knight frowned. They had specifically gone for her helicopter, and then after her once it was down. That suggested their intent really was to kill her outright, unlike with Luciano where they just beat him into a pulp and left him humiliated but alive. Could Lelouch have suspected something about her? The frown deepened into a scowl. But of course. He had compromised Claire, and Claire knew that she was an inquisitor, even if she did not know which ordo Monica belonged to. Monica had been sloppy. She should have been able to anticipate all this, to have stayed ahead of Lelouch. Instead she underestimated the young man time and time again. Her fists tightened. She would not be making that mistake again.

End of Chapter 72

The Code Geass writers just had to give Li Xingke the surname of Li. Which is literally one of the most common surnames in China. Which is going to force me to use his full name every time I refer to him.

Plasma wakefield accelerators are a thing. As far as I'm aware of none have actually been built yet, but there are research groups around the world putting together proofs of concepts to demonstrate the various bits needed to actually make one. In theory it could be a real game changer for high energy particle physics research. As for how C.C. managed to come up with designs for one over fifty years before the real world started active development of them, that'll have to wait for a future chapter.

Lelouch, as one can see, can be a ruthless bastard. But he's not entirely heartless. I think. Anyway, Monica's going to be licking her wounds for a bit. Though she herself definitely can be counted as equally ruthless in some respects considering she used a cruise missile to try to kill Lelouch. The irony is almost, poetic, in some ways.

Knightmare frames are not, quite, as unrealistic as they might appear, at least the season one variants weren't. I'm an engineer by trade and I have some experience with robotics. There are a lot of complicated aspects to create an actual knightmare, but the Code Geass universe has a couple of benefits to it. Well, one. Sakuradite. As I've said previous, a room temperature superconductor opens up a lot of possibilities. Such as insanely powerful brushless motors that use magnetic gearboxes to produce high torque servos. Amongst other things.

My comments regarding Euphemia and Lelouch were in response to a question raised in another review. They have nothing to do with pairings in this story. I do not spoil pairings in author notes, ever. If you see references made to a pairing that has not shown up in the story proper, then you can safely assume that what I'm talking about has nothing to do with pairings in the story.


	74. Chapter 73

_The ascension of the Emperor Charles II was in many ways as remarkable as that of his daughter Euphemia I. His own parents having been murdered due to court politics, the Prince Charles enlisted in the military and built for himself a career as a competent and respected officer, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant-general at the age of thirty-two due to a combination of his genuine talents and his imperial pedigree. His immediate predecessor, his grandfather the Emperor Friedrich IV, was by the time of his death exceedingly unpopular for not just his seemingly venial habits but also for his abject failure in lifting Britannia from the Great Depression that had been gripping the Empire for nearly a decade. Tapping into the widespread resentment of the masses and his own personal popularity with the military, the then Prince Charles initiated a coup d'état that succeeded in killing his grandfather and purging the imperial court of much of its old guard._

 _The early years of the Emperor Charles' reign was focused on restoring to Britannia a sense of pride in the Empire as well as recovering from the Depression. His majesty initiated a series of reforms that saw the government intervene heavily in the economy, spending vast sums of money to kick start the economy again. The intervention ultimately proved successful as consumption began rising and with it investment from private industry picked up as well. Interestingly the emperor also demonstrated what many have considered a somewhat uncharacteristic liberal streak in permitting numbers and others of non-Western European descent, as well as women in general, to advance in the military. Where previously such persons were restricted to serving only on the rank and file or in the cases of the latter purely support roles, a steady number slowly rose to senior noncommissioned ranks and even commissioned ranks in command of frontline units. The most visible example was certainly Major-General Dorothea Ernst, the Knight of Four and commanding officer of the Veðrfölnir Guard._

 _Throughout all of this his majesty kept a tight grip on the instruments of power, ensuring that none would be able to repeat his own feat in seizing the throne through force. That grip however was starting to loosen by the time of the Great War as several of the emperor's most talented children carved out powerbases in parliament, the military, the bureaucracy, and other organs of state. None of these children could be described as terribly fond of their father and Charles himself did not go to any great lengths to engender warmth or affection from them. As such it was perhaps natural that several of these children would band together in preparation for the day when one of them would succeed their father, whether it be through the natural course of things or through more direct means. Unlike their great-grandfather however, the Emperor Charles lived up to his namesake, remaining exceedingly popular with the general public throughout his rein. Any attempt to remove him would thus need to take a more subtle approach._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 73

Quod supplantandum, prius bene sciendum

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," Monica moaned as a nurse worked to bandage her body.

The knight was in some respects much luckier than the others in the helicopter, one of the pilots was dead and the other was not likely to ever walk again. She on the other hand had walked away, or rather ran away, from the crash. With a very bruised body.

"Remind me again why I can't have some morphine while you're doing this," the knight said testily.

"Inflammation from the bruising is a necessary step of the healing," the nurse said. "As such no painkillers for the next 48 hours."

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Monica groaned, even though she knew the nurse was right. That was not going to make the next two days any less painful however.

"We will apply some cooling patches to help with the pain," the nurse said. "Beyond that it will be best if you keep off your feet for the next week at least."

That might not be an option, especially if they were going to untangle the compulsion Claire was under before it killed her. Then again doing so did not quite require her to be on her feet, her butt could remain firmly planted in a wheelchair while they worked on it.

The door to the ward opened but seeing as Monica was lying on her stomach facing away from it she was not in any position to see who was entering. The fact that all the others, save for herself and the nurse working on her of course, came to attention made clear that the newcomer was someone of some stature. Monica looked over her should to see the indeed towering figure of Bismarck Waldstein, the Knight of One, approach her bedside. The nurse was somehow able to continue with her duty nonchalantly. Monica herself swallowed.

"Dame Kruszewski," Bismarck greeted.

"General Waldstein," Monica responded.

The older knight looked over at the others. "I will require a few moments with Dame Kruszewski."

The others clicked their heels and quickly vacated the room, all but the nurse. She regarded the knight with a raised eyebrow. Bismarck cracked a slight smile.

"I will be brief, lieutenant."

After a moment the nurse nodded. "Brief, my lord."

If she was not the one that would be left with the older knight Monica would probably have found the sight of a mere lieutenant staring down the Knight of One highly amusing. Seeing as she was going to be alone with the man, briefly, Monica the situation to be not quite as funny. Once the door was shut Bismarck regarded the lamed younger knight. Yep, not funny at all.

"It would appear Lelouch has grown to be even more cunning than we gave him credit for," the knight said.

That was a statement, not an invitation to comment, so Monica kept her mouth shut. Bismarck settled down into the seat the nurse had vacated. This was looking to be less and less brief.

"So, what went wrong?" Bismarck asked.

Monica grimaced. "Lelouch obviously found out we knew Claire was compromised, and he used that knowledge to set a trap. A really good one. And then he baited us by letting us find him. He probably bailed on the captain's residence immediately after letting my agents get a photo of him."

"And why was Captain Rieveldt's residence not checked prior?" Bismarck asked.

"It was, to a degree," Monica answered. "Unfortunately the captain's residence had several security measures in place that precluded outright eavesdropping without basically getting into the place and putting in mics. As we could not be certain what additional countermeasures the captain had installed, attempting to do so entailed too great a risk of alerting her, and by proxy Lelouch, that she was compromised by us."

Bismarck grunted. "And yet it is clear that Lelouch discovered this anyway."

"Yes sir," Monica admitted.

The older knight nodded in acknowledgment of Monica's frankness. "You displayed a very pragmatic ruthlessness in how you attempted to neutralize Lelouch. Seeing what the prince himself is capable of, it is quite clear that that degree of ruthlessness is the absolute minimum that will be needed in confronting him."

Again no comment from Monica, though the younger knight agreed wholeheartedly with Bismarck's assessment. While just how unfettered the young man was remained a question, Monica doubted the prince was losing any sleep over all of the death and mayhem he was causing in his quest to murder his extended family.

"In light of the latest developments, his majesty has deemed that it may be necessary for you to receive additional assistance in the hunt for Lelouch."

Monica's eyes widened. That, was not good. If the emperor himself thought that she needed help, it could only mean he was starting to lose patience, or that he did not consider her capable of dealing with the matter. Neither bode well.

"Lieutenant Belgar, enter."

The door opened to reveal a young man likely not much younger than Monica herself. His silver colored hair was slightly disheveled but his eyes, there was such a sharpness to his eyes that Monica immediately detected the presence of a geass.

"This is Lieutenant Lorence Belgar, a Directorate enforcer," Bismarck introduced, using an obvious alias and confirming Monica's suspicion. "In fact he is regarded as the very best of his generation. I am certain that you will find his abilities to be of considerable use."

And if Monica used him poorly, he would also be her executioner, the knight knew.

"I am sure he will be, my lord," she said however.

Bismarck nodded and rose. "Continue with the hunt, Dame Kruszewski. I will look forward to the good news."

* * *

"And the Knights of the Round continue to refuse to explain what happened?" Schneizel asked.

"No," Cornelia confirmed. "All I know is that two companies of Loki Regiment were mobilized and a missile strike was called in on a target in the suburbs. They've refused to reveal just what or whom they were targeting, even to me, and father has been his usual unhelpful self whenever anything touches upon the Rounds."

Schneizel pursed his lips. "Unfortunate. Though do you think it might have something to do with the recent bombing campaign?"

"Or with Sir Bradley getting himself beat into a bloody pulp," Cornelia said. "If the target was whomever was responsible, it would explain the involvement by the Rounds. Though the fact that it was Loki Regiment that moved is, telling."

To that Schneizel nodded. Loki Regiment was by far the most mysterious of the royal guards commanded by the various Rounds. Officially it served as a reserve force for Pendragon's defenses but half of its official order of battle was always somewhere else. Where that else was remained unclear and none of Cornelia or Schneizel's own quiet inquiries had turned up anything. And then there was the Knight of Twelve herself.

"This is mere speculation, but could she have been going for Lelouch?"

Cornelia blinked. "Lelouch? What makes you say that?"

"Dame Kruszewski was dispatched to Area 11 immediately after the terrorist attack on Ashford," Schneizel said, "an attack that we now know was orchestrated by Lelouch. During her time here you yourself said that she was extremely focused on tracking down the perpetrator, even before we even knew it was him. Now consider the recent attacks here in Pendragon and the earlier ones along the east coast. Do they not have his mark?"

Cornelia's eyes narrowed. "The attacks have been attributed to the Swords of Michael." And then widened. "Dear gods, you're not suggesting he's going to try to use them as he did the JLF?"

"It would fit his modus operandi," Schneizel said.

"Perhaps, but the Swords of Michael would stand even less of a chance against Pendragon's defenders than the JLF did against the Tokyo garrison."

"True. But what if the Georgian and Virginian provincial guards were to support them?"

Cornelia shook her head. "Still wouldn't work. We'd know long before they could reach Pendragon and the moment either of them crossed the provincial border the military would be prepared to bomb them to oblivion."

"I see," Schneizel said. "Though for the military to do so, it would need to be able to coordinate an actual airstrike, no? How hard would it be to sever your lines of communication?"

"Damn hard," Cornelia said. "The military's command net uses microwave repeaters for long distance communications with multiple redundancies such that you would need to knock out probably half the transceiver stations to actually knock the net itself offline."

"Hard, but not impossible," Schneizel remarked.

"True," Cornelia allowed, "but to hit all of them simultaneously would require a lot of manpower, manpower that then would not be available to help in the actual assault on Pendragon. Even if there were two provincial guards helping with the assault, the Swords of Michael would be stretched very, very thin."

"I see," Schneizel said.

"Still," Cornelia continued, "you do raise a point. I will speak with my staff and draw up contingencies. As you noted, it would be hard, but not impossible." The princess sighed. "If only we had managed to start getting our communications satellites up, that would have made cutting the command net near impossible instead of merely hard."

Schneizel allowed a slight smile. "If the Chinese and Europeans had only had the courtesy to wait another year before launching their offensives, we could have been in position to knock them out immediately upon the start of hostilities."

"All too true," Cornelia said almost wistfully before shaking her head. "But what you said does raise another point. If Lelouch really is in the homelands, what is his objective?"

"Euphie seems to believe he is after the rest of his family specifically," Schneizel said. "Though why that would be the case, I am afraid I am at a slight loss for."

"He might well resent us for having failed to protect his family in the past," Cornelia said. "And I would not blame him in that regard. But to have that resentment turn into such dogged determination to see to our deaths? That I do not understand."

Schneizel pursed his lips. "This, geass. Could it have driven him mad?"

Cornelia scowled. "If so, then that C.C. woman has much to answer for."

A hand came to rest on Cornelia's shoulder. "Calmly, sister. For now we still do not know enough and apportioning blame will not help in the least."

The princess took a deep breath. "I know. But I would not be surprised in the least if she did not play some part in how Lelouch turned out."

"Neither would I," Schneizel said as he stroked his chin. "Though, a point. Does Lelouch still believe Nunnally to be deceased?"

Cornelia looked at her brother quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"C.C. was the one that spirited Nunnally away to the Ashfords, that has been confirmed by Ruben and the woman herself. She also claims, indirectly at least, to have spirited Lelouch away, apparently to Europe. Could she have withheld knowledge of Nunnally's survival from Lelouch?"

At that Cornelia's expression twisted into one of pure unadulterated anger. "If she did, then she _will_ answer to me for it."

"Her, motives, are becoming more and more unfathomable," Schneizel said levelly. "We should check with Euphie, see if she can get C.C. to confirm this one way or another."

"I will have a word with her," Cornelia said before taking a deep breath. "Though if Lelouch is here, what should we do?"

"I am not sure there is much that can be done," Schneizel said. "Father has charged Dame Kruszewski and the Ordo Hereticus with finding the perpetrators of the bombings, effectively taking it out of our hands. And while you probably could get Xenos to keep you in the loop of any investigation they were running, this is unfortunately out of their purview and they would have no authority to conduct one."

"Not, necessarily," Cornelia said slowly.

This time it was Schneizel that regarded his sibling quizzically.

"Hereticus deals with threats from within, that is true," Cornelia said. "But there has always been a, grey area, so to speak, with respect to foreign intelligence operatives operating in Britannia proper. They are after all dispatched by a foreign power, a threat from without."

"I see," Schneizel said. "The investigation up till now has mostly been focusing on the domestic terrorism part, on the Swords of Michael. But if they are being manipulated by Lelouch, and the French SDECE, then they technically represent a threat from without."

"Exactly. Hereticus has always insisted that because such events are taking place in Britannia itself it still falls under their purview, but Xenos has never actually agreed to that interpretation, and it has conducted investigations of its own, entirely separate from and unknown to Hereticus."

"Do you think it could work here?"

"I'll have to speak with Duchess Vail," Cornelia said. "She might be prepared to risk a turf war with Hereticus, especially if we really are looking at the threat of an outright insurrection targeting Pendragon."

Schneizel nodded. "Understood. If you need any help with lobbying her, let me know. I'm sure I could be, convinced, to squeeze a bit more money out for West Point." The man cracked a smile. "Or the Pendragon Botanical Gardens."

Cornelia gave a bemused chuckle. "I shall keep that in mind."

* * *

Monica tried not to move too much in her wheelchair. Her body still ached with pain and the cool patches only really worked if she did not aggravate her bruises by moving, at all. Then again sitting still was not exactly the knight's strong point and she found it impossible to not to fidget at least a little bit. Which of course only made her body ache more. Her present condition was becoming extremely annoying to say the least, and it was not helped by the man hovering by her. Monica had to give the good lieutenant some credit, he could almost seem to disappear into the background when it suited him. When he wanted his presence known however, that was not terribly difficult for him to achieve either.

"Your grace, we are ready to proceed," a medical technician said.

Monica nodded. "Begin scanning."

The knight was currently in the control room for a NMRI located at Yggdrasil Base, the main military base next to the city of Pendragon and home to several royal guards, or at least the ground forces component. Both Veðrfölnir and Jörmungandr Guards had their own bases to accommodate their planes and ships respectively and there was a smaller base where Luciano's forces were quartered further out from the city. The parts of Loki Regiment that was not stationed at the Directorate keeping a watchful eye on its activities and serving as its security were quartered here at Yggdrasil, making it as secure as any facility in the homelands could be.

The tech deftly operated the NMRI's controls even as Monica herself focused on Claire's mind. The captain was unconscious, having been knocked out and kept in an induced coma since the botched operation to neutralize Lelouch. Thus far while she could sense a strange knot-like presence in the woman's mind there was none of the hash that she sensed in the gendarmerie private's mind. Then again Lelouch had had weeks to work on Claire and this was likely simply a more refined application of his geass than what he managed with the turned gendarmes.

"Anything out of the ordinary, doctor?" Monica asked.

The neurologist that had been called in for consultation examined the scans thoughtfully. "There appears to be some degree of swelling in her hippocampus, and her amygdala."

Monica simply stared blankly at the man.

"The hippocampus is part of the limbic system," the doctor began explaining, not that said explanation was particularly illuminating. "We believe it plays a role in the formation of long-term memories." That was a bit more useful. "The amygdalae also play a role in memory formation, though it is believed that it does so via strong emotional stimuli."

"I see," Monica said as she considered the ramifications.

Had Lelouch somehow altered Claire's memories and suborned her that way? That did not fit with what she saw with the gendarmerie private. She would need to check with the Directorate and see what data they had on memory alteration geasses. She was fairly certain they had had at least one person manifest one of those. For now Monica focused on Claire's condition. She might yet be able to reverse it after all.

The knot in the captain's mind was a remarkably tight bundle but now that Monica knew to look for it she could see the shadow hanging behind the knot, a shadow that was connected to something else entirely. Something that seemed to pulse sickeningly, just waiting for a careless tug on the knot to set it off. Monica licked her lips. How best to deal with this shadow.

"Doctor, is there inflammation anywhere else in her brain? Any indication that she might be in danger of a stroke."

The neurologist frowned, looking at the NMRI scans again. "There is some, increased blood flow into the frontal lobes, but not such that the arteries look dangerously inflated."

"Frontal lobe, what does that do?" Monica asked.

"Decision making."

That sounded more like something Lelouch's geass should be affecting. Monica frowned as she examined the shadow and the knot. She might be able to untangle the knot without it affecting the shadow, but she would need to be very, very careful.

"I'm going into the room," she said. "Do _not_ disturb me unless the base itself is under attack, am I understood?"

"Yes your grace."

"Lieutenant, if you would?"

A Directorate enforcer was certainly overqualified to be merely pushing someone around in a wheelchair. That said, Lorence was probably the only other person here that had any inkling as to the nuances of a geass and so could be trusted to keep his mouth shut and not trying to poke Monica about every little thing. The two were in the NMRI chamber shortly and once the door was sealed behind them Monica took a deep breath. The next moment all of her attention was focused on Claire.

Upon more careful examination it became apparent that the shadow was itself also a knot, albeit one that was on the cusp of coming unwound. Were that to happen the unwinding would end up pulling at other parts of Claire's mind, causing those parts to effectively collapse and thus triggering Lelouch's failsafe. It was an ingenious contrivance. Evil, but ingenious. Monica considered the problem. Trying to untangle the first knot was almost guaranteed to cause the second one to unwind, while the second was so finely balanced that she stood almost no chance of actually severing the second without tripping the failsafe, at least not without way more trial and error than she was going to get before Claire ended up either dead or a vegetable. She needed to anchor those fragments of Claire's mind that the failsafe was stringing along, to keep them from literally smashing into each other when she cut the knots.

That, was looking at least possible. Or at least less impossible. Monica regarded the pieces. If they all crumbled at once the result would likely be fatal, but if she could control their collapse, if she was selective about which ones fell when, she might be able to minimize the danger. Or at least keep it from completely destroying Claire's mind. The knight felt her way about the pieces. There, that one. She severed the link. And let out a sigh of relief as it pressed against the others instead of collapsing. One down, way too many to go.

An hour later and a heavily breathing Monica was downing a bottle of cold water. The procedure, she certainly considered it a procedure, was complete, and she had avoided making a complete hash of Claire's brain. She was not entirely successful, but neither was the captain drooling and braindead. And with Lelouch's compulsion gone they might finally be able to get some answers on Claire woke. Perhaps this entire affair would not be a complete fiasco after all.

* * *

As Cole stood before her in uniform Kallen gave the young man a thorough look over. She had to admit, he did look quite dashing and sharp in the outfit.

"Well, do I pass muster?" Cole asked with a crooked smile.

Kallen feigned hesitation as she adjusted his collar. "There, now you do."

The two held each other's gaze for several moments before both chuckled.

"I never thought I would end up in the military," Cole said, "much less be commissioned as an officer."

"Well, don't let it get to your head," Kallen said with a smile of her own. "Us mere jaygees are at the bottom of the totem pole. And we don't so much as give orders as, suggestions, as far as senior noncoms are concerned."

"So I have been told," Cole said dryly. "Still, I don't mind being at the bottom. Gods knows what kind of disaster needs to befall us for me to be bumped higher up."

"Well, you could always earn your rank," Kallen pointed out.

"I intend to," Cole assured her with a smile.

And earn it the young man likely would as the 25th infantry division that Cole was part of had finally finished mustering and received its deployment orders. It would not be one of the units held in reserve in Japan in preparation for the invasion of Korea, instead it would be dispatched to the Philippines to assist in the still ongoing battle against the Chinese. Cole would soon experience his own baptism of fire and as someone whom had gone through it already Kallen knew that it would change the young man, change and destroy forever a part of him. Kallen was confident though that he would make it through, and that he would ultimately even understand her a bit better. She would still regret his need to experience the horrors of war however. Kallen reached out and took hold of Cole's hands.

"Stay safe out there, alright? Don't feel like there's any need to pull heroics or prove yourself. You'll do just that by coming back alive."

Cole squeezed back. "I know. And I will make it back, Kallen."

The girl gave him a gentle smile and Cole was reminded again of how she first captured his heart.

"All units, fall in!" a call sounded over the speakers.

"Well, that's that," Cole remarked.

Before he could say anything else though Kallen leaned in and planted a kiss. Cole's surprise did not last long as he reciprocated and felt the warmth of Kallen's lips wash over him. The moment ended far too quickly but Cole felt a steady, almost serene peace in his mood. As Kallen stepped back to join his family he gave them one final wave before grabbing his bag and headed for the waiting plane. Airlifting an entire division and its equipment was a bit of a challenge even for the Britannian military, and the majority of the 25th would be traveling to Area 12 via ship. An advance force would however be going on ahead to prepare for the rest of the division's arrival, and in his role as a member of the quartermaster corps Cole would be going with them, along with a few other squads to provide some muscle.

"So. That's your girl," Jean remarked.

The jealousy on the young man's face was palatable. Cole chuckled.

"Yes, that's my girl."

Jean grinned back at Cole. "You lucky son of a dog."

"Careful, my mother's here too," Cole said back teasingly. "You wouldn't want to appear like an uncouth commoner in front of her."

The other youth snorted and shook his head. And then raised an eyebrow.

"So, that was your sister, huh?"

Cole gave Jean a most impressive glare. "Don't even think about it."

"Hah, little brother's feeling overprotective I see."

"Do recall, Private Kirstein, I do have some control over the duty rosters," Cole said with a smirk. "And once we get to Luzon Island there will be a lot of work that needs to be done before the rest of the division arrives."

"Ouch, now you're just playing dirty."

"All is fair," Cole quipped.

"Yeah well it ain't me that you'll need to be careful of," Jean said, glancing over at another soldier climbing into the plane. "Better keep an eye on potato girl and make sore she doesn't heat the division stores for a snack."

"What? She's still doing that?"

"Did it a couple of times at infantry school. Only got caught once though."

"So either she's getting sneakier or the instructors are getting more slack," Cole said. "Joy of joys."

"Well, she's a fun one," Jean said. "Her and Connie both."

"I saw him on the personnel list as well," Cole said, "but not Eren. Where'd he end up?"

"Crazy bastard volunteered for some intensive training," Jean said with a shrug. "No idea where he got sent."

"I guess he was serious about trying to work his way up," Cole said.

"He's technically not working his way up," Jean said. "Way he was acting during infantry school, he wanted to stay in the trenches. Guy definitely has a few screws loose."

Cole shoved his own bag under his seat before strapping himself in. "Takes one to know one, eh?"

"Laugh it up, once I get some bars on my shoulder I'll be the one ordering you around," Jean said with a wide grin.

"We've got to actually see through our deployment first," Cole said. "Things have supposedly been pretty rough down in Area 12."

"Tell me about it," Jean said a bit more glumly. "The locals apparently decided to take the invasion as an opportunity to revolt. I sure as Hel hope we don't get put on pacification duty."

Cole grimaced. That really would have sucked. It was one thing to be shooting at Chinese soldiers trying to invade the Empire, it was quite another to be shooting at people who were for all intents and purposes just trying to defend their home. Just like Kallen. He sighed, reaching under his chair and digging through his rucksack until his hands felt the notebook.

"When we get to Area 12 I'm supposed to make sure the barracks waiting for us are ready. Your platoon's supposed to help with any cleanup that needs to be done."

"That's what us privates are for," Jean said with false cheer, "to act as dumb muscle."

"So long as the muscle part is true I'll take it," Cole retorted. "Let's see, uh, wait, Sasha's platoon is being charged with setting up chow lines."

"Really? No wonder she was smiling like that."

"Hmm. Well, whatever, that's not my problem."

"Wait, hold on a sec," Jean said, seemingly realizing something. "Why do chow lines need to be set up? Where exactly are we being billeted?"

"North of Santiago. According to my debriefing the engineering corps has set up makeshift buildings and that's about it. With all the fighting and all the troops shifted over to Area 12, all of the regular base housing are already full."

"Ah Hel, do we at least got running water?"

"Yes," Cole confirmed. "Whether we'll have hot water we'll need to see."

"I suppose it's better than pitching tents," Jean sighed.

"Well, we'll be the first boots on the ground, so at least that way we'll have first pick," Cole said as he continued flipping through the notebook. "I'll actually be bunking with you guys as well."

"What? No private rooms for you officer types?"

Cole flashed a smirk. "That's how rushed the construction job was."

"Oh man, you don't think the general's gonna also bunk with us?"

"Gods I hope not, that would be so bloody awkward."

"What's this boys, you think an old man like me would be a killjoy?"

The entire section surrounding Cole and Jean froze with the two young men and it took several seconds before they mustered the courage to look back. Standing behind them was Major-General Frederick Carlton Weyand, commanding officer of the 25th Infantry Division. Certain jaws suddenly found it very difficult to remain closed.

"No sir," Cole finally managed to sputter out. "Not at all."

The general gave an amused snort. "Be mindful of your surroundings, lieutenant, private. Never know when someone might sneak up on you."

"Yes sir," the two young men said dumbly.

The general continued walking down the aisle, offering a few words to the other soldiers as Cole and Jean continued simply gapping. Only after he was out of sight could they muster further words.

"What. The. Hel."

Cole's head swayed side to side as he tried to find words of his own to describe what just happened. Ultimately he decided that Jean's was succinctly apt and left it at that.

* * *

"Well, this is certainly unexpected."

Alphonse cracked a grin at his subordinate's understatement. "Indeed. We were well aware of the existence of the Sword of Michael, but to think that there was an entire network of cells spread across the country. An entire fifth column just waiting to strike."

Erwin tossed aside the report. "Remarkable that the Britannian intelligence agencies have not discovered them. Are we sure this assessment is accurate?"

"Le Roi seems to believe so," Alphonse said with a shrug, "and all of his previous reports have checked out. It would appear that the Swords of Michael have been acting as camouflage for their confederates, attracting the attention of the Britannian security organs so that the other groups can remain hidden."

"That would make sense," the German agreed, "though I would still caution putting too much reliance onto these, Swords of God. Even they would not be able to win in a standup fight if the Britannian authorities caught wind of them."

"Agreed," said Alphonse. "And ultimately there is little that we can do here, le Roi is the man on the ground so we will need to trust his judgment in how to best employ these assets."

"Assuming he is still around to do any employing," Erwin remarked.

The marshal shrugged. "Had the Britannians actually neutralized him, they probably would not have been so circumspect in their official statement of whatever the blazes happened in Pendragon. Ultimately we will not know the truth of the matter until we get a report on it. That will however take time to reach us," Alphonse gestured to the document, "much as this one did."

"I know," Erwin said, leaning back into his seat. "I suppose all we can do is wait. Not like there is not enough work for us already."

To that Alphonse grunted. Despite what had to be a precarious supply situation Britannian forces in the Middle East had actually managed to launch a counteroffensive. There was not much depth to it, they had withdrawn after bloodying the advancing European units, but it was enough to finally knock the momentum out of the EU forces. Not that that was necessarily all bad news, seeing as things could have gone considerably worse had the Empire possessed the stockpiles to actually pursue their gains. And there was of course the political reaction to the setbacks.

"The council is finally waking up to the fact we're fighting a war," Alphonse said. "No more stalling on mobilization, and we've even been authorized to transfer units from Africa and Europe itself. That'll let us rotate out the units that have been on continuous deployment in the Middle East, give them time to recuperate and reequip." The marshal regarded his friend. "Speaking of reequip, any news on 2nd Panzer?"

Erwin grinned like a schoolboy in a candy shop. "Its regiments are now all using Panzer Hummels and will be ready to ship out within the week."

A big grin crossed Alphonse's face upon hearing that. "That is excellent news. 1st Panzer has been doing wonders, but they've definitely started to get worn down."

"That they have, but with 2nd Panzer down there we'll be able to keep the pressure on the Britannians. Hopefully that'll keep them from realizing just how few Hummels we actually have." The German field marshal cocked his head aside. "Though, what of the French efforts?"

Alphonse grunted unhappily. "Dassault-Dunois has been having problems with the software side of things, or so they keep saying. I'm too old for all their technical explanations, it all sounds like gibberish to me, but the short of it is that we're looking at a delay of months, if not a year or more."

Erwin raised an eyebrow. "A year or more."

"Believe me, I've probably made a few ears deaf with how, emphatically, I've made clear just how unacceptable that is, especially after we got them that massive dump of information from the Britannian Camelot Institute. But engineering cannot be rushed, and as much as I want Rafale to be deployed, I would rather its debut go as smoothly as the Hummels."

"Quite," Erwin said dryly. "Still, if Britannia remains unwilling to come to a diplomatic agreement, we'll need every weapon we've got if we're to take the fight to the Empire itself."

"I am well aware," Alphonse said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "The logistical challenge of mounting an invasion on the Britannian homeland is, immense. We may need to adopt a staggered approach along their northern territories."

"You mean via Alaska and Greenland?"

The Frenchman nodded. "That will require an immense amount of resources to support, and we need to have decisively neutralized the Britannian Atlantic and Pacific Fleets to even contemplate it. To be frank the EU does not have the naval resources to commit to both approaches, we will need to pick one or the other."

Erwin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I would almost prefer Alaska, just due to the shorter distances we would need to traverse by sea. But the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans are not exactly calm waters, and we would only have the Trans-Siberian railway for transferring supplies to the Pacific coast. That could easily become a bottleneck, especially if the Britannians can penetrate our airspace to bomb it."

Again Alphonse nodded. "As I said, a considerable logistical challenge. I will be discussing the matter with Pytor and Manuel later this evening."

"I am sure the conversation will be enlightening," Erwin said.

Alphonse chuckled. "No doubt."

* * *

When Claire awoke the captain felt surprisingly clearheaded, as if a great weight was lifted. The sensation was almost euphoric, which was perhaps why it took several moments for her to realize the ceiling above her was not that of her home. Her eyes widened as she shot up. A soldier seated at the door rose.

"Captain Rieveldt."

Claire blinked, looking at the man. "Umm, what is going on here?"

"Please wait a moment," the soldier said, "I will inform Dame Kruszewski that you are awake."

Claire continued looking at the man in confusion. She recognized the name, and assuming the soldier was referring to the person she thought he was, could not fathom why the Knight of Twelve would be at all involved.

"Her grace will be with you shortly, captain," the soldier said, "and will explain what has happened."

"Very well," Claire said, prepared to be patient to learn just what was going on.

The wait was fortunately not long, though Claire did raise an eyebrow when the Knight of Twelve was pushed into the room in a wheelchair. Apparently whatever had put herself out of action had had some rather extensive ramifications.

"Captain Rieveldt," Monica greeted. "How are you feeling?"

"Umm, a bit confused, your grace."

"That is to be expected. The procedure was rather, experimental, and I was a bit worried that we might have scrambled your brains."

Surprise, and a bit of alarm, flared in Claire. "Excuse me, your grace?"

"This may sound strange to you, captain, but you were placed under mental compulsion by a foreign operative that we believe to be involved with the Swords of Michael."

The quizzical look remained on Claire's face, eliciting a frown from Monica.

"You, do recall the investigation on the Swords of Michael, captain?"

Claire shook her head. "I am afraid not, your grace. If there is a current investigation involving them, I have not been briefed on it."

Monica managed to suppress a curse. "Captain, what is your present assignment?"

Claire's eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry your grace, but I do not believe you are cleared for that information."

Technically she was but there was a more direct way for Monica to find out what she needed.

"Never mind that. Captain, what is today's date?"

Claire's expression quickly changed from wary to something else entirely. Her widening eyes made clear that she was catching on to what Monica herself suspected.

"October 9th, 2016," Claire said firmly.

Monica pursed her lips. "Today is actually December 9th, 2017, captain."

"I, see," Claire said after a very long pause. "This, would be a side effect of whatever procedure was done to me?"

"It would appear so," Monica said. "We'll need to run tests, to see if there is any way to recover any of your memories."

Claire nodded thoughtfully. "You said, I was under some sort of compulsion?"

"Yes."

The captain took a deep breath. "A compulsion placed on me by a foreign operative."

Monica grimaced. "Yes."

"Then, did I compromise Britannia's national security?"

"To a certain extent," Monica said. "We, detected, the compulsion early on and tried to make sure you were not able to access any truly sensitive information."

"But my head is, was, already filled with secrets," Claire said.

Monica nodded. "Yes."

The sigh that left Claire held no relief. In fact the way the captain tightened her grip on her sheets belayed an entirely different emotion.

"Who did this to me," the woman hissed.

Monica considered the best way to answer that question. The captain was obviously enraged someone had played her like this, which would probably make her very motivated in tracking down the perpetrator and ending him. She might still be of some use.

"We believe that a French SDECE field operative to be responsible," Monica responded. "And we suspect that you are not the only one he has compromised."

Claire's eyes narrowed. "He?"

The captain was quick on the uptake, Monica noted. "We have some basic information, including a name and alias. We even managed to get a photo of him."

"I see," Claire said before taking another deep breath. "Then, what does the Empire intend to do with me?"

"For now we want to conduct a few more tests, to determine the extent of your memory loss and just how effective the procedure you underwent to lift the compulsion was."

Claire smiled thinly. "I am still suspect, then?"

"On the contrary," Monica said, surprising the captain. "I am fully confident you are no longer under the effects of the compulsion, but this memory loss was unexpected and we need to determine whether the procedure had something to do with it." The knight shrugged. "Lifting the compulsion is all well and good, but if we end up with people losing their memories as a consequence, that's not exactly a side effect we can just brush off."

"I see," Claire said again, just a hint of uncertainty in her voice. "Then I presume I will have to remain here while the tests are conducted?"

Monica nodded. "We will try to make you comfortable."

The captain gave the knight another wry smile. "I, thank you for your consideration, your grace."

Monica's own smile was a tad more comforting. "You and I worked together extensively in the investigation on the Swords of Michael, captain, and I found nothing but dedication and skill in your conduct. I would be more than happy to have you rejoin the investigation, especially considering the recent developments."

Claire looked over the knight. "I can see that, your grace."

Monica chuckled. "If there is anything you need, let the staff know and we will try to accommodate you."

"Thank you your grace. Umm, if it is not too much trouble, would it be possible to collect a few effects from my home?"

Monica's composure cracked for a brief moment before she was able to rein herself in. "I, am sorry, captain. We discovered the SDECE operative to be using your own residence as a base of sorts, and in the course of our unsuccessful attempt to neutralize him, your home was destroyed."

Claire stared at the knight blankly for several long moments. And then the woman shuddered. Two thoughts warred in her head, the first that a foreign intelligence operative would have intruded upon her life like this, not just making her betray her oaths but entering into her personal life. The woman had never felt so violated. The second, a near panic as she tried to recall all of the things stored in the one place she thought was safe, her home. All of her mementos of her life, of her family, of her parents. Gone, just like that. Everything else Claire had been able to accept with a stoic composure. This though, tears finally began to be shed as the full weight of what happened came crashing down. Tears of sorrow, and fury.

End of Chapter 73

As is quite clear, neither Cornelia nor Schneizel are idiots. And Schneizel especially is as sharp and cunning as Lelouch. Supposedly at least. The anime, wasn't that convincing about that point due to other issues. I'd like to try to make sure my version genuinely looks like he can give Lelouch a run for his money. The problem however is of course Schneizel has a lot on his plate as the prime minister so he can't exactly spend all his time trying to find and stop Lelouch. That's other people's jobs, his is to keep the entire country running. And the resources that are starting to be put into finding and nailing Lelouch have just, increased, substantially.

I also wanted to make clear that Charles himself is not an idiot. He survived after all to become emperor, beating out all of his own siblings and we know from canon that he deposed his predecessor. So I decided to give a bit more background on just how he pulled it off, and the timing worked out well. Ultimately Britannia could not have reached the heights it did during his reign if Charles actually was an overzealous blood knight, he needed to actually be able to govern, especially in the time period where his children were either not born yet or were far too young to start assuming positions of authority in the government. And whatever his many faults, Charles did govern well enough such that Britannia became literally the greatest of the world superpowers. Whether it will be enough to see the Empire emerge victorious in the Great War, we shall see.

Cole's a tad young to be a lieutenant, take it as an indication he did a really good job at quartermaster school. Though the program he was rushed through was a truncated one, and really the only reason he got his rank is because of his educational background and to give him enough authority to organize supply duties as necessary. It sure isn't because his superiors are expecting him to lead platoons in heroic charges. It'll probably be a year or so before he even makes senior grade lieutenant, and we'll see whether the war runs on long enough for him to make captain, even with the accelerated rate of advancement that a war tends to introduce.

I doubt I'm ever going to go into detail about Lelouch's time in the EU beyond a few snippets. The important bits should all be things that can be inferred from the existing text. You all know how he got to Europe and you've learned how he met Charlotte, from her perspective at least. Beyond that none of the other details are really of consequence.

It is highly unlikely any nuclear reactor could ever be made compact enough for mounting inside of a knightmare, if only because of the radiation shielding. Lead isn't exactly light. And no you can't use some sort of electromagnetic field to block the radiation, I'm not even sure if it's physically possible to create an EM field strong enough to do that. Fusion reactors especially ramp up very quickly in terms of efficiency with scale, so a small fusion reactor would be horrendously inefficient.


	75. Chapter 74

_One of the policies the Emperor Charles pursued was a renewed expansion policy, wherein Britannia began looking across the Pacific for new conquests. The first step was the consolidation of the Empire's holdings in Hawaii and in a few short years the island Area was granted satellite status. Australasia was next, though Britannia already had a few small colonies and outposts on its shores. The Empire committed massive amounts of resources to developing the Area, an investment that was repaid many times over as the region's mineral wealth became realized._

 _The Empire's expansion westward had not gone unnoticed by the other nations and fearing that these movements were but a prelude to more aggressive actions the European Union, Chinese Federation, and several other smaller nations began applying economic pressure to try to force the Empire to cease any further expansions. This culminated in the Japanese government, with tacit support from the other nations, imposing an embargo on sakuradite exports to the Britannian Empire, in an attempt to force Britannia to come to the negotiating table. The stratagem backfired spectacularly as Britannia instead declared war and invaded, forcing Japan to capitulate after only a month of fighting._

 _Of the many lessons that could be drawn from the aftermath of the Second Pacific War the predominant one was almost certainly that the Holy Britannian Empire would not permit itself to be blackmailed, and that its response to any aggression aimed towards it would be to answer with force. This was a lesson that regrettably seemed to have been lost upon the Chinese and European governments when a mere eight years later they instigated the Great War._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 74

Vita mutatur, non tollitur

Kallen circled around the sparring mat, her eyes locked on Mikasa. The other girl was fast, strong, and utterly merciless in hand-to-hand. She lunged, swing her arm across to strike at Kallen's head. The redhead blocked, grabbing hold of Mikasa's arm and spinning about towards her to deliver an elbow strike. She hit nothing but empty air as the other girl vaulted over Kallen, twisting out of the knight's grip in the process. Just before she could land however Kallen's shoulder smashed into Mikasa's chest.

The Japanese woman stumbled as she tried to regain her balance, creating another opening for Kallen as she swung a hard roundhouse at her. The block was clumsy and off angle, earning Mikasa a bruising hit on her side. The girl did not even flinch, instead finishing her turn to allow her to grab hold of Kallen's leg. Kallen however was again prepared, her leg bouncing away before Mikasa could get a grip. She immediately launched into another attack, catching the other girl with a palm thrust. That finally elicited a cry from Mikasa. Kallen however was not finished, spinning about into a back kick and delivering the coup de grace against Mikasa's stomach. The other girl fell back and landed with a thud.

"Enough!" Laura's voice sounded.

It was probably a good thing they were wearing padded armor, otherwise some of the hits both sides received would have left bruised marks. As it was Kallen was pretty sure she would be feeling some of these hits tomorrow. She walked over and extended a hand to Mikasa.

"Well fought, private."

"Thank you ma'am," Mikasa said politely if still a bit stiffly. At least she accepted the offered hand.

"An impressive display," Laura said. "It almost makes me wish I had been the one to trade blows with one of you."

"Almost?" Kallen said with a sly smile. "Come now Laura, you know you want to get in on the fun."

Laura gave a merry laugh. "Yes, I suppose I do." The older knight gripped her fist. "Well then, shall we?"

Kallen and Mikasa exchanged looks. "So uh, who'll be fighting you?"

"Why not both?"

The two Japanese women blinked in remarkable synchronicity.

"Uh, excuse me?" Kallen however was the one to give voice to their thoughts. "Both?"

Laura nodded. "The two of you have grown in leaps and bounds in hand-to-hand. It is time we moved beyond the basics and see just how well you do when you move outside your comfort zone. And most importantly, give you some experience in working with and trusting others."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. That was a remarkably forthright way to approach the situation between her and Mikasa. Then again Laura had shown that she was not one for subtlety, preferring to deal with problems in straightforward manners. That did not mean the older girl could not be sneaky, Kallen had ended up on her ass quite enough times due to Laura pulling some remarkably clever moves during their sparring matches, but the other knight never danced around issues.

"Alright," Kallen said, looking over at Mikasa. "I'm game if you are."

After a brief pause Mikasa nodded firmly. Laura smiled, assuming a ready stance.

"Lieutenant Armstrong, if you would?"

Kallen glanced over at the hulking man and saw the twinkle in his eyes. Gods, he had better not decide to jump in himself after this match, she doubted she could keep up against both him and Laura.

"Very well ladies. On your guard, begin!"

To Kallen's surprise Laura did not go after her first, instead aiming for Mikasa. The other girl blocked the kick easily, which was probably Laura's goal as she used the deflected motion of her leg to swing into a hook kick aimed at Kallen just as she approached. Her own charge interrupted, Kallen stopped Laura's leg only to have her opponent slide into a landing that drew the woman into her guard. She was still able to stop the elbow strike, technically, but the sheer strength of it left her own arms stinging.

Mikasa took this opportunity to launch an attack of her own but Laura was ready. The punch was deflected with ease and Laura grabbed the outreached arm, twisting and forcing Mikasa to bend backwards. Laura quickly followed up with a sweeping blow with the side of her hand, hitting Mikasa in the solar plexus, dropping her. As the young woman crumbled onto the ground Kallen launched her own counterattack, trying to take advantage of Laura's momentary preoccupation. Her kick was aimed squarely for Laura's side but was bashed aside by a swift swing of the older girl's arm. Sent spinning, Kallen found her back exposed to Laura's sidekick. The younger knight twisted about as quickly as she could manage, blocking the attack in just the nick of time.

Mikasa pulled herself back up, breaths heavy. Laura certainly ranked up there as one of the most challenging opponents she had ever fought, but it still felt ridiculous to be getting her ass handed to her when she was on the right side of the number imbalance. Then again fighting with someone she was not familiar with and had no previous experience coordinating movements with was hardly optimal. Mikasa cracked her neck and rejoined the fray just as Kallen was on the receiving end of her own beat down.

Laura sidestepped the punch Mikasa threw but her attempt to grab the other girl was thwarted as the soldier drew back with lightning speed. Her arms momentarily extended, Laura's guard was dropped just long enough for Mikasa to get in a solid hit with a quick front kick, the leg again snapping back too fast for Laura to seize. Not that she had any time for it as suddenly Kallen came in on the other side with a jumping roundhouse aimed squarely at head level. Laura ducked under the leg and as it came down lunged forward in an attempt to knock Kallen back.

Mikasa had something to say about that however as she landed a punch right against Laura's side. The knight let out a cry before tumbling back. Kallen did not wait to see if Laura was out or not, spinning about and catching her in the stomach with a hook kick. If Laura was not down already, she was definitely down now. The younger knight frowned. Or not. Against all odds Laura was still on her feet, her arms up in a guard stance. Just what did it take bring her down.

"That is enough," Louis declared. "All combatants stand down."

Kallen's legs almost gave out under her. An hour in the gym would have been tiring under any serious exercise regimen. The pace that the armsmen drove themselves at would have probably seen mere mortals faint. She mustered her reserves however and came to attention respectfully. Exhaustion was no excuse for discourtesy after all.

"Nicely done Kallen, Mikasa," Laura said with a smile. "A bit of a rough start, but the two of you started falling into sync with each other near the end."

Had they? As Kallen thought back she did recall taking advantage of openings that Mikasa created and the other girl doing likewise. Perhaps there was hope yet.

"That'll be all for today," Laura said. "Make sure to grab a bite to eat before you report in for your rotation, Kallen."

The younger knight nodded. "Yes ma'am." Kallen glanced over at Mikasa. "Good work today private."

The other girl tensed for a brief moment before nodding. "Thank you ma'am."

Mikasa were also becoming less and less stiff in her interactions with Kallen. The girl still kept her responses brief, but Kallen now understood that she was simply naturally terse. So long as Kallen respected her space, Mikasa would treat her as she did everyone else. That was progress.

Kallen gave her fatigued muscles a stretch. She was very much looking forward to a nice hot shower. Unfortunately her day was not yet finished as she was on duty for the evening shift. An hour later after having gotten a quick early dinner a still noticeably sore Kallen entered Euphemia's study. The princess looked up and regarded Kallen with a quizzical look.

"Laura, doesn't pull her punches," was Kallen's only explanation.

It proved to be a sufficient one as Euphemia chuckled before going back to watching the television. Kallen almost groaned at what the princess was watching. Euphemia tended to work herself very hard, put in late hours, and generally did not take much time for recreation. That was not to say she did not have any fun at all, there were the dinners with the Ashford family that she seemed to enjoy greatly and Kallen recalled a few times seeing Euphemia giggling as she read some novel.

If the princess was to have one guilty pleasure, or at least what Kallen and the rest of her guard considered a guilty pleasure, it was her love of soap operas. Because of her busy schedule the princess could not regularly watch her shows so she would have them recorded and basically binge them for an evening where she did not have any events to attend and her work was reduced to manageable levels. Which of course meant the armsmen on duty for that evening ended up having to endure three hours of bad drama, which made those shifts the most unpopular with the guard. Kallen silently wondered if she had somehow offended General Nu without realizing it to have gotten stuck with this shift. This day promised to drag on, and on, and on. She was starting to understand just why armsmen got such a hefty hazard pay bonus.

* * *

The figure that entered the room was not one of the members of Loki Regiment. To Claire's considerable surprise her caller was Eleanor Varrot, her old mentor, carrying a small bouquet of flowers. The captain straightened.

"Ma'am."

"As you were Claire," Eleanor said with a gentle smile. The smile quickly disappeared as a solemn expression appeared however. "So, how long will you need to maintain this charade?"

Claire flinched a bit at that. "Until such time as the Swords investigation is concluded, ma'am. And to be honest, I'm not even sure how you found out about me."

Seeing as at present Claire was officially declared dead, having succumbed to wounds suffered in the course of the operation that destroyed her own home, that even an inquisitor like Eleanor could have found her, much less gotten through the security to see her, was impressive.

"Secrets do not keep for very long when many know them," the colonel said before sighing and taking a seat next to Claire. "So, the attack on your residence is somehow involved with your investigation on the Swords of Michael?"

The captain nodded. "I'm sorry ma'am, but I can't discuss any of the details."

Eleanor sighed, pinching her brow. "I suppose not. Then I guess we'll have to take a raincheck on the lunch we were scheduled to have next week."

Claire kept her expression neutral. Thanks to her scrambled memory, which she was not certain Eleanor knew about, she had no recollection of any such appointment. For that matter none of her intact personnel effects had made mention of it, though that was not that surprising since the recent unpleasantness notwithstanding Claire possessed a photographic memory that precluded the need to keep such things as physical schedules and the like. Now though such hardcopies were looking like a better and better idea if only as a backup.

"I am sorry ma'am," Claire said instead.

"No matter," Eleanor said. "Considering the recent events, I doubt either of us could have gotten away from our duties long enough to actually catch up with each other with interesting gossip."

There, Claire was now certain that no such lunch date had been scheduled at all. The colonel was trying to tell her something.

"I do not suppose you would have time to do so now?" she asked with a benign smile.

Eleanor chuckled. "Well, I suppose that depends on how long before your minders decide to show me the door." She set the flowers she was cradling into an empty vase. "I asked Largo to pick these out. They're from our garden and he said they mean good health."

Claire looked at the yellow tulips and smiled slightly. "Thank you ma'am."

"And though I might know of your survival, I'm afraid the others do not. I have heard that Lechter has not taken the news of your demise well. And I don't think anything further needs to be said about the Orion sisters."

The smile disappeared from Claire's face at that last bit. The sadness in her eyes however masked other thoughts that were racing through her head. There was a slight emphasis on the names the colonel was saying, along with the reference to herself. Largo. The colonel herself, Eleanor. Lechter. Orion.

"Presumably once you are able to come back from the dead, I know a good lawyer, Ulysses that can help clean up the monumental mess that will probably be. Shall I leave his contact information with you, Claire?"

Ulysses. Claire.

"That would be very helpful ma'am," Claire responded. "I believe the government will help handle some of it, but I'm sure something will certainly slip through the cracks."

"Things usually do. And his partner Heinz is no slouch either. The two of them do good work."

Heinz.

"That is very considerate of you, colonel. Thank you."

L, e, l, o, u, c, h. Claire blinked. And suddenly felt a sharp pain flare up in her head. She grabbed hold of it, a strangled cry escaping her.

"Claire!?"

The throbbing in her head grew stronger and stronger until Claire could not even see anything before her. She did see something else however. A young man, black hair, and clear violet eyes. No, not just clear, almost shining.

"Julius Kingsley."

The voice reverberated in her head.

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Rieveldt. I hope you will grace us with your patronage again soon."

A voice that she had forgotten, forgotten until now.

"We meet again, Claire."

A voice that she had found to so touch her heart.

"I-thank you, Claire. Thank you, very much."

But ultimately was one that had lied to her.

"So how was your day?"

And used her.

"The least I can do is at least be here to act as a sounding board, to give you someone to talk to."

And mocked her.

"Could they have infiltrated the Inquisitio?"

A welling rage finally cut through the pain in Claire's head.

"Claire!"

The woman looked up, her vision clearing enough to see Eleanor holding her still even as a nurse was checking her vitals.

"Heartrate is settling down again," the nurse said.

"Are you alright?" Eleanor asked.

"I-I think so," Claire said even as she tried to sort through the jumble of memories were overflowing in her mind. "I think so." The woman's expression hardened. "I need to speak with Dame Kruszewski immediately."

Eleanor frowned. "What's going on?"

"Him," the woman said softly. "It was him. I remember now."

Understanding crossed the colonel's face and she nodded. "I see."

Claire grimaced slightly. Technically she should not have revealed even that little to the colonel. But in the spur of the moment she ended up blurting it out and it was done. The only thing left to do was keep her mouth shut and avoid revealing anything further. Fortunately Claire was saved from having to try to find something else to say as the door opened to reveal the Knight of Twelve.

"Colonel Varrot."

Eleanor rose and nodded respectfully. "General Kruszewski."

Monica regarded the older woman for a few moments before finally sighing. "You are dismissed, colonel."

Eleanor kicked her heels together and after giving Claire one more smile took her leave. The captain smiled back, knowing that it would likely be some time if ever before she would be able to meet her old mentor again. She appreciated the quite real risk the colonel had taken coming to see her. She hoped that the knight that now stood before her would let the matter drop. After all, the colonel was herself a full inquisitor, and if even one such as her could not be trusted to keep Claire's secret, then the Empire was in dire straits indeed.

* * *

Ohgi watched from the command vehicle as the tactical team advanced on the seemingly abandoned building. Despite the renewal the ghettos as a whole were seeing there were still plenty of rundown areas that the government had yet to get around to tearing down or refurbishing. That meant there were plenty of places where malcontents could hide out and generally get up to no good, like making pipe bombs. Poorly constructed pipe bombs, but still bombs. Thus far there were no indications of any traps or even any actual security. Then again if these people really were amateurs they might not have had the prescience to prepare any. The team approached one of the windows, raising up a telescope to peek inside.

"Nobody visible inside," Chiba reported. "Nothing by the doorways. Forcing entry now."

The soldier that slammed open the door was not Chiba herself of course, but she was the point woman through first. She swept the space, making certain it really was empty.

"Clear."

The rest of the team was fanning out, poking through the few office rooms before declaring those too were empty.

"Building secured," Chiba reported.

"Alright, I'm coming in," Ohgi said.

That was technically not necessary but he needed to see this place for himself. The forensics team was already at work when he entered and Ohgi found one of the officers standing over a pile of small pipes.

"That what I think it is?" he asked in English.

"Yep. Our perps probably couldn't haul all this away." The gendarme looked over at a dog sniffing about. "Fido find anything volatile?"

The K9 handler smirked. "My dog's got a real name, you know."

"Oh? And what is it?"

"Barkspawn!"

As if to emphasize the point the German shepherd let out a single bark of its own.

"That name makes about as much sense as Fido."

"Says you."

The officer chuckled and turned back to Ohgi. "I guess that means they did at least manage to move the actual explosives."

"Which means they could make more pipe bombs or other IEDs," Ohgi said unhappily.

"True. Damn shame it took so long to sweat the guy."

Seeing as the alternative would have been to hand the suspect over to the Inquisitio for more rigorous interrogation, Ohgi was a mite turn about that bit himself.

"We'll just have to hope these guys were sloppy and left something important behind," he said instead.

"Sir!"

"Well that was quick," the gendarmerie officer quipped.

Ohgi chuckled as he walked over to the officer calling for his attention. "What have you got?"

"Looks like they tried to set fire to some documents, but they didn't do a very good job or were in a rush. Quite a few pages survived."

"So I see," Ohgi said as he accepted one of the more intact specimens. Giving it a quick glance he frowned. "Are these plans?"

"Fairly crude ones at that," the officer said. "They're hand drawn, probably someone scouting out a place and then reproducing what they saw from memory."

"But why destroy them," Ohgi said. "Papers should be easy to remove, unlike those pipes."

"Huh. That is a point." The officer flipped through the other pages. "Then again maybe this was again stuff they couldn't take. Or stuff they didn't need anymore."

Ohgi sighed. Trying to solve crimes was a lot more complicated than running an insurgency. At least then he was the one trying to stay hidden not the one trying to ferret out those with things to hide. He frowned as he looked at the drawings.

"Hmm?"

"Something wrong sir?"

"It's just, the layout of these, buildings," Ohgi remarked. "They're, familiar."

The other man leaned over. "Someplace you've been before?"

"Maybe," Ohgi murmured. "Let me see those."

The officer handed over the other intact pages and Ohgi flipped through them. The frown deepened.

"This one," he said, holding up the first one. "This is a map of the Keio campus. I'm sure of it. And this one, it looks like the layout of the Ashford Academy grounds."

"Hels, you think these guys are planning some sort of attack there?"

"I don't know," Ohgi said. "These could all just be potential targets that they scouted out but haven't actually decided on, or even rejected if they were burned."

"I really hope so, there's that New Years feast her highness is supposed to be attending at Keio soon."

Ohgi nodded. The last thing the Japanese people needed was for another attempt on the princess' life, and at the same place the previous attempt was made for that matter.

"I'll pass this information onto the Lady Stadtfeld," Ohgi said, referring to the girl more formally than he would have with an Akatsuki member. "That'll at least get the princess' guard alerted quickly."

"Right," the gendarme said. "In that case we better get busy sifting through the rest of this, in case there's more to be found."

* * *

The crash of doors being kicked open was not a sound that anyone wants to hear, especially not at dinnertime. For dozens of homes in Pendragon this evening this was unfortunately what they were subjected to as Inquisitio storm troopers forced their way in. Perhaps more gentle means might have sufficed to gain entry but after what happened the last time they were deployed the troopers were not taking any chances. Not that the last deployment could be termed minimal application of force either.

Some of the residents lived alone and were brought down with a minimum of fuss and muss. Others did not live alone however, and in quite a few cases astonished significant others and even children watched in horror as a member of their family was manhandled to the floor and cuffed. Everyone had heard stories of men in black fatigues showing up and disappearing people. Very few people ever considered it might happen to someone they knew. Tears were shed and screams sounded as it happened to someone they knew very well.

Not all of the captures went off cleanly of course and a few casualties were suffered, on both sides. A few of the targets were sufficiently paranoid to have made some preparations for this eventuality. Most of those preparations were far from adequate of course, but a few managed to reach weapons and attempt to fight back. One even managed to kill himself before the storm troopers could take him down nonlethally. The others survived with some bumps and bruises, not all of them inflicted in the actual capture process, as professional as the storm troopers were even their tempers could flare after having gotten shot. Body armor was not exactly bullet proof as it was bullet resistant.

Monica watched the steady stream of vehicles return from their respective raids and the prisoners be unloaded. The likelihood of any of them ever going free again was effectively nil, the Empire did not release known malcontents if it had been deemed necessary to bring them in in the first place. How many of them would even survive interrogation was an open question as well.

"Has the specialist arrived yet?" she asked.

Lorence, not that that was his real name, nodded. "The Bewitching Bell may not possess a compulsion geass like our dear fallen prince, but her illusions should loosen a few tongues nonetheless."

Having one creepy enforcer hanging around gave Monica the willies. Two and she would need to actively restrain herself from trying to shoot them. Then again there were times when their skills could be useful, and she likely would have enlisted the Bewitching Bell to assist in this investigation anyway. She would have preferred not to have the so-called lieutenant breathing down her neck though.

"Your grace," an acolyte said as he came to attention before Monica. "All teams have reported in and are back at base. We are processing the prisoners now."

Monica nodded. "I will be down there shortly."

"Yes your grace."

There was the possibility that Lelouch might have placed a geass on one of the Swords sympathizers they had captured, though the fact that none of them were still actively resisting suggested they were not that lucky. Nonetheless Monica would do a sweep and if the Fates deigned to smile upon them they would have another test subject with which to compare Claire's scans with. As Monica headed down to the processing center Lorence fell in line behind her. The knight grimaced slightly at the reminder that Malleus were not the only ones with an interest in acquiring a few more examples of Lelouch's compulsion. Monica managed not to outright shudder at the thought of what the Directorate could do if they actually managed to induce a geass similar to Lelouch's. That would make her job infinitely harder, at least if she had yet to neutralize V.V. before then. Then again if she could determine just how Lelouch was somehow able to bind C.C. the way he did, she might finally have the weapon needed to permanently remove the brat. One thing at a time however.

* * *

"That is strange."

Charlotte looked over at Lelouch. "What?"

The young man folded the newspaper and pointed at a small section. As Charlotte looked closer she saw it was the obituaries. The name Lelouch's finger indicated was Claire Rieveldt.

"They've publicly announced her death?" Charlotte said with mild surprise.

"Indeed, which means in all likelihood Claire has been seized for experimentation by the Directorate," Lelouch said, a scowl crossing his face. "Perhaps I should have simply had her commit suicide, better a clean death than to be subject to such a fate."

"Shouldn't you be more worried about what they might learn about your geass?" Charlotte pointed out.

Lelouch pursed his lips. "There is certainly a risk, but that is beyond my control at this point. For now we should focus on more immediate concerns."

The door to the office opened and Crow's head poked in. "Yo Lelouch, ah, there you are." He then beamed a smile at the French girl. "Yo Charlotte."

"Ah, speak of the devil," Charlotte said with a smile of her own.

"Ouch, I'll have you know I am a proper and righteous man of God," Crow protested.

"Really? A proper man?"

"Oh man, you really know how to kick a man when he's down," Crow said even as he kept grinning. When he turned back to Lelouch however his expression was once more solemn. "Looks like we've really kicked up the hornet's nest here, Lelouch. You've already heard the news?"

Lelouch nodded, folding his hands together. "Armed teams, presumably Inquisitio storm troopers, conducted raids at several residences across Pendragon. Several of their victims were seized outright in front of their families. And there are also Swords affiliates amongst those arrested. That about sum it up?"

"Yeah," Crow said, no hint of humor in his tone as he pulled up a seat and plopped down before Lelouch. "I know our people, they're a tough lot. But anyone can break, eventually. We need to consider very seriously the possibility that more of our network might get compromised before all this is over."

"How many contacts do they know?" Lelouch asked.

"All of them were only on the periphery," Crow said. "The problem is one of them does know a cell coordinator in Pendragon, and if he gets taken in and breaks, we could be looking at some major damage."

"I presume simply eliminating him is not an option?"

"We thought about it, "Crow said, his expression making clear just how distasteful he found the option, even if he was forced to seriously consider it. "There are too many problems with trying it however, especially so close to the arrests."

Lelouch nodded, accepting the decision. "So what has the Swords elected to do?"

"We're not going to eliminate any of our contacts or field agents unless we're sure they've been compromised," Crow said. "I know, I know, by then it might already be too late, we're going to err on the side of caution though. What we were wondering was whether you'd be able to help, tighten up our security, so to speak. Check some of the procedures the field operatives are using, see if there's something that they might have missed because they either got complacent or too used to things."

Lelouch considered the request for a moment before nodding. "That should be feasible."

All the better that it would allow him to implant safeguards on those very agents themselves so that they would not survive being captured.

"When do I get started?" he asked.

"As soon as possible," Crow said. "Don't worry, you'll have backup on this. We know how bad things could get if the Britannians managed to get their hands on you, and we won't be letting that happen."

Even if it meant putting a bullet in him was the unspoken subtext. While Charlotte looked less than enthused Lelouch cracked a slight smile.

"The thought is appreciated."

Crow grinned again. "Hey, what are friends for?"

* * *

When Kallen entered the ward her mother rested in she found her father leaning over examining a vase of tulips.

"Father?"

Heinrich straightened but did not turn immediately to face her. "Yarrow tulips. Supposed to symbolize good health." The baron finally looked at Kallen. "I would have thought you would have brought irises instead."

Kallen frowned. "I didn't bring these. I thought you did."

The baron raised an eyebrow and cocked his head aside. "Mine are over there."

Kallen's gaze followed the direction he indicated and saw another vase with tulips, though those were violet. The girl shrugged.

"Perhaps one of the nurses?"

Heinrich pursed his lips. "Perhaps."

Kallen regarded her father. "Is something wrong?"

After a few moments the baron took a deep breath. "Have a seat, Kallen. There is something we should talk about."

"Alright," the girl said cautiously as she settled into a chair.

Heinrich did the same and the two came face to face with one another. The man spent a minute or so simply regarding his daughter and Kallen made no motion to hurry him along. This was obviously something important, perhaps even something sensitive. She would give her father time.

"Do you know how I first came to Japan?" Heinrich finally spoke.

Kallen blinked, not sure what meaning was behind the question.

"You were part of a trade delegation," she answered nonetheless. "Part of the Ruvik Group, looking to expand the Group's mineral interests to Japan."

"Officially, yes."

Kallen regarded her father quizzically, waiting for him to elucidate. And then a realization dawned upon her and her jaw dropped. Heinrich nodded.

"I did hold a position with Ruvik, and I was indeed here to establish business relations with Japan's industries. I was also here on another assignment, one from the Britannian government."

The girl's breathing became heavy as she finally managed to close her mouth. It was with great effort that she kept it shut instead of screaming at her father. She would wait until he was finished speaking before doing that.

"My assignment was fairly simple, I was to assess Japan's economic resources and determine what might be of value to the Empire. After my preliminary reports I was given specific assignments, places to check out, companies to examine, so forth. I did this for eight years, until it became clear that the Empire really was intending on invading Japan. At that point I resigned and started building up my personal wealth, hoping that it would be enough to help keep you, Naoto, and Kotone safe." Heinrich sighed. "It wasn't."

That seemed to be all Heinrich had to say about his past, a past that Kallen had never even suspected. The girl tried to even out her breathing, to not sound like she was hyperventilating. The deep breaths helped, a little bit.

"You were a spy," Kallen finally uttered softly.

Heinrich rubbed his chin. "Strictly speaking? No."

"What the Hel is _that_ supposed to mean?" Kallen hissed.

"None of the information I provided to the Britannian government was classified or even strictly secret," Heinrich stated. "For that matter the reports that I drafted were basically identical to the ones that I sent to Ruvik itself. The information was all of practical commercial use, Britannia just decided to put it to other uses instead."

"And that's supposed to make things better?" Kallen snapped.

"Of course not," Heinrich responded gently, but firmly. "The information I provided helped Britannia loot the Japanese economy after the invasion. The people that I worked with, the Japanese businesspeople that I worked with, establishing ties and partnerships, they were the ones that lost everything because I told the Empire who had what. The government might have eventually gotten this information by other means, and I'm certainly not the only analyst they sent to Japan, but I unequivocally hold some responsibility for what happened to those people, their employees, and their families."

The temptation to yell at her father lessened very, very slightly. The anger boiling within Kallen was still very hot however.

"Why are you telling me this now?" Kallen demanded. "What's the point? Is this you trying to salve your conscience? Cause I'm not the one that can offer you any forgiveness or understanding."

Heinrich crossed his legs and clasped his hands on his knee. "I am telling you, Kallen, so that you can tell your mother should I not be around to do so."

That threw Kallen. The girl regarded her father.

"What? What's going on?"

"I have been recalled."

Kallen blinked. She blinked again. The confusion on her face simply grew with every passing second.

"You've never served in the military."

"That is correct," Heinrich said with a nod. "I did however rise to the rank of interrogator, with a simulated rank of major, in the Ordo Xenos."

Kallen's chest tightened again. In fact this time she was audibly wheezing.

"I have received a summons directly from the Lord Inquisitor to report to Pendragon for special assignment. No, I do not know for what, and even if I did I could not tell you." Heinrich's expression softened. "I do know however that the summons would not have been issued lightly, and that the matter must be of some import."

"You," Kallen sputtered, trying to draw enough air to actually speak. "You, were an Inquisitio interrogator."

Heinrich nodded.

"Oh gods," Kallen gasped. "I-that-what the Hel?"

Probably the only thing that kept Kallen from literally screaming her reaction was the fact that the girl was still visibly trying to get her chest to stop tightening. Heinrich rose and stepped over to his daughter, taking hold of her shoulder and steadying her.

"Kallen. Breathe."

Somehow, having her father tell her to do so, Kallen was finally able to get her chest to slowly relax. She took slow, deep breaths and felt her heart stop thundering like a jackhammer. Kallen met her father's gaze.

"You're Inquisitio," she repeated.

"Xenos, not Hereticus," Heinrich emphasized again.

The scowl on Kallen's face made clear the distinction was irrelevant to her. Heinrich sighed and straightened.

"I have said my piece. If there is something that you want to say, now is your chance to do so."

Kallen's jaw tightened. There was certainly a lot she wanted to say, or rather yell, at her father. Just when she was starting to think better of him, to think of him as not just the man that abandoned their family when the invasion hit, he dropped this on her. A part of Kallen knew it took a lot of guts for her father to come clean like this. Another part was furious at the role he obviously played in helping Britannia orchestrate its invasion. Right now the latter was winning out.

"There's nothing I have to say," Kallen said in a low hiss.

Heinrich nodded, accepting his daughter's anger. He then walked over to the table next to Kotone's bed and picked up a folder. Kallen stared at it blankly as it was presented to her.

"What."

"A copy of the interrogation of Babel's point man for the drug and human trafficking."

Kallen's eyes wondered and the anger momentarily disappeared from them as she gazed at her father.

"What?"

"I presume her highness has not deigned to share with you the details of that investigation. Understandable, I suppose, you have no direct operational need to know, and I doubt the princess is going to let any of these people get away with what they've done. Nevertheless, I think you have a right to know who put your mother in here."

Kallen glanced over at Kotone, a pained look momentarily flashing over her face. She then looked back at her father as she accepted the folder.

"Something tells me you shouldn't even have this, much less be giving it to me."

"Quite right," Heinrich said. "Unfortunately I may not be in a position to make sure these sons of bitches gets what's coming to them." He smiled sadly. "I find that there may be much that I will be leaving undone."

Kallen tried to keep a scowl on her face. "You say that like you expect to not come back."

The baron shrugged. "As I said, one does not receive a summons directly from the Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo unless the matter is of some import."

The girl found it was becoming harder and harder to do so however. For that matter her anger was also starting to thin, even if only slightly.

"You don't know why you've been summoned?"

"None whatsoever."

Kallen held her father's gaze for a few more moments before sighing resignedly. "Does the princess know about the summons yet?"

"No to both, and I would prefer she remain in the dark about my past. The official request for my presence in Pendragon is going to be coming from the prime minister's office. I will leave it to her brother to figure out an excuse."

"I see," Kallen said. She managed a slight glare at her father. "So you're leaving. Again."

Heinrich reached out, stroking Kallen's hair. The girl made no move to stop him.

"I suppose that is what is happening. I wish I did not have to leave, but life rarely seems to care what we ourselves desire."

The scowl returned though Kallen still did not bat away her father's hand. He withdrew it a few moments afterward anyway.

"Did Naoto know about any of this?" Kallen asked.

Heinrich shook his head. "No."

It was all too sudden and Kallen's own emotions were all sorts of twisted by these revelations. And yet there was simply not much time to digest it and actually respond.

"I have a lot of reasons to hate you father," Kallen finally said. "You've just added a couple more."

Heinrich chuckled. "You have every right to hate me, Kallen." And then he pulled her into an embrace. "But you are still my daughter, and one whom I love without reserve."

Slowly Kallen raised her own arms and wrapped them around her father. She hated him, she most definitely hated him. But she also loved him, for he was her father. That the girl no longer denied. As the two parted she made up her mind about something else as well.

"Father," the girl said calmly and coolly. "There is something you should know."

Heinrich cocked his head aside quizzically as he regarded his daughter. Kallen grimaced. She may have owed Euphemia much, but not that much. And then she spoke.

End of Chapter 74

Any guesses as to what Heinrich's new assignment will be?

Some parts of the backstory in Code Geass never made sense, including some bit about how the other nations tried to blockade Britannia. Which is very much what the hell. Britannia is one of the largest industrial and military powers in the world. And due to its sheer size its internal economy would also be massive to begin with. Trade would not be nearly as important to it as say a country like Japan, which is fairly small relatively speaking and much more vulnerable to blockade attempts. Basically when I read it I felt like it was another instance of the Code Geass writers projecting Japanese sentiment and ending up with a backstory event that made no sense. This happened a lot. It was really frustrating.

We seem to have hit an even slower patch than I was expecting. I was originally expecting to kick off the next big sequence by chapter 75. It's starting to look like it'll be closer to 77 or 78. 80 if I end up needing to do even more buildup than I was expecting.

"Toute bonne nouvelle n'est pas action ennemie" translates as "Not all good news is enemy action." And what is Lelouch's favorite maxim? "Pillage, puis ravager." Make of that what you will.

I am however mildly disappointed that the first shout out I put into this story back in chapter five seems so obscure that only a few people caught on to it. Then again I suppose English literature is not actually in the same category as Japanese anime.

The Chinese Federation is a monarchy as in R2.

I forgot to mention this last chapter, or I suppose re-mention it, but I've already noted several times that the level of technology in my version of the Code Geass universe, despite taking place in the 60s, is closer to that of the late 90s. I attributed the considerably more advanced technology to having a room temperature superconductor. The official Code Geass timeline was a complete mess and horribly inconsistent, so I picked a timeframe that the fandom _seemed_ to have settled on and built everything up from there. And then after I started the story the Code Geass wiki completely overhauled their official timeline. That's been mildly inconvenient to say the least.

My version of Euphemia is highly unlikely to try to give her armsmen the slip to wander the city alone, for several reasons. The first is that my Euphemia is a lot more cognizant and far less flippant about the very real threats on her life. There have been at least two attempts on her life thus far after all. Second, in conjunction with the first, she has already had several armsmen give their lives for her and she is not going to risk more of them by making their jobs harder. While one day she might want to be able to go on a date without having a massive security presence breathing down everyone's neck, that day is still some ways away and even then Euphemia would not dismiss all of her guards. She would probably turn it into a double date with Kallen and Cole along. And both of the latter would probably be armed. Cole may not be an armsman but by that time he'll be a fully trained and experienced soldier. Assuming he makes it that long and is still with Kallen.

I'm pretty sure I said last chapter that radiation shielding with an EM field was not a thing. And for nuclear reactions it's really not a thing. The only time I've seen it discussed seriously is when talking about shielding for interstellar radiation, to divert or slow down highly energetic charged particles zipping around in space. And by talked about seriously, I mean brought up and dismissed right away because modern technology is not capable of making a magnetic field strong enough to actually do that kind of diversion.

There is a theoretical concept of direct energy conversion for nuclear reactions. Gamma rays are basically high energy photons, so in theory one could create the equivalent of photovoltaic cells that absorb gamma particles to generate current. No need for any steam based component there. The problem of course is that gamma rays are so energetic good luck finding any material to build the cell with that won't get transmuted or destroyed outright by the gamma radiation. Which goes back to the radiation shielding problem.

The problem with the more fantastical knightmares is power density. Both the Guren Seiten and the Lancelot Albion have to be consuming so much power for their respective systems that the only way their power plants could support that expenditure was if they were violating the laws of thermodynamics. Or have some sort of compact antimatter reactor. But if they had that, their level of technology would be so far beyond what is currently possible it's well beyond the realm of what willful suspension of belief would permit. Especially considering how badly those knightmares get knocked around, containment should by all rights have been lost far more frequently, and energetically, than happened in the anime.

A room temperature superconductor helps with reducing waste, but it does not magically provide a boost to power generation and it doesn't change the fact that you still need to consume power to do things like fire the radiant surger or create an energy shield that is somehow able to tank missiles or somehow get a completely unaerodynamic humanoid shaped robot to maneuver in the air like it was a F-22. And since I'm trying to keep the technology at least reasonably believable, neither the Seiten nor the Albion will be making an appearance, or at least not in the form they did in the anime.

A room temperature superconductor also doesn't make antimatter that much more reachable than in situations where one is lacking. It still takes a tremendous amount of energy to create the antimatter in the first place, which sakuradite isn't going to be able to help bring down to anything approaching practical levels, especially for a pre-nuclear society.

Err, what? Lelouch is an intelligence operative, what does he care about public opinion or goodwill? He's not in the public eye nor is he trying to set himself as any sort of public leader, and the general public doesn't even know he exists. He's running completely black ops that "his" country would deny any involvement with. The only thing he needs to do is make sure his actions can't be traced back to "his" country.


	76. Chapter 75

Snippet spoiler: There is a spoiler

 _As the new year approached Britannian forces in the Middle East were soon met with an unpleasant surprise. Having fought the new Panzer Hummels for several months previous, the Britannians were acutely aware of the advantages the Hummel's considerable maneuverability and mobility offered it. Nevertheless the fact that only a relatively small number had been deployed by the Germans suggested to imperial officers that the Europeans were not quite ready to perform a mass rollout. These hopes were dashed however as the Germans rotated out the weary 1_ _st_ _Panzer Division and replaced them with the 2_ _nd_ _Panzer Division._

 _The Britannian counterattack had managed to blunt the European advance but without additional forces to exploit his gains General Craig was forced to allow his opponents to withdraw. Those forces were soon rotated out and replaced by reinforcements that had accompanied 2_ _nd_ _Panzer and the Empire found several divisions of fresh troops arrayed against its own units. With the diversions to support the Indian Uprising, the only forces Britannia had available in the Middle East to face the newly arrived Europeans were units already depleted and wearied by the constant fighting of the last few months._

 _Recognizing that his position was no longer tenable, General Craig began evacuating as many of his forces from the Middle East as possible. Over 80% managed to escape, in part thanks to the Empire's ability to sealift forces directly to India instead of having to traverse the Indian Ocean to Australia. The remaining units, including the general himself, surrendered to the Europeans after the fall of Muscat. The general would be the senior most Britannian officer taken prisoner during the war. He would also be the only theatre level commander to surrender his command._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 75

Cor aut mors

Heinrich had not expected to be returning to the homelands before the conclusion of the war, not least because of his role in helping organize Japan's industrial concerns in supply the government's needs. In fact the official reason he was back in Pendragon was that he had been doing such a good job organizing Japan's industries that the central government had taken notice and wanted him to help marshal the homelands' industries. Heinrich was fairly certain the Princess Euphemia had not believed a word of it, but she had also not attempted to stop him. The Prince Schneizel's doing most likely.

Once he arrived in Pendragon Heinrich did not even bother checking into a hotel before reporting to Muninn Tower, the official headquarters of the Ordo Xenos that stood opposite of Huginn Tower, the home of its counterpart. Heinrich did not think much of either building or the organizations they housed. They might have been necessary instruments for upholding the Empire's order, but that did not make them any less distasteful. That and for some gods forsaken reason both buildings insisted on having massive steps leading up to their main entrance. Heinrich wondered if the lord inquisitors found some perverse pleasure in making people climb all the way up there. The Xenos lord inquisitor almost certainly did knowing her sense of humor.

Well-armed sentries were posted at the entrances, ready to act in the off chance someone was stupid enough to launch an actual attack on the Inquisitio. While the security measures had doubtlessly changed since his time with the Ordo Heinrich knew that there were many other less visible defenses sprinkled about as well. The baron looked up, regarding the seemingly decorative gargoyles, noting the barely discernable hole in their mouths. He idly wondered if they were still filled with grapeshot.

Once past the first set of security checks Heinrich proceeded through the lobby to the receptionist's desk. Considering how long he had been inactive his security codes were almost certainly invalid so he would need to check in the old fashioned way.

"Excuse me."

The genial looking secretary looked up and Heinrich noted the slight motion of her hand under the desk.

"How may I help you sir?" she asked with a welcoming smile. Welcoming, but still wary, considering she was almost certainly reaching for either an alarm or a weapon, just in case.

"I have an appointment with the Duchess of Vauxhall."

The secretary did not visibly react to the mention of the lord inquisitor's alias, instead simply nodding politely.

"Your name, sir?"

"Heinrich Stadtfeld." The baron presented his identification card to the secretary.

The woman's hand withdrew from under the table as she accepted the card and slotted it into her terminal's reader. After a few moments she nodded, smiling at Heinrich again and returning his ID.

"Your identity has been confirmed, my lord. If you could please wait one moment an agent will be here to see you to her grace."

"Thank you," Heinrich said cordially before taking a seat in what was admittedly a rather comfortable chair. Then again considering how much money the Inquisitio got for its budget it could probably afford a few creature comforts.

The wait reminded Heinrich slightly of his first appointment with the Princess Euphemia. That encounter had ended with him literally blackmailing the princess and setting into motion events that would see his daughter become her knight of honor. One could hope that this meeting would not take a similar turn.

"Baron Stadtfeld."

One thing was already different, Heinrich noted. The agent sent to fetch him was male. The baron stood and regarded the man.

"Agent Thomas B. Thompson," the agent introduced himself. "Please, come this way."

Heinrich obeyed, wondering just who saddled the poor man with a name like that. The agent himself seemed to be fairly no-nonsense, not making any small talk as they walked. That was fine with the baron, the duchess was the one he was here to see after all.

The hallways of Muninn Tower had not changed much since he last walked it. The decorations were mostly the same, though a few security checkpoints did sport upgraded electronics. There was certainly no fingerprint reader the last time he was here. After being waved through a series of progressively more foreboding looking security stations the two entered a cozy looking antechamber. Two others were already present, a tall and lanky man with jet black hair and a middle aged blond woman whom was sporting a mischievous smile as she chatted away with the other fellow. At seeing her Heinrich suppressed a choking sound that nearly escaped his throat.

"Ah, there you are Thompson," the other man said. "This our other guest?"

Thompson nodded. "Baron Stadtfeld, Tòmas D. Thomson, my partner. And the lady he is trying to flirt with is the Lady Zemelda Cleat, secretary to her grace the Duchess of Vauxhall."

It was becoming more and more difficult to keep from choking outright. And from the mischievous twinkle in the woman's eyes she was finding it equally difficult to not just burst out laughing. Heinrich decided to settle the difference by clearing his throat.

"Your grace," he said with a respectful bow of his head. "Perhaps we should dispense with the theatrics and get down to business?"

A gurgle sounded from the man standing next to Heinrich while his partner, the equally unfortunately named Thomson, paled as he realized just with whom he had been flirting with. Despite probably being old enough to be the mother of the two agents Amberley had managed to maintain a remarkably youthful complexion, one that often saw her mistaken for someone about Heinrich's own age if not younger. Just how the duchess achieved this Heinrich did not know and knew better than to ask.

"Still as stodgy as ever, eh Heinrich?" Amberley said with a grin.

"And I see your sense of humor has changed little," the baron responded. And almost as an afterthought. "Does the good commissar know you are flirting with men half your age?"

Amberley stuck her tongue out at Heinrich. "Cheap shot there, Heinrich." She rose from her secretary's desk. "You can come out now Zemelda."

The woman that emerged was certainly attractive in her own right, though there was that streak of dyed purple in her hair. She also looked absolutely nothing like the lord inquisitor.

"Your grace," she bowed politely. "Will you be seeing these gentlemen now then?"

"Umm, we're still waiting for one last guest."

A knock sounded.

"Ah, here she is. Come in!"

The doors opened and through them entered one Eleanor Varrot, colonel, inactive inquisitor, and headmaster of the Schola Progenium.

"Eleanor?" Heinrich said in surprise.

The colonel smiled warmly as she walked over. "It is good to see you again Heinrich." And then she drew him into a hug. "I heard. I am very sorry."

Heinrich's body stiffened slightly but he wrapped an arm around Eleanor. "Thank you. And, I'm also sorry. Lechter told me about what happened to Claire."

Eleanor withdrew and nodded solemnly. "Thank you."

"He won't be able to make it back for a while," the baron said. "He asked me to leave a few flowers at her, resting place."

"Come by the house sometime," Eleanor said. "Largo's greenhouse has a collection of yarrow tulips that you can take."

Heinrich blinked once, the only reaction he allowed to reach his expression. Yarrow tulips were meant to symbolize good health and thus traditionally not placed upon graves. The inference was obvious. Heinrich however simply nodded.

"If the two of you are done catching up," Amberley said, "let us move this meeting into my office."

The four followed as Amberley pushed upon the other set of doors, revealing a much larger chamber filed with displays and computers humming away. Information, as oft said, was power, and there was a lot of power at Amberley's fingertips, literally.

"I have summoned the four of you because your talents are required to counter a rather insidious threat that has emerged." Amberley regarded all of them one by one. "Tell me, does the name Lelouch Lamperouge mean anything?"

Heinrich did not even bother hiding the scowl that appeared while Eleanor also grimaced. It took the other two Xenos agents a bit longer but they too eventually caught on the significance of the name. Familiarity with history, both Britannia's and that of other nations, was a prerequisite for entry into the ordo after all.

"Oh, shit."

The expletive uttered by Thomson concisely and accurately summed up the situation. Amberley flashed the agent with her trademark smile though the man did not seem to draw anywhere near as much comfort as he seemed to before learning her identity.

"Over the last year Lamperouge has been actively working on behalf of the French Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage to cripple the Empire in a myriad of ways," Amberley began. "We believe him to be responsible for the terrorist attack on Ashford Academy in Area 11, the assassination attempt on the Princess Euphemia at Keio, and ultimately the Tokyo Uprising instigated by the Japanese Liberation Front. A few months ago we began suspecting that Lamperouge had managed to infiltrate the homelands and link up with the Christian terrorist group the Swords of Michael, and we have reason to believe that the recent bombing campaign is directly linked to them. Their combined efforts have also grown increasingly daring, there was the open assault on the Knight of Ten Sir Luciano Bradley and the ambush that sought to assassinate the Knight of Twelve Dame Monica Kruszewski."

The former prince had gall, that much Heinrich was prepared to admit. And if he really did possess some ability to compel people to obey his orders, he needed to be put down as quickly as possible. Of course were that easy he would not have been reactivated.

"All indications are Lamperouge is intending to repeat his actions in Japan but on a grander scale," Amberley continued. "We believe that he seeks to use the Swords of Michael to strike directly at the imperial family, much as he attempted to assassinate the Princess Euphemia in Area 11."

"Excuse me your grace," Thompson spoke up, "but a question."

Amberley nodded. "Yes?"

"This, Lamperouge," the agent said carefully. "Assuming he really is the Prince Lelouch, why is he so dead set on murdering his own family?"

"We do not know," Amberley said. "Without hard information on what happened to him after the death of his mother and sister all we can do is speculate."

The four absorbed that tidbit, frowns all about. Knowing one's enemy was the first step to defeating them. They knew who their opponent was, but it seemed they still did not know what he had become.

"Umm, another point, your grace," Thomson said. "If this, Lamperouge, is now in the homelands, technically doesn't that make him Hereticus' problem?"

It was a legitimate question, and demonstrated at least some awareness of the friction that might arise if their sister ordo found out about Xenos' investigation.

"Technically, yes," Amberley said. "However, Lamperouge is operating as an operative of a foreign power, in this case France. As such he represents an external threat that simply happens to be operating within the Empire's borders, making him as much our problem as that of the Ordo Hereticus."

Eleanor and Heinrich both knew that that was an interpretation heavily disputed by Hereticus itself but the baron did not care a wit. Lelouch had twice tried to murder his daughter and now he was being given a chance to bring the bastard to heel. It was a chance he did not intend to waste.

"What is our specific mission, your grace?" Heinrich asked.

When Amberley's gaze fell upon him there was none of the duchess' usual humor or frivolity. Instead her eyes were a hard, icy blue and her expression one of firm resolve.

"To find and kill Lamperouge, before he can instigate some sort of insurrection in Pendragon itself," Amberley said. She looked over at Eleanor. "Colonel Varrot, you are hereby reactivated and reinstated to your position as inquisitor. Name your candidate for overseeing the schola during your absence, and I will see to it that he or she is made available."

Eleanor did not spend long deciding. "General Vandyke. He was my predecessor and is now retired, but he should be able to serve as acting-headmaster in the interim."

"Done," Amberley said, then looked over at the baron. "Heinrich, you are also reactivated. I am breveting you to lieutenant-colonel and seconding you to Colonel Varrot's command. You always had a good head on your shoulders, use it to find Lelouch. Any information you need, you will have."

Heinrich simply nodded. There was little else for him to say. Satisfied, Amberley moved onto the two junior agents present.

"Acolytes Thompson and Thomson. Your exemplary service in Area 11 has been noted. I am hereby assigning you to Inquisitor Varrot and charging the two of you to put together her wetworks team." A thin smiled appeared. "Do not disappoint."

The two men stiffened to attention and nodded quickly. Heinrich paid their nervous actions little mind, his own thoughts already turning towards the assigned task. Lelouch was obviously extremely intelligent, even if his compulsion allowed him to influence others he still needed to plan carefully to take full advantage of it. The prince was however still young, still relatively inexperienced. He would make mistakes, oversights, which would leave ripples in his wake. And from those ripples Heinrich would find him, and kill him. Death was after all a most final solution.

* * *

MacArthur Base was bustling with activity as Kallen and Laura arrived. It was not just the fact that the base was the point of entry for so many of the Empire's soldiers as they massed in Japan, there was also the Yuletide feast this evening that everyone was looking forward to. The feast was also why Kallen and Laura were here, as part of the advance team from Euphemia's guard. Not that security on the base was that questionable the two needed to actually do anything, but it still paid to be thorough. There was also another errand the two were running as Kallen, glasses off for the moment, followed Laura to the hanger used by the ASSEC.

"So what's this all about?" Kallen asked the older girl.

"I am not certain, Rean only said that someone from the homelands was visiting and requested a meeting with you."

"Is he usually this ambiguous?" Kallen asked.

Laura cracked a slight smile. "If it is any consolation, I believe he means the surprise to be more for me than you."

Kallen chuckled in response. "Well, I suppose that's something."

Not that she was that worried about what the other knight had in mind. Everything she had seen of Rean indicated the young man was of firm and honorable character. He was also a very talented knightmare pilot, one whom Kallen actually found herself enjoying sparring with. So was Laura for that matter, though the Gloucester the older girl piloted was not quite up to the task of taking on the Guren, even with a brigade cadet at the reins. All in all Kallen was more than prepared to consider the two friends, quite the contrast from how she previously regarded knights in service to the Empire. Then again back then she was not one herself.

Outside of the ASEEC hanger they easily caught sight of Rean, standing by a young woman with blond hair tied into pigtails. Her face immediately brightened as they approached, or more accurately as Laura drew near.

"Laura!"

"Alisa?" the girl in question said with some surprise as she was embraced by Alisa. "What are you doing here?"

"Mixing a bit of pleasure with business," Alisa said, beaming as she let her friend go. "I'm running an errand for my mom in Area 11, and I thought I'd drop by and visit the two of you."

"Well I'm certainly glad to see you," Laura said, smiling back. "Though working on Yuletide? That seems excessive."

"Nah, I'm not actually working today," Alisa said. "The business meeting I'm supposed to attend is actually after the New Year. But since it is the holidays, I thought I would come and enjoy a little vacation."

"Then in that case we shall have to make sure you thoroughly enjoy your time here," Laura said. She turned towards Kallen. "Kallen, this is a good friend of both myself and Rean, Alisa Reinford. Alisa, this is Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki, knight of honor to the Princess Euphemia."

"A pleasure to meet you, Alisa," Kallen said with a nod of her head.

"Likewise," Alisa responded, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Well, isn't this a coincidence, though I suppose I should have expected this."

The others regarded the young woman quizzically.

"My errand was actually to have a meeting with you, Kallen," Alisa said. "I believe you should have received a message from my mother? At least indirectly."

Kallen's mouth opened in a soundless ah as it clicked. "Reinford. That's your family's business, isn't it?"

"Founded by my grandfather," Alisa said, "and currently run by my mother."

"And you are following in her footsteps?"

"Well, sort of," Alisa said. "It's more like, I want to see if there's a better way of running the company."

Both Laura and Rean nodded to that, obviously aware of some history that Kallen herself was ignorant of. Seeing as none of the three seemed prepared to elucidate Kallen simply nodded.

"The message was a request for a meeting, and it was scheduled for after the new year," Kallen said. "Until then, how about we keep pleasure and business strictly separate?"

"Fine by me," Alisa said with a smile. "It's rather important to strike a proper work-play balance after all."

"We still have an hour or so before we need to attend to the visit arrangements," Laura said. "Shall we grab a quick bite to eat at the mess hall?"

"Is the food here any better than at Aberdeen?"

Both Laura and Rean chuckled.

"I'd like to think so," Rean said. "Then again Laura and Kallen here work at the palace, so they eat much better than me."

"You would be surprised," Laura said. "Dinner is certainly something to look forward to, but breakfast is nothing special and lunch is usually field rations."

"Ouch," Alisa said. "You have my sympathies. Though aren't you serving as part of the princess' guard? One would think she'd feed you better."

"It's kind of like what we were thought at Aberdeen," Rean said. "Get too comfortable and when real hardships hit you might not be able to withstand it."

"Oh yeah," Alisa said. "Didn't one of your classmates make some quip about how pampered the provincial guard is?"

Rean made a pained smile. "Machias, has some rather strong opinions about the nobility and their retainers."

Alisa chuckled. "And he got along with the noble scions like oil and water."

"The food here isn't too bad though," Rean said. "They've started hiring some local chefs and some of the stuff they've come up with is a welcome break to the usual fare."

"So they've added Eleven cuisine to the mess hall menu here?" Alisa asked.

Kallen's mouth twitched ever so slightly, too quickly for the older girl to actually notice without paying close attention. The reaction did not go unnoticed by Rean and Laura however.

"We have a few Japanese dishes," Rean said, emphasizing very slightly the word. "Nothing terribly fancy, but it's rather amazing how something as simple as pork cutlet can be made all the more delicious with just a few tweaks to the recipe."

The deliberate word choice was not lost upon Alisa and her gaze immediately drifted over to Kallen. The young knight kept her face neutral but the very lack of expression was enough. Alisa offered a slight smile of apology.

"I suppose I have something to look forward to then," she said.

Kallen nodded, favoring Alisa with a smile of her own to acknowledge the other girl's words.

"Did all of you meet at school?" she asked, shifting the topic along.

"Sort of," Rean took that one. "Alisa and I went to secondary together. After graduation I entered West Point and eventually enrolled into the cadet brigade, while Alisa went to Radcliffe."

He then glanced over at Laura whom continued the explanation.

"Alisa and I met during a bridage exercise at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Representatives from industry were also present, and Alisa was serving in such a capacity for her family's company. Although, I was somewhat taken aback by how enthusiastically she greeted Rean."

"Well how was I supposed to know the two of you were dating?" Alisa said with a slight flush. "Rean hadn't been keeping in touch with any of his old schoolmates."

"Uh, well," Rean tried. "But I've been writing letters since then."

Kallen and Laura both chuckled.

"Come, let us get to the mess hall before the noon rush," Laura said. "There is much to catch up on."

Despite being the relative newcomer to this little circle Kallen found herself made more than welcome as they headed to get food and then chatted away. They could not linger too long, there were still the actual preparations that needed to be seen to, but in that brief time Kallen learned much about her compatriots, and of Alisa herself. It was clear that the young woman was under a great deal of pressure relating to her studies and her family business. And yet she somehow maintained her genial attitude, which was an achievement all by itself.

"-and I'll probably also be stopping by to see grandpa as well," Alisa said before taking another bite of the cutlet. "Wow, these really are good. Sure you're not getting too spoiled even in the military, Rean?"

"Well, today's something of an exception," Rean said. "Normally we only get these on Sundays, so it's a day early this week due to Yuletide."

"Your grandfather," Kallen said thoughtfully. "He's the one that's been appointed as acting director of Kirihara Industries."

Alisa nodded. "Mom was furious with him when he up and literally disappeared from the homelands without a word to the rest of us. We were about to file a missing person's report when suddenly we find out on the news that he was in Ar-Japan." She shook her head. "I mean, he's always been a free spirit, but that was just plain irresponsible."

"Really?" Kallen said, somewhat taken aback at the elder man's seeming conduct. "I thought he was supposed to be doing a good job?"

"Oh he's a great businessman," Alisa said. "That's never been in doubt. But he also tends to be stubborn." A shrug. "Then again I suppose everyone in my family has a bit of that."

That Kallen could well sympathize with. She popped the last bit of cutlet into her mouth.

"Are you also going to see the Ashfords?" Rean asked.

That caught Kallen by surprise as she looked back over at the other woman. Now how did Alisa know the Ashfords?

"Probably. I'll at least visit to pay my respects." At seeing Kallen's quizzical look Alisa elucidated further. "My family and the Ashfords have long been business partners. In fact I think they're the third largest shareholder in our company."

"Is that so," Kallen said thoughtfully. Another tidbit she did not know about Milly and her family. "So you know Milly?"

"I only met her once back when we were kids," Alisa said.

"Ah," Kallen said, cracking a smile. "Well, do be sure to enjoy her hospitality."

Alisa gave Kallen a curious look but the younger girl declined to explain, simply continuing to smile.

"Well, we should get going," Laura said. "Assuming you are finished, Kallen?"

All eyes fell on the double helping Kallen had gotten and the girl blushed ever so slightly. By this point it was becoming completely natural for her to grab extra food. Or at least what other people considered extra. As far as Kallen's body was concerned it was just enough to keep her going. Recovering as best she could, Kallen primly wiped her mouth with the napkin.

"Yes, I am. Shall we?"

The others also rose, varying levels of amusement on their faces. There were not that many downsides to being able to basically eat as much as you wanted. This was probably one of those few.

* * *

Upon Euphemia's arrival at MacArthur Base she was greeted not only by Kallen and Laura but also Jeremiah, as the senior officer in Tokyo.

"Margrave," the princess said with a warm smile.

Jeremiah bowed deeply. "Your highness. You honor us today with your presence."

"It is the soldiers of the Empire that honor my self and my family with their service," Euphemia replied serenely. "Shall we, margrave?"

"Of course, your highness."

Jeremiah fell in line next to the princess while Kallen and Laura led the way. The weather was more than a bit chilly, it being the middle of winter after all, and all involved were likely glad to be indoors. The massive hanger, one of several that had been set aside for today's feast, was filled with the warm smell of food. Much to Kallen's irritation her stomach immediately growled. It really was turning into a bottomless pit. The others gave no indication of having heard it at least.

Euphemia strode through the central span, smiling at the soldiers that rose in respectful greeting. This was not the first time she had attended such a celebration, having accompanied her sister several times in the past. The rest of the senior officers in Tokyo were already waiting at the table in the back of the hanger, all of them people Euphemia had come to know quite well over the past year or so.

"Colonel Frasier," she greeted with a warm smile.

"Your highness," the colonel responded with one of her own.

Then to the colonel's surprise Euphemia reached out and took the woman's hand. "By all rights I should have said this much sooner, but I am sincerely grateful for everything that you and your nurses have done for both my administration and my own person. Thank you, colonel. From the bottom of my heart."

Samantha blinked a few times but her smile returned. "You are very welcome, your highness. You have proven yourself to be most worthy of our efforts, and I hope that offers you some measure of comfort."

Euphemia nodded. "It does."

After releasing the older woman's hand Euphemia took her place at the center of the table. Seeing as Kallen was on duty she assumed a position behind the princess to keep watch over her. As her eyes fell upon the massive feast laid out, the girl suppressed a grown. This, was going to suck.

Euphemia did not immediately seat herself. All eyes were on her, or at least on the monitors that were mounted to make it easier to see the princess, in both this hanger and two others. Jeremiah presented Euphemia with a microphone and the princess took a deep breath before clipping it onto the lapel of her business suit. And then she gazed out at the men and women sworn to the service of the Empire.

"For over a century Britannia's strength has lain in the strength of her arms, arms borne by loyal subjects like those gathered today. That strength has not come without cost, in blood and wealth, and even today both are shed as the Empire finds that strength tested as never before. In these times an inevitable question would arise. Is all the sacrifice worth what we gain?"

The princess' eyes swept across the gathered soldiers, noting their rapt attention.

"I look upon all of you, and I see the sum of Britannia. Its people. Those who sacrifice and in turn are sacrificed for. Those whom become greater as the Empire as a whole grows. We must remember, that those who fall have not done so in vain, that they are _not_ left behind. They are with us still, having raised each and every one of us to ever greater heights with their sacrifice." Euphemia clasped her hands over her heart. "The only ones that can make such sacrifice meaningless, worthless, is those of us left behind, if we fail to strive to our utmost in building upon the foundation they have set. And I, for one, refuse to be found so wanting."

And then Euphemia smiled, a gentle smile that captivated all those whom regarded the princess.

"On this night we celebrate both endings and beginnings. We look upon the year that has ended, both joys and sorrows, and contemplate what new fortune might be borne in the new year. And we must never forget, the paths we walk we do so not alone, but with men and women whom share with us a most sacred brotherhood and sisterhood. And no matter the trials and tribulations, we face them together, now and always."

* * *

The cacophony of gunfire made it hard to hear anything. The shout that sounded however was loud and clear.

"Fire in the hole!"

Cole flattened himself against the ground and a moment later felt it shaking as an explosion thundered. He peeked up, seeing a few dazed enemies trying to climb back onto their feet. Gripping his rifle, Cole took aim and opened fire. One went down screaming while the others seemed to decide standing up might not be such a good idea after all. Another rifle opened up next to Cole as Jean joined in. Then a third, and soon the rest of the platoon was letting loose.

The Chinese soldiers responded in kind and Cole heard a cry sound off behind him.

"Medic!"

He tried not to think about the wounded soldier, he needed to stay focused on the enemy in front. Taking aim again Cole clipped his target, causing the man to stumble. And then Cole dropped behind the pile of dirt as shots whizzed over his head.

"Bloody Hel," Jean uttered. "This is _not_ how I wanted to spend Yuletide."

"You and me both," Cole agreed before poking back out and firing another burst.

The ambush had been masterfully set, with the convoy Cole was traveling with having been caught in a pincer. They could try falling back, but that would require abandoning the supply trucks that were the obvious goal of their attackers. It seemed the Chinese forces were starting to get a tad desperate since their naval support had been cut off. They were going to need more than that one mortar to fight off the attack.

"Cover me," Jean said.

"What are you going to do?" Cole asked somewhat nervously.

"Probably something stupid," the other man said.

With a groan Cole climbed back up and took potshots at the other side. None of them hit but they at least kept the enemy from shooting back, for the moment. From behind Jean suddenly jumped out and with all his might lobbed a grenade high into the air before quickly scrambling back into cover. Cole quickly lost sight of it but a few seconds later an explosion nailed a small cluster of enemy soldiers.

"Nice throw," Cole complimented.

"Think I pulled my arm," Jean groaned as he gripped his rifle again.

"So you won't be doing that again?"

An explosion right on the other side of the mound blasted a good splattering of dirt into the air, showering them.

"Probably not!" Jean shouted, just barely audible over the ringing of their ears.

"Suppressing fire on that ridge now!" someone shouted.

Cole looked over to see the machinegun on one of the Humvees swerve and let loose a stream of lead. That amount of fire was certainly enough to keep the enemy's heads down. And then another explosion sounded as a second mortar round impacted.

"Think we got 'em on the run?" Jean shouted as he started peering up.

A whistling sound reached Cole's ears and he immediately pulled his friend back down. A moment later the two were again peppered with dirt and rubble.

"Oh Hel!"

"Looks like they've got a mortar of their own," Cole said glumly.

"Damn good thing they can't aim for shit," Jean growled, though Cole could barely hear him from the ringing and buzzing in his ears.

The young man leaned up, firing off another burst before dropping behind cover. The smoke and haze was however making it harder and harder to see, much less shoot at, anything. About the only consolation was that the Chinese seemed to be having similar problems. As the ringing receded however the loud buzzing sound did not disappear from Cole's hearing. In fact he swore it was growing louder.

"We've got incoming!"

Jean groaned. "What now!?"

Cole looked up. And smiled. He gave Jean a punch on the shoulder.

"Look. Calvary's here."

From above flashes streaked across the sky before smashing into the Chinese positions. Even amidst the thunderous booms Cole thought he could hear screaming as the enemy found themselves consumed in fire and steel. On his own side though there was only cheering as a pair of Cobra attack helicopters closed in, switching to its short range grenade launcher and gun as it continued pounding the enemy positions.

"Keep the pressure on!" the sergeant shouted.

As the enemy fire slackened the Britannian soldiers pressed their advantage, harrowing the Chinese forces. Cole caught sight of an enemy soldier aiming a tube at the gunships and he immediately fired a quick burst. His shots were high, but it at least made the enemy duck.

"Rocket!" the young man shouted, alerting his comrades.

Jean shifted his own fire to join Cole and between the two of them they kept the enemy pinned down. The matter then became moot as one of the gunships swerved about and cratered the target with another grenade.

"They're breaking!" someone shouted.

Looking up, Cole did indeed see the Chinese forces falling back, or at least trying to. Breaking cover however only made them into targets for the helicopters. No mercy was granted and the retreating soldiers made no motion to ask for quarter. Only a handful managing to successfully disappeared into the foliage, the rest were slaughtered to the last man. The battlefield took on an eerie quiet. It was not quite total silence, there was still the whirling of the helicopters hovering above them, but gone was the chaotic cacophony that had surrounded them mere moments before. The battle was over, for now.

Collapsing on the ground Jean let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank the gods."

Cole grimaced but still nodded. This was war, it was either kill or be killed. And in all frankness no matter how much he might regret the loss of life on the other side, he would regret losing his own even more.

"Up on your feet Kirstein!" a gruff voice sounded.

Jean immediately bolted to his feet as the imposing looking sergeant appeared. Then to Cole's surprise the older man came to attention in front of him.

"Sir, Lieutenant Anders was in the lead Humvee the Chinks took out. You're next senior."

And bit back a curse as the NCO's words sank in. The only reason Cole had been accompanying the supply convoy was because as part of the division's quartermaster unit he was there to make sure everything was accounted for at their destination. He was most emphatically not here because there was any expectation of him to actually command the unit in combat. Perhaps fortunately for all involved Cole did not suffer from delusions of grandeur and suddenly see this as an opportunity to make his mark. He would settle for just completing their original mission and getting all of them home safely.

"Jean, go check on the vehicles, see what shape they're in," Cole ordered.

"Sir!"

"Sergeant, get me a count on the wounded," Cole continued as his friend jogged off. "Anyone that can't fight, get them loaded into the trucks that still work. If there's not enough space, toss munitions, then food, then anything else in that order."

"Aye sir," the sergeant said, then proceeded to holler orders to his subordinates.

To say that it felt weird giving orders to the sergeant was a mild understatement, seeing as not only was the NCO old enough to be Cole's father, he was the father of one of Cole's classmates. When Cole first found out Rivalz's father was in the same division as him he had sought the man out, asking a few questions about military life and any pointers that the sergeant might have. One piece of advice was to listen to your subordinates, especially if they had more experience in the service. It was advice that Cole was more than willing to put into practice.

"Would you have any tactical suggestions, Sergeant Cardemonde?" Cole asked.

"We should keep moving as quickly as possible," the man said, a hint of approval in his tone. "The gunships can loiter for a bit, but they'll need to return to base soon."

"Agreed," Cole said. "Let's see how the vehicles are doing."

The two walked over to where Jean and a few others were clambering over the trucks.

"Lead Humvee's a total loss sir," Jean said, being a bit more mindful of their relative ranks. "Not sure we can even get the bodies out. First truck also got shot up a bit, but it's still drivable."

Cole nodded. "You have however long it takes us to load the wounded. If you can't get them out of there by then, grab their tags."

"Yes sir."

Cole looked out at the smoldering landscape. The enemy might have planned their ambush well and may have even executed it competently. Nevertheless with their supplies cut off the Chinese forces were definitely starting to crumble. That would only make them more dangerous though, a cornered animal fought hardest after all and humans were very much dangerous animals to begin with. And if they continued to grow desperate they would almost certainly hit other supply convoys. The young man grimaced. This was not over, not by a long shot. And things only promised to get worse.

End of Chapter 75

This is definitely one of my shorter chapters. The scenes ended up being more compact than I was expecting and I didn't feel like trying to shove another one in. Next chapter should be a tad longer.

I made a mistake earlier in the story with respect to Suzaku's death. I, portrayed it with a bit more finality than I really should have. I am severely tempted to go back and adjust things a bit to make it more ambiguous. There's a very interesting, turn of events that become possible if the ambiguity remains. No, it's not intended to be a major twist or anything, I'm talking about it now so all of you obviously know it'd be coming if I decide to execute on it. And I wouldn't even need to make that many adjustments, though I might end up rewriting Kallen's duel with Suzaku if I do go ahead with it. I do think many of you would find the development, interesting, even if it doesn't come as a surprise. Any thoughts?

I've never really understood what writers are trying to achieve when they write a fanfic where Kallen assumes the role of Zero. I mean, the girl is temperamentally unsuited for the role and I went out of my way to avoid pigeonholing her in that role because of that. It feels as if too many fans think the role dictates everything about a character, when it really should be the other way around if you want to create a believable personality and etc.

As should be evident Cole is most definitely not intended to turn into a combat officer. And like a good junior officer he listens to the grizzled old NCO he's with. Which should measurably increase his chances of survival. We'll see how genre savvy he becomes over time.

I was being mildly sarcastic when I brought up the Bechdel test. I don't, think very highly of it as a concept.

Getting the 'then' part of maxim one translated into French proved tricky. I asked a friend of mine who was a native speaker and he said 'puis' works, but from all indications French doesn't quite have as concise a means to emphasize the 'then' that English does. Also that was a typo in the last chapter's notes, it was meant to say 'Piller, puis ravager.'

In case it is still not completely obvious, no, Charlotte and Lelouch are not quoting Napoleon's maxims. As intelligence and black ops operatives, doctrine for how to run an army is not that useful to them. Maxims on combat pragmatism on the other hand are right up their alley.


	77. Chapter 76

_One of the primary differences between the gendarmerie and the local police forces of the Empire was the considerably more extensive civics and legal training the former were required to undergo. For this reason gendarme tended to take far more measured approaches when dealing with crimes instead of immediately resorting to direct force or attempting to enforce local laws that were in direct conflict with central laws and therefore invalid. This degree of awareness was held in high regard by the Empress Euphemia and one of her objectives in reorganizing and more tightly integrating the gendarmerie into the local police forces was to attempt to raise the overall standards of policing by embedding personnel with such training in local law enforcement instead of keeping them separate in a concentrated force._

 _As part of the reform gendarmerie field detachments were merged with local police departments and the training regimen used by the organization was opened up to all law enforcement. In fact advancement beyond a certain level in the police force in the Empire requires successful completion of gendarmerie qualification. Only in the situation wherein no local officers are able to pass the training program are outside officers dispatched to assume senior positions. And because the training is overseen by personnel not local to a particular jurisdiction, the opportunities for favoritism or waiving of standards are significantly reduced._

 _The end result has been uniformly highly disciplined and highly respected law enforcement agencies throughout the Empire, from the homelands to its overseas territories, a marked improvement from the times when those of non-Britannian heritage hesitated to approach police at all. In this respect the Empress Euphemia's goal of establishing firm but fair rule of law can be regarded as a success._

 _-Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I_

Chapter 76

Ex scientia mortem

A great deal of work had gone into preparations for the Princess Euphemia's second visit to the Keio campus. That the princess was willing to come even after what happened the last time around greatly heartened many people and everyone involved fervently hoped this visit would end on a less spectacular note than the first. One of those people was Ohgi Kaname, commanding officer of the Akatsuki.

For the past few weeks the investigation on the terrorist attacks had been making steady, albeit slow, progress. After careful combing of the incompletely burned documents they were able to find a name and an address, the owner of which reacted in open panic when Akatsuki officers dropped by for a visit. A quick search of the premises turned up more documents and even a quantity of ammonium nitrate. At that point panic turned into outright hysteria and it was only the following day before the suspect had calmed enough to actually be questioned. The man insisted that he was working alone but when he saw his interrogators were utterly unconvinced he suffered yet another bout of hysteria. It quickly became evident that their suspect belonged in an insane asylum. Then again one did not need to be sane to be a threat, and even if this man was too unhinged to actually plan something competently there were still the other accomplices out there.

"We're cutting things pretty close here," Minami remarked.

"Don't I know it," Ohgi agreed as the two rolled through the streets in one of Akatsuki's Humvees. Rather amazing how much surplus gear there was even with the war going on. "Unfortunately it took a while to find this new address. Just be thankful we dug it up before the princess' visit."

Right behind their vehicle were two others packed with Akatsuki and gendarmerie officers, enough to conduct another raid if the residents of their destination proved uncooperative. Ohgi checked the time again. Technically he did not need to be out here personally to oversee the investigation, there was plenty of other work that he should be attending to. Nevertheless something drove Ohgi to take to the field, to be with the others when they reached their target. Whether it was instinct or something else entirely the man did not know, just that he was here and he needed to see it through.

The vehicles screeched to a halt and boots hit the ground as the officers piled out. The apartment complex was almost on the edge of Tokyo and was most certainly not one that had benefited from the renovations being carried out throughout the city. That probably made it the perfect place to hide out for anyone intending harm on the Britannian government or even their fellow Japanese. A perimeter was quickly formed and several officers peeked through the windows. One grimaced.

"Sir, looks like we've got something set against the front door. Definitely looks like one of the pipe bombs we found before."

"Then we'll have to get in another way," Ohgi said. "Are the windows at least clear?"

A pause. "No, they are definitely not. At least none on the ground floor."

Ohgi grimaced. Whoever they were dealing with was obviously extremely paranoid, though not exactly without cause.

"Someone get a ladder, see what the second floor looks like," Ohgi ordered. "Otherwise stay away from the doors and first floor windows."

If they were lucky the suspect would have not gone to the effort of rigging the second floor as well. If the bomb disposal team could get in from above, they might be able to disarm all of the traps and let them examine the place more leisurely and thoroughly. As the Akatsuki officers got to work Ohgi climbed up the fire exist of another building close by. From his new vantage point he tried to see best as he could into the target building. From all indications there was no one inside, that or they were doing a very good job hiding.

"Looks like there's nothing on the second floor sir," a report came in.

"Good. Force entry with your team and-"

A thundering roar cut Ohgi off and the man ducked, for all the good that would do given how exposed his position was. Conversely the source of the explosions was well below him and not exactly close to begin with, so all Ohgi suffered was a few small pieces of rubble bouncing off of him.

"Status!" Ohgi shouted into his radio.

A few cries sounded as well as a lot of coughing as the officers picked themselves up.

"Something just set off the bombs on the first floor," Minami said in between his own coughs. "Can't see a damn thing in all this dust."

The officers down below could not, but Ohgi still had a mostly clear vantage point. He scanned the area. Assuming the thing was not on some sort of automatic detonator, someone had to be in the general vicinity to set off the bombs. Ohgi's eyes narrowed. There, about a block away, a large bulky man lingering about looking over at the building. Everyone else in the dilapidated area was already fleeing, but not him.

"Suspicious person in the alley, one block west," Ohgi said, sliding down the fire escape and making a dash for it.

Three others fell in behind him, one of them Tohdoh and the other Chiba.

"Flank," Ohgi ordered.

The single word was enough as Tohdoh and Chiba split up with the ease of long practice, moving north and south respectively. Trying to keep a low profile Ohgi carefully approached their target.

"Remember, we need him alive," he said into the radio.

Two clicks indicated acknowledgment for the others. Ohgi pulled out his pistol, making sure the safety was off. Sure they needed him alive, but they also needed to still be alive to do any questioning. He stepped out.

"Hands up now!"

Ohgi dropped back down as a pair of shots rang out. The chances of this being their perp was growing with every second. He leaned out, getting off a shot of his own, more to keep the man's head down and attention focused up front than to actually try to kill him. Yet. The other officer with him, actually a gendarme, did likewise.

"Our friend's a little trigger-happy here," he remarked.

"More than that," Ohgi said.

The gendarme grimaced, catching the inference to the bombs. He leaned out, popped off another shot, and got back into cover just as their opponent reciprocated. And then a thud sounded.

"Clear," Tohdoh said a few moments later.

Leaning out, Ohgi and the gendarme saw Chiba grabbing hold of the twitching man and cuffing him as Tohdoh kept his weapon trained. The man was still alive but whatever the two did to put him down obviously hurt. Ohgi walked over, his own gun still out just in case.

"Nice work superintendent," Ohgi said.

Tohdoh nodded stoically, not taking his eyes off the man as he was pulled up. He then frowned.

"I know this man."

The others blinked, looking more closely at the man. Then Chiba too gasped.

"From where?" Ohgi asked.

The frown turned into an outright grimace, then a glare of his own. "From the JLF. Lieutenant-Colonel Kusakabe. The one that brought Lamperouge to us."

Ohgi's eyes widened as he regarded the disheveled man. His beard was messy and unshaven, living on the run had obviously worn on him, but there was still a determined light in his eyes. And perhaps something else entirely.

"We will have many questions for you, Kusakabe," Ohgi said firmly.

"I have nothing to say to you traitors!" Kusakabe shouted. "You sold out your fellow Japanese to scrape and beg at the feet of your Britannian masters. And you, Tohdoh! You! You abandoned the JLF and then bore arms against us in defense of that bitch of a viceroy!"

"Keep yapping like that," the gendarme said, sufficiently fluent in Japanese to understand the insults and respond in kind, "and we won't be so reluctant to just hand you over to the Inquisitio for questioning."

If the Britannian was fazed by the glares that were now directed his way by Kusakabe's former comrades he did not show it. Ohgi however was frowning for a different reason.

"Superintendent," he said to Tohdoh. "If Kusakabe was the first to meet Lamperouge, then how is he still, well, alive?"

The former JLF officer looked blankly at Ohgi for a moment, and then frowned himself. He regarded Kusakabe thoughtfully.

"That is an excellent question," Tohdoh agreed.

"What are you two rambling about?" Kusakabe ranted. "Do you truly think that my capture will see the end of the struggle for Japan's independence? There are countless thousands out there that do not believe the lies that you have fed them, and they are simply waiting for the time to strike! Vengeance will be ours, and Japan will raise again! Nippon banzai! Banzai!"

As the officers considered the best way to shut their prisoner up without resorting to a punch to the gut, which to be frank was starting to be really tempting, blood suddenly started dripping from Kusakabe's nose.

"Ah hell," Ohgi cursed.

It was too late, the man began making choking sounds as his body went slack. Ohgi and Chiba grabbed hold of him, for all the good it did, as his eyes rolled back. They had been careless, they should have knocked Kusakabe out the moment they realized who he was. Now whatever failsafe the SDECE operative planted had triggered, ensuring that Kusakabe would not be able to answer any questions.

"Damn, what the Hel just happened?" the gendarme exclaimed.

Ohgi grimaced. Only a select few knew even the basic details about the SDECE operative, and while him and Tohdoh were counted amongst those few, the gendarme certainly was not. They needed to find some way to fob him off for now.

"Superintendent, did the JLF not provide senior officers with a means of committing suicide in the case of capture?"

Tohdoh caught on quickly and nodded. "Indeed. We should have checked him immediately upon recognizing him. A mistake."

"Damn," the gendarme said as he knelt down to examine Kusakabe. "Guy seemed pretty determined, if nothing else." He looked up at Ohgi. "What do we do now boss?"

"We'll bring him in, maybe the autopsy will be able to find something," Ohgi said.

"Roger that."

By this point several other officers were approaching, the situation at the building apparently having stabilized. As they helped pick up Kusakabe's still form Ohgi frowned once more. How many other renegade JLF officers were still out there, waiting to try and incite more violence? They had been very lucky this time around, but counting on luck all the time would only get more people killed. Ohgi sighed. At this point he had been on both sides of an insurgency. Needless to say, both sucked in equal measure.

* * *

The atmosphere at Keio had a festive air to it, probably helped by the remarkably mild weather. Large crowds were making their way onto the campus grounds, which were already dotted by quite a few food stalls. Amongst the customers sampling their wares was a young Britannian woman with flowing pink hair tied into a long ponytail. The princess was wearing a thin but comfortable light blue jacket over her blouse and under her sensibly long skirt a pair of leggings to further help keep her warm. Combined with the felt-lined boots and she was unlikely to have to worry about a chill on such a mild day.

Accompanying Euphemia were three other women, all older than their charge. First was the statuesque Laura, with her own long blue hair tied up like the princess' to avoid it getting in her way. And while Laura was in mostly civilian dress for the outing, she had forgone a skirt and stuck with a set of very practical pants with numerous pockets. Exactly what those pockets were filled with was something of an open question, just that they were filled considering several were bulging with, something.

Then there was the stern looking Mikasa, whose black shoulder length hair was in stark contrast to the former two. Surprisingly Mikasa had elected a long skirt for the outing, though seeing how loosely it fit her there was no doubt she would be able to move quickly about if the need arose. Her face was partially obscured by a well-worn red muffler but anyone whom met her gaze would see a pair of intent eyes surveying her surroundings. The young woman was probably at least partially responsible for the hesitation of others to approach the group what with the way she seemed to regard everyone with suspicion.

Last but not least was Kallen, who had gone with the usual outfit she wore whenever she ventured out into the ghettos in past winters. It was warm, comfortable, and allowed for several places to hide weapons. One of the handy bits of a long coat, that, along with keeping her relatively comfortable as well. Kallen looked about. The three of them were quite the sight. No one would be able to mistake them for a group of friends just hanging out, especially considering how few Britannians were here.

The trio of women were not the only ones accompanying the princess of course, they were just the only ones immediately at her side. Sprinkled about a very short distance away were several others of Euphemia's guard. Roy was again the field commander for this outing and the man was as grumpy as on the last.

"This is such a bad idea," he muttered.

Kallen smirked, again. With her glasses off the full strength of her geass was feeding her literally everything about them. It was actually making it a bit hard to enjoy all of the stall snacks she was tasting, and there was a lot of stuff on offer. From takoyaki to dango to ringo ame, the community around Keio had pulled out all the stops to make sure everyone would have a good time. There were even stalls with games where people could win prizes, one of which Euphemia was carrying about with her after proving to have a remarkably deft hand for ring tossing.

"Kallen, what's that?"

The girl turned about. "Oh, taiyaki. It's a pastry that has a hot filling. That one looks like it has cheese."

"Oh? Shall we split one?"

Kallen smiled playfully. "Be sure not to ruin your appetite for the dinner, Euphemia."

"Just trying to make sure it will not go hungry until then," Euphemia quipped back with a smile of her own.

Kallen and Laura both chuckled. A reminder, that a princess of the realm was certainly no frail flower that could be easily trampled. An English rose after all still possessed thorns. Kallen accepted the half of the pastry and took a bite. After seeing no indication of adverse effects Euphemia sank her teeth into her half.

"Delicious," she pronounced. "I will have to bring Abigail here next year."

"There are plenty of other festivals," Kallen said. "I've heard talk of putting on the Tanabata festival, the star festival, come July. There will also be stalls and games like those here today."

"Really? Well, I will have to see about making some time."

And making sure it was safe for Nunnally to openly be seen with her, went the unstated condition for that event.

"Oh, there's Dr. Kuroba," Euphemia said.

Kallen did not really need to look over to see the doctor but did so anyway out of simple habit. The elderly man was dressed a bit more warmly than the three were but he appeared to be enjoying himself nonetheless.

"Did you want to speak with him, your highness?" Kallen asked.

"No, let him enjoy himself," Euphemia said. "We will have plenty of time to talk later this evening."

Kallen acknowledged the decision with a nod, turning about to once more sweep the crowds. There were a lot of families about, parents with children that giddily ran around the grounds towards whatever attracted their attention. A few had even worked up their courage and approached the princess, whom was her usual charismatic self and managed to charm everyone that spoke with her.

"Is there anything you would like Mikasa?" Euphemia asked.

"I'm fine your highness," Mikasa said more than a bit stiffly.

Euphemia regarded Mikasa for a few moments before breaking off a piece of her pastry and presenting it to her. The other girl stared at the princess blankly.

"Umm, ma'am?"

"Enjoy it, Mikasa," Euphemia said with a slight smile. "If it makes you feel any better, you can think of it as an order."

Hesitantly Mikasa reached out and accepted the piece.

"Thank you, ma'am," she managed to mumble.

The princess said nothing further, instead popping the rest of her piece into her mouth. Mikasa did the same and Kallen could sense that, yes, the girl did enjoy it. It even seemed to cause her to relax just a tiny bit. Defrosting the other girl via food seemed to actually be a feasible strategy. Kallen allowed herself an amused chuckle. Maybe the road to a girl's heart really was through her stomach.

"Umm, yer 'ighess?"

Euphemia looked down as a little girl nervously peered up at her. She leaned down. From the way the others were acting she was apparently the only one that had not noticed her approach.

"Yes?"

The girl smiled shyly, then held out a small flower. "Tyank you fo eveyting!"

Euphemia gave her a heartfelt smile as she accepted the gift. "You are very welcome."

She then placed the flower in her jacket, making sure its petals peeked out from the pocket. The little girl blushed and bobbed her head up and down before running off to her parents. The two adults bowed respectfully to the princess and she reciprocated with a nod. After they moved on Euphemia gave the flower a caress.

"A daffodil. Does that mean anything in Japanese culture?"

The question was directed at both Kallen and Mikasa but the latter shook her head before actually looking over at the former.

"Respect," Kallen explained.

"Interesting. I wonder if her parents made the selection," Euphemia mused.

"In all likelihood," Kallen said. "Or at the very least they made sure any flowers they selected did not have negative connotations."

After making sure the flower would not fall out Euphemia continued walking the grounds with her guards. Despite being on duty Laura was somehow able to easily mix her responsibilities with also sampling the stall offerings.

"A great deal of the food here seems to be on a stick," she remarked. "Is that the standard for stall food?"

Kallen nodded. "Makes it easy to eat and not get your hands too dirty."

"Very practical," the older girl said approvingly before taking a bite from the roast meat. "Though is it my imagination or are there a great many western influences on Japanese food?"

"Well, that is true," Kallen agreed. "Before Japan opened up to the rest of the world our food tended to center around rice, vegetables, and fish. It was really only after the end of the bakufu, err, shogunate, that red meat became a more prominent part of people's diets."

"Was that because Japan did not have a large livestock industry beforehand?" Laura asked.

"Umm, no, not exactly," Kallen said, trying to dredge up memories of her Japanese history lessons from so long ago. "I think, part of it was the country's Buddhist heritage and that religion's taboo on eating meat. That didn't stop everyone, of course, but it did influence popular cuisine for centuries."

"That makes sense," Laura said. "I suppose that also explains the fried calamari and fish on offer."

Kallen followed the other girl's gaze and nodded. "Yep. The calamari especially is pretty good."

"You went to these festivals often as a child, Kallen?" Euphemia asked.

A nod. "With my brother and mother." The girl snorted. "My father also came along from time to time."

"I am sure you will have ample opportunity to enjoy such celebrations with your family again," Euphemia said gently but firmly."

Kallen cracked a slight smile. "I certainly hope so, your highness."

Before anyone could speak further on the matter Roy approached them. "Pardons for the intrusion your highness, but the item has arrived at Keio."

"Ah, excellent," Euphemia said. "Lead the way captain, I will want to inspect it before presenting it to the hospital."

"Of course your highness."

Laura fell in line right behind the princess and as Kallen moved to follow the other Japanese-Britannian girl spoke up.

"Your mother."

Kallen stopped and glanced back at Mikasa. The girl's expression was a bit strained but she continued.

"I hope she gets better."

The two continued staring at each other for several moments before Kallen gave the other girl a smile.

"Thank you, Mikasa."

Mikasa nodded before moving to rejoin the others. It was a small step, but a step nonetheless. Perhaps one day the two might well be able to be friends after all, Kallen mused.

* * *

The bespectacled man humming away at his terminal might easily have been mistaken for any number of jovial doctors that enjoyed his line of work. In fact were someone to describe Georg Weismann in such a manner they would not be wrong, the good doctor did enjoy his work immensely, took great pride in his workmanship for that matter. A few things however undermined that image, small things, but nonetheless. The manner in which his hair flowed back leaving a bare forehead gave a surprisingly sinister impression, and if one actually met his gaze one would find that a pair of empty, almost soulless eyes staring back. And anyone whom actually knew the truth depths that the man plumbed would not consider his enthusiasm for his work to be praiseworthy by any measure. The woman that now entered the room was certainly not one of the doctor's great admirers, even if she was often required to cooperate with him.

"Weismann."

The man swerved about in his chair. "Ah, Vita, good timing. Come in, come in, I was just dotting my i's, crossing my t's."

Vita Clotilde was not fooled in the least by Weismann's seeming congeniality. She nevertheless walked over, not to the doctor but to the form laying on the examination table.

"All of the procedures are then complete?"

"Indeed," Weismann said. "A most excellent specimen, and one most suited for remolding. Probably helped that he was effectively braindead when he was brought to us."

Vita cocked her head aside, pushing aside the strands of curly light brown hair that fell before her eyes. "There was considerable physical trauma to the brain. I'm surprised anything was salvageable at all."

"Nothing that was not of consequence," Weismann said. "Once we made sure motor control was still intact it was relatively straightforward to plug in the rest of the cybernetics and the artificial eye."

Vita gave the specimen a careful look. The enhancements made on the young man were hardly visible for an eyepiece that supplemented the circuitry of the artificial eye. Despite all the efforts of her own department they had never managed to squeeze all of the needed components down into something the size of a normal eye. A shame, that, but the present limits of science and technology were still short of achieving the miracles of code and geass.

"When will it be ready for a field test?" Vita asked. "The grandmaster is growing impatient."

Weismann pursed his lips. "I am ready on my end. Assuming no complications with the biomechanical enhancements from the Steel Maiden, then we are ready."

"That is excellent news."

Both stiffened as from the doorway a short figure in overflowing robes and coats entered. On a taller figure the braids and embroidery might have made for a regal visage. On the petite figure that was V.V. it looked more like a joke or at the very least an exaggeration or overcompensation. Neither however dared give voice to such thoughts.

"Grandmaster," Weismann greeted. "We were not aware of your return to the Directorate."

"Matters in Pendragon have been unproductive as of late," V.V. said with just a hint of irritation. "I elected to return to check on the progress of the other projects, such as this one." The eerily aged eyes fell on Weismann. "The modifications to the specimen are complete?"

"Yes, grandmaster," Weismann said, just a bit of pride leaking into his voice. "We have completed both the physical and neurological alterations that you required."

V.V. looked over at the body in question, nodding. "Excellent. No problems arose?"

"None from my end." This time Georg was definitely preening. "I understand that some of the physical reconstruction turned out to be more time consuming than expected."

Vita rolled her eyes. How like the man to try to draw unfavorable comparisons to the work of others.

"Arianrhod has assured me that the enhancements are stable," she cut in. "The titanium sheathing of the bones has not caused any sort of allergic reactions and the artificial musculature and organs are not seeing any rejection. Nevertheless we should not expect the specimen to be able to survive in the field without regular maintenance, never mind the long term effects Refrain will have on the brain. The neurological degeneration caused by the drug will eventually render the body useless."

"We will simply acquire a new specimen when that time comes," Weismann said, shooting Vita an irritated look. "There is no shortage of supply after all."

"Alas were that true," V.V. said almost petulantly. "Luciano's antics and carelessness has however drawn unwelcome attention on the usual avenues by which we acquire subjects." A scowl darkened the boyish face. "He has also drawn the attention of the Princess Euphemia and her siblings."

"Oh? That is indeed a shame," Weismann said, even sounding disappointed.

Vita kept her own expression impassive. The work the Directorate did was necessary and sometimes they were forced to extreme measures to achieve their ends but she personally held no enthusiasm for those methods.

"No matter," V.V. said. "Dr. Weismann, activate the specimen."

"At once, grandmaster," Weismann said almost gleefully.

He walked over to the examination table and picked up a pair of sharp probes. After touching them to the temples he stepped back, grabbing a pair of shaded goggles. Vita already had hers on.

"Ready?"

V.V. continued staring at the still form. Seeing his superior was not going to bother shielding his eyes Weismann shrugged.

"Mark!"

And flipped the switch. A burst of electricity pulsed from the probes to the head, causing a very brief flash of light to fill the room. The specimen twitched once but immediately went still again. Georg and Vita simply waited however, keeping their eyes locked on not just the specimen but also the grandmaster. And then a soft glow began emanating from V.V.'s form, a light that did not quite shine. At the same time the eyes of the specimen opened, revealing a glassy emptiness in them. Slowly, a bit stiffly, it sat up and looked about. A large grin was plastered over Weismann's face as he beheld the fruits of his labors while Vita regarded those empty green eyes with greater wariness. What little she knew of their previous owners indicated the young man was a bright and dedicated soldier, one whom might even have gone on to achieve great things had he not had the misfortune of falling afoul of one Lelouch vi Britannia.

The fates however cared not for one's dreams and desires, only the role that one was most fit to play. Those same fates had determined that Suzaku Kururugi would not live to achieve his dreams, would not even live for that matter. The only thing that was left of him was this, husk, that danced to the strings pulled by V.V. Suzaku shifted, dropping his legs over the edge of the table. He pushed himself off, landing with a thud but managing to avoid toppling over. Gingerly one foot was set in front of the other as he tested his balance.

Weismann clapped his hands together. "Excellent, most excellent, grandmaster. I trust there are no complications with the control?"

A smug smirk twisted the young man's face, mirroring the one that graced V.V.'s expression.

"This-"

"This-"

The expression was not the only thing being echoed.

"-will-"

"-do."

* * *

It was a very ornately decorated dining hall, which really was only expected for the residence of one of the great peers of the realm. As someone immensely proud of his heritage, the Duke Felix Louis Cayenne spared no expense when it came to entertaining his guests, be they fellow lords or mere common rabble. Quite often the duke tended to be amongst the most preeminent, if not outright the most prestigious, of any social occasion he might attend. Only a few other nobles were as high of precedence, but the duke was not quite at the pinnacle of high society, something that galled the man to no end and likely led to his inane and utterly ludicrous attempts to supplant the Britannian imperial family by orchestrating its decapitation. Ludicrous, but not entirely hopeless.

"So he was the one that orchestrated the assassination of Maribelle's family," Lelouch said thoughtfully, taking a sip of the tea. He made a slight face. It was probably good tea, but even good tea would fall far short of the qualities of coffee in his opinion. "Well, I suppose that shows he possesses a degree of ruthlessness, when it comes to facing women and children."

Charlotte cleared her throat. It was almost a given that the room the two were waiting in was bugged and even with Lelouch's geass unnecessarily antagonizing the duke would only make things more complicated. Lelouch checked his watch. The duke was almost half an hour late, almost certainly intentionally so, as a way of putting his guests in their place. It was a petty thing to do and made Lelouch feel even less guilty about what would eventually happen to Cayenne. Just as Lelouch was starting to succumb to the temptation to make another snide remark the main entrance opened and in strode the Duke of Virginia followed by a manservant. Charlotte was already standing but Lelouch took his time to rise and actually straighten. The flicker in Cayenne's eyes indicated he knew exactly what Lelouch was doing but the duke kept the smile on his face. One did not progress far in the game of court by revealing one's true thoughts so easily after all.

"My friends, apologies for keeping you," the duke said in a genial tone.

"Not at all my lord," Lelouch said with equal courtesy. "As a peer of the realm you must have many, many demands on your time."

The first many could be construed as sincere. The second was starting to veer into sarcasm. Charlotte tried to keep in mind that subtly insulting each other was a pastime of the Britannian nobility and that this was all part of Lelouch's plan to intimate that he was Cayenne's equal in preparation for dropping his little bombshell.

"Indeed that is so," Cayenne said, taking a seat. "You would be Mr. Julius Kinsley then? Now, our mutual friend has assured me that you bring a matter of significant import."

The duke did not bother inviting them to sit down. Lelouch nonetheless did so anyway, further conveying the point that he considered himself at the very least Cayenne's equal. The man had to be seething at the seeming disrespect at this point. Good.

"It has occurred to me," Lelouch said, "that our mutual endeavor might yet run into a few complications upon its culmination, complications that would be substantially reduced if the, legitimacy of the outcome can be reinforced in certain quarters."

Cayenne's eyes narrowed. "A most, audacious claim. And yet such legitimacy would not be easily provided, would you not agree, Mr. Kingsley."

"Indeed not, otherwise it would not hold such value," Lelouch said. "But that does not mean it is out of reach." The young man's eye seemingly twinkled. "After all, how many imperial scions would be able to sit firmly on the throne of their own, volition?"

The duke said nothing for several moments before dipping his head slightly in acknowledgment of the point.

"All valid points, Mr. Kingsley, but nothing that has not ah, already, occurred to me."

"I am certain the problem has occurred to you, my lord," Lelouch said with a shrewd smirk. "All indications however are that a solution has not."

"And you believe you have one?" Cayenne said, barely hiding his sneer.

"A Britannia must be the one to sit on the throne," Lelouch said. "And yet, the legacy he leaves behind must come from an equally august lineage. I do believe you have a daughter, Cecilia, of eligible age, do you not, my lord?"

Cayenne was now staring at Lelouch intently, trying to gauge just where this line of thought might end. What Lelouch was implying was of course quite obvious, but based on the information Cayenne possessed the feasibility of this ploy was still slim.

"A fascinating notion," Cayenne said finally. "And yet, despite my own daughter's eligibility, I am at a slight loss as to whom would serve as a suitable match."

On that Cayenne was almost correct. Odysseus was known to be wooing another noble daughter, and while Schneizel was currently unattached, neither were particularly fond of Cayenne, never mind the fact that they would need to be removed to begin with for Cayenne's plot to succeed. With Clovis dead the only other male scion was the Prince Adonis gi Britannia, Fourth Prince of the Realm. And to say he fell short of the standards set by the rest of his siblings was, a rather mild understatement.

Widely regarded as a buffoon and as complete a failure as one could be as an imperial scion without being dead outright, the Prince Adonis spent most of his time flirting with any pretty girl in a dress or racking up even more debt with his insatiable love of games of chance. Combined with the fact that so many of his siblings, including several younger ones, tended to be such overachievers, and the man's failings were even more pronounced. Even Clovis was at least recognized as having genuine artistic talent, whatever his failings as an administrator. The rest of the family tended to not invite him to any social occasion that required a degree of class from its guests.

"Hmm yes, and your daughter would certainly be wasted on a fool like him." It was fair to say that Lelouch thought even less of that particular half-brother than any of his other siblings. "What you need, duke, is an imperial scion that would elicit sympathy and pride in the Empire, someone they would want to see ascend the throne after such a tragic turn of events. Someone whom they want to believe in."

"And one whom would be, amiable to an arrangement with my august self?" Cayenne said with a raised eyebrow.

"Indeed."

"Well, all that you have said is certainly true, save for the simple fact that no such imperial scion exists," Cayenne declared.

The smile that broke out on Lelouch's face sent a chill running down the duke's spine.

"Are you certain about that, my lord?"

Cayenne frowned, just a hint of impatience in his tone. "What are you going on about, Kingsley. Out with it already."

Lelouch dipped his head. "Very well then." When he regarded the man once more, a hard light shone in his eye. "Allow me to introduce myself once again, Duke Cayenne. You may address me as His Highness the Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, son of His Majesty the Emperor Charles and his consort the Empress Marianne."

Cayenne made a choking sound.

"I think," Lelouch continued, "that we have much to discuss, my lord."

* * *

The Marshall Islands were a Britannian possession acquired as part of its expansion across the Pacific Ocean. At the time a German protectorate, its significant distance from Europe and relatively low value meant Germany was hesitant to confront Britannia upon its encroachment. The matter was ultimately settled when Britannia bought the islands as part of a joint deal with Spain that saw the Mariana Islands also transferred to imperial control.

Since then the Britannian military had put the islands to intermittent use, after clearing out and relocating all of the natives of course, though the last active base had been closed shortly after the conquest of the Philippines as the Empire shifted military infrastructure further westward. Today the islands would be seeing a different usage, and it was probably a very good thing that its native populace had been removed considering what was about to happen.

Cornelia gazed out via a pair of binoculars at the atoll in the distance. Depending on how the test went this would be her last chance to gaze upon the mostly pristine ring of coral islets. She would most certainly not be looking at the test itself like this, the scientists and officers conducting the test had been emphatic on how bad an idea that was and she was prepared to take their word for it. For the moment however she was free to enjoy the view, or at least enjoy it as much as she could with all the matters weighing on her mind.

Zechs stepped next to Cornelia, his own binoculars in hand. "Your highness."

"Field marshal," Cornelia responded.

It probably was not necessary for the two senior most officers in the Britannian military to come all the way out here to witness the test but Cornelia wanted to bear witness to the power that the Empire was about to unleash upon the world personally, if only to grasp the gravity of what they had wrought. As for Zechs, there were plenty of other matters that could be dealt with even this far from Pendragon.

"We've drawn down a significant percentage of Hawthorne's established stockpiles of munitions," the field marshal said as he peered out. "New shipments are however flowing through and the depot should be fully ramped up within the next month."

"The staff does not foresee any shortages in the near future?"

"No your highness, there should be sufficient buffer even if expenditures are twofold of our projections."

Cornelia lowered her own binoculars. "Good."

"This is seeing a significant amount of traffic through the province of Nevada however," Zechs said. "More than usual at any rate."

"A necessary complication," Cornelia said. "The convoys have strict orders not to deviate from the established routes. If anyone dares approach Groom Lake the security there should suffice."

Zechs grimaced but did not disagree. Then again someone would need to be very, very lost if they were to stumble upon the Groom Lake facilities while transporting ordnance to Hawthorne. Still it made him just a bit antsy. The last thing they needed was for its secret to leak, especially with trials in progress for Damocles.

"Your highness, your grace, test preparations are complete," an officer announced.

The two turned about and followed the man below deck. Inside a rather cozy room monitors displayed the video feeds from several cameras at varying distances, the closest right next to the atomic bomb mounted on the atoll beach. The eggshell like form was deceptively harmless looking but based on the specifications Cornelia knew the device held destructive force unlike anything else the world had yet seen. Assuming it worked.

A single alarm beeped through the ship. "All hands brace."

Cornelia grabbed hold of the bolted down table.

"Detonation in t-minus 10, 9, 8 7-"

And waited with baited breath.

"-4, 3, 2, 1, mark!"

The transmission from one of the cameras cut out, followed almost immediately by two other feeds. Sparks flew as another two monitors died outright and the technicians frantically worked to keep the systems going. A few monitors were still displaying their video feeds however, though those that did showed only a haze of washed out white. Then slowly the bright light began receding to reveal a luminous cloud rising into the air, at first a glow of pure white before the raging storm cooled to reveal scarlet strands of flaming ash. It was as if the atmosphere itself was on fire as the cloud rose higher and higher, billowing out and pushing aside the very air about it.

The edges soon took on a pale gray, giving the cloud the form of an ashen mushroom. It continued to rise, the smoke and soot rolling and rolling along the edges until the bulbous shape began flattening itself out. The stalk of the cloud swirled and swelled, losing some of its cohesion while creating a funnel of sickly colored smoke. Despite being ten miles from the point of detonation Cornelia swore she could still feel the ship shudder from the shockwave of the blast. The thunderous roar still reverberated within the hull even as the cloud hung ominously in the air, as if the fires that drove it yet burned. Cornelia found herself at a loss of words to describe just what she had witnessed.

"There shines from his sword," Zechs said with a heavy voice, "the sun of Gods of the Slain."

The princess grimaced. All about them were hushed whispers, a whimper or two, and even a pained laugh amongst it all. She knew exactly how all of them felt, the uncertainty that gripped all of them at having unleashed this monstrosity upon the world. There was no going back however, the atomic bomb was now a reality, a weapon that the Empire might yet use against its enemies. Cornelia prayed fervently to the gods that she would not be the one to make that decision.

End of Chapter 76

As is evident, I've decided to retcon Suzaku's death. This entailed rewriting scenes in chapters 45-48, 50-52, and 57, which I have gone back and reuploaded. Yes that was a mild pain in the ass to upload again. For those of you who don't want to bother going back and trying to figure out the differences, they can be summed up as, Suzaku was not vaporized by the Guren's surger, the failsafe Lelouch had put on him triggered and basically rendered him braindead, and officially the Britannian military euthanized him, with Monica being the one to give the order. As far as everyone else is concerned, he's dead. If they suspect anything at all, it's that his body was sliced apart by Monica and her cohorts to try to figure out what Lelouch had done. Officially his record states that he betrayed the Empire, so on and so forth. This change has however allowed me to, develop a scenario where Suzaku really, earns, his reputation as the world's greatest traitor. Maybe then all of you will stop commenting on how the things he's done aren't 'that bad' in the story.

And there we have it, the test of the first atomic weapon in the Code Geass world. The fact that they actually deployed the Freyja warhead into combat without first testing it always seemed ludicrous to me. You don't send out experimental weapons without making sure they actually, you know, work. Unless you're that desperate, which by all rights the Britannians during R2 should not have been. For the curious, the device they tested was an implosion-design plutonium warhead with a yield of about 20 kilotons. They're going to need to work their way up to the Freyja warhead.

The scene of the test actually demonstrates a very interesting problem when it comes to writing. That one scene by itself went through about three passes as I tried to work out how to portray it with sufficient gravitas. It's still not there yet, and would easily be one of the scenes I would revisit for major rework if I did a director's cut. Crafting scenes like that is not easy and I'm not at the point where I can come up with nuanced and descriptive prose for something like that off the top of my head. Throughout the story there are scenes like that one where I spend probably an inordinate amount of time working on relative to others. Why? Because the effort is worth it, because it delivers a much more impactful punch when all of you read it. Like the bedroom scene with Euphemia and Villetta back in chapter 47. Note that I was actually mildly unhappy with how it turned out, which was why I took the opportunity due to the necessity of the Suzaku retcon edits to go back and tweak it a bit more. I didn't want Euphemia to get too whiny over the whole thing, but I wanted to convey a couple of key points. One of them unfortunately did not get through so I went back and added just a few more lines to get it in. Anyway, onward.

I have a nearly four thousand line scene that I intend to use as the ending of a chapter in the near future. Sequencing scenes around that is proving irritating.

I've already admitted that I'm complete crap when it comes to writing descriptions of clothing. There's a scene that's much later in the story that I'm not looking forward to just because I will actually need to write about the clothing. Several scenes in fact. More often than not however I just generally forget to describe how characters look unless there is a specific point I want to make. Once a character has been established so to speak, I don't tend to exert much effort in reinforcing the impression. Had this story actually gone through drafts, I would have gone back to add these details in, but since what you're all seeing is basically completely unedited, it is what it is.

I would like to point out that the assumption on the part of my readers about what Lelouch did to Charlotte is just that, an assumption. None of you actually know the exact details, and every ambiguity that I drop in is purely intentional.

At this point in my mental outline I don't think Nunnally's role will be seeing much expansion. She's too young, and she's also still kept out of the line of fire by everyone else, to play any major role different than what one might expect from her appearance in canon without me investing significant effort into building her up, which I would have needed to start doing something like twenty chapters back. It ultimately comes down to time. I could go and write an entire thread about how she and Mikasa are doing at Ashford, but to do so would require more time and effort than I'm willing to divert from the main story. That and I want to finish this thing without running over 150 chapters. I'm almost certain I'll hit 100, but if I go much higher than that I'll have screwed up somewhere.

There's literally a dozen potential plot threads involving other characters that I could have running simultaneously, but if I actually pursued all of them we'd be talking about something on the order of 300 chapters to properly explore all of them, and the main plot would slow to an absolute crawl, to the point where I'd probably grow bored with the story and just abandon it. As such the best I can offer at this point is to basically show glimpses of the secondary characters in the one or two plot threads running parallel to the main story and interchange who gets time in the limelight. Believe it or not, the last couple of chapters the Euphie/Kallen thread has been a secondary thread, the stuff happening in Pendragon with Lelouch and co has been the primary. Then again that's probably fairly believable.

When I start writing I generally try to have an end in mind, and I require that every chapter brings us a bit closer to the end. It helps keep me on task and also makes sure that all of you will see the light at the end of the tunnel with an actual finished story instead of one that's left hanging on some godawful cliffhanger. Just imagine how much it would suck if I stopped updating in the middle of the Kawaguchi arc, or the Tokyo Uprising. And there's at least two or three points in future chapters that I think all of you would want to kill me if I stopped at those points.

Haven't given any actual thought to how Naoto died. If it becomes actually relevant to the story I might sketch something out. Otherwise I have enough other things to keep track of.

A few other readers have already made the inference that the Kallen Monica ran into in the thought elevator is not the Kallen in the story proper. I don't mind giving that away, since it still doesn't tell you who/what that other Kallen is.

I'm not quite clear on what I'm being asked with respect to Suzaku being a sellout and what Kallen would be considered as.

Kallen, as far as I have shown, does not have an active sex life. So uh, no, she is not pregnant.

I would recommend looking up and understanding the difference between commissioned and noncommissioned officers before trying to claim any errors on my part with respect to Cole and Rivalz's father. Combined with the fact that amongst my readers are actual service people (mostly retired from what I can tell) who are not complaining, yeah. There is a reason why during the battle itself Cole didn't really do anything besides shoot his rifle. As Lelouch and Charlotte (and a certain mercenary sergeant tried to pull) would say, a sergeant in motion outranks a lieutenant that doesn't know anything (captains do not count). Any guesses on who outranks everyone?


	78. Chapter 77

_The first step in the emancipation of the Japanese people, and by proxy of numbers in general, was the private act of parliament passed shortly before the end of 1962 CE. Officially submitted into the House of Lords by the Prince Schneizel acting as a proxy for his younger sister, the Princess Euphemia, the bill specifically lifted the legal restrictions placed on non-Britannian subjects only in Area 11. There was considerable opposition to the bill from the more conservative elements of the peerage, especially those that resented the increasing assertiveness of the central government as it marshaled the resources of the Empire to fight the Great War. Opposition in the House of Commons was less vehement but that was not to say there was enthusiastic support for it either outside of a very small liberal faction. And with the demands of the war many thought the prime minister would not want to expend the political capital to force even this limited a modification through._

 _Two factors eventually saw the bill passed, the first being the eruption of the Indian Uprising and the much publicized involvement by the Princess Euphemia in helping the Empire establish ties with the Indian resistance movements. The second was the rallying of several other members of the imperial family, from the Prince Odysseus to the Princesses Guinevere and Maribelle in advocating for the bill. With his majesty the Emperor Charles declining to speak out against the bill the opposition in the House of Lords was left with little choice but to concede lest they further antagonize some of the most prominent members of the imperial family. The Commons, where Schneizel possessed an outright majority, did not even bother trying to attach any amendments after it was approved in the Lords before voting through the bill. Imperial assent was granted shortly before the government broke for the Yuletide holiday._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 77

Semper ad meliora

By the time came for the Princess Euphemia's address the plaza in front of Keio was already completely full, from the families that had come to enjoy the festival food to those that came solely to hear the princess speak. For some it was an eerie parallel to that harrowing day half a year ago where the world seemed to end. Thankfully the worst case did not come to pass and both Britannian and Japanese forces actually united to protect the city of Tokyo, not just the Concessions but also the ghettos.

Now the princess was back to the very hospital where she nearly lost her life in the opening stages of the Tokyo Uprising, and where her life was saved. It was here where countless lives were laid down for her, and countless more rallied to her. As Euphemia climbed up the prepared platform a hush fell across the crowd as people fell silent with bated breath. Their world had changed so irrevocably after the last speech the princess gave here. Many wondered how much it might change this time as well.

"Six months ago I visited the Keio University Medical Campus to congratulate those that labored here on their progress in restoring the hospital to working order," Euphemia spoke. "I also came to speak with the young woman many of you knew as Kallen Kouzuki, and whom I knew as Kallen Stadtfeld."

Quite a few gazes shifted over to the red haired girl standing at attention behind the princess. Kallen kept her face impassively stoic however.

"A bargain was struck that day, one which we both hoped would keep Japan from being torn apart by the conflict between our two peoples. It was a hope that nearly died that day with me, but it is now a hope that is ever closer to being realized."

Euphemia turned about and Kallen stepped forward, handing over a leather binder. The princess then turned to Kuroba.

"Dr. Kuroba."

The elderly man stepped forward and Euphemia presented the binder to him. The doctor looked at it quizzically even as his hands took hold. The princess did not let go quite just yet however.

"I made a promise, all those months ago," Euphemia declared. "That I would see the Japanese people placed upon equal footing with Britannian subjects of the Empire. In fulfillment of this promise, I have submitted, and parliament as implored by the prime minister, my brother the Prince Schneizel, has approved, a private act of parliament superseding the Numbers Act in Area 11, Japan, and according equal standing to _all_ subjects of Britannia here."

The silence now was for something else entirely, as was the incredulous look with which Kuroba gazed at the princess. Euphemia smiled warmly at the doctor.

"Four copies of the act arrived on Yuletide, having received imperial assent. I hereby present one to Keio, in thanks for the role that its people played in making this act a reality."

Euphemia released her hold on the leather binder and curtsied politely. As he gripped the document Kuroba bowed deeply as a thunderous cheer swept through the crowds. Their lives had been changed that fateful day here at Keio. It was now changed again.

* * *

The courier that arrived in Area 11 did not know what he was actually carrying inside the suitcase handcuffed to his body. He had no need to know, just that the intended recipient was the Princess Euphemia and no one else. Nor did he particularly want to know, his services were only called upon when messages or items of great import needed to be conveyed and the man had no desire to become even more entangled with such secrets than he already was by merely having possession of these packages. Even if his curiosity was piqued he had no way of satisfying it since the only ones able to actually open these suitcases were their intended recipients.

After being cleared through the security checkpoints, and a thorough passive examination of the suitcase, the man was allowed into the princess' presence to deliver the package. His duty done the courier was on his way back to Pendragon, where there would likely be another package waiting for him to deliver.

Once the man was gone Euphemia entered her personal security code and was rewarded by an audible click as the suitcase unlocked instead of slagging its contents. She opened the suitcase to find an envelope with Cornelia's seal on it and a single unlabeled CD-ROM. Euphemia broke the seal and began reading. A grimace soon appeared on her face.

* * *

It was not the first time Nina had visited the viceroy's palace, or even gone past the public sections. Nevertheless the young woman was still mildly nervous as she was escorted by one of the princess' armsmen through the halls towards Euphemia's private office. The armsman that had escorted her here was polite and even kind but still Nina could not quite shake the feeling of being outside her element. Before Nina could stew more on the matter the armsman came to a halt.

"We have arrived, Miss Einstein."

"Oh um, thank you for the trouble, Lieutenant Armstrong."

Alexander gave Nina a reassuring smile before politely withdrawing. Nina took a deep breath and approached the secretary's desk.

"Umm, I have an appointment with her highness."

"The princess is expecting you," Rachel said with a smile of her own. "Please, enter."

Nina nodded and pushed through the door. There behind her desk sat the Princess Euphemia, as regal and graceful as ever. And yet, the way she was simply sitting there, staring at the entrance to her office, was a tad unsettling. Nina swallowed, and bowed deeply.

"You summoned me, your highness?"

Euphemia nodded. "Please, have a seat Nina."

The young woman did so, trying to draw some reassurance from the polite tone of the princess' voice. It did not seem like she was in trouble or anything, or at least she was not the cause of whatever was worrying the princess. After a few moments of lingering silence between the two Euphemia took a deep breath.

"When you first began work on the atomic fission project, I cautioned that the military would attempt to weaponize it."

Nina nodded slowly, the sense of dread within her building stronger and stronger.

"I have just received a message from the homeland," Euphemia continued, "notifying me that they have done so."

The bespectacled girl's eyes now widened. "But-I mean-how? Umm, your pardon, your highness."

"None is needed," Euphemia assured her. "And as to your question, it appears that the weapons program the Empire was running was significantly more advanced than I had presumed. The engineers working on it had already drafted several potential warhead designs. With the model that you developed, they were able to select one and build a prototype of it." The princess' eyes darkened. "A prototype that they tested last week."

Nina inhaled sharply at that. In fact the girl felt her chest tightening to almost painful levels.

"Breathe, Nina," Euphemia said.

The young woman tried, wheezing with the effort. At seeing this Euphemia actually rose, walked round the desk, and placed a hand on Nina's back. The touch seemed to cause Nina's chest to relax ever so slightly and the girl managed to get just a bit more air into her lungs with every breath. It still took a few moments before she was able to fully recover.

"I-umm-thank you, your highness," Nina said softly.

Euphemia gave the older girl a gentle smile before returning to her own seat. When she was facing Nina once more she continued.

"I have received a recording of the test that was conducted," Euphemia said. "I have also received special dispensation to permit me to show it to you, if you so wish."

Nina's face paled at that but the young woman fought to retain her composure.

"I…would like to view it, your highness."

"Are you certain?" Euphemia asked. "I assure you, there is no obligation for you to do so."

Nina smiled weakly. "I helped bring this to fruition, your highness. It is not right for me to run away now,"

The princess gave an approving nod. "Very well Nina."

She then worked her terminal, turning on one of the displays in the room. Nina turned her chair about to get a better view. The lights darkened a bit and the recording began playing. At first all Nina saw was a pristine beach with white sands and turquoise tides. The few trees in the background swayed gently with the wind and the place looked like just the sort of place one might want to go on vacation to. In the lower left was a countdown however, one rapidly approaching to zero. And then it ran out. Nina blanched, her face losing all complexion as she watched the events unfolding onscreen. She sat there, her body completely frozen as a sense of horror churned within her. The video was still playing when her stomach began violently roiling. Nina bolt up, clasping her hands over her mouth.

There was a private bathroom attached to the viceroy's office. In fact there was an entire bedroom suite, a very nice one at that. Nina barely noticed any of this as she emptied her stomach into the sink, Euphemia and one of the armsmen on duty helping hold her up. Even when there was nothing left Nina continued hacking and coughing. And sobbing.

"Grandpa's work," she whispered over the sound of running water. "His work. I-I-"

The young woman trembled as tears flowed down her cheeks. Her voice became more strangled until it was an incoherent babble. Euphemia however understood every last word. She squeezed Nina's hand, trying to make sure the girl knew she was not alone. Trying to provide some sort of comfort. Trying, and failing. Nina's knees buckled and even with Euphemia and Riza at her side she crumbled to the bathroom floor. She clutched her sides, hugging her chest and curled up into a tight ball.

Euphemia took a deep breath. Nina was taking the news a lot harder than even she would have guessed.

"Lieutenant, please get Nina into the bed," she said.

"Yes your highness."

The armswoman gently picked Nina up and brought her into the bedroom. Nina was still curled up and unwilling to relax so Riza did her best to try to make her comfortable. Back in the bathroom Euphemia washed her hands and let the sink run a bit longer, draining away the rest of Nina's attempt at emptying her stomach. She picked up the other woman's glasses and brought them over to the nightstand, folding them and setting them down. Nina appeared to be asleep now, her mind seeming to have given out from the stresses it endured. Euphemia sighed again. She did not know how she could comfort the older girl, someone whose dreams had been twisted into a nightmare. In fact probably the only ones that could offer her comfort were her family. Returning to her desk Euphemia picked up the phone. Time to call in reinforcements.

* * *

Between her own studies and learning the ropes of the education portfolio Milly tended to be a very person these days. Not so busy that she would not be there when her family and friends needed her however. As such shortly after receiving a call from Euphemia that Nina needed her the Ashford girl was storming through the halls of the viceroy's palace, moving so quickly that her guide was actually trailing behind her. For Alexander it was quite the contrast to the first person whom he had been asked to bring to the princess. Something told him the differences were not entirely unrelated.

Milly burst into Euphemia's office without preamble or warning. The two armsmen on duty reflexively reached for their sidearm, even if they did not draw them. Milly ignored them.

"Where's Nina?"

Euphemia looked up, a bit taken aback by the suddenness of Milly's entrance but recovering quickly. She rose and walked towards the bedroom.

"In here. She's been sleeping for the past half hour or so."

Milly zipped across the room, moving so quickly that at least one armsman blinked in mild disbelief. Maybe it was just the very large strides the girl took with every step.

Inside the bedroom Nina was still curled up but not quite as tightly as before. Her face also looked calmer, much of the tension seeming to have bled away. Milly sat down and cradled Nina's head, stroking the younger girl's hair. Nina mumbled something and pressed herself against Milly. The Ashford girl smiled before looking up at Euphemia and gave her a very stern look.

"What happened."

Euphemia grimaced. Technically Milly was not supposed to know a thing about the atomic energy project. In practice however was another matter entirely.

"There was a test," Euphemia said, doing her best to balance security considerations and obligations to Nina, "of a weaponized atomic fission device. I informed Nina about it, and she insisted on seeing the recording."

A savage scowl appeared on Milly's face. "Gods damn it Euphie, we talked about this!"

"And Nina had nothing to do with the test," Euphemia stated firmly. "In fact she was kept completely compartmentalized from that work. Her own work however was coopted by the engineers working on the weapons research, and they were able to use it to build the prototype."

The scowl did not disappear. "I want Nina out of the program. Completely. Now."

"If she wishes to withdraw, she is free to do so," Euphemia said. "It has to be her choice however."

"Her choice? Are you joking, Euphie? After what just happened here?"

"Milly," Euphemia said sharply. "I gave my word that it was Nina's choice, that she could continue her participation or withdraw at any time. I will not make that decision for her, nor should you, no matter how important she is to you."

The scowl actually darkened at that. "No matter how important? Do you even know how important Nina is to me!?"

At that Euphemia blinked. "You consider Nina a sister, much like Nunnally."

Milly wrapped an arm around Nina and pulled the sleeping girl closer. "That's what I said back then because that was the simplest way to put it. I consider Nina more than a sister, Euphie. I consider her _my_ family."

The princess stared rather blankly at Milly for several seconds before it finally clicked. Even when it did she still stared at them as she struggled to find words to express her reaction.

"I see," Euphemia finally managed dumbly.

Milly held Euphemia's gaze before sighing in mild exasperation. "You done staring?"

"My apologies," Euphemia said, though her gaze did not exactly avert. There was still things unsaid after all. She took a deep breath of her own. "Nevertheless, what I said before still holds. This _has_ to be Nina's decision, Milly. It was her decision to pursue the work, and if someone else forces her to give it up, will she really be at peace with what she has done?"

"She hasn't _done_ anything," Milly snapped. "She had a dream, Euphie, and she thought she could share it with you because _I_ trusted you."

Euphemia's lips thinned as her face took on a pained expression. "Do you still trust me, Milly?"

Milly's own face twisted in frustration. "That's the thing Euphie. You make others want to trust you because _you_ believe so much in what you're doing. How will you ever know when you have gone too far?"

The princess pursed her lips. "Those that I have surrounded myself with, do you honestly think they would hold their tongue if I have?"

"And would you stop yourself even if they did speak up?" Milly retorted.

Euphemia opened her mouth to respond, and found no words leaving it. The princess was a very confident person, not least because of her immense pride and belief in her self. That pride and belief were fueled heavily by the standard that the princess thought she held herself to, including genuine honesty to those people in her confidence, even if in the end all she could tell them was that the matter was a secret she could not reveal. The other half of that honesty was never intentionally lying to such individuals, and becoming extremely displeased if her word turns out untrue even through no fault of her own. That was not to say Euphemia was incapable of doubletalk and dissembling, she was _very_ good at it when the need arose. When speaking with someone whom she considered close however, that very same confidence instilled within in an almost reflexive discomfort when she attempted to do so, if even unintentionally. Like now.

After another minute of silence Milly let out a tired sigh. "Just, leave Nina to me, alright Euphie?"

Euphemia nodded, and smiled sadly at her friend. "Of course, Milly."

The princess withdrew from the bedroom and proceeded to shut down her workstation. Once done she exited the office.

"Rachel, please wait here and see to anything that Milly and Nina might need," she said to her secretary as she emerged. "I will be in the shared office space."

"Of course your highness."

As Euphemia proceeded into the halls she kept a stoic visage on her face. In her thoughts however the princess could not help but wonder if she had just lost something this day. And whether she should be shedding tears over that loss.

* * *

"Just so we are clear," Charlotte said as the two drove through the streets. "I will not broker you toying with the Lady Cecilia's affections."

Lelouch spared a quick glance at his partner, otherwise keeping his eye on the road. "Seeing as the entire arrangement is a political ploy, I am a bit confused as to what you mean."

Even without directly looking at her Lelouch could sense the scowl Charlotte was shooting at him.

"Lelouch, considering that family politics was one of the reasons you are where you are, do you really think you should be so flippant about what might be your potential future family?"

Lelouch frowned. "You sound like you believe my, arrangement, with Cayenne might actually lead to me sitting on the throne."

Charlotte gave an exasperated sigh. "Lelouch, think about it. If the plan works and we are able to, well, kill the rest of your family, you _will_ be the only one with a proper claim to the throne. You could well become emperor, and with your geass you could actually control the court, stop all the backstabbing. You could end the war. Change the world."

Lelouch said nothing in response, instead keeping his eyes locked on the road ahead. Charlotte however was not done.

"The endgame is to gain access to the thought elevators, yes, but consider how much easier it would be to do that with control of the Empire. Four of the seven are in Britannian territory. If you can take control of the Empire, you can take them out of play, permanently."

"Certainly a possibility," Lelouch said. "But consider the actual chances of me actually seizing the throne. I am a virtual unknown, I have no standing at court and am certainly not listed on the imperio successuros designare. If I suddenly just appear out of nowhere, especially with the rest of my family dead, there will be a great deal of suspicion that I am an imposter. My geass, while useful, is not going to allow me to impose my will across the entire empire wholesale."

"No, but as I said, you could use it to control the court, and that is all you need to control," Charlotte persisted. "Think about it Lelouch. You set out this plan originally as a means of getting enough forces to crack Pendragon. Well now you actually have the numbers to attack the city. When the dust settles, someone needs to be there to pick up the pieces. Why can't that someone be you?"

"Probably because as successful as an attack on Pendragon might be, it will not succeed in neutralizing all of my family," Lelouch said. "Do recall we failed to kill Euphemia. If something were to happen to the capital, based on her achievements thus far in Japan she would rally the rest of Britannia behind her with little effort. Remember, she _is_ heir quartus."

That was a valid point and one Charlotte did not have an immediate answer to.

"There is also the point that were this mad plan to actually come to fruition, I would be obliged to take the Lady Cecilia as my wife," Lelouch went on, "and name my child by her as heir primus. I think you would agree that it would be unfair to both of you considering I would have little genuine affection for her and yet be unable to recognize you as my formal partner."

"That is what I was talking about before," Charlotte said. "Do not toy with the Lady Cecilia's affections. If you wish to avoid repeating the tragedy that set you upon your own path, ensure that the affection you pay her, and your children by her, is genuine."

"Charlotte, are you seriously suggesting that I become genuinely romantically involved with another woman?" Lelouch asked, a mixture of confusion and surprise coloring his tone.

"I'm saying better a rapport between all of us might help make your family life a living hell," Charlotte said. "And the only way that rapport can be established is if you treat the Lady Cecilia with consideration immediately upon making her acquaintance."

Lelouch sighed. "I think you are getting very ahead of yourself here Charlotte."

"On the contrary, today you are to meet the Lady Cecilia. In fact we should have had this conversation the moment you came up with this plan. The last thing you need is a jealous woman actively sabotaging you just to get your attention."

Had it been anyone but Charlotte Lelouch might well have retorted asking if that was not what she herself was trying. As it was however there was not much time to continue discussing the issue.

"I will keep your advice in mind," he said simply as their car passed the gate into the grounds of the Cayenne estate.

As they exited the car Lelouch picked up the bouquet of red roses. It may have been cliché but he was technically here to woo the daughter of a noble family. And Charlotte was right about one thing, failing to make a good impression would have consequences. Even with his geass it was best to try to minimize them, if only to reduce the migraine he would suffer if he needed to clean up the ensuing mess.

* * *

From a window in the large mansion a drape closed as the hand holding it up withdrew.

"I do not like this," Aurelia Cayenne-Leguin stated.

Her husband sighed. "We have been over this several times already, Aurelia. The prince represents a foothold to place our family on the throne, nothing else."

"Nothing else?" Aurelia said with a scowl. "You are speaking of entrusting our daughter to that man, Felix. Even if he truly is the Prince Lelouch returned what makes you think he will not take after his father and wed multiple women? It is fairly obvious that he favors that French girl that has been accompanying him."

"He may favor whomever he wishes so long as it is only his child by Cecilia that eventually ascends the throne," Felix said, eliciting an even fiercer scowl from his wife. "Calm, Aurelia. Should Lelouch treat our daughter with any discourtesy he will invite my ire. And seeing as I will be prime minister, that will not be something he will be able to do lightly, even as emperor."

"And how do you not know he will not go to the Albarea and attempt to cut a similar deal?" Aurelia countered. "They also have a daughter of marriageable age, and he could use her to play you off against her father at court."

Cayenne raised an eyebrow. "And you think I have not taken this into account?"

"And how exactly are you taking it into account, dear?" Aurelia said dryly. "Considering the mess the Empire will be in at the end of all this, are you really going to be in any position to depose of Lelouch should he suddenly declare Albarea as his prime minister? Or decide to cast away our daughter for that French tart that's always accompanying him?"

"Is this my wife speaking," Cayenne said, "or the captain of my provincial guard?"

"Both," Aurelia responded. "As your wife it is my duty to see to the legacy of our line. As the captain of your guard it is my duty to safeguard your noble house."

"And as both it is your duty to aid in the advancement of my ambition," Cayenne said. "If you see a problem, come to me with a solution, not complaints, not excuses for why failure is inevitable. Am I clear?"

Aurelia's eyes flared for a brief moment but she nodded. "Crystal, my lord."

Cayenne's lips thinned but he forced a smile to cross them. "I do not enjoy taking such a tone with you, Aurelia. I do respect your thoughts, and I share your concern for our daughter. Rest assured, I will ensure that no harm befalls her, and that her child _will_ sit on the throne."

Aurelia regarded her husband a few moments before finally nodding less stiffly. Cayenne flashed a satisfied smile and gave her a quick peck on the cheeks before a knock sounded.

"Enter," he said.

The servant obeyed and bowed as he entered. "Your grace, Mr. Kingsley and his assistant have arrived."

"We will be there momentarily," Cayenne said.

"Yes your grace." Another bow and the door closed behind the butler.

Cayenne straightened his suit. "Well, shall we go greet them my dear?"

Aurelia accepted the offered arm. "Of course. I must, evaluate my daughter's suitor with my own eyes to determine the measure of his worth."

The duke chuckled. "My thoughts exactly."

When the two emerged into the sitting room Lelouch rose and actually nodded respectfully. He had already established who he was after all, there was no point in further goading the duke and especially his wife. While Lelouch only knew of Major-General Cayenne-Leguin by reputation, that reputation was one that was most definitely well earned. A countess by her own right even before her marriage into the Cayenne family, Aurelia had achieved the rank of colonel in the Britannian Knightmare Corps before retiring and taking command of the Virginian Provincial Guard. In some ways the move was a step down in terms of prestige despite the nominal step up in terms of rank. No provincial guard, no matter how prominent the lord of its respective province, could hope to match the standard set by the Empire's central military. Still the countess' decision did make a degree of sense from a dynastic perspective. And there was also the fact that being a member of the Cayenne family provided an opportunity to advance her other ambitions as well.

"Your grace, milady," Lelouch greeted.

"Your highness," Cayenne responded with an appropriately low nod of his own. "You do so honour us with your presence, and with your attention to our beloved daughter."

"A lady of such standing deserves attention appropriate to her station," Lelouch said. "I can only hope that the standard I set is not one she finds wanting."

When Lelouch wanted to, he could put up quite the flowery turn of phrase. When he wanted to.

"I have high hopes that will not be so," Cayenne said with a smile of his own. "Please, be seated."

While Lelouch accepted the invitation Charlotte remained at her feet, hovering behind the man like an attentive guard. Or a knight.

"Before we delve into matters of the heart, it would perhaps be best if we complete our discussion of certain details of our arrangement," Cayenne said as servants entered and placed cups of tea before the three of them.

"By all means your grace," Lelouch said as he picked up the cup and took a quick sip, confirming that yes, he still hated tea. "Our endeavor can only succeed of both sides are, mutually assured of the other's sincere and earnest dedication to it, would you not agree?"

"My wife said much the same." Cayenne took a sip from his own cup before continuing. "She has quite the sharp mind, always seeing angles that I myself might miss. I have often found myself the better man for listening to her concerns."

Which probably meant the two had been arguing about him before Lelouch's arrival. The prince remained smiling. Pretending to ignore the little squabbles in other families was only polite after all.

"Is there anything specific you are concerned about, Lady Leguin?" he asked instead.

Aurelia cocked her head aside. "I am concerned regarding the entire endeavor. No offense, your highness, but the sheer complexity of the proposed operation argues against any realistic chances of success."

Lelouch regarded the two, noting a hint of discomfort on Cayenne's face. That must have been one hell of an argument before he arrived.

"Qui audet adipiscitur," Lelouch said. "Would you not agree, your grace?"

Aurelia actually gave a snort at that. "You are a student of history, are you not, your highness?"

"I would like to think so," Lelouch said.

"Then I presume you know a bit about the strategic blunders committed by the German Empire during the European War of 1914?"

An eyebrow rose. "Strategic blunders?"

"The German general staff selected operational objectives based on the advantage their achievement of which might garner their war effort, not on the probability of their success or what it would cost them if they failed." Aurelia's eyes narrowed. "And they failed many, many times."

Lelouch kept his eyes locked on the duchess. She might have merely been the captain of a provincial guard but that position was hardly honorific. And in many respects Aurelia was right, the chances of them actually succeeding in the entirety of the planned operation was extremely slim. It was quite the contrast with the line of thought Charlotte had pressed him to pursue on the drive here. Having a proper military planner onboard was no bad thing however. And unlike the JLF, which for all its numbers was still an atrophied force, the Virginian provincial guard was an open force fully equipped with modern weapons. They even possessed a measure of airpower, something the Japanese insurgents had sorely lacked. As such they had a chance, one that might yet be improved.

Before Lelouch could respond however a rustling sound could be heard from outside the room. When all heads turned towards it the doors were flung open and a peeved looking young woman strode in.

"Father, mother, what is the meaning of this!?"

Lelouch blinked as he caught sight of the girl. Her blue eyes were narrow with irritation and her expression was framed by flowing blond hair that curved into drill-like spirals as they fell down her sides. A large blue hairband kept stray strands from falling over her face, which had she been smiling instead of scowling Lelouch did not doubt would be quite radiant. As befit the noble daughter of the Cayenne family.

"Cecilia," Cayenne said in mild surprise. "What are you doing down here? I thought I asked you to wait until you were summoned."

Cecilia gave her father a glare. "That will not do father. Here you are discussing my future," as if to emphasize that the young woman pressed a hand against her bosom, "without my own presence? If this is the man whom you believe worthy of my hand, I would think I should be given the chance to also measure his caliber?"

The duke's daughter had nerve, that much Lelouch was prepared to admit. In fact from the looks of her eyes she was as much measuring him already as she was making clear to her father that she meant business. Nerve, and heart. He could do much worse. Lelouch rose.

"Perhaps we have dallied a bit overlong with our own discussion, your grace," he said, "and kept your daughter waiting too long."

"Perhaps," Cayenne allowed, not showing any visible anger with his daughter's interruption but likely not too pleased with it either.

"If it would please you, my assistant is fully up to speed on the myriad of details yet to be resolved," Lelouch continued. "In fact this might be an opportune moment to have her work out a few nuts and bolts with your wife, your grace?"

Cayenne glanced over at Aurelia who after a moment of consideration nodded.

"Ms. Dunois, was it?"

Charlotte bowed slightly. "At your service, your grace."

"Come, we will continue the discussion in my office," Aurelia said as she rose.

"Very well your grace."

The two women took their leave, though Aurelia gave her daughter a quick embrace on the way out. Once they were sufficiently far from the sitting room the duchess came to a stop and turned to face Charlotte.

"Ms. Dunois."

"Yes, your grace?" Charlotte responded, her eyes unflinching as she met Aurelia's gaze.

"What is his highness to you."

A most pointed and direct question. There was no hesitation in Charlotte's response.

"He is one whose ambition I endeavor to serve."

Aurelia raised an eyebrow but seeing no wavering in Charlotte's composure the duchess elected to leave the matter be, for now.

Back in the sitting room Lelouch straightened with the bundle of roses in his hands.

"Lady Cecilia, it is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance," Lelouch said. "Allow me to introduce my-"

Cecilia raised a hand. "Stop."

Lelouch did so, mouth agape for a moment before it shut with a click.

"Many a man has introduced themselves to me with the expectation that I be impressed by the weight of their names, never thinking once that the measure of a man is himself. All have thus far proved lacking, falling short of the expectation their name sets. Speak not your name to me, if you wish to win my favor, prove your worth with only your self."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. This was unexpected, to put it mildly. "Milady certainly has an, interesting, approach."

Cecilia gave a wicked smile. "Are you lacking in confidence without the shelter of your name and house, good sir?"

That actually elicited a snort from Lelouch. "As conditions go I have been met with far more onerous ones in the past. Still, there is a matter of simple practicality and etiquette. You will need to address me in some manner. If not by my name, then by what?"

Cecilia adopted a thoughtful pose, one finger against her cheek. "An appellation, then, one that you earned yourself, be it a title or simply a moniker."

Lelouch rubbed his chin with his free hand. "An appellation that I have earned of my own merit."

Technically he had several, but revealing a couple of them to a gentile young lady like Cecilia would probably be impolite to say the least.

"Many of my opponents have deigned to name me Le Roi Noir," Lelouch finally said. "Shall that suffice?"

It was now Cecilia's turn to raise an eyebrow. "You wish me to address you as King?"

How conceited could you possibly be, was the unspoken subtext.

"Shall we set the board then, milady, and see if the white queen can put me in check?" Lelouch responded.

Cecilia's head bobbed side to side as she gave Lelouch a piercing gaze. Finally, her face still stern, she extended a hand.

"I believe you have something for me, Roi."

Lelouch cracked a slight smile and presented the bouquet of roses. "Indeed I do, Cecilia."

* * *

The figure that was bathed in the dim glow of the large monitor sat completely still, staring blankly ahead. She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she did not even notice the figure that approached, not until a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind. Nina started but calmed as she felt the familiar embrace.

"Milly," she said.

"Hey," the older girl said. "You okay?"

Nina took hold of one hand and squeezed gently. A pained expression crossed her face.

"A warm light for all mankind to share," the girl said softly. "That was my grandfather's dream." Her features tightened. "And I've turned it into a nightmare."

Milly spun the chair around, leaning over to look Nina in the eyes. "Listen to me carefully Nina, _you_ did nothing, there is absolutely nothing for which you should be blaming yourself for."

Nina shook her head. "It was my work, my grandfather's work, that they used to perfect their designs, Milly. If I hadn't shared it, they wouldn't have the bomb now."

"They were already working on it already," Milly persisted. "They might have taken a bit longer, but the Empire would have eventually gotten it. You. Have. Nothing. To blame yourself for, Nina. You can't stop others from pursing their own goals, and you are _not_ responsible for the decisions they make."

Nina smiled weakly. "But I am responsible for the decisions _I_ make, Milly."

"Oh Nina," Milly said, pulling the girl into her arms again even as she squeezed herself into the admittedly large chair.

"I ran the numbers," Nina said. "The test that the princess showed me, the yield had to have been in the kiloton range. That's enough to flatten everything within a mile of the blast. And then there's the fallout, the radiation fallout. That kind of weapon could kill thousands, tens of thousands. Maybe even more."

"Nina," Milly said more firmly. "You brought your project to Euphie because you thought it could be used to help people. That's all you wanted to do. That other people decided they wanted to do horrible things with it, you couldn't have stopped them, and you aren't responsible for their actions."

"It does not matter whether I am accountable for others or not," Nina responded, "if they use my work to do evil things? Alfred Nobel sought to create a safer to handle explosive for industrial use. The rest of the world employed the fruits of his labors to kill each other more efficiently." The girl's face twisted into grief. "What will they do with my work?"

Milly's grip tightened but she could not dispute Nina's words. As painful as it was, Nina was right on point. The younger woman might have birthed atomic energy with the intent to help others, but she could not prevent its misuse for more nefarious ends.

"You can leave all this behind," Milly said instead. "Just stop working on the project, walk away."

Nina shook her head. "I can't, Milly. They keep filling my thoughts. I can't stop thinking about my work, about what it can do. And the worst part is the bits and pieces that I don't fully understand, the possibilities that may or may not be viable. Did you know? There was a risk that detonating the bomb would have set the entire atmosphere afire. Killed all of us." She took a deep breath. "What else might this technology do if left unchecked?"

That was not a question Milly could answer and she knew it.

"I have to find out," Nina continued, her voice now a whisper. And then more firmly. "I have to find out."

With a sigh Milly stroked the other girl's head. "Alright Nina. Do what you have to do. But I'll be there with you every step of the way."

The smile that Nina gave Milly this time was more relaxed. She leaned in and gave Milly a peck on the cheeks.

"Thank you Milly. For everything."

End of Chapter 77

So yeah, that happened. We'll find out if I can actually execute that cleanly and tastefully. I generally don't like to insert relationships just for the sake of relationships, I generally prefer to do them only if they are reasonable and believable. Or if I think they would be genuinely interesting to write.

In the original series it was pretty obvious that Milly at least was bisexual. As for Nina, umm, she was handled, poorly, is about all I can really say. In R2 she kept swinging back and forth mood wise it got kind of frustrating trying to pin down any sort of character in her. Never mind how she just seems to be able to up and disappear after Tokyo got nuked. If I had a genius teenage girl responsible for creating weapons of mass destruction in my employment, the security in place would not have allowed that to happen. Or at the very least she would not have walked out alive.

There will be ramifications for this, though perhaps not in the way some of you might expect. Or at least not exactly in the way some of you might expect. By the time we get around to that point, things will have gotten, complicated.

In truth I should have sequenced the opening scene this chapter in the previous chapter somewhere. When I was writing that chapter however I just wasn't feeling it and so cut it. As I was wrapping up this chapter I ended up wanting to write it again and so there we go. This does screw the timing a little bit though, so to clarify, while Euphemia's speech did take place January 1st, the events with Lelouch's meeting with Cayenne and the atomic bomb test take place in mid-January. This is a consequence of having lots of scenes that I need to get out before I can get to the next milestone.

Did they actually detonate a warhead in the anime before deploying it? I only vaguely remember the scene in question where Nina mentions that the weapon works, but it is absolutely mindboggling that if they actually had conducted a full up test all of the engineers/developers would be so blithe about firing off a weapon like that in the middle of a densely populated urban environment. That reeks of all sorts of stupid. Never mind them mounting a strategic weapon on a tactical combat vehicle.

Yeah, Zechs' line isn't quite as poetic. So I went back and changed it.

Every reference to Suzaku being a traitor in the opening snippets and even in-universe is from the perspective of Britannia, whether he 'betrayed' the Japanese is never really brought up as a consideration by the Britannians. What the Japanese think, or originally thought, becomes more and more of a moot point over the years as Japan remains part of the Empire. By the time the history books are published, there is effectively no distinction between betrayal of Britannia and betrayal of Japan, except for the hardcore racial extremists that exist in every society. And what defines Suzaku's reputation in-universe is not that he signed on with the Empire early on, but that he basically broke with the Empire and nearly got Euphemia killed (and all the stuff that happens later in future chapters).

As should be obvious at this point, Cayenne is being offered way more than just having Cecilia marry Lelouch. Technically Cecilia's hand in marriage would just be the thing that seals the deal, not the main point of the deal itself.

Knighthoods in the Code Geass universe are, complicated. It doesn't help that the Code Geass writers didn't actually produce a systematized structure, much less a model that adheres to the real world British model. Which was why I decided to do my own thing.

Broadly speaking knighthoods can fall into two categories in Britannia. There are the knighthoods awarded to everyone who enters the Knightmare Corps. Jonathan himself is ineligible for that since despite being a badass swordsman and officer he never actually became a knightmare pilot. He may not have even been able to for that matter. The benefits of being a knight this way is the higher pay, faster promotion, and substantial prestige. It's not unheard of for a commoner knight to marry into the nobility or be elevated to the peerage outright, whatever the stuffier and more stuck up parts of the Britannian upper class might think.

The other type of knighthood is more traditional, in which an individual is knighted for some substantial achievement. Unlike the real world however, this honor is basically limited solely to martial achievements. The Empire does not grant knighthoods to artists or politicians, at least not for doing art or politics. They might get one if they end up fighting in some battle and perform heroics that help win the battle. And because of the nature of this knighthood, Britannia does grant it posthumously. They do this because though knighthoods are not inherited, the children of knights still gain some degree of social prestige and are considered just a bit more acceptable as potential partners for marriage by the peerage than 'mere' commoners. It was a sort of backhanded way of dealing with the problem of thinning blood amongst noble families. And the higher the title, the higher the standing of the immediate children.

That was one of Euphemia's considerations for asking Jonathan to be appointed a knight-commander. Jane might not have been his biological daughter, but she was basically his ward and the fact that they were uncle and niece helps quite a bit. This makes things much less of a hassle for Rochester when he marries Jane, not that he would have let anything deter him, but Euphemia is considerate like that about people she cares about. And if any of you consider that to be a spoiler, go read _Jane Eyre_ already.

One additional note about knighthoods of both types, they are generally also seen as one avenue with which to obtain a noble title. Individuals whom are knighted over the course of a campaign are basically being noted as having contributed substantially to the campaign. Upon the conclusion of the campaign, especially conquest campaigns, it is not unheard of for knights elevated during the campaign to be further elevated into nobles.


	79. Chapter 78

Snippet spoiler: Fairly major

 _The survival of the Princess Nunnally vi Britannia marked one of the brightest spots of hope in the aftermath of the assassination of the Empress Marianne. Secreted away by the Ashford family and given a cover identity as Abigail Nunnally Ashford, the Princess Nunnally remained hidden for many years in Japan even from the other members of the Britannian imperial family that were close to her mother. This of course included the Princess Euphemia, whom only discovered her beloved sister's survival during the sakuradite conference hostage crisis at the Lake Kawaguchi resort._

 _The reunion with her family did not see the Princess Nunnally returned to court, nor even the news of her survival be publicized. For her own safety her highness remained with the Ashfords in her false persona, though the Princess Euphemia took whatever opportunity she could to visit and shower affection upon her. Alas but the tranquility of this joyous turn of events did not last, as the Princess Nunnally was soon to become entangled in the same chain of events that nearly struck down the Princess Euphemia, and which went on to decimate all those that shared the imperial blood._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 78

Veritas est dolor

"The princess seems to be pretty down," Maes remarked as he peeked up from his hand. He tossed in a few more chips to call. "Don't suppose Riza's told you why?"

Roy frowned. "Why would she do that?" And promptly folded.

"Well you two always seem so close," Maes said.

"Fraternization is against the regulations," Roy said gruffly.

Maes cracked a grin. "I never said anything about fraternization."

The third person in their game stifled a chuckle as Roy gave his friend a very beady glare. The captain at least got the satisfaction of seeing Maes' pair of jacks beaten by Jean's queens.

"Fair's fair cap," Jean said as he took back the cards and started shuffling again. "If anyone would know why the princess is feeling so down, it'd probably be Hawkeye. Or I suppose Armstrong and Darlton as well."

"Look, all they've said and all they're going to say is what all of us already know," Roy said. "Her highness had an appointment with Miss Einstein that ended up also seeing the Lady Ashford getting summoned. Beyond that they're not going to blab about the actual conversations that took place, no more than we would have if we were on duty at the time."

"Of course not," Maes agreed. "Unless something has direct operational ramifications we're supposed to keep the princess' confidence from everyone, even each other. That still doesn't change the fact that she's been looking a bit tired. And well, not unhappy, but definitely less chipper than usual. One'd think she'd at least relax a little bit with the Area 11 Special Administration Exemption passed."

"That might be a bit optimistic considering how much crap it took to get it rammed through parliament," Roy said as he accepted his new hand. He kept his face impassive even as he prepare to discard three of the cards. "Still, there's not much we can do about it. It's our job to protect the princess, and even support her, but we're definitely not qualified to even try to offer emotional support. That needs to come from her friends, like the Lady Arseid."

"What needs to come from me?"

The three men looked up to see Laura having somehow made her way to the table without any of them noticing.

"Oh, lieutenant," Maes said cheerfully. "Didn't hear you at all there. You sure are light on your feet."

Laura chuckled. "An important skill to have in sword duels." She pulled out a chair and sat down. "Care to deal me in?"

The others exchanged looks and shrugs.

"Sure, why not," Jean said, sliding five cards over to Laura as the others counted out chips to do the same. "Not playing for money or anything of course, just a friendly game."

"Of course," Laura said, returning the playful smile as she stacked the chips that came her way. "So how did my name come up during a, friendly game?"

Both Roy and Jean said nothing, instead glancing over at Maes. The bespectacled man chuckled at seeing the buck being passed, probably rightfully, to him.

"You've probably noticed," he said, "but the princess has been a bit, melancholic, the past few days. As if something's been eating at her."

Laura nodded as she examined her cards. She tossed one and Jean promptly dealt her another. "Yes, I have noticed. Euphie has not however deigned to share the matter with me."

"Is that serious?" Jean asked.

Laura pursed her lips. "I cannot say. Many of the matters Euphie deals in are certainly above my paygrade and I am unlikely to have a need to know all of them."

"Does that mean whatever is bugging the princess this time around is something she isn't talking to you about because it is classified?" Maes asked as he raised.

"Possibly," Laura said, "but Euphie has always, held a lot of things in. Sometimes that is a conscious decision on her part, other times I do not think she is even aware of the fact that she is keeping secrets, it is just natural for her to not reveal her hand."

"Ouch," Maes said. "That, doesn't sound necessarily healthy."

"Maes," Roy said somewhat chidingly as he too raised.

"No, Sergeant Hughes is correct," Laura said. "That, part of Euphie is very much due to her upbringing at court, especially what happened to her family."

"Wish there was something we could do to help with that," Maes said.

"My speaking with Euphie would do little good unless she wishes to actually discuss the matter," Laura said, preempting any further prods. "The princess can be quite stubborn in her own way."

"Tell me about it," Roy muttered.

The second round of bets completed and no one deigned to fold. Hands were revealed and Jean beamed as his won out. Barely.

"And here I thought the Lady Arseid might not know the game," he said.

"You would be surprised to what sorts of trouble the cadets would get up to on training exercises," Laura said.

Her three of a kind had handily beat the two pairs both Maes and Roy had managed. And was just short of the straight Jean won with. It was remarkably good luck for all involved, no wonder everyone raised.

"Have you considered talking to the Lady Ashford?" Maes suggested. "She certainly would know what is causing the princess' mood."

"Assuming Milly is willing to discuss it," Laura said. "There is no guarantee of that."

Jean finished shuffling and dealt out a new hand. "All of you know the Earl Maldini?"

"Of him," Roy said somewhat quizzically at the seeming non sequitur. "He is the Prince Schneizel's chief of staff."

"Right," Jean said. "So, bear with me for a bit, but all the rumors at court suggest that the earl is the prince's most trusted confidante. And not just in his official duties, it's said that the earl knows literally everything about the prince and acts as not just an advisor or friend or whatever, but as someone the prince can kind of unload on, even for matters that are classified up the whazoo. Even things that involve the prince at the most personal level. Well, before this little kerfuffle I had thought the Lady Ashford was that person for the princess. Or maybe yourself, Lady Arseid. But now, it's starting to look like the princess doesn't have that someone. In fact it looks like she has different confidantes for different things, some overlapping, others not, with the consequence that it's causing her lots of stress trying to keep things compartmentalized."

The others regarded their cards carefully but their thoughts were on Jean's words. There was some definite truth to what the man said, though for most of them they were not in a position to actually do anything about it. For the newest player at the table however there was much that she could do about this, if she so chose. The decision for Laura was easy and straightforward.

* * *

Despite the security arrangements surrounding her it was not as if her armsmen accompanied Euphemia everywhere. They certainly did not hang about when the princess took a bath or slept after all, though there were other security measures in place which the female members of the guard rotated taking turns overseeing. Gods only knew what changes would need to be instituted after the princess actually started dating.

The other times Euphemia might be alone was when she specifically wanted a quiet evening by herself. This happened on a semi-regular basis, though it was most common when the princess was feeling more stressed than usual. Not all members of her guard might be aware of whatever caused the latest swing in mood and those in the know kept their mouths shut. So long as it did not immediately affect operational considerations they would keep their liege's confidence, even from their fellow armsmen. Then there was all that classified material they would end up seeing just being in the presence of their liege. An unavoidable part of their duties but all the more reason to keep quiet.

A knock sounded and Euphemia looked up from where she was huddled on the couch. She straightened.

"Enter."

The doors opened and Laura entered. Euphemia gave her old friend a warm smile.

"Laura."

The older girl smiled back. "I just wanted to check in with you, Euphie."

The princess feigned a sigh. "Did Riza put you up to this?"

"She did not need to," Laura responded as she walked over. She leaned over. "How are you, Euphie?"

The sigh this time was very real. "I'm, tired."

Laura nodded, and then took hold Euphemia and pulled her into an embrace. Despite her surprise the princess did not pull away, instead simply enjoying the sensation. It was comforting, the warmth of her friend's arms. When Laura finally released her Euphemia beamed at the other girl.

"Thank you, Laura. That, I needed that."

"So it seems," Laura said, taking a seat next to her. "We've been worried about you."

"How many we's are there?" Euphemia asked lightly.

"Quite a few," Laura responded. "Euphie, I know you bear a great many secrets, some even which I do not know. I do not begrudge your need to do so, that is ultimately your prerogative. But, it is becoming clear that doing so is severely stressing you."

"I know," Euphemia said softly. "But, there is a necessity to my actions. Some of these secrets would significantly endanger those whom-"

A finger pressed against Euphemia's lips, cutting her off. The princess' eyes widened as they met Laura's gaze.

"Euphie. Please. We have not gathered to your banner to shelter beneath it. We gathered so that we may march forth with it held aloft, a signal to all that we stand with you." Laura smiled gently. "And we have gathered, to ensure that the burden you bear is not done so alone."

Euphemia simply gazed at Laura. The girl had yet to withdraw her finger after all.

"You reflexively keep us at arm's length, Euphie. You keep saying it is to protect us. But, how hurt would you yourself be were something to happen to any of us?"

The princess' breathing grew heavier. Laura finally pulled her hand back. She was still smiling though.

"Be not afraid for our sakes, Euphie. Be afraid of your own pain and suffering. The more you fight and deny it, the more it controls your actions and thoughts. And the more it controls you, the more those fears will be realized."

Euphemia took deep, long breaths. And shook her head.

"I-can't. This, this isn't just about keeping you and the others as safe as I can. There will always be danger, that I accept, if reluctantly. But there are matters that, they touch on things that I simply cannot share."

Laura gave the younger woman a gentle stroke of the cheek. "Is it because of Nunnally?"

Euphemia was well practiced in keeping her composure, it was a necessity with the way the court worked. Nevertheless there were matters that could pierce that composure, and family was one of them. The flinch was slight and quickly smoothed over. Nevertheless someone of Laura's acumen easily caught it.

"Oh Euphie." Laura gave the other girl a squeeze on the shoulder. "It's because you can't tell her, is it?"

Again Euphemia's expression wavered.

"You still see her as the little girl you remember her as before you two were separated," Laura said. "You feel the urge to protect and shelter her, because you still believe that she needs to be sheltered. And yet in truth, is that the case, Euphie?"

"What do you mean?" Euphemia asked, her voice more than a bit unsteady.

Laura smiled. "Do you not see the young woman that Nunnally has grown up into? The strong, brave, and beautiful young woman whom you should not fear to have at your side?"

Euphemia's mouth opened but no words came out. She closed it and simply met Laura's gaze for several long moments in silence. Finally the princess allowed the edge of her lips to quirk ever so slightly.

"You, are very wise, Laura."

Laura returned the smile. "I but tell you what you already know, even if you have not realized it."

* * *

It was with some trepidation that Milly accompanied Nina and Nunnally to the viceroy's palace. The meeting with Nina was scheduled well beforehand, but Nunnally's presence had only been requested at the last minute. The older girl felt just a bit uneasy at that. Sure Nunnally was also Euphemia's sister, but why had she been called at all today? It was not like Nunnally knew a thing about Nina's work.

When the three entered the antechamber they found Laura and Kallen also present. While the older knight exuded a composed air Kallen was looking as confused by her summons as Milly was about Nunnally's. Milly frowned. Something was definitely up.

"Lady Millicent," the secretary greeted. "Miss Einstein. Her highness will see you now. Lady Abigail, if you could please wait here?"

"Of course," Nunnally said, rolling her wheelchair over to Kallen and Laura.

The other two women smiled and quickly responded to Nunnally's approach. There was little for Milly herself to do and so she led Nina through the doors into Euphemia's office. The princess looked up, smiled slightly, and rose to greet them.

"Milly. Nina. Please, sit."

The two did so and Euphemia only too her own seat once they had done so.

"How are you feeling?" the princess asked Nina.

"Umm, better, your highness, thank you," the bespectacled girl said, the bobbing of her head seeing her braids sway slightly.

"I am glad to hear it," Euphemia said, entirely sincerely, Milly knew.

The princess leaned back into her seat. Business time.

"You have arrived at a decision." A statement, not a question.

Nina nodded firmly. "I have, your highness."

Euphemia returned the motion in kind. "Please."

The older girl took a deep breath. There was no doubt in her next words.

"I wish to continue my work, your highness."

"Then you shall have my support as before, Nina," Euphemia responded, offering a comforting smile. "And what strength I possess, I promise I shall lend you to see your dream fulfilled."

Nina's expression relaxed and she smiled back at the princess.

"Take whatever time you feel necessary," Euphemia said. "Gather your thoughts, find the next step that will bring you closer to your goal, and when you have it in your sight we will all be ready to lend you our hands."

"Thank you your highness," Nina said.

The princess tilted her head aside. "I think by now we are familiar enough for you to simply address me by my name, Nina."

The older girl flushed. "Umm, thank you, Euphemia."

Euphemia smiled. "You are very welcome, Nina." She then glanced over at Milly. "There are still a few matters that I need to discuss with Milly and Nunnally. If you wish a car can take you back to Ashford. The, discussion will likely take a while."

Nina exchanged looks with Milly and the older girl nodded. "Very well. Thank you again for your consideration, Euphemia."

The young woman rose, bowed, and took her leave with a relieved look on her face. Pensive as well, but it was evident a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She held the door open for Kallen as she wheeled Nunnally in, shutting it after Laura was through. Milly regarded the others and then looked back over at Euphemia. Her eyes narrowed.

"What, is this about?"

This time it was Euphemia that took a deep breath to brace and prepare herself.

"There, is no easy way to say this," the princess said.

In fact her heart felt like it was trying to rip itself apart at this very moment. The strain was evidently reaching her face as concern crossed the expression of the others. Milly reached over the desk, taking hold of Euphemia's hand. The princess' eyes widened slightly. The older girl smiled slightly.

"Hey, I can't stay mad at you forever."

For all the years in which Euphemia held herself as an aloof, stoic daughter of Britannia, for all the times when she suppressed any tears that threatened to overcome her fine control, Euphemia was still very much merely human. And as a human, as a person, she could not deny the emotions that stirred within her. Euphemia squeezed the hand that grasped her own. Deep down within her, she feared, she genuinely feared, that one day she may well cross a line that would see all those she loved turn away from her. Despite her composed reaction to Milly's spirited anger at Nina's breakdown the princess had wondered whether that line had indeed been crossed that day. Feared it so strongly in fact that she had buried all other emotions to keep from thinking about it. Now though, the forgiveness that Milly was offering, with the fear gone the relief that Euphemia felt threatened to overwhelm her control. Euphemia wiped away a stream of tears with her free hand.

"Whatever it is you need to tell us today, we're listening," Milly said.

"You always seem to know what to say, don't you?" Euphemia said.

A wide grin crossed Milly's face. "That's what big sis is here for."

Euphemia took a few more deep breaths to compose herself. As she regarded the others she was met by worry, determination, and concern. As she had said before, there was no easy way to say this. But it needed to be said nonetheless. Euphemia met Nunnally's gaze.

"Lelouch."

The younger girl inhaled sharply.

"He is alive," Euphemia said, affirming what Nunnally already knew at the very moment of their brother's name. "He however, is no longer the person we loved."

Nunnally frowned, the hope that was just blossoming on her face not quite gone. "What, do you mean, Euphie?"

Euphemia's expression was now wracked with sorrow. "He was the one that orchestrated the terrorist strike on Ashford Academy, the one that nearly killed Kallen."

Horror was now reflected upon Nunnally's face. Milly and Laura both looked over at Kallen whom remained stoically composed. Milly narrowed her eyes, immediately realizing alongside Laura that Kallen knew all this already.

"He was also responsible for instigating the JLF to launch the Tokyo Uprising," Euphemia continued. "And specifically striking at Keio, in order to kill me and Kallen."

Nunnally shook her head, in confusion, not denial. "This, but, this doesn't make any sense. Lelouch, why, would he do any of that? He loved you, Euphie. As much as he loved me."

"I do not know," Euphemia said sadly. "And, we may never know, Nunnally. Lelouch has effectively declared himself an enemy of Britannia, and of our family. To stop him, we may have no choice but to kill him."

Nunnally closed her eyes, taking deep and measured breaths as she tried to absorb all this. When she opened them once more there was a hard light of determination that shone.

"There is more."

A statement, not a question.

* * *

"I can see why Crow would want to make sure this place is secure," Lelouch remarked. "A factory is a good place to shift manpower and material through."

Charlotte nodded by his side. "All indications are however this particular asset is still secure. None of the Swords cells that were picked up in the sweep knew about this place."

"Officially at least," Lelouch remarked.

Another nod. There was always the possibility that someone had blabbed, or someone was too smart for their own good and figured it out by themselves. Either way they needed to make sure if the place was ever compromised there would be nothing leading back to the rest of the Swords, hence why Lelouch was here personally. His geass might not affect memory directly, but it was very effective at permanently sealing mouths.

The two approached the gates and the guards on duty regarded them warily.

"Identification," one said.

"Julius Kingsley," Lelouch said, handing the man his ID. "I have an appointment with the factory director."

The guard looked at the card and then at Lelouch. After a moment he handed it back.

"Alright, main office is building on your left. Don't wander around, lot of dangerous equipment here."

"Thank you for the warning," Lelouch said.

"Security seems rather light," Charlotte remarked once they were out of hearing of the guards.

"This place might make machine tools. While in their own way valuable and expensive, they do not quite warrant a large security presence to protect."

Charlotte shrugged. "Security at my father's factories tended to be much more strict."

Lelouch chuckled. "Yes well, I seem to recall France having to deal with quite a bit of labor unrest. One probably needs more than just a few guards to keep the workers from burning down the factories themselves."

Charlotte sighed. "Why do I get the impression you never really acclimated to your adoptive country?"

Lelouch flashed an irreverent smirk. "Whatever do you mean? Am I not here serving the best interest of la mère patrie?"

"I suppose that depends on which set of forefathers you are referring to," Charlotte said dryly.

Her lover chuckled and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Mere semantics, my dear Charlotte."

The two entered the office and were quickly pointed to the director's office. Lelouch gave a knock.

"Enter."

The man seated behind the crowded desk was quite portly and did not even bother rising in greeting. He did at least swing about to directly face them at least. He raised an eyebrow.

"Can I help ya?"

"Mr. Vega," Lelouch greeted. "I am Julius Kingsley, with the head office. We have a scheduled inspection today."

That got the man out of his chair. "Ah yes, Mr. Kingsley, please come in and have a seat."

While Lelouch did so Charlotte remained at her feet, keeping a watchful eye and ear alert. With the considerably increased effort to by the Inquisitio to hunt them down additional precaution was well warranted.

"I must admit to some surprise at the sudden inspection," Vega said. "We have kept on target for the last four quarters and our last audit passed us on all counts."

"Nevertheless it is sometimes useful for spot checks to be conducted," Lelouch said. "One can never be too prepared, and unfortunately acts of God are not covered by the company's insurance."

Vega gave an amicable sounding chuckle. "Yes well, the Almighty's not exactly obliged to accommodate mere mortal considerations."

"Yet the faithful pray for his intervention nonetheless," Lelouch responded. "A rather curious thing, no?"

Vega was still smiling jovially at the two but his eyes betrayed a clear focus. "The key word there is faith. The faithful do not require examples of providence to maintain their faith, it simply is."

"Yet providence is not unknown to this, our mortal world," Lelouch continued. "For what is not every moment that we draw breath yet not another miracle, that of life?"

After a few moments regarding Lelouch the factory director began beaming a bit more earnestly. "Welcome to my humble little corner, brother."

"We thank you for your hospitality, brother."

After a nod the smile disappeared. "Shall we get to the matter at hand? I presume the matter is of some urgency if our comrades had not even bothered to warn me of your impending visit."

"You have heard of the crackdowns?" Lelouch asked.

"Yes. Terrible, terrible news. So many of our brothers and sisters taken from their families simply for espousing a faith different than that of those in power. To think that at one time the Americas was considered a refuge from such barbarity."

That was more ironic than the older man's words implied, seeing as some of those Christian sects then went on to persecute fellow believers in Christ just because they followed a slightly different set of doctrine, at least until the British government stripped those sects of their charters granting self-rule. In some respects the Britannian government's distrust of at least some of its Christian subjects was not, unwarranted.

"I am currently making sure that no connections can be made to the rest of our comrades should the worst come to pass," Lelouch said. "A, vetting, if you will, of the contingencies in place here."

"A prudent course of action, if not entirely comforting," Vega said. "I can assure you however that the measures in place will prevent the authorities from learning anything of value even should they discover, well, myself."

"Even if they take you alive?" Lelouch said, eyebrow raised.

Vega snorted. He reached under his desk and with a thud dropped a pistol on the desk.

"I assure you, that will not be happening."

Lelouch smirked. "Good to know. Are there any documents that would also need to be destroyed?"

"None," Vega said with firm confidence and tapped his head with a finger. "Everything that could lead back to our compatriots, is in here."

Lelouch held that gaze. "Are you certain?"

Vega cleared his throat. "Well, there are no papers that need burning."

"And are there any other, brothers and sisters, that might need to be similarly kept from the hands of the authorities?"

Sweat visibly poured down his face as he answered. "There, might be one or two such persons."

"One or two?"

Vega coughed. "Two brothers. They are my, trusted seconds."

"I see," Lelouch said. "Are they here today?"

A nod.

Lelouch rose. "Then perhaps we should go meet with them, Mr. Director." He glanced at the pistol on the desk. "Take that with you. Just in case."

* * *

A good raid depended on swift insertion of personnel, thorough preparation and training, and ultimately a bit of luck. Britannian forces had a great deal of experience with the former two while the Geass Directorate tended to be able to lean on probability to be in their favor. That ability was of course not perfect and when the other side was also meticulous in their planning and possessed similar favor with fortune things could get very sticky all around, as its operatives had of recent discovered in Japan. Still the resources at the Directorate's disposal were considerable and the force that was on the move now should have been enough to fulfill its objective. Should however still implied room for error, and for probability of failure.

The dozen or so helicopters that thundered towards the factory complex were each loaded with a full squad, with close to a full company being deployed for the operation. Some might consider sending that many soldiers to be overkill but seeing as the factory had nearly a thousand workers then the numbers seemed almost inadequate. Guns were however a very effective equalizer, especially when your opposition was effectively unarmed.

Several helicopters hovered over the entrances into the factory complex as their passengers rappelled down to secure them while others continued deeper before stopping. Workers scrambled back in a confused panic as alarms began blaring. Many immediately folded their hands behind their backs, not wanting to appear in any way threatening to the soldiers. Others tried to run but were not so foolish as to continue trying when actually confronted with guns pointed at them. For some however that was not an option.

"Cell isn't getting through," Lelouch said as he flipped his phone shut. "They must have shut down the cell towers."

Charlotte grimaced. "Do you think they knew we were coming?"

"I don't know," Lelouch said frankly as he dug out a small radio. "Either way we need to bug out, now." He turned it on and pressed the button. "Hase, initiate extraction plan beta. Acknowledge."

Laura's voice sounded after a very brief moment. "Acknowledged. Löwe and Sylphid are moving into position."

"Looks like they're not jamming all wireless communications at least," Charlotte said.

"For now," Lelouch said, then looked at the three men they were with. He made his decision quickly, staring them in the eye. "Wait five minutes, or if the Britannians discover you, whichever comes sooner, then kill yourselves."

The three men nodded dumbly, their eyes glazed over. Without sparing them another glance Lelouch hurried out of the room with Charlotte right behind.

"Was that really necessary?" the young woman asked as they hurried towards the fence.

"We do not have the means to also extract them," Lelouch said simply.

Charlotte grimaced but did not disagree. They stuck to the shadows, moving as quickly as discretion would permit. Three gunshots sounded shortly and soldiers could be seen converging on the source. That would hopefully buy them some time.

"You there, halt!"

Or not. The two raised their hands and turned about to see four soldiers approach.

"On the ground now!"

"You will see to it we escape," Lelouch said simply.

"The Hel's that supposed to mean?" one of the soldiers that had not been looking at them said.

Of course the man then made the crucial mistake of turning to face them.

"You will see to it that we escape," Lelouch repeated.

The entire squad was now looking at them dumbly. The two wasted no time and broke out into a run.

"Hey, you there-"

The new squad that caught sight of them barely got a shout out when suddenly gunfire erupted. This was however not the single rounds of a pistol but longer bursts from a semi-automatic rifle. More people began making a run for it, or at the very least trying to get away from the source of the shooting.

"Halt! Everyone on the ground!"

Lelouch paused. "You will see to it that we escape."

The soldiers came to a halt. Lelouch hurried over, grabbing one of the radios and tuning into the Britannian command channel. From the perspective of the Britannian soldiers what began as a single isolated case of gunfire was now turning into a chain of firefights erupting. The confusion was now total in the factory as workers tried to flee and the soldiers tried to figure out just what was going on, and whether more of their comrades would be opening up on them.

"All units fall back to the perimeter and report in."

Lelouch frowned at the order that just came over the radio. That did not sound like a promising portent. The soldiers that he had compromised remained where they were while the ones still retaining their own will obeyed and sounded off. The helicopters were no longer in station keeping positions and Lelouch and Charlotte could hear them flittering about. Suddenly a roar sounded as the miniguns mounted on the helicopters let loose. The two dove for what cover they could find but despite how sturdy the factory structures were they were not intended to offer protection against this kind of firepower.

"Hase!" Lelouch shouted into his own radio. "Fire support now!"

Before he even finished a boom rang out and one of the helicopters wobbled as its main rotor began to pour out smoke. Another shot followed quickly after and the helicopter was soon spiraling out of control towards the ground. A second helicopter turned towards the source of the shots when a large hole appeared in its canopy. The pilot had a single moment to notice the blood soaking his suit before he toppled over. His copilot outlived him for about a second longer before he too slumped down and another helicopter was spinning wildly in the air.

"Relocating," Laura reported curtly.

"Let's go," Lelouch said.

With this new threat the helicopters had stopped trying to mow down the people on the factory grounds and turned to try to evade this new threat even as they worked to identify the source. With Laura already on the move however that was not a trivial thing to do. Taking advantage of the chaos Charlotte and Lelouch finally reached the rear gate. The squad of soldiers there snapped up their weapons as the pair emerged.

"You will see to it that we escape."

And immediately fell under the sway of Lelouch's geass. The young man did not spare any further attention on the suborned soldiers before making for the gate.

"Look out!"

Lelouch jerked back as Charlotte seized hold of his arm, pulling him behind the building. The shot that sounded brushed past Lelouch's cheek, close enough that he could feel the heat of the round as it grazed him. He let out a hiss, clutching the bleeding cut. The Britannian soldiers immediately opened fire and Charlotte joined them, only to find their target gone. Charlotte scanned the area, trying to locate their attacker when suddenly Lelouch suddenly shoved her aside. His own pistol was drawn and as Charlotte stumbled back she caught sight of a flicker as something closed on the Britannian soldiers. No, someone.

The motion was a blur as this someone grabbed hold of one of the soldiers by the arm and flipped him over, a crunch sounding as a blade punched through the armor and was buried in his chest. At the same time two shots rang out and a second soldier jerked aside, never even seeing the man that had just double tapped him. Lelouch's own gun was now up and he opened fire. There was no way that he could miss at this distance, and he did not. Except the one that was hit was not their attacker, but a third soldier that stumbled into the path of the bullets as his foot was kicked out from under him. The man's armor absorbed the pistol rounds and he might well have survived. Might have, save for the single shot in the nap of his neck delivered right below his helmet. Only one of the compromised squad remained. Lelouch did not even bother taking a second shot, rolling aside and pulling Charlotte with him.

A fourth shot sounded and Charlotte suddenly felt a gust of wind blow past her. She instinctively drew her knife and spun about, the blade ringing loudly as it struck another knife. Charlotte was already moving to kick out at her opponent but a fist slammed into her chest before her foot was even off the ground. The girl let out a cry and reeled back. She finally caught a glimpse of their assailant, a young man with messy silver hair and pale crimson eyes. It was nearly the last thing she saw.

Instead of delivering the final blow their attacker stepped back, just in time to avoid a slash from Lelouch's own blade. The momentary reprieve was enough for Charlotte to recover her footing. She did not try to press in however, instead leaping back to put more distance between the two. Lelouch did likewise, leveling his pistol again. Their attacker was still somehow one step ahead however, sliding aside and neatly sidestepping Lelouch's shots. The pistol clicked as the magazine was emptied.

Lelouch cursed but before their opponent could take advantage of this an explosion erupted above the two. At the same time the ever increasing humming of rotor blades began to recede into a sharp whine. The two scampered aside as bits and pieces rained down before the burning hulk of the helicopter slammed into the ground. Somehow they managed to avoid getting tossed off their feet and the two wasted no time hurrying over the gate.

"He still with us!?" Charlotte shouted.

As if in answer a shot whizzed by her, this time one coming from the hill in front. Whatever it hit produced a very loud crack and Charlotte spared a quick glance back even as she kept running. It was just enough to see their attacker tossing aside a shattered knife, and draw another one.

"Did he just really do that!?" the French girl exclaimed.

"Don't know, don't care," Lelouch snapped back as he slammed a fresh magazine in.

Their pursuer closed the distance with frightening quickness and Charlotte grimaced. They were obviously not going to shake him and with the other helicopters vectoring in Laura would have her hands full keeping them back. They were on their own. Suddenly the man leapt, just in time to vault over a car that careened through where he was previously. From the back Fie leapt out, executing a series of quick slashes at the man, all of which were deftly blocked. The girl summersaulted back, firing off her pistols. In the moment before she did so however the man spun about and all the German girl hit was air. Lelouch and Charlotte both stopped, raising their own weapons and trying to track the man's movements.

"He's fast!" Charlotte cried out.

"To the car!" Lelouch ordered.

The three broke out into a flat out sprint. From the passenger's seat Annie let loose with her rifle, apparently seeing some success in keeping the man at bay. Her eyes suddenly widened and she dove out of the car. That was all the signal the others needed to divert as at that very moment a grenade sailed over their heads and neatly rolled under the vehicle. Everyone dove for cover as the car shuddered from the explosion and was left a flaming wreck.

"Who is this guy!?" Charlotte demanded incredulously.

Lelouch's only reaction was to open fire again. With their fastest route of escape destroyed they needed to either kill this man or at least slow him down enough that Laura could take care of the remaining helicopters and then turn her sniper rifle on him. Another explosion shook the air as the German girl nailed another helicopter with one of the missiles she had brought.

"And you said I was paranoid for having Laura bring her toys," Lelouch remarked darkly.

"Well being right doesn't mean you aren't still paranoid," Charlotte responded.

"Why aren't the other Britannian soldiers coming after us," Fie said.

Lelouch frowned. "Probably because he knows they would only get in the way."

And that was all the time for chatter they would get as their attacker dashed out. A single shot was all Fie managed to get off, the others were still tracking when the man was upon them. Lelouch rolled aside as Charlotte thrust her blade. It was parried and a fist slammed against her shoulder, causing her to drop her pistol. Fie dove right in, trying to catch their opponent between her two blades. With seemingly little effort the man blocked the slashes, landing his boot in the girl's chest. Fie literally bounced back from the impact but as a parting gift got off one more shot.

Yet again the man maneuvered himself out of the way before she even pulled the trigger, turning sideways and letting the bullets pass right by him. Simultaneously he swung his knife arm about, catching the short sword Annie thrust at him just after Fie fired. In a single graceful spin the man shoved aside the sword and aimed a punch squarely at Annie's solar plexus. The German girl however bent back, swinging one arm about to try and grapple the man's extended arm. She got ahold of it, but found that instead of gaining leverage over her opponent he literally lifted her off the ground and tossed her overhead. Flaying in midair Annie was utterly helpless as the man slammed his knife into her stomach. The girl's eyes went wide as her sword fell.

"ANNIE!"

Charlotte lashed out, trying to knock back the man and free her friend. Fie was right with her, angling her own attack so the two would flank their assailant. The man twisted his knife free, a splattering of blood trailing it as he swung about to block the attacks. Lelouch tried to get a shot but again the bullet harmlessly passed the man. He was somehow always not in the spot being aimed at. Lelouch blinked. Not in the spot being aimed at.

Charlotte felt her muscles scream as her slash was again deflected. The man was not only fast, he felt ludicrously strong. Every time their blades met it felt as if she was trying to stab solid rock. She had to keep trying however, they either killed this bastard or he would gut them all. Suddenly Charlotte felt as if her ears were exploding as a bullet thundered past. The girl was not even sure what was happening, until she realized that it had been two shots that sounded. Two shots, at the same time, both aiming for their attacker. An attacker that had just taken a step back.

Charlotte wasted no time, grabbing hold of Annie and pulling the other girl back. Apparently having figured out what Lelouch was trying to do Fie flipped her pistols back about again and also opened up. Simultaneous shots rang out as she and Lelouch let loose at near pointblank range. Instead of charging in like he did before their attacker actually began trying to open up the distance. And then he leapt away from the tree he was using as cover just as a sniper round smashed through it. Two more quickly followed on, pressing him further back.

"Get moving!" Lelouch shouted.

Charlotte needed no further urging. With Annie over her shoulder she made a dash for the hill, running alongside it to get to the other side where another vehicle had been secreted. Lelouch and Fie continued laying down cover fire even as they retreated. The surviving helicopters were closing in, forcing Laura to deal with them. Another exploded into a fireball as a missile smashed into it but the others continued pressing in. It seemed the military was prepared to expend whatever sacrifices were necessary to nail them. Lelouch grimaced. They needed an edge to get out of here. He had wanted to keep this particular ace a secret, but with a seeming super soldier hounding them along with air support he was out of options.

Reaching outward, Lelouch felt the minds of all those about him. Most of them were an open book, most but not all. The man that was hounding him, all Lelouch could sense was a dark void. A not unfamiliar void at that. Lelouch pushed such thoughts aside, he needed to focus. He needed to reach deeper. Both eyes began glowing. He needed to command.

"All whom hear my call, destroy the one that does not!"

The helicopters wavered for a moment, and then suddenly they turned about and their miniguns began pouring fire on a single spot. Lelouch's knees buckled and he would have fell flat on his face save for Fie grabbing hold of him.

"Oof! You could stand to lose a few kilos."

Lelouch's pounding headache precluded him from responding. As it was he barely noticed Fie hauling him over to the vehicle. He was however aware of the fact that they were still alive. That, was enough for now.

End of Chapter 78

I needed to get the character development out of the way before the next series of events. For that matter I still have a lot of stuff that needs to be fleshed out before we get to that point. It's something of a slog right now.

So, a slight modification of Lelouch's power. Or rather, an extension of it based on Monica's explanation all those chapters ago. The geass in my world is a link to the minds of others, and the eye serves as a vector for it. It is however possible for a developed geass, or a code, to broadcast without direct line of sight. For that matter Kallen and Euphemia both have always been doing that, transmitting and receiving without needing to actually meet someone's eyes. Lelouch can do it as well, but it's considerably more difficult for him to do so, as evidenced by him basically keeling over in the process. It's not a stratagem that can be used without careful preparation, or sheer desperation. And fighting the Bladelord pretty much is an "oh crap" situation that warrants it.

There were a couple of details in that scene that imply quite a few things. See if you can pick them out.

I feel like some of you may not be giving my version of Schneizel quite enough credit. Or are making too many assumptions about what my Schneizel's intentions are based on what happened in the anime. As I've said many times before, the anime does not serve as a perfect guide for what motivates my versions of the characters.

Anyway, a few additional points to keep in mind. None of you know what my version of Damocles is, Project Muspelheim is a military project meaning technically it's Cornelia that controls it, and the result of it right now is an atomic bomb, meaning a weapon that creates massive amounts of radioactive fallout. That by itself precludes any sort of stratagem like what Schneizel attempted in the anime. And to be frank, it was a stratagem with a lot of holes in it. So what if he's floating up in orbit? Let him shoot the warheads, you've got quite a bit of time to shoot them down in the upper atmosphere before they actually threaten anything on the ground. And once he's out, he's out. Supplies don't just appear magically in thin air. Or no air. Not to mention that humans as a species are really bad at just letting themselves be threatened without trying to do something, anything, to bite back.

My version of Britannia does not have a separate organization of assassins. They don't really need one. Both the Inquisitio and the Directorate have kill teams that basically serve the purpose well enough already.


	80. Chapter 79

_Japan was not the only overseas territory of the Britannian Empire that saw an uprising attempt. Shortly after Chinese forces landed on Luzon Island Filipino insurgents began a general uprising throughout Area 12. Unlike the Japanese Liberation Front however the Filipino insurgents were nowhere as well supplied and organized and without an advocate like the Princess Euphemia the Britannian military was unrestrained in their efforts to crush the insurrection. The first few months saw Britannian forces under the command of Lieutenant-General Berthold Gregor adopt a scorched earth approach to combating the rebels, laying waste to entire villages and towns that were suspected of harboring enemy sympathizers. As devastating as these pogroms were most historians and even analysts at the time regarded them as highly unproductive._

 _The stratagem pursued by the Empire slowly shifted as more reinforcements arrived, including several divisions that had been mustered in Area 11. Under the direction of Major-General Frederick Carlton Weyand, commanding officer of the 25_ _th_ _infantry division, Britannian forces began actively stationing forces out in the countryside to hamper movements by the Filipino insurgents while also working to secure the various rural communities via less forceful means. After General Gregor was transferred out General Weyand was granted a promotion to lieutenant-general and placed in command of not only Area 12 but also the forces in the Empire's Indonesian possessions. For his successes General Weyand was eventually elevated to the peerage as a viscount and awarded some of the very lands he had helped secure for the Empire._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 79

Post tenebras lux

"Lelouch is really starting to piss me off," Monica said with a scowl.

The operation at the machine tools factory was supposed to have been just a standard sweep, lock down the place, arrest a few suspects for interrogation, and search the place for clues. The only reason so much manpower had been deployed for it was the sheer size of the factory, not because the Inquisitio had been expecting any sort of opposition. Instead they got an entire company of storm troopers completely destroyed, with the only survivor of the operation being the young man currently on a hospital bed.

Lorence Belgar might have been the best enforcer in the Directorate but even a superhuman would break a sweat fighting nearly a hundred storm troopers with air support plus the thousand or so civilians that suddenly went berserk trying to kill him. That he succeeded was nothing short of a miracle, banged up as he was. It was probably a good thing the storm troopers he took down were Hereticus. Had they been from Loki Regiment Monica might not have been able to keep from trying to finish the job herself.

Despite the fiasco they did learn one new thing about the prince, he apparently possessed the ability to project his compulsion across a short distance even beyond line of sight. And based off of Lorence's report it apparently put the young man under considerable strain to do so. That was good news, the last thing they needed was for Lelouch to start hijacking more companies of soldiers at will and turning them against the Empire. The bad news was if used strategically that ability could do a lot of damage, like it did at the factory.

If there was any doubt that Lelouch really was that good, and that dangerous, they were well and truly dispelled all around now. Him outwitting Monica could have been a fluke, or because of some error on the part of the knight. Evading and nearly killing a Directorate enforcer on top of that and it started to look like a cruise missile might be on the low end of the firepower needed to guarantee a kill.

"So, did the follow up sweep find anything of use at all?" Monica asked.

"Several things," Claire responded. "Specifically, the forensics team found three individuals whom appear to have died by their own hands instead of in the aftermath of whatever Lelouch did. One has been identified as the factory director and the other two were brothers that were known to be close to the man. As the director was the extraction target of the raid, it is highly likely that the brothers were confidantes of his and that they killed themselves, or were ordered to do so, to keep the Inquisitio from arresting and interrogating them."

"Thorough little bastard," Monica remarked.

"Autopsies are still in progress," Claire continued, "but those that have been performed thus far have all identified lesions and other unnatural formations in the brains of the deceased. We are still building up a database of examples, but so far there are striking similarities in their locations and sizes."

The knight nodded at that. It was slow and tedious work but if they could determine a way to detect the presence of this compulsion, even if in corpses, they might be able to use it as a means to track Lelouch's movements.

"Dealing with all of the victims however is straining our manpower considerably," Claire said. "By your orders we are only using members of Loki Regiment as well as those, specialists, you've brought in, but that may not be enough."

"Little choice in the matter," Monica said.

That was the other reason Lelouch was starting to piss her off. As powerful as the Inquisitio and her own Ordo Malleus was they still had limits. The deaths of so many people at the factory could not be hidden so a believable cover story needed to be constructed. Then there was the dealing with the bereaved, including the fact that the bodies of their family members could not be returned to them. There was no end to the work and the longer all this took the less they could concentrate on nailing Lelouch himself.

"It may be time to call in more reinforcements," Monica mused.

Claire's eyes narrowed. "You mean, more like Lieutenant Belgar?"

Unlike Monica the good captain was from Hereticus, and she was taking the loss of so many of her comrades much less sanguinely.

"Do you have an alternative suggestion, captain?" the knight asked.

"By all indications attempting to neutralize Lelouch personally is not going to work," Claire responded. "Effort should be focused solely on tracking him down so that he may be killed from a distance." The captain looked down at the report. "A considerable distance, if this data is accurate."

"Already tried that," Monica said.

That caused Claire to grimace. Yes, it had been tried, and the failed attempt ended up not only destroying her own home but also nearly saw the Knight of Twelve killed in the aftermath.

"Ultimately however we're going to need more people on the ground whom are immune to Lelouch's compulsion. For that as much as I personally hate to admit it, we will need more assets like Lieutenant Belgar. He nearly succeeded in killing Lelouch this time around, and he did wound one of his fellow operatives. If he had had proper backup, there is no doubt in my mind that he would have finished this then and there."

That Claire found she also could not disagree with, so she did not bother trying. "Well, at least we have descriptions of more of Lelouch's compatriots. Though indications are there was at least one other operative that managed to stay out of sight."

"Yes, the sniper that brought down five of the helicopters," Monica said.

And Lorence had been forced to bring down the other seven. Monica was tempted to ask the man where he got his sword from seeing as he had used it to snap off the still-spinning rotors off of several of the helicopters to do so. Any ordinary metal would have been shattered attempting such a feat. The Directorate had obviously been busy.

"Perhaps we should be dedicating more manpower to monitoring the nobles?" Claire suggested. "We still have not been able to insert someone into the Duke Cayenne's immediate household."

"The duke's not stupid by any means, I'll give him that much," Monica said. "Though I'm mildly surprised some branch of Hereticus had not already cultivated agents within his estate already."

"That is not an easy task," Claire said. "The duke only hires on servants whose families already have a history of service to his house. Most of the servants currently at his main estate come from lines that have been retainers for at least three generations. The only exception in recent memory was after he married the Countess Le Guin and some of her family's servants joined the household."

"Well the Cayenne have certainly spent a lot of effort cultivating a trusted cadre," Monica said with a sigh. "Did you have any specific suggestions for trying to overcome that issue?"

"Yes your grace. With your authority we could task aerial reconnaissance to loiter over the duke's estate and monitor it."

Monica raised an eyebrow. "Aerial reconnaissance."

Claire simply nodded.

"Captain, do you have any idea how expensive that would be? Not to mention the fact that we probably could not be able to keep such surveillance a secret."

"Not necessarily, your grace."

Monica cocked her head aside. "Oh?"

"A UAV," Claire explained. "One could remain overhead of the duke's estate and monitor it with very low chances of detection."

Monica tilted her head aside thoughtfully. "That might work. I'll check if Hereticus actually has any in its inventory." She looked back at Claire. "Unless you've already done that legwork?"

"I have your grace," Claire said, "and unfortunately at least as far as I have been able to determine Hereticus does not actually possess one."

"Huh. Rather unexpected." Then again that might have been intentional on the part of the government. "I'll get one allocated by the military then."

Claire simply nodded.

"Once that is setup you will be responsible for supervising that surveillance," Monica said. "I'm going to do a bit of digging on the duke's business interests. It's starting to look more and more like the Swords of Michael are using companies he has stakes in as a network to move about."

Or rather her subordinates would. Monica was not one for spending hours and hours poring over accounts and statements. It would be so much easier if they could just storm the duke's estate, arrest him, and interrogate him. Unfortunately Cayenne was just a tad too prominent a member of the court for even Hereticus to try that, not least because of the size and strength of the Virginian provincial guard. The Inquisitio did possess strike teams, yes, but if push came to shove it would still be overwhelmed by sheer numbers against any proper military formation, even one from a provincial guard. As such slow and steady was what they had to settle with. Of course once evidence of his complicity was discovered, then Monica would have no trouble rolling in the troops and permanently removing the Cayenne family from consideration, down to the last bastard child.

* * *

The obstacle course was filled with bars, barriers, and other miscellaneous items that served as both impediments and leverage for traversal. For the figure now leaping through the area all of the items were definitely more the latter than the former. With a strong leap Suzaku soared into the air, grabbing hold of the bar and using it to gain more height. The wall that previously stood imposingly in his path now became a path itself as he literally ran up along it. At the top he vaulted over, pressing his boots against the wall to slow his descent until he was close enough to the ground. Another flex of the legs and he touched the ground for a brief moment before dashing off again.

The smaller obstacles in his way did not give Suzaku any pause as he easily leapt over them or slid under without breaking pace. The next section was fenced off with chain-link and topped off with barbed wire. This finally forced Suzaku to slow down, long enough to grab hold of the fence and tear a large enough hole to slip through. He then proceeded to resume his sprint and soon arrived at the target location.

"Exercise complete."

Suzaku's eyes went dull and the body slouched over as V.V. withdrew his control. Technicians moved onto the field, examining the body and outfit for wear and damage. From his own observation post V.V. rose and took his leave. The Directorate researchers would perform a full physical on Suzaku, determine if any of his implants were acting up, and then inform V.V. of when another training exercise could be conducted. In the meantime V.V. had plenty of other matters demanding his attention, not least of which was that bastard nephew of his.

That he had thus far eluded the Inquisitio was not terribly surprising, a geass bearer was no easy target after all. That the Knight of Twelve and now the Bladelord had also failed in their confrontations with Lelouch was another thing entirely however. While Monica was not truly of the Directorate she was the recipient of some basic enhancements, putting her well beyond the reach of any normal opponent. And the only one with more combat enhancements than Lorence was Suzaku himself. In fact the report made quite clear that Lorence had been winning his fight against Lelouch and his team and it was only when the former prince revealed a trump that they were able to withdraw. Hopefully the woman that Lorence had knifed was permanently out of play but time would tell.

"A marvelous demonstration your excellency," Weismann said as he joined up with V.V. "I hope there were no problems with extending your psyche into the host body?"

"None whatsoever," V.V. said, allowing the man some measure of satisfaction. "How soon will Suzaku be ready for deployment?"

"Ah." Before reminding him that they were not done yet. "It looks to be another week or so at least. Arianrhod wishes to make a few adjustments to the main cybernetics and Vita thinks she can fine tune the eye a bit more. We are very close however, your excellency. And should Suzaku prove successful in the field, we are prepared to begin other conversions immediately."

"So long as another source of subjects can be secured by then," V.V. said somewhat irritably.

Another reason Lelouch annoyed him so. Taking Luciano out of play for so many months was affecting the Directorate more than he would have liked.

Weismann cleared his throat. "Indeed. Regrettably we lost one of the other conversion candidates in Area 11, though it would have been a few more years before Joshua's body would have sufficiently matured for it. Though, perhaps we might recall Lorence once his current assignment is complete?"

That was certainly another possibility, the good lieutenant already had most of the enhancements, all that remained was to install the cybernetic eye and effectively wipe his mind. Then again the latter might prove a bit less tractable than Weismann seemed to think.

"We will discuss that matter another time," V.V. said. "Right now I believe you are supposed to have an update on the neural interface tests."

Weismann bowed his head slightly. "Of course, excellency. As for that project, we are making steady progress. In fact we completed installation in our most promising test subject last night. She is recovering now and we expect to begin field trials within the month."

"Is that so?" V.V. allowed a satisfied smirk. "Will the actual physical hardware be ready in time?"

"I have been assured that it will be," Weismann said. "The prototype knightmare arrived last week and the engineering teams are installing the necessary upgrades now."

V.V. turned the corner. "I shall see this progress with my own eyes."

Weismann quickly followed in his wake. The two passed a myriad of chambers and labs before entering a rather noisy section of the installation. The soldiers on guard stiffened at the sight of their superiors but neither paid them any mind. That was probably a good thing as attracting the attention of any of the Directorate leadership was generally not conducive to one's continued good health.

The workers inside the large hanger also seemed to pick up their pace as V.V. entered, or perhaps it was Weismann they were actually nervous about. While the former tended to irritation when not getting his way, the latter had a well established reputation for capriciousness. Today however the attention of both was on the large knightmare currently occupying two entire bays.

It was a towering construct, easily dwarfing other knightmares in height but especially in width thanks to the massive set of pauldrons upon which next generation float units were attached. They would still not allow the knightmare to fly long distances, or easily maneuver in the air for that matter, but the significantly reduced power draw would permit greater tactical flexibility in the field, not to mention leave much more power for the hadron cannon it mounted. That was the other reason for the sheer size of the Gordias-class, to provide space for the power plant needed to supply energy for all these components. As a consequence this knightmare was fairly slow relative to its smaller cousins, but as a bombardment type it did not need such speed. And slow relative to other knightmares did not mean the Gordias was slow outright, if something was foolish enough to try to close in on it they would find that the pincer claws on its hands were not for show.

"A most wondrous machine of war," Weismann said with a grin. "I often wonder what force exists in the world that could withstand it, much less the army that we will unleash."

V.V. smirked. Indeed, no other faction on the planet, within or without Britannian, possessed the means to fight the Gordias on even footing. Schneizel's Camelot Institute was not the only organization capable of creating next generation knightmares, and whereas the prince's underlings had failed to make something of the larger knightmare types like the Gawain, the Directorate under V.V. would soon be unleashing upon the world weapons of war that would be insurmountable. The smirk grew winder. And then, he would have satisfaction on those that had dared impede him so.

* * *

"Abigail?"

Nunnally looked up and smiled as Mikasa entered the student council office.

"Good afternoon Mikasa."

The older girl nodded politely though concern was still evident on her expression. That was in some ways a marked improvement from her stoic demeanor when she first joined them. Mikasa took a seat next to Nunnally. She did not prompt the girl, instead simply being there in case Nunnally wished to talk.

"Where are the others?" Nunnally asked lightly.

"Rivalz and Shirley had an errand to run," Mikasa answered. "They said it would be a while before they would be here."

"I see," the girl said softly.

The way that Nunnally kept staring off into the distance, it was obvious to Mikasa that something was eating at the younger girl. Nonetheless she still kept quiet, unsure of quite how to approach the subject. Ultimately it was Nunnally herself that did so.

"What would you say," Nunnally said slowly, "to someone whom you knew a long time ago, and has during that absence done an evil thing?"

Mikasa regarded Nunnally somewhat blankly. That was not the subject that she would have presumed to be so worrying the younger girl. It was also not a subject Mikasa herself had ever thought about. In fact it was very much something one only ever found reason to consider when it actually happened. The young woman grimaced. Little wonder Nunnally seemed so down. And as much as Mikasa wanted to comfort her, the older girl was not sure if she could. As such she answered as frankly as she could.

"I would probably punch him."

This time it was Nunnally's turn to stare blankly. Her head cocked aside.

"Huh?"

Mikasa shrugged slightly. "There were, two boys that I used play with all the time. Back before the invasion. Eren was always in a hurry, and would never back down from anything. That got him into a lot of fights. Sometimes the only way to get him to stop was to, well, clock him on the head and drag him away."

After a brief moment Nunnally giggled. "I see." She sighed. "I see."

Mikasa reached out and took Nunnally's hand. "I'm, sorry, that I can't offer better advice."

Nunnally's hand tightened. "There's nothing to be sorry for, Mikasa. Thank you, for humoring me. And, I'm sorry about prying."

This time it was Mikasa that squeezed. "It's, alright. I, don't mind talking about my past with you. Since, you don't mind talking about yours with me."

A thoughtful expression crossed Nunnally's face before she nodded and smiled at Mikasa again.

"You're right, I don't mind." The girl leaned back into her wheelchair. "I don't mind at all." A single tear streaked down her cheek. "At all."

Mikasa's chest tightened as she felt the urge to do something, yet she could not for the life of her figure out what that something was. And so she did what she had done before, she simply talked.

"Armin was the other boy that played with us," she said. "He was always very thoughtful, and didn't like fighting. But, he always stuck with me and Eren. And the three of us, always had lots of fun."

"They, sound like wonderful people," Nunnally said, her eyes closed. She took a deep breath. "And very different from my brother."

Mikasa's eyes narrowed. Brother. There was no ambiguity in those words, Nunnally had definitely said brother. Except as far as the older girl was aware of the Ashfords did not have a son. Granted with the way Britannian noble families worked there was always the possibility of an illegitimate child floating around. And such a child, if he felt scorned, could well do an evil thing. Mikasa leaned closer to Nunnally.

"Did he hurt you?"

Nunnally opened her eyes, now glistening with unshed tears. "No. All of us were hurt. And he was the only one that did not have someone there for him."

Mikasa grimaced. This must have had something to do with when the Ashfords were disgraced and banished from court. A member of their family that had to be left behind, and whom now was asserting himself in some way. A way that was obviously causing Nunnally some distress.

"Abigail," Mikasa said firmly.

Nunnally focused on her and Mikasa tried to smile as gently as she could. Like how her own mother always smiled at her, before that fateful day that took everything away from her.

"I may not be a knight, I will keep you safe no matter what, so do not fret."

Nunnally gave a pained smile. "Thank you, Mikasa. I am very happy to have you by my side. But, so long as I have a heart, I am afraid no one can keep it from breaking."

And that, Mikasa realized, was entirely, all too painfully, true. Suddenly Nunnally inhaled sharply, causing Mikasa to regard her quizzically.

"You may not be a knight now," the girl said, "but that can change."

The confusion remained on Mikasa's face as Nunnally rolled over to the desk and picked up the phone. It turned into outright consternation once she realized just whom the younger girl was calling.

* * *

Heinrich clucked his tone. "I have to admit, I'm impressed."

Eleanor raised an eyebrow and the baron shrugged.

"How many people have managed to take on an entire company of Inquisitio stormtroopers and walk away from it?"

"Point," Eleanor conceded, "but this simply emphasizes just how dangerous Lelouch is. A kill team may not be sufficient."

"I think that's been pretty obvious since he reared his head in Japan in the first place," Heinrich said dryly as he tossed aside the packet of paper. "Though all indications are it was purely a fluke they even ran into Lelouch. Bad fluke considering how things went pear shaped."

"Eliminating the prince will require engaging him at range," Eleanor said. "Though it is somewhat disturbing that he was paranoid enough to station someone with anti-air munitions to cover a potential escape when visiting the factory."

Heinrich pursed his lips. "Could he have been aware of the impending Hereticus raid? The report indicates that the primary suspects Hereticus wanted to arrest were found dead seemingly by their own hands, but taking into account his power of compulsion Lelouch could have easily ordered them to kill themselves."

"Lelouch's source inside Hereticus has been cut off," Eleanor stated, though the colonel did not explain just how she knew this, "so unless he has managed to compromise yet another officer in the Ordo that seems unlikely."

"Not exactly a pleasant thought, that possibility," Heinrich remarked. He picked up another packet of papers. "Alright, what about this request for a UAV by Hereticus? Kind of surprised they even needed to ask the military for one."

"The armed forces prefers to keep tight control over the capability," Eleanor said. "And Xenos has, not been supportive of Hereticus gaining in-house access to it either."

"I see," Heinrich said with a slight smirk. "And they want to use it to monitor the Duke Cayenne's estate. Hmm."

Eleanor cocked her head quizzically. "You have thoughts on that?"

"Just that if Cayenne really is involved in all this, why hasn't Hereticus already nailed him? He's one of the most prominent peers of the realm, they should already have been keeping an eye on him just out of basic principle."

"True, to an extent," Eleanor said. "As large and powerful as Hereticus is it still has finite limits to its manpower and resources. Before the Prince Schneizel became prime minister and began his reform campaign however the Duke Cayenne was one of the nobles closer to the imperial family, or rather the parts of it that seemed on the ascendant. Then the Prince Odysseus threw in his lot with his younger brother and Cayenne suddenly found himself removed from the innermost circles of the court."

"And he's been conniving how to get back in ever since," Heinrich said, rubbing his chin. "Hmm. His grandmother is the Emperor Charles' aunt, meaning Cayenne and his daughter both have imperial blood."

"Some, but they are not even in the tertiary list of heirs," Eleanor said.

"Quite, but Cecilia is considered a respectable and rather desirable partner for many a noble scion. Prestigious, even, thanks to her great-grandmother's lineage."

"And just what exactly are you insinuating?" Eleanor said, a mixture of tartness and exasperation in her voice.

"Were the Prince Lelouch officially not considered dead, where do you think he would be on the imperio successuros designare?"

Eleanor considered the question for a moment. "Assuming he was able to win back his father's favor after his outburst at court, likely on equal footing with the Princess Euphemia."

"Right. So, what happens if a good number of the imperial family is wiped out? How difficult would it be for Lelouch to reveal himself, claim that he is here to ensure that the rightful heir, himself, will sit upon the throne, with the support of his new father-in-law, the Duke Cayenne?"

An eyebrow rose. "You think this is all some plot by the prince to seize the throne?"

"Hereticus seems to think so," Heinrich said, "if they are monitoring the duke. Or it's one such angle that they suspect the prince is playing at. If he gets Cayenne and Albarea in his pocket, that would give him the provincial guards of two provinces. Two divisions of troops, alongside however many Swords of Michael he can muster. Enough to credibly threaten Pendragon."

"Threaten, perhaps," Eleanor said, "but the moment they made any move to approach the capital the rest of the military would immediately bring them to heel."

"Wouldn't that require the military to know what was happening, and where the provincial forces are?"

Eleanor frowned at the point. Information was power, as any Inquisitio operative knew, and if the flow of information could be hampered then opportunities arose.

"To do so would require bringing down the defense net," Eleanor said, "which is not trivial by any means."

"Presumably the military has at least explored the matter as a theoretical exercise?" Heinrich said.

"I will have to check." Eleanor jotted down a note. "In the meantime we have plenty of other reports to sift through."

"Indeed we do," Heinrich said as he tossed aside yet another packet and massaged the bridge of his nose. "You know, things were so much simpler before computers came around. For all the data that they produce they're fuck all useless for actually sorting through the noise."

"Language Heinrich," Eleanor chided lightly.

The baron flashed an irreverent grin. "My sincerest apologies, colonel. A lady should not be subject to such crass behavior."

Eleanor gave a bemused but still tolerant snort. "Well, either way, I somehow doubt any computer would be able to discern just what exactly Lelouch's goal is."

"Yes, there is that," Heinrich agreed.

The prince's actions were in many ways inscrutable. Previous to his exile and then disappearance all indications had been that he was personally very close with the Princess Euphemia and respected and looked up to the Princess Cornelia. Even if he harbored any sort of animosity against his family for the death of his mother and sister, one could have reasonably assumed that regardless of the depth of this animosity those two at least would have been spared the full brunt of it. Instead the prince's actions in Japan made clear he was determined to see them, and quite likely the rest of their family, dead. Something had happened, likely something involving the woman calling herself Cecilia Clermont, but Cecilia was either unwilling or unable to disclose just what that something was. For an intelligence analyst that was more than a bit frustrating.

Heinrich frowned. "Lelouch is trying to kill his family."

"That is the working assumption," Eleanor said quizzically.

"Right, but technically is not Cayenne also his family?"

"Distantly so," the colonel said, patiently letting the baron work through his chain of thought.

"So assuming he isn't planning on offing the duke and his daughter the moment his primary objective is achieved, what does he gain by cutting down only his immediately family?"

"That is the question I just brought up," Eleanor said, somewhat less patiently.

"Right," Heinrich said, nonplussed. "But maybe we should be approaching the problem from the opposite angle. What have the members of the imperial family been doing that could trigger such a reaction from Lelouch?"

That caused Eleanor to frown as well, though thoughtfully. "It will take some time to compile and sort through the activities of the imperial family."

A thud sounded as Heinrich tossed aside yet another packet of documents.

"Then we better get started," was the baron's dry conclusion.

* * *

"Hey, you really think this is gonna work?"

Thompson regarded his partner levelly.

"What? You're thinking it too. This team is a mishmash of green recruits and reactivated operatives like the baron. Not exactly the foundations of a cohesive group."

That Thompson had to agree with. "You fear that this is a suicide mission?"

"Well it certainly doesn't feel like one with a high chance of success," Thomson said.

"We were handed this mission directly by the lord inquisitor," Thompson responded. "She would not have given it to us unless the matter was dire, and from what we have learned thus far, it is dire indeed. You and I both swore an oath to defend Britannian from threats from without. That included laying down our lives if need be to fulfill that oath."

"Hey, I got no problems laying down my life for the Empire," Thomson said. "It's just that, if I'm going to die, I want to make sure I take with me the bastards that I'm being sent after." He waved his hand down at the training facility. "How high a chance do you honestly think we have of doing that with these guys?"

That Thompson did not have a response to, at least not one he cared to verbalize.

"Not all of them are men," he said instead.

Thomson chuckled. "See, I always knew you had a sense of humor."

And then looked down at the current exercise once more. What his partner said was technically correct, not all of the soldiers assembled for the team were men, though truth be told all of the supposed men were probably just a tad scared of some of the women in their midst.

"Though that Jane girl could have fooled me," Thomson remarked.

The four soldiers were hustling through the halls, not really bothering to keep quiet. They took up formation around a shut door and after a quick nod one gave it a hefty kick. The door flew open and the soldier was through, when suddenly he was peppered by a spray of pellets. He slumped down, and promptly received a boot to the rear.

"Jaeger you bloody idiot, don't fall over in the doorway!" a shrill voice sounded.

Thompson and Thomson both winced, having heard the scream loud and clear even from where they were.

"Girl's got lungs," Thomson said.

"She used to be a drill sergeant," Thompson said. "That probably explains it."

"When you get shot make sure you at least don't get in the way of the rest of your team!" another shout sounded.

"I don't recall the army drill sergeants being that nasty," Thomson said. "They were always going on about not leaving anyone behind."

"Our line of work is somewhat different," Thompson said. "For us the mission comes first. Living to fight another day means very little if there won't be another day because we failed."

"Once more from the top! And Jaeger, I want you _through_ the door, not stuck in it!"

"Shouldn't they have taught proper entry procedure in infantry school?" Thomson remarked.

"The army's expanding too quickly," Thompson said with a shrug. "Standards were bound to slip somewhere." He frowned. "Then again this Jaeger character was picked out for storm trooper training supposedly because he scored top marks in the proficiency tests. He seems to be falling a bit short here though."

"Probably wasn't expecting to be tossed into the deep end quite so soon," Thomson said. "Hope he doesn't burn out before we actually get some use out of him."

Thompson grunted. "C'mon. Let's head down there and have a little chat with Sergeant Turner. It'd probably do the team some good if she would ease off just a little bit."

"Ah, good cop bad cap eh? Usually you're the bad cop though."

A snort sounded. "And you've always been the lazy one."

* * *

"No."

Nunnally gave her sister a tolerant look. "It is my decision, Euphie."

"The risks are far too great," Euphemia persisted.

"I believe the potential benefits to be worth the risks," Nunnally responded.

Euphemia gave her little sister a pained look. That was not something she had ever wanted to hear out of Nunnally's mouth, but here they were.

"If you do this Nunnally, you will need a visible security screen, not just the discrete one in place now."

"I accepted that when I made my decision," Nunnally said. "And I already have an armsman in mind that might one day rise to serve as my knight."

Mikasa, Euphemia knew. Then again seeing as part of the Japanese-Britannian woman's posting at Ashford was to test the waters for whether she could establish the rapport necessary to remain at Nunnally's side this was not exactly unexpected.

"If you reveal yourself, Nunnally, you will once more be exposed to all of the politics of the court," Euphemia tried one more time. "Especially if you do so in as public a manner as would be necessary for your plan."

"I know," Nunnally said more solemnly. "But this is our brother, Euphie. And unless I try I cannot accept that he is beyond redemption."

Euphemia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You still believe in him."

She might have as well, had Lelouch not attempted to outright assassinate her and ultimately caused the death of General Eyre.

"I know Lelouch has hurt you, Euphie," Nunnally said. "I am not unscarred by his actions, but the pain that he himself must feel, it is because I have been hurt that I cannot simply stand by and not try to heal his pain. If by making public my survival there is a chance of this, then I will gladly shoulder the risks."

That was a point, Euphemia had to concede. One point that they were finally able to establish was that no, Lelouch did not know of Nunnally's survival. Prying that piece of information out from C.C. had taken a good hour and seen the other woman literally choke on her own blood. C.C. had been giving both her and Kallen the silent treatment since, not that Euphemia was herself feeling particularly charitable about the whole matter herself. Which ultimately led them to the conundrum set before her now.

"Nunnally, if Lelouch does not surrender himself, or at least try to make contact with us, I cannot guarantee that any attempt will be made to take him alive the next time the authorities find him," Euphemia said.

Nunnally smiled sadly. "I know. And I would not ask others to risk themselves on behalf of my own selfish wish. But it is only right that I assume some risk myself to seeing that wish fulfilled, Euphie. So, please. Do not bar my way."

Euphemia sighed. Stubbornness was definitely a character trait shared by all the women in the family, that she was certain of.

"Very well Nunnally," she finally said, "but we will not make the announcement until all preparations are complete."

"Of course," Nunnally said, keeping her expression solemn even as hope seemed to be reflected in her eyes.

Euphemia reached for the intercom. "Rachel, please summon General Nu and Lady Stadtfeld to my office, I need to speak with them on a matter of some urgency."

Five minutes later the two women bowed as they entered the room. Ten minutes later Kallen succumbed to the urge to let out some very colorful expletives.

* * *

Annie groaned as she tried to rise. A hand quickly pressed down on her, forcing her back onto the bed.

"None of that now," Charlotte said. "The doctors said you need to rest, and no strenuous movements for at least a few weeks." The girl frowned. "You took a pretty bad hit there, Annie."

"Bastard caught me off guard," the German girl groused. "Next time I see him I'll make sure to be the one doing the gutting."

Charlotte smiled comfortingly. "But to do that you'll need to finish healing."

Annie sighed. "Alright, alright, I get the point."

The door opened and Bertolt entered with a tray of food in his arms. "Oh, Charlotte, I didn't know you were in here."

"That's alright," Charlotte said as she rose. "I was just making sure Annie was behaving."

The young man smiled. "Thanks for taking the time, Charlotte." He looked over at the girl on the bed. "I'm sure Annie appreciates it as well."

"Oh yes," Annie said somewhat dryly, "I appreciate it a lot."

The smile however took the bite out of her tone. Her nose twitched.

"What do you have there?"

"Some clam chowder," Bertolt said. "Crow recommended it. It's apparently a specialty from where he grew up."

After a brief moment Charlotte nodded. "It is indeed a New England specialty." And flashed a smile. "Well, I won't get in the way of some alone time for the two of you. Make sure Annie gets plenty of rest, Bertolt."

The young man blushed slightly. "I will."

With one last wink Charlotte took her leave and closed the door behind her, seeing as Bertolt's hands were full. As she turned about she caught sight of Laura approaching.

"Charlotte, Lelouch's called a meeting," the other German girl said.

Charlotte frowned. "Everyone?"

Laura's silver hair swayed side to side as she shook her head. "Just you and me."

"Alright, lead the way."

A minute or so later the two were back in the room Charlotte shared with Lelouch. The young man was playing around with one of the crowned helmets that Crow used in his C persona.

"You wanted to discuss something?" Charlotte said as they entered.

"Indeed I did." Lelouch set the helmet aside on the coffee table. "We have a problem, and an opportunity."

That elicited a frown. Such combinations were always dangerous.

"The man that we fought at the factory," Lelouch said. "I believe he was a Directorate enforcer."

Charlotte was quick on the uptake. "Because he was not affected by your geass."

"Indeed. Which can only mean he possessed one of his own."

The French girl adopted a thoughtful pose. "Does that also mean the Directorate is directly targeting you?"

"In all likelihood, yes. Oh I doubt the operation at the factory was directly targeting me, the enforcer was probably just riding along to supervise an otherwise Inquisitio sweep, but that they are participating at all indicates that the Directorate is aware of my existence, at least as a geass bearer, and that they are taking me very seriously."

Charlotte pursed her lips. "They could have learned a lot about you from the JLF defectors."

A nod. "Indeed. But likely not enough to effectively counter my stratagems."

"Are you sure about that?"

Lelouch glanced over at Charlotte. "You believe otherwise?"

"The Inquisitio is going after more and more of the Christian cells. They've probably got your modus operandi pegged. How long before they start snooping around the Duke Cayenne's estate?"

"Hmm, I suppose there is that," Lelouch conceded. "Then I suppose it is even more imperative that we put my new plan into action."

Charlotte and Laura exchanged looks.

"Your new plan?" the French girl said.

"The Directorate has entered the field with its own operatives," Lelouch said. "If we were to take one alive and extract from him the location of their base of operations…"

That caused Charlotte to frown. "But, your geass won't work on another geass holder."

"Not directly, no," Lelouch agreed, "but were I to have access to a thought elevator, such as the one in New York…"

Again the young man trailed off and again Charlotte and Laura mulled over the possibilities.

"The thought elevator in New York is heavily guarded." This time it was Laura that pointed out the potential spanner. "Infiltrating it will not be trivial, especially with an uncooperative prisoner, especially one as strong as the enforcer that stabbed Annie."

"Alive, not intact," Lelouch said. "If what it takes is amputating and putting him into a coma for the duration of the move, then so be it."

That, was more than a little extreme, Charlotte noted, but against a geass bearer it might well be necessary.

"So how do you plan on drawing this enforcer, or any other Directorate operative for that matter, out into a trap?"

Lelouch hefted the crowned helmet. "I was thinking of taking a page out of Crow's playbook. Present the Directorate a target, one that is obviously a geass wielder, and let them come to me."

Charlotte frowned again. "Risky. If you are compromised, we're all beyond screwed."

"That is why the plan must be meticulous," Lelouch said, "and we must be ready to adjust it on the fly."

"This sounds more and more like a Maxime siebenundvierzig situation," Laura said most unhappily.

"Indeed," Charlotte agreed.

"L'échec n'est pas une option," Lelouch began.

"You do _not_ get to quote Maxime soixante-dix at us about this," Charlotte cut him off with a raised eyebrow.

Lelouch chuckled. "Perhaps not, but-"

Laura suddenly perked up, hand drifting to her knife for a brief moment before just as quickly not. A moment later Charlotte and Lelouch could hear the thumping footsteps that had elicited that reaction, though if the German girl was refraining from actually drawing the blade she probably recognized them. Sure enough a visibly winded Reiner burst in not long after.

"Lelouch, you have to see this."

The young man grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, switching to a news channel just as the announcer was wrapping up their obligatory preamble.

"-and we now go live to Area 11 for her highness' announcement."

The feed switched over to a feed of Euphemia in her office. Lelouch, Charlotte, and Laura all cocked their heads aside quizzically. And then the princess began speaking with a most solemn visage.

"Loyal subjects of the Empire, I address you this day to announce a most joyous of news. Many years ago my family suffered a tragedy that in my innocence I considered unimaginable, a tragedy that robbed me of one whom raised me in place of my birth mother and two whom I held dear in my heart. Since then I have strove to make the world they left behind a better place, to ensure that such loss would never occur again. It is a task that I cannot claim to have succeeded, for last year my brother the Prince Clovis was taken from me. And yet, it is not one I have entirely failed in either, for I have been restored one whom I had long thought lost and grieved for."

The camera zoomed out slightly and panned. And into its view rolled in on a wheelchair, a young woman with voluminous, almost overflowing soft brown hair, and a pair of crystal clear violet eyes. Lelouch made a choking sound. And felt his chest squeeze out all air in his lungs as that cherubic face smiled.

"Good day, ladies and gentlemen. I am Nunnally vi Britannia, daughter of the Empress Marianne, sister of the Prince Lelouch. And it is with heartfelt joy that I am able to once more embrace my family as mine own."

End of Chapter 79

Well, that's going to have consequences. Ahem. And yes this is an actual cliffhanger. The scene does continue at the start of next chapter.

Regrettably a lot of the borrowed characters share names. Hopefully I'll be able to avoid any confusion, at least unintentional ones. And no, I still do not regret borrowing characters from outside Code Geass.

V.V. might be getting a bit too smug. Something as big as the Gordias would be kind of a sitting duck for an airstrike or missile strike. Then again he's not a soldier and hasn't really bothered to keep himself up to speed on the latest and greatest in terms of modern weapons and tactics. He's more of a pick weapons that look impressive and stoke his ego and whatnot.

The Geass Directorate is not in Asia in my story. It made no bloody sense in the anime for it to be in Asia, I'm pretty sure the only reason it was there was so that Lelouch could plausibly attack it. Had it been in the Homelands, well, mounting such a large scale military operation there without the Britannian military gang piling the Black Knights would have probably required an even greater break from reality.

There is a distinction that I feel should be emphasized. Lelouch did not launch a terrorist strike to kill innocent students at Ashford Academy, he launched an assassination attempt on Kallen and C.C. that just happened to hit them while they were at school. Well, not just happened, he chose to hit them at the school because that ended up being the only place he could guarantee they would be in a known position. Kallen's rather erratic movements outside of school made pinning her down for a hit elsewhere extremely problematic. And geass users are very, very hard to kill, hence Lelouch's decision to use a missile was actually very proportionate to his target. Monica did much the same, though she used an even bigger missile, in her equally unsuccessful attempt to kill Lelouch.

Both strikes were going to result in collateral casualties, killing people whom were in no way involved with the conflict. In both instances the party that initiated the strike decided that such collateral casualties were acceptable for the chance of killing/neutralizing their target. This is the sort of decision that's made literally every time a strike is authorized in an urban environment, which has been happening a lot as of late with the fighting in the Middle East. And the thing is, I have not provided any evidence that any of the major characters in the story, regardless of which side they're on, would not have made a similar call. The opening snippets make clear that Euphemia orders the deployment of an atomic bomb, for example. So while it is perfectly fair to consider Lelouch's actions in attacking Ashford deplorable, I would ask at the very least that the cause for the distaste be for what Lelouch actually did, deciding that many civilian deaths were worth a chance to kill Kallen, and not on something he did not do, killing a bunch of innocent people in a pure terror strike.

I would be very careful with labeling the Britannian Empire evil. Evil is a subjective label, one based on personal and societal standards of ethics and morality. Since there is no fixed standard, I would recommend one be very careful with how you toss the term around.

That all said, the Britannian Empire is obviously not a land of equality and fairness. That I do not dispute in the least. The issue that I always found implausible was the sheer pettiness and stupidity of the conduct of the Britannian authorities in the anime. It was very much an oversimplification of how things work in the real world. The anime intended to portray Britannia as loathsome and the bad guys, but they in a lot of ways went way overboard and undermined the plausibility of Britannia actually being a credible threat, or even a major political power, because imperial characters could be counted on to almost always be 'evil' for the sake of being evil, not in pursuance of an actual goal.

Successful autocratic governments remain in power not by constantly grinding its subjects into the ground and gloating about it, that is how you trigger a rebellion, as seen in the Middle East right now. And all the social unrest in various other nations that eventually led to greater citizen participation in government and codified rights. Successful autocratic governments, governments that seek to limit mass participation in governance, maintain power by offering their subjects at least a passable standard of living and basically lie through its teeth with propaganda in order to bolster popular support for the regime. See Nazi Germany, the USSR (an argument could be made about Russia now), PR China, and so forth. None of those governments are by any modern standard ethical, some were downright nasty in its treatment of some of its subjects/citizens. But by and large they maintained their authority through more than just brute strength, they did so with a significant degree of guile. The only times Britannia displayed that degree of guile in the anime was when Schneizel was up to something, and he was by far the most successful of Lelouch's opponents in the anime. Charles seemed more like a rambling and senile old man in his appearances and the various policies if taken at face value also lack the finesse needed to maintain such a large empire. If nothing else, maintaining a large enough military to keep a stranglehold on restive areas is expensive. More productive to integrate and turn those areas into economically developed parts of the empire.

As for Euphemia's massacre, it's problematic on many levels. If nothing else the soldiers accompanying her should have realized immediately that something was very off considering the princess' previous remarks. Combined with the fact that she had just had a private one-on-one meeting with Zero, a known insurgent, and people's suspicions should have been raised. Even if the entire thing was intended to be a trap, at the very least those immediately deployed with the princess should have expected to been briefed beforehand and told to keep their mouths shut until the time was right. Without that briefing the reaction of those stationed by the princess should have been at minimum mass confusion. At the very least someone should have thought to get in contact with Cornelia to see what the hell was going on and possibly countermand the order. The manner in which the massacre was portrayed literally required so many people burying their heads in the sand that it has serious problems of plausibility.


	81. Chapter 80

Snippet spoiler: I think she deserves her own happy end

 _Prior to the events that led up to the Second Pacific War relations between Japan and the Holy Britannian Empire were very cordial. Though Britannia was responsible for forcing the Japanese shogunate to open up the country, the Empire also played a significant role in the modernization of Japan by providing it with technology and expertise. In point of fact the origins of the Britannian Concession in Tokyo can be traced to the area set aside by the Japanese government to host the many Britannian experts that came to live and teach in the country. Ultimately the two nations established close economic ties and Britannia was one of the first nations outside of Japan to recognize the strategic value of sakuradite. There was even considerable intermarriage between Japanese and Britannians, with two of the most prominent products of such unions being the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki, the Knight of One, and Dame Mikasa Ackermann, the Knight of Seven._

 _After Japan's transition from a strong military dominated central government to a nominally democratic republic, relations with the Empire cooled as the new government sought to chart an independent path outside of Britannia's sphere of influence. While the Britannians were somewhat unsettled by their ally's direction economic ties between the two nations meant neither wished for an outright breakdown of relations. For the Japanese this meant walking a tightrope to avoid estranging its old Britannian allies while at the same time courting other powers such as the Chinese Federation and the European Union in a delicate balance to establish itself as an independent power._

 _All this would change with the premiership of Genbu Kururugi, the last prime minister of Japan. Upon assuming office Prime Minister Kururugi adopted a much more assertive posture in international affairs, joining with the other powers in applying economic pressure in an attempt to force Britannia to curtail its imperial ambitions. The Britannian government was furious at what it regarded as a betrayal by a nation it once thought to be one of its closest allies. The last straw came when Japan announced a sakuradite embargo on the Empire. Shortly thereafter Britannia mobilized and invaded, swiftly conquering Japan in only a month and incorporating it into its growing Empire and setting the stage for an even greater conflict seven years later._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 80

Ad utrumque paratus

Lelouch washed his face, finally having finished throwing up in the bathroom. It was a purely reflexive reaction and he was still a bit nauseous, not least because of the dull pain gnawing away at his head. Opening up the medicine cabinet he grabbed some aspirin and popped them into his mouth. Taking medicine on an empty stomach generally was not optimal but he did not quite care at this point. After giving his reflection a once-over Lelouch smoothed out his clothing and walked back into the living room where the others were waiting. Charlotte was immediately at his side.

"How are you feeling?"

"Head's still aching," Lelouch responded before his face twisted into a ferocious scowl. "That bitch lied to me."

Charlotte cupped Lelouch's face in her hands. "Keep it together Lulu, alright?"

Lelouch regarded his lover, his face relaxing and calming. She rarely used his nickname when they were not alone and it was an indication of just how worried she was. Taking her hand he gave Charlotte a reassuring smile.

"I will be fine."

Charlotte nodded, not pushing the matter and stepped back. Lelouch took a deep breath before continuing.

"What happened after I went to puke my guts?"

No one cracked even a slight smile at that.

"The princess talked a little bit about what she had been up to," Reiner said. "Apparently she's been living under an assumed name with the Ashford family in Japan."

Lelouch's eyes narrowed. "I see."

The other three exchanged looks before Charlotte spoke up.

"There's more, Lelouch. She, said that she was looking forward to seeing all members of her family again."

The frown was back.

"We think she knows that you're alive, Lelouch," Charlotte continued softly. "And that this entire thing is intended to, well, try to reach out to you."

The headache went from a dull pain to a sharp one and Lelouch massaged his forehead.

"Interesting," he said. "This suggests that Euphemia at least also knows I am alive, and if she knows then Cornelia and Schneizel almost certainly are also aware." He pursed his lips. "This could well be problematic."

"Sure as hell ain't gonna make our mission any easier," Reiner said.

"What do you intend to do?" Charlotte asked.

Lelouch was severely tempted to pop a few more pills but he needed to avoid becoming too reliant on them. Might be a bit late for that though considering how many years he had needed them to deal with the side effects of his geass.

"The mission remains unchanged," he finally said. "That Nunnally is still alive simply means that she is another potential host, and therefore must also be neutralized."

Lelouch's vision began to blur and the young man grabbed hold of the sofa to avoid keeling over. Laura was immediately before him, taking hold of his head and meeting his gaze.

"Lelouch. Focus on me."

The contact was out and Lelouch's eyes naturally locked onto the bright yellow iris in Laura's left eye. After a minute or so the pain receded and Lelouch could breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Laura," he said, steady on his feet once more.

Laura nodded, putting her contact back in. It was a most useful skill she possessed, the ability to perfectly mimic something also granted her the power to produce its exact opposite. As such whenever Lelouch's geass acted up Laura was able to shut it down to keep him from suffering an outright stroke, another reason why he was still alive after all these years.

"But how probable is it that she is a host?" Charlotte said once she was certain Lelouch had stabilized. "If she has spent all this time in hiding in Japan, would she not have been cut off?"

Lelouch's eyes glazed over for a brief moment but they sharpened just as quickly. "Supposition. There is no telling what she has actually been doing in Japan. And I cannot risk coming into personal contact with any of them, not unless the environment where we are meeting has been configured to take both of us out if I do end up running into the host."

Charlotte grimaced. Lelouch might be successfully keeping his emotional turmoil from boiling over again right now but in the long term that was still going to cause him a lot of suffering. Right now however he could not risk being compromised by them, he needed to be clearheaded and absolutely ruthless in pursuance of his goals.

"Regardless we cannot take the risk. The only thing we know is that members of my family are engaged in a conspiracy to initiate Ragnarök. Considering what is at stake is the survival of mankind, I will not let sentiment get in the way of carrying out my duty, nor should any of you."

Easier said than done, though Lelouch did have a point. That was what they had all signed up for after all, to try to make a difference to the world. They might have been orphans or did not have anyone else that cared about them, but they did have each other, and that was just enough for them to not want to see the world go up in flames, at least not any more than it already was. And if sacrifices were demanded of them, they would make it. Lelouch after all was already making one of the most painful ones.

"This does however make things a tad more complicated," Lelouch continued thoughtfully. "Now there are two confirmed targets away from the homelands. The moment we move against the rest of the imperial family the security around those two will become nil impenetrable. Hmm."

And he was back to viewing the matter from a tactical perspective.

"Might there be a way to force them to return?" Laura asked.

"The only way that'd happen is if Japan was sufficiently threatened that their own personal safety was also in question," Lelouch said. And blinked. "Hmm."

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "Some genius idea strike you?"

"Well, hardly genius," Lelouch said. "But Euphemia is in Japan to act as its viceroy. There are plenty of situations which would see that role obviated. Regrettably doing so is beyond the limits of my abilities, at least while I remain here in the homelands."

"Not to mention last time you tried it didn't exactly go to plan," Reiner remarked.

"Indeed," Lelouch said with a shrug. "Perhaps I should pass on some word to the marshal, see if he can prod the Russians into making a more aggressive play for Japan."

"So for now we leave the matter of your sister be?" Charlotte said.

A nod. "We have more pressing matters to attend to. With the Directorate having revealed itself, we finally have the opportunity to strike at its assets, and I for one have no intention of wasting it."

And just like that Lelouch was able to push aside thoughts of his sister. It was not an ability Charlotte was especially happy about but the young man needed to be able to compartmentalize to avoid losing his mind. It pained the French girl to see her lover bury his emotions like that, but the world needed Lelouch to keep functioning for just a bit longer. After the threat was removed, he could cry and mourn, and she would be there lend her shoulder, and try to pick up the pieces of his shattered heart.

* * *

"Well Hel," Jean said somewhat breathlessly as he turned down the radio's volume. And then looked over at Cole. "You know about this?"

Cole sighed and set aside his pen. "Whether I know or not is not something I'm going to be telling you, Jean."

"I suppose," the young man said. For all his enthusiasm and humor he did have some sense. "But have you ever actually met her?"

"Sure," Cole said, deciding that at least was harmless. "Abigail, that was her alias, often dropped by the culinary club with her friends to try out new recipes."

"Well, first the Princess Euphemia and now the Princess Nunnally. Or is it the other way around?"

Cole raised an eyebrow. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Well just that you've been hobnobbing with not just nobility but the imperial family. And here you are in the dirt end of nowhere fighting a bunch of insurgents."

Cole snorted. "I might have been hobnobbing with nobility, but the Empire is at war, and it called me to serve."

"Yeah? Well how many nobles or rich snobs would have tried to duck out of that?" Jean said, kicking back. "You seen some of those pricks from X Corps? The ones that came with General Gregor from Area 10?"

A sigh sounded. "Yes, I have. And feet off the table."

Jean put them back on the ground. "Bastards think the war's over once they pump lead into all of the people here and they've gone home, cept we're the guys that have to clean up after their mess."

That was unfortunately very true. The Britannian divisions that had spent the first few months of the war fighting the Chinese were more than a bit twitchy, to say the least. At this point quite a few of their soldiers did not hesitate at all to shoot on sight any Filipinos that they found suspicious, suspicious being anything that spooked them even a little bit. Little wonder large parts of the Filipino population were responding in kind, which made the fighting even more of a slog for the Britannian forces.

"Shame we don't have someone like the Princess Euphemia here as viceroy," Jean said. "That would have made life so much easier."

"The situation in Area 12 is a tad different than Japan," Cole pointed out. "Still, you're probably right."

The door opened with a loud thud. Whomever had come in had not been shy about how hard they pushed. As the two men looked over both immediately shot up and straightened.

"Captain Sulla," Cole said as he came to attention.

"As you were Kraft," Jenit Sulla, division quartermaster, said. "We just got orders from on high, three companies are going to be redeployed out into the countryside for pacification purposes." A stack of papers landed in front of Cole on the table. "I'm sending you with one of them to act as their supply officer."

"Yes ma'am," Cole said.

"Deployment is in two days, if you need anything, you have my authorization to draft a rifle squad to act as muscle." The captain's eyes wandered over to Jean who immediately began wishing he had not dropped by to hang out with Cole this evening. "If something comes up, come to me first before you pull in more manpower."

"Yes ma'am," Cole said again.

With that Sulla was out the door and the two let out sighs of relief once they were certain she was out of earshot.

"Wonder what this is all about," Jean remarked.

Cole began leafing through the packet of papers. "Hel if I know, but it looks like this is going to be a long deployment. I'm seeing stuff for tents, food, and construction supply requisitions."

"Ouch," Jean said. "Well, I'm sure it won't be that long before the engineering crops gets the water running wherever you're getting billeted."

"Laugh it up," Cole said, "your company is the one I'm being sent out with."

"What!?" Jean slapped his forehead. "Ah what the Hel, we just got back from patrol!"

"And you have two whole days to resupply and reequip," Cole said dryly. "We best get to it."

Jean growled. "This war bloody sucks. Goddamn Europeans and Chinks, thanks a lot for starting it."

Cole chuckled. True for all the Empire's aggressive imperialism it had not been the one to fire the first shot in this conflict. It would however emphatically be the one that finished this war.

* * *

The palace district in Pendragon was so named for being not only where the imperial palace itself was located but also for the myriad of other massive estates that served as residences and even workplaces for the more prominent imperial scions. As such it was not uncommon to be able to catch glimpses of the various princes, princesses, and their mothers, even ones that did not usually reside in the capital.

"Brother!"

Schneizel turned about to see Maribelle mel Britannia, Fourth Princess of the Realm, rapidly approaching. He smiled and waited for her. Unlike the majority of their family Maribelle did not reside in Pendragon, instead maintaining her residence in the province of Columbia on the Pacific coast. She often visited however, both for official occasions and personal matters. Today was a mixture of both.

"Maribelle. It is good to see you."

"It is good to see you as well," Maribelle said, flashing a smile of her own before her expression flattened. "You knew about Nunnally, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did," Schneizel admitted sanguinely. "But this is not the place to talk about it, come along."

Maribelle sniffed even as she followed. "Come along? I am hardly a child, brother."

"But you will always be my adorable little sister," Schneizel said, eliciting an amused chuckle from Maribelle.

The two, trailed by their respective armsmen of course, proceeded down the hall to the large sitting room that was already occupied by several other members of their family. After the usual exchange of greetings, and a few hugs where Maribelle was concerned, all of them settled into their seats.

"All of you know why this meeting was called," Schneizel began, "and yes, I can confirm that Nunnally has indeed come back to us."

"How long have you and Cornelia known about this?" Guinevere asked.

Quite a few people tended to underestimate the First Princess of the Realm Guinevere de Britannia, regarding her as a vain woman whose only interests were in the social functions of the court. She was however still a child of the Emperor Charles and played a pivotal part in the alliance at court centered around Schneizel.

"Since my visit to Area 11," Schneizel answered. "That was when Euphie informed both myself and Cornelia of Nunnally's survival."

That caused a few gazes to shift over to Cornelia.

"But Cornelia had been in Area 11 for several months already by that point," Odysseus said. "When did Euphie discover Nunnally?"

"During the Lake Kawaguchi incident," Cornelia took that one. "The Blood of the Samurai tried to threaten Nunnally to coerce Euphie to record a statement for them." The woman's face hardened. "They were made to pay for that transgression."

All the others knew exactly what Cornelia meant.

"I don't like this," Guinevere said. "Why was Nunnally's survival kept from us? From you as well for that matter?"

Schneizel pursed his lips. "The, situation, is complex, and clarifying it is why all of you were summoned."

"Then by all means," said Odysseus.

The younger man took a deep breath. This was not going to be easy.

"Nunnally is not the only one that survived the debacle of the Empress Marianne's murder," he said. "Lelouch's death was also faked."

That really got their attention as a silence fell upon the room. Maribelle was first to break it.

"And yet that bit of news has not been publicized," she stated.

Schneizel nodded. "Indeed not, and it is because Lelouch has set himself against Britannia, and against all of us. He was the one that orchestrated the Tokyo Uprising and the direct attempt on Euphemia's life, and we have reason to believe that he is in the homelands attempting to do much the same again, only on a much larger scale."

The silence this time lasted much longer. In fact Schneizel could feel a palpable tension building in the room, not just from his siblings but also the armsmen that had taken position along the walls. Over the course of their service they would have heard many secrets but now here was one that was a direct threat to their charges.

"Why."

It was a succinct and direct question that Maribelle uttered, one that all of them in truth wanted an answer to.

"We do not know," Schneizel stated as plainly. "While it would not be surprising if he held some degree of resentment over what happened to his mother and sister, the lengths that he seems willing to go to now seems disproportionate to even that."

"Then does that mean Lelouch was also unaware that Nunnally had survived?" Guinevere asked.

"Correct," Schneizel answered. "And yes, she has publicly revealed herself in the hope that knowledge of her survival might convince Lelouch to, reconsider his course of action."

His siblings spent a moment or so mulling over those words.

"That was a very brave thing to do," Odysseus said for all of them.

"And extremely dangerous at that," Cornelia said somewhat sullenly. "If Lelouch is really off the deep end and ignores Nunnally's gesture, she might well have just endangered herself for nothing."

"It was her decision," Schneizel said gently. "All we can do is try to support her in it."

Cornelia grimaced but said nothing further.

"What was father's reaction?" Odysseus asked.

Schneizel half-shrugged. "He acknowledged Nunnally and even added her back into the imperio successuros designare. Beyond that he does not seem to have any further interest in her." The prince cracked a slight smile. "Though he seemed mildly impressed she was willing to accept the risks that accompanied her public reveal."

That was probably the best they could have hoped for from a father as capricious as Charles.

"Then Nunnally is to remain in Area 11?" Maribelle asked.

Her brother nodded. "For the time being. Euphie is in the process of substantially increasing the security that protects Nunnally. I believe General Arseid will be looking to dispatch a few more armsmen to assist with that. If any of you would be willing to release some of your armsmen for detached duty, that would be appreciated."

"Of course," Odysseus said while Guinevere and Maribelle both nodded.

"This actually sounds like an opportune time for me to pay Euphie a visit," Maribelle said. "I can also help reassure Nunnally that we have not forgotten her."

The others smiled at that.

"That will likely help keep her spirits up," Schneizel said, "especially if Lelouch does not respond to her overture."

"How likely do you believe Lelouch will respond?" Guinevere asked.

Schneizel grimaced. "Considering the degree of ruthlessness he has been prepared to resort to, in all honesty the chances presently look very slim."

"About what I thought," Guinevere said with a sigh. "What could have driven him to such extremes?"

"At this point does it matter?" said Cornelia. "Lelouch seeks our deaths. If we find him, the only allowance I am prepared to extend is to offer him one chance to surrender. If he refuses, then I will extend to him no more mercy than he showed when he attacked Ashford Academy or the Keio hospital."

"I do not like this," Maribelle said. "We'd be killing one of our own. Isn't stopping this sort of thing why we all came together in the first place?"

Schneizel sighed. For the first time in a long time the prince felt genuinely weary. What Maribelle said was true, the brothers and sisters of his in this room were all here because they were sick of the blood that had been shed over the years, their blood in many respects. The Empress Marianne was not the only victim of the internecine infighting that was court politics after all.

"We have thus far managed to stem the bloodshed, to keep any more or our brothers and sisters from perishing," Schneizel began, "until Clovis fell in Area 11. We were lucky, and we became complacent. We thought we had ended all threats from within, but we forgot that there yet remained threats from without. And now a threat from beyond has appeared, one which shares our blood. If the only way to end it is to shed that blood, then so be it. I will mourn doing so, but to mourn, I must still breathe, and I would that all of you still be with me to share those tears."

* * *

The Milly Ashford that sat in Euphemia's office this day was looking very tired. The princess could hardly blame her considering the sheer upheaval that the older girl's world was undergoing.

"How are you doing Milly?" Euphemia asked.

"I feel like crap," Milly stated bluntly. "In fact this entire week has been utter crap."

The princess smiled gently. That was putting it mildly considering what Milly had learned over the past few days.

"Is the media still camping out outside the Ashford grounds?"

"No, I think they got the hint after the army deployed an entire armed company to keep them out," Milly said. "Though I can't say that helped with the general mood on campus."

"It is only meant as a temporary measure," Euphemia said. "They will be withdrawn tomorrow."

Milly sighed, sinking into her chair. "This is not how I wanted Nunnally's debut to happen."

"I as well," Euphemia said, "but she can be quite stubborn. And compassionate."

"She's still lonely," Milly said unhappily. "I don't blame her, but she still misses the rest of her family." The older girl regarded Euphemia somewhat accusingly. "The moment you told her about Lelouch she was going to want to do _something_ to try to reach out to him."

"Yes, I suppose that was inevitable," Euphemia said. "Nevertheless, I think all of us were tired of all the secrets floating about. Was it not you that once suggested I was keeping secrets instinctively?"

"I knew that was going to come and bite me in the ass," Milly said sullenly before sighing again. "And I could have done without knowing about this, Directorate. It's pretty obvious they don't have any qualms about killing anyone that gets in their way."

"Indications are they already have me in their sights," Euphemia said. "And by proxy anyone that is close to me. Whether you knew or that was not going to change that."

"Except maybe losing less sleep," Milly grumbled. "So, what now? Nunnally gets her own security screen, you're going to upgrade Ashford Academy's security systems, and we just hope that it's enough to keep the Directorate from succeeding in any further attempts on us?"

"We will perform the security improvements as previously discussed," Euphemia said, "but I do not intend to sit purely on the defensive. And in some respects the Directorate has its own problems to deal with right now."

Milly cocked her head aside. "What do you mean?"

"Lelouch is in the homelands now," Euphemia explained, "and all indications are he is wrecking a substantial amount of havoc. Some of it will almost certainly be aimed at the Directorate."

"Ah," Milly said with a nod, though she did not sound exactly happy with the situation either. "But that's Lelouch, not you or your other siblings."

"True," Euphemia agreed. "But for now what we intend to do will remain a secret, for operational reasons."

"That's fair," Milly allowed. And then chuckled. "Mikasa looked somewhat put out when this whole thing was dropped on her."

"The part about Nunnally wanting her as an armsman?" Euphemia allowed a chuckle of her own. "Well Private Ackermann has not actually sworn herself to me, so there is no problem with her swearing herself to Nunnally. And for the time being she would still report through the same chain of command."

Though it would not be Private Ackermann for much longer. Considering how competently Mikasa had performed thus far the young woman was well overdue for a promotion.

"She and Nunnally do get along quite well," Milly agreed before flashing an almost mischievous smile. "So, are you going to try to poach Sayoko as well?"

"A ninja maid would probably complement Nunnally's security quite well," Euphemia said with almost equal lightness.

Milly cocked her head aside. "Ninja maid?"

"It's what Sharon describes her occupation as," Euphemia explained.

Milly snorted. "I think Sharon herself probably also qualifies for that title." The young woman allowed herself to relax somewhat. "So, you said that your other siblings will be sending some reinforcements as well?"

Euphemia nodded. "Two squads composed of armsmen from Odysseus, Schneizel, Guinevere, Cornelia, and Maribelle will be coming to help supplement the security for Nunnally. And Maribelle herself will be accompanying them for a visit."

"Maribelle," Milly said thoughtfully. "I don't really remember her very well."

"Maribelle's primary residence is on the west coast," Euphemia said. "You may have met her a few times as a child, but that would have been about it." And more softly. "Her mother and sister were also felled in the court infighting."

Milly's eyes narrowed. "I see. Was it also the Directorate?"

Euphemia shook her head. "No, though we believe the assassination was, inspired, by the one the Directorate carried out against the Empress Marianne."

"Do I want to know who did it?"

Euphemia pursed her lips. Technically Milly already knew way too much for this to put her in any further danger. Nevertheless drawing the older girl too deep in still carried risks for both of them.

"I will answer," Euphemia finally said, "if you ask."

In other words Milly had to make a conscious decision to go deeper herself. After a moment she shook her head.

"I think for now I prefer to deal with the secrets I already know and not get buried under even more."

A measured decision. Euphemia nodded. In the future it was almost certain that Milly would become ever more entangled with the court, but for now she would remain still at least somewhat detached. For now.

* * *

"Wait, why is a captain coming out with us?" Jean said.

"Eyes on the road," Cole chided. "And apparently the outpost your platoon will be responsible for is going to be a supply depot, so she's here to make sure everything is neat and tidy before handing it off to, me."

The two were presently in a Humvee escorting a supply convoy headed towards where Jean's platoon would be posted. They were not the only escort of course, and the two were also not the only ones in the vehicle, the last passenger with them up in the turret however keeping a lookout.

"Okay, so why is she handing off responsibility for a supply depot to a junior grade lieutenant like you?"

Cole snorted. "You were the one that said that if I did my job well I'd be on the fast track for promotion. Well apparently I'm doing it well enough that they've decided to dump more responsibility on me."

"Well I suppose babysitting a depot is better than getting my ass shot at out-"

"All units stop," the command sounded over the radio.

The brake lights on the truck in front of them flashed and Jean duly hit his as well. The Humvee ground to a halt and the two were left just sitting there.

"What's going on?" Jean wondered aloud.

"I have no idea," Cole said, instinctively reaching for his rifle.

His friend did likewise, and then the radio crackled.

"All units assume defensive positions," Captain Sulla's voice sounded.

"Might have spoke too soon," Jean muttered as the two of them hopped out.

The turret atop the Humvee began swinging about as the gunner scanned their surroundings.

"I don't see anyone," Cole said.

"Yeah well when's that ever guaranteed anything?"

The two advanced towards the front of the convoy, just in time to see Sergeant Cardemonde and another soldier set out towards the bend in the road. Cole walked over to his own superior and not the lieutenant that was commanding the platoon he was traveling with.

"Is something up ma'am?"

Sulla looked over at Cole and nodded. "The Filipinos have been ambushing supply convoys at bends like the one ahead. Air patrols supposedly already swept the place and didn't find anything, but better safe than sorry. And I have no intention of getting caught in a crossfire like that."

A prudent measure, Cole agreed. He tightened his grip on his own weapon. Now came the hardest part, waiting. Instead of going along the road the sergeant and the other soldier climbed the small hill that blocked their view. They carefully peeked out and a few moments later the command channel, which Cole by virtue of his rank was patched into, crackled.

"Got boogies on the other side sir," the sergeant's voice sounded. "Three groups, one's got what looks like a machinegun set up, others are positioned-"

A shot rang out and Cole immediately toggled the safety on his rifle.

"Sergeant!?"

"We're all right," Cardemonde responded even as he and the other ducked down. "They spotted us!" He peeked up again before quickly dropping down. "Boogies incoming. They know the ambush is a bust!"

"Defensive positions now!" the lieutenant shouted.

Cole moved to obey but a hand grabbed hold of his shoulder.

"Lieutenant, with me," Sulla ordered.

Reluctantly Cole followed as the captain headed back towards the trucks.

"Get these vehicles cleared out of the way," she ordered. "We're going to need the Humvees and their guns. And if things go really south, get them out of here and back to base."

"Yes ma'am!" Cole switched channels on his own radio. "Trucks pull over off the road to the left now!"

The engines rumbled as the vehicles began to obey. Once they were off the Humvees that had been intermixed with them rolled forward even as the ones up front swerved about to form a blockade. Then the thud of a mortar sounded, followed shortly by the thundering of its hit. Cole ignored the noise as best he could, issuing more orders to get the trucks turned around and ready to flee if the fighting turned against them. From the radio chatter on the command channel however it seemed the platoon had the situation well in hand.

Cole blinked. One moment he was on his feet shouting orders, the next he was spitting out dirt as he lay face flat on the ground. His ears were still ringing and his body felt sluggish as he tried to pick himself up. Another soldier ran over to him, Cole just barely recognizing the other man as Jean, and helped pull him up. Jean was definitely yelling something but Cole could not make out any sounds, just the motion of his lips moving. Despite being on his feet he was hardly steady and Cole nearly toppled over again before Jean grabbed hold of him.

"-HEAR ME!?"

Cole blinked as the ringing slowly receded and he began hearing the cries and shots sounding all about him.

"Jean? The Hel happened?" he managed.

The other man began pulling him along. "Bastards had a mortar, took out one of the trucks. We're damn lucky it wasn't one of the ammo trucks!"

Cole finally managed to get his footing firm again. "Need to get the trucks out of here."

"That's what we're doing," Jean said.

Cole fumbled for his radio and was glad to find it had survived his little mishap. "All trucks, withdraw from this position now. Rear Humvee, take point and watch for any further ambushes."

"Lieutenant Kraft, you still with us?" Sulla's voice sounded.

"Yes ma'am," Cole managed somewhat shakily.

"Take command of the trucks, get them at least ten miles away from here. I'm sending two more Humvees to provide escort."

"Understood ma'am," Cole said as Jean finally got him to the waiting Humvee and shoved him in.

"Get going!" Jean shouted.

Cole reached out, grabbing his friend's shoulder. The two's gaze met.

"Drinks are on me back at base," Cole said.

Jean grinned. "I'll hold you too it!"

Cole let go and Jean slammed the door shut. As the Humvee rolled out the young man gave it one last passing glance before rushing off to join his comrades. The whistling sound of another mortar could soon be heard.

* * *

The Executive Council of the European Union was composed of a representative from each of the member nations with a rotating presidency and portfolios between its members. In theory it was supposed to be a smaller, nimbler decision making body than the larger and more fractious European Parliament. In practice it was not uncommon for the jockeying of national interests to spill over into the Council as well, though a competent and powerful council president could usually keep his colleagues in line. At present the presidency was held by the Luxembourg commissioner, though for today's meeting Prime Minister Pierre Werner himself was present. For that matter several other heads of states and government were also here seeing as the session was intended to serve as a briefing on the current state of the war against Britannia, and also to determine how the EU would proceed with its prosecution.

The sound of a cane striking the floor alerted the other occupants to the arrival of their guest, one Field Marshal Alphonse Pierre Juin. Alphonse nodded graciously to the assembled commissioners before taking a seat at the desk facing them. In deference to his advanced age none interpreted the motion as an act of disrespect.

"Marshal Juin," Pierre began, "thank you for taking the time to meet with us today."

"I serve at the pleasure of the council," Alphonse responded. "Any service that I might render, I shall do so wholeheartedly."

Shuffling sounds could be heard in the stony chamber as a few of the commissioners shifted about. The marshal might have served at the pleasure of the council, but the degree of favor with which he was regarded by its members varied considerably, especially as of late.

"We have assembled today to discuss the current state of the conflict with Britannia, as well as determine the best course with which to achieve an end to the fighting," Pierre said. "Marshal, if you would be so kind as to provide us the assessment of the general staff?"

"Certainly, Mr. Prime Minister," Alphonse said. "As you are all well aware, European forces recently liberated the entirety of the Middle East from Britannian occupation. While a significant majority of the Empire's forces were able to evacuate, we were able to capture the theatre commander, Lieutenant-General Olaf Craig. And though the Empire's retreat from the Middle East represents a significant strategic victory, the war itself is far from won."

"Surely the Empire must recognize the strategic intractability of its position?" one of the commissioners spoke up.

Alphonse regarded the man levelly. As expected it was the British representative that had interrupted him, already seeking to push his government's agenda for a quick negotiated end to the war. The British government was facing significant domestic pressure over the conflict and likely feared being voted out if the war dragged on and casualties of their countrymen mounted. Fools, the lot of them.

"There is nothing intractable about the Empire's situation," Alphonse responded, "which I am certain will be clear to all of the honorable representatives once I have finished delivering my briefing."

The British representative cleared his throat to try to hide his embarrassment. "Of course, apologies for interruption, marshal."

Alphonse gave a curt nod before continuing. "While we have seized control of the Middle East, the situation in the region can hardly be termed stable. It had already seen significant fighting during the Empire's initial conquest and combined with our own advances a great deal of destruction was visited upon the land and its people. This has created a pressing humanitarian crisis and the recent fighting has only increased the number of refugees seeking to flee the area."

And the majority of which were trying to reach Europe, Alphonse did not say. That was turning out to be a downright political disaster for quite a few of the eastern European nations, though why they were caught so off guard was a wonder to anyone with half a brain. There had already been a trickle of people seeking to escape the Britannian advance during the Empire's campaign, though that had slowly dried out after the Empire completed its conquest of the Middle East Federation. Of course with the renewed fighting people would once again seek to flee, it hardly mattered to them that the Europeans were technically there to liberate them and eject the Britannians, no sane person wanted to try to scratch out a living in a warzone.

"Our allies the Chinese Federation have also successfully pushed into Britannian territory," Alphonse moved onto the next matter, "seizing control of the island of Sumatra, which should severely constraint Britannia's ability to transfer assets between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. They have however suffered numerous reverses that significantly threatens the entire outcome of the Pacific front. Their entire Philippines campaign has effectively collapsed, with the Britannian Third and Seventh Fleets having successfully defeated the Chinese South Sea Fleet and cutting off their forces on the archipelago. Indications are the majority of the Chinese forces so stranded have surrendered, and what fighting continues is being carried out by small units that have evaded capture and native insurgents, neither of which are a major threat to Britannia's control of the Philippines, especially not with the reinforcements that have been deployed.

"In general the Chinese gains are at present extremely tenuous, and they threaten to unravel completely due to the uprising in India. The Britannian forces that evacuated from the Middle East all landed on the subcontinent and indications are they are actively assisting the Indian rebels in fighting the Chinese forces stationed there. This has forced the Chinese to divert substantial numbers of troops to try to prevent losing India outright, which means that their Indonesian campaign has completely stalled and is in danger of facing a collapse similar to that suffered by their Filipino campaign."

Quite a few commissioners were looking extremely uncomfortable now, the most visible reactions being from the Belgian, Dutch, and Luxembourgian commissioners. The Benelux trio were always sensitive to anything that might reduce their influence in the European community and had not appreciated the manner in which Alphonse and the general staff effectively worked around their EU minders to run the war. The longer the war lasted the more entranced this alternate channel of military coordination would become, which was why they were so receptive of British efforts to draw the Empire into a diplomatic settlement. And why they found so disconcerting the picture Alphonse was now painting. Politicians often found themselves at a loss when reality did not match their own personal fantasies.

"Reports from our intelligence sources indicate that the Empire has finished mobilizing the first wave of its recruits," Alphonse went on. "Rough estimates are that Britannia now has three million soldiers, numbering some one hundred fifty divisions, ready for overseas deployment."

The marshal fell silent for a moment, letting that number sink in. The European Union had fully mobilized only half that number for this conflict, though it did have a substantial body of troops already active before the war broke out. Unfortunately a significant percentage of those troops were required for already existing commitments, mostly in Africa to maintain control and order in the European colonies on that continent.

"The Empire has already begun transferring them across the Pacific," Alphonse continued, "with major buildup of troops occurring in Australia, Borneo, Java, and Japan. What is more, our intelligence indicate that Britannia has elected to _not_ reactivate any ships of its reserve, instead reconstituting their Sixth Fleet with all new-build hulls. The first ships of this new series already appear to be working up."

It was almost frightening the speed with which Britannia had mobilized, Alphonse admitted privately. He had known that the Empire possessed an immense industrial capacity, a capacity that if turned to war would make Britannia a formidable adversary. Yet not even he had suspected that the Empire would be able to convert and retool so quickly, to already be churning out not just guns and tanks but even larger and more complex weapons of war like jets and warships already in measurable numbers. The EU was most definitely in for the fight of its life, and they only stood a chance if he could get these shortsighted fools to realize this.

"That concludes my precis of the current situation," Alphonse finished.

More muffled coughs and clearing of throats sounded.

"Thank you for the succinct update, marshal," Pierre said. "The developments are both promising, and fraught."

The prime minister had a skill for succinctness himself it seemed.

"Nevertheless we all have a duty to see to," Pierre continued. "The commission will have to examine all avenues to bring this conflict to an end."

Alphonse frowned. "Your pardon, Mr. Prime Minister, but there is only one way this can end, by defeating the Holy Britannian Empire militarily and forcing them to concede to our terms. And we are far from that point, especially with the successes the Empire has achieved against the Chinese Federation."

"On the contrary," the British commissioner said. "At this point the Empire has suffered as many reverses as it has made gains. With the loss of its Middle East territories Britannia can no longer threaten Europe, and while the Chinese are facing difficulties, the Empire's position against them is not so strong that the Chinese are at risk of falling."

The frown turned into an outright scowl.

"Gentlemen," Alphonse said, trying to keep his voice level. "Perhaps I was not entirely clear in my precis, but the Chinese Federation is indeed at substantial risk of suffering major territorial losses to Britannia in the coming months. The Empire seems determined to prosecute the war to the fullest of its ability, and it has set its sights on the Chinese Federation, and very possibly the EU's far east territories," the marshal glanced over at the Russian commissioner, "with its troop buildups. If the EU does not provide substantial support to the Chinese, including assisting them in putting down this rebellion in India, then by this time next year Britannia could very well be dictating terms in the Vermillion Palace."

That last bit caused quite a few commissioners to flinch outright. There was a rank hypocrisy at work here, one that was becoming harder and harder to ignore as time went on. While the EU ostensibly promoted the principles of democracy and freedom, its member nations were also engaged in fairly blatant imperialism in the continent of Africa. The manner in which its colonial subjects were treated varied depending on which European power was in charge, but none of their overseas territories enjoyed things like self-determination and representation. And then there was the manner in which the European governments treated refugees.

These points were not lost upon the more liberal elements of European society, and the numbers that made up those elements was not insubstantial. They could make themselves be heard, very loudly at that, and they would not miss the opportunity that would be EU forces effectively helping a non-European imperial power in putting down a mass uprising. Even if said uprising was being supported by a power the EU was at war with. Politics was never simple and straightforward.

"We shall, take the matter under advisement," Pierre finally said.

Alphonse suppressed a snort. They would be doing much more than that, even if they were kicking and screaming the entire way. If nothing else Britannia would certainly not accede to any terms that would be politically palpable to the EU. The sooner a few of the more naïve governments got that through their head the better their chances of victory, or at least survival.

End of Chapter 80

I'm pretty sure at this point some of you are going to be actively wishing for Lelouch to die. Can't say I blame any of you, but there's more to come so hold off on the pitchforks and torches for now.

I think we're ready to shift back to Kallen and Euphie's arc. We're at this point actually pushing into mid-January. The last arc actually went on longer than I was expecting, but it was all necessary to set things up for what happens next. I'll be frank, the next section will likely be the most, controversial, of this story, due to how unconventional it'll get. For the most part I've tried to keep to a very strict and consistent set of rules to make the story realistic. What comes next is going to feel like it's violating those rules because I'm about to do something with the geass, code, and etc. We'll see if I can pull it off.

I am not what you would call a Eurosceptic. I actually believe that the ideal the EU aspires to is admirable and, in the long term, even necessary. That being said, the way the European governments have gone about with the European project has got to be the most tone deaf and convoluted approach possible, and the recent fractures in the EU institutions shows.

I'm not going to talk too much about Europe versus Britannia, just going to point out that Britannia's industrial capacity easily eclipses that of Europe, including Russia. If the Empire manages to gain a foothold in or near mainland Europe, the EU is screwed, and both sides know it.

I've said about all I care to at this moment about the show's inconsistencies with respect to Britannian society. Everything that's been brought up has been addressed in previous author notes. If there is a recurring them to those notes, it's that the anime did not show near enough background to actually fill in the details of how Britannia actually worked, and every inference or supposition viewers need to make to make sense of the Code Geass world is indicative of a hole in the world building. I've also said what I care to about the level of technology as well, which basically boils down to room temperature superconductor, and I'm leaving it at that.

Code Geass as a story is, difficult to recommend. You really have to ignore a lot of holes in the backstory to be able to enjoy it, and you kind of have to really ignore the idiot ball being passed around in large chunks of R2 to be able to, well, accept the way the story develops and concludes. The premise showed a great deal of promise, and many of the characters in the R1 season were genuinely interesting and even likeable. That at least is something one can enjoy. Otherwise, well, you can be like me, and just treat Code Geass as a playground in which to carve your own mark into.

I generally am not terribly responsive to private messages, insomuch as I very rarely respond directly to them even if I act upon their content. If you have a question you have a better chance of it getting answered if it's left in the reviews, as I tend to post answers in my author notes. As for where I studied, all I'm prepared to say is that I went to a respected public university in the American Midwest. Beyond that, I intend to keep my fanfic writing life separate from my RL.


	82. Chapter 81

_The First Pacific War was a conflict starting in 1932 and lasting two years between the then Empire of Japan, the Chinese Federation, and the European Union as represented by the Russian Federation. Causes for the war can be traced to the domestic policies of the Japanese government, attempting to subdue domestic strife resulting from the effects of the Great Depression that was sweeping the world. The Japanese government determined that a short and victorious war conquering the Korean Peninsula would help it shore up domestic support and in the long term provide Japan with more land and resources to exploit, a not small consideration for an island nation. The Kingdom of Korea was then a nominally independent nation, albeit a client state of the Chinese Federation. Despite the seeming disparity in size, the Japanese military was certain that its greater technological advantage would see it able to fend off the Chinese and force a negotiated settlement favorable to Japan._

 _While the Japanese saw considerable success in the first year of the conflict, decisively defeating the poorly equipped Korean forces and even routing the Chinese reinforcements that came to Korea's defense, it was the entry of the Russian Federation that saw the tide turned against Japan. The European Union had reacted with alarm at the sudden aggressiveness of Japan, then a firm ally of the Holy Britannian Empire, and feared that this was merely a prelude to direct Britannian aggression. While the EU did not wish to intervene as a united front, it offered its support and blessing to the Russian Federation when it declared that it too would seek to check Japanese expansion. With the arrival of Russian forces on the Korean Peninsula the Japanese army found itself facing one of the most powerful and modern armies in the world at the time and was swiftly crushed. The defeat saw massive domestic protests on the home islands which eventually toppled the military dominated government, which quickly sued for peace. Japan was forced to pay an indemnity but further concessions were avoided thanks to Britannian diplomatic intervention, which warned that any attempt to further weaken Japan would be met with reprisals from the Holy Britannian Empire._

 _After the war the Kingdom of Korea was effectively dismantled and incorporated directly into the Chinese Federation. Japan's government was also significantly reorganized, with several prominent noble families stepping forward and seizing control. While Japan nominally became a more democratic nation, it was still a managed democracy with members of the Six Houses of Kyoto effectively dominating by placing their members in key positions. Ironically despite the circumstances of the war and its aftermath Japanese foreign policy would slowly turn away from Britannia and it would seek to establish better relations with the nations it had fought. This course of action would eventually lead to the Second Pacific War._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 81

Familia supra nihil

Generally the only people that wore glasses did so to correct for a deficiency in their vision. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Kallen's sight, in point of fact it could be said to be too sharp. The young woman really had been abusing her geass too much in the past, relying on it like a clutch. Now that she could not use it at will, doing so too often could see her suffer a genuinely fatal stroke after all, she needed to relearn how to fight with merely mortal senses. The wooden sword landed a solid blow on her shoulder and Kallen cried out in pain. That was proving a bit harder than she originally thought.

"Maintain her guard Kouzuki," Tohdoh admonished as he delivered another strike.

This time Kallen actually managed to block it, not that it did any good as Tohdoh let his sword bounce and then slid it under Kallen's sword with frightening speed. Kallen brought her own blade crashing down in an attempt to swat it away but a poke in her chest made clear she had reacted too slowly. Kallen managed only a single step back before the force of Tohdoh's thrust sent her toppling onto her ass. It was a good thing they were wearing armor, otherwise that hit might well have seriously bruised her solar plexus.

It was not as if she was not putting up a fight. Even without her geass Kallen was possessed of considerable strength and sharp reflexes. Still there was still a measurable gap in experience, one wherein things that were purely instinctual to Tohdoh was not so for Kallen, and where the resulting infinitesimal difference in timing could result in either victory or different. She was improving however, and Tohdoh was most definitely having to work for his victories, and suffering his own share of losses. It was just that this time he did win.

Kallen picked herself up, taking deep breaths to replenish her burning muscles. She raised her blade.

"Again," she said.

Tohdoh nodded, readying his own blade. Observing all this was the elderly Senba and after making sure both sides were genuinely ready he signaled the start of another bout.

"Begin!"

Both sides immediately went on the attack, an event that in the past would have given Tohdoh the advantage. The man had a better grasp of how to switch instantly between offense and defense and so could parry Kallen's attack much more quickly. Now though the difference was narrower and Kallen let her blade be slapped aside, using the momentum to swing it about into an upward motion, neatly parrying Tohdoh's thrust. Tohdoh took a step back, avoiding the horizontal slash that Kallen executed as a follow up. The young woman was learning, chaining her movements one after another to avoid creating any pauses her openings in her form. He was doing much the same, turning a deflection or parry into a thrust or slash and the two blades danced about each other as their wielders sought an advantage.

Tohdoh drew his sword back, narrowly catching another thrust by Kallen. Her movements were getting faster and he was being forced to rely more and more on instinct to react in time. She was also stopping his attacks more quickly, keeping them from pushing too far into her guard. As a consequence Kallen had more room for maneuver, and to counterattack. Tohdoh's blade was just beginning another thrust, aimed straight at Kallen's chest, when her blade deftly batted his downward before executing the same motion. Tohdoh angled his blade, catching the kissaki of Kallen's with the mune of his own. Before he could respond in kind her bokken was snapping back and a solid whack was aimed at his wrist.

The man retreated, just barely escaping Kallen's reach and moved quickly to sweep her blade aside. It was no longer there however, Kallen also having taken a single step back before with sword raised at her shoulder. Tohdoh knew exactly what was coming. Knew, but his body was just starting to respond when Kallen's blade came crashing down. A loud crack sounded and Tohdoh fell to his knee as the shoulder pad hung from his armor.

"Oh crap!" Kallen exclaimed, dropping her own bokken as she dropped to Tohdoh's side. "Lieutenant-Colonel, are you alright!?"

Tohdoh grunted, massaging his shoulder. "The armor took the blunt of the blow." And gave a wiry smile. "A true blow, Kouzuki."

"I'm really sorry about that sir," Kallen said. "I was so caught up in the moment, I just kind of pushed myself as hard as I could go. I didn't think I'd actually do, well, that."

Tohdoh slowly rose, his shoulder stinging a bit even despite what he had said. "You have grown faster and stronger ever since we began dueling. So much so that I am left somewhat bewildered at what drives such growth."

Kallen herself frowned at that. In truth she was also a bit surprised at her improvement. True with long practice one could become stronger and faster, and in the heat of the moment a burst of adrenaline could see someone move with almost preternatural speed. That last bit though, she was starting to perform such feats with a regularity that defied convention. And then her stomach growled, very loudly announcing its demand for sustenance. Kallen felt her face flush so hard she was sure it now matched the shade of her hair. Tohdoh and Senba both stood there for a moment before bursting out in laughter as the tension broke.

"I suppose you remain yet a mortal, Kouzuki," Tohdoh said much more lightly. "Come, you deserve a proper meal after your victory over me. And the food served in the Akatsuki cafeteria is not half bad, even if it likely falls short of the standard set by the viceroy's palace."

Kallen smiled weakly. "Maybe so sir, but it does have the taste of nostalgia."

At that Tohdoh regarded Kallen more solemnly. By this point few members of Akatsuki did not know what had happened to Kotone Kouzuki, and none that did doubted in the least the genuine love Kallen held for her mother, or for their home of Japan.

* * *

It was somewhat remarkable just how busy Kallen found herself these days. First there were her duties as a sworn knight of the Princess Euphemia and the training associated with those duties, then there was the fact that she was still a student at Ashford Academy and so was saddled with all of the preparatory work necessary for the A-levels. Fortunately for the last week or so all attention at the school had shifted over to Nunnally after her reveal as the daughter of the Empress Marianne. Then again Kallen had found herself spending a bit more time than usual on school grounds looking after the younger girl as the security measures protecting her were upgraded.

Part of said upgrade was to have an armsman accompanying Nunnally, a change to the young woman's routine that had been accepted with clear reluctance. The disruption that this entailed was however both slightly mitigated and exaggerated at the same time by just which armsman was appointed this duty. Even Kallen had been taken by surprise when she learned that one Corporal Mikasa Ackermann had not only been assigned that role, but had actually sworn her oath to Nunnally instead of Euphemia. That technically made Mikasa Nunnally's first vassal, a notable distinction for any armsman. That Mikasa was a half made it all the more notable, especially considering she favored her mother's heritage physically. Kallen idly wondered just how the Princess Cornelia had taken that bit of news.

Kallen massaged her temples. It was already a long day and she had yet more things to do before it was over, like a meeting with Alicia and Rakshata to discuss how the Reinford Group would assist with upgrading the Guren. For now though she had some time to herself and so carried out her daily errand at the palace. The wing where her mother was being treated was right next to the section used by the guards, which made it extremely convenient to drop in and see her. It was also about time to change the flowers, or at least the ones that Kallen herself brought.

Someone else was definitely bringing in the yarrow tulips. It was not Dr. Kuroba, as a Japanese he would have brought irises. The other possibility was one of the Britannian nurses, though those that Kallen had asked all answered in the negative. Another mystery, though an innocuous one. And as Kallen opened the door she was presented with the answer to it as Mikasa spun about in surprise. Kallen blinked, and her eyes naturally zeroed in on the small clutch of tulips in the other woman's hands. A grimace crossed Mikasa's expression. Kallen considered her options carefully. It was obvious Mikasa had hoped to keep this a secret from her, for whatever personal reasons drove the older girl. If she did not want to widen the gulf between the two of them, she would need to handle this matter tactfully.

Kallen settled for a simple smile. "Thank you, Corporal Ackermann. For your consideration."

Mikasa continued regarding Kallen but her expression slowly softened before she simply nodded. She then proceeded to finish putting the tulips into their vase and took the wilted ones as she headed for the door. Kallen politely held it open for her.

"Thanks," Mikasa uttered before taking her leave, not waiting for a response.

Kallen stood there for a few moments before chuckling to herself. "You are welcome."

She then went on to clean out the other vase, refilling it with more water and putting the irises she brought in them. That done Kallen took a seat by her mother's side, removing her glasses. She gave Kotone a careful lookover, making sure there were no bruises forming from how long she had been lying here. There were none, the nurses that attended to Kotone were diligent in seeing after her mother's physical care. Kallen put her glasses back on. She then leaned over and planted a light kiss on Kotone's forehead.

"Sleep well mother," Kallen said. "We're all waiting for you to wake up, father and I both."

* * *

"I must admit, I did not know the Reinford Group had made such advances since losing the knightmare contract," Rakshata said as she played with her pipe. "Or that you would be permitted to reveal so much of it to me."

"Well, all of the work has been internally funded," Alicia said, "so it's all the company's property. And some of the things require Reinford's manufacturing capability to pull off, so even if you understand the basic principles and how to exploit them, actually bringing them to fruition is another matter entirely."

The two were seated in the main office of the warehouse where the Guren and the surviving Burais were stored. The room itself was entirely functional, though not entirely without comfort considering the large sofa Rakshata had installed and was currently lounging on. And the chair that Alicia herself was seated in could not be considered uncomfortable.

"True enough," Rakshata conceded as she looked over the datasheets. She grimaced. "I see your engineers are just as incapable of writing proper technical documentation as every other engineer I have ever worked with."

"We do have dedicated technical writers," Alicia said with a wry smile, "but they tend to be in rather high demand and can't be responsible for all of the documentation that is produced."

"A shame," Rakshata said somewhat lazily. "Hmm. The motors that you have here are rather, interesting. And the gearboxes especially."

"It's one of our most recent developments," Alicia said somewhat proudly. "We're starting to approach the limits that mechanical gearboxes can offer in terms of torque generation, so Reinford started working our own in-house magnetic gearbox about five years ago. It's been a real slog from what the development team has reported, but we're finally at the stage that we can deploy prototypes for active field testing."

"And you are offering to install them on the Guren?" Rakshata said.

Alicia nodded. "Though quite a few of my fellow Britannians would like to deny it, the Guren is most definitely a next generation knightmare design. You have already pushed the existing technology to its very limits in the mechanical frame, never mind that radiation surger mounted on the right arm. We think that with access to Reinford's engineering prowess it can be made even better, surpassing even the Lancelot prototypes the Camelot Institute has been developing."

That elicited a smirk from Rakshata. "Miss Reinford, you do know how to get my attention. And in exchange for this access, you wish for me to help Reinford in the development of its own machines?"

"Exactly."

Rakshata gave her pipe a thoughtful puff. "Fair enough. Though are you certain the Britannian military would be willing to make use of a machine designed by a foreigner?"

"Contrary to the vitriol spouted by some of the more disagreeable elements of Britannian society, the Empire recognizes merit first and foremost," Alicia responded. "If your design surpasses the fruits of Duke Cayenne's company, the military will be open to utilizing it, so long as we can assure them that its secrets will not fall into the hands of other nations."

"Ah," Rakshata said. "That there is the rub. Accepting your offer would require effectively binding myself to Britannia, would it not?"

"To a certain extent, has not India thrown in its lot with the Empire already?" Alicia pointed out.

"As a partner to be treated equally, not as a dependent," Rakshata stated. "What if I were to decide to take my engineering expertise back to India to help it develop its own knightmare force?"

Alicia regarded the engineer. "Doctor. What is your goal?"

Rakshata raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"I do not seek to imply anything by the question, but what is your own personal ambition? Is it to produce the best knightmare possible, or are you primarily invested in India's future?"

Rakshata pursed her lips. "Though I am at heart an engineer, I cannot say that I am disinterested in the fate of my motherland. And as an engineer, I cannot accept being restricted from pursuing my interests merely because of something I worked on in the past."

"That is reasonable," Alicia said, "but what of your professional ethics? While the knowledge that you gain developing technology under the Reinford Group is certainly yours to do with as you will, the technologies themselves belong to the ones that commissioned it. Or do you disagree with this standard?"

"Are you suggesting that Reinford intends to lay claim to my Guren?" Rakshata said, eyes narrowed.

"Not at all," Alicia quickly assured her. "Our technical assistance on the Guren is considered one form of recompense for your services. The knightmare that you would assist in the development of however, we would expect you to refrain from revealing any of its technical details to third parties. That is the norm for all engineering work, and on this point no exception would ever be granted."

Rakshata tapped her pipe again. "I suppose that is true enough. And it is a compromise that I can live with. But I will make clear now that I will accept no restriction on my future ventures as part of the deal with Reinford."

"Agreed, so long as the fruits of your work for Reinford remains exclusive to the group," Alicia responded.

Rakshata cracked a wiry smile. "You have quite the head for business between those shoulders, Miss Reinford."

"Thank you," Alicia said, offering one of her own. "I learned from the best."

* * *

The field hospital was bustling with activity as usual and Cole made sure not to get in the way of any of the nurses and doctors moving about. With all the patients here it took him a bit to find where Jean was laying.

"Hey."

The man in question looked up and grinned. "Hey Cole, here to check up on your best bud."

Cole chuckled extending a hand and giving Jean's a good shake when he accepted it. "Don't know if you're my _best_ bud just yet, though I suppose getting shot at together does make for some interesting shared life experiences."

"Ah well, plenty of time to add a few more of those," Jean said.

Cole nodded. While Jean had been a casualty of that skirmish he was definitely one of the luckier ones, suffering a hit to his leg. The wound had been a pretty clean one as well, with the bullet removed and the resulting hole patched up. Another day or so and he would be back with his unit, though he would need to take it easy for a bit longer.

"Heard you managed to get all of the trucks out of there safely," Jean said. "Well, cept the one that got blown up at the start."

"A bit of luck and you guys doing your job so well," Cole said. "The rest of the platoon kept the insurgents pinned down well enough that they didn't have any attention to spare for us."

Jean chuckled. "That's what us meat bags are for, to save the assess of the brass."

"Not exactly that high up," Cole said. "Ah here." He pulled out something from his pocket and tossed it over to Jean. "Snuck this in for you."

The young man grabbed hold of it and grinned. "You, my good man, are a lifesaver. I thought field rations were bad, the food here is somehow even worse."

Cole chuckled. "I managed to do some creative paperwork and there's an entire crate of chocolate that'll be distributed to all of you here, but I thought you'd appreciate a preview."

"Really? Wow. Thanks Cole. I really mean it."

"No problem," Cole said. "Though in exchange I'm off the hook for rounds at the pub."

Jean laughed. "Alright, I suppose that's fair enough." He plopped his head against his pillow again. "Have had a lot of time here, just sitting around. Listening to the radio a lot."

"I've only had time for a few snippets here and there," Cole said. "Things have been busy."

"Yeah," Jean said with a sigh. "They say more reinforcements are headed our way. Lots more. And they say the war's going to last a real long while. Years, maybe even a decade."

"I don't know about a decade," Cole said, "but yeah, years sounds about right."

Jean fingered the wrapped bar of chocolate. "Not sure if I'm looking forward to getting shot at for the next few years."

There really was nothing Cole could say to that. For that matter he even agreed. But they had been called up and it was their duty to serve until they were discharged. Assuming they lived till then.

"Ah, listen to me," Jean said with a weak smile. "Gotta keep positive, I'm sure Connie and Potato Girl aren't moping around."

Cole managed one of his own. "Knowing them, they're probably mopping around for something or another."

"Oh, you think you're funny," Jean said, though his smile widened ever so slightly. "But enough about us, how's your girl doing back in Japan? She's got to be keeping busy these days and sending you plenty of letters."

Cole feigned a sigh. "When are you going to get a girlfriend of your own, Jean?"

"Oh don't you worry about me, when I go back home with my chest full of medals, all the chicks will be over me."

Cole regarded his friend's wide grin. "On second thought, stay single. If you ever do find a girlfriend I'll probably never hear the end of it from you."

"Hah! I'll show you, and I mean it."

"Sure, sure," Cole chuckled. "And Kallen's doing fine. You're right, she is busy, and she technically can't tell me much about anything that relates to her official duties. Has more to say about school than anything else."

"What? Isn't she a soldier?"

"She is," Cole said with some bemusement, "but the princess is still making her complete her A-levels. She's been grumbling about all the test prep that entails."

"Never actually took A-levels," Jean said. "Went straight to work after I got my GCSE. Well, went to work and then got conscripted."

That was the case for a lot of the rank and file soldiers, Cole knew. Those that did hold higher qualifications were snatched up for officer or technical positions like him.

"Can't say you actually missed much," Cole said. "Lots of book learning, and then you go out in the real world and find out it's nothing like what you learned in the classroom."

"Ain't that the truth." Jean tore the wrapping and took a bite of the chocolate. "How'd you even get your hands on these anyway?"

"A couple of care packages have been making their way over to the front," Cole said. "The chocolate's actually from some program or another that the Princess Guinevere set up. All I knew was we suddenly got a couple crates of them and I was handed responsibility for disbursing them to our division."

Jean snorted. "They must really like you."

"Sure, Captain Sulla must just love be by dumping even more work on me," Cole said with a smirk.

"Hey, she's literally given you the ability to bribe everyone in the division. I'd say she likes you just fine."

"Careful there Jean, wouldn't want to give me any ideas," Cole said.

The two shared a chuckle as Jean finished off his bar. "Still though, thanks for dropping by man, and for the gift. I mean, you're not exactly someone I would have wanted as a Valentine's, but beggars can't be choosers."

Cole raised an eyebrow. "Didn't know you celebrated that."

Jean shrugged. "I was raised in the faith by my parents. And it's not as if that holiday's that religious to begin with these days."

"True enough," Cole said. "Well, I need to go back to work. Get well soon Jean, next time I'm out there I'd rather have you watching my back."

"Considering how many times things go pear-shaped when I'm with you, I'm not sure the feeling's mutual," Jean responded with a wide grin.

Cole gave his friend another laugh before the two exchanged a farewell shake.

* * *

Despite her reveal as the Princess Nunnally vi Britannia, the girl herself continued to reside at the Ashford estate instead of moving into the viceroy's palace. That was only expected after all, the Ashfords had been her family for the last seven or so years and whatever her name might be now she considered this place her home. That was not to say some of the household servants were not taken aback to learn that the kind little girl they had all dotted upon was in fact an imperial princess, but they ultimately all took it in stride and continued treating Nunnally with the courtesy and respect they always had.

One change that did occur was the massively increased scrutiny the household found itself under, and oft unwelcome scrutiny at that. The paparazzi were ever persistent in their efforts to get glimpses of the princess and the more mainstream media was hardly better in some respects. Fortunately Ashford Academy was private grounds and the soldiers that had been stationed about it were all veterans of the Area, meaning they were well and thoroughly in Euphemia's camp. They quickly developed a reputation for lack of hesitation in bringing down anyone that, disrespected, the privacy of the viceroy's beloved sister and even the most adventurous reporter or photographer decided that some risks were not worth running, especially with a war going on.

The other sort of attention was less odious, but in some ways still as onerous. The Princess Euphemia was a semi-regular guest as the Ashford residence, and the reason for her previous visits was revealed alongside Nunnally's true identity. Whenever the princess did come her security detail would also be along and for the most part the guardsmen were courteous and civil whenever they needed to intrude upon the house's daily routines to fulfill their duties.

The guardsmen of the Princess Maribelle were an unknown entity on the other hand, as were the detachment of armsmen that were apparently to be permanently stationed at the residence to look after the princess' security. There was a certain degree of wariness towards the latter seeing as they could be seen as intruding upon a duty that the household servants had previously been entrusted with. While not all of them were former Security Police like one Sayoko Shinozaki, but they all possessed some degree of training. The Ashfords may not have been known to be harboring an imperial scion in the past but that did not mean their lives were entirely untouched by the vagaries of upper class Britannian society, or the fact that they lived in an Area that until recently was still the site of considerable unrest.

Nonetheless the staff presented their best front when the Princess Maribelle, accompanied by the Princess Euphemia of course, arrived to visit their mutual half-sister. With a beaming smile Maribelle stopped before Nunnally and leaned over.

"It has been a long time, Nunnally. I hope you at least remember me?"

Nunnally returned the smile. "Of course I do, Mary."

The older girl let out a bright laugh before pulling Nunnally into an embrace. "It's so good to see you, Nanna." And smiled mischievously as she let her go. "And no one's called me Mary in almost seven years."

Nunnally's face softened a bit as she made the inference. "I'm sorry, if that-"

"No, no!" Maribelle said quickly. "It feels, right, to be called that by my little sister." The smile became warmer. "Thank you Nanna, for coming back to us."

Nunnally nodded. "I am glad to have my family returned to me as well."

The orange-haired girl gave Nunnally an affectionate rub on the head before straightening and regarding the other family member present. She curtsied politely.

"Miss Ashford. I thank you and your family for having sheltered my sister so."

"Euphie's already gone through that song and dance," Milly said with a wiry smile. "There is no need to thank us for looking after one of our own."

It was a remarkably flippant response, even daring in some respects. Maribelle however took it in stride.

"Need has nothing to do with it," she said. "It would be most impolite to not express gratitude for what you have done, for both of my sisters."

Maribelle was good, Milly could see. Then again she needed to be if she was to make any headway acting as a patron for the gendarmerie at court.

"And it would be impolite of me to continue dithering over my duties as host," Milly said. "Please, all of you, have a seat."

Maribelle flashed the older girl a smile as she and Euphemia accepted the invitation. Servants immediately emerged with a tea service.

"Things are well back home?" Euphemia asked.

"I suppose so," Maribelle said. "I'm not in Pendragon that often, remember, but when I dropped in just before my little hop over to Area 11 the rest of the family seemed to be doing fine. That did give me the chance to grab some gifts though." She chuckled. "I think Guinevere might have gone a bit overboard with hers."

All three other girls tilted their heads quizzically. Instead of answering directly however Maribelle took the spoon and tapped the edge of her cup. The ringing apparently served as some sort of signal as two of her armsmen entered carrying a rather substantial box. Euphemia's eyes widened.

"I thought that box was for everyone's gifts," she admitted.

"Oh gods no," Maribelle said with a chuckle. "The rest of us settled on something a bit more sensibly sized."

"Sayoko, if you would please?" Nunnally asked.

The maid nodded and moved to open the large box. The sheer size made it rather impractical for Nunnally to do so herself, bound as she was to the wheelchair. Fortunately the box itself was fairly sensibly configured to allow for quick disassembly. As the sides folded down gasps sounded from three of the four young ladies present.

"My," Euphemia remarked.

Milly actually let out a bark of laughter while Nunnally simply stared at the present. Seated on the floor now was a giant teddy bear at least equal in height to Nunnally while seated. The plush violet fur almost seemed to shine under the lights and the outstretched arms presented an invitation to embrace it in turn.

"Guinevere said that since she can't be here to give you a big hug, she'll just have to do it by proxy," Maribelle said with a touch of amusement in her tone.

"That does sound very much like her," Euphemia said with a nod.

"Please pass on my thanks," Nunnally said, "and let her know that I will think of all of you whenever I hold him." The girl smiled slightly. "Or, try to at least."

The others all shared a chuckle seeing as that might well be a challenge.

"I will leave the other presents for you to open at your leisure," Maribelle said. "I just wanted to be here to see your reaction to that one."

"I see the sense of humor is genetic," Milly said with a smirk.

"But of course," Euphemia said. "Though I do have to wonder whether you've taught Nunnally here any new tricks from the Ashford repertoire."

Nunnally giggled. "You shall have to wait and see, Euphie."

Soon enough it was time for dinner and after a scrumptious meal they retired for some more tea in the sitting room. Eventually however Nunnally's eyes began to droop and after some more hugs she retired for the evening, leaving her three sisters to talk amongst themselves.

"So," Milly began rather nonchalantly. "How are things really going at court?"

Euphemia gave a resigned snort while Maribelle raised an eyebrow. She answered nonetheless.

"Nunnally's reveal has caused a fair amount of confusion amongst those not in the know about Lelouch, even amongst those allied with Schneizel," Maribelle said. "A lot of them are assuming that the timing was primarily for propaganda purposes, the return of a treasured daughter of the Empire and whatnot."

Milly did her best to suppress a snort. A slight gurgle still sounded in her throat however.

"Well," Euphemia said, ignoring the sound, "I suppose that makes about as much sense as anything else from an outsider's perspective."

Maribelle nodded. "The rest of us, well, while we're all glad to know that Nunnally is indeed safe and sound, the risks that she is assuming with her reveal are, substantial. Especially for a payoff that may never come."

The other two women grimaced. It had been a week since Nunnally's reveal and thus far there was no indication that Lelouch was going to respond. Granted it was not as if the former prince could just waltz up to the imperial palace and announce himself but considering his abilities and general resourcefulness surely he could have figured something out. It was starting to look more and more like not even Nunnally would be able to sway her beloved brother from his chosen path, setting the stage for what promised to be a great tragedy.

"Still no idea why exactly Lelouch is out to get all of you?" Milly asked.

"None," Maribelle answered frankly. "If he was ever taken into custody we might have the opportunity to ask, but Lelouch has been extremely elusive thus far. There are, multiple taskforces trying to find him but thus far no one has managed to develop any solid leads."

"What of the incident at that machine tools factory?" Euphemia asked.

Maribelle glanced over at Milly.

"Milly can be trusted on anything regarding Lelouch," Euphemia said, taking the hint.

"I see," Maribelle said. She did not sound entirely convinced but seemed prepared to not second guess her sister's judgment. "At present the records of the incident have been sealed by the Ordo Hereticus, but we've managed to learn a few details. Hereticus had deployed a company of storm troopers to secure and search the factory with the intent to arrest the foreman and a few others. All indications are that entire company was wiped out."

Euphemia raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Exactly what I said. Whatever they ran into was enough to take out an entire company of the Inquisitio's best."

While Euphemia pursed her lips Milly looked distinctly unhappy with the news.

"The official statement had all of the factory workers also killed, supposedly by poison gas being stored at the factory by Christian terrorists," Euphemia said.

Maribelle nodded. "I don't know if there was any truth to that poison gas bit, I'm pretty sure Schneizel and Cornelia are convinced it's all just a cover up, but it is fact that everyone that worked at the factory and was on shift also died."

"Gods," Euphemia said with a sigh. "How many hundreds of people was that?"

"Nearly a thousand," Maribelle said.

Milly hissed and half-glared at Euphemia. It was sounding more and more like Nunnally being outed was a bad idea.

"That many," Euphemia said softly. "Was that intentional?"

"Well, yes, and no."

Again Maribelle glanced over at Milly. This time Euphemia fully inferred the meaning.

"Milly is also aware of the Directorate," she said.

That elicited widened eyes from Maribelle. "I, see."

"Not that I wanted to be," Milly said, "but considering my family is caught in the war anyway, better that I be completely ignorant of what we're up against."

"I see," Maribelle repeated before taking a deep breath. "Very well then. The, circumstances regarding the deaths of the storm troopers and the factory workers is more, complex than I originally let on. Indications are they suddenly went berserk and attempted to kill a man that had accompanied the storm troopers, someone whom we believe to be a Directorate operative. Someone whom was able to neutralize not only the storm troopers but all of the factory workers as well."

"One man killed over a thousand people!?" Milly said incredulously.

Maribelle's mouth thinned as she looked about. No servants were present but there was no telling what ears were in the walls.

"Security measures have been installed in the residence already," Euphemia put in.

"Ah." Maribelle shrugged. "That is what the report says."

Milly glanced over at Euphemia. "Is Kallen even capable of that?"

"Doubtful," Euphemia said. "While she has become a very proficient soldier, her stamina, while impressive, is still only human. Eventually she would have been overwhelmed."

"Kallen," Maribelle said. "That would be your knight?"

Euphemia nodded. "It is a role that she has performed admirably thus far."

Whatever Maribelle wanted to say the young woman kept to herself.

"Well, either way we may need to, reassess, the actual combat strength the Directorate possesses," she said instead.

"Agreed," said Euphemia. "As well as our options for actually neutralizing them. If their headquarters is indeed located in a remote region of the Empire as we suspect, it might be prudent to simply bomb them into oblivion instead of risking any sort of assault."

"That I will leave to Cornelia," Maribelle said before taking a deep breath. "Well, this has been rather more stimulating of a conversation than I was expecting."

Euphemia smiled wryly. "Such are the demands of our stations."

"Personally I think your stations could do with a little less demand a little more fun," Milly said.

The two princesses looked at their companion for several moments before bursting out into laughter. It was a snarky, but welcome rejoinder to cap off an otherwise dreary conversation.

* * *

The sounds of cheering crowds roared throughout the stands the audience hollered and screamed their lungs off. The horses tore down the track, the stomping of their hooves creating a thundering rumble as their jockeys urged them on. One in particular was well in the lead, its rider bouncing up and down with every gallop. As it passed the finish the rider rose up, arm raised in triumph and basking in the adulation of the crowd.

"Bravo, bravo indeed!" one particularly illustrious viewer applauded from his private stand.

Prince Adonis gi Britannia, Fourth Prince of the Realm, was an avid fan of such competitions. He was an even more avid fan of the other activity often associated with these races, specifically that of chance. On most days the prince was not known to be blessed by the Norns, but today things were looking up.

"See, what did I tell you Taylor, Black Lightning lives up to its name!"

The attendant that always accompanied the prince restrained a sigh. "As you say, your highness."

Having served Adonis since he was a mere boy Taylor was well aware of his liege's many vices and despite his best efforts remained unable to rein them in. Still it would not do to damper the prince's mood too much, Adonis had put in a good amount of work the past few days so was for once deserving of a little downtime. Perhaps this positive reinforcement might actually get somewhere in getting the prince to mend his habits.

"It is a shame that fair Cecilia has decided not to accompany this day," Adonis said. "Oh how I would have loved for her to share in my good fortune."

"Indeed, sire," Taylor put in as expected.

The fair Cecilia, daughter of the Duke Cayenne, was but one of many women whom Adonis had wooed, though the prince liked to think that she held a special place in his heart. From Cecilia's perspective there was of course nothing terribly special going on, even if she did not find displeasing the prince's company. Amongst his siblings Adonis was of the wider shouldered build, more like the Princes Odysseus and Schneizel than the late Clovis and Lelouch. Combined with the shining black mane of hair that he kept tied in a ponytail Adonis was by no means unpleasant to the eye. And despite his habits Adonis was hardly an outright fool, though others might be forgiven for thinking so considering his lack of restraint. Still, he was not by and large an unpleasant fellow, and his social standing was such that some faults could be overlooked.

As of late however Cecilia had been less and less receptive to Adonis' invitations to accompany him. It might just be her playing hard to get, or perhaps her father the duke had determined that his daughter could do for a better match, though how Adonis could not fathom. True he did have older, more prestigious brothers, but even ignoring the age difference Odysseus was already in a committed relationship and Schneizel had never expressed any interest in finding a wife, something that he was still somehow managing to get away with despite his dynastical obligations. For now though Adonis was willing to wait, only a month or so had passed since Cecilia's remoteness became apparent. She would tire of this little game soon enough, he was sure.

"Your pardon, your highness," one of the armsmen attending the prince interrupted, "but it is time to go and present the trophy to the winner."

"That it is," Adonis said, turning about and opening up his arms.

Taylor swiftly was before his liege, straightening the cut of the prince's outfit and making sure nothing was out of place. After giving the collar a final tug he nodded approvingly.

"Thank you Taylor," Adonis said courteously, another reason why he was not considered an outright failure as an imperial scion. He knew at least to treat the help with respect.

The prince made his way out of the private box and down onto the track itself. As he appeared cheers started up again, almost all of them female. Adonis beamed his ever charming smile at his adoring fans, waving as he went. A few seemed to faint outright at the sight. Once inside the awards area a waiting armsman held the trophy out to the prince, the item having already been examined to ensure it was not some sort of booby trap. The trophy itself was quite large but easily lifted by a single person and Adonis had no trouble carrying it over to the victory stands. As he came to a halt the three top placers all bowed respectfully.

"Rise," Adonis intoned.

They did so.

"Gallant riders, know that this day your trials and tribulations have borne fruit, a fruit that I, Adonis gi Britannia, have witnessed."

The three riders all offered their thanks to the prince. Before Adonis could continue however a shot sounded. Then more followed, audible even over the screams that were now sweeping through the stands. Before Adonis could move the three armsmen that had been accompanying him fell, hit by marksmen before they even had time to react. And then all of the riders drew weapons, all pointed at the prince.

"Wha-what is the meaning of this!" Adonis demanded.

"Your highness!" Taylor reached out, seizing hold of the prince. "Please get back!"

The prince dropped the trophy, half-stumbling as he was pulled. And then a scream sounded behind him and he nearly toppled over. Twisting about, Adonis' eyes widened as the bloody form of his servant collapsed against him.

"Taylor!"

"H-highness…please…run…"

And then the servant's eyes glazed over. Adonis stood there, holding Taylor in his arms. Even had he his wits about him it was already too late as armed men and women formed a perimeter, preventing any escape. When Adonis finally recovered from the shock he was just in time to see the apparently orchestrator of all this emerge. Draped in a dark purple cape with an oversized collar flanking a crown-shaped helmet, the figure might almost have looked comical under other circumstances for how exaggerated his outfit was. A blade peeked out from under the cape, revealing what looked to be a purple suit. Exaggerated, and gaudy.

"Who?" Adonis began in astonishment.

His instincts told him this man was unimaginably dangerous and the prince's hand drifted over to the saber at his side. All royals wore the ceremonial weapon when out in public, as much a mark of their station as it was a last desperate line of defense should the unimaginable happen. Well now the unimaginable had happened, and Adonis was left without his armsmen, or his loyal retainer. His hand tightened on the grip and the sound of metal rang as he drew the blade. Buffoon though he might be considered, Adonis was still a prince, schooled in all the expectations of a gentleman, including swordplay. If this was to be his last day on earth, he would not beg and besmirch the name Britannia.

"I am Zero, the demon king," the distorted voice pronounced. "Those that are sodden with sin have been introduced to my other half, the one known as C. Now I have come forth, to return to their proper place in Hell all those that share the blood of Britannia."

"Have you now?" Adonis sneered. "Know this knave, you have signed your death this day, for I, Adonis gi Britannia, will not permit you to carry forth such sacrilege!"

It was doubtful that Adonis was aware of the fact that the cameras were still rolling, that his act of defiance was being broadcast nationwide now that other news channels had picked up what was happening on what should have been just a horse racing broadcast. The censors were also waking up to what was happening but the system of control was not such that they could actually automatically shut down a particular broadcast they disliked, unless they were willing to shut down all broadcasts period. They were not quite that desperate, yet, and the few minutes that bought would be crucial.

Nor was it likely the prince actually had any idea just how much effort had gone into arranging today's events. In truth preparations had begun months ago, first the compromising of the necessary track workers and security, then the selective indoctrination of people in the crowd, all capped off with suborning of the closest police station to make sure they would be of no help in what was about to unfold. Still time was against Zero and if he was to succeed in his ploy he needed to hurry this little charade along.

"I applaud your apparent nerve, Prince Adonis," Zero said, brushing aside his cape to reveal the full length of his sword. "Come then, and wet my blade with your blood. It so hungers."

Adonis swallowed, the perilousness of his situation now sinking in a bit more. There was also a sinister shape to Zero's sword thanks to that bent near the hilt and the asymmetrically curved tip. The prince swore he had seen such a weapon before but could not recall from where. Not that that mattered with the sword pointed at him, though his own fencing saber was looking distinctly less adequate now. And then there was no more time for thought as suddenly a sharp pain began pounding his head.

Zero raised his sword, pointing directly at Adonis. "Come, prince, and embrace your fate."

Adonis' vision was becoming blurry as he tried to keep his bearing. And then the prince found himself taking a step forward. Then another. Horror was soon mixed in with the pain as Adonis found his body moving seemingly on its own. He tried to stop, tried to force his feet to still, to raise his sword and strike at Zero.

"You have no need for that blade of yours," Zero's voice sounded, an almost hypnotic rhythm to it.

The fencing saber fell from Adonis' hand. He took another step forward.

"Whhha-"

That was all Adonis could manage, all he had time to manage, before he felt the sharp point of Zero's blade touch his chest. Adonis came to a halt, the level of panic in what coherent thoughts that still remained reaching fever pitch.

"Au revoir, mon prince," Zero said.

The man drew his arm back, and with one thrust sent his blade plunging into Adonis' heart. The sword punched through the prince's back, a shower of blood splashing forth and dripping down his body. A gurgle sounded in Adonis' throat and his knees gave out. He did not topple over however, his form held upright by the impaling blade.

"Repose en paix," Zero whispered into his ears, the helmet next to Adonis' face. "You will not be alone for long, brother. The rest of our family will join you soon enough."

Adonis somehow found the strength to press a bloodied hand on Zero's mask. "Wh-who are you…"

Without answering Zero pushed Adonis back, sliding his body off of the sword. Before the broadcast cut off, the censors finally reaching that point of desperation, the Empire was left with the sight of an imperial prince cut down, falling to his knees and then toppling over completely before an imposing, almost demonic looking visage.

End of Chapter 81

That went on a bit longer than I was expecting. I wonder if that counts as murdering the hypotenuse.

Yes, I know, this is a major escalation. Yes, I know, this will cause the security on the other royals to be clamped down, hard. Yes, that was intentional on Lelouch's part. It'll get touched upon next chapter.

We're slowly getting to the next story arc. Or rather I suppose we are now in said next story arc. It's only going to get bloodier as things develop.

Since Cole is part of the quartermaster corps he tends to go out with a lot of supply convoys. Even so he only comes under attack about every one in five convoys. Jean on the other hand seems to get attacked once every three convoys he escorts with his platoon. Of course, he only seems to get attacked whenever Cole is with him, so of course he's going to blame Cole.

A caution on Ragnarok. It's, a bit more complicated than what some of you are assuming. I'll just leave it at that for now.

I'm not sure what's so draconian about Lelouch's methodology. What is at stake is the entirety of the human race. Weighed against that, the deaths of his entire family is a small price to pay for preserving mankind as a species. That is the tradeoff that Lelouch has decided to make, and considering even just the stakes that all of you are aware of, it's hardly an irrational one. The risk of contacting any of his family members has been deemed too great since he does not know who is complicit in Ragnarok's preparations and there's also something else going on that contact itself represents an actual, real danger. Seeing as it's basically the end of the world if he fails, the logical approach would be to minimize the risks and go for the best, most surefire way of ending the threat that Ragnarok represents. It's the kind of situation where if Lelouch had a nuke, he would not have hesitated to use it to wipe out Pendragon if he could guarantee that his family, or enough of it, was going to be caught in the blast.

Maribelle and Euphie are good friends. If the only ones left were the two of them, Maribelle would support Euphemia for the throne. Not least of which because Euphemia is higher in the order of succession to begin with.

Anyway, if any of you are Kiseki fans, I started up another fic called _A Trail of Tears_ that serves as a kind of AU that picks up at the end of Trails of Cold Steel II. It's actually kind of like A Cold Calculus, I suppose, in that it explores a somewhat darker anti-hero role for what was originally the protagonist. It won't be seeing nearly as fast an update pace as this story, at least until I actually finish Calculus, but I thought I might as well advertise it now.


	83. Chapter 82

_One of the most emotionally charged arguments for why Lelouch Lamperouge and Lelouch vi Britannia are two separate individuals is rooted in the former's indifference to the survival of the Princess Nunnally. One point agreed upon by most historians was that the Prince Lelouch adored his younger sister and would have wanted nothing more than to see her safe and happy. Agent Lamperouge of the SDECE however was a French nationalist that did not share this sentiment and the appearance of his distant cousin simply added another target to his list. Combined with his very public murder of the Prince Adonis gi Britannia, to many this rendered it utterly impossible for Agent Lamperouge to be the same person as the Prince Lelouch, and set the stage for the greatest personal tragedy for the Princess Euphemia._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 82

Ite, missa est

The jovial, almost optimistic mood that had pervaded Pendragon only a few days ago had crashed back down onto the cold harshness of reality with the murder of the Prince Adonis. That it was broadcast nationwide only added to the sense of shock. The reaction of the authorities was predictably heavy handed with the Inquisitio executing arrests of suspects on its third and fourth tier threat lists. While many of these people were not actually involved with any genuinely dissident activities, Hereticus was starting to actually catch quite a few people who were actual foot soldiers of the Swords of Michael. Just how aware the ordo was aware of this was still an open question but there was no doubt that the Swords, all of them, were starting to feel the pressure.

"Remind me again," Crow remarked idly, "just who it was that said that offing an imperial scion would only make achieving our goals harder? How they would clamp down on the security of the rest of the heirs and thus make it impossible to strike at them?"

Lelouch turned back from the window he was gazing out of and regarded Crow. "The situation has evolved considerably since then. In fact the measures the royal guards are taking to protect their charges will even work to our advantage?"

"Oh, how?"

"One of the problems that we were facing was the fact that quite a few heirs are simply not located in Pendragon. Now that one has been struck down outside the capital, and its respective security apparatus, that will encourage the others to concentrate to make it easier to defend themselves."

Crow snorted. "Are you sure that won't just encourage them to do the exact opposite?"

"Initially, that is a possibility," Lelouch said. "At least until we remove another heir from play."

That caused the other youth to fall silent, at least for a brief moment. "Well damn, you've certainly got a pair. Do you really think you can pull off another attack like that? Didn't it take you months to set up offing Prince Adonis?"

"Primarily because we needed it to be dramatic and showy," Lelouch said. "And we do have other operations already well advanced in their preparations."

That was true enough, though the hit on the Princess Maribelle was currently forestalled due to her deciding to visit Japan.

"Alright, that's fair enough," Crow said, "but even if a lot of the heirs do end up bunkering down in Pendragon, some will still be away, even if because of their official duties. Like the Princess Euphemia."

"Indeed," Lelouch agreed. "I presume you know the designated survivor protocol?"

Crow shrugged. "Sure, whenever all of the major figures of state are gathered, there's always someone that's kept in a secure and remote location so that a decapitation strike doesn't wipe out the entire government."

"And at this point simply due to convenience if nothing else the Princesses Euphemia and Nunnally will likely serve as the designated survivors," Lelouch said. "On the other hand their proximity to the Chinese and Russian Federations should offer at least some opportunities."

"Didn't you already try that once before?" Crow pointed out.

"Failure is not an option," Lelouch quoted. "It is mandatory. The option is whether or not to let failure be the last thing you do."

"Catchy," Crow said. "Doesn't do us a whole lot of good if it does end up being the last thing we do however."

"True enough." Lelouch clasped his hands behind him and gazed out the window again. "The government is starting to bring in actual members of the Swords?"

"Yeah, and it's not just on this side of the country either," Crow said. "If they keep at it, they might actually bust one of the cells. And if they bust enough of them, there goes our numerical advantage."

That might have been exaggerating, even with all of the Swords of God assembled they would have had the equivalent of about a division of soldiers. A less than cohesive division at that. Combined with the forces of the Virginian and Carolinian provincial guards however and they might have had enough of a force to actually crack Pendragon in an open assault.

"How progresses our other preparations?" Lelouch asked.

"Well, moving the weapons caches closer to Pendragon hasn't exactly been made any easier the past few months," Crow said. "The Inquisitio is starting to really crack down, they're doing random searches and the like for anything that gets fifty miles within the city. I suppose that just means we need to keep our caches a hundred miles out or something. Moving all that manpower is going to be trickier though, people are going to be missed, and we're starting to lose some to the conscription drive."

Lelouch nodded. That was another problem, and another reason why they would need to move soon. With the first wave of conscripts ready to deploy the Empire was now issuing its second wave of enlistment notifications. Considering people that Britannia needed to fight this war were some of the very same people that the Swords would need for its own upcoming operation was actually an even bigger problem than the Inquisitio sweeps.

"Then we are running out of time," Lelouch remarked. "We need to act, and soon."

"Easier said than done," Crow said. "Oh, I mean sure, we could start moving manpower over, but unless Cayenne and Albarea are prepared to move, then we're stuck."

"Indeed," Lelouch said, rubbing his chin. "Perhaps I will need to pay the fair Cecilia another visit."

"And here I thought you were the faithful type," Crow said with a smirk.

Lelouch shrugged. "Needs must." He turned again to face Crow. "Assuming the dukes are brought in line, how long would it take to shift over all of the Swords' assets?"

"Realistically? At least two weeks, more likely three. We've gotten the contingencies ready to absorb all of the people and sit on them until the op, but we won't be able to do that for more than a week, so say a month before we can actually kick things off."

"A month," Lelouch said.

That would be cutting it close. Winter would still be in some force and even if his message reached Paris in time there was little chance of the Russians getting their Baltic Fleet over to the Pacific to threaten Japan quickly enough. Unfortunately that was all they were going to have. If that was the case then he needed to be as thorough as possible. And since he was in the country, it would be an opportune moment to take care of another matter as well.

"I trust you will be able to handle the logistics for severing the military command net," Lelouch said. "If you need any assistance Laura should be able to lend it."

"No problem," Crow assured him. "I might not look it, but I've got plenty of experience planning ops."

Lelouch snorted. That was putting it a bit lightly considering Crow's irreverence. But that lackadaisical attitude hid a very sharp and determined mind, one whom Lelouch was confident would not let him down.

"So," Crow said. "When do you think C's little brother is going to make his next appearance?"

The fallen prince chuckled. "Perhaps it is time for the them to put on a joint appearance, lest people think it was all a fluke."

"Oh? Got a target in mind?"

Lelouch stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"In a manner of speaking. I think it might be time to pay back the Duchess of Bedivere for her attempt on me."

"Oh ho," Crow said. "And how do you plan on making this anything but a suicide mission? All indications are that dame ain't gonna hold back if she knows she's up against you."

A savage grin crossed Lelouch's expression. "How many of those helmets do you think your people can fashion in a week?"

* * *

As a knight of the round Monica was not used to being summoned by anyone not the emperor himself. On the other hand when a summons was undersigned by the prime minister and heir secundus, the lieutenant-general that was charged with said heir's safety, and the lord inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos, not even she could just blow it off regardless of how unpleasant the meeting was likely to be. When Monica entered the conference room she did her best to suppress a grimace. Only one of the three signers were present, that being Lieutenant-General Victor Arseid, but the other man already seated was not someone Monica could claim a great deal of joy in meeting again.

"Baron Stadtfeld," Monica greeted. "Your presence is, unexpected."

"I am here as a representative of the Duchess of Vauxhall," Heinrich stated bluntly.

Monica's expression tightened further. So that explained the baron's attitude, he was himself Inquisitio and likely knew where quite a few skeletons were hidden. It seemed the Stadtfeld family as a whole was not to be underestimated.

Victor cleared his throat, drawing Monica's attention. "Now that you are here, Dame Kruszewski, shall we get to the matter at hand?"

"Very well your lordship," Monica said, taking a seat without further invitation. "What is it you wished to discuss."

Unexpectedly it was Heinrich that spoke. "In the course of your investigation of the Prince Lelouch you have been documenting and collecting scans of the brains of individuals whom he has suborned. We want access to those records."

Monica's eyes narrowed dangerously. How had the baron known about that, the only ones engaged in that activity that were not part of Loki regiment in the first place were a few outside specialists, and one Captain Rieveldt. But the good captain was effectively restricted from outside contact and the operatives tasked with monitoring her had found no indications of Claire circumventing them. Granted no one was perfect, but the security should have been sufficient to keep such a detail from leaking.

"And how exactly did you become aware of that database?" Monica decided to just come out and ask.

"At present you still lack internal expertise for using NMRIs and other more complex medical instrumentation," Heinrich stated simply. "The absence of such experts does not go unnoticed, just as when you attempted to acquire the usage of an NMRI to examine the French operative that was captured, before my daughter executed him of course."

While Monica was in some ways an intelligence operative it still seemed ludicrous to her that someone like the baron could put together such disparate and distant pieces together to form such an accurate assessment. True there were a few analysts of such caliber in Loki regiment as well, but the baron seemed to be taking it to ludicrous lengths.

"Why do you want the data," Monica said instead of giving voice to those thoughts.

"The assassination of the Prince Adonis," Victor took that one. "It is clear that quite a few people at the race track had been compromised by Lelouch. It is also clear that you have found some way of detecting those that are suborned. I have need for that ability if I am to ensure the safety of my charges."

Monica glanced over at Heinrich again. "And what of you, baron?"

"I have been tasked with finding and terminating Lelouch as a threat to the Empire," the baron stated bluntly.

The knight raised an eyebrow. "That is technically a matter for the Ordo Hereticus."

"Lelouch is at present a French national operating as a SDECE operative," Heinrich responded. "That he is on Britannian soil is a detail."

The lord inquisitor of Hereticus would probably disagree, but seeing as the baron had the backing of the Xenos lord inquisitor and very likely the Prince Schneizel and his faction at court trying to pick that fight right now was probably not going to be productive.

The truth of the matter however was far more complicated than either man could possibly imagine. Unlike these two Monica had seen the face under the crowned mask, and that face belonged to one Kallen Stadtfeld, daughter of the baron presently seated across from Monica. Except recent events were suggesting very strongly that that encounter was staged, an act of diversion. Or maybe something else entirely.

Reports from her operatives left behind to keep an eye on C.C. and her contractor made clear that at the time of the assassination both were in Area 11 and both were roused shortly after news of the incident reached the Princess Euphemia. Unless Kallen had discovered some way of teleporting halfway across the world there was simply no way she could physically have been the one that murdered the prince. And based on the weight of evidence, including the obvious compulsion many of the people at the race track were under, Lelouch was the prime suspect for being the man behind the mask.

Unfortunately all that hypothesis did was indicate Monica knew even less about what really happened inside the thought elevator than she originally thought. She had fought Kallen, that the knight was absolutely certain of, yet for Kallen to masquerade as this Zero suggested the younger woman somehow gained from diverting Monica from suspecting Lelouch. Considering Lelouch had attempted to outright murder her twice, and had killed people close to Kallen, Monica was not sure what that gain could possibly be. Or what the two's connection was. And the thought of a Lelouch possessing a code that powerful was more than a little frightening. Of course she was not about to reveal any of this to the two men seated before her.

"Very well," Monica said. "I can provide access to the database, on the condition that any information that you have on Lelouch is shared with me in turn."

"Agreed," Victor said immediately.

Heinrich nodded. "I will make the arrangements."

That seemed a bit too easy, but time would tell just how prompt Xenos would be in revealing anything it did have. Nevertheless there was not much point in keeping the database of brain images private, while opening it up to a select few others to also examine it might yield some unexpected insights. Monica however was not quite done.

"As a measure of goodwill," she continued, "I would like an understanding of just how far information on the Prince Lelouch has reached."

Victor raised an eyebrow while Heinrich's own eyes narrowed.

"Oh do not worry gentlemen," Monica said with a smirk. "I do not seek this information for the purpose of silencing anyone. I do need it however to determine just whom I can speak with frankly should new developments warrant it."

While the lieutenant-general did not look amused in the slightest Heinrich actually gave a flippant snort.

"I will be your point of contact on this matter on the Xenos side," Heinrich stated.

And of course he would not be offering anything else. Typical Inquisitio. Then again she would have certainly done the same. Deciding there was no point in pushing Monica looked over at Victor.

"The Princes Odysseus and Schneizel are full briefed," Victor began, "as are the Princesses Guinevere, Cornelia, Euphemia, and Maribelle. All of their guard-captains are also briefed."

Monica was pretty certain there were others also in the know, such as the Princess Nunnally, considering her rather abrupt reappearance, but that was good enough for now.

"Oh, there is one other thing," Heinrich suddenly spoke up. "The incident at the machine tools factory."

Monica stiffened immediately, a reaction that did not go unnoticed by the two men.

"There was an operative that managed to emerge alive despite the, compulsion, Lelouch seemed to have used there. Would you be able to enlighten us as to how he managed this?"

The knight's eyes narrowed dangerously. If Xenos really knew that much already then they had direct proof of an enforcer's existence. That was a far more dangerous secret to be in their possession than the fact that Monica and Loki regiment was putting together a brain scan database. But how had they found out about Lorence? Could Claire be the leak after all? Monica would need to investigate thoroughly. And if the captain really was passing information on, Monica would see to it that she was permanently silenced.

* * *

Since his little run-in with the Directorate enforcer Lelouch had become much more circumspect in his movements. As a consequence on those occasions where he visited the Cayenne estate, whether to woo the fair Cecilia or to discuss matters of strategy with her parents, he had arrived in much leas flashier manners. Case in point, it was only after his car was parked in the underground lot of the estate that he stepped out. As far as anyone knew the Cayennes were not under such heavy scrutiny as to warrant such precautions, but better safe than sorry. Fortunately thus far Cecilia had been content to converse with him indoors instead of walking the gardens. And if the mood of the butler that came to greet him was any indication, today was no exception.

"Master Kingsley," the man greeted with a bow.

"Hello Frederick," Lelouch greeted. "Is something wrong?"

"The Lady Cecilia has been, feeling unwell as of late, since the murder of the Prince Adonis."

Lelouch frowned ever so slightly. "Was she well acquainted with him?"

"Sufficiently so," the man said.

"I see," Lelouch said. "I will be discreet."

The butler nodded. "This way, Master Kingsley."

By this time Lelouch was well familiar with the way to Cecilia's room but etiquette required the forms to be obeyed. He followed the butler up the stairs and down one of the mansion wings before the two came to a halt before Cecilia's room. The butler knocked.

"Enter."

And stepped aside to make way for Lelouch. The young man nodded his thanks and accepted Cecilia's invitation. The noble daughter remained facing away from the door however, simply gazing out the window. Lelouch made sure every step was audible as he approached her.

"Cecilia," he said softly.

Finally Cecilia turned about and looked over at Lelouch. "Ah, you have returned."

She then turned away again. Lelouch considered the way she held herself. She was not angry or trying to feign emotion to get his attention. Cecilia was genuinely distraught. That surprised Lelouch. He had not thought his brother would leave such an impression on Cecilia.

"Something is wrong," he more stated than asked.

"I suppose something is," Cecilia said lethargically. Or perhaps it was resignedly. "There is indeed something very wrong with our Empire, when a man such as Prince Adonis can be murdered in plain sight."

Lelouch refrained from reaching out to Cecilia, for now. "You and the prince were close?"

"Close? Perhaps more so than others." Cecilia took a deep breath. "He was kind to me, that much is true. But beyond that, we knew each other little beyond the social functions demanded of those of noble birth."

And that was perhaps what truly shook Cecilia. As the daughter of one of the most prominent peers of the realm she was for the most part insulated from the day to day struggles of the masses. True the imperial court itself could be deadly with its intrigue, acts of open violence were still not the norm. The nobility preferred that any bloodletting be done behind the scenes after all, as if that somehow made the tragedies any less so. Now though someone had dared openly murder an imperial scion and even contrived to have the act be broadcast nationwide. Such an intrusion into the otherwise sheltered world of the nobility had to be a shock to many, not just Cecilia.

"You do not feel safe."

Cecilia turned about again to regard Lelouch, a slight smirk touching her lips. "I am the daughter of the Duke Cayenne. Though my parents have attempted to shelter me from the worst of it, merely being their child brings with it untold dangers." The young woman twirled her finger through one of her curls. "Did you know? As a child, there was an attempt to abduct and ransom me."

Lelouch shook his head. That he had no heard about, and from the cues of Cecilia's body she was telling the truth.

"I was too young to remember, but one of the servants accidentally let slip the incident. I confronted my parents, and they eventually revealed to me the truth of the matter, or as much as they were prepared to divulge." Cecilia flicked the strand of hair aside. "My father has enemies, Roi. Enemies whom would not shed tears were our blood to be spilt. But those enemies pale in comparison to those the imperial family faces."

How true those words were, even if Cecilia's own knowledge remained ever so incomplete. Lelouch idly wondered what the young woman's reaction would be once she learned her father was a participant in a coup attempt against the emperor and his children.

"Do you believe the dangers to be worth the privilege you enjoy?" Lelouch asked.

Cecilia shook her head. "It is not the privilege that makes the danger warranted, but the simple fact that I have a loving mother and father. For them, I will weather any storm that comes."

That, was very unexpected. Or perhaps it should not have been. Lelouch had spent quite a bit of time in Cecilia's company by now and gotten a somewhat familiar feel for the young woman's personality. She was proud, that much was clear the moment they met. But that pride was not a hollow one, Cecilia had earned many of the distinctions that were her pride. Her scholastic standing was the fruit of her studious nature, her skill with the hunting rifle an unexpected quality for a lady, about the only thing that could be said to not be hers was the beauty that she was lucky enough to inherit from her parents. Even so Cecilia did not idly sit around taking it for granted, her exercise regimen was one that would not have felt out of place at a military academy. That likely had more to do with her martial mother than her father.

Lelouch offered a kind smile. "And that is what forms the core of your radiance, Cecilia."

The young lady raised an eyebrow. "Praise from you, Roi? Have we become so familiar?"

Lelouch walked over, reached out, took hold of Cecilia's hand and planted a kiss upon it. "You would know empty praise when it falls upon your ears, Cecilia, for you have heard it oft enough. For you to consider my words to be praise, I hope that is a mark of your trust in my sincerity."

To those words Cecilia actually smiled back as she held Lelouch's gaze. "That was well said, Roi. And I will admit more than a, passing curiosity, regarding you." Some of the humor left her eyes. "You spend as much time with my father and mother as you do in my company, I cannot but wonder just what schemes bind you to my family."

It was more the other way around, though Lelouch was certainly not going to say that aloud.

"As much as I must earn your favor, so too must I earn the favor of your parents. Your, mother, has been especially demanding of her standards."

"Of course," Cecilia said somewhat lightly. "I am after all her beloved daughter." And again her composure hardened. "And you are avoiding the question."

Lelouch chuckled. That he was indeed, not least because the duke had duchess had made clear they did not want their daughter to learn the truth of the matter, yet. He could use his geass to redirect her, but for some reason Lelouch felt less and less inclined to do so with Cecilia. Perhaps it was because, when all was said and then, she was genuinely innocent.

"Your father has set me a task," Lelouch answered truthfully if vaguely, "one that would see your family restored to the heights of power at court. He has achieved considerable commercial success thanks to winning the military contract for knightmare production. He next seeks to match it with political success."

Cecilia frowned. "Success at court is paid for in blood, Roi. Blood like that spilled by the Prince Adonis."

The young lady was right, and it had been Lelouch himself whom spilled Adonis' blood. But he was certainly not going to tell her that.

"That has been the standard since the founding of the Empire," he said instead. "Imagine however if a path to power might be forged that did not demand blood as its toll. A path that saw those that fail left diminished but still whole."

Cecilia did not look entirely convinced. "I had no idea my father was such a dreamer."

That was putting it mildly, but Lelouch had the perfect repost. He drew closer to Cecilia, standing level with her eyes.

"He dreams for you."

For several moments Cecilia simply regarded Lelouch, not making a single sound. Eventually however the young woman blinked, seemingly taken aback by his words. She adopted a thoughtful poise and Lelouch let her be to mull them over. Finally when she looked back at him her expression was not quite as doubtful. Not quite.

"An interesting idea," she said. "I will have to press father and mother on it."

Considering how much they had already lied to their daughter Lelouch did not doubt that Cecilia would come away with little to show for it. He almost pitied her in that respect. True the Cayennes did seem to genuinely love their daughter, but they had perhaps raised one that was too decent. Should Cecilia ever learn the full depths of her parents' plotting, plotting for her sake even, Lelouch was not sure how she would take it. Perhaps she would display the same iron will as her mother and be able to reconcile all the deception. And perhaps not. Only time would tell.

"But enough of that," Cecilia said. "You have come to keep me company and I have been a terrible hostess. Please, sit."

Lelouch cracked a smile as he accepted the invitation. Cecilia gave a single clap and a servant entered with tea for both of them. As the maid poured Cecilia picked up a box and brought it over to the table. Lelouch raised an eyebrow.

"I see you never tire," he said sardonically.

"Until I have bested you, Roi, I shall _never_ tire," Cecilia said with a fierce smile. "I am a Cayenne after all."

"That you are," Lelouch said with a chuckle.

And proceeded to help Cecilia set up the chessboard. Of course, he set the black king in front of himself.

* * *

When Cécile received the summons to the viceroy's palace she knew it was not simply some token courtesy. On the heels of the Prince Adonis' murder the princess obviously wanted something. Considering those that were waiting for her in Euphemia's office were the Lady Stadtfeld and the mysterious Cecilia Clermont it invariably had to do with the special project that Cécile was managing for the princess. A project that was late.

"Your highness," Cécile bowed.

"Captain Croomy," Euphemia greeted, polite but stern. "I trust you already know why you were summoned."

"Yes your highness," Cécile responded promptly.

"Then please. An explanation if you would."

Cécile took a deep breath to steady herself before answering. "Two of the superconducting electromagnets that were ordered were found to have defects in their manufacture. Their coils were outside of tolerances. Due to the complexity of their construction this set us back for basically a month while replacements were made. We have now received replacements and are currently running them through tests and calibrations. Thus far the new electromagnets appear to be within the required tolerances."

"Is the device ready for deployment."

Cécile pursed her lips. Technically the answer was yes, they had not discovered any further problems thus far, but for a machine this complex it really was just a matter of time.

"Yes your highness," she finally answered, "but I caution that we simply have not had enough time operating the machine to have built up a high degree of confidence in it."

That did not seem to determine Euphemia in the least. "How quickly can the entire assemblage be moved to Kamine Island and installed."

"A minimum of a week, your highness."

"See to it, captain."

That was probably as clear a dismissal as any. Cécile bowed again.

"By your command, your highness."

Cécile vacated the office very quickly. Something told her that another conversation would be taking place after her departure and it was not one she wanted to be in any way involved in.

After the door closed firmly behind the captain Euphemia looked over at C.C.

"Your device will reopen the thought elevator?"

The strange woman tilted her head aside. "Twill restore the lambent that was lost. That be the limits of mortal hands."

"But it _will_ permit entry into the thought elevator again?" Euphemia pressed.

"Twould grant passage to one who bears a code," C.C. answered.

"A code." Euphemia's eyes narrowed. "But not a geass."

"Heed well, your highness," C.C. said. "There _be_ no means for one whom bears not a code to step past the threshold. Thy passage should have rendered thy mind flayed."

The frown deepened. "And yet I entered and emerged unharmed. More than unharmed."

"Aye, yet reason wouldst argue that should not _be_. What means this Zero holds to invite thee and see thee unscathed tis beyond mine. I shant risk thy mind and soul with such darkness."

To say that Euphemia was unhappy with this turn of events would have been putting it far too mildly.

"You did not inform me of this a prior," the princess said accusingly.

"Our pact was for mine entry into the thought elevator," C.C. responded, "in exchange for certain sooths thou sought. Should I find greater sooths within the world of C, mine plight was to share what is learned to me."

"And I am to take your word for it?" Euphemia said.

"Aye," C.C. responded without a hint of hesitation.

The princess was obviously not satisfied in the least but seemed aware that her options were severely constrained.

"Understand this, C.C. The stakes that are now at risk are far greater than when I first approached you seeking to learn the truth. Another of my family has fallen, one whom I may not have held especially close but whom shared my blood nonetheless. And that blood was shed by someone else of the blood."

C.C. pursed her lips, and with obvious difficulty answered. "Thou art quite certain."

"Quite," Euphemia said. "The mask and outfit were exact matches, as were the mannerisms. Lelouch is Zero, and for some reason he decided to lend me aid while also seeking mine and mine family's deaths. He is after something, perhaps even something associated with your own goals. I _will_ have the truth of this matter, C.C., and I _will_ have it even if it is your blood that is spilt in answering it."

Kallen regarded the princess, her liege. The one she had sworn an oath to, more than one in fact.

"And what if you end up spilling your own in order to learn the truth, your highness?" she asked.

Euphemia and C.C. both looked up at her.

"You think I would go too far, Kallen?" Euphemia asked.

"I think, your highness, that even though you do not wish to, there may come a time when you find yourself having crossed that line without realizing it."

The two women held each other's gaze for several moments before Euphemia took a deep breath.

"We are at a precipice, Kallen. I can feel it. Something is about to happen that will change the world, and if we do not get a handle on it quickly enough then it might well _end_ the world." Euphemia looked back over at C.C. "And the only person whom might know anything about this has had her lips sealed."

Kallen sighed. The princess had a point, but that did not make her any happier about how hard she was pushing. She too glanced over at C.C.

"Is there nothing else you can tell us?" Kallen asked. "A hint, something that at we can at least try to act upon instead of just waiting?"

C.C.'s eyes glazed over and the woman's form went stock still. A minute passed before her head tilted and she looked at Euphemia again.

"A map."

"Of where?" the princess responded immediately.

"The world."

Euphemia rose and walked over to the bookcase, drawing a large albeit not terribly thick volume from the shelf. She set it on the desk and flipped to a page with a world map. C.C. reached across and grabbed one of the fountain pens and circled several locations on the atlas. The other two women leaned over her shoulder to examine the locations.

"Japan," Kallen said, "Mongolia, England, somewhere in Africa, the Middle East, India, two in North America, and one in, Antarctica? What are these?"

"Thought elevators," Euphemia answered for C.C. "Those are the locations of thought elevators."

"Huh, didn't realize there were so many in the world," Kallen said, then frowned. "Wait, that one in Antarctica, isn't it part of the Britannian Antarctic Territory?"

"Indeed," Euphemia said, eyes narrowing. "In fact before the fall of the Middle East the Empire had control of four of the nine. And Dame Kruszewski did, something, to the one at Kamine Island on my father's behalf." She looked at C.C. "Was that the true aim of the invasion of Japan and the Middle East? To seize control of the thought elevators?"

"Within its pale be the sum and limits of man," C.C. said. She began circling the ones within Britannian territory, the very ones that Euphemia and Kallen had noted. "He whom wields such instruments shalt hold as his demesne all of man." She met Euphemia's gaze. "And by a hair's breadth didst thee veer from disaster."

"A majority," Euphemia said softly. "Whatever my father and the Directorate are planning, they need a majority of the thought elevators. Which we had until the Empire lost control of the Middle East."

Kallen hissed. "That's why Japan was invaded!? What the Hel is the emperor even trying to do!?"

She had not been expecting an actual answer from C.C., not least because of whatever bound the other woman. Nevertheless she received one as the green haired girl took the pen and crossed out the entire map. Kallen's eyes widened while Euphemia inhaled sharply. The princess' previous remark about the end of the world was more hyperbole than an actual assertion. It seemed that that was closer to the truth than she had imagined.

"We need to get the thought elevator open," Euphemia said firmly. "And we need to break whatever is binding you."

To that C.C. nodded, and even smirked. "Worlds, your highness. Tis what rests upon the scales against the weight of mine sins."

* * *

"Report," Monica said curtly.

"Your grace," the soldier on the other end said reflexively. "They showed up half an hour ago, there's at least a hundred or so of them. They've gathered around the perimeter but haven't made any moves to brief it."

The knight cursed. This was not what she needed right now, not with half the country sweating what had happened to the Prince Adonis. Now they had a crowd of people meandering seemingly aimlessly around the defensive perimeter around the New York thought elevator, all of them wearing the crowned masks of C and Zero. If she did not know better she would have sworn the little bastard was trolling her.

"Are they armed?"

One would have thought the officer reporting in would have included that particular detail without being prompted, but no.

"Um, no your grace, not that we can see."

"Alright, stay put, do _not_ use lethal force on any of those people, and wait until I get there."

"Yes your grace!"

Monica closed the channel and slapped the radio back onto her belt. As she emerged on the roof the sound of the helicopter blades whirling could be heard. She might well be flying into another trap but she really did not have a choice. If these people really were more puppets Lelouch had created there was a chance that she could disable the compulsion imprinted upon them. And while Monica was not entirely heartless and would prefer to keep these people alive, there was also the practical matter of avoiding the need to create yet another cover for a large body count of dead civilians.

Fortunately as the helicopter neared the thought elevator no missiles shot up to down her transport. Monica did not take any chances however, jumping out and hurrying away from the landing pad. And after the revelation that Lelouch had a very skilled sniper at his disposal the outfit Monica now wore was considerably less flashy than her usual uniform. It said sad things about the need to take such precautions in the homelands, but then again their opponent was not one to be underestimated.

"Any changes?" Monica said.

"None your grace," the officer said. "They're just, standing there. It's getting a bit, creepy."

The knight frowned, looking out at the perimeter fence.

"I see."

This had to be a diversion, to distract from whatever Lelouch's real goal was. Of course-

"They're moving!"

Monica had already seen the motion as the mass of bodies began pushing against the fence.

"I thought you said there were only a hundred?" she said somewhat bitingly.

"There were your grace," the officer tried. "More have been flowing in since my report."

The knight did not quite sneer. "Position your troops, do not open fire until I give the order."

"Yes your grace!"

The range of Monica's canceler was only about 500 feet. Not far, but far away enough to be tactically useful. A shot sounded. Monica pressed herself against one of the barriers.

"I thought you said they weren't armed!" she shouted.

"They-they weren't!" the officer exclaimed.

Looking out Monica saw that was, only mostly true. There were definitely a few people sporting pistols and the like but the vast majority did not have firearms. Then again the knives they sported would be just as deadly if they got in range.

"Go to Hel!" one of the soldiers shouted.

He rose, leveled his rifle, and jerked back as a shot impacted his shoulder. His scream of pain was just barely audible from the discharge of his own gun. The other soldiers stared in shock at the scene, and at the one who pulled the trigger.

"I issued an order," Monica said coldly and clearly. "Anyone who disobeys it, answers to me."

It was insane, the Knight of Twelve was demanding that they hold fire while coming under fire themselves. Yet the aim of the oncoming people could hardly be called on target, whereas Monica had just demonstrated rather acutely the lethality of her aim. The soldiers began bunkering down and prayed that whatever the knight intended, it would work quickly enough to avoid any further casualties.

Monica turned her attention back to the oncoming crowd. There were easily two hundred people now. Where had Lelouch found all these people? Before she could answer that question however she needed to stop them. Monica reached out, projecting her senses against their minds. There it was, the telltale sign of Lelouch's mental manipulation. Except this time, it was a lot shallower of an impression. There was not the complex knot that she had seen in Claire's mind or even that of the compromised gendarmerie private. In fact she did not sense at all the failsafe. Either Lelouch had been sloppier this time around or he had not cared. But if these people really were a diversion then that probably explained it, he was not expecting them to survive anyway. Monica concentrated, and smashed aside the chains that bound those minds. The first couple rows of people stopped advancing and began looking about in confusion. A confusion that began considerably more heightened as those behind kept pushing.

Cries sounded all about and people began scrambling out of the way even as they tore off their helmets. As each wave came in range Monica triggered her eye again and again until all of the victims were freed from Lelouch's geass. In the end it was all rather, anticlimactic. Monica rose from behind cover, examining the sight. Too easy.

The shot that sounded sent the crowd screaming and running. Monica blinked. And looked down at the massive gaping wound in her stomach.

"Oh bugger."

The knight fell back.

End of Chapter 82

Yay, another cliffhanger.

Fun fact. The site claims that this fic is over 700k words. It's only at ~640k in my master draft, including scenes that are for future chapters. I apparently have 60k worth of author notes.

I've always wondered just why anime seems to insist on having the female characters shorter, or at best the same height, as the male characters of same or similar age. Or even of younger age. It gets to somewhat ridiculous lengths when like in Infinite Stratos Chifuyu is shown as the same height as Ichika despite being several years older.

So the good news is, I'm pretty sure next chapter is when the next big bang is going to happen. I'm only about three chapters behind where I thought it would be put in. The even better news is that said big bang's already written so only half of the chapter needs to be written. The bad news is, that half that needs to be written is going to be meaty all by itself and could take a bit. And I might take the time to work on _A Trail of Tears_ instead of this story.

I'm mildly surprised more of you aren't up in arms about Lelouch courting Cecilia. Or finding reasons to hate him for it.

Any plan that attempted to see Lelouch reconcile with parts of his family would have increased the risk that he would fail outright to stop Ragnarok. Lelouch made a choice, the world itself is more important than his family. Therefore he is prepared to wipe out his entire family to ensure the continuation of the world. Granted he made this decision when he thought Nunnally was dead, but at this point he's too far along his original plan to change gears. Once he decided that the world was more important, then what happens to his family is irrelevant, therefore any plans he makes should focus on achieving his primary goal and should not be distracted by anything that does not achieve that goal, including something as complicated as trying to reduce fatalities. As I said before, the needs of the many. And when the many numbers in the billions, then the deaths of even a few hundred or a few thousand or even a few million is still a price worth paying. The fact that Lelouch did choose to save the world over his family, and ultimately perhaps over his own wellbeing or life, should not come as a surprise. He literally did the exact same thing in the anime. He's just, a bit less restrained in my version.

I think someone is vastly misunderstanding the balance of power right now in the world. Britannia is currently considered the superior of either the Chinese Federation or the European Union if it was taking them on alone and in fact most suspected it was the equal of the two combined. The only reason it's having this much trouble right now is it's having to fight both at the same time. Now that it's basically temporarily withdrawn from the European front and is concentrating solely on knocking out the Chinese first, China's industrial capacity is not sufficient to match the Empire. It is only if the Europeans go full-in to support their nominal Chinese allies that the Chinese have a chance of actually fending off the onslaught that Britannia is preparing to send their way. Those three million soldiers that have finished working up? All of them are being staged in preparation of an invasion of mainland Asia and being backed up by the most powerful navy in the world. China's army might be larger on an absolute scale, but its equipment and doctrine is far below the Britannian or European standard, and that's been showing already. Amphibious invasions are hard and require a lot of naval support. China did not possess a blue seas navy and its naval assets have already taken a thrashing from Britannian forces, meaning it's reaching the point where they do not have the means to mount any further such landing attempts. The Empire on the other hand has most of its navy still intact and are able to build new ships much faster. Therefore in material terms they will be better equipped to carry on the war than either of their enemies alone. If the Chinese and Europeans do not begin collaborating more closely, they'll just end up getting picked off like they always feared they would. Wars are after all won in the factories, and Britannia has a lot more factories than either the Chinese or the Europeans.

The Europeans did not exactly let the Britannian forces escape from the Middle East, that part of the war dragged on for six months of very heavy fighting. At the end of it the Britannians were fighting a very stiff rearguard action with General Craig personally leading it. Craig's forces pretty much fought until they were out of ammo and fuel before surrendering, and combined with the support the Britannian naval forces were providing, support that the Europeans were unable to provide for their own forces, they gave a very good accounting for themselves before surrendering. A bunch of the units left behind did not even surrender for that matter, they literally fought to the last man to stall the Europeans for as long as possible to provide time for the evacuation.

I have not actually portrayed much if any actual interactions between the Britannian military and the Akatsuki. Thus far Akatsuki has primarily been working with the gendarmerie, which I have already established is much less stuck up than the military, and which has in the past even come into conflict with the Britannian military themselves because of its heavy handedness. I have also emphasized many times that the degree of insistent racial hatred as shown in the anime does not make sense and that my portrayal of Britannians and their society is intended to be more balanced, and I will refer anyone with further doubts to go back and reread those and come up with new counterarguments before I bother commenting more on the societal standards. Trying to use the anime as evidence for how racial relations should be misses the point where I repeatedly stated the anime's portrayal is a caricature and too simplified.

As far as the special administration act goes, there was opposition, back in the homelands amongst the nobility. Schneizel rammed it through parliament anyway with his majority in the commons and the support of those nobles in his faction at court, all of which I noted in the actual story. The tension is there, but at this point it's entirely secondary to the main storyline and I've elected not to dedicate too much time to it because otherwise it would double the length of this story and I would get bored of it.

Similarly the soldiers that Kallen has been around with are mostly other members of Euphemia's guard. They were all selected, originally by Jonathan, and then by Villetta, because they could function in an environment where there would be a lot of numbers and would not go all trigger happy. They also swore themselves to Euphemia knowing full well her fairly liberal social attitude. If they could not stand working with non-Britannians, they would have never signed on, nor would they have been given a chance to sign on. In fact the one person that has been giving Kallen grief is Claudio, who is not sworn to Euphemia, but to her sister, the openly racist Cornelia.

Had this story been for publishing it would have been split up into four books at a minimum. More probably five. That being the case, I'm unlikely to ever do a summary of it, simply because any time I spend writing said summary is me not working on the story proper. The closest that'll likely be produced is this fic's tvtropes page which yes, does exist. The lack of a proper character page makes it a bit harder to track certain things, but otherwise it captures a decent range of things from the story that it'll do. And if any of you disagree, well, tvtropes is a freely editable wiki. And someone please go fix the shout outs reference to the maxims. They're not Napoleon's, they're from Schlock. I'm not going to do it primarily because I as the author of the work really shouldn't be touching those pages. It somehow feels like it would be dishonest self-promotion if I did.


	84. Chapter 83

Spoiler: You all should have seen this coming.

 _The exact circumstances behind the Battle of Pendragon are hard to trace, not least because so many of the instigators died over its course and aftermath. One unambiguous force behind it however was Lieutenant Lelouch Lamperouge, the SDECE operative on a campaign to kill as much of the Britannian imperial family as possible. The lieutenant ultimately organized a coalition of forces, replicating on a grand scale the same stratagem he employed in Japan in his attempt to assassinate the Princess Euphemia, to attack the capital of Pendragon._

 _The bulk of the combat strength came from the Carolinian and Virginian provincial guards, which together came to approximately two divisions of armored cavalry and mechanized infantry. The single company of knightmares commanded by the Virginian provincial guard also added a significant punch to the attacking force. The rest of the combat forces came from the Christian terrorist organization the Swords of God, a collection of twelve different cells each named after one of the twelve archangels, with the Swords of Michael being the most prominent therein. In fact the Swords of Michael served as camouflage for the other Swords, claiming responsibility for their actions so as to hide the true extent of the organization._

 _The Britannian government was of course not completely unaware of the presence of a fifth column in the homelands. They also noticed a distinct pattern of people across the country not reporting in when summoned for conscription, one beyond the usual draft dodgers. These were clear warning signs that a major operation was about to be undertaken and the Britannian government reacted accordingly. Nevertheless the sheer scale of the attack that finally struck Pendragon still came within a hair's breadth of achieving its primary objective, and would almost certainly have achieved it had forces under the command of the Princess Euphemia not intervened, an intervention that secured for her the throne of Britannia._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 83

De nobis fabula narratur

The military airfield in Florida had seen quite a bit of activity since the outbreak of war as personnel and resources were shifted about. For the most part the planes that passed through were rugged military transports. Today however a considerably sleeker and cleaner looking plane was sitting on the tarmac, one that was surrounded by soldiers in maroon uniforms. Those that followed court news would easily recognize the soldiers as members of the Princess Carine's royal guard and their presence was a fair indication that the plane was intended to bear the princess somewhere. Those that followed news in general would know that after the murder of the Prince Adonis several of the royal scions that did not reside in Pendragon were making arrangements to temporarily shift their residence to the capital. Despite the attacks that had taken place there, the security of the palace district itself remained intact and thus was likely a much safer place to be until the terrorists behind the recent events were captured.

Not all of the imperial scions were thus retreating, some remained out of stubbornness while others did so of duty. The Princess Euphemia remained in Tokyo, and around her person established another stronghold that protected her half-sisters the Princesses Maribelle and Nunnally. The Princess Carine had originally objected to relocating, due in part to her distaste for what she termed the prissiness of the imperial court, but her retainers had finally managed to convince her of the necessity. As such today she would be leaving her estate and flying to Pendragon, where a residence had already been prepared and merely awaited her arrival. Once there she would be under the shield cast by a multitude of forces ranging from the Knights of the Round to the royal guards of her siblings. Until then however there was a window of vulnerability during which she might suffer the same fate as her brother Adonis, or her brother Clovis.

The convoy bearing the princess was late, though the guards on station had been informed of this. The drivers of the two trucks rolling towards the base however had not been and so made their approach with the assumption that the princess was already onboard. As they neared the road leading onto the base the soldiers on duty did not pay them much mind, at least at first. That all changed the following minute as the trucks crossed the initial line of control without offering notification to the oncoming checkpoint. Or slowing.

After the events of the past few days there was no hesitation in the reaction of the sentries, they all drew their weapons and opened fire. Bullets sprayed the front of the first truck and blood could be seen splattering the windshield. The truck began careening out of control, causing the soldiers to dive out of the way as it crashed into the guard post. The second truck however charged through without slowing. A moment later the first exploded, a wave of heat and pressure scorching and flattening everything in its immediate vicinity.

Alarms were now blaring throughout the base and those soldiers that were armed began piling out. The armsmen guarding the plane waiting for the princess did not wait for their compatriots to handle the matter. Immediately upon sighting the onrushing truck one of the soldiers hefted a LAW and fired off the rocket. The projectile smashed into the truck and detonated, setting off the explosives packed in the vehicle. The combined force caused the ground to shake slightly and burning rubble and metal sprinkled the immediate area. The threat was, for now, neutralized.

The Princess Cornelia did not look terribly happy to be in the same room as the Baron Heinrich Stadtfeld but beyond giving the man a displeased glare she did not overtly express that sentiment. No one was ever going to accuse her highness of being completely closeminded, but her opinion of non-Britannians was well known and in her mind Heinrich's act of marrying a number would always be a mark against the man. She would still listen to what the baron had to say however, if only because the Duchess of Vauxhall had vouched for his professional skill by enlisting him for the taskforce hunting Lelouch. And after a month in which the former prince's acts kept growing in audacity, that taskforce needed to start showing results, especially considering the events of the past week.

"Your highness, ladies and gentlemen," Heinrich began, "the taskforce has discovered an extremely disturbing pattern in the past two weeks across the Empire, all of which we believe have been instigated by the Prince Lelouch."

That was a rather abrupt preamble, but then again Heinrich was never one for wasting words. It was a trait Cornelia could almost appreciate, save for her other annoyances with the man.

"In addition to the overt assassination attempts on the Princess Carine ne Britannia and Dame Monica Kruszewski, the military has seen an extremely disturbing development over the course of the last week. Specifically, reports are coming in all across North America from Columbia to Florida of soldiers in the provincial guards seemingly going AWOL and disappearing. At present count we believe close to three thousand provincial soldiers have deserted their posts."

Cornelia's eyes widened. Three thousand? That was effectively an entire regiment all by itself.

"What is more, an analysis of the reports from the mustering points indicate that nearly six thousand conscripts have failed to report in for the second mobilization wave," Heinrich continued. "Amongst those six thousand, close to 90% have something in common with the missing provincial guardsmen; they are listed as Christian on their birth certificates."

The marshal suppressed the urge to curse. "They're planning an attack."

Heinrich nodded. "Yes your highness, and not just with those numbers."

Cornelia tilted her head quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"We have received reports of desertion from several of the larger provincial guards, but there were a few exceptions," the baron explained. "The two most notable being the Carolinian and Virginian provincial guards."

The princess stared at Heinrich. Her face blanched as the implications hit her. The others in the room accompanying her for the briefing were reacting in similar fashion.

"This is confirmed," she said.

Heinrich nodded. "As of the latest reports from half an hour ago, your highness."

Cornelia inhaled sharply. "Do you have an estimate for when they will launch the operation?"

"A week, no more than two," Heinrich answered firmly. "This many people going missing cannot be missed so their window of opportunity will be slim."

"Indeed," the princess said darkly. "We will need to increase patrols-Hels, the Knight of Ten is still recovering."

Heinrich said nothing. As far as he was concerned Luciano Bradley had gotten off light when the Swords of Michael beat him into a bloody pulp. Now though considering the responsibility of his regiment in patrolling the approaches to Pendragon it was starting to look like the terrorists had targeted him for more than just making an example.

"We need to disarm the two provincial guards immediately," Marshal Zechs Vander said.

"Agreed, but that will not be easy," Cornelia said. "If the Dukes Albarea and Cayenne realize that we are onto them, they might prove desperate enough to kick off their operation immediately."

Grumbles sounded all about. The right to maintain a division sized armed force was one of the privileges that balanced the power of the throne against that of the great peers and intruding upon it was fraught with political danger. Now though that right was threatening to tear apart the Empire despite the life and death struggle Britannia was in the midst of.

"We should try to move units between Virginia and Pendragon," another officer suggested. "The regular military cannot station forces in the city proper, but we can still establish a defensive line outside of the city bounds."

To that Cornelia nodded. "See to it, we must not permit the Virginian and Carolinian provincial guards to cross in force. And put all squadrons along the northeast coast on alert, if the provincial guards do leave their domains, I want the air force ready to send them to meet Hel."

"Yes ma'am."

Cornelia rose. "I will speak with General Waldstein to prepare other contingencies." She then regarded Heinrich almost thoughtfully. "Well done, lieutenant-colonel."

Heinrich bowed his head respectfully. "Your highness."

A single moment of conflict passed over Cornelia's expression before it became stern once more and she made for the exit. The Princess Cornelia's opinion on non-Britannians was well known. Also well-known was her appreciation of competence, and of devotion to family.

* * *

"That gods be damned son of a bitch," Monica cursed. And then winced.

The painkillers were not doing a very good job. The sniper shot had nearly killed her, in fact would have killed her, save for the cybernetic enhancements she had received from the Directorate. Even so one of her kidneys was a complete loss and she would be stuck recuperating for months, just when it looked like Lelouch was about to kick off his little party. That, that more than anything else, was frustrating beyond measure. And potentially would end up finishing the job where Lelouch's sniper had failed.

The door opened and Claire entered. The woman came to attention at Monica's beside.

"Your grace, I've returned from my meeting with Colonel Varrot. Combined with the records from the military, our suspicions appear to have been validated. The Swords of Michael are drawing in members from across the country and will almost certainly be launching a major operation in the near future."

Monica bit her lip. The problem here was that they had no clear idea on exactly when in the near future their enemies would strike. The Baron Stadtfeld's surprisingly rigorous analysis indicated a window of about a week, something that Monica's instincts told her was probably on the mark. But even so, a lot could happen in a week's time. Like her getting shot and becoming bedridden. Lelouch was so going to pay for this.

"What of the Carolinian and Virginian provincial guards?"

"Officially they have just concluded their training exercise," Claire said. "Nevertheless there is no indication that they are dispersing back to their regular stations."

"Thought so," Monica said grimly. "Alright, if we're going to head this off we might need to be a bit more proactive. Captain, consider yourself returned to open active duty. Arrange a meeting with the Prince Schneizel, do it through Colonel Varrot if you have it, it was almost certainly the prince that set her on trying to track Lelouch. See if he can cook up some kind of reason to summon all of the seated peers to Pendragon. Something that should definitely provoke a reaction from the Dukes Albarea and Cayenne, which if they decline to answer the summons will cause questions to be raised."

"Yes your grace. And when they have arrived?"

"Arrest them," Monica ordered. "I'm giving you command of a company of Loki regiment. Use them to take the two into custody. And if they resist, I am authorizing the use of lethal force."

Claire pursed her lips but nodded. "By your command, your grace."

These were increasingly desperate measures but they were rapidly running out of time. As much as Monica hated to admit it Lelouch had been one step ahead too many times. She could only hope that this time around they were acting instead of reacting. And that their actions were not too late.

* * *

It was with some relief that Cécile was able to complete the verification of the particle accelerator and ship it over to Kamine Island without running into any hiccups. Any further delay would probably have utterly ruined any chance of her ever learning the truth behind Suzaku's betrayal. Lloyd of course was more than a bit cross at the amount of time she was putting in compared to her usual duties, but seeing as the Prince Schneizel himself was placing significant importance on the Kamine Island experiment the most the earl could do was whine. The moment of truth was fast approaching as the technicians finished hooking up the exceedingly complex system. Hopefully being in the field like this would not cause the entire assemblage to just go up in smoke.

"Captain Croomy."

Cécile turned about to see the princess standing behind her with Kallen and Laura flanking her.

"Yes your highness?"

"Do you have a moment?"

Cécile pursed her lips. Was this what she was waiting for?

"Yes your highness." She turned to the technician. "If any problems arise contact me immediately."

"Yes ma'am."

Cécile followed the other three women to a secluded part of the thought elevator guarded by several other armsmen. While the captain felt as if her heart were about to explode the princess' expression remained seemingly serene. Kallen's on the hand looked considerably more strained.

"What I am about to reveal to you," Euphemia began, "you may not repeat to any other save myself, Kallen, and Laura. If you do so, I will have you executed for treason. Am I clear, Captain Croomy?"

Cécile swallowed and nodded firmly. "Yes your highness."

Euphemia returned the motion before continuing. "The Tokyo Uprising was instigated by a foreign operative in service to the French SDECE. We conclusive evidence that this operative possesses the ability to impose a compulsion on other minds, one that they cannot disobey. We also have reason to believe that such a compulsion was placed on Private Kururugi, and is the reason he betrayed his oaths."

It took a moment for Cécile to realize that her mouth was hanging agape. When she did she immediately snapped it shut.

"Y-your pardon, your highness."

Euphemia simply nodded but said nothing. Cécile took in a deep breath.

"Your highness is aware of whom this operative is?"

"Yes, and that is information you do not have a need to know."

The captain's expression cracked slightly. She certainly did have a need to know, but it was personal, not operational, which was why the princess was not willing to tell her. She took another deep breath.

"I understand, your highness."

"I am glad," Euphemia said, offering what was probably meant to be a comforting smile.

Yes, she did understand, but Cécile's turmoil was not abated. It was not Suzaku's fault that he betrayed his oaths and raised his arms against Britannia. Yet he would go down in history as a traitor nonetheless. That was a cruel, cruel fate for someone whom had tried so earnestly to be adopted by his new society. He did not deserve that, but Cécile was in no position to try and save him from that.

"If you will excuse me your highness," Cécile said even as her eyes moistened. "I should get back to the p-preparations."

"There is one other point you should be aware of, captain," the princess said.

Cécile blinked, the tears not quite escaping.

"The work you do here, its intent is to attempt to determine the truths behind the SDECE operative," Euphemia said. "The nature and source of his power, and perhaps even the means to counter it."

That caused Cécile's eyes to widen. Was the princess telling the truth, or was this just meant as empty words of comfort? She considered the possibilities. Thought elevator. She had always wondered just whom had named these ancient structures that. It originally sounded more like a metaphor than an actual descriptor. But now with the princess' revelations, perhaps the name was entirely literal.

"I see, your highness," Cécile said after a thoughtful silence.

"Take some time to compose yourself, captain," Euphemia said as she took her leave.

"Thank you, your highness," Cécile said even as her mind continued to race.

There were so many unanswered questions, not least of which was how an ancient monument like this might be related to the power possessed by the SDECE operative. Then again Cécile recalled that this thought elevator was not the only one in the world, and that the Europeans possessed two in their territories. Perhaps they too had been combed for their secrets and that was how the operative acquired this power. If so the ramifications if more such persons appeared, were more than a bit frightening.

So lost in her thoughts it took Cécile a moment to realize that she was not quite alone. Though the princess was departed with Laura in tow Kallen had remained behind.

"Oh, Lady Stadtfeld," Cécile said apologetically.

"Pretty sure we went over this before," Kallen said with a dry smile. "It's Kallen, or Lieutenant Stadtfeld if you want to stick with protocol."

"Very well," Cécile said, offering a smile of her own. "Lieutenant Stadtfeld." Her expression turned more solemn. "So. This was the secret you were keeping."

"Yeah, it was," Kallen said with a nod.

Cécile sighed. "I can see why."

"Well, now you know too," Kallen said. "It ain't gonna be easy, but if you need someone to talk to about this, I'm all ears."

The smile that Cécile gave Kallen this time was more openly appreciative. "Thank you, lieutenant. Kallen." She sighed again. "Is this, why you said you do not hold Suzaku's actions that day against him?"

Kallen nodded. "That's right."

"I see." Cécile shook her head. "I will admit, I am still not entirely sure how to take all this. But, I think in time I will be able to make peace with the knowledge, and not being able to do anything about it."

To that Kallen nodded. The captain would have to, as Euphemia was not kidding in the least about having her shot if she blabbed. And as one of the people who knew exactly why such execution would be warranted, Kallen was pretty sure she would be stuck with performing it. That was not a duty the young woman wanted to ever perform, and one she fervently prayed she would never be called on to do so.

* * *

C.C.'s lips twitched as she considered the panel before her. To the untrained, or rather un-attuned eye, they were just stone slabs. To her eyes however she could make out the faint glow of symbols floating above the cold stone. And when she reached out, the symbols shimmered as her finger touched them. That would do, for now.

"Art thy ministrations complete?"

"We are ready to proceed at your order," Cécile said. Assuming we could understand said order, was the unspoken subtext.

C.C. chuckled. As much as it frustrated her to not be able to clearly explain herself, to the point of the blasted binding trying to choke the life out of her if she tried, and immortality did _not_ make that any less pleasant, it still amused her to consider the mental contortions others had to go through to discern the meaning of her words. At least they got to share in some of the misery she herself endured.

"Alight thy apparatus, tenter."

"Technically it's your device," C.C. could hear Cécile mutter under her breath.

The woman decided she rather liked the captain.

All such humor however left C.C.'s mind as the hum of electricity became audible. That was all the indication any of them had that the thing was even turned on, the antiproton beam was not exactly visible in the containment shell. And then the floor began to glow softly, revealing the birdlike sigil carved upon it.

C.C. nodded. That would do. She stepped forward onto the massive pattern and then onto the sigil itself. A moment later her vision blurred. The next, she was standing in a massive chamber filled with rows and rows of shelves. She was returned to C's World. C.C. took a deep breath. The binding about her was gone. She grinned, then laughed, and twirled about. She was free, if even momentarily. She was free. Her expression darkened and she composed herself. She was free, and she would exercise that freedom.

C.C. looked about the interior of the thought elevator. In some ways it was much as she remembered it, a seemingly endless library whose shelves were filled with books of the myriad of souls that encompassed the human race. She frowned. Something was off, there was a palpable tension and unease, as if all of the souls connected here were restless and waiting for something. C.C. had never felt anything like this in all her years. She was soon sharing in this seeming unease.

The woman walked past the shelves and books, heading for the center of the elevator. As she neared other differences became more apparent. The shelves looked more rundown and even cracked, the books upon them worn and ragged. It was as if the souls of all mankind were somehow stained, darkened. When she arrived she was faced with not the tables and chairs of a sitting room that traditionally occupied it, but a pulsing blue crystal floating above the ground. C.C. hissed. And then caught sight of the singular figure standing before the crystal. Said hiss turned into an outright growl. The figure turned about, a glint of light catching on the opaque visor for a moment as he did so.

"Cecilia," the figure said. "It is, good to see you."

If the woman's response was any indication, the feeling was not reciprocated.

"You ass! You are an ass! Where? He is _there_! _There_ is the ass!"

The figure chuckled ruefully as it stepped away from the crystal. "I am afraid I cannot offer you a drink. Our time here is, short."

"Thou thinks to feign propriety and camaraderie?" C.C. ranted. "Thou set me a task yet set a noose round mine neck. Doust thee take I for a clod, _Lelouch_!?"

Free of her bindings though she was, habit had ingrained within her the archaic pattern of speech. That did not stop her from tearing Lelouch a new one verbally. The sudden shaking of the room however did, throwing C.C. off as she looked about. After a moment or two the tremors subsided.

"What?"

"Your grievances with me are fair and genuine," Lelouch said. "And had I the time I would bend knee and sincerely beg your forgiveness. But what I did I did for your protection, and as much as I regret the suffering you have endured I would do it again." Another tremor swept through the chamber. "And as you can see, we do not have that time."

Footsteps sounded behind her and C.C. spun around, sword at the ready.

"Lelouch, they're breaking through!" a voice shouted. "Is she here yet!?"

C.C.'s eyes widened as she caught sight of the woman shouting. Red hair disheveled, face covered in soot and dried blood, despite it all she still recognized the other woman.

"Kallen?"

And she was not alone. Alongside Kallen was a silver haired youth, body battered and leaning heavily on the woman. The two were wearing some sort of armor though the young man's helmet was cracked.

"Oh good, you're finally here," Kallen said in mix of exasperation and relief. "We'll hold them off as long as we can, get Rai out of here while you still can."

C.C. gapped at the woman. It was indeed Kallen, but not at the same time. Not _her_ Kallen at any rate, much as the Lelouch now behind her was not _her_ Lelouch.

"What-what hast transpired!?"

"NEMO, armor purge now," Kallen said, ignoring the question.

C.C. watched as the black armor worn by the young man cracked and peeled off. Under the armor was a similarly colored skinsuit, but not of any material that she recognized.

"Stop gapping like an idiot and help me here!" Kallen snapped as she lowered the man she was helping, causing C.C. to stir.

The woman quickly hurried over and knelt by the bloodied youth. His breaths were ragged and pained, but he was still breathing. His eyes flickered as he seemed to flit in and out of lucidity.

"M-mum?"

Kallen smiled gently at him. "It's going to be alright, Rai."

She leaned over and planted a kiss on his forehead. C.C. gasped as a crest shone briefly through the armor just below Kallen's collar. This Kallen possessed a code, much as this Lelouch did. And they were seemingly running from something. Something that could threaten a fully awakened code bearer.

"Find me when you wake," Kallen ordered, and then on a louder voice. "Take care of him NEMO."

And promptly lifted the young man and pushed him into C.C.'s arms.

"Go!"

"But-"

"There's no time, they'll be here any second and we can't risk them tracking you. Now go!"

As if to emphasize the point Kallen gave C.C. and Rai a shove. A gateway opened before them, one that C.C. saw led back to Kamine Island. The woman regarded Kallen, and then Lelouch. The man nodded. C.C. scowled. She had come for answers, but she would now be leaving with even more questions. The room trembled again. The crystal behind Lelouch slowly lowered itself into the ground and the floor closed above it, sealing it away.

"Go," Lelouch said, walking past C.C. "And, I am sorry, Cecilia."

With one last glance C.C. reluctantly obeyed. She entered the portal, and light enveloped the two before they disappeared.

The shaking grew worse. Kallen looked back in the direction she came, a crown-like helmet extending from her own armor and covering her head. Lelouch tossed aside his cloak, revealing his own set of jet-black armor.

"Is this really going to work?" Kallen's voice sounded.

"Have faith," Lelouch said. "In them, if not in me."

Kallen growled, her hands tightening around a sleek silver rifle that materialized in them. "If I didn't have faith in you I wouldn't even be here. I'd be dead, or worse."

Lelouch's head lowered ever so slightly. "Indeed. And I vowed that you would never suffer such a fate as the others. I shall not break that vow."

A double-sided sword appeared in his hand and the man tested it.

"You know, you've gotten surprisingly good with that thing," Kallen remarked offhandedly.

"I had a good teacher," Lelouch said, a hint of sorrow tinting his voice.

"Yeah, guess you did."

The tremors turned into an outright explosion and a shower of debris landed before the two. A storm of dust washed over them but neither flinched. Kallen hefted her rifle.

"Preparations are complete?" she asked.

"The thought elevator is set to detonate," Lelouch said. "With any luck it will take out enough of the warp spawn that they won't be able to trace C.C.'s transit."

"It better, cause if one of those things manages to go back, they'll have almost no defense against it."

Motion flickered in the cloud of dust. Kallen immediately fired off a burst and was rewarded with a sharp screech. The two separated, Kallen falling back towards where the crystal used to hang while Lelouch charged forth. A tendril lashed out at the man but was immediately severed with a flick of his blade. Another that tried to strike at him from the side was reduced to a perforated mess by Kallen's rifle. Lelouch danced about Kallen's bursts, cutting down a smaller creature that was trying to flank him. Another was in mid-leap when Lelouch's blade slammed into its mouth. With a flick of the wrist the creature was neatly split into halves and dropped to the ground with a thud.

From her HUD Kallen tracked the creatures charging towards them. More and more were appearing and getting past Lelouch despite the inhuman speed with which he zipped back and forth. She was still able to keep up, picking off those that got through, as well as offering Lelouch support from time to time. The tide was however slowly turning against them.

"Fire in the hole!"

This far back Kallen hardly needed the warning as Lelouch tossed off an explosive. The detonation sent a shockwave that swept aside the dust and smoke and buffeted Kallen but she had little difficulty remaining standing. Before her lay a charnel field of bleeding corpses and limbs. The brief reprieve bought by the explosion did not last long however as tremors ran through the ground once more. Kallen ejected the clip from her rifle and it hissed from the stored heat. She popped a fresh one in and leveled her weapon at the smoky mist some distance away. The motion when it came was sudden and without warning.

"Look out!"

Lelouch spun about but his reaction was too slow. Massive bony scythes smashed into him, snapping the sword and pressing Lelouch in between them. Kallen could almost hear the armor cracking under the strain. She unloaded an entire clip at the monstrosity but her shots only carved shallow groves in its thick carapace. Lelouch let out a deafening cry as a swirl of blue light gathered in his right hand. He brought his fist crashing down, slicing clean through one of the scythes. The creature screamed, whether in rage or pain neither knew, but it did scream.

Dismissing her rifle, Kallen began forming a cackling sphere of red lightning in her right hand. Leaping into the air, she used the creature's own body as a stepping stone to reach higher still. As she came level with the creature's eye Kallen smashed her hand, and the ball of energy, into the exposed organ. The scream that thundered this time was definitely of pain. Even as the creature cried in agony Lelouch wasted no time joining the attack. Taking hold of the broken sword, he threw himself into the air towards the other eye. The creature just barely caught sight of him and reared back, trying to protect itself. This time it was the one that reacted too late as Lelouch drove the blade into the eye, and shattered it entirely with a massive blast of blue lightning. The creature locked up, its nerves overloading from the sudden bursts of electricity. It was given no time to recover as Lelouch primed another explosive, tossed it into the opening he created, and leapt back. The blast shattered the creature's skull and it crumbled into a bloody heap.

"Well," Kallen said between deep breaths. "Damn."

Lelouch examined his armor, noting the cracks along his chest. It would likely not hold for much longer. He then pulled out the other half of his double-sword. The blade was still good for probably another few whacks. As he turned to Kallen to check up on her however an intense pressure swept through the room. Kallen nearly crumbled to her knees but through sheer will remained on her feet, rifle back in her hands. Lelouch turned about, gazing in the direction of the still smoking hole. A lone figure emerged, her long green hair swaying with every step.

"Cecilia," Lelouch said darkly.

"Ah Hel," Kallen muttered.

The woman ejected her empty clip and slapped in a fresh one, for all the good it would do against _that_. And then another pressure pushed against them, this one on their minds. Kallen grimaced. Lelouch somehow bore it without visible reaction.

"It is useless Krell," he said. "You will find that our thoughts are closed to you."

The thing that wore C.C.'s form twisted its head to the side to an unnatural angle. Veins bulged around her sickly yellow eyes. And when her mouth opened, the voice that sounded could barely be termed human.

"Your tenacity is impressive, but ultimately pointless. All the others have fallen and soon you too shall serve to spawn more of my brethren into the Materium. Submit to the only fate destiny deigned you worthy of."

Lelouch considered his current position. His armor was compromised, half of its systems were down and his HUD was fritzing out. He planted the sword into the floor and reached up to pry his helmet off, tossing the now mostly useless thing aside.

"Lelouch, what are you doing?" Kallen's voice sounded over the radio.

"FRIDAY, purge armor," Lelouch said instead of answering.

The black pieces of his armor disengaged and fell to the ground with thuds, revealing a lanky form clothed in a black bodysuit.

"Gods be damned idiot," Lelouch heard Kallen mutter.

He allowed himself a slight smile. And then his expression assumed a stoic, determined visage as the crest on his back began glowing. A cape appeared seemingly from nowhere, wrapping around Lelouch. When it unfurled he stood there armored in black, the crowned helmet resting atop his head once more. Lelouch seized the blade and it too shifted form, restoring itself into the double-sided sword that he had cut down so many of the unnatural spawn with.

"Cover me," Lelouch said.

Kallen needed no further prompting and let loose a barrage at C.C. The thing did not even bother dodging, all of the shots bouncing off a barrier of some sort. No such impediment appeared before Lelouch as he entered into melee range, spinning the sword into a vertical slash. C.C. neatly sidestepped it before raising a hand and blasting Lelouch with a burst of energy. The armor absorbed the impact with no visible effort and Lelouch continued his attack, twirling about to add more momentum to his horizontal slash.

With its bare hands C.C. blocked the swing and even tried to grab hold of the blade. Lelouch withdrew before she could get a proper grip, executing a serious of quick stabs to try to keep her attention fixed on him. From the side Kallen fired off quick shots, this time hitting C.C. but seemingly doing no damage. C.C. growled and offhandedly tossed another blast of energy in Kallen's direction. The woman threw herself out of the way as an explosion enveloped her previous position, before collapsing into an implosion.

Lelouch tried to press forth but it was proving difficult to stay engaged with C.C. while keeping it from getting its hands on him. Suddenly C.C. lunged, seizing the blade and tugging sharply. Lelouch let go, causing C.C. to rear back from the sudden shift in balance. And then the blade exploded, showering C.C. in a shower of metal fragments. Again the creature seemed unharmed, but the sheer force of the attack was enough to stun it for the barest of moments. Lelouch used that moment for all it was worth as he materialized over a dozen copies of his sword and sent all of them flying at C.C. The thing's arms flailed about as it tried to block all of the blows. It succeeded, mostly, when suddenly it lurched forward.

Kallen ejected the spent cartridge and quickly chambered another one. She had ditched her assault rifle and was now hefting a massive anti-material rifle. Another shot smashed into her target, the explosive force of the bolter round causing the creature to stagger.

Lelouch kicked himself off the ground, putting some distance between him and C.C. A good thing too as suddenly a shockwave erupted from the creature. Any closer he likely would have been sent flying. As it was he was still brought to his knees. They were starting to hurt the creature however, C.C.'s form was beginning to distort. On the other hand hey were still far from winning, if the thing decided to actually shed C.C.'s form they would be in for a world of hurt.

"You think this will save your race!?" it shrieked. "You think my death will forestall your inevitable extinction!?"

"It'll at least be something I'll take satisfaction in," Lelouch replied snidely.

A maddening laugh sounded. C.C. rose, her body twisting about with sickening cracks.

"I shall see to it that your satisfaction is short-lived," C.C. spat.

"Oh shit," Kallen murmured.

The woman began unloading everything she had, putting bolter after bolter round into C.C. Even as the physical body was seemingly torn apart something else was coalescing from the shattered flesh.

"A little help here!" Kallen shouted.

A flurry of swords flew through the sickly tendrils and bloated membrane to seemingly no avail. The blast of energy that struck afterward caused the mass of translucent flesh to shudder momentarily but that was all it achieved. Its response was far more forceful as Kallen and Lelouch were tossed off their feet and sent tumbling back.

"Shit," Kallen muttered. "Shit, shit, shit, we've got nothing that can hurt this thing like this!"

The Krell had finished discarding C.C.'s form, the blob of flesh and tendrils hanging ominously in the air. Misshapen rows of teeth flexed while a myriad of eyes rolled about before fixing their gaze upon the two. Kallen collapsed onto her knees again as a massive pressure came crushing down. She panted for breath as her chest was seemingly squeezed by the psionic force. Lelouch slammed his blade into the ground, using it to keep from falling. His muscles burned from the effort however and his legs were quickly buckling.

"Not…like…this," Kallen rasped.

Lelouch's mind raced as he tried to find some way of overcoming the Krell. Yet right here, right now, he knew that there was no answer. The creature was simply too powerful, and with only two of them they could not match the Krell. With only the two of them. Lelouch's head somehow managed to snap up as suddenly countless explosions enveloped the Krell. It screamed out, in surprise, not pain, but the momentary distraction was enough to break its grip upon Lelouch and Kallen.

"Forward sisters!" a voice shouted. "Forward brothers! Let not the Krell find succor or reprieve!"

A cry thundered in the chamber as dozens of armor clad figures charged forth, guns blazing as they bathed the Krell in explosive rounds. The creature spun about, the sudden appearance of so many new adversaries momentarily throwing it into confusion. From their midst two figures advanced, wielding not bolters but swords that shone with psychic light. As they closed in on the Krell their comrades ceased fire one by one so as not to hit the two warriors. As if one the two struck and feinted, hacking away at the creature in turns to keep its attention divided.

With the presence of the uncorrupted minds Kallen found her own bolstered. She rose, tapping into her code and reconnecting with Lelouch's.

"Shall we?"

Kallen grinned ferociously. "Let's dance."

Lelouch seized his blade and charged in to join the melee. Kallen took aim, nailing the Krell with pinpoint accuracy even in the tangle of bodies that were her comrades and the creature. Then one by one the other armored soldiers joined in, their shots guided by Kallen's geass as they were fed targets and timing over their link to the woman. The cries of the creature were now of pain, and distress. The ferocity of the attacks visited upon it only intensified.

Ichor splattered the ground as the Krell's flesh was slowly torn asunder. Its efforts to regenerate, to make good on the blooding inflicted upon it was beginning to be massively outpaced by the damage the humans were inflicting upon it. The creature seemed to become smaller, to fold in upon itself in a future effort to cover its wounds. Finally the sickly membrane and grotesque tendrils began taking on a more familiar hue and shape. A human shape.

The fire slackened before stopping outright though no one let down their guard. Crumbled on the ground was the broken form of C.C., her body bloodied and battered. The eyes though, the eyes still burned with a dark hate. Lelouch stood looming over the woman, his blade poised above her.

"I am sorry for having failed you, Cecilia. Requiesce in pace."

And brought the sword slamming down into her heart. The creature shuddered, a moan all that escaped from its mouth. And then the body slowly broke down, the skin sinking in as the flesh atrophied until only bone seemed to remain. And then that too crumbled into dust, leaving nothing of the woman that once was behind.

Kallen walked over, dismissing her weapon and placing a hand on Lelouch.

"She would have wanted it to end," she said gently. "She would not have wanted to remain that thing's puppet."

"Yes," Lelouch said softly, "but I should not have let her fall prey to the Krell in the first place."

Kallen said nothing in response, only standing at Lelouch's side silently for several moments. But their task was not yet done, and the room shuddered once more. The two turned to the soldiers gathered about them.

"Brothers, sisters," Kallen said with a nod. "Good work."

"Inquisitor," one of the sword wielding warriors said for all of them.

Lelouch took a deep breath. "The final defensive line as fallen?"

"Yes Inquisitor," the other confirmed. "We made for the thought elevator the moment Exterminatus was sanctioned."

"I see," the man said as he regarded the soldiers before him. "Once we were billions. And now, this is all that is left of mankind. And yet, there is still hope."

The soldiers exchanged looks.

"Then, Rai made it?"

"He did," Kallen answered firmly.

Relief swept over the soldiers, relief but also resignation. Their part was done. And with it would come a most final rest. Another shudder swept under their feet.

"Brothers of the Grey Knights," Lelouch said. "Sisters of the Bloody Rose. I thank you for having stood by our side for so long. Know that this grim, dark world about us may yet be undone, and that all of you have played a pivotal role in seeing to the dawning of hope."

The shudders were now pulsing quickly. The room itself was effectively shaking.

Lelouch glanced back towards the center of the chamber. The others followed his gaze.

"But even with hope, there comes a need for vengeance. For satisfaction. And thus, at the end of mankind, we shall deliver one final blow to the Krell that have hounded and hunted us."

By now the crystal was no longer pulsing, it was giving off a continuous glow that slowly enveloped everything about it. Lelouch looked back at the others even as Kallen took hold of his hand. He squeezed back.

"My brothers, my sisters. Let the Immaterium ring with the will of humanity, let Jörmungandr release its tail and visit upon our foes the true Ragnarök!"

The light washed over Kallen and Lelouch. It washed over the soldiers that stood with them. It washed over all of Japan and what remained of Asia. And soon the entire world was alight, as deep within the mantle the veins of sakuradite resonated with the pulse from the thought elevator, resonated and began to shake apart the very earth itself. In space there was no medium for sound to travel through. Upon Earth the thundering cracks of the erupting ground was all that could be heard. As the planet tore itself asunder however a silence fell upon the broken world, a silence that ended the screams of billions of souls now freed from eternal damnation.

End of Chapter 83

Apocalypse how.

I think, I think that might be the first time I actually wrote a scene from C.C.'s perspective. Well, I suppose it's about time.

Rai's backstory in Lost Colors was, umm, well, I've probably overused the word, but stupid is what comes to mind. It makes so little sense contextually that there is literally no way to reconcile it realistically with the geopolitics of the Code Geass world, even before I started making it more realistic. So instead I've decided to recycle the character, ejecting his backstory, while keeping true to what little character he was given in the game. Or rather what character I am inferring he was given, since I've never actually played the game. And by all indications I didn't miss much. And the fact that he's a lithe youth with messy silver hair actually works in my favor considerably for what I have planned for him. Oh yes, I have a lot of things planned for him.

I've always wondered if Cécile and Schneizel would constitute a crack pairing or if there's canon support for it. More of an idle thought than anything else, I certainly don't have any intention of actually using that pairing.

Note that I am going to definitely be taking a shortish break before the next chapter. I needed to get this stuff out of my system, but now that it's out, I'm going to focus on a few other things first. Either way I've probably given all of you plenty of fodder to speculate over.

For questions on Sharon, I refer to all of you to the tvtropes characters page on Trails of Cold Steel. She's under the Reinford Group.

I look forward to the, interesting, commentary that I'm sure all of you will be wanting to offer. :P


	85. Chapter 84

_Court politics in the Holy Britannian Empire prior to the ascension of the Empress Euphemia could be extremely treacherous as the various imperial cousins sought to position themselves in advantageous ways. The most ambitious of these members even sought to displace the primary line of succession, something which actually became much more difficult to do after the Emperor Charles took the throne and began producing heirs. By the time of the Great War the emperor had sired nearly two dozen children, though attrition had seen the number of survivors cut down to sixteen total. This point did not however deter some of the more ambitious imperial cousins, and the Duke Felix Cayenne possessed ambition in spades._

 _Widely regarded as one of the more traditional nobles, Duke Cayenne's position at court had been eroding for some time thanks to the rise of the Prince Schneizel and his moderate faction in Parliament. While Cayenne led other likeminded peers as part of the Conservative Association in the House of Lords, their numbers were simply too few to stop the raft of reforms that the Prince Schneizel enacted to streamline the governance of the Empire, a streamlining that saw power concentrated in the central government and removed from the provincial lords like the duke himself. It was perhaps in recognition of the fact that he would not be able to prevent the further erosion of noble prerogative using legal means that the duke began to resort to extralegal methods, from sponsoring the Swords of Michael terrorist organization to lending the use of his provincial guard to Lieutenant Lamperouge in his effort to wipe out the imperial family._

 _-Towards a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 84

De futuro

"Have you ever wondered what the world outside was like, Rai?"

The boy shook his head as he regarded the girl gazing out the window.

"I do. All the time. Whenever your mother speaks of the lands beyond Japan, of the forests and mountains and deserts, I want to see those lands."

Rai nodded as his mother's words echoed in his mind from all the stories she had told both of them. Stories about faraway lands that were once fell under the domain of man. Lands that were no longer fit for mortal man to tread.

"Do you think we'll get to go see those lands, Rai?" the girl asked, slowly turning around, and gazed at him with hollow eyes.

Rai started, jerking back. Yet his body did not move, it was as if his feet were nailed to the floor. He could not even lean away, his form was frozen stiff. A hand reached out, and the skin about those empty sockets cracked.

"Won't you come with me, Rai?"

The hand drew closer and Rai felt the urge to scream. He could not however, his throat seemed to be as frozen as the rest of his body.

"You promised you'd always be with me, right Rai? Until the very end."

The little girl was no longer so little, she was now a young woman with flowing brown hair tied neatly together a neat ponytail with a large black bow. Tears began streaking down Rai's cheeks as he gazed at those empty sockets.

"Forever and ever, until the very end."

The hand touched his cheeks, the cold fingers brushing them. With a scream Rai lashed out, the sword he had not even known was in his grip slicing through the figure. He felt no resistance as the blade sank in.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Rai shot up, tearing off the sensors that had been hooked up to him to monitor his vitals. His eyes, soaked as they were in tears, had a crazed light in them. A nurse was at his side immediately, grabbing hold of him and trying to keep him from careening out of the bed outright. Her efforts were quickly proven insufficient however and two of the guards quickly piled on to help.

By the time Kallen reached the room a total of five people had grabbed hold of the young man before finally managing to subdue him. He was sitting up now, his lithe form breathing heavily and looking a bit disheveled, thought that might have something to do with the messy nature of his silver hair. The way in which his eyes focused indicated he was at least lucid. And staring intently at her. Kallen regarded him carefully. The preliminary examination by the doctors had turned up very little beyond the fact that they could not get the skinsuit he was wearing off, nor could they make any holes in it. Kallen's own attempt to scan the young man with her geass had also failed, which indicated that he too was a geass bearer. Whose contractor he was remained an open question though, C.C. had denied emphatically that he had anything to do with her. For that matter the only bit of information that she could offer was that his name was Rai, and he had some sort of relationship to Kallen and Zero, or as they knew him, Lelouch. Just what that relationship could be Kallen could not begin to guess.

She walked over to Rai's bedside and met his gaze, trying to present a comforting front.

"Can you understand me?"

The youth's head bobbed once.

"I am Lieutenant Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki, knight of honor to her highness the Princess Euphemia. You are presently in a room at the viceroy's palace in Tokyo. Can you tell me who you are?"

His mouth opened slowly. "Captain Raibeart Koller, Imperial Britannian Knightmare Corps."

Raibeart, which meant Rai was just a nickname. And he looked remarkably young to be a captain, Kallen would not have pegged for being more than at most a year or two older than herself.

"Well captain," she said. "Are you feeling okay?"

Rai took another deep breath, and shook his head. Kallen frowned. That was probably a stupid question, based on what C.C. had been able to tell them he had been engaged in some kind of battle before being entrusted to her. A losing one at that.

"Your gr-lieutenant," Rai said softly, and then more firmly. "I have a message I need to deliver. One to yourself, and to her maj-highness, the Princess Euphemia."

The frown remained as Kallen noted the way Rai corrected himself. Almost as if he was about to address her and Euphemia differently. Before she could think much more on it however she sensed another presence behind her. Turning about Kallen was not surprised in the least to see Euphemia and Laura there. Not surprised, but a bit exasperated.

"Your highness," she said somewhat chidingly. "I asked that you let me handle the first interview."

"Apologies Kallen," Euphemia said with a most unapologetic smile. "Curiosity got the better of me."

"You know what they say about the cat," Kallen said resignedly.

"That satisfaction brought it back?"

Kallen held up her hands in surrender. There really was no talking the princess out of anything once she set her mind to it. Of course that did not mean Kallen was about to be derelict in her duty and let Euphemia close enough that Rai might be able to harm the princess before she herself could intervene. Kallen looked back over at the young man, and raised an eyebrow.

Rai was staring very intently at the princess. Not as if he had any intention of trying to do her harm, his gaze was almost painfully obviously one of awe. And something else. Kallen felt like sighing all over again. Men.

"Clear the room," she ordered loudly.

There was just the slightest hesitation but the soldiers present obeyed. If nothing else Kallen and Laura were both armed and however fancy the outfit the mysterious young man was wearing it would offer little protection from a bullet to the face. Once Rai was alone with the three women Euphemia stepped forward slightly but still remained behind Kallen.

"Captain Koller, was it?"

Rai nodded, still looking rather intently at the princess.

"I am Euphemia li Britannia. This is Lieutenant Laura Arseid, one whom will soon also be my knight."

And one whom could be trusted with any message intended for the princess. Rai looked over at the other woman and nodded respectfully. Laura reciprocated.

"You have a message for us," the princess continued, getting straight to the point.

Rai nodded again. "This, will likely sound insane."

Euphemia chuckled lightly, again eliciting a look of mild surprise from Rai.

"I think, captain, that the bounds of my belief may be more, flexible, than you might think."

Rai blinked before taking another deep breath. "Very well your maj-your highness."

There it was again, that slip. It was really starting to sound like he wanted to address Euphemia as majesty instead of highness. By this point all three of the women were having suspicions of one sort or another.

"Your highness, for the past few years you and your siblings have been working to find and root out an organization known as the Directorate," Rai began. And immediately caused the three to tense. "I can tell you that you _will_ succeed in purging the organization, but because the act was incomplete, it would plant the seeds for mankind's extinction."

Rai closed his mouth and waited for a reaction. It took a minute or so for one to be forthcoming.

"Was," Euphemia said carefully. "Does that mean from your perspective, this purge happened in the past?"

"Yes, your highness," Rai confirmed.

Kallen felt her head spinning. Her life was crazy enough as it was with the code and geass, now they were throwing time travel into the mix? She really did not need any further insanity.

"How long ago?" Euphemia on the other hand seemed remarkably unperturbed.

Rai's lips thinned. "Approximately four hundred years, your highness."

Until now. That number seemed to shake even Euphemia and the princess simply gazed at Rai unblinkingly. Finally the shock seemed to wear off and Euphemia shook her head.

"You are right, captain. That _does_ sound insane."

Rai smiled wryly. "I know it is a lot to take in, but allow me the opportunity to explain, and I think you will find that many questions you have about your own dilemmas will be answered, including that regarding the Lord Lelouch."

Euphemia's expression flickered. "Lord Lelouch."

A nod. "You seek his redemption."

Rai now had the princess' rapt attention though Kallen was now frowning. While Euphemia might still consider Lelouch a brother her own opinion of the man was that of a mass murderer. The only redemption she was prepared to grant the man was a clean death if he showed remorse for all his sins. Otherwise she did not care in the least how mess an end the man suffered so long as he was ended.

Rai looked over at Kallen. "You are his redemption."

The room went completely and utterly still. Kallen was not even sure she was breathing. Her eyes remained locked on Rai as something welled up inside of her. It did not take long to explode.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?"

To his credit Rai did not flinch at the outburst. If anything he almost seemed amused. Kallen suppressed the urge to strangle the young man, rank and whatever his true nature was be damned.

"The Lord Lelouch was on your side," Rai continued. "He always has been. But he cannot be certain whom was on _his_ side, and due to the stakes he could not risk betrayal."

"And what are the stakes?" Euphemia cut in before Kallen could start yelling again. "What is it that my brother is fighting, that he would murder his own kin?"

Rai's expression darkened so palpably that even Kallen found herself momentarily drawn in by the sorrow on his face. Just enough to keep herself in check a bit longer.

"He seeks to preserve all of mankind."

The looks that faced Rai made clear that that answer was not enough. The young man took a deep breath.

"There is a great deal to explain."

Euphemia walked over to a chair and seated herself. "Then you had best get started."

Rai again regarded the princess, but this time the slightest of smiles quirked the edge of his lips. Before he could begin however a knock sounded, earning a frown from the princess. Kallen walked over and opened the door a crack.

"Apologies lieutenant, but she insisted."

Kallen sighed and nodded. "That's alright. Get your butt in here C.C., we're just getting to the good stuff."

The green haired girl gave a sniff and entered, and a thud sounded as Rai suddenly backed into the headboard on his bed. The motion caused the others to look at him quizzically, and take note of the way he stared at C.C. Kallen closed the door.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

Rai's mouth worked soundlessly for a few moments before he clamped it shut and slowly shook his head.

"My apologies," he finally said. "I will, explain in due time mum."

Kallen cocked her head aside, eyebrow raised.

"Ma'am," Rai annunciated more clearly before clearing his throat. "Apologies."

The young woman finally shrugged. Probably half the empire pronounced ma'am as mum, though the military tended to try to clean up the regional accents so that everyone could actually understand each other. She did however note the other implication in how Rai addressed her. Technically the young man outranked her, but the deference he was showing suggested from his perspective it should have been the other way around.

"Anyway, you were saying?"

Rai still eyed C.C. warily but nodded. "I should begin at the start. Your highness, one of the mysteries that you have been trying to solve is what the objective of the Directorate, and in turn your father, was. Is. The answer to that is a project called Ragnarök."

By its name alone all of the listeners could tell that goal was bad news. C.C. however seemed unperturbed. Almost as if she already knew all this. The lack of reaction did not go unnoticed by either Kallen or Euphemia.

"The purpose of Ragnarök," Rai continued, "is to make use of the thought elevators to wipe away the barriers between the conscious and subconscious. To effectively unite all human thought into a collective, to permit perfect understanding of each other. And to eliminate any and all differences and individuality."

Kallen hissed. She instinctively could feel that that was a really, really bad idea. World endingly bad at that. She almost wondered whether the emperor had a sick sense of humor giving it a name like that.

"How is that possible?" Euphemia asked.

Rai clasped his hands together. "That, is complicated. The means will become apparent as I continue my explanation. As such it would make more sense for me to simply continue than to diverge for an explanation now."

After a moment Euphemia nodded. "Very well."

"Thank you," Rai nodded. "As you have most likely surmised, Ragnarök's success would have significant ramifications on mankind as a whole. By eliminating all differences between people, the greatest source of conflict between people would also be gone. That is the intent of your father. He has, in a word, lost all faith in mankind and does not believe we as a species will ever be able to stop betraying and hurting each other. And so he determined upon a, final solution."

Euphemia's eyes narrowed. "That solution seems more equivalent with death than life."

"Quite, your highness," Rai said. "And not just from a philosophical perspective. There is an unintended consequence in destroying the barrier between the conscious and subconscious, one that your father and the Directorate are wholly unaware of. By destroying the barrier, they would also destroy our defenses as a species against mental contamination."

The princess cocked her head aside. "Mental contamination?"

Rai nodded. "At present if an individual were to succumb to an outside force, the, infection for lack of a better term, would be limited to that individual. If the barriers between people no longer existed, then to have one succumb would be the same as having all mankind be infected."

The four women could roughly follow what Rai meant, as well as pick up on the undertones.

"Is that what happened?" Euphemia asked. "Humanity succumbing to some, foreign element?"

"Yes, in a manner of speaking," Rai said. "From my perspective the attempt to initiate Ragnarök failed, and so the barriers between individuals remained. And while this meant that the, infection, needed to take the long route and spread to other humans individually, by the time we understood the nature of the threat it had already decimated a significant percentage of mankind."

The princess regarded Rai levelly, and with some degree of sympathy. "You believe humanity to be lost from, when you came."

The smile Rai gave her was one tinged with sorrow. "I knew how to fieldstrip and service a pistol when I was ten, your highness. I made my first actual combat sortie when I was fourteen. My eighteenth birthday, I was leading one of the evacuation groups from Tokyo to our final redoubt at Kamine Island. That was two months ago."

"Final redoubt," Euphemia said softly.

Rai leaned up against the headboard. "There were only two thousand of us left after the fall of Tokyo." He shook his head. "We weren't going to make it." And grimaced. "No. We _didn't_ make it."

The silence this time was of earnest sympathy, even from C.C. In coming here Rai had left everything he knew, and left everyone he knew to die. That could not have been easy, assuming all this was true.

"You have my condolences," Euphemia said firmly. "And yet, there is a point to your words. They hinge on whether time travel itself is even possible."

"It is, and it isn't," Rai said.

The others looked at him blankly.

"It's, complicated," he sighed. "You can't as a practical consequence travel through time, you can't pop back into the past and then return to the present to see the changes that occurred, the transfer of information is one way. And every time you make a change, you effectively destroy your own time-plane."

"Destroy?" Euphemia said quizzically.

Rai chewed his lips, seemingly trying to come up with a clearer explanation. "This is going to be a massive oversimplification, but you can think of each moment in time as a finite probability that can lead to other probabilities based on the inputs into each moment. Conceptually every possible future exists as a potential path from your current frame of reference, but the probability of each differs based on what has come before and what you do now. The circumstances that lead to your 'present' have a series of fixed events that must occur. If you go back in time and change something however, the conditions required for your exact probability to come about are gone. As such, every change you make will result in a new chain of probabilities distinct from the one that you would consider your 'present,' with the consequence that you really can't change your own past, all you do is act as an input into a different past so to speak. From your perspective, the exact timeframe that I come from will never actually exist."

"I suppose that makes a degree of sense," the princess allowed, "though I am afraid I do not quite understand the distinction you are making. You say that you cannot go back into the past, change it, and return, because the changes effected would result in a different outcome. Is that not technically the objective when changing the past?"

"Umm, again, yes and no, your highness," Rai said. "The issue is that the changes that I effect here will create a distinctly different future than the one I came from. A future which does not have a place for me. Were I to, well, go to that future, it would be no different than my appearance here. Here I have no history, no place. There it would be the same. In fact there may even be another, well, me. I would not displace him upon my appearance, there would simply be two of us. The one that belongs there, and well, me."

"I see," Euphemia said.

"Still sounds crazy to me," Kallen muttered.

"I can't claim to be an expert," Rai said with a shrug. "I only can tell you the extent of what I learned and what I understand of NEMO's explanation."

Euphemia regarded Rai. "NEMO?"

"Oh right, I should explain that too," Rai said, rubbing the back of his neck. "NEMO. Neural Engram Mnemonic Operator. She, well, technically it, is an artificial intelligence system embedded into my spine. Acts as a secondary memory storage device and also as an assistant operator for combat suits and knightmares. All knightmare pilots get one."

"An artificial intelligence?" Euphemia said curiously.

Rai nodded. "She can, well, think for herself, is one way of putting it. But she's not a naturally occurring biological intelligence, she was created by people."

"I see," Euphemia said, even as the others seemed more openly wary. "Is it possible to speak with, her?"

"Umm, well, she can hear you," Rai said, rubbing his neck again, "and I can relay what she wants to say, but without a proper interface for me to sync with, no, not directly."

"Well, I suppose technology would have seen some advance in four centuries," Euphemia said lightly. "Alright, let us assume for the moment that I accept the possibility of time travel. You said that the failure to completely purge the Directorate led to the extinction of humanity. How."

Rai grimaced. "The answer to that is whom. Your highness is already acquainted with him, but the cause for humanity's extinction is the, well, being known as V.V."

That got everyone's attention, not that he did not have it previously, but if the open glares were any indication yes, V.V. was known, and very much loathed by basically everyone here, not excepting himself.

"Before I explain his role however I need to finish my explanation regarding Ragnarök," Rai said. "Previously I said that the thought elevators are a necessary part of it. In addition to them, or at least a majority of them, there is also another device that you need to employ, the Sword of Akasha."

The hiss that sounded from C.C. was loud and clear. She at least apparently recognized the name, and in letting that be known lent some weight to Rai's words.

"The Sword acts in conjunction with the thought elevators to actually destroy the barrier separating the subconscious," Rai continued, "and it is not actually located on Earth."

Euphemia blinked. "Pardon?"

"The thought elevators and the Sword are relics of an extinct civilization," Rai said, "one that was in some ways far more advanced than the humans of this era, and in other ways far more primitive. They possessed the ability to effectively reshape the world with thought, and the code and geass were tools to harness the power of thought to perform what you might term as miracles. They did not have technology in the sense of photonics or neural circuitry, but they did understand the principles of architecture and some basic metallurgy. What they could not achieve with physical tools, they used the power of their minds instead, and thus were able to raise up the thought elevators, and set their crowning jewel, a device that could basically rewrite reality, in a place where they thought none without a code or geass would be able to reach." The young man pointed upward. "The Jovian moon of Ganymede."

The three women minus C.C. looked up. And then looked back at Rai.

"No offense," Kallen spoke for them, "but that's only a bit more believable than the whole time traveling thing. You're suggesting that some prehistoric society that could move things with their mind somehow managed to build something in space, way out beyond Earth's orbit, all the way out by Jupiter."

"Not move things with their mind," Rai corrected. "They could reshape the world around them. The more contractors a code bearer possessed, the larger the number of minds they could chain together to work as one."

Looks of alarm flickered across Kallen and Euphemia's faces and the older girl glanced over at C.C. The other woman remained expressionless however.

"What do you mean by chained," Euphemia asked.

"The geass is a means of control," Rai said. "It creates a direct link between the code bearer and his or her contractor, and allows the code bearer to effectively, well, borrow, the will of their contractor in shaping the world about them. The more contractors you have, the more powerful you are." The young man grimaced. "In fact we are fairly certain that had certain events not occurred, the geass civilization would have eventually fallen due to the conflict of code bearers trying to establish total dominance."

Kallen felt a chill run down her spine. C.C. had never displayed such abilities, but was that because she chose not to, or because of whatever bound her?

"Interesting," Euphemia said, causing Kallen to look at the princess somewhat incredulously. "Very well, assuming I accept your explanation regarding the thought elevators and the Sword of Akasha, I presume they have some relation to what causes mankind's eventual extinction."

"Yes your highness," Rai said with a nod. "As I said previously, someone with a code or a geass can use the thought elevators to access the Sword of Akasha. During the assault on the Directorate that was how V.V. managed to escape with his life. He fled to the Sword, likely hoping to use it against his enemies. Due to the severity of the risks you had Cecilia seal off all of the thought elevators you could reach, preventing the Sword of Akasha from using them and also effectively imprisoning him off planet. Due to, circumstances, it took nearly three hundred years before an expedition could be organized to reach Ganymede to investigate the Sword directly. And that is when they found _it_ , the thing that we believe was directly responsible for the fall of the geass civilization."

Frowns all around regarded Rai.

"The events you referred to previously," Euphemia said for all of them.

Rai nodded. "We call it a Krell. It's, we're fairly certain it's a xeno lifeform, one that probably should not even exist in the Materium." At the blank looks Rai cleared his throat. "The physical, material world. At a minimum it seems to require a host to do so, but because of the barrier that exists between the human conscious and subconscious, it can't directly latch onto a human to serve as a host, unless that human has a direct connection to C's World." His eyes fell upon C.C. "A code."

Four sharp inhalations sounded almost simultaneously.

"V.V. possesses a code," Euphemia stated.

Rai nodded. "And the Krell, sealed away in the Sword of Akasha, found a host when he fled there to escape capture, and was waiting when the expedition arrived."

"Wait," Kallen said. "You said the Sword of Akasha is instrumental to Ragnarök. Would not V.V. have visited it previously?"

This time Rai looked over at C.C. "The entrance to the Sword of Akasha has safeguards in place. You require a code bearer on the outside to open and close it, we believe it was meant to ensure that no single code bearer in the past could come to dominate. According to Cecilia, while she collaborated with V.V. and the emperor, she never lent her aide to actually enter and leave the Sword."

Kallen's head snapped over to look at C.C. "You helped with this insanity!?"

C.C. raised an eyebrow. "Thou art hardly the first to whom I hast plighted a troth to, Kallen."

The implication to that was quite clear.

"Alright, who the Hel was your previous contractor that wanted to basically wipe out all human individuality then?" Kallen demanded.

C.C. grimaced. The reason why was also obvious.

Kallen growled and turned towards Rai again. "Do you know how to remove the binding on her?"

Rai blinked. "It's not a binding. It's a failsafe designed to destroy a code."

By this point one could tell which bits of information C.C. was not aware of by seeing whether she joined the others in gaping at Rai. This was one of those times.

"Wait, who put that on her!?" Kallen demanded. "And why!?"

"The Lord Lelouch," Rai said frankly. "He did it so that when V.V. has one of his contractors try to seize C.C.'s code, it would create a negative feedback loop that would destroy both codes."

Three sets of eyes now fell upon C.C. The woman in question had an extremely annoyed grimace on her face.

"That son of a bitch," Kallen said in no small amount of wonder. And quickly shook her head. "Hold on, if Lelouch did this, then why did he try to kill her at Ashford?"

"He did what?" Rai said somewhat quizzically. "Are you perhaps referring to the Lelouch of this timeframe?"

Kallen groaned. "This is getting too complicated."

"You are saying that a Lelouch in a further point in time somehow placed this failsafe on a C.C. in his past?" Euphemia asked.

Rai nodded. "That is what my information says."

"So then there have been multiple, intrusions, upon our timeframe from the future," Euphemia continued.

"Correct." Rai cocked his head aside. "You seem, to be taking this in stride, your highness."

The edge of Euphemia's lip quirked. "Believe me, I have had long practice feigning composure. I am not unmoved by all the revelations this day."

"I, see, your highness," Rai said, allowing a slight smile of his own before shaking his head. "There is one last bit of crucial information, regarding the manner in which the Krell managed to overtake humanity." The young man's eyes darkened. "It was able to make use of the code it gained from possessing V.V. to forcibly create a connection with others within a certain range, to strip away the defenses that are normally built in. And once those defenses are gone, these people become little more than puppets to the Krell, to be used however it desires. That is the fate humanity succumbed to in my time. It is one that I sincerely hope will not come to pass this time around."

* * *

Cayenne regarded the fancily adorned piece of paper with visible distaste. A summons to all sitting members of the House of Lords was never issued trivially and the reason for this one was certainly of sufficient gravitas. It was also plain as day just what it was hoping to achieve.

"The government must be desperate," he said with a sneer, "hoping that by summoning me they can somehow forestall the inevitable."

"And yet it is an artful maneuver," Aurelia said without looking back from the window. "They know this will incite much of the nobility into open hostility, that it will demand a response from the great peers. If you decline to appear, people will ask questions."

The duke picked up the piece of paper and resisted the urge to crumple it up and toss it into the fireplace. The words on it was simple enough but the ramifications, that was another matter entirely. The proposal that was to be put forth before parliament was to have the central government take direct control of taxation at the provincial level, to more efficiently manage the allocation of funds to the various services the government was supposed to provide. In short, this was nothing less than a direct assault on the prerogative of the great peers like Cayenne, and one that the government could not have possibly thought would stand a chance of passing through the House of Lords. As an excuse to get him and Albarea to Pendragon, outside of their centers of power however, his wife was right, it was an almost artful maneuver.

"Well two can play at that game," Cayenne sneered. "I will simply make known that I will not even deign to present myself for the debate or vote and will simply register a no in absentia."

"That might work," Aurelia said, "except that suspicions will still be raised once the attack occurs. And if both you and Albarea are no-shows when your provincial guards just happen to cross the border to, assist, in the defense of Pendragon, no one will believe that you were not behind the original attack."

Cayenne ground his teeth. His wife had a point, she usually did.

"Then what would you propose?"

This time Aurelia did turn about. "Announce your intention to attend and make your way there, but do so in such a way as they will not be able to find you until you enter the house of lords. After which unless the government is prepared to arrest you publically, you should be able to drag out the sessions until the attack begins, at which point you should be able to escape in the chaos."

Cayenne's mouth thinned. "There are a lot of shoulds in your proposal, Aurelia."

"Considering the scale of your ambition, the fact that you might have to place yourself at personal risk should not be a surprise, nor a deterrent," Aurelia chided her husband. "In fact your presence would even offer an opportunity, a justification for your provincial guard to act once it becomes clear that the military is impotent."

Cayenne hardly looked convinced but the duke knew his wife was right. There was always the risk that the government might catch on to this plan and attempt some sort of countermeasure. In a way he was lucky they were not yet prepared to move against him openly, that they wanted him in Pendragon before attempting anything instead of just sending in the army.

"Very well," he said somewhat glumly. "We shall attempt this. I presume you have some idea as to how I am to evade detection upon entry into the city?"

Aurelia flashed a most unpleasant smile. "Seeing as our European co-conspirators have been so successful in evading the capital's security apparatus, I thought we might call upon their services. They have need of your survival as much as us after all."

Cayenne felt a slight chill run down his spin. His wife could be an exceedingly ruthless woman, though he liked to think that she was also a dedicated and loyal one. There were times though he found himself wondering just how firm that loyalty was. Still what she said was right, the Europeans needed him as much as she needed him. So long as he did not miscalculate the extent of that need he would be there to see this entire campaign conclude. The die was cast, and the risks he faced were significant. Those however all paled in comparison to the prize that he stood to win.

* * *

Things were afoot. That much was evident to anyone that worked in the viceroy's palace. Just what the current resident was planning however was still a mystery, just that the Princess Euphemia had struck upon something. First there was the sudden relocation of not only her sister the Princess Nunnally but also her adopted sister Milly Ashford to the palace. That one at least made a degree of sense considering the recent attempts on the imperial family back in the homelands. Then there was the back and forth travel of one Laura Arseid. One day she was dispatched to Pendragon on one of the supersonic transports reserved for use by the imperial family and the most trusted servants of the Empire. And then before the day was over she would be back for an hour or two at most before being sent to the capital again. Laura was obviously acting as a courier of some sort for the princess, but just what could be so sensitive as to require hand delivery and yet require such immediate responses no one outside the princess' inner circle could fathom.

Even those within that inner circle were not necessarily in the know, though their faith in the princess remained unwavering and they obeyed her orders dutifully. For the royal guard, those orders included fully kitting up and preparing for immediate deployment, somewhere. This included not just the regular gear but also the knightmares like Villetta and Laura's Gloucester, Kallen's Guren, and though he was not actually sworn to the princess, Rean's Lancelot. To those observers that were able to see that much, it was apparent whatever the princess was preparing to do had the support of at least her brother the Prince Schneizel. That was both encouraging and frightening at the same time.

The doors opened and the princess entered with Maribelle, their respective armsmen on their heels. The members of Euphemia's cabinet, plus a few select others, all rose respectfully.

"Be seated," Euphemia said immediately even before she reached her own spot.

They obeyed, understanding full well that the princess did not wish to waste any time with protocol.

"In a few days' time I expect to need to return to Pendragon for a matter of some importance," she said. "During that time my sister Maribelle will be acting as viceroy in my stead. Though most of you only know her by reputation, rest assured that on matters of policy Maribelle and I are of accord. I would ask that you serve her as diligently as you have myself this past year."

That last bit was said with the princess' gaze locked onto the two attendees of non-Britannian heritage. While Kaguya was to a certain extent used to being included in Euphemia's meetings, Ohgi had been taken completely off guard by the summons. For that matter he had yet to find an opportunity to speak with Kallen to try to find out just what exactly was going on. The other men and women assembled also exchanged looks of mild consternation. This really had come out of nowhere and they were as yet unsure just how to react.

"How long will you be absent, your highness?" Ruben asked for all of them even as he respectfully nodded to the Princess Maribelle to indicate that he meant no slight against her with the question.

"I honestly cannot say," Euphemia said. "The gods willing it should be no more than a few weeks."

That did not really offer much in the way of comfort.

"Any further questions?"

Heads shook, those that moved at all, though confusion remained plainly evident on most expressions. Ruben however cleared his throat and Euphemia looked over at her chief of staff again. The old man smiled gently.

"A favor for an old man that has come to think of you as another granddaughter, your highness. Please, do take care."

To that Euphemia gave a warm smile. She rose, took hold of Ruben's hand, and planted a platonic kiss on his forehead.

"You have stood by me for much, Ruben. Done so much for me. I will do my best to heed your request." Then Euphemia faced the others. "I have perhaps not made this known often enough, but I have been most impressed by the service of all whom are now seated before me. What has been achieved in Japan, was the realization of my vision by your hands. You believed, and thus you made it real." The princess curtsied. "Thank you."

* * *

The door opened and Andreas turned to see the Princess Euphemia enter her office. He bowed respectfully.

"General," the princess greeted as she walked over to her desk and took a seat. "Are preparations complete?"

"Yes your highness," Andreas responded. "The 100th infantry battalion is preparing to ship out now, we should be able to airlift them all to California in a day's time." The man grimaced. "They will not be arriving with much gear however, and we've had to basically commandeer all of the transport planes in Japan to perform the airlift."

"I apologize for the strain this is causing your own logistics," Euphemia said with a grateful smile. "As for the equipment, my sister has already informed me that provisions have been made to reequip them as necessary in San Diego. Fortunately there is a large store of arms and other equipment that we were able to commandeer from those earmarked for overseas." The smile turned just a bit mischievous. "The quartermaster-general will likely not be terribly happy with me, I am afraid."

Andreas snorted. That was putting it lightly. Granted a single battalion and its equipment was not much compared to all of the divisions being shuffled around, its sudden dislocation was still going to cause a bit of pain due to the disruption it would cause to the Empire's meticulously planned deployment schedule.

"Before I depart for the homelands is there anything else I should be aware of?" Euphemia asked.

"Nothing beyond what was in the last strategic update," Andreas said. "There has been some movement by the Russians but we have not been able to get a clear enough picture with our reconnaissance flights."

"I see," Euphemia said thoughtfully before shrugging. "Well general, I leave with confidence knowing that Japan is in your care. And I thank you for the long service you have provided my family."

"You are most welcome your highness," Andreas said, and his expression softened. "And know that I pray for your success."

* * *

Kallen looked out at the row and row of soldiers, many of them Japanese. The 100th infantry battalion was the first predominantly Japanese battalion in service to Britannia, and the most loyal to the Princess Euphemia personally. Loyal because that loyalty had been repaid in kind by Euphemia herself, to them and to their people. And now she was here to see just how far that loyalty would extend. She stepped forth before onto the makeshift platform before them.

"You all know who I am," her voice carried through the hanger. "Just a few months ago we would have been on opposite sides of this war. Now, we're all fighting under the same banner. No, not a banner, a person." Kallen's gaze swept across the chamber. "You all know whom I mean."

That they did. While technically all of them had sworn an oath to Britannia and the emperor, personal loyalty played a significant role in the workings of the empire. For the men and women here, their personal loyalties lay with the Princess Euphemia, wholeheartedly and without reserve.

"I'll keep this simple," Kallen continued. "Something's about to happen in the homeland. Something big, something bad. Lots of somethings in fact. Enough that the princess' siblings back in the homelands are starting to scrape the barrel for people they can trust to try to put out the fires. Which is where all of you come in."

Grimaces spread across the crowd, but there was an edge of determination to them. Kallen crossed her arms.

"Now I can't order any of you to do this." She cracked a smirk. "Not just because I'm a lowly lieutenant and not even in your chain of command. Even if I was your battalion CO, I wouldn't order any of you to follow me. Because to be frank, the business we're about to get tangled with is nasty. Court business, at that. And it goes all the way up to the top."

With her glasses off Kallen could sense the nervous tension all of them were feeling. And yet, none of them seemed to actually be hesitating. It was as if they had all already made up their minds.

"So I'm here to ask, not order, ask all of you to follow me onto the planes waiting outside. There's seats enough for all of you if you're willing to take the plunge with me. I'll be getting on regardless, as well the rest of her highness' armsmen. And if any of you-"

Before Kallen could say another word one of the Britannian officers stepped forward. Kallen immediately recognized him, even though his uniform was a bit different now.

"Captain Levingston Ackermann," he said. "I will join you."

As one all of the soldiers standing behind Levi took one step forward. A moment later all three companies of the 100th infantry battalion were once more in line. Kallen grinned and gave a hearty nod.

"Let's roll!"

* * *

Lelouch regarded the monument. The tall marble arches made it appear more like a small palace than a tomb, though perhaps that was the intention. Just a month ago the place was the official resting place of three individuals, now two thanks to the revelation that the Princess Nunnally had not actually perished with her mother. There were growing rumors that perhaps the Prince Lelouch had also survived and gone into hiding, and was simply biding his time before making his own triumphant return. How little did those gossipers realize the veracity of such talk, or of how naïve it was.

It was a rather dreary day, the chill of winter still lingered in the air with dark clouds overcast. Gettysburg might have been a picturesque place under finer weather but today was not such a day. Which suited Lelouch just fine, as that meant there were fewer people out to pay their respects and thus a much smaller chance of him being discovered. He walked up to the monument, bouquet in hand. Quite a few others were already placed on the names, apparently the fondness the public had for his mother still strong even after all these years. Or perhaps Nunnally's reappearance had awakened it once more.

Lelouch set the bouquet down but said no words. He was not here to ask for his mother's understanding, or her protection. Perhaps he was here to say a final goodbye, or to let her know that he would soon be joining her. He had resisted coming here during all the months he was in the homelands but Charlotte's insistence finally wore him down. Now that he was here, he simply could not find any words to utter to these cold stone pillars. He turned to take his leave, tightening up his jacket both to help keep out the chill and to make his face just a bit harder to see. There were still others here after all. Walking down the stone path Lelouch passed a few other mourners and ignored them. He had enough to worry about after all. Without particularly paying any attention Lelouch stepped aside to let a shortish girl with pink hair wearing a fur coat pass.

The deep sigh saw cold air flush out his longs. Lelouch had to give his family some credit, the moment they caught onto his scheming they had not hesitated to respond. Still, his plans were far in advance and come the new day they would bear fruit. And then he would see just to what degree his family was guilty of-

"Lelouch?"

The young man froze. And ever so slowly he turned about. There standing a few steps away was the girl he had just passed, looking at him intently with a pair of pink eyes. No, not pink. A glint of violent shone. Lelouch's own eyes widened.

"Mother?"

End of Chapter 84

I've actually had this done for a few days. I ended up needing to unload a lot of stuff before I could finally stop and take a break. I could have uploaded earlier, but then my 'break' would have been on this cliffhanger. Which would probably have been cruel. That and the extra time gave me opportunities to slowly clean up the exposition so that it's more coherent and tighter.

I think that might actually be an even longer exposition scene than Monica's half-explanation of code and geass. Note that there's a whole lot more exposition to be done by Rai, but one can only infodump so much in a single scene before it starts feeling stale. Rai will have more to say about the geass civilization, right now he's basically had to dump all of the critical points so that Euphemia and co can understand the magnitude of the threat they're facing, and why they absolutely must not fuck this up. Because they've already fucked it up once and it ended the human race.

Note that Euphemia is not actually shifting forces back to the homelands to help with the Battle of Pendragon, that hasn't started yet, she's after something else entirely. On the west coast. And the reason Euphemia's even bringing troops over from Japan is because Cornelia is busy trying to move what loyal forces she does have available in the homelands in preparation for the big kerfuffle that she knows Lelouch is about to kick off.

We're also about to start doing the shifting between multiple perspectives again, there's just going to be too many things going on at the same time that I can't keep it coherent if I have to keep jumping between different sides throughout a chapter.

I am really, really looking forward to the unveiling that'll be happening in the next chapter. It's going to be awesome. And it'll be a nice bonus to all of the current and former navy service people that are reading. I know I have at least one.

Be careful not to read too closely into some of the lines. Lelouch's redemption could be as much Kallen beating the ever loving stuffing out of him as it could be her accepting him.

I think the basic questions have been explained by Rai's extremely long exposition. If there are others feel free to ask them, I'll answer insomuch as they do not reveal future developments.

One thing that I do want to emphasize is that this is very much not a traveling back in time to "fix" the preset for Rai. His present is gone, he has no place to go back to. By interacting with the past like this he's effectively destroyed his past, which eliminates his future. It is just as he said, if he did try to go back to the point in time he was originally from, what he would find is an entirely different world, one where "he" does not have a place. He might not even exist in that new timeline, or there might be a version of him, but he and that person are distinct and separate. It's not as if he'd be neatly integrated back in. So for him, that's it. His timeline is gone, everyone he knew in it dead, and he has to basically start from scratch where he is now. As a consequence this basically makes all trips into the past effectively one-way. Now you could return to the 'time plane' that you originated from, and then you would be integrated back in. But considering that in that time plane the Earth is gone, there's not exactly anyplace for Rai to actually go back to.

There's thus far technically been three Zeros that have shown up. Zero in the current timeframe, which is basically Lelouch copying Crow's imagery, the Zero that fought Monica, which was Kallen standing in for Lelouch to throw Monica off track, and the Zero that could arguably have kicked off all of the insanity in the story, the Lelouch that put the failsafe on C.C., severed Euphemia's connection to V.V., asked Kallen to stand in for him, and who just destroyed his world at the end of the last chapter. Sort of. There is also sort of a relationship between the first and third Zero, but that'll need to wait for future chapters.

Monica was revealed as the Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus something like thirty chapters back.

One would think that those of you that have kept up with this story for over eighty chapters would have done so because you trust me to know what I'm doing, and that anything that I toss out of left field came about because I actually have a plan. Confusion is one thing, the latter half of the previous chapter did come with very little foreshadowing, at least with regard to the specifics, a lot of you picked up that there was something going on that involved either alternate dimensions or timeline shenanigans and that something had gone way wrong, requiring manipulation of the 'past' or whatever. Disliking the direction I took is also perfectly fair, insomuch as people all have different tastes and if you don't like it anymore I'm certainly not going to hold it against you if you decide to drop the story. Though how 'realistic' this particular development is must be kept in the context of the Code Geass world already having people with special powers and whatnot. I would argue that I achieved a high believability in my story with respect to the more fantastical elements more because I've kept myself consistent with the details, and not because I've adhered to the laws of physics and biological to a hard degree.

Ranting and whining because you didn't read closely enough for the subtexts though, you're not going to get any sympathy from me. The entire battle effectively took place inside of the thought elevator, or rather C's World, the fact that those of you who seem so dissatisfied with some of the feats pulled off by Lelouch and Kallen seem to have abjectly missed that point, does not inspire me with confidence that you will have the patience to actually wait until the development fully unfolds. This story does not seek to provide instant gratification every chapter, it is structured such that there are interleaving arcs that cross multiple chapters and overlap each other. It will therefore be extremely rare for a single chapter to ever be able to stand alone and be considered the "it" chapter that really wows you, nor is it possible to read only a single chapter and be able to understand all the nuances that are in it, you have to read the chapters in the context of everything else, including some stuff that hasn't been published yet. And I'm perfectly fine with that, that's how I write. Ask yourself whether that is the type of story you actually enjoy reading or have the patience for.

So to all the readers who have indicated that they trust that I will make all of this make sense, and also to all the readers that at least made known their disagreements or confusion civilly, you have my thanks and I hope I will live up to your expectations. To the rest of you, what I said above.


	86. Chapter 85

_The final count for Project Damocles' cost was over forty billion pounds, enough money to have built three new carrier battlegroups outright for the Imperial Britannian Navy. Damocles was the singular most expensive project undertaken by the Holy Britannian Empire up to that point, far eclipsing other contemporary programs like Muspelheim or future projects like Mjölnir. In fact, it would not be until Project Jörmungandr that its record for the most expensive single project was broken._

 _A significant percentage of the cost went not into the actual construction of Damocles' designs but in creating the infrastructure needed to do so in the first place. To ensure that the work would be carried out in absolute secrecy the Empire elected to have all of the construction take place in a remote part of the province of Nevada at what was then known as Groom Lake. While this decision significantly increased the program costs since all of the supporting infrastructure had to be built from scratch, the Empire was ultimately vindicated when after the war it became apparent that none of the other powers had any inkling of the massive program's existence beyond a few scant rumors, much less what Damocles sought to achieve. The colossal failure that this represented would significantly mar the reputation of several prominent European intelligence services, from the French Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage to the Russian Sluzhba vneshney razvedki._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 85

Facile princeps

The supersonic transport reserved for Euphemia's personal use could cross the Pacific Ocean in approximately six hours, about half what conventional planes were capable of. Kallen had elected to accompany the battalion on their own planes, as much a show of solidarity as it was to be able to brief them and work with the officers in planning the upcoming operation. Rai, C.C., and the rest of Euphemia's guard accompanied the princess herself. Even with the relatively shorter flight six hours was still plenty of time for Rai to answer more questions about the Directorate, and its agents.

"It's not an artificial geass," he said. "The Knight of Twelve possesses an artificial code." He tapped his temple. "In fact I possess a much more advanced iteration of the design Dame Kruszewski has. Hers was the first successfully implanted prototype."

"An artificial code," Euphemia said thoughtfully. "But for what purpose would they have created it?"

"To get around the limit I mentioned previously," Rai explained. "They need someone with a code on the outside of the Sword of Akasha in order to keep the door open. The artificial code was one of several attempts to obtain that."

"That makes sense," Euphemia said. "So, does this code also permit Dame Kruszewski, or yourself, to grant geasses?"

Rai shook his head. "After four hundred years that is still beyond human science."

"Ah. Well, I hope you do not take offense to this, captain, but I do take a measure of comfort from that," Euphemia said with a slight smile.

"None whatsoever," Rai said, returning one of his own.

"Does possession of an artificial code also make you vulnerable to possession by the Krell?" Laura asked.

"The one Dame Kruszewski has does," Rai answered. "Mine is hardened against any such intrusion, and NEMO serves as a second line of defense. Eroding those defenses would do so much neurological damage that I would be dead by the time it actually broke through. And a corpse is of little use to the Krell as a host."

"Freedom or death, then," Euphemia noted.

"To exist as that thing's puppet is a fate far worse than death," Rai stated firmly, a glint in his eye.

Euphemia acknowledged his conviction with a nod. "Then in that case, what exactly is the mechanism behind the geass jamming that Dame Kruszewski performs?"

"A fairly simple one, she is able to interrupt the connection between a geass holder and the code bearer they are contracted to. It was an unexpected side effect, but one that the Emperor Charles seemed, seems to find useful."

"And can your artificial code do the same?" Euphemia asked.

Rai nodded. "We also found it extremely useful for temporarily severing the connection of the Krell with its puppets." And grimaced. "It made, euthanizing them simpler."

The world that the captain came from was a grim one indeed, Euphemia surmised.

"Still, the fact that V.V. never entered the Sword of Akasha would suggest that the prototype Dame Kruszewski possesses is also not able to fool the security system that protects it."

"Also correct, your highness," Rai said. "In fact I believe the artificial code I possess is the first that was able to do so."

"So it took four centuries to reach that point," Euphemia noted. And then frowned. "There is one point that remains unanswered. Zero, Lelouch, severed my connection to V.V.'s code. With whom am I contracted to then?"

Rai blinked. "I, honestly do not know, your highness. That was not part of my briefing." And after a thoughtful pause. "And if NEMO knows she is not authorized to release that information to me."

Euphemia raised an eyebrow. "Your, assistant, can keep such secrets from you?"

Rai smirked. "She does more than keep secrets from me, your highness. She also makes sure I keep certain secrets from you. Like if I tried to discuss certain future developments like classified information or classified information."

The princess and Laura both regarded Rai quizzically.

"A mental block that effectively scrambles my speech when I say something that might reveal information that was felt should be kept from you," Rai elucidated.

"Is that for the purpose of making sure certain knowledge of the future will not influence us?" Laura asked.

Another nod. "My understanding is that classified information," and tired grimace, "went through and tagged all of the data that were not directly relevant to what you would need to know to keep the Krell from becoming a threat. Beyond that, they, wish for you to make your own decisions, your highness."

Euphemia rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "And yet you have revealed much to me already. One being that Britannia exists as some sort of state even four hundred years from now. And remains an empire."

Rai smiled slightly, seemingly impressed by the princess' insight. "The empire endured, your highness. In fact I would argue that humanity survived as long as it did against the Krell because of its leadership. It is, regrettable that I cannot tell you more about its achievements. At the same time, I can understand why, they, would elect to withhold certain bits of information from you."

"Like the fact that I become empress?"

Rai froze, remaining so for several seconds before he finally managed to work up a response.

"That, is not something I can comment on."

"Are you sure?" Euphemia asked. "I would have thought if your, minders, really had not wanted you to reveal that, that filter would have never let you accidentally start addressing me as majesty."

The princess was insightful, and astute. Rai pursed his lips as he seemed to consider the possibilities.

"Your majesty," he finally said. "Euphemia I. the 99th Empress of the Holy Britannian Empire." And eyes widened. "The Iron Heart of Britannia."

Euphemia's own expression remained controlled though she regarded Rai intently. He opened his mouth again.

"Classified information." And grimaced.

"It seems there are limits," Euphemia said with a slight smile.

"That there are," Rai agreed.

"Still." Euphemia frowned. "The Iron Heart of Britannia. I am not sure I like the sound of that."

From Rai's expression it was clear that her reaction was well justified. In fact the young man almost looked pained to be unable to reveal why. In its own way however that also told Euphemia something, and the princess vowed to not let that come to pass.

* * *

It was impossible. It was utterly, absolutely impossible. His mother was dead. The pink haired girl standing before him looked nothing like her either, even ignoring the obvious difference in age. And yet the way she held herself, the mischievous tilt of her lips, that bright confidence in her eyes. All of them reminded Lelouch of his mother, the late Empress Marianne. And then recognition struck.

"Anya Alstreim, the Knight of Six."

Lelouch was not really one to panic, when faced with a problem he preferred to approach it from an analytical perspective. Identify the source, determine the most efficient way of neutralizing said source, and then execute. Some problems however had very simple solutions if only because the situations they were encountered in set hard limits on what solutions were feasible. This particular case was one such situation. The pistol was in his hand and Lelouch got off a single shot before he found himself slammed onto the ground.

"Lelouch, sto-"

That was as far as the knight got before Lelouch slammed his head against hers. The sharpness of the pain left him disoriented for a brief moment but the same also was enough to make Anya reel back. Lelouch pushed her the rest of the way off and began beating a very hasty retreat, not even taking the time to try to shoot her. That was taken care of as Charlotte and Laura made their appearances, weapons drawn. The Knight of Six however was not alone.

"Stop!" Anya shouted.

Lelouch ignored her and kept running. Shots began sounding, at least some of which came from Charlotte and Laura.

"Damnation Lelouch, listen to your mother when she tells you to STOP!"

The Knight of Six was either crazy or really full of herself, Lelouch was not sure which. He did not really care either, right now the only thing that mattered was getting the hell out of here. Just his bloody damn luck to run into a knight of the round at a time like this. After sliding around another tomb he spared a glance to see just how many pursuers were after them. Six, from what he could see. All fairly well armed at that.

"We need an exit," he said.

"No shit," was Charlotte's ever so helpful retort. "We've got at least two squads converging on us, if you could hijack any of them that'd be really handy right now!"

Easier said than done, as unless he was prepared to resort to overextending his geass he would need to make eye contact long enough to actually issue a command. And if these people served the Knight of Six, they might well have been issued orders to make sure that did not happen. Suddenly the shooting stopped. Lelouch looked over at Charlotte quizzically. The Frenchwoman shrugged and peered out carefully to see what was going on.

"Lelouch!" That was the Knight of Six again. "I want to talk."

The young man in question frowned. "This has to be a ploy, to buy time for reinforcements to arrive."

"Why bother?" Charlotte countered. "They're already converging on us, it would have been only a matter of time before they surrounded us and took us down."

"Unless they want me alive."

That elicited grimaces from both his companions.

"What do we do?" Laura asked.

Lelouch considered his options. "You on the radio with Fie?"

The German girl nodded.

"Alright, I'll try to stall, you and her organize an exit for us." He looked at Charlotte. "Make sure whatever happens they do _not_ take me alive."

Charlotte grimaced but nodded. "Understood." And kept her pistol trained on Lelouch.

Satisfied, Lelouch nodded in turn and raised an empty arm out from behind the memorial. When no one shot at him, he stepped out, holding up his gun to make clear he was not pointing it at anyone. A moment later the Knight of Six emerged from cover as well, though Lelouch could make out several soldiers staying back and just waiting for him to make the wrong move. He could worry about them later. For now the younger girl in front of him had his full attention. The younger girl who was for some strange reason beaming a bright smile at him. Lelouch was starting to suspect the Knight of Six really did have a few screws loose.

"It's just as Charles said, you've grown up into a fine and capable young man." The smile disappeared into a reproachful frown. "Except for the whole trying to kill your family thing."

Lelouch was very rarely ever taken aback by the weirdness life often threw his way. This time though he was not quite sure what to make of the flippant tone of the Knight of Six.

"I am sorry dame knight, but there seems to be some sort of misunderstanding," Lelouch said. "You act as if we've met before."

"Well I suppose you probably don't recognize me in this form," Anya said. "Though now that I think about it, you should at least recognize Anya, no? She was residing at the villa as a pupil of mine."

Lelouch's eyes narrowed. And then it clicked.

"You were being taught etiquette by-"

And promptly clapped his mouth shut. Though from the smile Anya was beaming him it was already too late.

"Bingo." She took a step closer and Lelouch promptly took a step back. A pout replaced the smile. "There is no need to be so cold, Lelouch."

"I do not recall being familiar with you in the first place," was the former prince's response.

Anya cocked her head aside. "Nanna and Euphie would often argue about who would get to marry you when you grew up." And flashed a smile. "I told them that they would have to beat me first if they wanted a shot."

Lelouch frowned again. Those words were eliciting some long buried memories, though assuming his remembrance was not completely muddled by the passage of time it was his mother that had said that to his erstwhile siblings.

"You have, an interesting recollection," he stated blandly.

Anya puffed her cheeks out as if affronted. "Do you really think that you were the only one C.C. ever granted a geass to?"

That caused Lelouch to start and he examined the younger girl more closely. Was it actually possible?

"I have never heard of a geass that allowed outright possession of another's body," Lelouch said very carefully.

"Well, not really possession," Anya, or perhaps Marianne, said. "More like sharing." And smiled again. "Anya's arguing very strongly that we should at the very least take you prisoner before continuing this conversation, but I know you, Lelouch. You were always very thorough. You've ordered that lovely girlfriend of yours to shoot you before letting that happen, no?"

Lelouch made no response, but his silence still served as confirmation.

"You'll have to introduce us sometime," Anya, no, definitely Marianne said. "If I'm going to be a mother-in-law, I need to properly appraise the woman you've fallen for."

This was definitely one of the more surreal experiences even for him. And then a thought occurred to Lelouch.

"A question, mother."

The woman in the form of Anya Alstreim clapped her hands together. "Oh? Finally willing to accept the truth?"

"That depends on the answer you give." Lelouch gripped his pistol again and the soldiers accompanying the Knight of Six made to draw their weapons as well. "Do you pursue Ragnarök."

For a moment the expression on Anya's face froze. And then it returned to the genial, even playful smile that she was feigning before.

"Is that why you have chosen to act out?" Marianne asked. "I must say, I am very disappointed in you, Lelouch. All this could have been resolved without any bloodshed had you only chosen to talk with your family instead of trying to be thorough by murdering all of them."

Lelouch tilted his head down ever so slightly, noting the flashing of Laura's hands as she issued a series of signals.

"I see."

Anya cocked her head aside. "You see what?"

"For you Ragnarök does not represent a threat, thus you consider it something that can be discussed." Lelouch pressed his pistol against his head. "I am answered, mother." The word was more spat than spoken. "Au revoir."

"Lelouch!"

The shot that sounded would have taken Anya down, but she possessed not only her own talents as the Knight of Six but also the experience of her predecessor, the Empress Marianne. She had seen through the ruse immediately and was already getting behind cover so the shot by Laura missed cleanly. Even that was a distraction however as an armored Humvee suddenly crashed through the fencing surrounding the cemetery and skid to a halt behind Laura and Charlotte.

"Move!" Fie shouted.

Lelouch was right behind his comrades and jumped through the open door. The Humvee was already pulling away as he slammed it shut.

"Nice going Fie," he complimented.

"We'll need to ditch the car soon," Fie said from the driver's seat. "Too conspicuous."

The girl was actually standing upright in order to actually reach the pedals with her petite form.

"Where did you even get it in the first place?" Charlotte wondered even as she kept a watch for pursuit.

"Stole it from the group that came with that knight," Fie responded. "I slashed the tires of the other ones as well, that should at least slow them down a little bit."

"Good thinking," Lelouch said as he pulled out his cell. There were a few calls he needed to make.

Before he could start dialing however it began vibrating. Looking at the incoming number he frowned.

"What is it?"

"Julius, we've got a problem," Reiner's voice sounded on the other side. "Cayenne's been grabbed, looked like an Inquisitio wetwork team. And they did it inside the House of Lords too."

Lelouch cursed. It seemed the government was pulling out all the stops. They were out of time.

"Initiate endgame now."

A brief pause passed.

"Understood."

That was the last word Reiner uttered before a click indicated he had hung up. Lelouch closed his phone and glanced over at Charlotte. Her expression was one of grim determination.

"It's starting isn't it."

Lelouch nodded. "The die is cast." And smiled darkly. "Let the games begin."

* * *

The thought elevator located in the province of California was like its counterpart in New York closed off to the public, with a small contingent of soldiers guarding it. They numbered only a single platoon seeing as no one seriously contemplated anyone actually attempting to advance on the site in force, the soldiers were more to keep wayward civilians from doing something stupid. They most certainly were not intended to stand off an entire battalion, which was what the men and women guarding the thought elevator found themselves facing as the new day dawned.

When faced with such a force differential the only sane thing to do was to stand down, which the platoon was convinced to do after it became clear that they were not facing some sort of rogue element. Or rather, if this was a rogue element it was one directly backed by three of the four most prominent heirs in the line of succession, which put the decision of how to respond so far outside their paygrades that they could hardly be blamed for not committing suicide by actually trying to fight.

For her part Kallen found herself remarkably thankful that common sense had broken out amongst the Britannian soldiers. She might have not hesitated to kill them in the past when they were on opposite sides but now, after learning everything that Rai had to tell them, they were going to need all the help they could get and going around killing Britannians just trying to do their job was not the way to go about getting it.

With Rai and C.C. flanking her, Kallen led a contingent of soldiers into the thought elevator's inner chamber. The soldiers were probably a tad unnecessary, but better safe than sorry. As Rai had made clear in his relatively easy to understand explanations the thought elevators were necessary for the Directorate's plan of initiating Ragnarök. More specifically, five of the nine needed to be tuned to resonate with the Sword of Akasha when it was fired. The two in North America and one in Antarctica were already set to do so, while the one in Japan had actually been locked out by another code bearer. Rai was not entirely forthcoming in whom that code bearer was but Kallen could read between the lines that it was the work of the future, apparently less insane Lelouch. Now they were about to do the same thing with C.C. to the thought elevator in California. That was guaranteed to provoke a reaction from the Directorate, and more importantly V.V., which would present them with the opportunity to capture the little bastard and neutralize his code with the failsafe C.C. was carrying around. In theory.

"Are we sure this will get V.V. to come out in the open instead of just sending more assassins after us?"

"This is not just about trying to lure him out," Rai responded. "Stopping Ragnarök is in its own way as important as stopping V.V. If he succeeds in destroying the barrier between the conscious and subconscious, then the Krell will not need a code bearer to enslave all of humanity."

"True enough," Kallen muttered.

"Besides," Rai continued, "even if we fail to neutralize V.V. and he still flees into the Sword of Akasha, we still have the option of dropping a few classified information on it."

Rai frowned as Kallen shot him a quizzical look. "A few what?"

"Sorry, there's an automatic block on me so that I don't reveal too much about the future, or my past," Rai said. "Apparently that one's something that I shouldn't be talking about."

"Ooookay," Kallen said. "So, eventually the Empire develops a weapon that's able to kill a code bearer? Why didn't you guys use it against V.V.?"

Rai smiled sadly. "Who says we didn't?"

Kallen kept her mouth shut. She already had enough of her foot shoved in it. Instead she turned her attention back to C.C. as the woman approached a set of stone panels reminiscent of the ones in the Kamine Island thought elevator. Throughout all this C.C. had more or less ignored the banter going on between the two, instead simply concentrating on her task. Her objective was simple, though it was only now possible thanks to information that Rai had provided.

As the young man explained it in order for the Sword of Akasha to be used to affect the entire world it needed to be synchronized to at least five of the nine thought elevators that existed. Thus far the Directorate had successfully synchronized three of them, and failed to synchronize the one at Kamine Island because a lock had been placed on it. This lock was something that only a code bearer was supposed to be able to do, and to unlock it required another code bearer to physically access and open it. Monica's artificial code was not quite up to that task, a fact that the knight had reported to the emperor and the Directorate. The result seemed to have been an assumption by the Directorate that all codes were now blocked, which was sloppy of them. That or V.V. was too much of a brat to actually travel over to Japan and try it himself. Of course if Euphemia had had any inkling that he was about to enter her domain, she would have pulled out all the stops to try to kill the little bastard, especially after his stunts with the Hereticus wetwork teams, which might have also given V.V. pause. Being immortal was not the same as being immune to harm after all.

At this point however desynchronizing a thought elevator was definitely going to provoke a reaction from the Directorate, and considering what was at stake Euphemia and her siblings were more than ready to face down their own father to stop Ragnarök. They were running out of time however, if the latest analyses from the Inquisitio were any indication. Lelouch was also planning to strike, and soon.

After a few moments C.C. turned about and nodded.

"Tis done."

"Alright, then let's-"

"Ma'am!"

Kallen and Rai turned about to see a Japanese soldier rush over. The man came to attention before the two.

"Ma'am, her highness requests that your team return to Fort Irwin immediately upon completion of Lady Clermont's work."

Kallen frowned. "Inform the princess that we are on our way."

"Yes ma'am."

As the soldier hurried off Kallen glanced over at Rai. "Any idea what this is about."

The young man pursed his lips. He did, but the look he gave Kallen made clear the only answer that he would be able to give. Classified information.

"Bugger," Kallen muttered.

Fortunately for the two the helicopter ride back to the base took only about half an hour. The rest of the battalion was left to set up a more robust defensive perimeter around the thought elevator, which would hopefully be enough to keep the Directorate from moving on them until whatever this latest crisis was passed over. As Kallen hoped off the helicopter and observed the flurry of activity about the base however, she had a sinking feeling that that would be some time yet.

"Where is her highness?" she shouted to the armsman that came over to meet them.

"Inside the command center," Alexander answered. "This way."

They followed the hulking man into one of the buildings and then through the twisting hallways before entering the frantic scene that was the base's nerve center. This was not the first time Kallen had seen such a room, she often accompanied Euphemia on the princess' visits to MacArthur Base and the viceroy's palace also housed a similar command and control center. What she could not recall seeing however was the sheer level of panic that seemed to permeate this room. And amidst all this chaos and confusion the Princess Euphemia and her entourage stood as an island of relative calm and composure.

"Your highness," Alexander said, clicking his heels together.

"Thank you lieutenant," Euphemia said, dismissing the man and nodding to Kallen and the others.

"Your highness," Kallen echoed, then looked out at the room again. "What has happened?"

"Dame Nu could probably explain it better than I," Euphemia said, prompting the captain of her guard.

Villetta grimaced. "We've lost contact with effectively the entire military command net on the east coast, from New England down all the way to Florida. This includes Pendragon, and can only mean one thing."

Kallen inhaled sharply. "He's made his move."

Euphemia nodded, and then looked at the young man trailing Kallen. "Captain. Is there _anything_ that you can tell us about this?"

Rai's jaw worked soundlessly for several moments before a grimace finally emerged.

"You, emerge," he managed with visible and painful effort.

Kallen's eyes widened, as did that of Villetta, as the two women immediately made the inference. She would emerge. As empress. Euphemia herself however somehow managed to keep her expression composed. Her eyes however, a cold hard light seemed to shine from them.

"I see." She turned to Villetta. "General, if you would please ready all of the transports that will carry myself and my guard."

"Your highness, if you intend to return to Pendragon, I must insist otherwise."

"Pendragon is not my destination," the princess said, to Villetta's surprise and relief. "Not immediately." Premature relief. "If there is need to relieve the city, there are forces that must be marshalled. I intend to see that they are."

"Just, whom are you referring to, your highness?" Villetta asked.

The gaze with which Euphemia regarded the captain of her guard was stern, and confident. And uncompromising.

"Have faith, general. What I do, I do with full awareness of the consequences."

"That does not entirely assure, your highness," Villetta said with a sigh before coming to attention. "I will see to it."

To that Euphemia gave the woman a grateful smile. As Villetta hurried away to carry out her task however Kallen felt just a tad apprehensive.

"Umm, your highness," she spoke up. "You're not, planning on doing what I think you are, right?"

The princess cocked her head aside. And then flashed a smile. Kallen did not feel reassured in the least.

* * *

"What do you mean the defense net is down!?" Cornelia screamed.

The officer cringed but did not falter at least. "We can't raise any of the microwave communications centers that should directly be connected to Valhalla Base, your highness."

Cornelia let loose a string of expletives. Colonel Varrot and Baron Stadtfeld had warned about the possibility of this, but Cornelia had presumed that the increased security measures the military had undertaken would be sufficient to at least ensure one of the microwave relays would survive. She had underestimated Lelouch, again.

"Has General Waldstein been informed?"

"A message was dispatched to him," the officer said.

But confirmation was not yet forthcoming, was the unspoken subtext.

"Declare martial law in the city, my authority," Cornelia said. "Stand up the gendarmerie and every soldier we've got. Inform the Inquisitio that I am going to require all of their assault teams be mobilized as well."

"Yes your highness," the officer clicked his heels before retreating to relay those orders.

Cornelia turned to another officer present. "We need to get messages out to the rest of the military. Mobilize our helicopters, get someone westward enough to send out a message. Make sure all imperial scions stay the Hel away from Pendragon until this is over, and issue a general order to all military forces. Any provincial guard units outside of the boundaries of their jurisdiction are to be treated as hostile and neutralized with all due force."

"Yes your highness."

With those orders issued Cornelia hurried out from her office to the actual command center. The forces directly under her command in Pendragon were fairly limited, most of the actual military strength lay in the hands of the Knights of the Round. On the other hand if she could get in touch with the rest of the military she could bring down the hammer on the traitors that were about to invade her city. If.

"Your highness!" another officer called out as she approached. This one however wore the colors of her royal guard.

Cornelia slowed ever so slightly as the man caught up with her.

"Your highness, the palace district is under attack! General Arseid reports irregular units attempting to breach the perimeters of the royal estates!"

Cornelia's eyes widened. They were already inside the city and going straight after her siblings. And then a not so distant explosion sounded. Cornelia looked about.

"What was that?"

Klaxons began blaring.

"Enemy forces sighted," a voice on the intercom announced. "All personnel assume stations."

Cornelia cursed again. This was a multipronged assault, an exceedingly well planned and coordinated one at that. Lelouch's forces were trying to keep them isolated and separated, all the better to whittle them down. And in an urban environment the fighting was going to get atrociously difficult. Cornelia spun about and broke into a run towards the command center. There was no way the Virginian and Carolinian provincial guards could have reached Pendragon already, these had to be insurgents from the Swords of Michael. If that was the case they still had time before heavier forces reached the city. They needed to put down these insurgents before then, or else they would be fighting on too many fronts. And if that happened, Pendragon, and the Empire with it, might well fall.

* * *

"Your highness, we are being challenged."

Euphemia nodded and toggled the mic on her headset. "This is the Princess Euphemia li Britannia, authentication Alpha Alpha Charlie Seven Niner Delta One One Zulu, requesting permission to land at Groom Lake."

A moment passed with the only response being the hiss of static. And then.

"Authentication confirmed. Permission granted, your highness. Please do not deviate from the assigned course and lane, Groom Lake's defenses are set to automatically engage."

"Understood, and thank you."

With that Euphemia took off the headset, nodded to the pilot, and look her leave of the cockpit. The five planes that made up her group slowly began their descent. When Euphemia returned to the captain she found Rai, Kallen, Laura, and C.C. all looking out the windows. The princess chuckled.

"You all seem rather eager."

Kallen glanced over with a smirk. "Rai's fault. When he realized where we were going he started gushing, a bit incoherently at that. Wherever it is you're taking us, he got real excited for."

The princess looked at the young man in question whom feigned a cough. "My mother used to tell me stories about your era, your highness. And about Project Damocles. About how it was one of the greatest technological achievements of its era, and how it completely changed warfare."

"Well, that was the idea," Euphemia said with a wry smile. "After something like forty billion pounds one would hope it would make some sort of difference."

"Forty-" Kallen choked.

She went back to looking out the window. And frowned. "I'm not seeing anything."

"That's probably intentional," Euphemia said. "The landing lanes were configured to provide as little of a view of Groom Lake's main facilities as possible. Though you'll probably see at least something as we get closer."

"That's a lot of security," Kallen said. "On top of putting it in the middle of the desert."

"And yet in spite of our best efforts your father somehow managed to stumble upon Damocles' existence," Euphemia said dryly, "and used it to blackmail the government to not out your civilian persona of Kallen Stadtfeld."

Kallen blinked. "He did what?"

"You mean he never told you?"

The girl in question shook her head. "Not a peep."

"Well, at least he kept his word," Euphemia remarked.

Kallen said nothing for a few moments before nodding. "Yeah, he does that." And frowned. "I hope he's okay."

To that Euphemia could find nothing to say. She was faintly aware that the Baron Stadtfeld had been summoned to Pendragon for some special assignment, not that she had any idea what said assignment was. Now however he would almost certainly be caught up in the fiasco that was unfolding.

Gasps sounded from Kallen, and Laura. Even C.C. made a sound, of some sort, definitely one of surprise. Euphemia could not help but smile.

"Is that?" Kallen started. "Are those?" And kept finding herself at a loss of words. "By the gods." Before settling on three that aptly summoned up her reaction.

Euphemia walked over to a window herself and gazed out. Just passing out of view one could barely make out what appeared to be a large flight deck below them, one that was flanked by four massive spheres mounted on trapezoidal pylons. And that was all they were able to see before the plane dipped downwards for its final approach.

A few minutes later they were on the ground and the hatch popped open. Kallen was the first out, by this time her geass having provided her with a view of exactly what it was the Empire had hidden out here in the middle of nowhere. The sheer scale of it was still a shock, but she kept her attention focused on her duty and scanned the immediate area around the plane for any threats. Once satisfied she climbed down the stairs with Laura immediately after and only then Euphemia. Rai and C.C. trailed the trio but before long a full squad of armsmen were positioning themselves protectively around their charge.

An honor guard had been assembled to meet them, somewhat hastily by the looks of it. As Euphemia approached however they snapped to attention with crisp precision and presented arms. The elderly looking admiral and his immediate subordinates all bowed respectfully as Euphemia came before them. The princess responded with a respectful curtsey.

"Your highness," the stoutly built man greeted. "Welcome to Groom Lake."

Kallen gave the man a look over. The white hair and neatly trimmed mustache gave the man a noble, dignified bearing. The uniform and insignia of a full admiral simply added to the natural authority he exuded. She did not recognize him, but then again there were lots of Britannian flag officers that she would not have been able to name off the top of her head. And if he had been entrusted with something as secret as Damocles then little wonder he would be kept out of the public limelight.

"Admiral Merkatz," Euphemia said, giving Kallen a name to the face at least. "I suggest we dispense with the formalities, the Empire is facing a most grave situation."

"Indeed it is," the elderly man agreed.

With a nod from him the honor guard was dismissed.

"Shall we head to the command center?" he suggested.

To his surprise Euphemia shook her head. "Admiral, is Eighth Fleet prepared to sortie?"

Sharp breaths sounded all about, from both sides but for different reasons all about. Officially the Holy Britannian Empire had only seven numbered fleets, with operational ranges that stretched across the entire world. The ones Kallen was most familiar with was the Third and Seventh Fleets because of their active involvement in the Japanese theater. There had been talk of organizing an Eighth Fleet if the war's scope increased, though with the shipyards busy with rebuilding Sixth Fleet most expected it to be at least a few more years before there was an actual need. Now though the princess was making abundantly clear that an Eighth Fleet already existed. And it was somehow stationed in the middle of the desert. Of course those that had managed to get a peek out the plane windows as they approached already had an inkling what the princess meant. For her to confirm it was still another matter entirely.

For the officers with Merkatz their own reactions were for a different reason entirely. True Eighth Fleet had spent the last few months working up, and they had even had the opportunity to conduct a few squadron exercises. Still deploying the fleet on such short notice would be a Herculean challenge. But not an impossible one.

"Your highness believes the situation in Pendragon to be so dire."

"Admiral," Euphemia said firmly. "The military command net has been severed. And we have reason to believe that the Virginian and Carolinian provincial guards will be participating on the attack on the capital. We are well past the point of belief, to one of certainty."

The gasps that sounded this time were for entirely different reasons. After a moment however Merkatz nodded.

"Very well your highness. By your command, Eighth Fleet will launch."

* * *

Ceremony demanded that when one stepped aboard a ship one asked permission from the officer in charge to board. Even with the harried preparations underway this particular tradition was being carried out. Of course the officer on duty most certainly was not expecting a personage so august to be stepping off the gangplank. It took him a moment to recognize just whom was first off the walkway but when he did his voice was loud and clear.

"Heir quartus arriving!"

"Permission to come on board, lieutenant," Euphemia asked.

"Permission granted your highness."

And so she did. Moments later klaxons began blaring all about the base and men and women hurried to their stations. The entire fleet had been put on high alert the moment the command net to Pendragon was severed so most of the personnel were already onboard their assignments or were close at hand. Within a matter of minutes the gangways were withdrawn and hatches began closing. Lines were severed, equipment secured as a steady whine built up in pitch all across the landscape. Soon enough the klaxons were barely audible over the noise of the engines spinning up.

"Status," Admiral Willibald Joachim von Merkatz, commanding officer of the Britannian Eighth Fleet spoke as he entered the flag bridge, Euphemia and her entourage in tow.

"All ships are reporting in now sir," the communications rating answered, not missing a beat despite the obvious surprise at just whom was accompanying the admiral. " _Empress Marianne_ reports all systems green, personnel are proceeding with lockdown."

Merkatz nodded as he gazed out the window of the flag bridge, at the flight deck that stretched out before the island. Crewmen in yellow and blue jackets hurried about, checking each of the Hornets up top and making sure they were secured. And then a dark blue form hopped up on the railing next to Merkatz's station. The admiral cracked a wiry smile.

"That might not be the best place to be when we launch, Tiddles."

The bushy tailed cat gave the admiral what could only be described as a chiding gaze before sniffing and returning to looking forward with regal poise even as his tail flicked back and forth. Merkatz allowed himself an amused chuckle as he too looked out once more.

" _Prince Lelouch_ and _Prince Clovis_ reports all systems ready," the rating continued. "Taskforce escorts all report systems green." The young woman looked up at Merkatz. "All ships report ready for departure, sir."

"Very good," Merkatz said. He took a deep, full breath. "Eighth Fleet, taskforce eight-zero, lift off!"

"Aye, Eighth Fleet, lift off!"

Workers scattered across the massive hulks still being assembled set down their tools as they looked up. Looked up, and waited. The whine turned into a roar and slowly the massive hulls rose off the ground, their majestic hulls gleaming under the sun. From the ground, countless workers and soldiers cheered as the fruits of so many years of labor, all the tears and sweat, were vindicated. First the four Caerleon-class destroyers, their sleek rounded shapes sliding through the air and taking up a square formation above the massive complex of docks. The four point defense turrets on each ship were rotating about, ready to engage anything that dared approach, while the single railgun slung under their noses extended.

Then the two Lloegr-class battleships, vessels whose massive widths gave it an almost graceful, birdlike impression. Those wings however served as platforms for eight 64 mega joule railguns, each capable of engaging enemies over two hundred miles away. Combined with 192 vertical launching system cells mounted on the central body, these ships represented the most powerful warships ever fielded by any power, far eclipsing the old big gun battleships and the newer guided missile cruisers.

And finally, the crown jewel of the Eighth Fleet, the Albion-class carrier the _Empress Marianne_ , namesake of the beloved empress slain so many years ago, rose and assumed its place at the center of the formation. Over a thousand feet in length and its beam approximately 700 feet at its widest, the _Empress Marianne_ was _the_ largest warship ever built by any nation on Earth. While the four railguns mounted aboard packed an impressive punch all by themselves, the true form of the carrier's power projection came from the eighty-eight planes embarked onboard. There might one day be an enemy that could survive to engage it, but that day was not today.

"All ships report systems nominal," the rating said.

As a single unit the seven ships continued to rise until they were mere specks from the ground.

"We are at altitude admiral."

"Set course for Pendragon, heading 80. All ships, ahead flank."

"Heading 80, ahead flank, aye admiral."

The fleet slowly turned about and began its flight east. Five hours, that would be how long it would take for them to reach Pendragon. And when they did, Merkatz was determined that it would not be too late.

End of Chapter 85

There are a bunch of reviews 'stuck' on the site. I am seeing them, though there are two long reviews whose second halves are cut off by the email notification preview.

Anyone who thinks that this story is now a fantasy story is not reading carefully enough. Or paying close enough attention. Anyway.

A while back I mentioned how any active or retired naval servicemen/women were in for a treat later in the story. Well, this was the treat, what Damocles is in my story, the Britannian Eighth Fleet in all its glory. Or rather, taskforce 80 of the Britannian Eighth Fleet. There's also a taskforce 81 that's wrapping up construction and workup but weren't ready for deployment. They will be shortly however, at which point the other major powers are going to have really, really bad days.

In the original anime the Sword of Damocles was presented as a strategic game changer, something that effectively no one could effectively counter, save for the enforced fluke that was the Lelouch and Suzaku combo. In practice, the anime Damocles had so many flaws that it wasn't a weapon of war, it was a massive showpiece. When I started writing this story I wanted something that would actually live up to actually being a game changer. The opportunity arose while I was considering how to deal with flying ships in my version of the Code Geass universe. I knew I wanted them in some form, but the problem with flying ships is that they represent such a major paradigm shift in how war would be fought. And I wanted any flying ships I had to be actual, you know, warships. That was when the idea came that I could turn my Damocles into a project dedicated to building an entire flying fleet for the Britannian Empire.

While the existence of the _Avalon_ is well known to the world at large, Britannia intentionally overemphasized the limitations and costs of its flight system to make other countries think that they were several decades away from ever actually applying the technology on a wide scale. The other countries bought it, and Schneizel, along with Cornelia and Euphemia, were able to start up Project Damocles at Groom Lake to build Eighth Fleet. This required a _lot_ of money, not just for building the ships themselves but also to build the infrastructure to build the ships. Simply put, they created a little Bolthole to build the fleet in secret. For the lack of a better term, there are ten dry docks at Groom Lake, four dedicated to destroyers, two to battleships, and two to carriers. So yes, there is technically a second Albion-class carrier nearing completion already. It was intentionally staggered because the carrier was the riskiest thing to build without the float system perfected. And yes, there are two other dry docks unaccounted for. There's a reason for that.

The ships that have been built thus far fall into basically pretty simple categories. The Caerleon-class destroyers are escorts, equipped with point defenses to protect the fleet proper against smaller threats like enemy jets and the like. They do have a single railgun to provide them with something to use against heavier targets, but their job is not to crack the enemy. The Lloegr-class battleships on the other hand are there to basically flatten any target that it aims at. Finally the Albion-class carriers serve as command ships and as, well, flying aircraft carriers to provide even more striking power for the fleet. And a fighter screen as necessary.

All of the ships are equipped with the blaze luminous system, so they are basically all guaranteed to survive at least the first wave of an enemy attack, unless the enemy is dropping a nuke or something or launching an insanely large number of missiles against a single target and those missiles actually break through.

That being said, as impressive as these warships are, the truly strategic assets being constructed at Groom Lake would have to be the troop transports. Each of them is capable of transporting an entire regiment and all of its equipment to anyplace in the world within basically a day. That is what the last two dry docks have been churning out, and there are, a number, of them ready to go and parked in the Nevada desert. You can rightly presume that when they are unveiled, the leadership of the other countries will be shitting bricks.

A few asides, beyond the troop transports, none of the ships are equipped to transport or deploy knightmares, not even the aircraft carriers. And you're not going to be able to 'sneak up' on these ships with flying knightmares either, they have this thing called radar and people, you know, looking out the windows standing watch. And anything that tries to get close and whose identity cannot be verified will get blown out of the sky by any of the varied weapons mounted on the ships from railguns to cruise missiles to anti-air missiles to anti-ship missiles to just regular bullets and so on. Yes, the episode where the Black Knights tried to hijack Nunnally's ship came off as really stupid to me. A smoke screen? Launch a missile and blow it away. Even better, the missile's likely to also catch the approaching knightmares in its blast radius.

As I mentioned there are a bunch of reviews stuck. And I know for a fact that in the past the site has not sent me notifications of reviews as well, so until that gets cleared up any questions that do not get answered you can assume I did not see the notification or they were in parts of the reviews that got cut off in the email previews. Once the reviews get fixed, I'll answer any such questions in future author notes.

That being said one review which got cut off got far enough that I saw a question/statement about knightmares and more or less asking why I haven't given them a bigger role. I didn't get the entire review so I only saw part of it, but it's enough for me to be able to make the following statement.

My answer to that is quite simple, knightmares as weapons of war have very specific scenarios and conditions where they are better than other weapons. Mechanically knightmares are extremely complex, meaning they need a lot of support to actually deploy. Sakuradite does not change that, it just makes that it's actually possible to build motors powerful enough to support those frames. Even then there are upper limits, which means that knightmares are almost certainly less well armored compared to conventional tanks and so will take far fewer hits to bring down. Their advantage is in their mobility and the fact that they can carry weapons heavy enough to punch through tank armor. This makes them the most useful in an urban environment. In open plains and the like they are still superior to tanks, but air power would be a better counter to enemy armor, or even enemy knightmares, than sending knightmares out to face such an opponent.

There's really nothing that can be done with the technology of that era to significantly change that. The float system takes too much power and the knightmare is not aerodynamic in the first place, and I'm not going to do transforming mecha, that requires a level of engineering way beyond what Britannia should be capable of. In a realistic setting knightmares are not miracle weapons and the logistics involved with their deployment makes them very expensive to employ. As such the Empire will only deploy them if the situation warrants it, such as a major offensive operation like in the Middle East, or in defense of a place that actually has knightmares already stationed there, like in the Battle of Tokyo and the upcoming Battle of Pendragon. Otherwise they stick with regular troops and tanks.

The other simple fact is that there have been very few instances where a knightmare's usage is actually warranted in my story. There's a reason why Suzaku and Kallen fought for a grand total of like three times. All the other times when there is conflict, the sides fighting are better served to use just infantry, to keep the collateral damage low if nothing else.


	87. Chapter 86

_The Order of the Valkyrie is the highest award for valor in the Holy Britannian Empire. Granted only to those individuals whom demonstrate courage and dedication above and beyond the call of duty, it is also only awarded posthumously, an indication that the Empire feels those who merit it are truly worthy of entrance into Valhalla. Over the course of the Great War it would be awarded a total of four hundred seventy-two times, to not only those of pure Britannian lineage but also to many whom were deemed Numbers. And in the aftermath of the pivotal Battle of Pendragon, the Empress Euphemia would see fit to award it to forty-six individuals, the highest for any singular engagement in the war._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 86

Hoc est bellum

"Down!"

Victor felt the pressure of an uncomfortably close explosion brush his back as he took his own advice. The rocket might have missed but a few feet closer and the concussion itself would have been enough to kill him. As it was all it did was blow another hole into the palace, of which there were admittedly quite a few already. These insurgents were if nothing else remarkably well equipped.

"Sir!"

"I'm alright," Victor said as he rose. "Someone find that RPG launcher and put him down!"

The viscount himself had more pressing concerns, like coordinating the actual defense of the palace. To do that however he needed a better tactical view of the battlefield, which he was not going to get while being shot at like this. Retreating slightly deeper in the building, he hurried towards the vehicle bay. Several of the other knightmare pilots were already preparing to sortie. As much as Victor would have loved to join them, his own frame would have to remain behind. On the other hand its infosphere would be extremely useful in accessing the tactical updates flowing in.

Hopping in Victor took a brief moment to get caught up. Enemy forces were pressing in mostly from the south and west, at least for this skirmish. There were simultaneous attacks taking place against the residence of the Prince Odysseus and Schneizel, Valhalla Base, the headquarters of the Inquisitio, and even the imperial palace itself. The attackers had the element of surprise, the defenders the advantage of familiar ground and the fact that reinforcements were already mobilizing. If they could hold out the insurgents would be overrun and slaughtered. If.

"Second platoon, move east and then south, I want those insurgents flanked. I want one squad of infantry shifted to hold the western perimeter, do not allow the enemy to link up."

With only fifty armsmen total, and only thirty-some actually present at the palace, Victor was seriously shorthanded. On the other hand the thirty-some soldiers he did have were very good at their jobs, and several of them were full knights like him. The four knightmares that made up the second platoon maneuvered east and then swept southward, blowing through the clump of insurgents trying to force their way into the palace. They got off one last RPG but the shot missed and the explosive rounds of the knightmare rifles shredded their ranks with contemptuous ease. The insurgents on the western side saw their fellows being cut down but with the wedge Victor's forces were pushing out were in no position to help.

Another rocket streaked through the air and smashed into one of the knightmares. The Gloucester was mostly unharmed but paused briefly to find the source. Down the street another dozen or so insurgents could be seeing making their way towards the palace.

"Damnation, how many of them are there," Victor muttered. "Second platoon, engage enemies approaching from the south."

The blue colored Gloucester rolled out from the vehicle bay and Victor swung it northward and then west. With his only platoon of knightmares presently engaged his was the only one left to support the defenders immediately around the palace. He was taking a considerable risk, but with the situation what it was they needed to end this skirmish quickly before they could link up with the other Britannian forces in the city.

The AFVs were fortunately starting to make a dent in the attacking force on the west side, their heavier guns forcing the insurgents to keep their heads down. Drawing the massive sword mounted on his knightmare, Victor charged through and smashed the clumps of enemy soldiers. Screams and cries sounded but the few shots that got off bounced ineffectually off of the knightmare's armor. Those that were out of the immediate reach of his sword found no solace either as the Gloucester's pistol thundered. Soon a bloody stain covered the streets and lawn.

"Report," Victor said into the radio.

"Second platoon, enemy forces have been neutralized. No sign of any other insurgents."

"Third platoon, palace grounds appear to be secure."

Victor nodded. "Have the servants and casualties evacuate into the shelter. All units prepare to move out." His orders issued the general changed the radio channel. "Colonel Maldini, do you read?"

The wait was mercifully brief.

"General Arseid? Thank the gods you're alright."

"For the moment," Victor said. "What is his highness' status?"

"We're hold up in Freyr Palace," Kanon responded. "Prince Odysseus' guard are holding the line, but there are a lot of them. We're going to have to evacuate."

"Understood. Can you make it to the imperial palace?"

A pause. "Negative, there seems to be several large insurgent groups actively engaging the palace defenders." Another pause. "The _Avalon_ is currently parked at Bifröst Air Base. If we can reach there, we can evacuate all of the imperial scions with us."

That was a sound plan, assuming they could make it that far. Victor brought up a map showing the layout of the city.

"Have you been able to get in contact with General Enneagram?"

"Not yet, there's been a lot of interference with the command net. We're-"

A wash of static suddenly flooded the channel.

"Colonel!?"

Nothing. Victor grimaced.

"All units with me," he said. "We need to move now!"

The four knightmares rolled in behind him and Victor watched as the hatches of the AFVs closed. From the status indicators he was down to twenty-eight effectives. It would have to do.

* * *

"They just took out the radio transceiver," Kanon reported.

The room shook again, causing Carine to flinch. Having so recently been the target of insurgents the suddenness of this attack was taking its toll on the girl's composure. Guinevere placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, doing her best to calm her sister.

"We need to leave, now," Schneizel said. "The insurgents seem to have brought a great deal of explosives with them, if they keep this up they could well cause parts of the palace to collapse outright."

"Can we link up with General Arseid?" Odysseus asked.

Kanon shook his head. "I have no idea, your highness. The general seemed to have his own situation well in hand, but there is no telling how many insurgent forces stand between us."

"Then we should proceed with the original plan," Schneizel said.

His siblings nodded. Evacuating to Bifröst and then using the _Avalon_ to escape might seem cowardly but considering the intent of this attack was obviously to try to kill as much of the imperial family as possible the action was not unwarranted. And with the combined guards of four imperial scions gathered in one place they might well have the numbers to break through. The building trembled again. If they hurried.

Seeing his sister nearly fall over Odysseus picked Carine up. The girl gave a yip but quickly tightened her grip on her brother. The sound of gunfire was now quite audible as they proceeded out of the shelter and towards the vehicle bay.

"How many insurgents are out there?" Schneizel spoke into the radio.

"There're at least two platoons worth hitting us your highness," came the tense answer. "Look out-gods damn it, keep your heads down! Your highness, please evacuate now, they've overrun the outer perimeter."

Things really were looking desperate if that was the case. When they reached the garage three AFVs were already waiting for them.

"Everyone one," Odysseus said, gently putting Carine down into a seat.

Another explosion rocked the building, this one causing part of the ceiling to collapse in the bay. Screams sounded and figures could be seen amidst the dust. The turret on one of the AFVs swerved and unloaded, pouring lead into the breach. More cries could be heard and bodies tumbled, none of them wearing the colors of the guards.

"Gods, they've breached the palace!" Odysseus shouted.

He bound down the ramp, grabbing hold of a rifle from a downed armsman.

"What are you-" Schneizel began.

"Go!"

The second prince's mouth hung open mid-sentence. Odysseus looked over at his brother. He gave a forlorn smile.

"You and I both know which of us is more important to the Empire, brother. It is _you_ who will sit on the throne one day, not I. It is _you_ that must live. Go. Keep our family save, do not let any more of them fall."

Schneizel found his mouth suddenly dry, his throat locked tight with no sound escaping it. And then bullets bounced off the side of the AFV, forcing him to duck into the vehicle. An armsman promptly slammed it shut before giving a shout into his radio. The armored vehicle roared to life and raced for the exit with a second right behind.

More insurgents poured in from the breach but found themselves under withering fire immediately from the remaining AFV. Alongside the other armsmen Odysseus opened fire as well, helping pick off those that somehow managed to make it through the initial gauntlet. The insurgents did not go down without a fight however, a few hanging back to try to provide some cover for their fellows. An arm peeked out and swung, tossing a grenade into the chamber. Odysseus threw himself to the ground as the blast made the floor shudder. The machinegun on the AFV stopped, all the signal the insurgents needed to pour in. The surviving armsmen reacted immediately, one climbing onto the turret and shoving aside the dead occupant. Others tried to keep the pressure on but the explosion had disoriented them just long enough for the enemy to start taking positions within the garage.

Odysseus suddenly heard the distinctive pop of another grenade pin. Looking about he feared the worst, then saw a familiar but aged figure in the blue outfit of his own guard toss something towards the enemy. A moment later several insurgents went flying as the explosion tore through their midst.

"Keep on them!" Odysseus shouted.

It was now the insurgents whom were disoriented, and with the machinegun back in operation were mercilessly cut down. Another armsmen popped a grenade and those insurgents that had managed to stay under cover were quickly forced out. Caught under the sights of the surviving defenders they fell, but not without exacting a final cost.

Gunfire could still be heard in the distance but for the moment the armsmen here were victorious. Odysseus rose, carefully watching the still forms to make sure the insurgents were actually dead and not just playing possum. And then he caught sight of the blue-clad form.

"Philip!"

Rushing over to the elderly man's side Odysseus inhaled sharply at what he saw. Philip winced, his hand pressed against a side stained dark with blood.

"Y-your highness."

"Oh Philip," Odysseus said, kneeling by the side of his old attendant. "You stayed."

Philip offered a weak smile. "How could I not, your highness?" And coughed.

"Lie still, we'll get that bandaged right up," Odysseus said, before rising slightly. "Medic!"

Due to the nature of their duties all armsmen were trained in first aid and could serve as a medic if need be. One was immediately at Philip's side and began trying to stem the bleeding. The look on his face however was not one of optimism.

"Philip," Odysseus said, his voice straining from the effort of every word. "Oh gods, if I hadn't stayed, you wouldn't-if I-"

The butler reached out, seizing hold of Odysseus' hand.

"Your highness," Philip said, smiling once more.

"Did I-did I do the right thing?" Odysseus asked, tears clouding his sight.

"I honestly cannot say, your highness," Philip responded. "But, I do know this. I am proud, my prince."

The grip loosened and when Odysseus managed to wipe away the tears the eyes that met his own were empty. And yet, there was a content smile on Philip's face.

"Your highness," the other armsman said gently. "We need to evacuate you as well."

With a steely visage Odysseus placed Philip's hand on the man's chest. He rose, gripping the rifle tightly.

"We still have a mission," he said. "So long as I remain, the insurgents will have reason to continue sending forces this way. And every soldier they send is one less chasing after my family."

The armsman's eyes widened. "Your highness. Please. The general is already proud of you."

Odysseus' expression remained one of firm determination. "And when we meet again, I will not have given him reason to be less so."

* * *

In his youth Heinrich had been an avid hunter, gaining a proficiency with his cherished Remington Model 721. The Model 700 that he now cradled was so squeaky new that he was probably one of the first to actually fire it in action. Alongside him was Eleanor sporting a more weathered Model 725. Due to her past experience as an actual sniper in the Britannian Army the colonel was putting on a considerably better showing than Heinrich. Not that the baron was doing badly himself, if the fallen forms dotting the approaches to Muninn Tower was any indication. Then again the insurgents seemed to be focusing most of their efforts on Huginn Tower, home of the more domestic focused Ordo Hereticus. Little surprise there.

"Bloody Hel."

The rounds bounced harmlessly off the reinforced concrete of the tower walls, causing a splattering of dust and smoke to momentarily obscure Heinrich's vision. They were fairly high up so it took a bit of luck and skill to land any shots by them. Of course those insurgents actually trying to hit them tended to use slightly heavier weapons. Heinrich caught sight of a figure lugging around a large tub. He shifted his aim, and pulled the trigger. The insurgent toppled, the RPG he was carrying somehow setting off and blowing apart several of his own compatriots instead of taking another chunk out of the tower.

Down below at ground level the Inquisitio tactical teams were putting up a dogged fight to keep the insurgents out of the building proper, which was also where the kill-team originally put together for Lelouch was now fighting. Again they were helped by the fact that most of the insurgents were busy storming the Hereticus' headquarters and those presently attacking Muninn Tower seemed more interested in keeping the Xenos teams contained than forcing an outright breach.

A distant rumble sounded, and even this far up Heinrich could feel a slight tremor. The gasp that escaped the young woman next to him more than summed up his own reaction as he watched the flurry of dust and smoke that washed out from the ground level of Huginn Tower. As they watched the shadow cast by the building began to visibly shift.

"Oh Hel!"

There really was no place to run, if physics decided that the crumbling tower on the opposite side of the street was going to crash down on the one they were standing in, there was no time to even attempt an evacuation. That did not stop Heinrich and the others from backing away from the windows and pressing against the opposite wall. The rumble this time was more deafening than distant and a gust showered them with a fine layer of dust. When Heinrich opened his eyes however he saw that he was still alive, and still staring at an intact outer wall. The lights were off though.

"Everyone alright?" he asked as he brushed himself off.

Coughs sounded as the others picked themselves up.

"We appear to have survived," Eleanor remarked.

"That we did." Heinrich turned towards his other companion and extended a hand. "C'mon Claire, up you go."

The captain accepted and let the baron pull her up. She quickly moved to the window however, gazing out at the scene below. There was still a cloud of dust billowing out but the rumble that used to be Huginn Tower was already visible. Claire grimaced. She was after all Hereticus, and the only reason she was up here witnessing the destruction of her organizations headquarters was because she had been over here to confer with Eleanor and her team.

"Crazy bastards," Heinrich muttered as he joined Claire. "If that had worked they'd have knocked out both Ordos for some time. As it is they ended up dropping the building on top of their fellow insurgents."

That was true enough, a good chunk of the insurgents had been clustered in between the two towers in an effort to keep the Ordos from coming to each other's assistance. Those unfortunates would have had no time to run and if lucky had died when the tower collapsed on them. Of course Muninn Tower was hardly being besieged on only one side and gunfire could already be heard starting back up.

"C'mon," Heinrich said, hefting his rifle. "Still plenty of killing to be done today."

Claire grimaced but nodded. That there was. And opportunity enough for a measure of revenge as well. She followed the others as they hurried down the hall to another side of the building. Suddenly a loud bang nearly caused all of them to stumble and when Claire looked up she saw light filtering in around the corner. Following the baron they came up a hole blown through the outer wall.

"How many explosives did those bastards bring," Heinrich muttered.

Peering through his scope the baron quickly found the insurgent responsible, whom was busily jamming another RPG into his launcher. A quick pull of the trigger made sure he never got the chance to use it. Claire and the others immediately took up positions, replacing the group of Xenos operatives that had been caught in the blast.

"We've got more incoming," Eleanor said aloud. "The insurgents that had been keeping a perimeter around Huginn Tower are starting to head our way."

"They're persistent, I'll give them that much," Heinrich said. "We need to get them away from the tower, they might just have enough explosives to try to bring this one down as well."

"They've managed to dig in though," Eleanor observed. "We'd need to-wait, what's that?"

Shifting his rifle in the direction the colonel seemed to be looking Heinrich caught sight of several Humvees racing towards them. At about a thousand yards away the machineguns mounted atop opened fire, spewing lead at the clumps of insurgents gathered around the tower. Even before they rolled to a stop doors popped open and soldiers in tactical gear poured out, ducking into cover and encroaching upon the insurgent positions.

"Well that's a sight," Heinrich remarked. "It's the gendarmerie."

Looking through her own scope Claire confirmed the baron's observation. Painted atop the hoods of the Humvees was the clutched gauntlet of the Britannian Gendarmerie. And then she caught sight of a purple haired woman shouting orders even as she led the charge.

"Captain Valestein," Claire muttered, before allowing herself a slight smile. "We meet again."

Shifting focus, Claire found an insurgent rising to take a shot at the oncoming gendarme. He suddenly slumped over as Claire ejected the spent cartridge from her rifle. This battle could still go either way, but it was starting to look like the fates might wish for them to see another day.

* * *

Contrary to the impression some may develop due to the concentration of military strength in the capital, Pendragon was not a fortress city. Its approaches were wide open and the majority of firepower in and around the city were concentrated in a series of bases out the outskirts of the metropolis. It did possess an air defense network, but again these were configured primarily to protect the military bases that housed the forces of the Knights of the Round. As such when Bifröst Air Base detected incoming aircraft that did not broadcast the IFF signal of the only military aircraft allowed in Pendragon airspace, that of the Veðrfölnir Guard commanded by the Knight of Four Dorothea Ernst, the response that was scrambled was a pair of F-15 Eagles from the guard to engage. Reports were already flowing in from the rest of the city about a massive insurgent attack and Dorothea had been briefed already about the probable source. The chances of the approaching planes being friendlies was effectively nil, especially considering their radar profile.

The F-4 Phantom II was an older design, having been retired from frontline squadrons several years ago, with those units not scrapped outright being transferred to the few provincial guards rich enough to actually maintain an air combat element. Two such guards were the Carolinian and Virginian guards, whom even if they were not already suspected of treason had no authority to be operating their planes this far north of their respective provinces without explicit permission from the central government. Just what they were thinking even bothering sending the planes over was an open question considering how antiquated they were compared to the F-15s now rising to meet them.

It was of course not just the planes themselves where the differences lay, the weapons they mounted were also several generations apart. The Britannian military tended to prefer that the domestic facing provincial guards not be equipped with the latest weapons systems, and this extended to the missiles provincial air guards were armed with. For air to air missiles provincial forces were restricted to short range AIM-9E Sidewinders, perfectly serviceable weapons that could engage most any opponent that might actually manage to intrude upon the Empire's airspace. It had its limitations, specifically the infrared seeker had problems at lower altitudes due to the background infrared emitted by the Earth and bounced around by the clouds. Its most fatal weakness was however the fact that it had to be fired at the rear quarter of a target in order to lock on.

The AIM-9L that was the current complement of the Imperial Britannian Air Force on the other hand possessed an all aspect infrared seeker, allowing for head-on shots. In addition the L model carried an upgraded warhead, ensuring lethality regardless of angle of impact. And then there was the medium range AIM-7 Sparrow, equipped with an active radar seeker that allowed its users to fire and forget, and capable of ranges a third greater than that of the AIM-9. The AIM-7 was specifically restricted to only the IBAF, and the F-15s that were in the air now carried four each.

Forensics conducted after the Battle of Pendragon would indeed confirm that the planes downed by the Veðrfölnir Guard were F-4s assigned to the Virginian Air Provincial Guard. And the Carolinian Air Provincial Guard. The battle that raged below however would be a far closer thing.

* * *

The defenders of Valhalla Base were a token force, only a single battalion barely numbering a thousand soldiers. The base itself barely warranted the name seeing as it was in truth a collection of office buildings embedded in the heart of the capital. Nevertheless its planners had given some thought to the possibility of an attack, something the insurgents were discovering a bit too late. Several of the buildings around the officially acknowledged perimeter of the base were in fact also government owned, though via cutouts and fronts. They were connected to a rather extensive network of tunnels that allowed the soldiers stationed in them to mobilize quickly and efficiently. They also provided ample vantage points, creating effective kill boxes for any attacking force that thought they could bypass them and directly hit the main offices.

Of course once said attacking force realized what was happening and the element of surprise was expended they could attempt to storm and root out the defenders. The purpose of the outer perimeter was not to defeat any frontal attacks however, it was to buy time for the heavy hitters to fully mobilize. Most of the buildings part of the official Valhalla Base site were office buildings. One however was a garage fully equipped to maintain the single platoon of knightmares kept as a reserve force on site.

Cornelia watched as the four Gloucesters rolled out, splitting into pairs and mowing down the insurgents trying to besiege the outer perimeter. Valhalla would hold, but if the rest of the city was to do so she needed to get a grip on what the situation actually was.

"Status."

"We've lost contact with Freyr Palace," one officer said. "General Arseid however has checked in and is reporting that he is working his way there."

"Enemy forces are also attacking Muninn and Huginn Towers. Wait, we just lost the data link to both."

Cornelia frowned. She could almost be impressed by the tenaciousness of these insurgents if they actually did manage to take down the Inquisitio headquarters. Achieving their objectives was however definitely taking a toll on the attackers, there were at least a hundred casualties along the perimeter and counting. The problem was as of yet they did not seem to be running out of reinforcements. Coupled with the fact that this battle was taking place in a densely populated urban environment, the fighting was going to get incredibly messy for both sides.

"We've reestablished contact with General Enneagram!" an officer shouted. "She's on command channel five!"

Cornelia grabbed hold of a headset and adjusted accordingly. "Nonette, are you there?"

"Hey Cornelia," the other woman responded lightly. "Hel of a mess we've got here, huh?"

The princess grimaced. "Indeed."

"Alright, listen, I've got a single battalion of knightmares that I'm trying to get to Freyr Palace. I heard some chatter that Victor's also headed that way but I haven't been able to get through to him. See if you can give him a head's up, let him know they'll be under his command."

"Understood. What of the rest of your forces?"

"Trying to link up with the Prince Schneizel and the rest of your siblings," Nonette responded. "They're apparently making a break for Bifröst."

That made sense, the air base still appeared to be secured and they could use the _Avalon_ to escape. Cornelia frowned.

"Wait, then shouldn't all of your forces try to link up with them?"

"You'd think that," Nonette said with a chuckle, "but the insurgents are still hitting Freyr really hard, and the radio chatter indicates there's still quite a few armsmen there. They're protecting something."

Cornelia's eyes widened. "I see. I will try and relay the word to General Arseid."

"Good-shit, gotta go. There's way more of these bastards than there's any right to be."

The line cut off there and Cornelia offered a silent prayer for Nonette's success. There was more work to do however.

"Get me General Arseid!"

* * *

"Tch, Lelouch needs a good spanking for this."

Gino glanced over at the display showing the Mordred and wondered if Anya, or rather, Marianne, knew she had said that on the shared command channel. Probably not, the woman tended to be just a tad careless when at times when she thought she could openly express herself. As a consequence Anya had developed a reputation for seemingly bipolar behavior, which irritated the actual girl to no end. Not that she was in much of a position to complain.

The two of them were in their respective knightmares surveying the situation about the imperial palace. The sheer size of the structure and its surrounding grounds meant that any force seeking to successfully breach and sack it needed significant numbers to do so. Unfortunately it looked like these insurgents, the Swords of Michael, actually did have the numbers to make a credible attempt. They were not winning, far from it, not with the three battalions of knightmares steadily grinding them down. Combined with the infantry detachments supporting the knightmares and the insurgents' numbers was not quite as daunting.

Off in the distance another knightmare toppled, its frame smoking from the multiple missiles that had impacted. Still, the insurgents were putting on an impressive fight and the amount of man-portable anti-armor weapons they possessed was nothing to sneer at.

"Your lordship."

Gino turned his knightmare about and regarded the two companies that had finished mustering.

"Alright, alpha company with me, bravo company with Anya," Gino said. "Our objective is to cut off the enemy reinforcements that are still trying to reach the palace."

"Sir!"

Twelve knightmares fell into formation, with their respective commanding knights taking point. Tristan and Mordred were two of the most powerful knightmares in service after all, they were better utilized taking the enemy head on than hiding behind others. As they emerged into the streets Gino was quickly greeted by enemy fire. Light arms were however quite ineffectual against knightmares and a quick burst from the machinegun mounted on his frame sent those that survived scurrying for cover. Said cover, and those huddling behind it, disappeared in a shower of rubble and probably gore as the round from Gino's VARIS rifle impacted.

The sudden shock was enough to disorientate several other groups of insurgents that had been too close but those Gino left to his subordinates to deal with as the rifle cycled. It was not enough to keep the enemy from shooting back however. Another rocket came at them but Gino had seen it early enough to maneuver aside. The knightmare behind him had not and took the hit right in the chest. The shaped charge did not quite penetrate the armor but there was visible cracking.

"Watch your surroundings!" Gino snapped. "The insurgents have amble anti-tank weaponry and they've shown _no_ hesitation in employing them!"

"Y-yes sir!"

As if to accent that another rocket streaked past them, this one narrowly missing its target as the knightmare swerved. The VARIS recharged Gino switched to an anti-personnel round and fired into the building the missiles were being shot from. The resulting detonation and explosion muffled most of the screaming that sounded but no further attacks were launched.

This block cleared out Gino led his forces further west. The insurgents were using a variety of vehicles to move their troops, most likely commandeered from civilians caught up in the fighting. Of course even armored cars would not stand up to a knightmare for long but the complete lack of armor meant even less time for the enemy to bail if they were sighted. After taking out two trucks however Gino noticed that the insurgents were forming another perimeter, reacting to the appearance of his forces with remarkable speed. Someone had to be coordinating all this, likely one of the provincial guard deserters. Still the insurgents were responding to the flow of battle like experienced soldiers. That promised to make rooting them out a much more difficult task.

Checking his display Gino noted the directions the enemy were maneuvering towards. There was likely going to be an ambush around the next block, likely an effort to catch his forces in a crossfire.

"Second platoon, with me. First and third, advance carefully, keep the enemy's attention on you but do not get drawn into their kill zone."

"Yes sir."

With the other four knightmares Gino veered off and began moving perpendicular to the rest of his force. After two or so blocks he caught sight of some enemy soldiers hurrying about. He kept going for another block, then turned.

"Weapons free."

Moments later the five knightmares emerged behind the insurgent position, guns blazing. The few that had enough time to respond fired back ineffectually before also being cut down. Down the road Gino could see another position intended to flank his main force as it approached. In fact it was already trading shots with the other knightmares and judicious use of rockets were keeping the mechs from pressing too aggressively. Gino maneuvered west, preparing a flanking maneuver of his own. As he rounded a corner however his knightmare smashed into a moving van.

Tristan shook slightly but otherwise was unaffected from the impact. The sudden barrage that bathed it was a bit more problematic. This close Gino had no time to react as the soldiers he had run into brought their weapons to bear, including another rocket launcher. Two were let off, one somehow missing despite the pointblank range while the other smashed into his arm. The motor whined from the impact but he could still move it, and the knightmare fired off another shot from its VARIS rifle. It was complete overkill but the round did a thorough job smashing the group of insurgents in to his right. The ones on his left lived just a bit longer as the knightmares following Gino let loose, gunning them down.

"Sir! Are you alright!?"

"Peachy," Gino said, testing his right arm again. The motion was a bit slower than he would have liked but it was at least still functional. "C'mon, we've still got more terrorists to take care of."

"Yes sir!"

Looking at his tactical feed Gino grimaced. Fenrir Regiment was making good progress clearing out the attackers but their own losses were slowly climbing. Only four of its six knightmare battalions had been ready for actual combat deployment, the other two had substantial numbers of frames laid up for routine maintenance. They could probably cobble together another company, but at this point that would just make up the mech losses they had suffered thus far.

The other regiments in the city were also fighting their own fires and whether any of them would be in any position to send support was an open question. It was pretty obvious the Swords of Michael forces were at approximately division strength, a rather impressive achievement for what were supposed to be just a bunch of terrorist cells. Now they were looking like a full blown fifth column. And that was before the reported involvement of the Virginian and Carolinian provincial guards.

All in all this battle was starting to look considerably less of a sure thing than he would have liked. If the two provincial guards were able to enter Pendragon in force then they actually stood a good chance of overwhelming the Knights of the Round. True once their treachery became known the rest of the Britannian military would waste little time in putting the traitors to the sword, but there was always the possibility that if their victory was complete enough the Dukes Albarea and Cayenne might be able to spin this and portray themselves as patriotic nobles that came to the capital's defense and only arrived too late to save the imperial family.

Gino's grip on his controls tightened. As a Knight of the Round, sworn to his majesty's honor, and entrusted with the secrets regarding the Empress Marianne, Gino could not let that happen. They would hold on, and they _would_ exact vengeance upon those that betrayed the Empire, regardless of whose blood flowed in them.

* * *

Victor was not sure just how many insurgents his forces had killed this far, it had to be in the hundreds. With his platoon of knightmares acting as the vanguard they managed to avoid getting dragged into firefights and bogged down as they maneuvered through the city. Here and there he tried to lend what aid he could in their passage, in one place breaking a siege on a police station and in another preventing insurgents from organizing themselves for further attacks. In the face of the entire city going up in flames however those efforts seemed miniscule and the only thing he could try to take heart in was that despite their deep penetration into the capital the insurgents were running into major difficulties actually cracking their targets.

Of course then there were the places that they were making headway, like at the Inquisitio headquarters. Reports were garbled but it seemed that at least one of the towers had suffered severe damage, the extent of which was still not entirely clear. Some claimed said tower had been brought down outright while others insisted that the damage, while extensive, did not amount to outright destruction. With too many things on his own plate Victor was not going to bother trying to sort through the inconsistencies and simply noted that if there was to be any help it would not be coming from the Inquisitio.

The battalion of knightmares that he had managed to link up with however were welcome indeed, and proving to be very helpful as they fought their way to Freyr Palace. The insurgents had poured a lot of manpower into trying to take the place, with the consequence that a lot of their forces were concentrated along the approaches to the palace. Breaking through those forces was proving to be a slog, and a costly one at that as another knightmare went down from concentrated enemy fire.

"Keep on them!" Victor ordered. "Third platoon, move west and approach from the south, I want you around on their flank!"

"Yes sir!"

"Lieutenant Gaveli, get your platoon back into the AFVs, we're going to punch a hole through the enemy lines and I want you through and making a run for the palace when we do."

"Yes sir!"

On his display Victor watched as the infantry fell back and piled into the armored cars again. Once their hatches shut he took up position in front of them.

"Second platoon with me! For her highness!"

The five knightmares broke out from their lines and charged straight forward. They were immediately the focus of enemy fire but Victor had timed his advance carefully. A moment later that fire slackened as the third platoon completed their flanking maneuver, hitting the enemy on the side and throwing their positions into chaos. Veering a bit westward Victor led his own platoon in rolling up other groups of insurgents. A single beep indicated one of his knightmares being neutralized, though whether it was a hard kill or just a mission kill Victor did not have the time to find out. The others kept going and the steady fire of explosive shells left the road smeared with blood and gore.

Behind the general the AFVs roared through, drawing only light fire that its armor was more than able to shrug off. The machineguns they mounted answered in kind, adding to the carnage inflicted upon the insurgents. Hatches popped and the platoon rushed out, advancing across the palace grounds. The insurgents still trying to fight their way in suddenly found themselves fighting a two-front battle, never a good thing. Cut off from escape and still facing extremely stiff resistance from the palace defenders, the desperation of the insurgents became palpable. Another rocket was let off, but this one aimed at the palace instead of the knightmares or advancing soldiers. The explosion caused an entire section of wall to crumble, taking with it several more of the defenders holed up inside.

The insurgents made a mad dash, trying to force their way in and delay their eventual defeat for just a bit longer. The stunned armsmen within recovered quickly however, bayonets already fixed and swords immediately drawn as the insurgents came upon them. And their midst, a broad shouldered figure wearing an ill-fitting suite of armor over a ragged court uniform, met the attackers with blade in hand. Odysseus deftly parried the thrusted bayonet with his saber before proceeding to skewer his opponent.

Another tried to take advantage of his momentary extension to do the same to him but the prince drew back in a graceful slide, delivering a slash that severed the attacker's hand. Even as the man gapped at the spurting blood Odysseus was already executing a second stroke of the blade. This one removed his opponent's head. Spinning about the prince batted aside a poorly aimed knife stab, proceeding to demonstrate the proper technique as he impaled the offending attacker. Another again tried to take advantage of his focused attention but a bang ran out as an armsman got off a shot, nailing the would be assailant.

In all the chaos the soldiers advancing on the palace found themselves unable to lend any aid as they could not risk shooting into the melee without risking hitting their own comrades. They wasted no time racing across the grounds, bayonets quickly fixed and a bloody yell announcing their imminent arrival. Seemingly aware that their chance was gone, that one of them would escape, one of the insurgents popped a grenade and tossed it into the air. Had he let it drop to the ground more than one armsman would have been prepared to leap atop it to save their fellows. As it was, all they could do was try to leap back. Two tackled the Prince Odysseus, trying to get him clear of the blast. Their exemplary bravery, and that of the Prince Odysseus himself, would be noted in the aftermath of the battle. Alas that would be a posthumous acknowledgment.

End of Chapter 86

Okay, now that the reviews have become unblocked again I can see the full reviews. And while I cannot prove it, the pattern of reviews I never see notifications for and whatnot seems to suggest that the cause is reviews submitted from the fanfic 'app' that is causing the system to clog up.

I know that I'm going to have at least two more chapters for the Battle of Pendragon. I say at least because in truth what Lelouch is up to will technically take place in parallel to the battle and will require quite a bit of writing all on its own. So we're looking at probably at least three more chapters for this entire Charlie Foxtrot, if not four. After which I hope to be able to present a crowning moment of awesome. Or maybe an awesome moment of crowning. Expect quite a few tearjerkers beforehand though, the body count is only going to increase from here.

It should be noted that in the heat of battle, the soldiers dispense with the whole 'lord' or 'lady' bit and just revert to sir or ma'am. The latter is after all faster to say.

Gino's Tristan does not have a Fortress mode or whatever the blazes it's called in the anime. His thing is a pure ground combatant. In truth my version of the Tristan is really a customized Lancelot, or at the very least borrowed very heavily from Camelot. Developing custom knightmare frames is expensive, even for a Knight of the Round, and Gino isn't quite so high up there that he can call up the money to do so. Technically the only ones with truly custom knightmares are Bismarck and Anya. The other knights that actually use knightmares use variants of existing models, mostly Lancelot derivatives. Though Rean has the latest and greatest of the Lancelot family since Camelot is the one that's doing the active development. And with regard to what I said above, Dorothea and Michele do not have knightmares. Dorothea is a pilot and Michele is an admiral. If they do fight, they'll be fighting using their respective service's equipment. Like a fighter or a battleship.

I suppose in some respects Gino's attitude here is a bit, darker, than how he's portrayed in the anime. As a character he always felt, unnecessary, in the original series. And his personal angsting got old really fast considering we had already been through that whole song and dance with Suzaku. The reason he is the way he is in my story is not because I intend to make him darker or edgier or any of that nonsense, it's primarily because the scene he's in for he's in the middle of a battle. There was a sense that Gino did at least try to take his duties seriously, and considering the strain that the situation is putting him in in the chapter I would expect him to be acting more seriously and less flippant. When he's not getting shot at and so forth we'll probably see more of his good humor. I however refuse to write Gino as a naïve upper class twit. That line he had about how he doesn't understand things because he's a noble is personally one of my most hated lines in the entire series. That's not a sign of sheltered upbringing, that's a sign of complete lack of common sense.

I already mentioned the Britannians having Aegis in one of the opening snippets, I have no idea how many chapters back.

The main guns on the warships are railguns, with the ones on the battleships being able to fire projectiles at Mach 7. And considering the amount of kinetic energy such a projectile would impart upon impact, they don't so much as need to hit a target as they just need to hit close enough that the concussive forces do the rest. And they're really not intended to hit fast moving mobile targets. Think bunkers and maybe the odd tank that's moving slowly, not a race car.

Accuracy is in general not as much of a problem as one might think, especially considering upgrades to the targeting software was part of that 40 billion pound budget. They'll need spotters on the ground or in the air for an over the horizon shot, much as with current cruise missiles, but the Empire put the guns on those warships to use against long range targets. And each railgun shot is way cheaper than using a cruise missile, never mind the fact that they can't reload the VLS cells without docking at a shipyard.

As an aside, that 40 billion pounds is in 1960s money, and as I am assuming equivalency between the US dollar and the Britannian pound, we're talking closer to $400 billion in today's money. The Apollo program cost about $110 billion in today's money. The F-35, with all of its cost overruns, is standing at about $50 billion for development costs with a projected $300 billion acquisition cost. Though under Euphemia's watch there would never be a program as botched as the F-35, especially considering she would never do something as inane as try to get a single plane that could fulfill the requirements of three different services. Though there's going to be a development in the near future that makes the concept of a Joint Strike Fighter much more feasible for the Britannian Empire than it ever did for the US.

With respect to the notion of smaller knightmare frames, or effectively power armor, that's actually harder to do than large bipedal mechs in many respects, especially one that is as durable and powerful as say the Spartan Mjolnir armor. The former just requires powerful enough motors, a vehicle size power system, and computation levels equivalent to the late 90s/early 2000s. The latter requires a high density man portable-sized power source, much smaller motors that have some very high torque numbers, and advances in material sciences to produce the actual armor that is tough enough and strong enough to withstand weapons fire while still actually being wearable by a person (something we still have not achieved with modern ballistic protection). That and you also need some sort of kinetic energy absorbing padding that will keep someone from dying from just the concussive forces of an explosion. Fitting all of that into something that can be worn like a suit is much harder than building a two story tall bipedal mech.

I also never really considered power armor as a possible replacement for knightmares in my take of the Code Geass universe. Stylistically they would not be knightmares anymore. If there would be power armor, it would be in conjunction with knightmares, from a tactical perspective they would be serving different roles. In fact power armor has shown up, Lelouch and Kallen (and Rai) were wearing them in the timeline that Rai came from.

Robots don't really have much to do with atomic power. Robotics are macro mechanical systems which there was already a basic understanding of even during WWII. Also keep in mind that the Germans bungled their initial experiments and were not certain atomic fission was even possible for a while. If the rest of the world took their cues from them, a justification can be crafted for the lack of progress towards inducing atomic fission. As for the FREIJA warhead, I have no idea what the physics behind it is supposed to be. The explanation that I've seen doesn't feel very strong or coherent.

Tin cans are important. Just look at the Battle of Leyte Gulf and what a bunch of tin cans managed to do against a fleet of Japanese capital ships. Guess what the four destroyers that are part of taskforce 80 are named after?

I would say this is more of a Case Zulu than an Operation Buttercup. Buttercup, when it comes, is going to be brutal. What Nouveau Paris managed to avoid, Paris will not. Ahem. Though I suppose the reaction of my French readers is going to depend on whether they themselves are Parisians or not.


	88. Chapter 87

_The appearance of the Britannian Eighth Fleet came as a complete and massive shock to the subjects of the Empire, never mind the other nations of the world. While military tacticians and strategists worldwide had been aware of the potential ramifications of the float system developed by the Empire should it ever be employed on a wide scale, most believed the subterfuge enacted by the Prince Schneizel, Princess Cornelia, and Princess Euphemia that the technology was still too immature to produce anything more than showpieces like the Avalon. The Europeans were also making strides towards development of their own float system but lacking the Empire's bountiful supplies of Sakuradite their progress was slow and the systems developed considerably less efficient, likely a contributing factor to the dismissal by the European leadership of the practicalities of military applications of the system._

 _While at the time of the Avalon's construction it was true that the float system suffered from flaws that rendered it unsuitable for military deployment, what the rest of the world could not have guessed was that the Britannian Empire would make a massive gamble that they could lay down ships before the system's technical problems were remedied and still be able to install the updated float systems into the new ships without need for massive alterations. Thus was Project Damocles born. The gamble paid off and by the time the Great War started the Britannians were in the final stages of working up Taskforce 80 of the Eighth Fleet, with the ships of Taskforce 81 nearing completion as well._

 _Overnight the conduct of war had suffered a tectonic shift. Britannia's enemies scrambled to muster some sort of response but their efforts were woefully and painfully inadequate. From the entire German U-boat fleet to the distances that separated Britannia from its enemies, all of the strategic nuances that the other nations relied upon to help balance against the Empire's military and industrial might were rendered irrelevant. And with their public unveiling construction of the new ships no longer needed to be confined to the Groom Lake facility in Nevada. Shipyards and manufacturing sites around the Empire began tooling up. It was likely this fact, more than anything else, that made clear to the Chinese and European leaderships that despite the fallout from the Battle of Pendragon the war was turning against them._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 87

Quare clausum fregit

"It looks like the attacks are petering out, your highness."

Cornelia nodded. The intensity of the attacks was certainly decreasing, suggesting that the Swords of Michael were running low on either manpower or ammo. Hopefully both. As it was the damage they had managed to inflict was already too high. Valhalla had held, though the entire western side of the base had been completely trashed in the fighting. The insurgents had actually managed to bring down Huginn Tower and might well have done the same to Muninn Tower had the gendarmerie not arrived to flank them. The Ordo Xenos definitely owed Brigadier Kessler for having reacted so quickly.

In an almost darkly humorous way the reaction of the Ordo Hereticus to the destruction of their headquarters was, garbled, to say the least. For much of the battle, despite the tower's early fall Hereticus command channels continued to insist that the tower was still standing, albeit heavily damaged. Some of its senior officers that were still active even insisted on correcting anyone on the radio whom reported the destruction. The exasperation this caused for the gendarme actually at the sight and even the Ordo Xenos operatives was, palpable. It had taken a direct order from Cornelia herself to get the Hereticus operatives to shut up about trying to maintain the fiction that Huginn Tower was still intact. The one senior operative stupid enough to try to explain to her Hereticus policy on maintaining its image of invulnerability was subjected to a five minute long string of expletives that ended with a threat to have the man shot and his ashes dumped into the Atlantic. Cornelia's patience for this kind of bureaucratic nonsense was long exhausted, and considering how eager several of her officers looked at the possibility of her actually carrying out her threat, so was everyone else's. After that they were finally able to focus on the flow of events without more inane nonsense.

The attacks on the rest of the palace district were very much a mixed bag. While the majority of her siblings had escaped safely to Bifröst Air Base, Odysseus and a detachment of guardsmen had remained behind at Freyr to stall the insurgents. Her brother succeeded, at the cost of his own life. While Odysseus' demeanor was always more subdued than Cornelia found a proper crown prince should possess, she never once doubted his strength of will. And his love for his family. To have him prove that love like this. Cornelia was well past the point where she would be granting Lelouch any leniency.

Even worse, Odysseus was likely not going to be the only one of her family to fall this day. One of the other targets the insurgents had struck was Parliament itself. The attempted ploy to get the Dukes Cayenne and Albarea into the city had also seen a full sessions of the House of Lords be summoned, ironically giving the Swords of Michael the perfect opportunity to kill a significant percentage of the most powerful peers of the realm. Peers that included her uncle, the Duke Velaines.

There was no confirmation, mainly because the very small detachment of guards stationed at parliament had been overrun almost immediately, and none of the other loyalist forces in the city had been able to spare anyone to try to check up on the place. If they were lucky the insurgents had deigned to take some hostages. If not. Cornelia's fist tightened. If not, she would see that the Swords of Michael were made the martyrs they so desired.

"Your highness, a report from the imperial palace," another officer spoke up. "Fenrir Regiment has repulsed the attackers and Lord Weinberg is leading a contingent to start sweeping the palace district."

"Some good news," Cornelia allowed.

That meant there would be at least one more mobile force taking the initiative instead of hunkering down and letting the insurgents roam the city freely. Cornelia had already detached one of the surviving companies to do the same, but the knightmares Fenrir Regiment possessed were much heavier hitters than mere infantry.

"Still no progress in reestablishing communications?" she asked next.

"No your highness," the officer said with a grimace. "We've managed to get a few messages in and out, but the connection is extremely patchy and we're dropping a lot of data packets. At this point it's going to be faster to manually ferry messages using helicopters and the like, which is what General Ernst is starting to do."

"Alright, 12th division was supposed to establish a perimeter south along interstate 95. See if we can get in touch with them and if they've sighted any provincial forces trying to come up north."

"Yes your highness."

Cornelia looked over at another officer. "14th division was in transit to just outside the restricted secure zone. At this point I think the requirements of the contingency clause have been more than fulfilled. If they aren't already on their way, I want them moving now."

"Yes your highness."

While the sheer scope of the attack that hit Pendragon came as something of a shock, Cornelia had not ignored all of the warning signs her subordinates had brought her. Orders were cut almost immediately to position regular army units in range to come to Pendragon's defense when the time came, but the cut in communications was playing havoc with their ability to actually summon them. In truth a message should have been physically dispatched the moment the command net went down but the speed of the initial attack had left everyone too busy to send anyone. The breathing space they had now though would see that remedied.

* * *

"Talk to me Dorothea," Vice-Admiral Michele Manfredi said to the Knight of Four.

"I can do better than that if your tactical uplink has the bandwidth for it," Dorothea said.

Michele exchanged a few brief words with his communications officer before responding. "Our transceiver is still fully functional, and there still seems to be a direct line between here and Bifröst."

"Good enough." A moment later Dorothea's face was replaced on Michele's display by a video feed obviously being routed from one of her planes. "See that?"

The admiral frowned. "It looks like, a significant number of armored vehicles being transported by truck."

"That's exactly what it is," Dorothea's voice sounded. "One of my fighters caught sight of them on its way back to base, they're about thirty minutes out. And those don't look like M60 Pattons to me."

Despite not spending much time around ground vehicles Michele was at least nominally familiar with the arsenal of the Imperial Britannian Army.

"That turret, are those, M48s?"

"Yeah, and you and I both know who's still driving those around."

Michele grimaced. "It has to be the Virginian Provincial Guard. Maybe even the Carolinian."

"No doubt, and if they reach Pendragon we're going to have a hell of a time. Unlike the insurgents these bastards actually do have proper anti-air weapons, and something tells me if you start unloading on them with _Wisconsin_ or even our missile cruisers we're going to end up leveling a good part of the city."

The battleship _Wisconsin_ was one of four Iowa-class battleships that the Empire had built back in the 1940s. The last big-gun warship, they remained in service for only two reasons. As fast battleships they were still able to keep pace with the newer generations of missile destroyers and cruisers, if only barely, and their heavy guns were unparalleled in the amount of fire support they could bring to bear for amphibious landings, as demonstrated during the invasion of Japan.

There was a litany of complications in integrating these warships into more modern taskforces. Their electrical power generation was subpar compared to that of the newer ships, their overall electronics suites had required several updates but limited available onboard space meant they still did not possess the full range of capabilities available to the newer and smaller cruisers, and to actually fire the main guns required quite a few systems to be shut down to avoid damaging them. Those main guns were however a sight to behold.

The 16-inch Mark 7 gun was in fact the product of a massive miscommunication between the Bureau of Ordnance and the Bureau of Construction and Repair. The former had assumed the Iowa-class would continue to use the Mark 2 guns mounted on the older South Dakota-class battleships, but the latter assumed that the Iowa-class would mount a lighter and more compact 16-inch variant, and so produced a design that could not actually mount the Mark 2s. When this mistake was discovered the general board had some extremely terse words for all involved, but the Bureau of Ordnance was able to develop the Mark 7 design and thus avoid the need to completely scrap the existing plans.

The end result was however an extremely powerful weapon. Able to fire shells weighing up to 2,700 pounds at speeds topping off at 2,690 feet per second and with a range of up to 24 miles, the Mark 7 gun was able to effectively flatten anything it was aimed at. While a firing rate of two rounds per minute might have seemed slow, the _Wisconsin_ was possessed of nine Mark 7s that could all be fired independently of each other, ensuring a steady rain of destruction on anything that dared approach it. In fact when the possibility of upgrading the analog Ford Instrument Company Mark 8 Range Keeper to a digital system was mooted during one of the refits the battleships underwent, it was pointed out that the blast radius of the shells fired by the gun was larger than the current fire control's circle of error of 260 feet.

The Empire certainly possessed missiles with more destructive force, but there was something awe-inspiring at seeing the guns of a battleship let off. And when firing into an urban environment, the carnage they could wrought was difficult to understate.

"It would appear the Princess Cornelia's southern screen was not able to stop them," Michele said.

"More likely than not it was too concentrated and the provincial guard managed to bypass them in all the confusion," Dorothea said. "The jets that the provincial guard sent up would have easily spotted them before reaching Pendragon."

And getting blasted out of the sky when they did.

"Do we have anyone on the ground that can serve as spotters?" Michele asked.

"That's supposed to be Luciano's job," Dorothea said bitingly, "but his regiment's been in shambles ever since he got his sorry ass handed to him. I've been trying to get them to establish a reconnaissance screen outside the city but the idiots seem too caught up in the battle inside."

Michele grimaced. "If I can't get spotters on the ground then I'm not going to be able to get precision strikes against anything that's moving. _Wisconsin's_ guns have the firepower to take out targets just with proximity hits, but the cruise missiles need a lot more help with ground based targets."

"I know," Dorothea said. "We're only going to get one shot at this. They're going to need to stop to unload all those tanks, if you can hit them when they do, soften them up, my boys and girls can then try to bomb the crap out of them. If we're lucky we'll take out most of their heavy stuff."

The admiral considered it for a moment before nodding. "Sounds like a plan. I'll have my staff plug yours into our command net. Something tells me timing is going to be crucial."

"You and me both. Godspeed admiral."

As Dorothea signed off Michele allowed himself a slight smile. The insurgents attacking Pendragon now were Christian traitors to the Empire. There were however many others whom were proudly loyal.

* * *

The escape to Bifröst Air Base had been more than a bit harrowing but they ultimately made it. So far the insurgents had not been able to approach the base in force, probably something to do with all of the attack helicopters in the air patrolling the area. That was not to say the insurgents did not make no attempts at advancing, as two smoldering Cobra wrecks marked some of the successes they had. This of course needed to be balanced against the bodies strewn along the approaches to the base that marked their other, less than successful efforts. Of course every attack helicopter that was forced to loiter in the area was one less that could be sent to support the other soldiers fighting in the city, and fighter-bombers were not quite the same as close air support.

The base not without its ground pounders however, there were two company of airmen trained as infantry to provide physical security. Combined with the four battalions of knightmares that were now concentrated at the base under the command of Major-General Nonette Enneagram and the insurgents would have a rather difficult time cracking its defenses.

" _Avalon_ is ready to launch your highness," Nonette said. "Is there a reason you are not onboard already?"

Schneizel cracked a wry smile. "How many of my family has fallen thus far, do you know, General Enneagram?"

Nonette frowned but humored the prince. "Seven, your highness."

A nod. It seemed the Knights of the Round were well aware that Lelouch was no longer counted amongst them.

"Seven. And how many in just the last year and a half?"

The knight pursed her lips. "Three."

"Three," Schneizel concurred. "Three fallen while I remain safely cosseted. I will leave when _all_ of my family is safely away, general. And right now there are close to a dozen that remain either trapped in the city or outright unaccounted for."

Nonette's lips twitched in a mixture of irritation but also respect for the prince's decision. Respect however was not the same as agreement or even acceptance.

"Your highness, if I have to I will toss you over my shoulder and throw you onboard," Nonette said. "Your presence here is neither safe nor helpful. We're looking at something like two divisions of armor and infantry headed our way and if I have to keep my regiment here to babysit you I can't send them out to help put out all the other fires that are raging right now."

Schneizel allowed himself a chuckle. "Cornelia always said you had a sharp tongue."

"She knows me well," Nonette responded with a wide grin. "Now, am I going to have to carry through with my threat or-"

"Your highness!"

The two turned about to see an armsman in Schneizel's colors running up.

"Your highness, we're getting a transmission from an incoming plane! It's from the Princess Euphemia!"

The expression that crossed Schneizel's face was a frown. The thoughts that raced through his head were a mixture of disbelief and worry. Surely his sister was not so reckless as to try to approach Pendragon in this sort of situation? Schneizel was not quite running as he followed the armsman towards the closest communications relay. His gaunt was however wide enough that it might not have made much of a difference. The video feed was awash with static but the figures it showed were still recognizable. And when Schneizel saw just whom stood next to his sister, he understood. And smiled.

"Euphie."

The smile was barely visible on the grainy screen but Schneizel could still make it out. His sister dipped her form ever so slightly in greeting.

"Brother. It is good to see you safe."

That he was for now, though the same could not be said for too much of their family.

"I see you have brought with you Admiral Merkatz," Schneizel said with his usual composure. "I presume that means the, veil, has been lifted?"

"This seemed an appropriate stage for Damocles' debut," Euphemia said, that quirk of her lips somehow visible.

"That it is," Schneizel agreed, smiling back at his sister.

The others participating in the link tried to remind themselves that for all the strange sense of humor the imperial family demonstrated, its members did tend to be extremely competent individuals whom knew when to take things seriously. Usually.

"I have also requisitioned several of the Naglfar-class transports to bring three loyalist regiments with me. They should be arriving about an hour after the rest of the fleet."

To that news Nonette's eyes lit up. From context she already knew that the princess was bringing along a substantial force, but now with hard numbers she could start considering the best way to turn the tide of this battle. Or at least screw the nails on the enemy's coffins.

"How far out are you presently?" Schneizel asked.

Joachim cleared his throat, taking over that bit of the conversation. "The fleet itself is approximately an hour out, but I can begin deploying our carrier wing immediately to provide air support."

"What do you have with you admiral?" another voice cut in, and at the same time one of the monitors flickered to reveal Dorothea.

"Four squadrons of Hornets, two equipped for strike operations," Joachim answered.

"How long for them to reach us?"

In theory Dorothea could have figured that out in her head had she known a few critical pieces of information. Like which fleet was supposedly on approach and was only an hour out. Seeing as she did not have that information however it was faster to just ask.

"Twenty minutes, your grace."

Twenty minutes, they would just make it.

"Admiral, is your AWAC able to loiter?" Dorothea asked, referring to the E-2 Hawkeye that the admiral was using to establish communications with them.

"Yes your grace."

"Alright, in about thirty minutes we expect the traitor provincial guard units to begin offloading their armor. That'll be our window of opportunity to hit them fast and hard."

"Understood your grace. I will have you plugged into our air control network."

Dorothea's face disappeared and Joachim himself moved away to coordinate with his own officers, leaving the two imperial scions to continue their own discussions. Schneizel took a deep breath. There was no point in hiding the truth.

"Euphie. Odysseus. He, stayed behind to try and buy us time to evacuate."

The princess' expression remained frozen on the screen but motion in the background made clear it was not some technical fault.

"I am sorry," Schneizel said, bowing his head.

Euphemia reflected her brother's motion and after a visible deep breath looked back up at him.

"You hold no blame for actions that are not your fault," the princess said, a touch of pain just barely audible in her otherwise serene tone. "I will reserve my wrath for those who are."

* * *

"Your majesty."

Charles turned about to see Bismarck drop to one knee.

"Gino and Anya report that the insurgent attack on the palace has been defeated. Their remaining forces seem to be concentrating for assaults on other parts of the city."

"About blasted time," a reedy, almost whiny voice sounded.

Bismarck grimaced but did not openly rebuke V.V. for his interjection. That he would leave to his liege if the emperor felt the need. Unfortunately it looked like this time he did not.

"What of the provincial forces that were reported to be encroaching?"

"General Ernst and Admiral Manfredi have devised a stratagem to try to whittle away their numbers," Bismarck answered. "Your daughter the Princess Euphemia is also inbound with substantial reinforcements."

That got Charles' attention. "Oh?"

"A naval taskforce of some sort," Bismarck said, sounding almost confused. "They bring with them three regiments of loyalist forces."

If the Knight of One was befuddled by just what forces were accompanying the princess, his liege seemed to immediately grasp it. An approving smile appeared in Charles' expression.

"She has shown will," he said, almost proudly.

A disgruntled sound escaped V.V. This time Charles did deign to take note and raised an eyebrow at his nominally elder brother.

"Surely you have not forgotten the trouble your precocious daughter has caused us thus far, Charles?"

"If by trouble you mean retained our control over Area 11 and its thought elevator," the emperor glanced over at the blankly looking youth, "provided you with a suitable test subject for the Directorate's latest experimentation," and finally back at V.V. himself, "and helped us locate C.C., then no, I have not forgotten."

V.V. frowned. His brother had been growing distant of late and this latest rebuke was only the strongest in a growing line. Before he could muster a response however Bismarck shifted, drawing the attention of the two siblings. The man's motion indicated he was receiving some sort of report, and the manner in which his eyes narrowed indicated he would be sharing it once the other side was finished delivering it.

"Your majesty." Like now. "We've reestablished partial contact with our forces outside of Pendragon, including the survivors of the detachment of troops guarding the New York thought elevators."

Survivors. Charles and V.V. immediately latched onto that word.

"What happened!?" V.V. demanded immediately.

Bismarck shot the boyish figure an irritated look but at a nod from the emperor answered.

"They were attacked by a large force, company strength at least. The majority of the defenders were overrun, the few that escaped have been trying to call in reinforcements."

"This is what he was aiming for!" V.V. snapped immediately. "The entire attack on Pendragon was a distraction, Lelouch is bogging us down here while he seeks the true prize!"

V.V.'s statement was condescending on so many levels that Bismarck and Charles both were sorely tempted to throttle the figure. As it was the time that they would no longer need to tolerate his presence was fast approaching.

"We need to send forces to retake the thought elevator now!"

"Impossible," Bismarck scoffed. "Communications with the rest of the military is still spotty, and ordering the New York provincial guard to mobilize would be effectively impossible."

Not entirely true but considering V.V.'s near complete ignorance of military matters the difference would be lost upon him. The scoff that sounded made clear that in this instance that was exactly what happened.

"Of all the-very well then, is there not a helicopter at the palace? I shall take it and deal with the matter myself."

That elicited another raised eyebrow from Charles. What his brother of course meant was that the small detachment of Directorate operatives that we with him would be dealing with the problem, and he would be going along to micromanage. Then again perhaps V.V. would be too busy playing with his puppet to interfere too much. Still, this did present an opportunity of sorts.

"See that the helicopter is prepared," Charles ordered.

"Yes your majesty," Bismarck nodded before speaking into his radio.

Charles turned towards his brother. "I suggest you assemble your forces, brother."

"I shan't be long, Charles," V.V. said before sauntering off, the Suzaku puppet trailing behind.

Once his brother was away Charles turned to his knight. "The time has likely come. Have Anya take a detachment of Loki Regiment. Remove V.V. from the board."

Bismarck smiled. "By your command, your majesty."

* * *

Aurelia considered the tactical chatter that they were picking up. All of it was on fairly short range radio, which suggested that the Swords of Michael were successful in disabling the long range communications network that tied Pendragon to the rest of the military. Impressive, but it appeared that the Knights of the Round and the other forces in Pendragon had managed to mostly fight off the insurgents, even if the Swords of Michael were able to inflict some hefty losses. Perhaps enough that her own forces would be able to finish the job.

"Begin unloading!" she ordered.

The combined forces of the Virginian and Carolinian provincial guards numbered approximately two divisions worth of infantry and cavalry. The M48 tanks they possessed might be older than the M60 that was the standard now but they were still quite serviceable. Knightmare armor also tended to be thinner than that mounted by main battle tanks so the 90mm guns they mounted would still be quite effective. The thirteen Gloucesters that made up the only company of knightmares in any of the Empire's provincial guards were however top of the line war machines and Aurelia's own personal unit had been further customized to increase its performance.

"Have we been able to establish contact with forces in the city?" Aurelia asked as she strapped into the gold-styled knightmare.

Even now the countess was careful with her wording. There would be an aftermath to this battle after all and best to remain as ambiguous as possible to allow for some creative reinterpretation.

"Yes milady," one of her officers responded over the radio. "Indications are the imperial palace still stands, as does Valhalla Base. The majority of the imperial family have evacuated to Bifröst Air Base, but the _Avalon_ appears to still be parked on the ground."

Which meant that said family members were probably still holed up there instead of evacuating, a rather curious decision. Looking at her force disposition Aurelia was feeling pretty confident about being able to overtake Bifröst, even with its substantial air combat element. The Virginia Provincial Guard possessed a healthy complement of modern anti-air weapons after all, and if they could shoot down enough of the Veðrfölnir Guard she might be able to deploy her own planes.

As Aurelia watched her forces disembark and form up a shrill whistle began to fill the air. Having participated in plenty of live fire exercises over her career, she quickly recognized the source.

"All units into the city now!" she shouted.

The warning came far too late as a series of explosions ripped through her forces. Several of the tanks disappeared under smoldering fireballs while clumps of infantry were blown aside.

"Move it now!"

Whether anyone could actually hear this order was an open question but enough seemed to have heard the first one that they immediately began rushing towards the city. Vehicles that were already manned also started up and those close enough pilled in or atop. More shells fell, though the accuracy was not quite dead on. That did not mean the explosions that erupted from their impact was not deadly.

Even over the thundering blasts a roar was soon audible. Aurelia cursed. The city's defenders had timed this perfectly, first using artillery to soften up her units before calling in airstrikes to try to finish them off.

"Incoming air units," Aurelia said into her radio even as her knightmare sped into the city proper. "I want eyes on the sky, shoot down anything that tries to make an attack run!"

Even as her forces hurried to escape the artillery bombardment she could see soldiers doing their best to obey her orders. The twelve other knightmares were still all intact and two carried full up surface-to-air missile launchers. And while the man portable SAMs were shorter legged, they were still potent weapons. The only problem was that like the Sidewinders in the air provincial guard's inventory, their trackers also needed to be fired at the tail of a plane. Her forces would need to take the hits before they could respond effectively.

The roar of jet engines was soon of deafening volume as the fighter-bombers executed their attack runs. They were definitely aiming for her armored and mechanized elements, trying to cripple her mobility and take away her hard hitters. It was a sound strategy, and the helicopters that could be seen closing in made clear the royalist forces intended to keep the pressure on as much as they could. Nevertheless airpower was rarely sufficient to outright win battles, especially when the other side was able to shoot back effectively.

One jet went down before it managed to even attack, the concentrated fire from her knightmares using their rifles gutting it. Another fell victim to the larger SAMs her other two knightmares launched as it passed overhead. A third exploded when it flew straight into an expertly timed missile fired at just the right angle. The others however swept past and could be seen circling to make another run.

"Keep moving!" Aurelia shouted into the radio. "Once we're in the city their field of fire will be constricted to our advantage!"

The other side had of course thought of that, hence the presence of the attack helicopters. Of course the problem with said helicopters was that despite their better maneuverability at low altitudes and speeds, that same position made them that much more vulnerable to ground fire. Even as they subjected the provincial forces to swaths of fire their would-be victims fought back, hard. The number of attack helicopters began dropping quickly in no small part due to the rapid ability of the knightmares to adjust their aim. The heavier rounds of their rifles were more than adequate for punching through the relatively thin armor of the AH-1 Cobras. While the Cobras were certainly inflicting losses upon her forces, it was not the sort of crippling blow that would have rendered the provincial guard defeated.

The fighter-bombers coming in for their second, and final, attack run found far fewer targets available. Most of the forces still able to move had managed to get into the city and though they could still see some of the armor and knightmares, the available lanes of attack limited just how many of them would even have a shot. At the same time this constriction allowed the ground forces to concentrate their fire more effectively, downing two more enemy jets before they could launch an attack. The ones that followed inflicted a few more kills but the provincial guard's combat strength remained substantially intact.

Aurelia gave a satisfied smirk as the planes fell back. They were bloodied but not beaten.

"Status!" she said into the radio.

It took a bit of time for the reports to flow back but as they did Aurelia was able to assess her current standing strength. They had lost at least two companies of infantry and almost that much in terms of armor. The knightmares were however all still intact, and amongst those forces that had escaped were a good chunk of her M113 armored personnel carriers. Those APCs would be crucial in allowing her forces the freedom of maneuver necessary to take the fight to the royalists again.

"Alright, knight company, second and third battalions with me. Remaining Virginian forces, your objective is the imperial palace. Carolinian forces, make for Bifröst Air Base. If we are to have any chance of success it must be secured before the _Avalon_ can escape!"

The soldiers began falling out towards their respective targets. Aurelia spared a single moment longer watching them go before setting out herself. And when she reached Valhalla Base, it would finally be time to settle their score.

* * *

"Well that could have gone a lot better," Nonette said dryly.

"Agreed," Dorothea said. "They may be provincial guardsmen but they demonstrated steadfast discipline while under fire."

"Not sure we should be praising the enemy here," Nonette said with a slight grin before her expression regained its serious demeanor. "Alright, one group is definitely headed our way. I'm going to take two of my battalions and try to whittle them down, maybe stop them outright. Hopefully by then reinforcements will be able to reach the city."

Dorothea nodded. "I still have ground attack planes available, if you find an opportunity to call upon them, do not hesitate."

"Oh I won't," Nonette said, flashing another grin before taking her leave.

The Knight of Four massaged her temples. She was well used to her compatriot's flippant attitude and was not in the least surprised Nonette continued with it now. At the same time she did not doubt in the least that the Knight of Nine would indeed do everything in her power to try to stall and even defeat the provincial forces that were now approaching Bifröst. Unfortunately the options Dorothea possessed to assist her were severely constrained, air strikes in an urban environment without ground forces calling targets could get extremely tricky. And that was without the other side having effective counters to her planes. For now all she could do was get her planes refueled and rearmed so that if the provincial forces did manage to launch an attack on Bifröst she was ready to give them a pounding. Dorothea regarded the countdown on the display. Then again that might not be necessary at all. The Princess Euphemia was only half an hour out. Hopefully the arrival of Eighth Fleet would be as much of a shock to the traitorous provincial guardsmen as it had been for herself and the rest of the Rounds.

* * *

At the edge of Pendragon, Bifröst Air Base was a relative oasis of calm compared to the smoke that could be seen rising from several other parts of the city. As they made their final approach Euphemia maintained a serene, composed demeanor. Kallen however had learned how to read the subtle changes in the princess' expression that reflected her true mood. Euphemia was pissed, perhaps even more so than when the Directorate kidnapped and murdered family members of her confidantes back in Japan. Little wonder she was insisting on touching down at the base instead of remaining safely aboard the _Empress Marianne_.

The helicopter landed without incident but Kallen, Laura, and Rai took no chances, quickly shepherding the princess aboard the still parked _Avalon._ If they were lucky they could convince the rest of the imperial family to evacuate and thus also remove Euphemia from the combat zone. And maybe avert the tragedy that would see her placed on the throne in the process. Kallen glanced over at Rai. The young man's expression had been tense throughout. If they were making any progress in changing the timeline, he was giving no indication thereof.

The group entered the observation deck aboard the _Avalon_ and the other members of the imperial family all rose. Schneizel immediately came over, taking the young woman into a tight embrace.

"You did not need to come all the way yourself," he chided gently.

The slightest hint of irritation flickered in Euphemia's eyes but she recognized the concern that underpinned those words.

"I am a daughter of Britannia," Euphemia said. "I do my duty, whatever the risks."

Schneizel grimaced, giving the girl a gentle pat on the head. "Would that you not have had to assume such duties so early."

The princess smiled at her brother reassuringly. "I do not regret having done so. Whatever the costs, whatever the burden, all I accept willingly."

That may be so but the strain that Euphemia had been placed under, they were taking a toll on the young woman. That much even Kallen and noticed during her service to the princess. For those whom had known Euphemia all her life, the change since that fateful day was in some ways more painful to witness.

Outside the _Avalon_ several more planes were landing, the ones carrying the rest of Euphemia's guard and the four knightmares that accompanied her. The rest of Eighth Fleet hung in the air, low enough that people could make out their forms with ease. Despite the gravity of the situation quite a few soldiers could not help but gap at the sight. The four Caerleon-class destroyers were one thing, as despite their number they were only half the size of the similarly shaped _Avalon_. The massive Logres-class battleships however dwarfed both other types and cast an imposing shadow on the ground as they hovered there. The manner in which its four bottom gun turrets were actively seeking was also just a tad unnerving. Then there was the Albion-class carrier, the _Empress Marianne_ , which was actively launching and recovering its F-18 Hornets as they participated in the Battle of Pendragon.

"To think that that is what the three of you have been keeping under wraps," Guinevere said, a touch of amusement in her tone as she too came over and took hold of Euphemia. "Well, now that I've gotten a good look at them I suppose they were worth me scrimping along with only one new dress a month."

Euphemia giggled slightly, letting herself sink into her sister's arms. After the death of the Empress Marianne it was Guinevere that had stepped in and looked after her while Cornelia was forced to refocus on her military career. Many people would feel blessed just to have a single mother. Euphemia had had the privilege to be loved by three.

"Is there any news of Cornelia?" Euphemia asked as they separated. "Or Uncle Augustus?"

"Valhalla Base still stands," Schneizel answered that one, "and General Arseid is putting together a relief force to try and reach it. And now that Eighth Fleet is here we should be able to detach a few of its ships to provide air support."

Euphemia nodded. The VTOL capability of the float system was exceedingly useful in that regard.

"As for Augustus, I'm afraid we do not know," Schneizel continued truthfully. "He was attending to the House of Lords, but…"

To that Euphemia nodded again, more solemnly. And then she regarded Schneizel with a determined visage.

"Brother. An opportunity has arisen, one which we should not let slip."

An eyebrow rose. Something told Schneizel that he was very much not going to like this.

"With communications in such poor state we should be able to move upon the New York thought elevator without alerting the Directorate."

Kallen mentally cursed. So that was what Euphemia was plotting this entire time, and she had thought the princess was being way too quiet on the flight over.

Schneizel's gaze shifted from Euphemia, to that of her current and future knight, to the strange woman named C.C., and then to the youth that was apparently from the future Rai. From their expressions it was clear Euphemia had not discussed this little brainstorm of hers with them beforehand. The one Schneizel paid special attention to was Rai however, to see if his expression would reveal anything. The young man's face was pensive, but that was about it, which unfortunately did not reveal if he possessed any foreknowledge about the outcome of this endeavor.

"The risk is considerable," Schneizel said instead.

Euphemia cocked her head aside and the edge of her lips quirked slightly. "Brother. What exactly is it that we do that does not entail considerable risk?"

That may be so, but Schneizel was not about to concede ground quite yet. He placed a hand upon Euphemia's shoulder.

"I have lost one sibling this day. I would not see another fall."

That did give Euphemia pause, but she still seemed determined to press the point. Before she could however an interjection came.

"He's right, your highness."

Euphemia looked back at Kallen, eyes widening ever so slightly. The older girl grimaced.

"C.C. and I can go handle the thought elevator with the rest of your guard. There's no need for you to come along."

Granted Euphemia had not made explicit mention of doing so, it was pretty obvious to all that that was what she intended.

"And what happens when your presence is challenged?" Euphemia countered. "Considering the events that are unfolding, you would almost certainly be regarded as hostiles. My authority might convince the soldiers stationed there to stand down."

"Or it might not," Laura took this one, "at which point you would have needlessly endangered yourself. All of us signed up for this, Euphie. Trust us to see it through."

Again the princess hesitated and Schneizel felt a hint of relief starting to appear as it seemed like Euphemia might be talked out of her plan. True this was an opportunity that they should not let escape, but as both Kallen and Laura had said, it could be done without Euphemia's presence. In fact her tagging along was liable to make the situation more complicated, not less. Schneizel opened his mouth to add his support to his sister's companions. Another voice however beat him to it, in a manner opposite to what he hoped for.

"The princess should go."

Stunned gazes fell upon Rai and the young man grimaced. He did not back down however.

"If events are unfolding the way I think they are, the princess should go."

Kallen's jaw hung there for several moments before she finally managed to will it shut.

"Are you serious!?" she hissed.

Rai gave her a flat look. "If your desire is to ensure her highness' safety, then she should go."

Eyes narrowed all about.

"Are you suggesting that Bifröst will not be secure?" Schneizel asked.

Rai shook his head. "Bifröst is fine, the forces that will be concentrated here will be more than enough to see off any attempts by the provincial forces to seize it. There are however, other considerations. Roles that the princess must fulfill."

Euphemia turned and placed herself before Rai. "Roles that I must fulfill. Is empress one of them?"

Gasps sounded from the other imperial scions. Schneizel's reaction was more measured but even he was not unmoved by the implications. And the obvious vehemence by which Euphemia seemed to want to avoid that outcome.

Rai remained silent for several moments before finally settling on the composition of his response.

"There will be an opportunity. A slim one, but an opportunity nonetheless."

That was all he had to say, and that was all Euphemia needed to hear. She nodded and turned back to Schneizel.

"I will be departing shortly, brother." And with even firmer conviction. "I shall see you upon my return."

End of Chapter 87

Do not expect me to be able to keep up this pace for that much longer. Once I get the rest of this arc off my chest, I'm likely to go take a mental vacation. And maybe work on _A Trail of Tears_ instead.

The Swords of God are technically doing a lot better against the Britannian forces in Pendragon than the JLF did in Tokyo. Part of that is down to doctrine and planning. The JLF were an atrophied force, they had not been able to conduct any actual large unit training exercises since the fall of Japan and so were really, really rusty. A significant portion of the Swords of God were however active or reserve servicemen/women in the provincial guards, and even those that were not had at least some combat training drilled into them by other Swords. The JLF also spent a ludicrous amount of resources in building up a force of knightmares but never was able to develop the tactical doctrine to properly employ them. Their intent was to use them to offset the Britannian advantage in knightmares, but when the Burais showed up the Empire's response was to employ all of the counter-knightmare tactics that it had developed as contingencies, most of which did not involve knightmare on knightmare combat. JLF target planning was also, spotty. And not nearly as thoroughly planned as it needed to be. Part of that was Lelouch's fault since he set them against a target they were never planning on trying to take in a first strike. He's learned since and the reason it took this long to get the attack on Pendragon organized was because they spent a lot more time planning out the details of the operation. Granted most of those plans went out the window once the fighting actually started, but they provided good guidelines for the Swords once they hit the ground and were on their own.

Of course now the Carolinian and Virginian provincial guards are here, and they're packing a lot more firepower. On the other hand Eighth Fleet has arrived and more reinforcements will be pouring in soon. The battle itself is not over yet, and I don't know whether I'm going to need another chapter outright or just half of it to wrap it up. Only after it's over will we shift over to Lelouch's perspective to see what he's been up to. And of course resolve the collision of forces that are about to descend upon the New York thought elevator.

Technically the Empire doesn't have nukes yet, it only has 'atomic' weapons. And Euphemia only ever uses the one. Not on Paris though. I have something, special planned for Paris. And the Eiffel Tower.

Case Zulu means invasion of home system imminent. It showed up in the first Honorverse book.

That is actually an interesting point, the France in this timeline has not had to suffer through WWII. They had a milder version of WWI which led to the formation of the EU, but there's going to be a strong nationalistic streak that dominates the thinking of a lot of the larger European countries. Then again France did surrender pretty quickly after its standing army was effectively defeated by the Germans and Paris fell in WWII. Whether that happens here or not will at least partially depend on the terms the French government expects to be on the receiving end of. Britannia is not quite going to demand an unconditional surrender like the Allies did to the Axis powers during WWII, but the concessions it will demand will be very painful politically. The broad strokes were outlined a lot of chapters back in a dinner between Schneizel, Cornelia, and Augustus.

Not much else to say, there weren't that many other reviews requiring comment or response.


	89. Chapter 88

_The damage inflicted upon Britannia by the Battle of Pendragon was considerable. By the time the treasonous provincial guards arrived the Swords of God insurgents had managed to reduce the loyalist forces in the capital by a third. Their most significant achievements were most certainly the destruction of Huginn Tower, which also saw the deaths of a significant number of the leadership of the hated Ordo Hereticus, and the assassination of the Prince Odysseus. The crown prince elected to remain behind with a contingent of his guard at Freyr Palace while the rest of his family evacuated. He then proceeded to intentionally draw the attention of the insurgents so as to give his siblings a greater chance to reach safety. Tragically the Prince Odysseus and his forces fell to the last man just as reinforcements led by Lieutenant-General Victor Arseid reached them._

 _The Prince Odysseus was not the only imperial scion to face a reckoning on this day. With the majority of the provincial forces successfully entering the city proper intact, the battle was joined anew even as reinforcements brought by the Princess Euphemia and summoned by the Princess Cornelia began to arrive. With the presence of Eighth Fleet's ships one could well have made the argument that a loyalist victory was assured, but Major-General Aurelia Cayenne-Le Guin was not one to easily concede defeat. Understanding well that time was her enemy, General Le Guin split her forces into three components for one final, even desperate push against_ _Bifröst Air Base, the imperial palace itself, and finally Valhalla Base. There she would cross swords for one last time with her old mentor Field Marshal Zechs Vander, and her old classmate and friend, the Princess Cornelia._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 88

Mors certa, hora certa

The reprieve that Valhalla Base had enjoyed after the initial waves of insurgent attacks petered out was well and truly over. While the insurgents had been remarkably well armed and disciplined, their successes were more due to the element of surprise than anything else. The provincial forces were considerably better organized and possessed the depth of force needed to actually maintain pressure on any gains they made. One such gain was a complete breach of Valhalla's defensive perimeter, haphazard as it was.

Schneizel had not lied to his sister when he informed her that Valhalla still held. In fact he was both honest and earnest, based on what he knew. Valhalla did still stand, but its occupants were hurriedly trying to evacuate as its defenses crumbled under the relentless onslaught.

"Don't bother dumping the systems, just get your people out of there?" Cornelia shouted into the phone before slamming it down and making for the door herself. "Gilbert! Is my knightmare ready!?"

"Yes your highness," the man said, one hand on his earpiece. "We need to hurry though, they're starting to hit the building with-"

The very loud crash that sounded was accompanied by shaking that nearly saw both topple over. Given further impetus to move, they hurried down to the vehicle bay where two more knightmares were waiting, along with an elderly gentleman with an eyepatch.

"Zechs, why aren't you evacuated?" Cornelia demanded.

"This is my station, your highness," the field marshal responded calmly. "I will not abandon it until all of my people are safely away."

Cornelia grimaced but did not argue, there was no time. "Fates be with you field marshal, I will buy what time I can, but I _will_ expect to see you come the new dawn."

Zechs cracked a slight smile and snapped a crisp salute. "By your will, your highness."

The princess climbed into her Gloucester and with Gilbert right behind her the two charged out. The single platoon of knightmares that were stationed at Valhalla had already fallen, but not before taking down two accompanying the treasonous provincial guard. Cornelia frowned as she caught sight of a gold colored Gloucester. That could only be one person.

The incoming fire slackened before dying down completely. A beep sounded inside Cornelia's knightmare, indicating a request to open communications with her. She accepted it and a regal looking woman with silver-blond hair appeared on a display.

"Aurelia," Cornelia greeted with just a hint of tension.

The other woman cracked a slight smile. "Cornelia. It has been a long time."

"Indeed," the princess agreed before taking a deep breath. "Why are you doing this, Aurelia? You cannot seriously believe that you and your husband will be able to usurp control of the Empire."

"Oh I knew it was a long shot," Aurelia agreed. "In fact the moment it became clear that the insurgents had failed to kill you and Schneizel I knew we were almost certain to fail."

"Then why?" Cornelia demanded. "Why even bother launching this attack? You could have stood down, saved countless lives, including possibly your own."

Aurelia raised an eyebrow. "You would have argued for clemency for my sake?"

"I _would_ have," Cornelia stated very clearly.

"And as Heir Tertius and Marshal of the Empire your word would have lent great weight," Aurelia said bitingly.

Cornelia's eyes widened ever so slightly as the pieces starting falling into place. "This, this is about your father?"

Aurelia's own expression tightened, offering confirmation of that point. The late Maximilian Le Guin was a respected officer in the Imperial Britannian Army, having planned the campaign that saw Japan added to the Empire as Area 11 as chief of the imperial general staff. For a time many thought that he would be named Marshal of the Empire as a reward for his years of loyal service, but five years later the Emperor Charles made the surprise appointment of his daughter Cornelia to that august position instead. By that time Cornelia was already a major-general, having actively distinguished herself in the Philippines campaign as a divisional commander. She was still relatively junior in terms of seniority however, and save for one point would never have been considered for the position of marshal. Two years after Cornelia's elevation Maximilian passed away, leaving his title and lands to his sole offspring, Aurelia.

"Tell me, your highness," Aurelia said bitingly. "Do you really believe yourself to have deserved your hallowed rank? Were your achievements so grand that you should have been catapulted above those whose services stretched back to before you ever drew breath?"

Cornelia grimaced. "My appointment was no slight to your father, Aurelia, and I had nothing but the greatest respect for him."

"But not enough to not take away from him what should have been his finest moment," Aurelia said coldly. "You and your brother, your machinations to concentrate power in your little cabal. Have you ever considered those whom you stepped upon to do so?"

Cornelia's jaw tightened. "Eight hundred and forty-six."

That caused Aurelia's own expression to freeze momentarily before confusion became visible on her face.

"What?"

"Eight hundred and forty-six soldiers," Cornelia repeated, "4th battalion, 9th infantry division, Battle of Bataan. It was the last redoubt of the Filipino forces, and I was heralded a hero for avenging the deaths of the 4th battalion after they got encircled by the enemy and wiped out. Do you know who was the one that got them encircled in the first place, Aurelia?"

The other woman said nothing at Cornelia's bitter smile.

"I was the 9th's divisional commander. I overextended our lines, sent the 4th right into the trap that killed all of them. Do you know who it was that salvaged that entire situation, Aurelia? The one that actually won the battle?"

Again Aurelia made no answer.

"It was one of my regimental commanders. You've probably heard of Andreas quite often in the news. I try to make sure his achievements are well recognized." The bitterness of Cornelia's smile nearly turned it into a grimace. "A rather pitiful attempt at penance for having taken credit for his achievements all those years ago, because it was decided that I _needed_ the credibility in order to justify my rapid rise in the military. How many people we've _stepped_ on? The question you really need to ask is how many people we've gotten _killed_ in the pursuit of our ambition." Cornelia's knightmare raised its lance and pointed it directly at the gold Gloucester. "I watched as my family was cut down one by one. To stop that, I would have paid any price, Aurelia. You and I were friends. I _would_ have given you a chance to stand down, I _would_ have done everything I could to spare your life and that of your family. Now that we stand opposed on the field of battle, I _will not_ show any mercy or quarter!"

For a moment the golden knightmare remained still. Then it hefted its sword and assumed a ready stance.

"And I would not ask for any," Aurelia responded levelly.

As if that were a signal the two knightmares charged one another. As they neared Cornelia thrust her lance, a motion that Aurelia neatly parried aside even as she spun about, slamming her shield into the princess' knightmare.

"Your highness!"

"Stay out of this Gilbert!" Cornelia shouted. "I will settle this myself!"

It was perhaps a bit crass for Cornelia to snap at her own knight like that, but in the heat of battle civil niceties were often a luxury one could not afford. There was also a purely practical side to the princess' rejection of her knight's assistance. At present the battle had been reduced to just the duel between the two of them and the rest of the Virginian forces were holding fire as they observed. The longer they did that, the longer the rest of the base had to evacuate. But if Gilbert jumped in and tried to assist her, that might prompt the Virginians to do the same and recommence the wider battle.

The impact of Aurelia's blow pushed Cornelia's Gloucester over but the princess kept her machine upright, taking advantage of the momentum and her landspinners to twirl around and delivering another thrust with her lance. This time Aurelia blocked the attack with her shield, its form visibly deforming from the impact. At the same time she brought her sword slashing down, slicing through the lance and snapping it in two. Cornelia was not quite disarmed, but she was definitely at a marked disadvantage.

Before the two could separate Cornelia launched her Slash Harkens, latching onto Aurelia's frame by its torso and sword arm. The motors strained as the other woman declined to cooperate but Cornelia was already on the move, closing in to deliver a stab from the fallback knife her Gloucester mounted. To her surprise however Aurelia's knightmare banked hard to the left, jerking Cornelia's mech with her in the process. It was just enough to throw off Cornelia's timing as her thrust hit nothing but air. The gold Gloucester then stopped trying to retreat, charging in even as it turned sideways, ramming into Cornelia's machine with its shield again. The princess bounced about inside of the crash webbing, the combination of the impact and the tangling of her cables making it harder to stay upright.

Angling her blade, Aurelia stopped resisting and let the cable reel her arm in. The sword proceeded to slam into the harken launcher, smashing it to bits and freeing that appendage. Aurelia wasted no time severing the other cable with a quick slash and opened up the distance a bit more as Cornelia's machine fell to one knee.

The princess breathed heavily, assessing the state of her knightmare. It was more than a bit banged up and Cornelia was not sure how much more punishment it could take. Aurelia's knightmare however did not seem any worse for the wear. Some of it was almost certainly because Cornelia was not landing any actual hits on her. Some.

"It appears your husband's company has been making improvements to the Gloucester frame," Cornelia remarked dryly.

"With all the upstarts nipping at our heels, you surely did not expect us to be sitting idle?" came Aurelia's response.

The purple Gloucester slowly rose once more. It was not completely unarmed, but against Aurelia's knightmare Cornelia knew she was completely outmatched at this point. But not outwitted. Her radio was still functioning, and she was receiving a steady stream of updates about the reinforcements headed their way. And the battleship that had been in range for quite some time now. Cornelia quickly issued a terse but firm command before answering Aurelia.

"You've put a lot of thought into this, Aurelia," Cornelia said. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, even back at the Point you were thorough and methodical."

Aurelia snorted. "Trying to stall for time, Cornelia?" The golden knightmare shifted its stance, preparing to charge once more. "At least accept your defeat with some grace."

"Defeat?" Cornelia said with a slight sneer. A light blinked, signaling execution of her order. "Maxim 20: Wenn Sie nicht willens sind auf Ihre eigene Stellung zu feuern, fehlt Ihnen auch der Wille zum siegen."

The Le Guin family was like that of the Lamperouge descended from French nobility. And despite their pride as Britannian aristocrats, they did maintain some trappings of their heritage, including a passable fluency in their ancestor's language. The li Britannias on the other hand were predominantly of German descent, though one could be forgiven for assuming they too were primarily French due to the Empress Annabella's maiden name of Velaines. Some generations back a minor French noble had immigrated to the very western part of Germany and married the daughter of a local noble. His descendants remained in the area until they escaped to Great Britain and then Britannia during the upheaval of the Napoleonic era. Cornelia and Euphemia were the latest generation of that line and like Aurelia both were also fluent in the language of their ancestors. Aurelia however knew only a few words of German and so spent a single moment trying to parse the words Cornelia uttered. It was doubtful she ever did figure it out.

Cornelia slammed the ejection button and her cockpit blasted off from her heavily damaged Gloucester. A second later the ground around it and Aurelia's knightmare disappeared in a cacophony of destruction. The four shots fired by the railguns mounted on the _Prince Clovis_ had been perfectly timed and sequenced, carving a path of destruction from the two knightmares all the way back to where the bulk of Aurelia's forces were lingering watching the duel. The initial impacts killed at least a third of them and the remaining knightmares of the Virginian provincial guard were amongst the losses.

The survivors were still trying to figure out what had happened, or whether they were still alive for that matter, when another barrage of fire scathed their ranks from behind. Several dozen knightmares advanced through the streets, led by a blue Gloucester. An ashen colored knightmare streaked through the sky before landing in front of where Cornelia's cockpit had handed. Turning about it opened fire, the lingered protectively over the pod even as Gilbert's knightmare hurried over.

"Your highness!" the knight shouted over the radio.

The top of the pod cracked open to reveal a battered Cornelia. She was still alive, though the blood streaking down her face was probably less serious than it actually was. Head wounds were often like that, when they were not genuinely life threatening that is.

"Your highness, are you alright!?"

There was a distinct hint of pleading in Gilbert's voice. Cornelia looked up and gave her knight a pained smile.

"I'll live Gilbert, even if my body really wished otherwise at the moment."

The sigh that Gilbert let out was audible enough to be picked up and relayed by the radio. "That was far too reckless, your highness."

"Maybe so," Cornelia said as she tried to rise. Tried.

"Sir, your highness," a more youthful voice sounded from the ashen knightmare, "we should hold further conversation until you're evacuated to a safe location."

Cornelia grimaced slightly, not at the soldier's very sound suggestion, but at the pain from every movement she tried to make. She definitely had broken a rib or two in her little stunt. Maybe calling down fire on your own position was not such a good idea after all.

"I will take her highness to safety," Gilbert said as he carefully picked up the cockpit. "Cover me."

"Yes sir."

It was in some ways rather ironic, Cornelia thought. Not so long ago a Lancelot had threatened to murder Euphemia. Now another was helping keep her alive. What a different just a few months could make.

* * *

Gino pulled his knightmare back, just barely evading a tank shell shot his way. It really was amazing how quickly things could go to Hel. While the insurgents were basically a spent force, the provincial forces that were now coming for him were anything but despite the pounding they had suffered from the naval bombardment and air strikes. In fact Gino was pretty sure the bulk of the Virginian provincial guard were arrayed against him, and even without their knightmares they were a formidable force. And with Anya gone her Mordred was just sitting there in the vehicle hanger because they did not have anyone else actually able to pilot the thing besides himself and General Waldstein.

The knight took aim and nailed the tank that had just tried to do the same to him. The VARIS round cut cleanly through the armor, cooking off its armor and leaving the vehicle a smoldering mess. The Mordred's wide range attack capabilities would have been nice, but something told Gino he would be more useful in a knightmare he was actually familiar with, not trying to learn on the fly how to make effective use of the larger knightmare's cannons.

The situation was however getting stickier and stickier. Knightmares excelled at mobile warfare, outmaneuvering their opponents to deliver the killing blow. When forced to adopt a defensive posture, they were much more vulnerable than tanks due to their lighter armor even if they were mounted with comparable weapons. With Fenrir Regiment's knightmares reduced to only three battalion's worth, the loyalist forces no longer held the numerical and qualitative advantage to ensure victory. Victory, if it was to be obtained, would be very hard fought.

Two more advancing tanks went up in flames, but the barrage of fire that answered their deaths took out the last pair of knightmares defending the entrance into the palace grounds. Gino cursed.

"Platoon, with me!"

The four knightmares stopped firing and moved to follow. One fell victim almost immediately to the enemy units they were trying to disengage from but Gino did not stop. He led the others away as quickly as he could, spraying the main gate with his machinegun even as he waited for his rifle to cycle. The infantry that had tried to force a breakthrough dove for cover or tried to backpedal. The knightmares accompanying Gino kept the pressure on however, scattering the enemy forces even as they tried to take up positions that offered some kind of cover. The problem of course was that civilian buildings were not really built to withstand cannon fire. A second knightmare went down and the structure it had been behind ended up collapsing atop it as well. Another shrill whistle sounded as Gino fired his VARIS again, taking out two tanks that had stupidly been lined up. His forces were inflicting some pretty heavy losses on the provincial guard, but they were being whittled even faster.

Not too far from their current position a very loud explosion sounded. Glancing over Gino saw a very large billow of smoke rising from a section of the wall. While the wall surrounding the palace was designed to be able to withstand some degree of heavy weapons fire, even it had its limits. It seemed that section had reached it, and in the process another hole into the palace grounds was created. The smoke made it hard to see clearly but Gino was pretty sure he could make out the forms of soldiers pouring in.

"Back into the grounds!" he ordered. "Western perimeter, back into the grounds!"

Not just the depleted platoon accompanying him but also the rest of the company fighting along the west side of the palace began pulling back. Gino was the first through the gates and swung his knightmare about to try to keep the enemy forces pouring through dispersed. No such luck there as a trio of rockets came forth to greet him. The blaze luminous absorbed two but the third scored a clean hit against his chest armor. It held, barely, and Gino responded with another burst from his machinegun.

The defenders already fortified inside the perimeter also opened up and in theory the wide open ground should have made it an ideal killing field. The provincial forces had thought this through however and tanks and AFVs started pouring through the hole next, acting as a screen to protect the next wave of infantry. The first group had merely been bait, to draw a reaction from the defenders to see how firmly they were entrenched. Very was the answer to that question, and hence the heavy armor now tracking dirt all over the grounds. The gardener was going to be most upset. Cannon fire roared and holes began peppering the palace itself. So were the housekeepers for that matter.

"General Weinberg," a voice sounded over the radio, "please pull your forces out of zone 3 within the next minute, fire support incoming."

Gino's eyes lit up. The good news was there was fire support incoming. The bad news, that support would turn into friendly fire if he did not get his troops out of the target zone. He fired off a rapid series of orders, trying to disengage his forces from the provincial guard. A minute was however not a lot of warning and as the seconds ticked down Gino watched with a grimace as the western grounds of the palace literally disappeared under a barrage of fire. The ground began shaking so much that Gino forced his knightmare down onto a knee. Even then he was doubtful he could have been able to tell the difference between the aftershocks of the bombardment or his own knightmare falling over.

When the mini-earthquake finally subsided Gino surveyed the results. It was pretty clear at least a platoon of his own forces had been caught in the kill zone though he would have been hard pressed to find anything left of them. The bulk of the fatalities had however been the provincial forces. The entire force of tanks and AFVs were reduced to pieces of scrap. That was however far from the full scope of the destruction the bombardment had inflicted. A trail of destruction was left behind that actually led outside the walls, while also blowing a few more big holes in it in the process, and through them Gino could see what looked to be two blocks of rubble. Whatever his compatriots had used on the rebels was almost excessive in its destructive power.

"Firing second sequence."

More roars thundered, accompanied by noticeable tremors. This time though the targets had been along the southern perimeter.

"Status?" Gino spoke into his radio.

"Targets neutralized," the voice said. " _Prince Lelouch_ settling into station keeping mode."

Gino blinked. What was the Prince Lelouch doing? And just what was he doing here, seemingly helping the loyalists when he was the one that had precipitated this entire battle. And then a shadow enveloped his knightmare, causing Gino to look up. His jaw spent several seconds dangling as he took in the massive construct floating, no, looming in the sky.

"What the Hel is that!?"

Fortunately for Gino's dignity his radio pickup was turned off. Still he might have at least gotten an answer to his question. Looking at his tactical display Gino saw that indeed, the thing looming ominously close to the palace was broadcasting a Britannian IFF identifying itself as the _Prince Lelouch_. Which was all sorts of ironic considering what he knew about the not-quite deceased prince. Then again, there was the question of just what the blazes the _Prince Lelouch_ was. Gino toggled his radio.

"General Waldstein, come in."

A moment passed. "This is Waldstein. What is it general?"

It still felt weird to Gino to be addressed so formally by his mentor.

"General, are you seeing this, thing, in the airspace by the palace?"

A chuckle actually sounded over the radio, which indicated to Gino that whatever it was, it probably was on their side. Bismarck was after all not a man to ever make light of the demands of his duties and if the, ship, Gino supposed, was a threat, he would have made that clear in succinct and blunt terms.

"The _Prince Lelouch_ is, one of the products of a secret weapons program the Prince Schneizel initiated," Bismarck said. "When contact was lost with Pendragon, the Princess Euphemia activated them and brought them with her to relieve the capital."

Perhaps he made that judgment too soon, Gino mused, seeing as anything the Prince Schneizel had a hand in most certainly could not automatically be considered nonthreatening to the emperor, the man whom Gino was sworn to. If the prince were so inclined, this was the perfect opportunity to make a move on his own father. And with the Prince Odysseus dead, Schneizel would be the one to take the throne. It looked like Fenrir Regiment could not relax quite yet. Though just what the blazes they would be able to do against something like that Gino had no idea whatsoever. If the guns on that flying ship were able to do that to the traitorous provincial forces, they would have little trouble making mincemeat of his own forces and the entire imperial palace for that matter.

"Sir, should we be moving his majesty?" Gino asked very carefully.

"We shall see," Bismarck said. "In a few hours' time, it will have mattered not. For now all we can do is wait for news of Anya's success or failure."

Or rather the Empress Marianne's, Gino knew full well. The young man sank into the seat of his knightmare. Waiting was not something he was very good at. But when faced with forces such as this, perhaps it was a prudent course of action. Not like there was not plenty of work still left to do. Gino looked back over at his tactical display. Time to round up the troops.

* * *

The approaches to the parliament building were blocked by makeshift barricades with armed insurgents holed up behind them. Their numbers were however noticeably thin and quite a few seemed uncertain as to whether they should still be here. The bulk of their compatriots were either dead or scattered and contact with the provincial forces was also growing increasingly spotty. The tide of battle was obviously turning against them assuming they were not in the process of being completely routed already. Still without more intel the insurgents guarding the parliament dithered and sat tight. Had they decided to ditch their weapons and gear and make a run for it they might have even made it. Now though the attention of the loyalist forces was turning towards this, one of the last enemy redoubts.

The gunfire that sounded took the insurgents by surprise, not least because they first started coming from inside the building. Those manning the perimeter however did not have any time to worry about what was happening inside as they suddenly found their own positions under fire. From seemingly out of nowhere soldiers poured out of buildings and around corners, catching the insurgent positions in crossfires. Those that managed to fire back found their efforts woefully inadequate against the onslaught that swept towards them. Explosions began popping as grenades were flung at the barricades. They hardly seemed necessary as the combined gendarmerie and Xenos kill teams moved in.

Inside the parliament building itself the fighting was less one-sided. Using the classified tunnels only the Inquisitio knew of, the gendarmerie and Ordo Xenos had slipped soldiers inside to launch a two-pronged attack to liberate the building and any hostages the insurgents might still be holding. There was a limit to how many soldiers they could cram through those tunnels however, and the two forces elected to send their very best through to make the insertion count.

Claire ducked, nearly avoiding a bullet to the brain even as she returned fire. Her own burst caught the enemy soldier dead center and the AP rounds of her rifle were not inconvenienced in the least by the man's body armor.

"Clear."

As Claire kept watch down the corridor more soldiers rushed out behind her down another hallway, one Sara Valestein in the lead. At the next intersection Sara's hand came up and the soldiers accompanying her came to a stop. Footsteps, not theirs, were soon audible and closing in. Taking a flashbang from her belt Sara pulled the pin and bounced it around the corner. Shots sounded and a single burst was fired off before the cacophony of light and sound erupted. Even as the enemy tried to fight through the disorientation the gendarme captain was on the move. The moment she was around the corner her rifle was barking and three quick bursts dropped all of her targets.

The squad continued advancing, breaking out into a brisk jog as they hurried towards the main atrium. That would be where their compatriots would be entering and the layout made it a perfect place for the insurgents to lay an ambush. It was their job to make sure that ambush never happened. Suddenly from around another corner a soldier came bounding out and nearly crashed into Sara. The gendarme took only a brief moment to apprise and identify him before slamming her bayonet into his chest. The man gave her an incredulous look, the last he ever managed as Sara fired a burst to permanently put him down. Without any hesitation Sara planted a boot on the slumping figure and pushed him off her bayonet.

"Let's move it!"

The soldiers obeyed and as she took up the rearguard Claire spared a single glance at the fallen figure. Another insurgent. Sara had made that judgment in a split second and reacted accordingly. The captain was well deserving of her reputation it seemed.

They were coming up from the atrium now and the insurgents were already busy firing downward. All the better since they were now faced the wrong way. After a brief moment to let her team get into position Sara flashed the go signal. As one they opened up, catching a dozen insurgents and clearing their side of the atrium. At the same time another kill team emerged on the other side and gunned down their targets.

"Clear!" Sara shouted.

"Clear!" came the response.

She emerged out of cover and only once someone on the other side also did so did the rest of her team emerge.

"Atrium secured," Claire said into her radio. "We're moving on the lords chamber now."

The gendarme captain was already on the move and Claire hurried to keep pace with Sara. Surprisingly no one was waiting outside to greet them with bullets, the sentries likely having left to respond to the initial intrusion. Sara gave the door a quick scan.

"Not seeing any indications of traps," she concluded. "I'll take point."

"No, let me," Claire said.

Sara raised an eyebrow.

"If there is a trap and they manage to take out the point man, we're going to need you alive to figure out how to get into the chamber," Claire said.

After a brief moment Sara nodded and waved at the door. "After you then captain."

Claire flashed a wry smile. "Why thank you captain."

The rest of the team took up positions even as other teams did the same at the side entrances.

"Lightening Team ready," Sara said.

Claire listened as the others also signaled their readiness.

"All teams in position," Sara continued. "Forcing entry in three, two, one, mark!"

Claire gave the door a hefty kick, managing to partially tear it off its hinges as it flung open. She was through right away, and was not greeted by enemy fire. The bloodying had already been done. Inside were several insurgents, very recently killed considering how their blood was still pooling, and quite a few nobles also slumped over. Quite a few were however still alive, including a stern but determined looking noble with his dark gray hair tied into a ponytail.

"Duke Velaines!"

Claire was immediately at the man's side and the duke gave her a wry smile of his own. "Captain. Glad to have you join us." And winced.

"Medic!" Claire shouted.

One of the other soldiers was immediately with them, pulling out bandages and other implements. The duke's wound did not appear fatal, though he was in some obvious pain.

"What happened sir?" Claire asked.

"When we heard the gunfire start up," Augustus answered, "we decided to do something about it." And glanced over to the side. "We decided to do something about _him_."

Following his gaze Claire found herself looking at another noble, this one with flowing orange hair decked out with a fur shoulder stole. She recognized the slumped over figure immediately.

"Duke Cayenne."

Augustus nodded. "We knew this was a make or break moment. We decided that if nothing else Cayenne needed to pay for what he's done. And so we made sure of it."

That they did, Claire mused as she met the duke's empty eyes. Even though it obviously cost the other nobles much, they had not shirked from the duties that came with their prerogatives. But Augustus was not the only survivor, and quite a few of the other lords were simply playing dead to see just whom would come through the doors. Now that it was apparent salvation was upon them they stirred. Some of them at least. Claire grimaced. At least two thirds of the lords stayed down, whether from a previous purge or their last desperate gambit. But the Duke Velaines was still alive, and looked likely to make it out of this, while the Duke Cayenne had been made to pay for his crimes, permanently. That was a start.

* * *

Nonette frowned. She had positioned her knightmare battalions directly in the route the rogue provincial forces would need to take to reach Bifröst. Once they were close enough, her ambush would have sprung and probably given the enemy vanguard a very thorough blooding. If she was lucky the enemy would be routed entirely and she could run down the bulk of their force before they were able to actually threaten the base.

Of course the only problem with that little plan was the simple fact that the enemy was thus far disinclined to actually walk into her ambush. In fact they had stopped entirely and seemed to be showing no sign of getting a move on it. Either they had lost their nerve, or someone in their chain of command actually had a brain and realized there was no way they were going to crack Bifröst. That technically would have counted as a win but Nonette could not help but feel just the slightest bit disappointed at that prospect. She was not quite done fighting after all.

The radio crackled as someone transmitted to all open channels.

"This is Jusis Albarea of the Carolinian Provincial Guard."

Nonette's eyebrow rose. The son of Duke Albarea himself had accompanied his father's forces for this little misadventure? Either the young man was seriously bold or he had considered the possibility that the operation would be a bust and his presence would be needed to try to resolve it peaceably. At the very least young Jusis was showing quite a bit of spine.

"I request to speak with a commanding authority at Bifröst Air Base."

There were quite a few people whom could fulfill that requirement, Nonette herself being one had she actually still been back at base. The one that actually responded however was no surprise whatsoever.

"This is the Prince Schneizel. Speak your piece, Jusis Albarea."

And here would be where things get interesting, Nonette mused.

"Your highness, my thanks for answering," Jusis said politely. "It is obvious to both of us that despite the intact nature of my father's forces, the chances of our achieving a breakthrough at Bifröst is effectively nil. And even should General Le Guin's forces succeed in their objectives, that would only delay the inevitable as you marshal the rest of the Empire against us. I have no desire to see further loss of life on either side, and I am prepared to stand down the Carolinian provincial guard and surrender it into the custody of your forces if you are willing to promise fair treatment for those under my command."

Fair treatment for his troops, Nonette noted, but no mention of his own treatment or that of his family.

"Fair treatment for your troops," Schneizel repeated. "Is that your only condition?"

To Jusis' credit his response was immediate. "It is, your highness."

"Very well." Schneizel was also not one to dither. "As Heir Secundus, I give my word that those members of the Carolinian Provincial Guard whom lay down their arms and surrender into the custody of the forces under my command will be treated fairly."

And that was that.

"All forces," Nonette said into her radio, "weapons hold. So long as the Carolinians do not violate the terms of their surrender, we'll keep from blowing them away. Acknowledge."

The rogers from her company commanders flowed in promptly to the knight's satisfaction. Nonette let herself uncurl atop the seat of her controls. It would certainly have been exciting to go toe to toe against the provincial guard, but she was not about to gainsay the word of an imperial scion. Especially not one that controlled enough local firepower to also turn the imperial palace into a pile of rubble. Nonette was starting to appreciate just why the regular armed forces were not permitted close to Pendragon under normal circumstances.

Sure the Knights of the Round had pretty thoroughly kicked the crap out of the insurgents and would have almost certainly been able to defeat the two divisions of rogue provincial guardsmen, but doing so had reduced their ready forces by something like 30%. The remaining 70% was still a powerful force, but it was starting to get a tad outnumbered by the units summoned by the Princess Cornelia and brought by the Princess Euphemia. If they and the Prince Schneizel had decided to launch their own coup, the Rounds might have put up a hell of a fight, but they would have ultimately lost.

Within a few minutes she could see a parade of soldiers with hands folded behind their heads approaching. There were a lot of them. Accepting their surrender was one thing, sorting through all of them and finding someplace to park them during that process was going to be another matter entirely. Nonette considered her possibilities. Letting them into Bifröst itself was probably not a very good idea. Then again there were a couple of warehouses a couple of blocks away that might be able to hold them. It would not be comfortable, but they would only need to sit tight for a day or so before they could be shipped out to proper prison facilities. Nonette got to work.

* * *

Schneizel let out a heavy sigh of relief. It was almost dawn and the past day had left little time for rest. With the Carolinian provincial guard having stood down however, and combined with the rescue of the Duke Velaines and the other surviving lords, it looked like the Empire might just emerge from what was quickly becoming known as the Battle of Pendragon mostly intact. True the government was in shambles right now with its ranks decimated. But the core of his support was still intact and the faction that he and Cornelia had spearheaded would soon be welcoming in fullness the third leg of the iron triangle that would keep it inviolable. Assuming Euphemia returned to them after dealing with the New York thought elevator.

That was the one bit of uncertainty right now, along with just how their father would react to the three of them so thoroughly derailing his plans for Ragnarök. If he reacted badly, then the Empire might yet go up in flames if Schneizel and Cornelia were forced to use the forces loyal to them to kick off their own coup attempt. They would almost certainly win, especially considering nothing the Knights of the Round possessed would be able to take down Eighth Fleet. That did not mean killing their father and his most ardent supporters would be easy, and in the aftermath of Cayenne's failed coup launching his own would have significant political ramifications.

"Your highness."

Schneizel glanced back to see Kanon behind.

"You really should get some rest, your highness," the colonel suggested, politely but firmly.

The prince allowed himself a slight smile. "I am afraid sleep would elude me, until we can determine Euphie's status."

Kanon's lips thinned but the man did not protest. He knew his liege well enough to press further on that point. The death of his brother had shaken Schneizel, more than he had ever been so in the past. More than Lelouch and Nunnally's reported deaths, more than Clovis' all too real one. Perhaps it was because Odysseus had died for his sake. Whatever the reason, sleep seemed more like a waiting nightmare than the unconscious bliss it should have been.

"How is Cornelia?" Schneizel asked.

"Resting, your highness," Kanon emphasized ever so slightly. "Her highness broke two ribs and the doctors sedated her to set them. And the Duke Velaines is also recovering well."

Schneizel nodded. His chief of staff was efficient like that, always thinking ahead to what else might be on his mind. It was one reason why he valued Kanon's input, and took the man's advice to heart. Just, this time he would wait just a bit longer before doing so. The prince looked out the window of the _Empress Marianne's_ observation deck. It really was a beautiful sight, the rising of a new dawn. In the future he should make the time to appreciate it more often.

A heavy thud beat in Schneizel's chest. The prince frowned, placing a hand over his heart. And then he felt as if a hand was clasping his throat, and squeezed. Schneizel gasped, air filling his lungs. And yet he felt none of the flow of breath. Grabbing hold of a handle he tried to steady himself to no avail as the strength from his legs seemingly gave out, then his grip also loosened.

"Your highness!"

Schneizel's eyes flickered in shock as his entire body seemed to crumble, his senses deadening one by one. Kanon grabbed hold of him but the prince felt nothing from his assistant's hands. The other man's mouth moved, frantically screaming something, and the sounds reached Schneizel's ears but not his mind. The air flowed in and out of his own mouth and nose and his lungs filled and emptied with every breath, yet all he could feel was the stranglehold that was filling his mind with a blistering burn. Then his sight too seemed to wash out until nothing but whiteness filled his mind's eye.

Down in Bifröst's hospital the instrumentation hooked up to the Princess Cornelia let out a shrill alarm as her vitals went completely haywire. The doctors and nurses that responded began applying sedatives to try to calm her racing heart, and then frantically called for a defibrillator as her heartrate plummeted. Even as they raced to try to save her another youth, a black haired knight in training that had distinguished himself the past day and was already being referred to as the Ashen Chevalier, toppled over as he entered the hanger the ASEEC had commandeered for their use. Back aboard the _Empress Marianne_ armsmen rushed to carry their charges to the infirmary, from the Princess Carine to the Prince Schneizel.

And across a continent and an ocean, just as the day was ending in the land known to some as Japan and others as Area 11, two other imperial scions suddenly began convulsing. Mikasa grabbed hold of Nunnally, shouting for a medic. Sayoko was immediately at their side, quickly checking the girl's pulse and noting the rapid fluctuations. This was beyond her ken however and the princess was hurriedly rushed to the hospital wing of the palace, as was her half-sister the Princess Maribelle.

Time of death, 9:23AM GMT, March 18th, 1963 CE. The Emperor Charles zi Britannia. The Prince Schneizel el Britannia. The Princess Guinevere de Britannia. The Princess Cornelia li Britannia. The Princess Maribelle mel Britannia. The Princess Carine ne Britannia. The Princess Nunnally vi Britannia.

End of Chapter 88

So yeah, that happened. Ahem.

We'll be going back a couple of hours in the next chapter to unveil everything that happened in the thought elevator involving everyone that's assembling there.

The thing with Aurelia's father should have probably had a bit more foreshadowing. Ultimately though I felt she needed a bit more motivation than just supporting her husband, especially considering she's smart enough to realize their plans had failed the moment she reached Pendragon and so many of the royals were still alive.

Cornelia and Euphemia being part German also probably needed better foreshadowing. It's something that I decided on fairly early but just kind of never really came up. We'll see if I have an opportunity to work it in more. For what she said, I refer you to Maxim 20 of the 70 Maxims for the Maximally Effective Mercenary. And thanks to my German friend for helping provide a translation.

Technically Claire and Sara should have each been leading teams of their own, they're both captains. I decided that I wanted at least one scene with the two fighting alongside each other however and so put them on the same team. That and I suppose I could justify it that Claire is technically more an intelligence operative than a combat team leader. Those are generally two rather disparate specialties.

No Tesla coil for the Eiffel Tower. Though there will be a hint in next chapter's opening snippet. It'll be a very, very subtle hint though.


	90. Chapter 89

_A smallish stray cat with a distinctive eyepatch pattern that wandered onto the grounds of Ashford Academy, Arthur was originally adopted by the Ashford family and served as both pet and mouser of the academy grounds. Arthur proved popular with the student body and despite the many treats and snacks he was offered the cat remained a prolific hunter. At rough count over a dozen kills can be confirmed during his tenure at Ashford due to his habit of leaving dead rats and mice on the doorstep of the Ashford family residence, a habit that while not at all endearing to the household staff likely resulted in them never seeing any live vermin. There was also one reported incident of Arthur taking down a hare as large as himself._

 _Not long after the Empress Euphemia's ascension Arthur was gifted to her majesty by the Ashford family and became one of the many mousers that lived in the imperial palace. His habit of leaving kills on the doorstep of his owner, in this case the front door of her majesty's private retreat, persisted throughout his tenure. Arthur would eventually succeed Peter the Third as Chief Mouser of the Imperial Palace and performed his duty with distinction and dedication for thirteen years before passing away after personally delivering one last kill to his mistress. Shortly after, the memorial statue of his original owner, the Princess Nunnally vi Britannia, was recast to include Arthur seated on her lap._

 _-Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I_

Chapter 89

Lelouch ad portas

"Got incoming."

Laura turned about and picked up her binoculars. It was dusk and the lightning was hardly what one would call illuminating but her sharpened senses still easily picked out the helicopter that was approaching. Whomever was on it was in a hurry, and very cocky considering they were heading directly for the thought elevator.

"Bring it down," she ordered.

"Roger dodger," Crow said.

The anti-material rifle he possessed was very much a custom job, something that Crow had put together on the side at his official job as an armorer for the Virginian provincial guard. It fired the same .50 caliber round used by the standard M2 machine gun and was capable of hitting targets up to almost two thousand yards away. Against the relatively light armor of the helicopter on approach, it was almost child's play.

Two shots sounded in rapid succession, though Crow's rifle was not quite capable of semi-automatic fire. That really would have been impressive. As it was the helicopter began spiraling out of control almost immediately very quickly disappeared below the tree line. A distant rumble could be heard from its crash. Laura spent another few moments watching the trail of smoke rising from the crash before nodding in satisfaction.

"Target neutralized."

Crow chuckled. "Was there ever any doubt?"

"One can never be too careful," Laura responded with a smirk of her own.

It had been a few hours since their force seized control of the thought elevator. Most of the defenders were wiped out but at least one had escaped to sound the alarm, for all the good that would do with the defense net down. In fact this was the first attempt by the authorities to actually approach the structure. Stupidly at that, one did not approach an entrenched enemy position via helicopter unless one was absolutely certain the other side did not have the means to just shoot you down. Of course it was always possible the helicopter's occupants had not known the thought elevator was now in the possession of insurgents. It would not have mattered either way however, they were still dead regardless of their intent.

Crow stretched, cracking his neck. Freezing his ass out here on guard duty was not his idea of fun, but at least the company was less frigid than the weather. Laura could be quite adorable when she let her guard down, and the way she almost fawned over Crow's rifle was actually pretty amusing. Maybe he would let her take the next shot, the girl was a very quick learner and there was seemingly no weapon she could not handle on the first try.

A subtle pressure swept over Crow and he instinctively rolled over to look back. Or rather up as it turned out.

"Oh. Wow."

Thought elevators were for the most part simplistic looking obelisk structures that rose up for about ten or so stories, which for a prehistoric civilization was a pretty remarkable feat. Their exterior was a dull shade of pale white with no markings or inscriptions to really distinguish them from a sheet of flat rock. The interior of course was more impressive looking, the walls covered with symbols that archeologists had yet to decipher the meaning behind. Then of course there was the actual arrangement of the internal structure, the ancient civilization somehow having the engineering capability to create chambers that were perfect cubes in dimension.

All this paled in comparison however to the sight that unfolded above them. Spinning square tiles of blue light began appearing one after the other, overlaying each other until their accumulated numbers created a circle. If one looked really carefully, one could still make out the fact that the circle was made of discrete pieces. And then the tiles began to grow as they rose. Not uniformly either, some extended outward while others remained the same. A few even seemed to even shrink. With the naked eye it was hard to precisely follow the motion, but that was hardly necessary with the glassy construct that was left in their wake. At first it looked liked an upside down pyramid. Then edges started extruding from the triangular sides.

Crow blinked. And blinked again. The squares that had made up the original circle were not just rising upward, they seemed to almost be folding over themselves, turning what was a pyramid shape into a perfect sphere. No, not a sphere. As he tried to focus on a single point it was as if he could catch glimpses of square facets. Except they did not remain in place, they were constantly shifting, each corner changing which facet it was part of moment from moment. The entire arrangement was starting to make him a bit dizzy.

"What in God's name is that?" he wondered aloud.

"A hypercube," Laura responded, apparently having no trouble observing the construct as it literally unfolded. "Much as a cube is a 3D projection of a 2D square, this is a projection to the tenth dimension. Our minds and senses can't properly comprehend it, all we can see is a sphere with hints at something that extends further. The hypercube is however the true form of the thought elevator when it is unsealed."

"Well, well," Crow said. "Never thought I'd see anything like that. So old Charlie was sitting on a secret this big, huh." He glanced over at Laura. "So uh, is it really safe to blow it up?"

Laura actually took a moment to consider the question. Her answer took nowhere as long to deliver.

"No."

* * *

"This is as close as we can get, your highness."

Euphemia nodded, though her attention was on the massive sphere-like structure a short distance away from the _Avalon_.

"Interesting," she said, a slight glint in her left eye. "A hyper-cube."

Kallen gave the princess a curious look. "You can tell what that is?"

"Just the physical structure," the princess said as she glanced over at Rai and C.C. "As for what exactly it is, we would have to consult our experts."

C.C. snorted but said nothing. Rai however was more obliging.

"The thought elevators are not entirely in phase with the materium, their true forms exist within C's World. What you normally see, the obelisk structures, are anchors that provide a convenient point of access." The young man frowned. "What we're seeing now though is someone having pulled the thought elevator back into the materium, or at least its exterior. The true structure of the thought elevators is however, decidedly non-Euclidian. As such it is extending in dimensions that the human eye is not capable of truly observing. The structure may look like a sphere, but in truth it is actually a composite structure that exists in higher dimensions but which looks like it's overlapping each other."

"Could Lelouch have done this?" Euphemia asked.

Rai pursed his lips. "Possibly. Technically only someone with a code could disable the mechanisms that keep the thought elevators sealed away."

"A code bearer," the princess said, her expression darkening. "Like V.V."

A nod. "He may have decided to make his own move."

That would immeasurably complicate things, but it might also create an opportunity for them. If they could corner V.V. and eliminate him, then the entire chain of events that led to Rai's future could be averted and the human race preserved. Of course they still needed to determine just how many parties were converged on the thought elevator.

Thus far they had determined that at least two helicopters had approached the thought elevator, with one getting shot down after coming too close. Despite not having anyone at the site of the crash Kallen's geass was still sufficient to pick up indications that quite a few of its passengers actually managed to walk away, and head towards the thought elevator. A second group had sensibly put down further out and also headed towards the thought elevator. By this time both groups had arrived and there were indications that a firefight had broken out, with quite a few bodies strewn about the perimeter. Whether that was indicative of one side winning outright or the fighting had simply shifted inside was an open question however. It was also why Euphemia's guard was preparing to deploy with full tactical load outs.

"Shall we get going?" the princess said.

Her words might have been phrased like a question but it was most assuredly an order. The four headed down to the armory where the rest of the guard was already suited up. The sight of the princess putting on tactical armor was however eliciting a lot of strained expressions. As Rai started putting on his own gear Roy meandered over and placed a firm hand on the youth's shoulder.

"Just so we're clear," the armsman said. "The princess is here because of you. If anything happens, we'll be holding you to account for it."

Rai met the older man's gaze without flinching. "I assure you captain, if anything does happen to her highness, it will have been because my life alone was not enough to balance hers."

While Euphemia was far enough away this little exchange escaped her ears, Kallen had heard it loud and clear. She suppressed a snort, not least because the princess would have heard that, and busied herself putting on the rest of her own gear. Rai's recommendation upon them first catching sight of the thought elevator was to prioritize ammo and not bother with any fancy electronics. Radio would apparently work, sort of, inside the thought elevator, but that was about it. When she was done the young woman had six magazines stuffed in her two pouches, another pair strapped to her thighs, and one more in her rifle. The pistol strapped to her back would only have the single magazine in it but if she somehow managed to burn through the two hundred some rounds she was already carrying for her rifle and still not have killed whatever needed killing, the peashooter was probably not going to do much. Plus even with her athletic build all that weight was starting to add up, the two full canteens of water not helping in the least.

Euphemia on the other hand was given ample pistol ammo, though after Villetta's attempts to talk the princess out of accompanying them inevitably failed, the princess was warned very sternly that if she ever got into range to actually use said sidearm then they were doing something very wrong. Discretion, not valor, needed to be her operational doctrine this day.

"Are we set?" Euphemia asked.

"Yes your highness," a less than enthused Villetta responded.

The princess offered an apologetic but determined smile. "Very well then general, let us disembark."

The _Avalon_ was far too large to actually land by the thought elevator, there were no clearings large enough in the forest to do so. Technically it could have made one with a combination of its railgun and blaze luminous shield. For now that still seemed a tad excessive however and so the contingent of soldiers and Euphemia boarded the helicopters that were kept aboard for routine transfers. The drop was made quickly and efficiently, and Euphemia did not even scream this time as she was rappelled down in Riza's arms. Once on the forest floor the armsmen fell into formation and they advanced cautiously but quickly towards the thought elevator.

Kallen knelt by one of the dead soldiers and examined his kit. Standard M16 rifle, tactical armor that would not be out of place of the Britannian army or the provincial guard, there was nothing terribly distinguishing these individuals. Except perhaps the manner of their deaths.

"Any insight, lieutenant?" Villetta asked.

The young woman frowned. "This one was killed with a sword." She glanced at another corpse. "That one, it looks like his throat was crushed by someone's bare hands. Whoever hit these guys were very, very good."

"Directorate enforcers," Rai said from behind Kallen. "They are all geass contractors of V.V. Those that survive the training process are some of the deadliest people around."

"Do you know how many there are?"

Rai shook his head. "Most of the Directorate's records were purged during the assault on their headquarters."

"Wonderful." The guard captain was becoming ever less enthused with this little endeavor. "In that case you will be taking point, captain. Lieutenant, stay with her highness at all times. Any order you need to issue to keep her safe, I am giving you carte blanche now."

That took Kallen aback a bit but she nodded. "Yes ma'am." And paused. "Does, that include orders to you, ma'am?"

Villetta smirked. "A sergeant in motion outranks a lieutenant that doesn't know anything."

"And an ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everyone," Rai added on.

The two women regarded him curiously. The captain shrugged.

"Personal experience."

Villetta chuckled. "Someday we will need to buy you a few rounds and hear some of these stories of yours, captain." She looked back over at Kallen. "So thus far we have at least two forces at play here."

"Yes ma'am," Kallen said, refocusing on the task at hand. "And I don't think these people here were soldiers, I think they might have been more insurgents."

"Well if we're lucky the two sides will wipe each other out," Villetta said with feeling.

It was a sentiment Kallen fully agreed with, though the princess probably was still far too sentimental about her brother.

"Let's get a move on," Villetta ordered.

"Yes ma'am," the two responded in sync.

* * *

The explosion kicked up a fair amount of smoke and dust, creating a haze that obscured the figures that rolled around the corner. Reiner gasped for breath as he slumped back against the wall.

"Did we get him?"

"If only," Crow said, his years perking up at the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching.

His sword was already drawn and swinging but the looming figure that rounded the corner batted it aside almost contemptuously. He was even smiling as he did it.

"You'll need to do better than that against the Direwolf boy."

Reiner pushed himself back and fired off a quick burst from his rifle. The man was however already on the move, jumping up and kicking off against the wall to increase his already substantial speed. The rifle was almost torn out of Reiner's hand. Instead the barrel was snapped outright, leaving him with half a weapon.

The German youth's reaction was immediate, letting go of his rifle and drawing both his sidearm and knife. The slash was deftly blocked and the single shot he got off before a shoulder slammed into him was way off. The impact tossed Reiner back as if he were a rag doll. As it was Reiner was mildly amazed he had not broken something outright.

From behind Crow brought his sword crashing down but his target was already sliding into a counterattack. The sword had yet to even strike the ground when a boot slammed into Crow's side and sent him crashing against the wall. He let out a pained gasp and was still trying to find his footing when another foot pinned his sword arm against his chest and against the wall.

"You've got spunk kid," the man said with a smirk, "but you've a long way to go before you're in my league."

"Oh yeah?" Crow responded as flippantly as he could. "Well what about hers?"

To his credit the Direwolf did not spend any time being surprised. His suddenly retreat meant the knife that tried to gut him in the kidney stabbed nothing but air. Of course Laura had anticipated the dodge and her knife was already swing back into a slash. The motion was not quite fast enough to catch her target but the tip of the blade met just the barest amount of resistance.

Laura pressed her advantage, using her smaller frame to duck into the man's guard. The downward punch he threw suddenly became a springboard as she pushed off it, landing a solid strike with her knee. The man gargled, clutching his jaw as he reeled back from the blow. He threw another punch, this one sailing right past Laura's head as she spun about. The man's hands suddenly opened and moved to seize her long flowing hair. Against many other opponents that would have allowed him to stymie Laura's advance. With the German girl however the decidedly non-regulation hair was very much an asset, not an impediment. For one it served as a far too tempting target for those prepared to fight dirty. Seizing the hair after all required remaining within Laura's reach, something any of her compatriots could tell you was a very bad idea when she was armed with a knife.

"GAAAAAAAH!"

The stab in the arm was hardly fatal. It was however likely very painful and the Direwolf noticeably flinched. The involuntary jerk meant another split second where Laura could continue her attack. This she did without mercy and the next stab went right under the man's arm. The girl's aim was obviously but she was not quite able to get the blade to sink in deeply enough. The palm that slammed into her chest sent her flying back and this time Laura let out a cry as she crashed into the wall. Before the Direwolf could try to press his advantage a shot sounded and he tumbled onto his knee as the bullet tore through his ankle. He looked up just in time to see another blade swinging downward. Bleeding heavily and unable to move with one leg out of action, the Direwolf simply glared defiantly until the very head. The cut was clean and with a wet thud his head fell to the floor.

Laura stood, patting herself off before proceeding to retrieve the knife shoved into the corpse's form. She then glanced over at Crow.

"You alright?"

Crow managed a weak smile. "Peachy. Really thought he had me there, but then you showed up like the guardian angel I knew you to be."

Laura's cheeks flushed ever so slightly. "Still owe you for the knife. Can't have you dying before then."

Crow chuckled and gave the girl an affectionate pat on the head. To his mild surprise Laura did not bat his hand away.

"Yeah well, I think we can count ourselves even here." He withdrew his hand. "Did you manage to lose those other guys?"

A nod as Laura turned about. "Come, we need to meet up with Lelouch and the others. If we are to stand any chance against the rest of those enforcers, we will need their help."

"Don't know about that," Crow said as he gave his sword a quick swing. "You seemed to take this guy down without any trouble."

Laura grimaced. "The element of surprise and help from the two of you. Had I faced him alone, nine out of ten I would be the one bleeding out on the floor."

That Crow found he could not quite disagree with. Instead he simply nodded and followed Laura as the three of them headed deeper into the thought elevator. Lelouch had already been warned about the Directorate enforcers entering the place. Hopefully he would have a plan for how they would all be able to walk away from this mission.

* * *

The interior of the thought elevator was a mixture of corridors and open chambers. Villetta would have called it a maze but the layout was actually very sensible. Assuming one could wrap one's head around the fact that it extended into multiple dimensions. The walls were for the most part completely blank though every corner or intersection had symbols carved in them indicating according to Rai directions. And if the chambers had been used for something in the past, they now sat eerily empty. Their intended destination was the core of the thought elevator, which of course was buried deep within the construct. The body of troops had been marching for close to an hour, running into one or two more bodies along the way, before finally making contact with something still drawing breath.

"General, we've got people up ahead half a mile," Kallen said into her radio. "Count twelve soldiers, heavily armed, a girl that I think might be the Knight of Six, and the Knight of Twelve."

Villetta nodded. At least now they knew that Kallen's geass also worked inside this strange place.

"No geass users accompanying them?"

"No ma'am. Though…"

"Spit it out lieutenant."

"Yes ma'am. There's something, weird about the Knight of Six. I can still read her, but only partially."

Villetta frowned. That likely meant something but now was not the time to dwell on it, there were more pressing concerns.

"Do they know we're here yet?"

"I don't think so, their attention seems to be focused in front, not behind-wait, they're doing something. Yeah, they're definitely taking up-okay, I've lost sight of them, I think the Knight of Twelve just activated her jammer."

That was unfortunate. "Defensive positions. Lieutenant, stay with her highness and keep her back."

"Yes ma'am."

"Captain Koller, any suggestions for how to deal with Dame Kruszewski?" Villetta asked on the tactical channel.

"We should avoid exchanging fire with her forces," Rai responded. "Her cooperation will be necessary to secure the Directorate's main facilities intact."

"This is assuming she has any intention of talking," Villetta pointed out.

"I can attempt to initiate contact, ma'am," Rai suggested. "They might be willing to not shoot at one individual long enough to listen to what I have to say."

"Do it," Villetta ordered.

"Doing," Rai responded.

Up ahead the young man held up a hand to signal for the others to hold back. He then proceeded to carefully approach the other position. Around that corner, that was where the Rounds and their forces would have taken up position, it was a natural chokepoint. Rai slid up to the edge but did not break cover.

"Friendlies!" he shouted.

His keens ears picked up the slightest sound of rustling. They had heard him, loud and clear.

"Identify yourself!" a male voice responded.

They were being very careful here.

"Captain Raibeart Koller, accompanying her highness the Princess Euphemia and her guard!"

The delay this time was noticeably longer. When the response came however it was a very pragmatic one.

"Radio channel 6," the other man said, and he proceeded to rattle off which cipher to use with it.

Rai relayed the message back to Villetta and then set his own radio to that combination. Technically he should not be listening in, but if he really was not to the general could order him to get off.

"This is General Villetta Nu. General Kruszewski, do you copy?"

And since she had not, he would be a good little eavesdropper and not be heard himself.

"This is Kruszewski. Well, this is certainly a surprise, general. I was not expecting to run into you today. Or her highness for that matter."

"General Kruszewski, as you have likely surmised we are the force that is currently behind you," Villetta said, sticking to business. "We would prefer not to find our two sides engaged."

"Yeah, you'd probably kick our asses," Monica said. "Didn't exactly have a lot of time to put this team together so if you're all here with the princess, you definitely outnumber us."

Villetta was about to open her mouth again before clamping it shut. The other woman was good, she was being flippant and yet actively fishing information from Villetta, including just how many soldiers were accompanying her.

"Your grace, we have reason to believe our respective objectives align and that our chances for success would be considerably increased if we were to work together."

"Really? And what makes you say that?"

"Dame Kruszewski," another voice interrupted. A clear, determined voice. "Considering the situation, time is not likely a luxury either of us can afford. Shall we stop dancing around the issue and get to the heart of the matter?"

This time the Knight of Twelve did not have an immediate snarky response ready. Then again being mildly disrespectful with a fellow brigadier-general was not quite the same as being disrespectful to the fourth in line to the throne.

"Very well your highness," Monica said very carefully. "What is it that you think I am here to do?"

"To neutralize V.V.," the princess answered. "We found indications of a geass user at the entrance to the thought elevator, and seeing as you are not being accompanied by any, they are obviously part of another force."

Another brief pause passed before the knight answered. "Well, I suppose there's no point in hiding it. That is correct, your highness, we are here to neutralize V.V. on his majesty's orders. And yes, I think I would like your assistance on the matter, especially if you've brought most of your guard with you."

"Then we are agreed," Euphemia said, "so long as the other matter is also resolved."

That caused Villetta herself to blink. What other matter could the princess be referring to?

"What, other matter?"

The general now frowned. There was a slight tension to the Knight of Twelve's tone that suggested the other woman knew exactly what the princess was referring to, but was reluctant to admit it.

"A very simple matter," Euphemia continued. "The soldiers killed along the thought elevator's perimeter were not Britannian regulars. In fact they appear to be more of the insurgents that launched the initial attack on Pendragon, insurgents that Lelouch suborned. And seeing as there has been no indication of my brother in the city itself, the most logical place for him to have come is here."

"That, is a very interesting chain of thought, your highness," Monica allowed.

"Ah." There was a definite note of impatience in Euphemia's voice that Villetta immediately picked up from that single sound. "Then allow me to be more forthright, Dame Kruszewski. My brother _is_ here, somewhere in the thought elevator. And in addition to your orders to neutralize V.V. you also have orders to kill Lelouch. My own goals however would see Lelouch live, which I am afraid puts our respective forces at odds with one another. And while we would appreciate your assistance in dealing with the other geass bearers that V.V. has undoubtedly brought with him, we do not require the use of your artificial code to neutralize their abilities."

That was tipping their hand a bit more than Villetta liked, but she let the princess continue. Her highness could demonstrate remarkable resolve when there was something she absolutely wanted.

"As I have said, I would very much prefer we not come to blows over this matter, Dame Kruszewski. In fact I think I can provide a very strong case why trying to kill Lelouch here would be a major mistake on my father's part, one that would in fact endanger Britannia rather than preserve it. We do not have time however, and so I will make this offer only once. Our respective forces can work together to neutralize V.V., whom is actually a far greater threat than you yet realize, and we can work together to take my brother _alive_. I will require a response now, otherwise your forces will be regarded as hostile and treated accordingly should we actually meet."

The princess was not bluffing, that Villetta knew. And because she knew this she immediately set about issuing orders to the rest of the guard in case they ended up needing to launch an assault on the Rounds' position. They outnumbered the enemy something like three to one but if the other side was entrenched that numerical advantage would not mean much.

"Umm," Monica said, sounding remarkably ambivalent, "would your highness believe that, I am actually very open to trying to take Lelouch alive?"

Villetta frowned but did not stop her preparations.

"I would like to," Euphemia answered without any noticeable hesitation. "I will admit some surprise to this however, I would have expected you to be rather determined to see through his death, considering he has attempted to do the same to you twice thus far."

The chuckle from the knight actually carried through the radio. "Oh, I'm nowhere near forgiving Lelouch for that, I assure you, your highness. But, certain circumstances are in play where I'm really not in a position to just outright kill him anyway. His mother would be very cross with me if I did that, and the Empress Marianne can be rather scary when she's pissed."

The confusion on Villetta's part was now total. Surely the Empress Marianne's death was not faked as well? If so then the depths of the conspiracy surrounding the vi Britannias was truly staggering.

"The Empress Marianne," Euphemia said tentatively. "She is still alive?"

"She is, and she is listening in on every word we're saying," Monica said. A beat passed. "And she wants you to know she's quite proud of you and thanks you for looking after Nunnally."

Despite her own surprise Villetta felt her guard raised again by that last remark. It was too appealing, to consider that the Empress Marianne was still alive. And yet.

"Where is her majesty?" Euphemia asked. "Kallen did not sense anyone that would fit her profile accompanying you."

"Oh well, that would be a tad complicated," Monica said. "In fact this is something better explained face-to-face, if you are so willing, your highness?"

"Very well," Euphemia accepted almost immediately.

Villetta grimaced. Of course the princess would agree. Sometimes she wondered whether her highness ever actually considered the risks that she ran. Probably she did, and still went ahead with them because she thought the potential gain was worth it. That might have made serving her highness more rewarding, but it was also considerably more ulcer-inducing. Not to mention Villetta was fairly certain she would be going gray in the not-so-distant future.

"General Nu," Euphemia said over their internal net. "We will advance to meet Dame Kruszewski and her forces."

"Understood your highness," Villetta said. "Captain Koller, if you would."

"Yes ma'am."

From his position Rai rounded the corner, keeping his rifle pointed down but ready to snap up at a moment's notice. The soldiers accompanying the two Knights of the Round were also coming out of cover, all twelve of them. They also kept their weapons down but remained vigilant. As the rest of the guard arrived Monica and Anya also emerged. Rai kept a close eye on the Knight of Six, noting the slight gleam in her eye. And the barest hint of a smile. Yes indeed, the Empress Marianne had been listening. Rai idly wondered just how the princess would react when this particular bombshell was dropped.

The guards parted way to let Euphemia through but Kallen remained a few steps in front of the princess, ready to shield her if need be. Monica and Anya stepped forward themselves and bowed respectfully.

"Your highness."

"Dame Kruszewski." Euphemia looked over at the shorter girl and smiled slightly. "Hello Anya. It has been some time."

"That it has," Anya said in her usual monotone. And then smiled. "You are looking very well, Euphie."

The princess blinked. So did Kallen for that matter. The sudden change in tone was so jarring that it was as if two people talking. And then gasps sounded from not just Euphemia and her knight but also Villetta as realization sank in. Anya clasped her hands together and beamed a bright smile at all of them.

"So I hear you intend to help bring my son back home. Do you have a plan?"

* * *

"You do have a plan right?"

"But of course."

Charlotte shot Lelouch's back an annoyed look, not that the young man could actually see it. The slight shifting of his shoulders however indicated he knew just what she thought of his response.

"At this point the only thing to do is to proceed with our original plan," Lelouch continued. "After I've initiated a resonance cascade, we will use this thought elevator to translocate to the London thought elevator before the cascade destroys this one. With any luck that will take out the Directorate enforcers that are chasing us, which will eliminate a significant impediment to us repeating the task with the other thought elevators."

"And if they manage to catch up to us before then?" Charlotte pressed.

"Then we kill them."

A succinct, if not entirely helpful answer, considering just how hard Directorate enforcers were to kill. Then again their little party did have some advantages not possessed by more mundane peoples, though that had not been nearly as much help as it should have been the last time they ran into an enforcer.

"The next anchor should be up ahead," Lelouch said. "Eyes open, if they come at me when I'm deactivating it, I'm going to be a sitting duck."

"Do you like your ducks roasted or boiled?" Fie asked Charlotte.

"I'd prefer that it still be able to fly, thank you very much," Charlotte responded.

"Bit too late for that," Annie quipped from in front and Bertolt chuckled from alongside her.

Lelouch sighed. "I see I remain the butt of your jokes."

Charlotte smiled beatifically, again not that Lelouch could actually see. "Need to do something to keep your head from swelling too much."

A heavier sigh sounded, though a tint of amusement colored it.

"We're here," Annie announced shortly thereafter.

The anchor that now stood before them was not really recognizable as an anchor despite Lelouch naming it so. In fact the perfectly smooth cube standing on one of its corners probably better qualified as abstract art. There were eight of them total in the thought elevator and thus far Lelouch and co had visited five. This would be the sixth, and hopefully they would be able to get to the last two without running into any of the enforcers that were reported to have arrived.

Charlotte and Fie spun about, weapons ready as the sound of footsteps reached them. Lelouch's own turn was nowhere as hurried but his rifle was also ready to go. Annie and Bertolt parted, taking position in the gaps between the three that were previously behind them. As the figure came into view all five felt a slight chill run down their spines.

"Well, I suppose the grandmaster can actually be right from time to time."

If the slight inflection in tone was any indication the man did not hold the grandmaster in much esteem, not that that would change much about their current situation.

"I see you did survive," Lelouch remarked dryly. "That must be quite the geass you have in that case."

The man chuckled. "Your maneuver at the factory was quite clever. But as you said, I have a very impressive geass, and that helped level the field immensely."

"Don't suppose you'd mind sharing what kind of geass could let you survive being gang piled by a thousand berserkers?" Lelouch asked offhandedly.

"Now where would the fun in letting you in on my little secret be?" the man smirked. "Though where are my manners. Seeing as this is the second time we have met, your highness, it would be rude to not at least introduce myself. You may call me Bladelord."

All sets of eyes immediately drifted towards the nasty looking sword in the man's hand. That name, or rather title, actually sounded rather like an understatement considering what they had seen last time.

"I don't suppose you're being chatty because there's a chance we can talk you into walking away from this?" Lelouch asked.

"Fraid-"

Opening fire when someone was in mid-sentence might be construed as rude. Or fighting dirty. Those people in the trenches would consider it to be a measure of pragmatism. Battles were not fought by being fair or letting the other guy have a sporting chance, they were won by stacking the odds as heavily in your favor as possible. And when the odds were stacked against you, you did everything in your power to level the field again. When going up against a superhuman swordsman, you did that by pumping enough lead his way to make sure he never got in range to actually use that sword. Of course that superhuman bit made keeping him at range much more complicated than it really should have been with five rifles all gunning for him.

It should have been physically impossible for a human being to outrun a bullet. And it was impossible. The trick to Bladelord's seeming impossible feat was fairly simple, he simply made sure not to be standing in the line of fire when the trigger was pulled. It was not that difficult to figure out, or for that matter to come up with a counter. Of course after having observed Bladelord's absurd reaction times Lelouch quickly arrived at the conclusion that they needed at minimum six people coordinating fire all at once to stand a chance of actually hitting him. That was a tall order with just two people, and seeing as they were one short anyway their chances of landing a shot were still not great. It was however just barely enough to keep Bladelord from closing on them, for now.

"Scatter!" Lelouch ordered.

The five dispersed, some more quickly than others as they alternated who was trying to find cover and who continued firing to stall Bladelord. The decreased volume of fire allowed him to get closer of course but that was also intentional. Charlotte and Annie sprinted in opposite directions, moving to flank Bladelord even as he charged straight for Lelouch. In his path however stepped Fie, whom despite her small frame was in a three-way tie with Annie and Laura for hand-to-hand proficiency. Her rifle was already slung over her shoulder and in both hands were a pair of customized pistols fitted with blades under their barrels.

Bladelord's sword offered him far greater reach than Fie. She on the other hand had two weapons that could be independently wielded. The gunblades were tricky to employ but in the hands of an expert were devastating short range weapons. Ducking a slash, Fie knew better than to think she was in the clear. Her prudence was rewarded as one gunblade met the suddenly reversing sword. Her second pistol was leveled at Bladelord but it was already pointing at open space by the time it got off a round. A quick series of thrusts and parries prevented Fie from trying to shoot again but she was just barely able to keep pace with the onslaught.

Leaping back, Fie detached herself from the engagement just as four other rifles opened up again. The time that she bought had been enough for the others to reposition themselves. Her own pistols soon joined in and again Bladelord was momentarily too busy evading their lines of fire to overtly threaten any of them. Of course they could not keep this up forever, if only because eventually they would be out of bullets. In fact that was exactly what happened as Annie's magazine ran dry and she stopped firing.

Bladelord immediately took advantage of the slight slackening in fire and charged straight for the girl. Her magazine had just hit the floor when he was upon her, except that Annie was ready and waiting with two short swords drawn. The ring of metal clashing sounded as she parried the thrust, pushing Bladelord's sword down to try to create an opening for her own. The man however deftly sidestepped her own slash and was on the offensive again. Annie had however learned her lesson from their previous encounter, making sure not to overextend herself and always keeping one blade angled and prepared to deflect any of his attacks.

The intensity of fire from the other rifles slackened but did not entirely stop. Even as Fie and Charlotte were reloading Bertolt and Lelouch took careful aim, shooting not at but around the two combatants to try to restrict Bladelord's movements. Just as they needed to reload Fie and Charlotte resumed firing themselves, never letting up on the pressure. And while it was too early to say their stratagem was working, none of them were dead yet.

Of course Bladelord was himself no fool and recognized very quickly what they were trying to do. And given enough time even his endurance would be sapped and he would slow, at which point sheer numbers would see him overwhelmed. His solution was simple and direct. He was here to neutralize the greatest danger to the Directorate and while his followers were proving to be remarkably resilient and dangerous all by themselves, Lelouch was the primary threat. As the young man stepped to reload, Bladelord disengaged from Annie and crossed the distance to Lelouch in the blink of an eye.

Lelouch's immediate reaction was to retreat. He was however far from matching Bladelord's speed, something he was well aware of. The single second that he gained however was just enough for him to drop his rifle and draw the sword strapped to his back and meet the one that would have decapitated him otherwise. The two blades touched for only a single moment before the older man's bounced and angled into another vector of attack. Again Lelouch parried it, if only barely, but he was rapidly losing ground.

Fie and Annie both charged in to try to force Bladelord to engage them instead but the man knew exactly whom he was after. Instead of directly deflecting or countering them his every motion saw him slide past a thrust or slash into an attack of his own directed again at Lelouch. As skilled as the young man was with his sword, and as much as he had improved since their first encounter, he could not keep pace with the onslaught being delivered against him. And then he made his first, and probably last mistake as he overextended a leg just too far. Bladelord gave it a hefty kick, knocking Lelouch off-balance and throwing wide open his guard. The sword that came down should have been the end. All his effort, every sacrifice he made, for naught in the face of failure. A loud ring sounded as another blade met it.

Lelouch fell onto his back but he barely noticed the impact. Instead his eyes, and that of everyone else here, were locked on the white-clad figure whose sword had saved his life. A sword wielded by a woman whose eyes were as hard as the steel of the blade.

"You will _not_ lay hands upon my son."

So declared Marianne vi Britannia, the former Knight of Six, and consort to the Emperor Charles.

End of Chapter 89

I thought I would be able to get this over with in two chapters. That is starting to look a tad optimistic, but we will have to see. There's likely going to be a lot of talking that needs to happen, which always stretches out things. That being said I expect the next couple of chapters to be genuinely hard to craft, so they'll likely take longer to churn out than the last oh, four or five chapters.

One thing I forgot to mention last chapter was that Anya's Mordred is a custom design, sort of. It's an improvement over the Gawain prototype that Camelot had been working on previously, intended to pack a particle cannon in a more compact form factor. Mordred itself is still a prototype though, and the Britannian military is still extremely dubious as to the practical worth of a heavy knightmare like the Mordred. Anything that requires the amount of firepower that it packs to kill is generally more safely engaged from a very long distance.

Aurelia is dead. I'm not sure they'll ever be able to actually find enough of her body to bury, she was kind of at ground zero of the railgun strikes. And Mao does not exist as an ex-contractor. I mentioned in an earlier note that the time C.C. would have spent with him overlaps with the time that my C.C. would have spent with Lelouch in Europe.

I had written a much longer note regarding what happened to the imperial family, but in light of some of the remarks it's pretty clear that not everyone has picked up on all of the nuances just yet (or the long term ramifications for that matter), so I'm going to hold off on it until we're done with the thought elevator stuff. That being said, one thing I do want to make clear is that not once in the story did I ever try to create the impression that a path existed for Euphemia to ascend to the throne while Schneizel or Cornelia were still alive. In fact I went out of my way to make clear that Euphemia would _not_ ascend the throne if either were alive. The fact that Euphemia became empress was pretty much a notification that the two would die, the only question was under what circumstances. The summary itself pretty much lays out the fact that Euphemia's ascension is one that is marked by tragedy after all.

Rean's mention at the end of last chapter was meant as a hint of sorts. Those people who know his background in Kiseki should be able to make a decent guess as to what the hint is about.

In truth it was kind of a toss-up whether Rean or Victor would die during the Battle of Pendragon. I needed one of them to do so, and I had sketched out scenarios for both. The problem ended up being I couldn't fit Victor's scenario into the flow of battle and so I ended up axing it, which left Rean holding the short stick as it were. I had good rationales for either death built into their respective scenarios, so with Rean's death his is now in play. I'll see how many of you can guess why he died in-story before it's actually revealed.


	91. Chapter 90

Snippet spoiler: Potentially significant

 _One of the viler slanders against the Empress Euphemia was that because she did not perish alongside her extended family in the biological attack that struck all of them down worldwide, her majesty was not actually a daughter of the Emperor Charles and thus not a Britannia to begin with. The first to dare publicly voice such doubts was the Duke Helmut Albarea during his trial for treason, a mistake that nearly saw the duke lynched by the furious crowds that had assembled outside of parliament. This of course did not stop the empress' detractors or political opponents, domestic and otherwise, from continuing to whisper such notions behind closed doors, but the general public of the Empire remained steadfast in their belief in her majesty's legitimacy, a belief that was considerably reinforced by her majesty's difficulty in carrying a child to term._

 _While the Empress Euphemia might have survived the bioweapon employed by the European Union, it was abundantly clear that she was not unaffected. Despite her majesty's continued insistence on seeing to all of her official duties it was obvious to many close to the empress that her endurance was considerably reduced even from her time as viceroy of Japan. The true extent of the harm her majesty's body suffered from the attack however only came to light during her first pregnancy. Just as the Empire felt a glimmer of hope that the Britannian imperial family would be continued, news of tragedy arrived that her majesty had suffered a miscarriage at the start her third trimester. The cause was determined to be an inexplicable shutdown of the fetus' brain, the very same cause of death that had struck down the rest of her majesty's family. The Empire mourned with her majesty at the loss of her son, and was forced to contemplate the very real possibility that the Britannia line would end with her._

 _-Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I_

Chapter 90

Necessitas etiam timidos fortes facit

The Empress Marianne vi Britannia was during her prime regarded as one of the best swordswomen alive. Of her peers only Viscount Victor Arseid, Duke Zechs Vander, and General Bismarck Waldstein were considered credible challengers to her blade, and only the viscount could claim to consistently best Marianne. Part of that was almost certainly due to the advantages his highland claymore provided in their duels, that and Victor's immense physical strength meant he was one of the few people able to wield the sword and not be outpaced by Marianne. Zechs' record in dueling the empress was a bit more uneven, losing about as often as he won against her majesty. Bismarck on the other hand tended to fare very poorly whenever he was matched against Marianne, despite being able to hold his own against the other two. Polite company refrained from commenting on possible rationales.

The weapon of Marianne's choice was the spadroon, a Scottish derivation of the saber that had both a sharp tip for thrusting and an edge for cutting. It allowed for a certain flexibility in approach that often took less prepared opponents by surprise when the wielder would switch between different angles of attack. And during her time as a fencing instructor at the Point Marianne passed on her favorite techniques to quite a few students, ranging from the Princess Cornelia and her friends the Ladies Aurelia and Nonette to other promising up and coming cadets like one Jonathan Eyre. None of them would have ever dared claim they actually reached the level of caliber of her majesty of course, but each of them were most definitely considered masters of the blade in their own right. Marianne just happened to be a master of masters.

Lelouch had only vague recollections of his mother's fencing abilities. During Cornelia's time as captain of her guard the two would often train together and from time to time he would invite himself into the gym and watch. He never recalled his mother losing, in fact she was almost always smiling whenever their blades met. There was no smile on her expression this time however, just a cold, almost grim determination to skewer the man that now dared cross swords with her.

Bladelord's thrust was meant as a feint, to get Marianne to deflect and thus momentarily open her guard. And if she did not parry then his blade would have carried true to her heart. The knight however declined to be baited, instead stepping back just far enough that her opponent's lunge would fall short. She then brought her own sword crashing down, forcibly batting aside the man's weapon to force her own opening. Her sword's bounce led it straight into a thrust of her own, forcing Bladelord to retreat, not withdraw. His stance was still recovering when Marianne turned her thrust into a diagonal slash. Their swords met and Bladelord actually felt himself being pressed by the empress. The son might have been only passable as a swordsman, but the mother was in another league entirely.

Twisting his wrist, Bladelord managed to disengage their swords but not push Marianne's weapon away from her center. The woman's sword slid along his and remained angled towards him, ready to parry any attack he might attempt, or launch one of her own. That was exactly what Marianne did, lunging forward and driving the tip of her blade at her opponent's heart. Bladelord batted at the incoming sword, diverting it and seemingly finally creating an opening for him to drive home his own attack. His eyes widened as another spadroon appeared in Marianne's left hand and thrust from under to parry his sword. The blade in her right hand came slashing down and not even his considerably enhanced reflexes were enough to move his body enough to evade the blow. A wet thud sounded as Marianne's blade sliced through the man's wrist, severing his hand and the sword it gripped.

Bladelord had about a second to register his sudden incapacitation, but Marianne was not one for half measures. He was just starting to turn his head to regard her when the woman finished spinning about, the sword in her left hand flickering with cold precision. Bladelord's vision shifted and he was suddenly regarding Marianne sideways. Then upside down. Then she disappeared from his view entirely as his sight slowly but surely dimmed.

As the three parts that were the Bladelord's body bled out, the swords disappeared from Marianne's hands and she turned to regard her son. The manner in which she placed her hands on her hips looked more like a mother preparing to scold her child than a woman that just decapitated someone in a duel. Lelouch was not quite sure if he should be afraid of what she might say next, or what she might do next.

"Lelouch vi Britannia."

Full name. In that tone. Every child whom has had the pleasure of having a mother rear them knew exactly what those two combined meant. He was in deep, deep trouble. It was somewhat remarkable, after all his years as an intelligence operative, after all the people that he had killed, directly and indirectly, Lelouch actually winced upon hearing his name like that. Something deeply ingrained in the human psyche always would.

"You, young man, are long overdue for a good spanking."

Lelouch blinked. His mother sounded entirely serious, and from what he had seen she would not hesitate to actually hang him over his lap and do just that. Yet somehow the mere thought of it, the image that conjured, was just so ludicrous that it momentarily broke through his panic long enough for him to compose himself. Marianne's glare continued unabated. Somewhat compose himself. Lelouch cleared his throat.

"I'm afraid I'm a bit past the point where such punishments are warranted, mother," he said dryly.

The wide smile that Marianne flashed him was in no way reassuring. "Oh you're never too old for a scolding from your mother. And you can tell your girlfriend to lower her weapon, I'm not here to hurt you. Much."

"That is reassuring to hear," Lelouch muttered under his breath.

"And I'm afraid her gun won't do much good against me anyway."

That got Lelouch's mind to focus again and recall that, officially his mother was dead. And their apparent last meeting was via the Knight of Six.

"I suppose bullets might not be terribly effective against ghosts," Lelouch said before looking over at the corpse and severed head. "Then again you seem to have little trouble affecting us mere mortals."

There was a time when Lelouch would have felt assured by the smile on his mother's face. Right now he was trying to determine if it was a prelude to his death sentence.

"There are some advantages to being able to directly manifest in C's World," Marianne said before glancing back over at Lelouch's companions. "Oh calm down dears, I'm just here to talk. My last conversation with my son got interrupted after all." Her gaze fell upon Fie. "By you, if I recall correctly. For such a cute little thing you sure roughed up my troops something awful."

"You'll have to forgive us ma'am," Charlotte spoke up, "if we're not about to take your word just like that."

Marianne shrugged. "Fair enough." And looked back over at Lelouch. "Now, where were we? Ah yes, Ragnarök. Tell me Lelouch, what do you actually know about it?"

The young man's eyes narrowed, a dangerous glint visible in them. The change did not escape Marianne.

"I know that what you seek is equivalent to the death of mankind," Lelouch stated. "Without individuality, we lose the very thing that defines us as a species. Without our differences, we would have no reason to advance. We would stagnate, and stagnation is death."

"Agreed," Marianne said.

For a moment Lelouch did not quite register his mother's response. When it finally sank in he blinked in confusion.

"Pardon?"

Marianne gave Lelouch a reproachful look. "If it weren't for your stubbornness and paranoia, we could have resolved this the last time we met. Your father does not seek Ragnarök, Lelouch. He hasn't since _you_ were born."

Lelouch continued staring blankly at his mother. "What?"

"Do you know why your father conceived of Ragnarök, Lelouch?"

The young man shook his head slowly.

"Because he had given up on humanity. Because he saw no hope for people to ever rise above their base instincts, to not automatically try to step on others in a pointless race to try to climb to the top. And because everyone he loved, everyone he cared about, were either taken away from him or turned out to be lying to him. So he and his brother Vivian decided that enough was enough, humanity was beyond redemption and thus the only recourse was to defang it. And if the long term consequence was that mankind would descend into a dead end and become extinct, then so be it, at least it would be a peaceful end instead of one in fire and brimstone."

"That is an abysmally _stupid_ conclusion they arrived at," Lelouch said bitingly. "Especially considering it won't be a peaceful end. Humanity will be consumed, not pass away in blissful ignorance."

Marianne tapped her lip with a finger. "Interesting. Euphie said much the same thing. The two of you obviously know something that has been driving your own actions."

Lelouch frowned again. "Euphie?"

"You owe your sister a big apology," Marianne continued. "And a big thank you. Even after you tried to kill her she's willing to try to bring you in alive." The smile this time was almost gentle, and ever so proud. "I always knew she had heart. And she's proven that she has a backbone to back it up." The look was now reproachful. "Whereas you just seem to have a thick skull."

Lelouch was having difficulty trying to remember the last time he was so flatfooted. It was probably when Charlotte punched him the first time they met. Or was it when Nunnally decided to reveal that she was still alive a desperate ploy to get him to stand down. The women in his life, they all seemed to have a tendency to do that.

"Do you have a point, mother?" Lelouch asked flatly.

"Yes, yes, I do," Marianne said firmly. "My point, Lelouch, is that your presumption of your family's involvement in Ragnarök is just that, a presumption. When the only one actively pursuing it is Vivian, not your father, not I, and certainly not any of your siblings whom you have tried to murder." Marianne's eyes actually flared in anger at that bit. "You have been extremely closeminded, Lelouch. I would have expected better from you."

This time it was Lelouch's own eyes that flickered in a mixture of irritation and even anger.

"Not working towards Ragnarök? Tell me then mother, how is it that the Directorate still commands such influence in the Empire? And what was the point of conquering Japan and then the Middle East if not to seize control of their thought elevators? From what I have seen, father has been fervently pursuing the means to achieve Ragnarök, with the complicity of every single individual whom has assisted in Britannia's conquests for the last decade, and inflicted untold suffering upon millions of people in the process. Tell me, what could be worth such sacrifice, if _not_ his dreaming of Ragnarök?"

"The answer should be obvious, Lelouch," Marianne said, nonplussed. "You _do_ know how hard it is to kill a code bearer, no? After all, you used an antitank missile on C.C. and her contractor in Japan. What your father has sought all these years is the means to permanently kill Vivian. C.C. did tell you about him during the time you two were together in Europe, did she not?"

Lelouch let out a harsh bark. "This is the first time I've heard the name, much less that I had an uncle that is as insane as my father."

That finally gave Marianne pause as she regarded her son. There was a genuine confusion in his eyes, beneath the anger and frustration.

"You really don't know," she said in some wonderment. "Well, I suppose that explains much. Vivian, or rather V.V., is your father's twin brother. Older twin brother. And he's the narcissistic little prick that tried to murder me and Nunnally because our love for each other was seeing Charles' faith in mankind restored. And that faith was causing him to waver on the need for Ragnarök, and distance himself from V.V."

Lelouch regarded his mother levelly. "V.V. is a code bearer."

"Correct."

"Then he would be the one overseeing the Directorate."

"Also correct."

"Then why the fuck did father not restrain him after he went rogue?" Lelouch demanded. "A code bearer is difficult to kill, yes, but no more difficult to imprison than any other human."

"Did C.C. teach you nothing in the time the two of you were together?" Marianne said somewhat incredulously.

"You would probably save both of us some time by just assuming, no, she did not teach me anything useful," Lelouch said snidely. "Or perhaps it better suits your efforts to stall by feigning surprise at my ignorance."

Lelouch was now back on his feet and gripping his sword tightly. He stood absolutely no chance against his mother if she manifested her own weapons again, not even with the others helping. That did not mean he would not give it is all. Marianne frowned.

"Lelouch. At this point your refusal to even listen is starting to become a bad joke. By your actions you have attempted to kill more people opposed to Ragnarök than those supporting it. _You_ have contributed more to Ragnarök in the past year than your father has in the past decade. And it will be on _your_ head if V.V. manages to achieve his mad dream because you have struck down all those that stand in his way."

"On the contrary, it will be I whom will do what you and father have, for some undoubtedly asinine reason, failed to do all these years. Where you have let V.V. be to plot and scheme, I will burn down everything that he has built and salt the earth the ashes rest upon."

A hiss sounded, one that Marianne quickly recognized. That moment was however still a second too late as the smoke grenade was tossed between her and Lelouch. She immediately lunged to seize hold of her son but fell just a few scant inches short as other forms tackled her. The figure that latched onto her back was surprisingly light. The two that seized hold of her arms were not and together the three managed to pin her, at least long enough for Lelouch to beat a hasty retreat. When the haze finally cleared neither he nor Charlotte were anywhere in sight. Marianne turned her head and regarded the petite girl seated on her back.

"What, no knives or bullets?"

"Oh, these will work on you then?" Fie said, holding up her gunblades.

"Well they might slow me down," Marianne said. "Then again you might want to drop those before the others see you threatening me with them."

More footsteps sounded and several dozen soldiers flooded into the chamber, weapons all pointed at the clump of bodies. Wisely the three German youths held up their hands, Fie putting down her weapons first, and getting off of Marianne. They were wholeheartedly dedicated to Lelouch's cause, and part of that dedication manifested in not throwing their lives away pointlessly.

"Your majesty, are you alright?" one of the soldiers, a dark skinned woman, asked.

"Hmm, well seeing as Lelouch managed to give me the slip, I'll have to answer no," Marianne said as she rose. "We will need to hurry if we want to catch up with him."

"Understood," Villetta said, then glanced at the prisoners. "What should we do with them?"

Marianne's lips thinned. "Taking them with us would slow us down. Nevertheless I am not so crass as to suggest they be executed out of hand." She turned to regard Euphemia as the princess stepped forward. "I leave the decision of whether to spare soldiers to keep watch over them to you."

Euphemia regarded the trio thoughtfully. "The problem is we cannot leave anyone behind to escort them out either, they would undoubtedly get lost." She turned to Monica. "Unless you're willing to guide them?"

Monica smirked. "Yeah, no, sorry your highness, but babysitting is not something I signed on for when I became a Round."

"Restrain them and we'll just carry them along," Rai put in.

"Would that be feasible general?" Euphemia addressed the question to Villetta.

The guard captain nodded, albeit a bit reluctantly.

"Then let us not waste any more time," Euphemia said.

As the three prisoners were tied down, not without a bit of passive resistance on their part, Euphemia regarded the cube in front of them.

"Captain, what is that?"

"An anchor," Rai said. "It ties the thought elevator to C's World."

"Any reason why Lelouch would have come here?"

"At a guess, he intended to destroy it. Doing so would have ejected the thought elevator from C's World, forcing it back into the materium completely. That would effectively neutralize it as a relay for the Sword of Akasha."

"Then should we not attempt the same?" the princess asked.

"The, reversion would cause a massive amount of energy to be dumped into the materium," Rai said. "Minimum safe distance would be upwards of a hundred kilometers."

Euphemia did the quick conversion in her head and visibly blanched. "Does Lelouch know this!?"

"Likely," Rai said.

The princess hissed. "Then let us hurry before my brother truly does cross a line I cannot forgive."

With their prisoners secure the entre group moved out again, breaking into a brisk jog.

"Lady Stadtfeld, don't say anything, just listen," the earpiece sounded with Rai's voice.

Kallen kept her expression impassive. Rai was taking point again and despite the pace he was setting did not sound winded in the least.

"I was able to get close enough to take a very cursory scan of Lelouch's geass, and there is something extremely unnatural about it."

That, did not sound good. Kallen suppressed a grimace.

"As far as I can tell, his geass is no longer routed to C's World via C.C. In fact it looks like he is in possession of a direct link."

It was becoming harder and harder to keep her face expressionless, if only because of sheer confusion. Based on Monica's explanation a geass user's connection had to go through whichever code bearer they were contracted to, and if that connection was severed they would lose their geass. Except Euphemia was already seemingly an exception to that rule, something that not even Rai could quite explain.

"There is only one instance where this can happen."

Or maybe he could.

"Lelouch's geass is on the verge of transforming into a code outright."

That caused Kallen to blink but fortunately no one seemed to think that odd. That was possible? Then did that mean her own geass could also turn into a code? Kallen was not sure if she should be scared of that notion or not. Immortality did sound like it would have its perks, but considering how loopy C.C. could be there were definite costs as well. A very faint frown appeared on Kallen's expression. That still did not explain the princess' situation, but with her standing right next to Euphemia she could hardly ask Rai about that.

"If Lelouch does gain a code, we need to shut him down, hard. A code bearer would be able to use the thought elevator as an amplifier, to effectively reshape the world around them. The area that they could affect would be limited, insomuch as a single thought elevator working alone can affect perhaps a distance of about two hundred kilometers-"

That was emphatically not a limited range in Kallen's book.

"-but he could potentially destroy the entire Atlantic east coast."

Yeah, no, that was definitely _not_ limited. Kallen's grip on her rifle tightened.

"My artificial code would not be able to override the authority of a natural code, but I will be able to detect when someone tries to make use of the thought elevator's systems. If that happens, he needs to be put down with everything we've got. The Empire _must_ endure, the Krell is not the only threat out there that humanity will eventually face."

Kallen made a mental note to herself to drag out of Rai everything he knew about the future, mental block be damned.

"There is also the fact that if V.V. becomes desperate enough, he might also attempt to make use of the thought elevator."

Of course, they could not stick with just one potential psychopath, they had to have two on their hands.

"We can't kill either of them, at least not without extracting their codes. We can however wound them badly enough that they'll be incapacitated for a time, but it's going to require us to unload everything we've got on them. V.V. I do not doubt would be a welcome target, but I am afraid the Lady Marianne and the Princess Euphemia might still object to such measures against Lelouch."

Technically Rai had himself to blame for that one, it was he who gave Euphemia the idea that Lelouch might somehow be redeemed.

"The princess' guard will not obey an order from me, but General Nu has issued them standing orders to obey you. I am going to use three keywords, one to signal that we need to take down Lelouch, one for V.V., and one for both. When I say any of them, it will be a notification that I intend to act. I will leave it up to you to decide whether to follow my lead."

This time Kallen did not even bother hiding her grimace. This, had the potential to turn into a Charlie Foxtrot of epic proportions.

"Lexington for Lelouch. Vampire for V.V. Werewolf for both."

Well at least it would not be hard to differentiate between the code words. Off in the distance Kallen heard gunfire. Great. Just great. Spent all night trekking through the thought elevator, the sun was probably close to rising outside, and now she was being asked to potentially betray the trust of her liege. The day was barely getting started and it already sucked. Kallen supposed it could be worse. They outnumbered their opponents something like five to one. That should count for something.

Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki would learn a new lesson before this day was out. Do not taunt Murphy.

* * *

"Was that really your mother?" Charlotte asked as they ran.

"Yes, and no, I do not have any idea how she appeared," Lelouch preempted her second question.

"What are we going to do now?" Charlotte asked instead.

Lelouch grimaced. He did not like abandoning his compatriots, but they were starting to run low on options.

"The objective remains unchanged. Enough of the anchors have been destabilized that I should still be able to initiate a resonance cascade. We should head for the core, from there I'll try to pull the others out remotely."

Charlotte nodded. That might work, assuming their opponents were not already waiting for them. And also assuming the others lived long enough. They had not had contact with Laura and her team for over an hour after all. Still Charlotte did not slow. They had a mission, and their only chance of living past this day was to succeed.

The two did not stop to rest as they headed towards the core. Their muscles were soon burning from the exertion but considering whom were behind them there was little choice but to keep going. As they got closer however certain sounds started reaching them. Sounds like gunfire, and a lot of it.

"How many magazines do you still have left?" Lelouch asked.

"Three for my rifle. Here, take my pistol mags."

Lelouch grabbed the two Charlotte held out and proceeded to hand her in to his remaining rifle magazines. As they crossed another threshold suddenly a figure slammed into Lelouch knocking him off his feet. Charlotte snapped around, weapon ready, but immediately lowered again when she saw the steaming figure in Lelouch's arms.

"Laura!"

The German girl cried out on pain but her eyes focused at the sound of her name. Despite the blistering heat of her skin Lelouch held onto her, trying to support her as best he could.

"Water, now!" he shouted.

Charlotte had her canteen uncorked and splashed the other girl. More steam rolled off her skin, her entire body locked up in shock from the pain.

"Oh god Laura, what happened!?" Charlotte cried out, emptying her entire canteen.

That finally seemed to cool the German girl's body down but her form now trembled, curling up into a fetal posture. Blisters and burn marks were now appearing all over her skin and Charlotte was grimly certain they were appearing under her clothes as well. And then a wave of heat washed over them as well. Charlotte looked back and gasped at the figure that stepped forth, and the still form he was dragging along.

"Well, well," a lethargic voice sounded. "Looks like the mouse has led me back to the big cheese."

The man tossed aside the burnt body, the double-sided sword the youth was gripping finally falling loose and clattering on the floor.

"I've gotta say, you picked your partners well. Those three actually put up quite a fight. They didn't stand a chance of course, but they lasted way longer than I expected. That's something. Probably."

Charlotte's eyes widened. The next moment her rifle snapped up and she went full-auto, emptying her entire magazine at the approaching figure. Small flickers of flame dotted the air in front of him, but none of her shots managed to hit.

"Yeah, they tried that too," the man said. He opened his palm and a torrent of flames began coalescing over it. "My turn."

Charlotte instinctively grabbed onto Lelouch and Laura, trying to shield them with her body. Suddenly she was turned about and it was Lelouch whose back faced their opponent, and would bear the brunt of the flames. The heat was almost overwhelming, she felt as if her body was being roasted. Flickers of red light flashed every time she tried to open her eyes, bright enough that they immediately squeezed shut again. And then the heat lessened, the air no longer scorching her lungs with every breath. Charlotte opened her eyes, and found a dark cloak wrapped around her and Laura, and a figure clad in black armor staring back at her. With a pair of crimson eyes.

"Lelouch?"

The Black King released them and stood, the light casting a bright sheen off of his silver colored hair. He turned to face the flame-wielding man, a ring of metal sounding as he drew a dull gray sword.

"Get Laura out of here," Lelouch said. "Run back the way we came, return to my sister and mother. They will lend you aid."

Charlotte's eyes widened. Her mouth opened to protest. Lelouch's head turned back to regard her, and she watched as his face disappeared behind a crowned helmet.

"Go."

The girl's mouth clamped shut even as tears began to cloud her eyes. She spun about, daring not to look back as she obeyed his command. A command that she feared would be all too final.

* * *

Kallen frowned. "We've got incoming, the girl that escaped with Lelouch. Charlotte. And, she's carrying someone." She hissed. "Someone badly hurt."

"Is it Lelouch?" Euphemia asked immediately.

"No, it's another girl. Never seen her before. Your orders, highness?"

"If Charlotte requests our aid, we will render it," Euphemia said firmly. "If there is something that could cause her to abandon Lelouch like this, we must learn what it is."

That was a fair point, Kallen found herself agreeing with.

"I see her," Rai said.

The young man made a point not to level his rifle at Charlotte as she approached. Especially considering she was in tears already.

"Please," Charlotte gasped. "You-you have to help her. She's not going to make it otherwise."

"Medic!" Rai shouted.

An armsman was immediately at the two girls' side. As he examined the silver haired one he grimaced.

"Third degree burns, at least a quarter of her body. We need to get her out of these clothes. Get me rags, soak them in water."

The other soldiers responded quickly as Charlotte and the medic pulled off most of the burned girl's clothes. The rest of the guard were soon with them. Marianne strode over and bent over.

"Charlotte."

The French girl looked up, meeting Marianne's gaze without flinching.

"Where is Lelouch."

That caused her expression to quiver. "He, he stayed behind. To try to stop that enforcer." And break down completely. "That bastard killed Crow and Reiner. Just, burned them alive."

That elicited grimaces all about. None of the armsmen here were fans of Lelouch, but they did have a sense of honor and compassion. They would not shed tears at the deaths of the former prince and his followers, but they would not wish upon them suffering such as this.

Marianne rose and turned towards the others. "Your highness, you and your guard need to stay here. Anya will remain with you to help guide you to us or if worse comes to worst out of the thought elevator. C.C., Monica, Lieutenant Stadtfeld, Captain Koller, with me."

Kallen blinked, not missing the fact that the empress was specifically singling out those individuals with some sort of connection to code and geass. Though just how she had picked that up about Rai, she could not begin to guess.

"Your majesty," Euphemia spoke up. "What is going on?"

"My dear son has had the very unfortunate luck of running into the one Directorate enforcer who actually knows how to tap into C's World in order to reshape the world around him," Marianne said briskly. " _We_ need to get to him now if we're to have any chance of saving him. _You_ need to remain here with your guard until the coast is clear, or be prepared to retreat and bomb the thought elevator into oblivion if we fail."

"Your maj-"

"You are _not_ going to argue with me about this one Euphie," Marianne said, no humor at all in her tone. "McBurn is far too dangerous an opponent to engage with noncombatants in tow, and despite your insistence in accompanying your guards today, that is what you remain. If you want us to win, you will need to remain here. Am I clear?"

The princess regarded the woman that had effectively raised her after her own mother's death and reluctantly nodded.

"Clear, your majesty."

"Good." Marianne allowed a slight smile at that.

"But if we do not hear from you within fifteen minutes, we will be coming in ourselves."

The smile disappeared. Euphemia continued regarding the older woman levelly.

"We do not have the luxury of retreat, Marianne," Euphemia said firmly. "We _must_ press forward and neutralize V.V., otherwise all will be lost."

"Hmm, Lelouch said much the same when I ran into him," the empress mused. "It looks like you and I will need to have a long chat after all this is over."

Euphemia tilted her head aside slightly and smiled. "After all this is over."

"I'm coming as well."

Heads turned and gazes fell upon Charlotte as she rose from her friend's side. She returned those gazes with a look of steely determination.

"While admirably courageous you would not last a second against McBurn," Marianne said. "In fact it's a miracle that you and your friend managed to escape. Only a geass holder or a code bearer would stand…any…"

Kallen inhaled sharply as she suddenly noticed the same thing Marianne did. Where she previously sensed Charlotte was now a void not unlike what Kallen felt whenever she tried to extend her geass over Euphemia or C.C. Or for that matter Rai or Monica. Not unlike, but not entirely the same either. Not the same, because it felt not unlike the void that was one Lelouch vi Britannia.

"What the Hel," the girl muttered.

"You all know about Lelouch's geass," Charlotte began. "You treat it as a geass of compulsion, of imposing his will upon others. But that's not what it is, that's not it at all. It's Lelouch opening himself up to others, his mind, his will, his very soul. That can cause others to lose their own will, to obey him blindly. But that is an aberration of his gift, a corruption that he has been forced to rely upon in order to survive, to keep fighting against the darkness that encroaches upon mankind."

Charlotte looked over at Marianne, and then Euphemia.

"Those of us whom accept his gift, whom he has imparted a fragment of himself. It is not the brand of a slave, but a mark of the love that he feels for us. A mark of our acceptance is an affirmation of the love we hold for him. And in that bond, the greatest gift within his means to grant, a shield from the curse that is code and geass."

* * *

Lelouch watched Charlotte go for a moment longer, and then turned to face his opponent. The man wore an atrociously garish outfit, the red overcoat not doing much to hide the lazily tied up vest underneath or the pants with crisscross patterns running down its side. It was his hair that really stood out though, the messy curls running down all the way to his chest and colored an unnatural teal before shifting into a pale red. Lelouch was not sure if the man just had bad taste or was too lazy to bother finding clothes that would actually warrant the designation.

"I would know the name of the man I am about to kill."

The man snorted. "Confident, aren't ya? Well you at least have some guts to stand up to me, so why not? They call me the Almighty Conflagration, but that's a bit wordy so you can just call me McBurn. And I don't need you to point out the irony either."

Lelouch took a step forward. Then another.

"Your connection to C's World is strong," he said. "Strong enough that you can shape the world around you while within a thought elevator."

"Oh, so you know about that?" McBurn said. "Then again you just did the same thing, so I suppose we're not so different in that regard."

"Perhaps not," Lelouch agreed. "But after today our paths will diverge. I will go on to slay your master, and you will be dead."

"Heh. Now you're just being cheeky."

McBurn reached out, his hand seemingly breaking through the air and reaching into someplace else entirely. From this someplace he drew a sword of his own, a curved blade whose top had spikes protruding from it. Lelouch tightened the grip of his own, much more plain looking sword.

"Seeing as I've bothered to bring out my own sword, try to at least-"

Lelouch did not wait for McBurn to finish. He closed the distance between them in an instant, ignoring the onslaught of heat that pressed against him and intensified the closer he got. As their swords met the chamber about them shuddered from the force of the impact. Cracks emerged upon the very walls and the thresholds shifted chaotically as they were thrown out of phase. With a hefty shove McBurn sent Lelouch reeling back, not that the two stayed separated for long as the man launched his own attack. This time it was Lelouch that blocked, his knees nearly buckling from the effort.

He could not overpower McBurn, not directly, so Lelouch stopped fighting back, letting his opponent overextend from the sudden lack of resistance. Suddenly from the end of his sword another blade shot out, aimed perfectly to impale McBurn. The sudden thrust was however caught by McBurn's bare hands and the blade shattered in an explosion of light. Lelouch felt the shards of metal impact his armor. They hurt, but none seemed to actually penetrate even as he himself was thrown back. When the dust cleared McBurn remained standing, no worse for the wear from his own attack.

"Not bad," he said with a smirk. "I thought that double-sided saber was a pretty stupid idea, but now I've seen two of you actually make something out of it. Might have to look into it myself, it might even be fun."

Lelouch felt a spike of anger flash. He had only known Crow for a short time, but he had come to like the jovial young man. Crow was firm in his beliefs, had a strong sense of conviction, and most importantly was at heart a kind person. Not a gentle one, far from it, but he at least could sympathize and empathize with the people he ended up hurting with is conviction. It was why Lelouch had been prepared to pull him out of the homelands at the conclusion of his operation, to offer him a way out. And a place with his little family. Now though, Crow would never have that chance. Reiner was also gone. And Laura, he could only pray that he was right about his mother and sister. All because of the man standing before him.

The armor Lelouch wore shifted slightly, the plates hardening and thickening as his thoughts sharpened. His blade also became less dull, a glint flashing off the keen edge. He took a step forward, and crossed the divide between the two of them in a flash. McBurn parried the slash with ease and proceeded to blast Lelouch with a whirlwind of flames. The Black King was not even fazed, launching into another attack with a thrust aimed for his opponent's heart. This too was deflected, Lelouch's sword knocked upward. And again a second blade manifested from its end, Lelouch turning the motion into a spin that sought to gut McBurn.

The enforcer tried to catch the blade again but this time a sharp pain shot through his hand as the edge sliced right through his skin. As it was he barely managed to avoid losing his fingers as a coat of flame enveloped his arm. That was enough to shield his flesh to a degree, but not enough to stop the motion of Lelouch's sword. With his sword fully materialized, the Black King knew exactly what he was doing. Every swing, every thrust that was met simply acted as the springboard for another attack. As McBurn parried one stroke Lelouch would spin the sword about to threaten him with the other blade. The attacks that McBurn himself launched were deflected, with the motion employed to launch counterattacks with equal deftness.

Lelouch was far from being a master swordsman, but he had applied himself to learning the art of the blade rigorously. He knew well his limits, and he trained hard to overcome them and to develop defenses to cover those points that he was weak at. While his pedigree was impressive, his level of athleticism was still far short of that his mother maintained in her prime. Perhaps because of this, he was diligent in maintaining the edge that he did possess.

McBurn was in many ways the complete opposite. Widely considered _the_ strongest enforcer, even more powerful than that of the Bladelord, his strength was such that he rarely if ever needed to exert himself. His geass was the most advanced of all the Directorate's test subjects and V.V. had held great hope that it might even emerge into a full-fledged code. As such on the rare occasions he was permitted to fight, McBurn barely needed to even try to defeat his opponents. And without a challenge, there was little opportunity for him to improve his skills, to hone his own edge. No reason to develop the split-second instinctual responses that could mean the difference between life and death when faced with an opponent that could genuinely threaten him. An opponent like Lelouch.

Physically Lelouch should have been no match for McBurn. Inside the thought elevator where one's will could be directly manifested, things were different. Lelouch lost himself to the purity of the moment, his mind focused solely on wringing every ounce of willpower he could to bridge the gap between him and McBurn. And somewhere along the way, Lelouch reached a point where it was he that stood above the Almighty Conflagration. It was Lelouch that was pressing the strong enforcer of the Directorate. And it was McBurn that found his sword shattered into a million pieces, with nothing to stop Lelouch's blade from cleaving through his body.

The man's reaction was muted, his expression still retaining that bored look it defaulted to. But there was also a hint of surprise, of shock, as the shining blade that Lelouch now wielded carved its way from his shoulder down to his waist. Blood trickled along the path of the sword, staining both it and the armor that Lelouch wore. The flames that would have evaporated the droplets were gone, replaced only with the stillness of empty air. The Almighty Conflagration had been snuffed out, its flames quelled by the will of the Black King.

McBurn's form collapsed on the ground, a pool of blood quickly forming about it. Lelouch remained in his pose, as if unaware that his enemy was dead. And then the armor peeled away, revealing a haggard looking youth. The second blade of his sword disappeared and the one that remained cracked as all the stresses it experienced began to manifest. Lelouch collapsed to one knee, and then tumbled back. He could hear the faint thud of footsteps closing in, but he no longer had the strength to do anything about them. Someone was calling his name. That was the last thought he had before he blacked out.

End of Chapter 90

Hmm, I was actually expecting to reach the point where it's revealed how the imperial family is killed this chapter. I suppose that will have to happen in chapter 91.

I debated whether I wanted to use that particular excerpt as the opening snippet, I really did. It has possibly the biggest spoiler since the one about Kallen's knighthood. Then again it's very much a long-term spoiler, and not one that has any immediacy to this particular arc or the one that is incoming. It should however make clear just what I meant when however many chapters back I said that even if Euphemia wins, her victory does not come without significant, long lasting costs. Nor will they feel necessarily like victories.

Marianne's treatment in the anime was just, so underwhelming. After all that buildup, she was not a very, impressive, person, let's just say. So I decided to make my version a lot more impressive. And yes, she just took down Loewe in about two minutes. For those of you curious, Loewe's geass is one that basically allows him to control his body with obscene precision and speed. He can push himself to be faster, his reaction time is effectively instantaneous, and for short bursts he can achieve basically superhuman feats. This makes him absolutely deadly in melee combat, and he is perfectly capable of giving Marianne a run for her money. Which is what he did. But she ultimately turned out to be just a tiny bit better, and that made all the difference. That and Loewe had tried to kill her son. God help you if you try to pull that shit in her presence, because He might be the only thing that will keep her from gutting you as painfully as possible.

McBurn's geass is a bit more complicated. What you saw him do was him taking advantage of the environment inside the thought elevator to basically make manifest his will. And use that manifestation to kill Reiner and Crow in the process, while badly wounding Laura. What his geass is, I guess we'll find out when Euphie and co crack open the Directorate's database. Maybe.

As for Marianne's geass, simplistically it allows her to move her consciousness into other people's minds. To do so however she needs to be able to sense other people's minds, which was why she could actively detect when Charlotte basically closed her own mind off like that, something that normally only a geass holder or code bearer can do.

Personally I consider Lelouch to be one of the more interesting parts of the story. My only regret regarding his role in the story is that there aren't more scenes of him.

I suppose that's what I get for being a bit lazy with terminology, so I suppose it's only right that I explain the thought elevator's structure in a bit more detail in an infodump.

The thought elevator does not exist purely in a three dimensional space. It extends all the way up to ten dimensions due to, limits, that the civilization that built them ran into. Human minds however cannot really perceive beyond three dimensions. We kind of perceive a fourth dimension in the flow of time, but we can't navigate it. The humans of the precursor civilization were able to create an, abstraction, that allowed them to actually navigate the ten dimensions, though only within the isolation of the thought elevator. What this abstraction creates however is, well, interesting.

Consider a square. In a traditional 2D plane, each corner can at most be connected to four squares total. If each square were a room, then each corner could be thought of as a door, and so each door leads to four places. Extend that to a 3D environment. Each corner now is part of eight cubes. Extend that all the way up to 10 dimensions. As such every chamber that the characters have been going through in fact leads to (2^10)-1 different locations. Humans can only inhabit the 3D 'space' within the thought elevator, but that 3D space can be permutated all sorts of different ways within the 10D space that exists. To go from place to place is not a matter of drawing a straight line in the classical sense, if you were to actually try to track the location of the people using GPS or something, they could feel like they've been walking for hours and you could see them move maybe a meter. Conversely depending on which 'doors' they take they could end up bouncing up and down from a 3D perspective while only taking a few steps from theirs.

The perception of the people regarding their immediate surroundings inside the thought elevator appears Euclidian, if only because that is the limit of what human senses are capable of processing. In truth however the way the dimensions overlap means that Kallen's range on her geass is really screwed up. What used to be a range of about a mile out becomes basically impossible to actually measure. If Kallen could actually work out the way that the dimensions are overlapped, she'd actually be able to see everything happening inside the thought elevator at will. Except that her grasp of such higher dimensions is nowhere good enough, she would need help in some form. That should tell you that whatever civilization built the thought elevators, they were potentially mathematical geniuses at an intuitive level. Or just downright insane, I'm not sure there's a difference. Of course, there is one person amongst their little party that is able to intuitively grasp higher dimensional perception. Now if only the two of them could just link up and put their minds to work together. Tum tee tum tee tum.


	92. Chapter 91

Snippet spoiler: Meh

 _A full accounting of the individuals killed by the European bioweapon targeting the Britannian imperial family would have been difficult to perform even in times of relative peace and stability. At the height of the Great War it was a sheer impossibility, not least because European denials of the attack extended to obfuscating the numbers of their own citizens, most whom would have been unlikely to ever suspect a common lineage with the Britannian imperial family, that died as a result. Of those that resided within the Empire however more detailed records exist._

 _One such individual was Lieutenant Rean Schwarzer, the adopted son of the Baron Teo Schwarzer. Rean's relationship with the imperial family had been a closely held secret of the Schwarzer family. What is known is that Rean's biological father was the Emperor Charles himself. The identity of Rean's biological mother remains unknown though it is commonly accepted that she was almost certainly a commoner and likely passed away early in his childhood. The emperor, recognizing that he could not keep his illegitimate son both close by and safe, entrusted the boy to his old friend the Baron Teo, knowing that the Schwarzer family would see that Rean was raised well._

 _For a time the emperor's plan worked. By all accounts Rean grew into a fine young man, enlisting in the Britannian Knightmare Cadet Brigade when he came of age and was on the cusp of completing his roulement. His participation in the Battle of Pendragon with the Lancelot Valimar and his assistance in evacuating the Princess Cornelia from Valhalla Base had also been noted and many suspected that the young man's future to be bright indeed. This was not to be however as Rean fell alongside the rest of the family he never knew on that fateful day in March of 1963. Upon learning of his death his half-sister, the then Princess and soon to be Empress Euphemia formally recognized Rean as an imperial scion and a prince in his own right. When the statues honoring the fallen members of the imperial family were unveiled at Memorial Plaza, the one for the Prince Rean was amongst them. As a gesture it could never be more than a mere token compared to the prince's life for Rean's family and friends. It however served as a declaration by her majesty that she would never forget her family, not excepting the seemingly least of them._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 91

Nemo malus felix

As consciousness returned to Lelouch felt a gentle warm cradling him. It was enough to make him want to fall back asleep, to enjoy the sense of safety and comfort he now felt. With the warmth however quickly came aches in his body. It was a dull pain but every time his body shifted it would momentarily flare. That was enough to fully waken Lelouch and he slowly opened his eyes. Another pair of purple eyes met his own. Charlotte smiled, relief and joy suffusing her face.

"Charlotte?" Lelouch whispered.

Her grip on the youth tightened but Lelouch felt no pain from her touch. His breathing calmed and with it the throbbing of his aches lessened. As his thoughts sharpened and he recalled the events that immediately preceded his awakening however his body tensed and he winced from the pain that was elicited.

"Easy Lelouch," Charlotte said gently. "We're, okay. For now."

With great effort Lelouch turned his head about. The rest of his party, those still alive at least, were gathered about him, though Laura was a bit further away. The German girl was heavily swathed in bandages but he could see the rising and falling of her chest as she breathed. She was still alive.

"How long was I out?" Lelouch asked.

"About ten or twenty minutes," Charlotte said. "Not very long."

The young man sighed. "I take it then that we are prisoners?"

Charlotte nodded, glancing over at the armsmen keeping a careful watch over them.

"The princess and her companions are trying to determine what is happening inside the core. Thus far we have accounted for three enforcers but there is apparently still one remaining."

Lelouch snorted. "Well with our luck he will be the strongest yet."

"Oh, it probably won't be that bad," a clear and alluring voice sounded. "The only one V.V. has with him isn't even really an enforcer, just a puppet that he likes to play with."

Lelouch turned his head, slowly, about. "Ah. We meet again, mother."

Marianne knelt down by Charlotte and reached out, giving Lelouch an affectionate pat on the head.

"Indeed we do. And despite everything else that you have done, I do want you to know that I am proud of you defeating McBurn. That was no easy feat, and that you rose to the challenge in defense of those close to you is also very admirable."

Lelouch said nothing, simply regarding his mother. After a brief silence Marianne sighed.

"Oh Lelouch, whatever am I going to do with you? You just had to inherit both of your parents' stubbornness."

That elicited a sympathetic sigh from Charlotte as well. Lelouch raised an eyebrow as he regarded his lover. The French girl's response was to simply smile at him. This resulted in a sigh of resignation from Lelouch himself before he looked back at Marianne.

"You have something you wish to discuss, mother. Seeing as I am likely incapacitated for the near future, now is as good a time as any."

"Oh good, it seems that you do know how to listen," Marianne said with a smirk. Her expression quickly assumed a more solemn tone. "Why, Lelouch, are you so dead set on doing all this yourself? Why can't you trust any of your own family?"

The pained look on Lelouch's face was probably at least partially due to the very genuine physical discomfort he was in. The rest of it however was from something far more deep seated.

"You, possess a geass, mother?"

Marianne nodded, letting Lelouch set the pace of this conversation.

"And you do not consider that to be a curse?"

Marianne clasped her fingers together thoughtfully. "It is both a gift and a curse. Those who wield it poorly are consumed by it. Those who learn to control it become transcendent."

Lelouch chuckled dryly at that. "Would you consider C.C. to be such a transcendent individual?"

Marianne smiled slightly. "Perhaps that is what ascension does to what used to be a mere mortal mind." And again the smile disappeared. "But you and I both know that there are other circumstances surrounding her condition."

Lelouch blinked. "Condition?"

The empress rubbed her chin. "So much that you do not know, and that we do not know in turn. Let us take it one step at a time. Why do _you_ consider the geass to be a curse?"

Lelouch's expression tightened. "The geass is power, mother. A corrosive, corrupting power. It rots away our minds, our very souls. The code? It is the path to damnation. Arthur tried to turn his realm into Annwn manifest. Instead he left his people unable to think and act for themselves. Where are the Celts today, save as a memory that our Germanic forbearers swept aside? Nawrūz sought advantage over the other khanates, and unleashed upon the world the Black Death. Tell me mother, how _could_ I trust my own family, when they seem to so freely accept the very same code and geass?"

Marianne pursed her lips thoughtfully. And then reached out, taking hold of Lelouch's hand. She gave it a gentle squeeze, enough to let her son know she meant it but not so as to cause his bruises to sting.

"You do not need to hate yourself, Lelouch," she said kindly. "You are not bound to become a monster. You _can_ choose a different path."

Lelouch clenched his jaw. "I became a monster the first time I ever used my geass, mother. My only redemption is death, and it is one I will gladly welcome when the time comes."

Charlotte's grip on Lelouch tightened again, the young woman making perfectly clear that if she had any say in the matter that death would be long forthcoming. Marianne gave the French girl an approving smile. The empress regarded her son once more.

"You are loved, Lelouch," Marianne declared. "And you love in turn. So long as that is true, you are not a monster."

* * *

Euphemia was severely tempted to remain by Lelouch's side, to be with him when he woke up if only to demand an answer from her brother as to why he had inflicted such suffering upon their family. The Empress Marianne was already seeing to that however so the princess focused on her own task. Namely, how to deal with the final wrinkle in their efforts to put V.V. down permanently. A wrinkle that was wholly unexpected.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Kallen hissed.

The others glanced over at the most unladylike language from the young woman but the knight was nonplussed.

"I assure you, I am being perfectly seriously," Monica said, just a hint of amusement coloring her tone. "After he was declared KIA Private Kururugi's body was transferred into Directorate custody for the purpose of examining his brain to try to learn more about Lelouch's geass. Apparently the Directorate researchers determined that he was a perfect match for their enhancement program and so installed within him their latest suite of cybernetics. His stuff is at least three generations ahead of the suite I received, and far more extensive. He's faster, stronger, and could probably take down the princess' entire royal guard all by himself. Oh and he also has an, artificial code, so your geass will be useless against him."

"Kururugi will not be a problem," Rai stated. "I will neutralize him."

That elicited a raised eyebrow from Monica. "Oh? So am I finally going to get an explanation as to who you are exactly?"

"Classified," Rai said.

The Knight of Twelve snorted. "Classified? I'll have you know captain-"

"Classified level extremis, under direct authority of the Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Chronos," Rai said somewhat harshly. "Drop the subject, Lord Inquisitor Kruszewski, it is beyond your remit."

Monica spent a second or so gaping at Rai before managing to shut her mouth. She regarded the young man with much greater wariness now.

"Dame Kruszewski, we do not have the time for this," Euphemia interjected before the knight could find her own words. "An explanation will be provided to you once the matter with V.V. is resolved, but until then you will need to accept my word that Captain Koller is a loyal agent of the Empire and that he speaks the truth."

The Knight of Twelve's gaze shifted from Rai to the princess and back to Rai again.

"The truth huh," she said blandly. "So that means there's an ordo out there that deals with time that I don't know about." Her tone was still completely flat. "That should make for quite the interesting story."

Despite Monica's complete monotone the knight seemed willing to play along, for now.

"If Suzaku has an artificial code and can jam geasses, that probably means the Empress Marianne won't be able to get close," Kallen said, directing them back to the matter at hand. "Nor will Dame Alstreim."

"Correct," Monica agreed. "But if Captain Koller here is as good as he claims to be, Suzaku should be neutralized quickly, at which point we should be able to capture V.V. without much difficulty."

"Our objective is to kill him, Dame Kruszewski," Euphemia reminded the knight.

Monica regarded the princess. "Well, you're obviously insinuating that you have the means to do so. Are you going to tell me what that is or is that also classified?"

Euphemia exchanged glances with the others and after a nod from both Rai and C.C. looked back at Monica.

"The binding that currently restrains C.C. is actually a failsafe intended to destroy a code," the princess said. "It was intended to trigger when one of V.V.'s contractor would attempt to extract C.C.'s code. In the process, it would destroy not only C.C.'s code but also V.V.'s via the link he has to his contractor."

Monica raised an eyebrow. "How the Hel is it supposed to do _that_?"

"We do not know," Euphemia answered frankly. "But recall what happened to you when you attempted to scan C.C. with your artificial code."

That caused the knight to adopt a thoughtful pose. "Huh. Alright, fine, maybe it can do that. So then the question is who implanted it in her. Or is that another one of those things you want me to take on faith that you'll explain to me later?"

"I am glad you catch on quickly," Euphemia said with a smile.

Monica snorted. "You know, if we get killed before you tell me, I will be quite cross." She then looked over at C.C. and Kallen. "The two of you do understand that if her code is destroyed, then all of the contractors she has will also lose their geass."

"I can live without my brain constantly trying to have a stroke, thank you very much," Kallen retorted.

"Well, sure, but you're not the only contractor C.C. has," Monica continued. "I mean, we'll all be glad when Lelouch loses his compulsion geass, I don't care what his girlfriend claims, but the Empress Marianne is also a contractor, and the only reason she's with us now is because of her geass. If she loses it, she'll basically be stuck in her coma for the rest of her life."

Euphemia glanced over to where Marianne was kneeing by Lelouch's side. It seemed her brother was awake.

"Then we should discuss the matter with her," the princess said. "Her majesty has already made clear several times that she is prepared to do what it takes to see V.V. ended." Euphemia's lips thinned. "We shall see the extent of that conviction."

The group made their way over to where Lelouch and Marianne were seated. The rest of Lelouch's compatriots, Charlotte included, regarded them warily, but the former prince himself seemed too weary to bother.

"Your majesty," Euphemia said, addressing Marianne directly.

The woman gave the princess a smile. "Since when did you need such formalities with me, Euphie? Just call me Aunty Marie like you always did."

The princess' cheeks flushed ever so slightly and Kallen wondered at the woman that could throw both imperial scions off-balance so easily. This was the Empress Marianne, the favored consort of the Emperor Charles, and the woman that had raised several of her husband's children and laid the foundation for the heights they stood at today. Kallen sensed that she probably would have liked the empress had they more time to get to know one another. Time that they simply did not have.

"Marianne," Euphemia allowed, still keeping a somber tone. "We have a way of neutralizing V.V.'s code, but the method would also result in the destruction of C.C.'s. And the loss of every geass either has ever granted."

At that Lelouch actually perked up. Kallen had already heard every word of his exchange with his mother, indirectly of course, and so was not surprised in the least. That the prince seemed so willing to write off his own mother in order to be gone of his own demons though, while the knight understood the necessity of it, she could not approve of his eagerness. Just how the blazes _she_ was supposed to be Lelouch's redemption was beyond Kallen at this point, nor was she eager to find out.

"Ah. Well, telling me now at least makes consent simpler. You have my permission to take my body off life support when this is all over."

The forthright manner in which Marianne addressed the matter caused the others to all simply stare at her. Even Lelouch seemed taken aback by his mother's bluntness.

"I have been on borrowed time ever since V.V. attempted to murder me," Marianne said sanguinely. "I had but one wish, that my children would be returned to their proper family. And though the path to its fulfillment has been torturous to say the least, it has been met, and I will entrust their continued safety," the empress reached out and gave Euphie an affectionate pat on the head, "to the daughter that I never had."

The princess regarded the woman for several long seconds. She then abruptly threw her arms around Marianne, clutching onto her tightly. Surprise suffused Marianne's face for a brief moment before she smiled and returned the embrace.

"Take care of my fool of a son, Euphie," Marianne said.

"I will, Auntie Marie," Euphemia whispered softly.

Kallen allowed herself a smile. While she had realized this long ago, it was nice to see further proof that the members of the Britannian imperial family could be as capable of love as everyone else. Sometimes it felt like they loved too strongly, and when they found someone they felt they absolutely must protect, nothing could stop them, not even the very person they so cherished. Kallen glanced over at Lelouch. The young man was regarding his mother intently, but the hand he was clasping belonged to the French girl holding him in her arms. Kallen frowned. Lelouch might have lost everything nearly everything from his previous life, but he had managed to build a new one for himself in Europe. A new family. And yet he risked it all to wage what seemed to be a vindictive, ultimately self-destructive war against Britannia and his old family.

"Lelouch."

Heads turned to regard Kallen as she spoke, including that of the young man in question. She leaned over and brought her face right before his.

"You're not telling us something here. There's something you were, are afraid of, something beyond just the code and the geass. Something that you're risking _her_ for in order to stop."

Charlotte's eyes hardened noticeably. She was obviously not a fan of the way Kallen was addressing her lover. Kallen did not care.

"What are you afraid of," Kallen demanded.

Lelouch's expression flickered and the gaze that met Kallen was somehow devoid of any light. He rose ever so slightly and Kallen could almost see her own reflection in the dark pupils of Lelouch's eyes.

"What do you see when you go to sleep, Kallen Stadtfeld?" he asked. "Is it a blissful serenity that soothes your soul, or do you hear the screams of entire generations as they are consumed in flames?"

Kallen held that gaze unflinchingly and silently.

"What will you do, when you hear pleas for help from those you will never be able to save? Those whose minds have been consumed, whose souls have been extinguished to feed a great hunger."

"Metaphor," Kallen said sharply. "You keep speaking of souls and pain and yet you seem deaf to all the pain and suffering _you_ have inflicted. What makes you think those screams aren't because of _you_."

Charlotte hissed and seemed ready to snap back at Kallen but the tightening of Lelouch's hand caused her to close her mouth wordlessly. Kallen however was not done.

"What gives you the right to be so selfish, to kill so many people, just to silence your own bloody nightmares?"

Lelouch returned Kallen's gaze. His eyes were now as if a void. The faint violet shade that Kallen thought she had sensed before was now gone, replaced by pitch black.

"Shall I show you my nightmares, Kallen?" Lelouch asked, his voice utterly hollow.

For a moment Kallen simply stared back at Lelouch. Then without warning she reeled back as if struck, rolling into C.C. whom caught hold of her.

"Kallen!?" Euphemia said in alarm.

The girl clutched the side of her head, her back arching back unnaturally before her form went limp. Heavy breaths lifted Kallen's chest as she tried to calm her thundering heart. That did not prove easy.

"Kallen, are you alright?" Euphemia asked her knight.

The girl started nodding, and then abruptly shook her head. Tremors continued to run through her body and she was certain C.C. could feel them as well. The other woman took hold of a hand. For some reason that calmed the jitters and Kallen was able to finally calm her breathing. She swallowed, a sudden dryness scratching at her throat. Euphemia turned back to her brother.

"Lelouch. What did you do to my knight."

Lelouch glanced over at Euphemia as best as he could manage. "I showed her a glimpse of those very nightmares she sought to dismiss."

The princess frowned. And then drew closer to Lelouch.

"If you can show her, then you can show me."

That caused Lelouch to flinch. It was a slight motion but Euphemia had no trouble seeing it. Her brother even started looking away, but Euphemia would have none of it. She reached out and took hold of Lelouch's face, gently albeit firmly, and forced him to meet her gaze.

"Show me," she commanded with firm conviction.

Lelouch's jaws tightened but he did not try to pull away from Euphemia. His eyes darkened again until the princess found herself staring at a pair of pitch black orbs. And then before she knew it, it was as if she was drowning in them. The world seemed to spin about Euphemia and she grabbed her head trying to get a grip on her senses.

Her vision cleared, but she was no longer in the eerily lit but still strangely bright chamber of the thought elevator. Instead all about her were dark clouds and an ashen haze. The uniformity gave the world a monochrome shade, though flickers of light gave glimpses of colors beyond gray and gray. Euphemia spun about, getting her bearings. She was standing in the courtyard of some sort of castle, one that most definitely emphasized the martial aspects of such structures. Dozens of black clad figures stood at attention, bearing strange looking weapons that Euphemia barely recognized. They had the style of guns and blades, but not of any model she could recognize. All however had sinister implements of some sort or another mounted on them, from barbed hooks to serrated edges. These weapons were meant to maim and mutilate, not to kill quickly and cleanly.

The shuffling of footsteps alerted Euphemia to the approaching figures. She turned about, and gasped instinctively as she recognized them. All of them. In the lead was Schneizel, but this was not the kindly yet determined brother that she knew and lived. There was a chilling light that shined from otherwise deadened eyes. The armor he wore was relatively understated and functional, save for the sharp blades coming off of his wrist. And what Euphemia fervently hoped were facsimiles of skulls serving as shoulder pads. But it was not even the visage that Schneizel presented that frightened her so, it was the figure that swept across the yard behind him. It was Euphemia herself, dressed in a black gown whose surface seemed to shimmer with every step. And upon the ripples of fabric the princess swore she saw faces twisted in anguish and agony fade in and out.

Euphemia felt her stomach twist in horror. Had she been capable of it, she almost certainly would have been emptying its contents. For all Euphemia knew her physical body was doing just that as she experienced this, vision. But the worst was yet to come.

More footsteps sounded and when Euphemia turned about she saw a haggard looking figure being dragged across the courtyard by, Kallen and Suzaku. Except that neither youths looked anything like Euphemia could recall. The Kallen here held none of the determined poise Euphemia recalled in her own knight. This Kallen's eyes were a fiery crimson, with veins bulging along their edges. And Suzaku, there was such a void of emotion on his expression that he seemed more puppet than man. The two and their prisoner stopped before Schneizel and Euphemia and they promptly shoved the man face first onto the ground. Euphemia did not recognize him at all, and those within the vision seemed equally nonchalant. As far as they seemed to be concerned, their prisoner was no one special. Just another tally to mark off.

"Master," Kallen said with a bow. Euphemia felt a chill run down her spine at the coldness of the tone. "A resistance spy that was attempting to scout the palace perimeter."

Schneizel clucked his tongue. "The chattels never do seem to learn, do they."

A chill quickly became far too inadequate to describe the icy grip that seized her upon hearing Schneizel's voice. It was as if needles were being jammed into her spine. Lots of needles.

"Well, I suppose in that case there is no point in trying to make an example of you," Schneizel continued. "Any abject lessons that need to be taught will come with the next harvest anyway."

The prisoner actually whimpered at that. Whimpers, not in fear but actually in relief. The man was actually glad that whatever was next to come would apparently be quick. Euphemia doubted it would be painless however.

"Brother."

The princess gasped. That voice. It was her voice. But there was a tinge of something alien, something so utterly devoid of any hint of warmth or humanity, that Euphemia found herself yearning to her herself speak just to confirm that no, it was not her own voice that sounded so. And yet Euphemia could not muster the will to utter a single sound, for fear that she might draw the attention of these, things.

"Might I have this one?" the other Euphemia asked, licking her crimson lips.

Schneizel glanced back at his sister and smirked. "If it would so please you, dear sister. Be my guest."

The whimpering became something else entirely and the prisoner tried to scurry away. And then a scream sounded as Kallen slammed a blade through the man's knee, pinning him in place. Euphemia sauntered up, swaying her hips side to side in an almost seductive gaunt. Under more normal circumstances a man would become speechless at the alluring figure. The sobbing from the prisoner however was growing louder and louder.

Euphemia leaned over and looked into the man's eyes. "Hush."

The single word silenced all sound coming from his mouth but the manner in which he gasped made quite clear it was not because he had been calmed. Far from it. His entire body was starting to shake and the wound where he had been skewered was bleeding more and more as his motion exacerbated it. Euphemia reached out, taking hold of the man's face with both hands. The shaking stopped, but again it was not due to the man being calmed. The sheer desperation the flickering of his eyes conveyed made that very clear. And then blood began to seep out of his face as flecks of skin seemingly flaked off.

The Euphemia bearing witness to all this tried to look away. Tried to run away. Yet her feet were as if planted to the ground and her body frozen entirely in place. She was forced to watch as the flesh of the prisoner was stripped away bit by bit, not just the face but the entire body, until all that was left was sickly white bone. The skeleton crumbled into a heap and the dark princess rose, inhaling with an expression of absolute bliss. Her dress shifted, and for the briefest of moments a new face shimmered across the fabric before disappearing in the folds. And then the woman's form straightened. She turned about, and gazed straight at Euphemia. Across her breasts, a bird like crest glowed.

"Well, well," the familiar yet bone-chilling voice sounded. "What do we have here?"

A sound finally escaped Euphemia. It was barely a whine, more a whimper. She tried desperately to move yet again she was frozen to her spot. The woman before her turned, her dress swaying from the motion as she took a step closer. Then another. Sheer panic now gripped Euphemia, and something else entirely. She desperately willed herself to move, to do something, anything to break away from the withering gaze now cast upon her. And yet she could not. The other Euphemia came before her, reached out with one hand, and stroked Euphemia's cheek. A single tear was wiped away.

"Do not fret brother," the dark visage whispered. "We have not forgotten you. We shall _never_ forget you."

Euphemia froze, surprise managing to break through her sheer terror if even for a bare moment. And then she was free, free to stumble back and away from her darker self, free of whatever bound her so. In doing so however a new sight came into view, one that saw terror quickly seizing hold of her once more. A head, mounted upon a pedestal. From the rear all she could make out was the messy black hair. Swallowing, Euphemia managed to very slowly crawl about to get a better view. Her heart felt as if it stilled as Lelouch's pale complexion was revealed to her sight, a complexion colored only by the faint purple light from his left eye. Euphemia screamed.

"EUPHIE!"

The princess thrashed about, her fists hitting something before hands seized hold of her arms.

"NO! LET ME GO!"

"Your highness!" another voice sounded. "Please, calm yourself!"

Euphemia's eyes shot wide open though she continued to struggle even as her vision cleared. Her mind was still overcome with horror, with terror, and even the sight of familiar faces was not enough to placate her. And then she felt a warmth envelop her, soothing the edges of her fear. The tears in her eyes did not abate but Euphemia embraced that warmth wholeheartedly.

Rai grimaced as the princess latched onto him, squeezing so tightly that he could even feel it somewhat under his armor. He cradled her as gently as he cold, stroking her head as she buried herself in his arms. Rai had caught a very brief glimpse of what Lelouch had showed Euphemia and Kallen. It might have been entirely necessary for them to finally be able to overcome the distrust that yet lingered, but he was still highly tempted to beat Lelouch into the ground for this. Euphemia had done nothing to deserve such cruelty.

"And now you know," Lelouch's voice sounded.

Rai glared at the other man, and blinked as Lelouch actually managed to rise. Charlotte however kept a hold of him in the case he stumbled, which seemed all too likely considering how shaky his posture was.

"It is within the realm of possibility for my family to destroy the world to slake their thirst for power," Lelouch continued. "Better to remove that possibility entirely, than to risk misjudgment because of sentimentality."

A sharp slap sounded, causing all those gathered about to freeze, including the one whose hand was so extended. Lelouch blinked in surprise as Charlotte was suddenly in front of him while still retaining her grip. Her head had jerked aside from the impact and she was half glancing at him. And then she turned her head back to regard Marianne.

"Your majesty," Charlotte said coolly. "You do not know the depths that your son has endured. You do not know the lengths that he has gone through for _us_. If you find his actions to require punishment, then so be it. But you will have to mete out that punishment to _us_ first."

It was not just Charlotte whose gaze was so implacable. Annie, Bertolt, and Fie all rose despite their restraints and kept their gazes locked on Marianne. The woman raised an eyebrow as she regarded her son.

"I have many reasons to be proud of you Lelouch," Marianne said firmly. "But you have also given me many reasons to be disappointed in you. Considering the unyielding loyalty and dedication that your love for them has inspired in your compatriots, I am most disappointed that you as yet still do not understand something about your family. We love, with the wholeness of our being. That love can bring great sorrow, and great tragedy. But we will never stop loving just because there is a _risk_ of pain and suffering."

Marianne gently but firmly maneuvered Charlotte aside so that she would stand before her son. She then reached out and embraced him.

"And I will never stop loving you, regardless of what pain you might bring to me."

Lelouch's composure wavered. And then began to crumble outright. Tentatively, his arms rose until they closed around his mother. It had been so long since she held him in her arms, yet the sensation triggered memories long thought lost. He tried to hold them at bay but just as his body instinctively sought to accept his mother's embrace his mind unconsciously reformed them and played them back. A time when he was happy. A time when he knew nothing but unconditional love for his family. His brothers, his sisters, his mother, even his father. Lelouch closed his eyes, the tears he could no longer hold back spilling through nonetheless. He wanted to go back to that time so desperately, to never have been faced with that loss of innocence. That was however impossible, and so he clung onto the fragment of that love that was now returned to him, his mother.

* * *

Kallen splashed her face with another dose from her canteen. She shook her head, letting the water roll off. The young woman still felt far from refreshed. In fact her stomach was still more than a bit queasy from the fragments of Lelouch's vision that she could still remember. Thank the gods most of it was already fading, but she could still feel a pervasive sense of horror filling her just trying to recall the sights. Little wonder Lelouch had gone insane. Kallen grimaced. She was far from forgiving the prince for everything he had done, all the people he had gotten killed, but she was starting to consider that maybe, just maybe, Lelouch was not completely beyond redemption either. The grimace deepened. Things had been so much simpler when she was just an insurgent. Back then knowing who to shoot was relatively straightforward. Now she needed to deal with politics, espionage, time travel, extradimensional demons, give her a simple target to put a bullet in any day. Then again there was still one last thing they needed to do, V.V. and Suzaku were still waiting for them inside the core.

Putting her helmet back on Kallen walked over to Villetta. The general nodded to her.

"Lieutenant. You alright?"

"Probably. Maybe." Kallen shrugged. "I'll keep for now, ma'am."

Another nod, though one that was genuinely concerned. Villetta then regarded Euphemia as she approached. The princess' face was still a bit pale but her poise was steady and eyes clear.

"General. Are we ready to move out?"

"Yes your highness," Villetta said. "Captain Koller will be taking point to neutralize Kururugi. Once he is engaged, I will led our forces to storm the core and temporarily neutralize V.V. Only after then will Lieutenant Stadtfeld escort you and the others in so that Ms. Clermont can deliver the killing blow."

The princess nodded. The plan was sensible and straightforward, which argued well for its chances of success. Of course she did not succumb to the temptation to actually say so out loud. Euphemia li Britannia had a healthy respect for Murphy. In fact due to her powers she could actually calculate the exact probability of something going wrong with the plan. That was high enough already without her tempting fate.

"Wait."

Heads turned as Lelouch was helped over to them by Charlotte. The rest of their companions had also had their restraints removed, a tentative show of goodwill. They were of course not given any weapons.

"You can't wait for the captain to engage Suzaku before trying to neutralize V.V.," the prince said. "If he has access to the thought elevator's controls, then he's in a position to do a lot of damage."

"In this regard Lelouch be correct," C.C. agreed. "Vivian's code art all the key he requireth."

Lelouch gave C.C. a strange look. "Why are you talking like that?"

Kallen gave a snort while C.C. shot Lelouch a very annoyed look.

"Hast thou the mind of a clad? Thou art the source of many years of mine contrived tongue."

Lelouch looked over at Kallen and Euphemia. "What?"

"What we've been able to determine you, or a Lelouch at least, is responsible for C.C. being forced to talk like that," Kallen answered with a slight smirk. "She's been, holding that against you for a while now."

The prince blinked and looked back at C.C. "Wait, is that what happened at the London thought elevator?"

"Verily," C.C. said dryly.

"Huh."

C.C. looked like she was severely tempted to strangle Lelouch for his nonchalance over her inconvenience over the past decade or so. Two things stopped her. The rather pointed look Charlotte was giving the green haired girl and the clearing of her throat by Villetta.

"Perhaps we should return to the matter at hand."

"Agreed," Euphemia said. "Though what means do we have to neutralize V.V. quickly?" She looked over at Kallen. "Do you think you could snipe him from range?"

Kallen licked her lips. "Maybe, if I could actually see that far. The problem is the way this place is laid out, every time I try to look further than a room or two I get completely thrown off by the weird geometry. It's like, the rooms are overlapping with each other."

Euphemia nodded. "Yes, each room is in effect a permutation of three of the ten dimensions that the space occupies."

That elicited blank stares from everyone except Rai and Lelouch. Euphemia sighed.

"It is unfortunate that I cannot just project my computations of the thought elevator's layout to you," the princess said. "That would likely permit you to navigate between the different layers and substantially increase the range of your geass."

Rai cocked his head aside. "You should be able to do so, your highness."

This time the blank stares were directed at the silver haired youth.

"And how am I to do this, captain?" Euphemia asked after a beat.

Rai cocked his head aside and after a brief moment both Kallen and Euphemia felt their left eyes tingle.

"What are you doing?" Kallen asked, more curious than worried.

"The geass serves as a link to C's World," Rai answered. "And via C's World that link can touch other minds. With the right mediation, it can do things like this."

Kallen blinked as suddenly her view of the thought elevator expanded. In fact she could see literally everything in it.

"Oh, wow."

"This, this is how you can perceive the world?" Euphemia said with equal wonderment.

Kallen blinked again and looked at the princess. "You, can see what I see?"

"I think so," the princess said tentatively.

"Huh. Well that's quite the trick there, captain," Monica remarked. "I suppose this is another one of those classified secrets I'll be told about later?"

"If her highness so deigns it," Rai said blandly.

The Knight of Twelve snorted.

"Alright," Kallen said. "I can definitely snipe that little prick. Where's Riza, she's the only one that was packing a sniper rifle."

"If V.V. is neutralized then Suzaku should also go inert," Monica said. "Right now he's nothing more than a puppet that V.V. pulls the strings of and a bullet to the head should be distracting enough that he won't be able to muster the concentration to do so."

"Even better," Rai said. "Still, I'll be much happier once he's in pieces."

Quite a few others nodded in agreement. With their plan ironed out the party made final preparations. Just one more battle and they could return home triumphant, or so they hoped.

* * *

The interior of the thought elevator core was fairly nondescript. There were several projections of light floating in midair, their sources not readily obvious, but otherwise this room looked no different than the countless other chambers scattered throughout the thought elevator. Save perhaps for the slightly elevated platform in the center. And as befit his opinion of himself V.V. stood upon that platform, waiting with nervous energy for his enemies to make their appearance. Since reaching the core he had observed the progress of both Lelouch's party and the Princess Euphemia's as they closed in on his position.

His original stratagem of dispatching his enforcers to individually hunt them down had proven to be a mistake, separated they had been overcome one by one. True if it had only been Lelouch and his compatriots like it should have been he would have emerged victorious. Or perhaps not, seeing as Lelouch had somehow managed to defeat McBurn all by himself. V.V. grimaced. And then there was the sudden and completely unexpected appearance of Marianne. That woman should have been dead, how could she-

V.V. never completed the thought as a bullet ripped right through his head. The impact from the round sent blood and gore splattering all over the platform as a large chunk of V.V.'s skull was pulverized. At that same moment a silver blur charged into the room and landed a solid kick against Suzaku's head. The head snapped at an unnatural angle as the entire body was sent flying back. Rai was right with him and spun around to deliver another kick to the stomach. An audible thud sounded as his foot impacted the armor that sheathed Suzaku's body. Rai was already winding up for a third blow, his fist flying to meet Suzaku's face. This really was too easy, without V.V. controlling him Suzaku was basically a braindead dummy. If he could inflict enough trauma on Suzaku, do enough damage to the other youth's cybernetics, then if V.V. had the chance to recover he would not be able to assert control again.

Another thud sounded, but it was not from Rai's fist making contact with Suzaku's face.

"Huh?"

Rai's arm was suddenly twisted about and a knee slammed into his chest. His own armor shattered from the blow but Rai felt only a tap, certainly not enough to stun him. The surprise was also wearing off almost immediately as he spun about, blocking the punch that Suzaku threw next. Rai seized hold of the hand and wrenched the arm back, replaying Suzaku back for his earlier maneuver. Instead of kneeing the youth however Rai slammed his elbow down on Suzaku's back. On any ordinary person the force of the blow should have been enough to snap their spine. For an enhanced super soldier like Suzaku it was merely an inconvenience as he quickly recovered to launch another counterattack.

Soldiers poured into the chamber, weapons leveled. Most were trained on the platform where V.V. lay but others quickly pointed their weapons at the two youths tangled in melee. No one opened fire however, one simply did not risk friendly fire like that. As she strode in Monica snorted at the sight.

"Yeah, sure, you'll take care of him no problem." The knight tossed aside her cape and drew her sword. "Kids these days, too cocky for their own good. Keep an eye on V.V.! If his body so much as twitches pump a mag into him!"

Before the knight could join in however an intense pressure suddenly settled into the chamber.

"What?"

Her gaze, and that of everyone else save for Rai, whom was presently engaged, shifted over to the platform once more. V.V.'s body was still lying there in a bloody pool, but the air above him began to shimmer. With every passing moment the form seemed to solidify, seemed to take on an actual shape. A bulbous, egg-like shape with a horrific sack of flesh hanging from its bottom. Tendrils flickered about and a pair of mandible-like appendages clicked. The translucent skin that sheathed its main body did nothing to hide the pulsing network of synapses that overlapped and folded in on itself underneath.

"Vampire!" Rai suddenly shouted, giving Suzaku a hefty punch to the gut and drawing his pistol to take aim at the hovering creature.

Before he could fire Suzaku was upon him again, delivering a solid upper cut and knocking Rai off his feet. In Rai's place however another did open fire, and another sniper round blasted into the chamber. It struck the still semi-permeant creature, causing its form to quiver slightly even as an unearthly screech filed the chamber.

"All units open fire on my target now!" Kallen's voice sounded over the radio.

The soldiers present regained their wits and rifle fire lit up the chamber. Then more screams sounded as suddenly Monica began slicing her way through the very soldiers that she was supposed to lend aid to.

Outside of the chamber Kallen swore, dropping her sniper rifle and grabbing her rifle again.

"Keep her highness out of there!" Kallen shouted even as she broke into a flat out sprint.

This battle should have been a cakewalk. V.V. should have stood no chance and sheer numbers should have seen Suzaku overwhelmed what with herself, Monica, and especially Rai present. It was however quickly turning into anything but.

End of Chapter 91

Hey look, yet another cliffhanger! Ain't I a stinker.

That little bit about V.V. in the end here should answer a lot of questions. As well as raise some new ones. At least for those of you who recognize just what happened here.

The events in the thought elevator are taking way longer to develop than I thought. We're at the point where we might take even longer than the actual Battle of Pendragon, which is kind of impressive. It'll mean that I'll have dedicated something like seven plus chapters to this single sequence of events, which is longer than I've done for literally any other arc. I hope you've all enjoyed it at least. And I am going to be so glad once this arc is over so that I can go back to a sane update schedule instead of feeling like my head is going to explode if I don't get all this stuff out. Of course the cleanup after all this is going to take something like two or three chapters in their own right, and the urge to get that out is so strong my break might take a while to arrive.

The vision Lelouch gave Kallen and Euphemia was probably way more macabre than anything I've written thus far. And now all of you know why Lelouch nearly went batshit crazy. _That_ is the stuff he's been seeing in his dreams thanks to his geass. And why he's so, unwilling to even talk to his family. From his vantage point, they're the ones that are going to bring about the literal end of human civilization. As to whether Lelouch's visions are 'real' or not, well, I've already presented one alternate timeline that was able to send information 'back' so to speak.

I hope that I've presented Marianne well. I wanted to show that she was a strong woman, but she was also someone whom was able to inspire love in Charles and whom planted the seeds for the woman that Euphemia grew up into. I most definitely did not want to reuse the crazy weirdo that was in the anime. The lack of foreshadowing there was as bad if not worse than some of the surprises I've tossed you guys. My surprises however I at least build upon and expand. Marianne in the anime was just, no.

I keep saying that I'm going to show the actual attack on the imperial family next chapter. And I keep ending up with way more prose than I expected. You'll all just have to wait one more chapter I suppose.

One consequence of banging these chapters out so quickly, way more errors are creeping in. Then again way more errors for me still seems to be orders of magnitude more coherent than a significant percentage of stories posted on the site, so I think all of you can live with it in exchange for the faster release schedule.

Euphie's future husband has already shown up in the story.

There's one review that's stuck in the queue and hopefully that's not an indication that more will just end up stuck as well. They do eventually become unstuck, and in the meantime the email notification lets me read all of those that aren't too long, but there are reviews that get cut off because of length, so if there is something you absolutely want to ask make sure it's at the start of the review, not the end of it. Anyway, closing in on 700 reviews. Slowly but steadily they go up. I wonder if I'll hit one thousand before this is over. To those of you curious, I have breached 700k words in my master draft. The remaining 76k that the site is counting are all author notes.


	93. Chapter 92

Snippet spoiler: I don't tell you when she died

 _The French Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage and its successor organization the Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure are not known for their transparency or willingness to share information. Despite this a few facts are known regarding Lieutenant Charlotte Dunois, an operative that worked closely with Lieutenant Lelouch Lamperouge. Charlotte was the illegitimate daughter of the industrial magnate Christoph Dunois, a member of one of the founding families of the Dassault-Dunois conglomerate. After her mother's death Charlotte was taken in by her father but indications are her stepmother remained hostile to the presence of the girl and her childhood became an extremely unhappy one. Shortly after being sent to boarding school however Charlotte became acquainted with Lelouch and the two developed a rapport. Charlotte would follow Lelouch into a military lycée, being one of the first girls to ever win entrance, and then into joining the SDECE as a field operative. Needless to say, a romantic relationship between the two is considered established fact._

 _The two are known to have been in Japan along with a Captain André Devigny helping to arm the Japanese Liberation Front and encouraging it to initiate the Tokyo Uprising. While Captain Devigny was ultimately captured and executed by Britannian authorities, the former two were able to escape the area and return to France, where they were promptly dispatched to the Britannian homelands with a larger team to attempt to stage a similar uprising against Pendragon itself. And while the subsequent insurrection by the Swords of God and treasonous provincial forces from Carolina and Virginia ultimately failed, the deaths of nearly the entire Britannian imperial family and a substantial number of its peers might well have proven fatal._

 _Despite her complicity in these acts Lieutenant Dunois is primarily remembered amongst the Britannian populace for another reason entirely, for she is the first and thus far only foreign intelligence operative to have been buried with full military honors at the Gettysburg Imperial Cemetery amongst other distinguished personages such as the Empress Marianne and all too many of the imperial Britannian family. Exactly what Lieutenant Dunois did to deserve this honor remains a classified secret to this day, but popular rumor has it that after learning of the full extent of her lover's plans for the thought elevator located in the province of New York she turned against him for the countless deaths it would cause and sought to aid the Princess Euphemia in stopping him._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 92

Quem deus vult perdere

"What just happened!?" Euphemia demanded.

No one was quite able to answer, not least because the cries over the radio were less than coherent. One person however did not wait about for clarification. Separating himself from Charlotte, Lelouch's black hair was suddenly bleached into an ashen silver and his purple eyes darkened into a crimson red. The next moment his body was wrapped in black armor and he was bounding after Kallen.

"Merdé!" Charlotte hissed before turning to the princess. "We need our weapons back, now!"

From Roy's expression it was clear that was the last thing he was prepared to let happen with how quickly the situation was descending into a Charlie Foxtrot.

"We're not going to try to shoot you in the back," Charlotte pressed. "Lelouch just went in to try to help despite the fact that he should barely be standing! _We_ need to go help him!"

Euphemia grimaced but after a very brief moment nodded to Roy. "Captain. Return their weapons."

Roy very much wanted to protest but his instincts were screaming at him that returning their weapons to the operatives would actually not make the situation any worse. That things would be getting worse in general was pretty obvious.

Lelouch's compatriots were handed back their weapons and they immediately charged off after their leader. That earned them a grudging respect from the armsmen. The prince might not have an actual royal guard, but it was clear that he inspired a degree of loyalty that well matched their own.

"Euphemia."

The princess turned about to regard the woman as she stepped past.

"Remain here," Marianne said very firmly as she began towards the core.

Euphemia's eyes widened. "But, the canceler will-"

"The canceler should only affect me if Anya gets into range of its effects," the empress said. "That is why she will remain here to protect you."

That caused the petite girl to come to a stop behind the empress. Marianne turned about and gave Anya an affection pat on the head.

"Thank you for having put up with me, Anya. I know it hasn't been easy. And I know that you'll do just fine without me."

Anya gave a subdued nod before reaching out and giving Marianne a hug. The empress returned it but the two parted quickly, time being of essence. Euphemia ground her teeth. Everyone was going to fight, everyone but her, meaning that those others that could fight like the captain and his squad needed to remain behind to babysit her. Her hand settled on the rapier at her side. She knew she should show restraint, to remain here as she was told. Doing nothing was however turning into the hardest thing she was ever asked of.

* * *

Villetta cursed as she blocked the swing by Monica.

"Dame Kruszweski! What are you doing!?"

Monica's only response was to thrust her spadroon at the guard captain. Villetta deflected, uttering another expletive as she found herself putting everything General Eyre taught her into practice trying to keep pace with the Knight of Twelve. Monica was a ferociously competent swordsman and with her enhancements was physically stronger and faster than any human should be. The next thrust grazed Villetta's side and the general batted the blade aside before using the bounce to direct her blade into a thrust of her own. Monica's sword flickered, blocking the attack and the two blades ground against each other. Villetta did not even try to overpower the knight, instead stepping aside to disengage without opening herself up to an immediate follow-up attack. That did not stop Monica from trying however, but the slash lacked the angle to seriously threaten Villetta and the guard captain easily parried.

Monica circled about, a pair of blank eyes meeting Villetta's gaze. She then lunged again, delivering a diagonal slash aimed right for her opponent's center. Villetta blocked only for Monica to step in, her arm raising and angling her sword downward. The blade slid down and would have skewered Villetta had she not landed a kick on Monica's shin. That caused the knight to grunt and lean forward, sending her sword slamming down into the ground and sinking in next to Villetta's foot. The guard captain then smashed her fist into Monica's face but the knight was not even fazed, using the momentum of the spin she was sent into to pull free her sword and swing it in a horizontal slash as she came about.

Villetta just barely blocked the slash, her arm stinging from the effort. Monica however pressed, her wrist twisting about to point her sword straight at Villetta's chest. The attempt at parrying did not quite deflect the thrust, the blade punching through Villetta's armor and wedging itself in the plate. Villetta's other hand swung about, pistol in her grip. She opened fire, the first shot streaking past Monica's cheek while the second went wild as the knight backhanded the gun away. Villetta jerked to the side, trying to either dislodge Monica's sword or snap its blade outright. Unfortunately the sword was very well made and the two women remained interlocked, while Monica's grip remained on her sword.

A red and black blur slammed into Monica, knocking her grip on her sword loose and sending the knight tumbling away from Villetta. Kallen rolled, hopping back to her feet and brought her katana crashing down on Monica. The Knight of Twelve was just getting up onto her knees and brought up her wrist to shield herself. The blade bounced, striking something hard enough to deflect its edge.

"Oh come on!" Kallen exclaimed.

Monica pushed herself off the ground, a new sword materializing in her hand.

"General, I'll take her, keep the guard focused on the Krell!"

"Roger."

That was the only word Villetta spared as she hurried over to join the rest of her troops. Kallen kept her own attention focused on Monica. The knight's eyes were still hazy blanks, confirming Kallen's suspicion. The Krell had seized control of her via her artificial code, just as Rai had warned could happen. Of course considering that there should not be a Krell present at all, that the thing should have been still trapped in the Sword of Akasha, so things were obviously unfolding very differently from how they were supposed to.

"Alright, Rai said we needed you alive, so I'll try to not kill you," Kallen said.

Monica's response was to take a step forward and execute a vertical slash. Kallen blocked, twisting her katana about to push the other knight's sword aside.

"Of course losing just a limb or two still counts as alive," the girl added as an afterthought.

The two circled each other, their differing postures reflecting the different types of swords and styles each wielded. Kallen gripped her katana with both hands, Monica her spadroon with one. The red haired knight held her blade up at an angle, her opponent pointing hers downward. Kallen lunged forward, the katana rising and snapping down for a quick slash. Monica's blade came up and met it with equal speed. Metal rang out, the katana bouncing back. That was the entirely wrong reaction against someone with a rapier and Monica thrust laterally straight for Kallen's stomach. It was knocked aside however as Kallen's katana sliced downward diagonally and the girl immediately reversed the swing to try to pierce Monica's throat. Kallen really did intend to try taking the Knight of Twelve alive, but fighting her with anything less than killing intent was suicide.

Monica turned, angling her sword arm towards Kallen and giving her enough time to deflect the thrust. The Knight of Twelve slid forward, letting her sword grind against Kallen's blade to lock it in place. Kallen tried to backpedal but she was on the reactive side, not the proactive side, and was just a step too slow as Monica landed a punch against her gut. The armor plating actually cracked under the force of the impact, an indication of the hideous strength the knight was capable of. Kallen still felt something from the blow however and her form faltered ever so slightly. It was just enough for Monica to disengage her sword without risk of Kallen slashing at her, and flipping the weapon about slammed it through Kallen's armor. As it was shoved through to the other side, a red trickle ran down the blade.

Kallen's eyes widened as a sharp pain shot through her. She gapped at the Knight of Twelve, the shock locking up her entire body even as her grip on her katana loosened and the sword fell to the floor. Monica yanked her own blade out of Kallen and shoved the girl aside. Kallen crumbled, her eyes glazing over as she hit the ground. Without a parting glance the Knight of Twelve turned about and prepared to rejoin the fray. She took one step, and then felt something pull at her leg. Looking down Monica saw Kallen stubbornly grabbing hold of her ankle. The knight showed no sign of irritation or frustration. She simply raised her sword and prepared to pierce Kallen's heart. The sword dropped.

* * *

Rai ducked, Suzaku overextending his arm and suddenly being tossed through the air when it was seized by the captain. The puppet was seriously starting to piss him off, not least because its performance was way higher than it should have been for this point in time. Of course that was really the least of his problems considering that there was a bloody fucking Krell in the materium, something that his allies _really_ were not equipped to take on. He was, assuming he could beat Suzaku into the ground before it was too late.

Suzaku landed lightly and leapt back towards Rai. He got perhaps a few inches when something tore through his chest, blowing a hole the size of a fist through it. A mixture of blood and synthetic fluids leaked from the wound and Suzaku dropped to his knee. The barely man portable cannon was already disappearing from Rai's hands, projecting a weapon that complicated took a lot of effort and concentration to actually make sure the damned thing would not explode in his face when he fired it. He could not afford to hold back at this point however and if Suzaku was actually still able to stand after getting hit by a railgun round they had way bigger problems. The puppet tried but was still wobbling on his knees when Rai landed a solid kick against its head, causing it to snap unnaturally from the neck.

His opponent down, Rai turned about and dashed across the chamber towards the platform. Black angular armor soon covered him and a thick and sturdy claymore formed in his hand. Power swords were slightly less complicated to project than a railgun and surprisingly were actually more effective against transient entities like Krell, at least that was what NEMO's tactical assessment suggested. Since that assessment was paid for in the blood of countless thousands of men and women whom had faced the Krell and its slaves in his own timeline Rai was prepared to take his support AI's word for it.

Leaping through the air, Rai used his momentum to drive the sword as deeply as he could into the creature's translucent flesh. Tendrils immediately lashed out to try to seize hold of him but as they made contact with his armor a pulse of electricity erupted, fraying the appendages. The creature's screeches grew higher in pitch until they were almost inaudible to the human ear. Inaudible, but not ineffectual as a sharp pain started running through the heads of the soldiers. Rai's helmet dampened the worst of it but he could still feel a slight hum in the back of his head. He twisted his sword, wrenching it free and spilling loads of the Krell's ichor, before promptly slamming it back in to continue carving up the creature's body.

Bullets suddenly peppered Rai's body, and not because the soldiers' aim was off. Several of the armsmen were actively targeting Rai, their eyes now also a blank haze like that of Monica's. Despite the wounds inflicted upon it the Krell was somehow still able to make use of V.V.'s geass to start exerting control over the others nearby. Fortunately the armor he was projecting was more than up to handling the small arms fire of this era. It also had a few other features he could take advantage of. Rai's hand cackled with electricity as a charge built up on the exterior of his armor. He slammed a fist into the Krell and the creature shuddered, smoke coming off its body as its flesh charred from the sudden infusion of electrical energy. Still the creature clung tenaciously to V.V.'s broken body, a body that was already starting to reform itself. Rai grimaced. There were simply too many targets, he was simply not doing enough damage as he was.

A black-clad figure stepped into the chamber and suddenly the soldiers trying to shoot Rai shuddered and began clutching their heads. Even from where he stood Rai could feel the pressure Lelouch's geass emanated as he warred with the Krell to wrest away its control of its puppets. Off to the side Monica's knees buckled, the sword she was about to slam into Kallen's head clattering onto the ground beside the girl. The Krell roared in fury as its control was usurped, and then in pain as Rai delivered another blast of electricity into its badly mauled form. It suddenly tore away from V.V., leaving the boyish body and ripping free from Rai's grip. And charged straight for Lelouch.

"Oh SHIT!" Rai exclaimed.

A normal human mind was shielded from the influence of a normal Krell. They could eat away at the mind, eventually destroying it, but they could not take possession of it. A code bearer was however vulnerable to possession because of their connection to C's World, a reflection of the immaterium formed by an ancient civilization to harness the combined will of mankind. Geass holders technically were not vulnerable since their connections were indirect. Those whom had established a direct connection however, those whose geass was in the process of transforming into a code, were. And when said geass holder already possessed the power of compulsion, the potential for it to be complemented by that of the Krell's was in a word utterly horrifying to contemplate.

"Lexington!" Rai shouted.

He charged after the Krell, trying to close in and slow it down long enough for Kallen to perhaps take a shot at Lelouch and put him down before the creature could seize control of him. Out of the corner of his eye however Rai caught sight of Kallen's still form on the floor. He did not have time to utter another curse. Instead Rai tried to form the railgun once more, to create some weapon that would be powerful enough to shatter the armor Lelouch himself was projecting and kill the former prince. The outline of its form solidified in his hands but even as he brought it to bear he knew it was too late. The barrel was still forming when he tried to fire, the weapon exploding and tossing him clear across the room. The projectile sliced through the Krell and shattered on Lelouch's armor, cracking the plate but failing to actually penetrate. Lelouch himself stumbled back but the creature's momentum carried it the rest of the way and it seized hold of him. The cry that sounded this time was of triumph.

* * *

A spasm ran through Kallen's form as she woke. She gasped, pain running through every part of her cold body. With great effort she raised her head, and bore witness to the armsmen about her all falling to their knees clutching their heads. Screams filled the air and a sudden flare of pressure ground upon Kallen's mind. She too would have cried out save for the dryness of her throat and the numb pain that rendered her mute. Instead all she managed were more gasps as she tried futilely to stand, to do something. Anything. To stop the black clad figure that now stepped across the chamber past all of the writhing soldiers.

Lelouch stepped atop the platform as a bloodied V.V. slowly rose. The figure looked about in a daze, as if unsure of what was going on.

"Wha-who are you?"

The helmeted figure looked down at V.V. for a brief moment, and then seized hold of the smaller figure by the neck and lifted him off the guard, the massive overcoats flapping about.

"Gah! Who-what are you-"

That was as far as V.V. got before a crack sounded as his neck snapped. The crest on the back of his neck glowed for a brief moment before disappearing. And then one started glowing across Lelouch's back. With casual disregard the young man tossed aside the still form, and turned about to face the oncoming sound of footsteps.

Charlotte and the others came to a stop at the threshold of the core and Marianne was soon beside them. All of them immediately sensed that something was very, very wrong.

"That's not Lelouch," Fie said, raising her weapons.

"No," Charlotte agreed, leveling her own rifle at her lover's form. "That is not."

The crowned helm tilted aside as the figure regarded them. It then raised a hand. Kallen felt another wave of pressure batter at her and wheezed as the air was seemingly squeezed out of her lungs. And while the operatives and Marianne shuddered, they somehow remained on their feet. Lelouch's arm remained raised, but there was a noticeable confusion in his poise. It seemed he had not been expecting that.

Charlotte's expression was grim. It was also of steely determination.

"Case Fin," she said.

Without warning all of them opened up on Lelouch, the four maneuvering about the chamber. To her credit Marianne did not attempt to stop them, a sword instead appearing in her hand as the empress took up a defensive posture in case Lelouch tried to close on them.

"Pathetic."

The voice that sounded was Lelouch's. It was also that of an entirely different monster.

"Such small insects, whom scurry about as if doing so will save you when your masters boot falls."

Charlotte ejected her empty magazine and slapped in a new one. Annie simply discarded her rifle, grabbing one from one of the downed armsmen and resumed firing.

"You think you know power. You think you possess knowledge. You are nothing but animals, wallowing in filth of your own making."

Fie grabbed a grenade, popped it, and tossed it at Lelouch. The explosion washed off the figure without any effect.

"You are fit to be nothing but chattel. To be bred and slaughtered at the whim of your betters."

Kallen wheezed, her latest effort to rise causing her to instead curl up into a fetal position as her body cramped up.

"Allow me to show you power."

Blood suddenly erupted from Annie's shoulder as a sword materialized and slammed right into her. She tumbled, crashing into the ground even as she struggled to wrench free the blade.

"Allow me to show you despair."

Bertolt leapt back but cried out as his leg was caught in the torrent of metal shards and mangled beyond recognition.

"Allow me to show you, the truth."

Electricity crackled in Lelouch's hand and the air shimmered as a sphere of plasma coalesced. A bright, searing light shone from the open palm and the others were forced to avert their gaze or be blinded outright.

Kallen grimaced, her fist tightening even as she felt strength wither away from the rest of her body. It could not end like this. She had come so far, lost so many people. Naoto. Inoue. Her mother. And she had gained so many others. Milly. Euphemia. Cole. No, it would not end like this. She refused to let it. The girl's eyes began shining, her mind demanding the impossible from her broken body, that it become whole once more to carry forth her will. And then Kallen felt herself rise. Her back straightened, her legs pushed upward, and her feet steadied themselves. No more blood spilled to further stain her ragged gear, instead it flowed through her body as it grew in strength with every passing moment. Kallen tore off the shattered armor. A red greave enveloped her foot as it took a step forth. Crimson gauntlets covered her hands and wrists. Clad in scarlet armor, Kallen's grip closed around her unbroken katana as she stepped before Lelouch. Raising her sword, a ferocious glare was cast upon the man.

"I'll show _you_ the bloody truth."

* * *

Euphemia gasped as her connection to Kallen was restored and she was given a first row seat to the devastation in the core. And the person responsible for it.

"Your highness?" Roy said worriedly.

The princess did not immediately respond as she worked out what had happened for such destruction to be wrought. As she focused on specific details, a flow of memories from Kallen provided her all the context she needed to see how it occurred. Her sight fell upon Lelouch, and she watched as Lelouch seized hold of V.V. She watched him snap his neck and rip out the boyish figure's code, claiming it as his own. And she saw the ominous aura that surrounded Lelouch, the telltale that something was very, very wrong with her brother.

Euphemia spun about to face Roy. "We need to move in, now."

"Your highness-"

"Captain, that is an order," Euphemia cut him off. "If we do not act now _none_ of us are leaving this thought elevator alive. We move, _now_."

Without waiting for a response Euphemia began heading for the core. She nodded to C.C.

"It is your turn. All rests with you."

C.C.'s eyes darkened but she nodded in turn. "Then let us avant. And may the Almighty grace us with His favor."

The princess then regarded Anya. "Monica is down, as is Suzaku. The geass canceler is no longer in play."

The girl's expression hardened and her wrists flickered, revealing a pair of very long knives. Euphemia smiled approving and turned towards the core.

"Let us be off."

Villetta hissed as she regained consciousness, her body feeling like it had been fed through a meat grinder. It probably did not help that she was being dragged across the ground. The moving stopped and she was rested against a wall.

"You alright?"

The knight looked up and was surprised to see that the one pulling her along was actually the petite German girl.

"I'm alive," Villetta managed. "What's going on?"

Fie's normally stoic expression winced. "We're in a bad spot. Very bad."

Villetta looked about and grimaced right with her rescuer. One of the other youths had a hastily applied tourniquet wrapped about the stump of one of his legs. The taller, blond haired German girl was dragging two other soldiers out of the core chamber, one Villetta recognized as the unconscious Knight of Twelve. The French girl that was Lelouch's lover was pulling with her one more.

"That's everyone," Annie said. "None of the others made it."

Villetta's eyes widened and she looked about despite the pain that the movement elicited. Only two others of her guard were present. She had entered the thought elevator with almost 40 soldiers. Now, counting those that were detached to protect the princess, she was down to less than a quarter. Gods above and below, what had happened? The halls shuddered slightly as if to hint at the answer.

"Wha-"

"General!"

Villetta looked back and grimaced as the princess and the rest of their force approached at a quick jaunt. Euphemia knelt at the older woman's side.

"General, are you alright?"

"Yes your highness," Villetta tried to claim, though the stiffness of her words betrayed the lie.

Euphemia however smiled kindly and nodded. "Good." She stood. "I have made great demands upon you, general. I thank you."

The princess drew her rapier, causing Villetta to gap at her.

"Your highness-"

Euphemia regarded Villetta. The general's mouth closed without further word. Her highness would not be deterred. Either she would emerge victorious this day or not at all. And something told Villetta she would share her liege's fate one way or another.

The princess graced Villetta with one last smile at the general's silence before turning to Charlotte.

"We need to get C.C. to Lelouch, to destroy the code he took from V.V."

"Doable," Charlotte said, wiping some of the dried blood off her forehead, "but we're going to need to stop Lelouch from throwing around small suns in there."

"Small what!?"

"At a guess he's turning the air into a plasma and then fusing it together," Charlotte said nonchalantly. "Probably don't want to get hit by one of those, a code bearer _might_ survive getting vaporized, but I really wouldn't hold my breath."

Euphemia tapped into Kallen's sight again and watched as Lelouch did indeed throw another searing ball of fire. The inside of the core was covered with scorch marks and the walls were visibly buckling. Rai was wearing a sleek black armor that had cracks running down its frame and components peeled off outright. Kallen's own red armor was in better shape but even it had signs of significant wear. As for Marianne, there was none of the usual cool composure she was renowned for under circumstances of distress.

"How are we supposed to get close to him?" Euphemia said aloud.

"It takes time for him to perform the reaction," Charlotte said. "About twenty seconds. If we can get to him in that window, we win."

"Twenty seconds," Euphemia said as she watched the air about Lelouch shimmer as he seemingly drew it into his hand and start glowing. The princess drew her rapier. "He's almost done, after the next blast we move in."

Charlotte nodded, grabbing hold of Villetta's spadroon. "Right behind you."

The corridor shuddered again as another sphere of plasma erupted. Every man and woman still on their feet charged into the chamber and was immediately assaulted by the sweltering heat and thinned air that was the result of Lelouch's constant bombardment. They weathered it as best they could, not letting the hostile environment distract them from their mission.

Annie and Fie opened fire immediately, their shots landing with unerring accuracy. An audible growl sounded from Lelouch, not from any inconvenience he was suffering but more just from irritation. The momentary distraction however allowed Kallen and Rai to close in again, their respective swords aiming to decapitate and disembowel. Lelouch caught the two blades with his armored gauntlets, sparks crackling as the edges ground against his armor. With visible effort he twisted about and slammed the two into the ground. Kallen simply bounced back up, her katana disappear as she released her grip and reforming in her hand as she launched another attack. Rai was slower to recover, exhaustion and his wounds starting to catch up with him. Lelouch sidestepped Kallen's swing and blocked the thrust from Euphemia's sword. Charlotte's slash scrapped the back of his armor but left not a scratch.

A wave of pressure pushed everyone back. That might have put them out of reach in terms of melee weapons but it also opened him up to all of the rifles and guns pointed his way. And while this range was spitting distance for her, Riza's sniper rifle did pack a lot of power and the impact from her shot actually caused Lelouch to pause, if only for a second.

"Pitiful insects," Lelouch sneered. "The scions of Britannia think themselves so mighty? You flatter yourselves as masters of your own fates!? Those whom share this tainted blood, your only fate is to DIE!"

The last word echoed in the chamber and a pulsation glowed for a singular moment, nearly blinding the combatants. Euphemia fell to her knee as a sudden pressure seized hold of her, trying to squeeze out all the air from her. She wheezed and gasped, managing to draw some air with great effort.

"Wha-what have you done!?" she uttered.

And then voices echoed all about them.

 _What? What is happening?_

The princess tried to look about. "Bother?"

 _Can't, breathe. Can't-no-what-_

Her eyes widened. "Maribelle!?"

 _Sleepy. Something, calling._

"No, Cornelia!"

 _I'm sorry. Lelouch, I'm sorry._

Her blood ran cold. Euphemia rose, her knuckles white as she gripped her rapier.

"Stop him!" she screamed. "Stop him now!"

The princess charged Lelouch, delivering a powerful thrust with her rapier. The blade shattered outright upon impact and Lelouch backhanded her across the head. Euphemia tumbled back, collapsing on the ground. Blood began to seep from her forehead.

"Euphemia!" Rai screamed.

Marianne and Anya advanced in-sync, attacking Lelouch from both sides. The empress' dual swords forced Lelouch to focus entirely on her, leaving his back completely open for Anya to stab with her own knives. His armor was finally starting to show slight wear but his defenses still remained formidable enough for him to counterattack and force the two to beat a temporary retreat. Their absence was quickly made up for however as Charlotte reentered the fray.

The air started shimmering again and a faint glow formed in Lelouch's free hand. That hand rose, the plasma yet to become superheated but well on its way. Charlotte was not deterred, slamming her spadroon through the coalescing light. The blade snapped from the impact as the heat weakened the metal fatally, but the sudden transfer of heat caused the fusion to peter out. Charlotte was now within Lelouch's guard, but she no longer possessed a weapon. Lelouch on the other hand was never unarmed and a blade materialized pointed straight at Charlotte. The French girl did not attempt to dodge, letting her momentum carry her even as the sword punched through her chest and shot out with a geyser of blood out her back. One hand seized hold of Lelouch's sword arm and the other his throat. Charlotte's eyes glowed and suddenly Lelouch's form froze. A moment later the crowned helmet shattered, revealing a crazed expression and pitch black eyes.

"NOW!"

C.C. rolled behind Lelouch and seized hold of his head. The coil that wound about her throbbed before suddenly seizing hold of Lelouch as well. The scream that sounded came from both of them as an indescribable pain tore through both mind and body. The code that both bore was shattered bit by bit, the mind which housed it twisting and burning as the connections were frayed and severed without regard for either end. That was still infinitely better than letting the code remain connected to the mind in question as it was eaten away by the anti-code C.C. carried. For Lelouch the pain was increased by an order of magnitude as the Krell found its own connections ripped out from his mind as his connection to C's World was severed. He did not lose it entirely, but in its arrogance and overconfidence the Krell had attempted to meld via the code just as it had with V.V. And then there was the projection of Lelouch's own mind that Charlotte was feeding back into the young man. She had not lied when she said she held a piece of Lelouch within her. An impression of his existence, of his soul, that was a constant companion as well as a protector against the horrors that was code and geass. Now she returned that fragment to him and it fought with vicious ferocity to reclaim its place within Lelouch's mind, burning away at the Krell regardless of the collateral damage the process inflicted upon its true self.

The Krell's form began coalescing behind Lelouch as it was physically ejected from its host. This had never happened before, it should have been impossible for anyone to overcome the mental domination a Krell could assert. It cried out in frustration, in pain, and in absolute astonishment as it began to lose not only its grip on Lelouch but its hold on the materium outright. It desperately searched for another host, another form to steal. Monica was too far away, its form would effectively evaporate before it could reach her. Suzaku was not an option, for entirely different reasons. Kallen though, in overcoming her wounds Kallen had tapped directly into C's World to restore her body. She too no longer needed C.C.'s code to act as a bridge. She would-

Rai's form smashed into the Krell and superheated plasma began to vaporize it outright.

"Just fucking DIE already!" the man shouted.

Rai had never really considered the possibility of turning matter into plasma to fuel a fusion reaction. That was an oversight on the part of his imagination but once he saw Lelouch performing the feat it was no longer an issue of if, but how. The heat continued to intensify as Rai focused his will. The cloud of plasma continued collapsing upon itself until a bright light erupted, throwing Rai across the chamber even as Lelouch collapsed upon Charlotte. The sword impaling her faded but the gaping wound it had created remained and her ruptured heart sent blood gushing out. Above the two however was empty air, the Krell's body having been completely vaporized.

Lelouch forced himself to rise and look down at Charlotte. The woman was still conscious but her complexion grew paler with every passing moment.

"Charlotte?" he whispered.

A smile appeared on her face and a hand weakly reaching out for him. Lelouch took hold of it, pressing it against his face even as he felt all strength leave it.

"No, no, no, no," he pleaded. "Please. Charlotte, no."

Charlotte coughed, a trickle of blood running down her cheek.

"You were my light, Lelouch," Charlotte said softly. "My life, and my being. I'm glad I met you. And, thank you."

The girl's eyes fluttered before closing one final time. Her expression was one of contentment and peace. Lelouch's own face was nowhere as serene, twisted as it was with grief and pain. Tears fell and stained Charlotte's face as Lelouch lost any and all composure.

"You were supposed to _live_ ," he uttered. "You were supposed to be the _one_ good thing I could save. Why Charlotte."

No answer came from the girl, but her actions had spoken clearly enough. She had wanted Lelouch to live, she had wanted Lelouch to be the one good thing _she_ saved. And that was exactly what she did, even if she left behind a broken heart.

Euphemia rose, her head throbbing and just a bit woozy. She looked about and saw Lelouch hunched over his lover, his posture that of a completely broken man. Her eyes suddenly widened as she recalled exactly what happened before her momentary loss of consciousness. She struggled to stand when suddenly an arm reached out and took hold of her.

"Your highness," Kallen said softly.

"Kallen, did we, did we stop that, thing?" she asked desperately.

"I-I don't know," Kallen answered honestly.

The princess hissed as she tried to straighten. Even leaning on Kallen that took significant effort. The others were also picking themselves up, none of them in much better shape than the princess. There was a visible limp in Rai's gaunt and C.C. had visible burns on her face. The rest of Lelouch's team were looking more than a bit haggard, Fie and Annie collapsed against each other. And Anya and-Euphemia's head jerked back despite the pain the motion caused.

Marianne was still there, though her form was visibly fading with every second. She regarded her son with a great deal of worry, and something else entirely. Grief. She had heard those voices as clearly as Euphemia. The empresses met her gaze but Euphemia found herself unable to utter a single word. She just could not.

"Don't worry."

Both women blinked and their eyes shifted to regard Kallen. The knight took a deep breath.

"I'll take care of them. All of them."

At that Marianne's lips quirked ever so slightly. It was not quite a smile, but it showed the measure of comfort that she took from Kallen's words. And then her face disappeared entirely as the geass she gained from C.C. completely faded.

Kallen sighed, still supporting Euphemia. "Though it's not going to be easy with all the crazy stuff you lot seem to keep getting involved with."

That was enough to get Euphemia to smirk ever so slightly but the princess had more pressing matters in mind.

"We need to get out of here," she said. "We have wounded that need treatment and I need to get in contact with the rest of my family."

Kallen nodded. "Yeah. We should-"

The sound of rubble rolling about interrupted her and drew the others' attention as well, save for Lelouch. Out from a pile of whatever strange material the thought elevator was built of rose a figure with a hole in his stomach and his head bent at an unnatural angle. Kallen frowned.

"Suzaku?"

The Japanese youth grasped his head and with a loud crack reset it into its proper place, causing the others to wince as they watched. Rai suddenly inhaled sharply.

"Shoot him!"

A single second passed before the others registered Rai's cry and gunfire erupted in the chamber once more from everyone still possessing ranged weapons. At this point anything the captain identified as a threat they knew better than to hesitate to engage.

Suzaku cartwheeled off the pile of rubble and made a dash for the central platform. A few shots clipped him but he was utterly unfazed. He dove and rolled under the barrage before popping back up and landing upon his intended goal. Holographic displays suddenly shimmered in the air and something scrolled across them before blinking out. And then his body was enveloped in a light and disappeared entirely from the chamber.

"Scheiße," Annie hissed. "He just activated the gateway to the London thought elevator!"

"How was he even moving!?" Kallen exclaimed. "I thought he was supposed to be-"

The chamber suddenly shuddered, interrupting the girl. They all looked about. The core shook again.

"Oh crap," Fie said as she bound up to the very same platform Suzaku disappeared from. Another projection appeared and she deftly manipulated it as if possessed of long practice. "He did more than just run away, he's initiated a resonance cascade. The entire thought elevator's going to go up in the next five minutes if we don't do something."

Kallen's eyes widened. Five minutes, there was no way they were going to be able to get out of here in that little time.

"Can we use that gateway like he did?" she asked.

Fie shook her head. "It's already been severed on the other side." Her expression darkened further. "I can't stop the sequence." And spun about. "Lelouch!"

The young man rose, his eyes and expression devoid of any expression. Nonetheless he strode up to the platform and took Fie's place and worked the projection. After a moment his hands stopped moving.

"I can only slow down the cascade, I can't halt it."

Kallen's mind raced. There had to be something they could still do. Perhaps connect to another thought elevator, evacuate that way? But how was a connection even established in the first place? As she frantically tried to come up with something however Lelouch's fingers began dancing once more.

"But I can get all of you out of here."

More lights solidified into visible forms. Kallen immediately recognized the projection as the exterior of the thought elevator, and the _Avalon_ hanging in the air waiting for them. A flash lit up and suddenly Fie was gone. Then Annie. Rai was next, with just enough time for his eyes to widen.

"Lelouch," Euphemia said softly, and then more loudly. "What are you doing!?"

The prince's back remained turned towards them. He did glance over at his sister however. For a brief moment his eyes were not a cold void.

"I'm sorry."

And then a light enveloped Euphemia and Kallen. When it faced the two heard gasps and shouts of surprise as they stood on the bridge of the _Avalon_. Not just them, but also Villetta, Rai, C.C., Anya, her fellow Knight of the Round Monica, the other surviving armsmen and Lelouch's compatriots. And the still form of Charlotte Dunois.

"Your highness!?" the captain exclaimed.

Kallen looked out the window. The thought elevator was now visibly pulsing.

"Captain, get us out of here!" she shouted.

"Wait!" Euphemia cried out, causing the man to hesitate. "Lelouch is still in there!"

Kallen grimaced. It was pretty obvious that Lelouch was not intending to go with them, that he was going to try to buy as much time as he could.

"I'm sorry your highness," Kallen said, echoing the prince's last words to his sister. She then looked at the captain. "Go, _now_."

"No-you can't!" Euphemia pleaded. "He-he might be my only family left! I won't leave him!"

The captain of the _Avalon_ found himself torn between two contradicting instructions. The princess was demanding he wait, even though it was obvious that something untoward was about to happen with the thought elevator. Her knight was insisting that they flee to escape whatever that untowardness was. It was not an easy decision, but it was ultimately a simple one. He turned to his helmsman.

"Take us out."

"NO!" Euphemia cried. "STOP! GIVE ME MY BROTHER BACK!"

Kallen grabbed hold of Euphemia, physically restraining her to keep the princess from literally jumping the captain. Even despite her injuries and pain the young woman's struggles proved difficult to contain. Then Roy grabbed on as well, and then Riza. Only with the three of them were they able to hold their liege back.

"STOP! LET ME GO!" The sobs grew louder. "LELOUCH! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The _Avalon_ turned about, gaining altitude even as the air about it darkened and crackled. Discharges of light splashed across the blaze luminous shield, which was at least for the moment holding. The two helicopters that lifted off to follow were nowhere as lucky.

The thought elevator itself began to unwrap, the chambers and corridors that were previously overlaid with each other now physically jutting out and crashing into each other as they were yanked from the higher dimensions. With all of the structures suddenly reappearing in the physical world the volume of space they previously occupied was nowhere adequate to accommodate them. Overlapping constructs tore and shattered and a shower of rubble washed down upon the forest below. The destruction this wrought however was a pittance to what came next.

All of the energy that previously held the thought elevator in the upper dimensions was shunted into the atmosphere, setting the forest alight and creating a wave of fire that rolled outward. It was also pumped deep into the ground, conducted by the trace veins of sakuradite that weaved through the earth down to massive molten streams of it running under the crust. The energy found a path in those streams, traveling far and wide, but so much of it was being poured in that not even the sakuradite was able to absorb and dissipate it quickly enough. The energy started seeping back into the crust, cracking and contorting the tectonic plates that formed the North American continent. From Nova Scotia down to Louisiana the earth shook and in many places cracked open outright, causing eruptions of magma to billow to the surface. As a new dawn rose, it was greeted by fire and brimstone burning across the entire eastern coast. The toll would continue to grow well past this day.

End of Chapter 92

Technically I didn't lie. I don't tell you when Charlotte dies in the opening snippet.

The body count is starting to reach endemic proportions. And then there are all of the characters that I actually bothered to develop that I also killed off. Richard, Helena, Ichijo, Inoue, Jonathan, Makabe, Joshua, Rolo (I guess), Crow, Reiner, Aurelia, Cayenne, Charlotte. The entire Britannian imperial family besides Euphemia. Kotone is in a coma and might never wake up, Marianne has already consented to be taken off life support. I'm probably missing at least one or two more. If nothing else, I've demonstrated that I can and will kill off characters to advance the story, and that any happy end that anyone receives is paid for in blood. And yes, I know Lelouch isn't included in that list. I have no regrets whatsoever about that absence.

Yeah, so uh, the 'attack' that killed the imperial Britannian family umm, well, it killed a lot more people than just the immediate imperial Britannian family. Fatalities worldwide would number easily in the hundreds of thousands if not millions. And some of you thought that Euphie becoming empress because the rest of her family died was too 'easy.' We've been building up to this moment for 90 some chapters. I had the rough outline of this planned out since the early stages of the story. I emphasized multiple times that there would be a body count before all was said and done, and that it would hit both sides very painfully. And now we see the extent of it.

Gettysburg is the equivalent of Arlington in my story, primarily due to its proximity to Pendragon. And the province of Virginia has been on the imperial government's shitlist even more often than the state of Virginia has been for the US federal government.

Huh? I don't recall ever mentioning Lelouch having a kid so I'm not sure what the reviewer is referring to.

Hmm. Supernatural. I'm actually going to dispute that particular labeling of some of the stuff that's happening. Not all of it of course, but there are certain things that if they come off as too supernatural by this point then something is being lost in translation, so to speak.

Let's start at the beginning. When the story first began, the code and geass were most definitely spooky/unnatural and even potentially supernatural. Kallen and Euphemia knew next to nothing about the 'gift' they had received and C.C. was constrained from explaining. Assuming she would have been willing to even if she was not restrained. She was not exactly helpful in the anime in that regard. As the story progressed I showed the characters trying to find understand their geass using the scientific method, going to doctors and taking brain scans and whatnot. They certainly did not go to a priest or something.

As they learned more, it should have become more evident that the code and geass, despite their very fantastical abilities, were quantifiable. The Directorate had spent years if not decades trying to do so and were making notable progress. The artificial code installed in Monica and Suzaku were after all very real things. Granted it's killed literally everyone else it's been installed in, but still. And then there's Rai, whose artificial code represents literally hundreds of years of progress in bridging the gap between human understanding and the miracles that geass is capable of. They were still far from unlocking all the secrets of code and geass, but they had progressed enough that some of the things in Rai's time would have seemed almost magical from our perspective. Hell, the limited application of geass in Euphemia's time already seems magical.

Keeping in mind these seeming miracles, the extent of power code bearers and geass contractors should possess as a group is immense. If there really was an entire civilization built upon these powers, then their feats should have been equally monumental. They were ultimately wiped out, or nearly wiped out at least, but at their zenith they were capable of stupendous engineering achievements. Achievements that while fantastical, the imagination of present day can actually grasp the technical challenges that must be overcome because we have examples of things like skyscrapers, space flight, and so the achievements are not beyond our fundamental knowledge of what is and is not possible. Which should give an indication of just how fantastical or supernatural our capabilities are from the perspective of ancient civilizations like the Romans or the older Chinese dynasties and so forth.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to get across is that the abilities granted by code and geass have very real physical backing, at least in my world. They create effects that can be observed, from which a cause can be hypothesized and tested. Every step of the story, I've basically tried to peel back the mystique of code and geass, to give it grounding, and the characters themselves have been treating it less and less like magic and more and more like a piece of science they do not yet understand.

In fact Euphemia is actually a lot closer to understanding the principles that underpin code and geass than pretty much everyone else. Her ability to basically think in higher order mathematics allows her to glimpse the means by which code bearers, the original ones at least, are able to manipulate the world about them. As for what the means are, well, the closest that modern science has to the field is information physics. We'll touch upon it more in later chapters.

As an aside, even with respect to the Krell, it's not regarded as some sort of supernatural entity. Rai, the one person actually familiar with it, regards it as an alien. An insidious and extremely dangerous alien, but still an alien, not a ghost or spirit or whatever. It probably helps that it's not the first alien species that humanity in his timeline encountered that tried to dick over mankind. Oh uh, that's probably a spoiler, isn't it?

Anyway, the only thing that could still be termed supernatural is the stuff Lelouch showed Kallen and Euphemia. That one breaks with enough of the conventions I've established for code and geass that there are not ready explanations for. At the same time I can't exactly infodump in the middle of what is intended to be a dramatic scene and still retain the tension, so an explanation could be forthcoming if it is necessary in-story.


	94. Chapter 93

_The devastation wrought upon the Holy Britannian Empire in the aftermath of the Battle of Pendragon is hard to understate. The entirety of the Britannian imperial family save for the Princess Euphemia had been struck down by the European bioweapon. As this extended to all whom had some sort of blood relation to the family as well, combined with the attack on Parliament during the battle proper a full two thirds of the House of Lords also perished, effectively gutting the upper echelons of Britannian society._

 _Then there was the destruction of the New York thought elevator, which previously was thought to be a harmless archeological relic dangerous only to those whom might injure themselves trying to climb the strange structure. Instead Britannia learned that the elevator sat atop a network of molten sakuradite veins that permeated the entire planet just under the crust. Though inaccessible to the technology of that era, the thought elevators apparently were able to draw and release energy from and into the veins. When the one in New York was destroyed, it injected a stupendous amount of energy that resulted in earthquakes and fissures erupting across the entire North American east coast. The death toll from this event reached over two million by the time rescue and recovery operations were in full swing._

 _The reaction of the Britannian populace was first horror and shock. It quickly transformed into rage as more details regarding the attack emerged. Never before had the Empire been so wounded, and never before had so many of its peoples been cut down so indiscriminately in a single blow. Cries of anguish soon turned into demands for vengeance. If the European powers had thought that such a disaster might exhort Britannia to the negotiating table and contemplate a peaceful resolution to the war, they gravely miscalculated. It was a mistake that would cost millions more their lives as the war took on a far grimmer turn._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 93

Luctor, non mergor

The shaking was not subsiding. Nor were the fires burning out. And yet there was an eerie silence hanging in the air. A silence that was broken not by the crackle of flames or the rumble of the earth, but by a singular cry that sounded. The little girl stumbled down the uneven road, her legs barely able to take one foot and put it before the other. Her eyes were swollen and red, her cheeks stained with ash and tears just barely visible from the faint glow of flames behind her. Another rumble shook the ground beneath her and she tripped, her knees scraping the asphalt. A slight hint of red marked the road as she tried to push herself up, but her frail body was beyond its limits. She sat up, all that her meager strength could muster, and gazed blankly ahead.

Lights flickered before her, not that she was at all cognizant of their increasing brightness until they finally forced her to shield her eyes. The rumbling this time was of engines, and then a screech as the car ground to a halt. Doors opened and footsteps sounded, approaching the girl. She looked up, still not quite understanding what was happening, as a pair of arms wrapped about her and picked her up.

"We've got a survivor!" the woman cradling her shouted before smiling gently at the little girl. "It's gonna be alright sweetie. You're safe now."

The girl blinked. Safe. That she could ever be not safe was so foreign before this night that she scarcely recognized its return now. And then her eyes teared up again as all the anxiety and pain overwhelmed her. She reached out, clinging tightly to the woman holding her.

"Mommy…Daddy…"

The woman cooed into the girl's ear, giving her back a comforting caress. "It's alright, everything's alright."

She carried the girl back to the waiting Humvee, climbing into the back seat while a medic did his best to examine the girl. She had suffered a few bumps and scrapes, but beyond exhaustion and shock seemed alright. The scrapes were gently washed, the bumps a salve applied and both bandaged even as the Humvees began moving once more. And atop the hoods of the vehicles were the clutched gauntlet of the Britannian Gendarmerie, steadfastly carrying out their duty even now in the wake of this unimaginable disaster. There would be many whom they would reach too late, but every life that they saved this night was a victory unto itself.

* * *

The blond haired woman that stepped off the plane was looking more than a bit haggard and distraught. Kallen did not blame her in the least. Milly walked over to Kallen and shot the younger girl an irritated, even slightly angry glare.

"Kallen."

A nod. "Milly."

Milly took a deep breath. "What the HEL is going on!?"

Kallen managed not to wince. When Milly wanted to get a point across, the girl really knew how to use her lungs.

"We cornered the, thing, that tried to murder the Empress Marianne," the knight answered honestly. "It, hijacked Lelouch's compulsion geass, and used it to order everyone with imperial blood in them to, well, die."

Milly spent a few seconds staring at Kallen blankly. Her eyes then narrowed.

"Every."

A solemn nod. It was not just the immediate members of the imperial family that had succumbed to Lelouch's hijacked compulsion. When loyalist forces arrived at the Cayenne estate to take the Lady Cecilia into custody they were informed and shown that she too was now deceased, for reasons the Cayenne family's retainers could not understand. Considering whom her grandmother was, Kallen and those whom bore witness to the events in the thought elevator had a pretty good idea what the cause was. Then there were the unexpected fatalities of people whom one would never have suspected of relation to the imperial family, like one Rean Schwarzer. While Laura was not exactly undergoing a mental breakdown like Euphemia, the girl was most certainly not unaffected either.

"Where's Euphie?"

"Back at the palace. She, has not been taking this well."

The older girl let out a harsh bark. "Oh I think there's plenty of _that_ going around, Kallen."

That was true enough. Nunnally vi Britannia had spent the last seven years as Abigail Nunnally Ashford after all. At that moment a contingent of soldiers emerged from the plane's cargo hatch, carrying upon their shoulders a pair of caskets. They were bringing home not just Nunnally but also Maribelle one final time. And in the lead, her arms seemingly lifting nothing but air, was a haunted looking young woman. Kallen grimaced. Mikasa was hardly an expressive person but her face now looked even more vacant than usually.

Kallen had come into Euphemia's service as part of a political deal, and as insurance against the princess backpedaling on reforms that would improve the lot of the Japanese people. Mikasa swearing fealty to Nunnally had had none of that baggage, she had done so because she genuinely wished to protect the newly revealed princess. To then have Nunnally perish and been utterly powerless to prevent it. Kallen vowed to have a word with her fellow armsman. She did not know if she could offer any comfort or sympathy that Mikasa would want, but she could at least try. The knight then turned to regard Milly once more.

"Look, Milly, I know you're hurting as well," Kallen said. "But right now you're literally the only one that can probably get Euphemia out of her funk, and we really, _really_ need her to get ahold of herself."

"Because she's now the only royal alive," Milly stated.

Kallen simply nodded at that.

A sigh sounded. "This, this was _not_ what I agreed to when I got on that plane."

"I know," Kallen said softly.

"Bloody Hel," Milly muttered. "Alright, take me to the palace. And you can fill me in on the rest of this bloody nightmare on the way. Including what the Hel happened with the entire east coast to cause it to go up in flames."

Kallen grimaced. In that respect Pendragon was actually extraordinarily lucky. The city had escaped the worst of the earthquakes caused by the destruction of the thought elevator. Compared to the devastation visited upon other regions and cities, in truth it was difficult to distinguish between the damage from the preceding battle or the quakes. Even now the government was trying to figure out just how extensive the damage was as well as determine which places needed help the most. With so much of the military defense net still down that was proving to be a nontrivial problem and a lot of planes had helicopters had been zipping up and down the coast.

Of course none of this was helped by the fact that the government itself had effectively been gutted. With Schneizel gone the Duke Velaines was serving as the acting head of government, but half the cabinet was dead along with two thirds of the House of Lords. In one instance they had to go down approximately three levels before finding the next senior most surviving official to take up the ministerial post that had been vacated, at least on a provisional basis.

The military was actually in somewhat better shape despite Cornelia's death. The Vander family despite their long lineage and prominence had never intermarried with the imperial family and thus all of its members were still alive, including the head of the imperial general staff. And while Lord Mountbatten's sister had married into the imperial family, he himself was of a line that was completely unrelated. Air Chief Marshal Le May and General Harold Keith Johnson were both commoners, and between the four men the upper echelons of the military was effectively intact. That was turning out to be a very good thing for the search and rescue efforts.

Another spot of good news was that the gendarmerie had also emerged from the battle and its aftermath relatively intact. Brigadier Ulrich Kessler had not waited for orders to begin organizing the other gendarmerie branches to the extent that he could, and in truth none of those branches had bothered waiting for orders themselves before deploying to try to help people. Once contact was reestablished they were already ready with casualty reports and requests for the most urgently needed supplies. Clean drinking water ended up at the top of a lot of lists.

With all the passengers unloaded the plane was taxied away and a cargo plane rolled out into its place. As Milly and Kallen climbed into a waiting helicopter several palettes of supplies were rolled onto the tarmac and up into the waiting plane. The arrival of Milly and the others had resulted in a momentary pause in the flow of supplies to the devastated regions of the east coast. That lull was now over and the soldiers on duty wasted no time resuming their tasks.

As the helicopter flew over the city Milly gazed out the window at the scenery below. The destruction the city suffered had been dealt with an uneven hand, with entire districts and neighborhoods completely untouched while others were little more than piles of rubble. As they approached the palace district there was actually more extensive damage seeing as the insurgents had focused much of their efforts on trying to kill as many of the imperial scions as possible. Considering the end result their efforts might seem a tad redundant. To the men and women whom fought so desperately on both sides, it had felt anything but.

"How many people died just here," Milly said softly.

Kallen regarded the other girl. When Milly actually turned to meet her gaze Kallen grimaced and answered.

"Current estimates are approximately twenty thousand military casualties, twelve thousand of them fatal."

A good percentage of those had been suffered by the insurgents and traitorous provincial forces, though Jusis Albarea had had the good sense to stand down once he got a good look at what was awaiting him at Bifröst Air Base and spared his troops the slaughter they would have inevitably been subjected to. Just for that alone the young man had earned Kallen's grudging respect and she intended to lend her support to Laura when the older girl attempted to argue for mercy on her former classmate's behalf. The insurgents and the Virginian provincial forces on the other hand suffered comparably higher casualties, the former due to bearing the brunt of the fighting in the initial stages and the latter when reinforcements arrived at Pendragon and launched the counterattacks that broke their back.

"Civilian deaths are still being tallied," Kallen continued, "but estimates are in the high thousands. The forces fighting didn't exactly target civilians, but with such a densely populated urban environment and with how the battle started with basically no warning, well…"

Milly simply nodded at that. She had firsthand experience with what those combination of conditions could result in. The Battle of Tokyo had also seen several thousand civilians injured and killed, both Britannians and Japanese. And it had woken up the Britannian half of the populace that they could no longer hide behind the safety of the Concession barriers, that they needed to learn how to share their world with the Japanese people. That process of sharing and integration was not without significant friction, but the two peoples were learning to live and work together on more equitable footing. Milly wondered what lessons the people of Pendragon would draw from the events of the past few days. And whether the price was worth it.

When their helicopter arrived at the palace the guards waiting for them were of various colors. Milly again gave her former junior a questioning look. Kallen again grimaced slightly.

"The remaining royal guards have all been reorganized into a single command under General Arseid," she explained. "They, along with elements of Fenrir Regiment, have taken on responsibility for defense of the palace."

Milly's eyes flickered in understanding. As they passed the soldiers on duty she nodded respectfully to every single one of them. What it must have felt, the sense of shame and failure, to have their lieges die while they were helpless to do anything. Milly would not belittle their dedication, nor their desire to find some meaning in their continued service to the last remaining imperial scion. She could taste the sorrow they felt after all, and its bitterness was not something that should be suffered alone. Never alone.

The two proceeded down the opulent halls of the palace and Milly noted the seeming lack of damage to the structure. Exactly details on what happened during the Battle of Pendragon was still sketchy though it was known that the fighting had reached the palace proper. Obviously the government was not going to ensconce Euphemia in any section that had actually seen fighting. As they approached the chamber set aside for the princess muffled shouts could be heard. Milly frowned and looked worriedly at Kallen but even though the knight grimaced she did not pick up her pace. Obviously Kallen was hearing loud and clear what all the shouting was about and even though she was unhappy there was no danger in them.

When they arrived the door suddenly flung open and a woman in Euphemia's own colors hurriedly backed out.

"-GET OUT!"

That was the only snippet Milly could make out before the doors closed once more. The look she gave Kallen now was something entirely different. Kallen sighed.

"Her highness, has _not_ been handling her distress well," Kallen stated frankly.

That was very much an understatement. Milly knew that Euphemia could be stubborn, willful, and capable of a cold fury that would frighten even hardened terrorists based on what Nunnally related about the Lake Kawaguchi incident. She was however not someone whom lost her composure easily, not even when her own life was on the line. And certainly not to such an extent that she would be short with those whose lives were dedicated to her own.

"You want me to talk to Euphie when she's in _that_ state?" Milly said somewhat incredulously. "What she needs isn't one more person trying to talk her out of her depression, she needs time to work it out herself!"

"Milly."

The flatness of Kallen's tone cut the older girl off. She regarded the knight, warry of what Kallen would say next.

"Euphemia tried to kill herself yesterday."

All air seemed to escape Milly's lungs as all she managed was a wheezing sound.

"She nearly managed to jump from the roof. Laura got to her in time, but Euphemia still ended up with a sprained wrist. And the reason she's in _this_ room instead of another one is because there are actually security cameras monitoring it, because, as you can see, Euphemia is refusing to allow literally anyone from remaining at her side, not even someone from her own guard." Kallen's expression darkened. "Those of us that are left that is."

"Gods Kallen," Milly said with a deep sigh. "Alright. I'll try. I can't make any promises, but I'll try."

"That's all we're asking," Kallen said.

The blond haired armswoman that had just been ejected from the bedroom gave Milly a grateful nod as the younger woman stepped before the door. Taking a deep breath Milly reached out and turned the handle. No screams or shouts sounded when she pushed the door open, much to Milly's relief. And worry. She glanced over at Kallen whom simply nodded. Trusting that the cameras would have alerted her armsmen if Euphemia was trying something dangerous Milly nodded in return and stepped through.

The door clicked shut behind her as she walked deeper into the suite. It was a very comfortable set of rooms, a large sitting area and an office and bedroom branching off. Seeing as no one was actually inside the office Milly proceeded into the bedroom and found a large bump poking out on the bed. It stirred slightly, a clear enough indication that it really was the princess and not just some pillows stuffed together to fool someone. Milly took a seat by the bedside and simply waited. Euphemia needed to decide herself to reach out, no one could force her to accept any sort of intervention. After a few minutes the princess stirred again.

"Go away."

Milly smiled sadly. "I'm sorry Euphie, but I can't do that."

The bump under the sheets shifted again and a tuff of pink hair poked out. When Euphemia's head turned about to regard Milly a pair of vacant, almost hollow eyes met the older girl's own. It was not just the princess' gaze that expressed the depths that she had fallen, there was a shallow paleness to her cheeks as well. Her entire face was an ashen mask, devoid of the color and life Milly recalled shining so brightly from the young woman.

After a long stretch wherein the two simply stared at each other wordlessly Euphemia retreated back under the sheets, curling up and turning away from Milly. The older girl frowned slightly. This was in some ways both better and worse than what she had feared. Euphemia was not screaming at her, actively pushing her away. No, the princess was actively running away. Milly could try to make an approach, but if she pressed too hard Euphemia would revert to the pushing. Just as she was trying to decide what to do a low rumble sounded. Milly allowed herself a slight smile.

"Glad I'm not the only one that's a bit hungry."

Her appetite had been just a bit lacking to actually enjoy the food onboard the royal jet that had brought her over. Reaching over to the nightstand Milly hit the intercom. The response was immediate.

"Yes your highness?"

"It's me, Milly Ashford," the girl responded. "Could I please get two dinners up here?"

"Of course Lady Ashford."

That done Milly settled back to wait. If she could get Euphemia to eat something that would be progress enough in her book. The others might be in a rush to get the princess back on her feet, and onto the throne, but for Euphemia's own sake the girl needed to be allowed to set her own pace.

* * *

Augustus rubbed his eyes. He had only gotten about three or so hours of sleep but was already up. There was simply too much to be done and not enough people to see to them. He had another meeting in half an hour that he needed to prepare for and despite the superb breakfast put together by the palace's staff the duke barely tasted it as he went over the reports and updates that had built up in those scant three hours. Some of it was good, the aftershocks all seem to have ended. Others not so much, there remained considerable numbers of people being pulled out of rubble needing food and shelter. Winter was still in effect throughout much of North America and even if the southern provinces faced milder temperatures that still left a significant number of people exposed to some fairly harsh elements.

The military was doing a remarkably bang up job responding, even with the defense net still fragmented. It would take a while longer to restore the downed microwave repeaters but in the meantime they were making use of various command and control aircraft as a stopgap. Not even the larger AWACs could provide the sheer bandwidth of the microwave network, but it was enough to get orders and updates through.

A knock sounded, causing Augustus to look up. "Enter."

The man that did so was one of the surviving ministerial staffers, though not one from the Exchequer.

"Your grace, apologies for interrupting your breakfast, but a matter has arisen that requires your attention."

"When doesn't something arise," Augustus said dryly as he set aside his fork. "Out with it then."

"Yes your grace. Approximately ten minutes ago we received request for landing clearance by a plane claiming to bear Mr. Harold Caccia, the British foreign minister. The message claims that Mr. Caccia is here with a diplomatic message for the government."

Augustus raised an eyebrow. "Has clearance been provided yet?"

"No your grace, Field Marshal Vander thought it best to await your acquiesce before issuing any such permission."

"Consider it given," Augustus said. "Have Mr. Caccia brought to the western waiting room."

The man bowed. "Yes your grace."

Once the doors closed Augustus glanced back at his half-eaten meal. It would still take some time for the British foreign minister to actually land and then be brought to the palace. He probably had time to finish breakfast. Something told him he would need the nourishment for the coming day. Twenty minutes later Augustus was seated in the opulently appointed waiting room. He had timed it well, the door opened to reveal the bald figure.

Before his appointment as foreign minister, literally on the eve of the outbreak of hostilities, Harold Caccia had been the British ambassador to Britannia. During his tenure Harold had sought to strengthen Anglo-Britannian relations, emphasizing the two nations' shared cultural heritage and forging closer commercial relations. Many suspected that Great Britain's stance was rooted in the Conservative Party's fondness for the glories of the past United Kingdom, as well as a desire to increase its standing and perhaps finally break out from under the dominance of the mainland European powers.

All this of course was for naught when the European Union and Chinese Federation commenced hostilities against Britannia and Great Britain, as a member of the EU, was obliged to join its nominal allies in declaring war. Considering the extent of British investment in Britannia relative to that of the other European powers, Great Britain's reluctance to declare hostilities on its cultural brethren was well understandable. That reluctance however did not spare Great Britain in the reaction by the Britannian public and government as its assets were seized and expropriated alongside that owned by Chinese and other European interests. No doubt Harold was here to try to arrange for a cessation of hostilities and just possibly the return of those assets to their original, or at least British, owners.

"Mr. Caccia," Augustus greeted respectfully.

"Duke Velaines," Harold responded in kind. "Thank you for taking the time to see me, I know that there are many demands upon you presently."

That was probably as tactful as anyone could ever put the situation and Augustus nodded in recognition of it. He would extend that much courtesy to the minister, especially considering Harold had deigned to come personally to deliver his message. That took a fair amount of daring, something politicians and civil servants were not usually known for.

"I have no intention of wasting your time, your grace," Harold, "so allow me to get to the point. Two days ago the Holy Britannian Empire suffered from a cataclysm beyond imagination. Our two peoples share a common lineage, and we your cousins across the pond grieve with you at the deaths that have been wrought. Amidst this tragedy however we feel that there is an opportunity to prevent further suffering, an opportunity to end the war."

It was with some effort that Augustus kept his expression neutral and not betray the flicker of anger he felt. While his niece's confidantes were keeping the details under wraps until Euphemia could compose herself and decide for herself with whom to share them, they had revealed enough for him to know that the Europeans, or at least the French, were partially responsible for the affairs that had plunged the Empire into such upheaval. The gall to then arrive with an offer of peace. And the worst part was, Britannia might even have to accept it. The damage done to her industries, never mind her populace, was extensive. True the Midwest and western regions remained effectively unscathed, but the east coast represented some of the most developed regions of the Empire.

"And the, terms, for the cessation of hostilities?" Augustus asked evenly.

The minister's expression remained appropriately solemn. "I shall be blunt, your grace, Britannia will likely find it a bitter pill. If the Empire is willing to concede the Middle East and the Indonesian Archipelago, and withdraw its support for the insurgency taking place in India, the British government believes that an arrangement could be reached which would see peace restored."

That elicited a raised eyebrow from the duke. The British minister was right, that would be an extremely bitter pill for the Empire to swallow. Granted Britannia had been ejected from the Middle East, but the Indonesian campaign was far from settled, not with the Chinese Federation having such difficulty managing the logistics to keep their troops fighting across the chain of islands. For that matter the extent of their penetration was the island of Sumatra, the Chinese finding it extremely difficult to attempt landings on any of the other islands with the Britannian Navy dominating the high seas. And as for India, it was turning out to be a very handy sideshow for the Britannian military, the insurgents there tying down a massive number of Chinese soldiers with only a token investment of manpower and resources from the Empire itself.

"You are right, minister," Augustus gave voice to his thoughts. "Britannia would find that hard to swallow. We as a people are used to the rigors of conflict, and many would argue strongly for us to continue the war, to wrest back fully what was taken from us. Such parties would be ill prepared to accept the loss of the Middle East, much less territories which have yet to be wrested from us militarily."

"I understand," Harold said. "And I also understand that pleas to avert future tragedies may well go unheeded by such persons. Which is why I come with other potential, inducements."

Augustus regarded the other man for a few moments, waiting for him to continue. When the minister did not the duke allowed a slight growl to sound.

"If that is so then out with it," Augustus said rather curtly.

Harold nodded, acknowledging the justified impatience. "My government has come into possession of intelligence, intelligence that potentially implicates members of the imperial family with the tragedy that has just struck Britannia. Were such intelligence to be released, we feel that the Empire would face considerably greater turmoil than what it is already suffering."

A minute passed in silence as Augustus absorbed his visitor's words. And then he exploded at the man.

"What the HEL are you talking about!? Why the Hel would my own family contrive to level the entire east coast!? And even setting that aside, why the Hel would they allow themselves to be killed in the process!?"

Harold bore the outburst with remarkable stoicism. "The intent, your grace, was nothing of the sort. The consequences of their actions however is just that, a significant portion of the Empire in ruins and countless subjects dead."

"And whom the fuck tried to feed this pack of lies to your government?" Augustus shouted. "And whom are the idiots within your government that actually bought into it!?"

"The source is one that we have every reason to be accurate," Harold insisted. "I am of course not able to divulge it. As for whom considers the intelligence credible, I am here because I happen to do so."

Augustus glared at the British minister, fighting the urge to wring the man's neck or even snap it outright. It could hardly have made relations worse between their respective nations. But he restrained himself, not least because Britannia could not yet commit to an irrevocable path like that. Not yet.

"Your message has been delivered, Mr. Caccia," Augustus said firmly. "It will be considered."

Harold nodded and refrained from trying to get in any last remarks or subtle threats. The man was an experienced diplomat after all and likely knew better than to press the other side too much. As the minister was escorted out Augustus took several deep breaths to compose himself. It would not have taken much for him to lose all restraint and actually try to murder the British minister. And in retrospect that would have been an extremely foolhardy thing to do. Still the gall of the man, to suggest that his nieces had some role in the catastrophe that swept across the east coast. Ludicrous. For one both, loved, their family too much to commit that sort of fratricide. For another, the degree of ruthlessness that was implied, Augustus simply could not see it in either of his nieces. Pragmatism, yes, but not ruthlessness. He grimaced. Not then. But now, if Euphemia did recover, she would be a changed woman. And after such a horrific loss, she would have so much less to hold her back from that level of ruthlessness.

Augustus took another series of deep breaths. He needed to be there for her, perhaps even more than he needed to see through all of the work that continued to pile up. Euphemia was the future of the Empire, she was the only royal left and her posture would dictate the direction Britannia would follow for an entire generation. The duke fervently prayed that it would not be a dark path they would tread.

* * *

C.C. slowly rose out of the bed, wincing as the bandages rubbed against her raw skin. The failsafe that had destroyed hers and Lelouch's code had not done so gently. In fact her left arm and leg still felt a bit numb. It was better than the immediate aftermath, where she could barely rise and C.C. expected that she would eventually regain full sensation. Still, it had hurt.

A nurse walked over to her bedside. "Lady Clermont. Do you need anything?"

"A hearty shot o' whiskey art not to be availed?" C.C. said with a slight smirk.

"If you insist," the nurse said, surprising the girl. "Though I would recommend putting some food down first before indulging in drink."

"Drink be a physic I am granted?"

"Whiskey, no, but a glass of wine would be permissible," the nurse responded.

C.C. chuckled. "Then lay on, and with as fine vittles as the palace may serve!"

"I shall see a meal readied," the nurse said before retreating.

As she left the ward Kallen entered, the red haired girl looking as hale as ever.

"Hey. Feeling better?" she asked at C.C.'s side.

The other girl nodded. "Aye. The servants abound this palace knoweth hearken well mine many wishes."

Kallen made a slight face. "Just don't go crazy with your requests. And shouldn't you be able to talk normally now with the failsafe gone?"

"Oh fie," C.C. said, sticking out her tongue. "Alas habits once gained take trice as long to lose."

"Well you better not take thirty years to grow out of it," Kallen said. "But still, with the failsafe gone, you should be able to answer some questions, no?"

"Tis so," C.C. conceded.

"Alright then, can you tell me exactly how you got stuck with the failsafe in the first place?"

C.C.'s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, though not at Kallen. "Hereupon Lelouch and mine fleeing to Europe, we dwelled out of sight in France. A year thenceforth, I plighted a troth with him, and set to discover to him the matter of code and geass, wherefore we set out for London, and the thought elevator therein. Lelouch revealed promise and wisdom in his geass, its sum and limits. I thought him to be the one, whom would life mine malison of the code. Alas upon setting afoot within the thought elevator I was met by a rapscallion."

Kallen tilted her head. "You mean a Lelouch from the future?"

"Aye, so tis seemed." C.C. shrugged. "This Rai does collogue, but sooth and confidence art not the same."

"Fair enough. But this Lelouch was the one that put the binding on you?"

A nod. "Indeed."

"Did he say anything?" Kallen asked. "Provide any sort of explanation for what he was doing?"

C.C. adopted a thoughtful expression. "In a manner. An apology, and a warning. That the code wouldst set alight this world if mixed with _his_ blood."

"Well that nearly did happen," Kallen said darkly. And then frowned. "When we were fighting Lelouch, his hair was somehow bleached, and his eyes. They turned red. What was that about?"

"The line of Britannia and Lamperouge are of times long agone," C.C. said. "There, was, power in their blood. Mayhaps from those whom wrought the code."

"The geass civilization that built the thought elevators?" Kallen said. "They were supposedly wiped out, no?"

"Their numbers decimated, that is ascertain," C.C. agreed. "Yet those whom bear geass and code and retain thy selves art surely of some common lineage?"

"Huh. Wait, are you suggesting that both of us might also be descended from these, precursors?"

"Time hast thinned their blood, yet happenstance has seen more of their kin regain their legacy."

Kallen considered those words. If the descendants of the geass civilization really were becoming more numerous, that portended less than pleasant possibilities.

"C.C. Your code. Where did it originate from? Was it passed down from bearer to bearer? Or did it emerge on its own?"

The girl cocked her head aside. "Mine was an, heirloom, from a long line of bearers. Most whom were so cursed were consumed in the end. A fate I vowed not to share."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "And how exactly were you going to, avoid, that fate?"

C.C. regarded Kallen. "Why, by finding one whose lambent could pierce the veil of the code's shade."

"I know you can explain that more clearly," Kallen persisted.

C.C. chuckled. "If thou so desireth, then verily well." And her eyes hardened. "I sought one whom could shoulder the weight of the code, to bear it without the loss of their soul."

Kallen grimaced as her suspicions were confirmed. "You were looking for someone to pass the code onto."

"Tis not what I hast just declared?"

"Just making sure." Kallen plopped down on the chair. "And you seriously thought Lelouch or I would have been up to it?"

C.C. reached out and gave Kallen a poke on the cheek. The red haired girl regarded her companion quizzically.

"What?"

"Thou art hale in both spirit and flesh. What means doust thee think thy fortune was blessed?"

"Umm, I don't know?" Kallen said frankly. "I just, kind of forced himself to stand in the thought elevator, and before I knew it all of my wounds were gone."

"Though hast mastered thyself," C.C. stated. "The first step to mastering the world."

Kallen looked at her own hand. She could not see or feel any difference, but C.C. seemed convinced that something had changed. And maybe it had. Considering what Rai said about code bearers being able to reshape the world, her being able to restore her body did seem in that vein. She looked back over at C.C.

"So there is no other way to ditch a code besides handing it off to someone else?"

"Naught that I was learned," C.C. said. "Albeit…"

"There was that failsafe that was attached to you," Kallen said with a nod. "Yeah. Well, I suppose if I'm desperate that's one way to go. But personally I'm going to do my best to make sure I _don't_ end up with a fully developed code. Immortality is overrated."

"Quite," C.C. agreed with feeling.

The two exchanged sympathetic smiles at that bit.

"Anyway, you just focus on getting better," Kallen said. "And working on relearning proper English."

C.C. let out a bark of laughter at that. "There be naught wrong with _mine_ speech, Kallen."

"I think majority rules apply here," was Kallen's parting response.

* * *

Monica hissed slightly as she was helped into the wheelchair. She had just gotten out of the damned thing for the thought elevator op and now she was going to be in it for another month at least. That inconvenience was however a mere afterthought compared to the raw lingering impression in her mind of being so thoroughly violated that she would never be clean. The princess' knight, Kallen, had explained to Monica just what the thing was that was playing her like a puppet. And about the possibility that there was still another one of those things running around in Suzaku's body. A chill ran down Monica's spine at the mere thought, one rooted in genuine fear. She never wanted to experience such helplessness again. Death would be preferable.

"Your grace."

Monica looked up to see a lanky silver-haired youth standing in the doorway of her ward.

"Captain Koller, was it?" Monica said. She waved away her assistants. "What do I owe the pleasure of your visit to?"

Rai flashed a wry smirk. "Just making sure you are on the road to recovery." He stood aside to let the others out. "Believe it or not your grace, you will have a very important role to play in the coming days."

"Because I command Loki Regiment, which is currently sitting on the Directorate to make sure they don't do anything stupid, I presume?" Monica said dryly.

Rai walked over and knelt down so he was level with Monica's eyes. "Your grace, it should be quite obvious now that I too possess an artificial code. Unlike yours however it is hardened to prevent a Krell from using it as a means to hijack my mind. This feat was achieved using research that was salvaged from the Directorate and then continued under the auspicious of the Knight of Twelve in my own timeline."

Monica blinked. She had followed most of what Rai had said including the bit about the alien, thing. That last bit though.

"Wait, back up. Timeline?"

Rai cocked his head aside. "The Lady Stadtfeld did not tell you?"

"She told me that you possessed an artificial code and had extensive information about the, thing, that tried to kill us all. She didn't say where you got either though."

"I see." Rai straightened and settled into one of the chairs in the room. "Well, you already surmised some of this in the thought elevator when I mentioned my orders were from the lord inquisitor of the Ordo Chronos."

Monica's eyes narrowed slightly. "I suppose I did. And I also suppose that you can't tell me whom that lord inquisitor is."

"I am afraid not," Rai confirmed with a slight smile. "But I hope that I will be able to answer some of your other questions, enough, for you to trust the veracity of my warnings."

Monica snorted. "Oh, I already _trust_ your warnings about that, thing. But, you said your artificial code was hardened. Would it be possible to do the same to mine?"

Rai pursed his lips. "In truth, it would be safer to simply remove it outright. The neurological sciences are not sufficiently advanced to create an artificial code like mine, yet."

The knight scratched her head. "Well, could be worse. I'm assuming you can do it while still leaving the rest of my cybernetics intact."

To that Rai actually looked aside for a moment, as if thinking on the matter. "Yes, it should be feasible."

An eyebrow rose. "Why the hesitation?"

"I had to consult with NEMO," Rai said.

The eyebrow stayed up. "NEMO?"

"Ah, I see the Lady Stadtfeld did not explain that bit to you either," Rai said.

"No, no she did not." Monica leaned back into her wheelchair. "You know, you're being surprisingly chatty now that we're out of the thought elevator. What changed?"

"Simply a matter of expediency," Rai said. "There was simply no time to provide you with all of the background information to bring you around considering the immediacy of the threat. Now that we are, at least for the time being, safe, I am open to discussing at length the relevant issues with you."

"Well, that's downright gentlemanly of you," Monica said with a chuckle. "And I do have a lot of questions."

"Then ask away, your grace," Rai said. "I shall try my best to satisfy your curiosity."

* * *

Euphemia had deigned to actually eat a bit of the dinner brought to her. Milly on the other hand had wolfed down her own portion without reservation. It really was delicious, and under normal circumstances she would have savored the meal. The princess had however curled up back under the sheets after a few bites and was still lying there. Milly spent the next few hours seated at Euphemia's side, reading a book she had brought up. It was now almost 22:00 and Milly was getting just a tad sleepy. Euphemia was still mostly unresponsive however and while she could come back in the morning the Ashford daughter settled on another tact. She reached for the phone and made another call.

"Yes Lady Ashford?"

The servants were already asking for her instead of Euphemia. They were quick on the uptake here.

"Could a change of clothes be brought up? I intend to stay the night here with Euphemia."

"Of course milady."

Milly did not exactly time the wait but she would have been amazed if even a mere five minutes elapsed before a maid entered and laid out a set of clothes for her. After thanking the woman Milly headed into the large bathroom and took a quick shower. As the warm water ran down her body she let the stresses of the past few days slowly bleed out. In some ways she was already calmer than she had been when she first arrived, but in others she was also tired. More like exhausted. It had been a rollercoaster of emotions, first at losing Nunnally like that and then finding out Euphemia was the only one left of her family. She was most definitely _not_ over the loss of her sister, certainly not enough to be the bedrock that Euphemia needed at a time like this. But in their shared sorrow, perhaps they could help support each other. To cry with each other. And just maybe get each other back on their feet.

Drying herself off Milly slipped into a very comfortable set of nightwear. The very best for the palace's guests apparently. She then proceeded to climb into bed with Euphemia, making sure to give the other girl enough space but also making sure she would not end up rolling off in the middle of the night. The princess shifted, aware of Milly's motions but still not overtly reacting behind actually giving way a bit. Milly gave the girl a slight smile before turning off the light and laying down.

She stared at the ceiling, idly wondering just what the future would bring. The Empire was still at war in the midst of the greatest humanitarian disasters it had ever faced. People across Britannia were desperately trying to save all those innocents caught in a calamity none of them had any part in creating. And here she was, trying to cheer up one young woman whom seemed to have lost all hope. That seemed to be so insignificant a thing, yet Milly knew that if Euphemia could regain her previous vigor, she would throw all of her considerable energy and intellect into seeing all those people's needs were met. She was a Princess of the Realm, Heir Quartus, and soon to be Empress of the Holy Britannian Empire. No one was better suited to those roles than Euphemia, once her shattered heart was pieced together once more.

A warmth snuggled up to Milly and the girl looked down to see Euphemia having rolled over against her. She smiled and stroked the princess' head affectionately. Euphemia pressed closer, and even took hold of Milly.

"I don't want to do this anymore," a whisper sounded.

Milly's hand stopped for a brief moment. "Do what?"

"This," Euphemia said again softly. "The politics. The maneuvering. All of it."

The Ashford girl pulled Euphemia more tightly to her. "You're tired of it all."

"There's no point," Euphemia muttered. "I did it all for my family. But they're all gone. There's no point."

Milly frowned. Her hand reached down and slowly raised Euphemia's face by the chin, forcing the younger girl to meet her gaze.

"How many people in Japan have found hope because of your actions as viceroy, Euphie?"

The princess' eyes remained flat and blank. Milly did not give up.

"How many people whose lives have been bettered because of you, Euphie?"

Euphemia blinked, the barest hint of light in her eyes.

"There is a point, Euphie," Milly assured the other girl. "Everything you've done, everything that you will do. Deep in your heart, you do them because you know them to be the right things _to_ do. So don't ever say there's no point."

Euphemia's head lowered and Milly did not try to stop her. The princess's arms remained tightly wound around the other girl.

"You're wrong Milly," Euphemia said softly. "I did all that, not for the people. Not for the Japanese, or for the Britannians. I just wanted my family whole and safe. That's all I ever cared about. I'm a horrible, horrible person. But it's true, that's all I cared about."

Milly frowned again, caressing Euphemia through her hair. She was definitely being too harsh on herself, but a part of Milly could understand why. As princess Euphemia had needed to make compromises, hard decisions, weighing the relative tradeoffs of every decision she made as a royal. That her overriding priority might have been the welfare of her family, not that of her subjects. That was not a pleasant possibility, especially considering the amount of authority Euphemia wielded even as a mere princess or viceroy. As empress. But without that family, what would drive Euphemia then? Would she become a better, or worse, sovereign because of her loss. Milly's own grip tightened.

"Listen to me Euphie," she said softly but firmly. "You loved your family. You loved them with all your heart. And they loved you right back. There is no _way_ you could be a horrible person because of that, you hear me? No way."

Euphemia made no response but Milly could see even in the absence of light a slight glimmer as tears streaked down the girl's cheeks. She planted a gentle kiss on her forehead and cradled the princess in her arms. Euphemia had lost her family, and whether she would ever recover would depend on her being able to build a new one, of that Milly was now certain. And if she could help play some role in bringing that family about, Milly would do so wholeheartedly and without reservation. For the sake of one whom she considered a sister. And the memory of another.

End of Chapter 93

You know what's great? Sleep. Sleep is great. After months of messed up sleep cycles I'm finally getting closer to one that sees me wake up at reasonable times in the day. And all it takes is me not trying to dump out thousands of words a week in chapter updates. Well, I suppose that's great for me, less so for all of you guys.

The problem with having so many characters in a single scene is I sometimes lose track of them. The big battle against the Krell in the previous chapter, I literally forgot to give Laura Arseid a visible part in it. By the time I even realized I had already uploaded. Ah well, I'll fix it in my master draft. Laura's obviously alive seeing as she put in an appearance this chapter, but she's not doing so well either emotionally. Things have really gone to hell for a lot of people.

Hmm, Britannian nurses are no longer considered unflappable? A shame.

As is obvious, C.C. is not dead. Her code is destroyed, but she's still kicking. Oh and uh, Kallen kind of picked up a direct link to C's World during that battle. Which given another kick could develop into a code in its own right. The Directorate's artificial codes can't create geasses and outside of a thought elevator's interior they also can't reshape reality either. Then there is the fact that Euphemia's geass is still functioning, somehow. That bit of the story is far from over.

Hmm. Rai referred to his Kallen as 'mum' when he was delirious and wounded before he got sent back with C.C. to this timeline. He then referred to this Kallen as 'mum' but corrected his pronunciation to 'ma'am' after Kallen looked at him funny. He never actually directly addressed his timeline's Lelouch in any manner. And his last name is Koller, so.

We're only about 70-80% of the way through the story (yes, really). As such I would recommend waiting until the story actually ends before declaring whether the ending is a happy one or not. I also do not write stories that provide quick satisfaction. The desire to achieve instant gratification is how we end up with so many stories that are incoherent messes and completely unrealistic in development on this site. If I set out to write something, readers need to be patient in order to get to the payoff. The satisfaction that any of you ultimately derive is due to the long build up. Anything less would fail to achieve the same effect.

The estates that were confiscated during Washington's Rebellion were handed over to loyalists. And Britannia already made a point by turning Philadelphia into Pendragon and turning a large zone around it into a sort of exclusive domain of the crown. In fact one of the additional titles that the emperor (or empress) holds is Archduke (or Archduchess) of Pendragon, which includes a nice chunk of Pennsylvania as well. They also have a lot of other titles, but listening all of them here would take a while and ruin a few surprises down the line.

There was no civil war, so that issue never really came up. There were a couple of Virginian nobles that helped orchestrate the war against Spanish Mexico, but since that ultimately ended up being a net gain for the empire beyond stripping those nobles of their titles and handing them to people whom served with distinction in the conflict there really wasn't much of a need to make more of a point. Besides, most of the fighting took place further out west so it was not like Britannia was going to haul all those bodies back. To sum up, yes Britannia could have also set up Arlington as well. The strength of the argument of them doing so was not so strong that I felt need to bother, it really could have gone one way or another.

The 'bioweapon' mentioned in the history snippets (remember, they were written potentially decades if not hundreds of years in the future) is the official explanation for what happened to the Britannian imperial family. All of you know that it was the die command that the Krell possessed Lelouch issued that really did the killing. Right?


	95. Chapter 94

_The immediate aftermath of the Battle of Pendragon was utter chaos for Britannia. With the death of seemingly every single member of the extended Britannian imperial family there was immense fears for the continued stability of the Empire. This was a scenario that had never been envisioned as even if the core family was killed the assumption was always that an acceptable relation from one of the branch families could have been found to take the throne. Combined with the decimation of the House of Lords due to many also having some familial relationship to the Britannias and there was genuine fear that the Empire might fracture whilst in the middle of a major war._

 _And then a summons was issued from Pendragon, delivered to many of the surviving peers and high ranking civilian officials and military officers. It set a date and time wherein those summoned were to report to the imperial palace and attend to the court. The name that undersigned the summons was Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Realm, Heir Quartus. On the darkest day the Empire had ever faced, the light of hope was cast._

 _-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I_

Chapter 94

Cedere nescio

Kallen and Rai had not originally been invited to this meeting, an oversight that was entirely understandable on the part of the Duke Velaines. He had after all invited Villetta, and made the assumption that anything the two knew was also known by their nominal superior. As it turned out Villetta did know quite a bit, but the general quickly determined that it would still be useful to have the two junior knights sit in in the likelihood they had additional insights to share about the matter at hand. Specifically, the non-to-subtle threat conveyed by the British foreign minister.

"It has to be Suzaku."

All attending regarded Rai.

"He managed to escape the New York thought elevator by translocating to the London one."

Augustus' eyebrow rose. "Translocation? Are you suggesting he was somehow transported across the Atlantic and wound up in London?"

"Exactly so your grace," the captain responded.

The duke looked at the others in confusion. "Just what the blazes are these thought elevators?"

"Artifacts from a bygone time," Monica said, shifting uncomfortably in her wheelchair, "which possess technology that our researchers are still working to unlock."

"You know," the duke said somewhat frostily. "Greater awareness of what the thought elevators were capable of could have helped us plan better contingencies."

"Your grace, to be perfectly frank _none_ of us knew the thought elevators could be destroyed, much less their destruction would result in devastation of such magnitude," Monica responded. "Had we, I assure you we would have had far more extensive security measures in place and the SDECE operatives would have never managed to breach one's perimeter in the first place."

The duke was not mollified in the least but decided not to press the issue.

"So, how much does this, Suzaku, know about the thought elevators?" he asked instead.

"Almost certainly enough to repeat the destruction of any of the other thought elevators," Rai took that one.

Alarm flickered across Augustus' expression as he regarded the others.

"I have already spoken with Marshal Vander," Villetta assured the man quickly. "Security at all of the remaining thought elevators have been boosted substantially." And glanced over at Monica. "Including the one in Antarctica."

To that Monica also nodded. Augustus did not look quite relieved but again the duke accepted the response.

"Your grace."

And looked over at the youngest attendee.

"If you do not mind me asking, what will the government's response to the British offer be?" Kallen asked.

It was somewhat presumptuous of her to ask such a question, but at this point Kallen was not just any mere knight. She was the knight of honor to the Princess Euphemia, the last surviving imperial scion, and a figure of some renown amongst the people of Japan. That granted her a bit more leeway than just any ordinary knight.

"We do not have one yet," Augustus answered. "At minimum we will need to consult with Euphemia before formulating one."

And before that could happen the princess needed to recover from the massive bout of depression she was suffering from, went the unstated dependency.

"I see," Kallen said, glancing over at Rai.

"If the Empire is to reach an accommodation with the other powers, one of the conditions must be to return Suzaku to Britannian custody," Rai said. "The danger he represents is, considerable."

"To be frank the Europeans would probably be willing to accept that condition," Augustus said. "The problem is some of their other stipulations. The Empire has never conceded territory, and combined with the destruction visited upon the east coast the general population may not be in any mood for making concessions."

"Even at the risk of further suffering?" Kallen asked quizzically.

The duke regarded her. "Your own people were subjected to considerable misery at the hands of Britannia. And yet they, and you, did not stop fighting."

Kallen regarded the duke carefully. Apparently he was one of those that had been let in on her secret. Did he also know her role in Clovis' death? Better safe than sorry.

"Your point is taken, your grace," Kallen said respectfully. She glanced over at Rai again. "Would Britannia be able to actually win this war though, with its reduced resources?"

The duke followed her gaze, a hint of curiosity in his expression that the question was being addressed to the captain and not him. Rai gave Kallen a flat expression but at least answered.

"Yes," he stated firmly. "The damage suffered by Britannia is considerable, but in terms of the total sum of its resources, the balance of industrial power is still in favor of the Empire. Not to mention the advantages offered it by Eighth Fleet."

"So we can win this war," Kallen remarked.

"At a cost, yes," Rai cautioned.

The room fell silent at that last bit. After a few moments Kallen sighed.

"I think that's all we have to share with you, your grace," she addressed the duke. "If there is nothing more, then there are other duties that the captain and I must attend to."

Augustus nodded. "Thank you for your time, all of you."

With that effective dismissal the meeting broke up and each headed their own way, some sharing a destination.

"Lieutenant."

Kallen glanced back at Rai.

"A word."

"Sure. This need to be private?"

"To a degree," Monica said as she rolled up.

Kallen looked at the two before sighing. "Oh. Great. Alright, where to?"

The Knight of Twelve chuckled at the younger girl's reaction. "My office will do just fine."

The two followed Monica down the halls and were soon in a nicely appointed but considerably more practical looking office than half of the rooms in the palace. For one thing it did not have a view of the outside, which meant no windows for an enemy to shoot through. For another, there were several weapons mounted about that Kallen was fairly certain were all fully functional.

"Alright, so what did you two want to talk about?" Kallen asked.

"You," Rai responded. "Or rather your pseudo-code. The one that you awakened inside the thought elevator."

Kallen frowned. "What about it?"

"It makes you vulnerable to possession by the Krell," Rai stated.

That caused the girl to blink. Intellectually she was already aware of this, but with the events of the past few days she had been so busy the fact had not actually surfaced in conscious thought. Now that Rai mentioned it however. Kallen glanced over at Monica.

"Isn't Dame Kruszewski similarly vulnerable with her artificial code?" she asked.

"Oh I won't be much longer," Monica said almost cheerfully. "The good captain here claims my artificial code can be removed without rendering me a vegetable, and quite frankly considering what this stupid thing is putting me at risk of, I'll take my chances."

"Alright," Kallen said with a hint of bemusement, "so what do we do about my pseudo-code then? Is there any way to remove it, maybe with another failsafe like what C.C. got stuck with?"

"Yes and no," Rai responded. "While how to construct such a failsafe is part of NEMO's data cache, current technology is insufficient to actually do so and will likely remain inadequate for at least another century. We do have an alternative."

"One sec," Kallen said, looking between Monica and Rai. "Dame Kruszewski, how much do you know about Captain Koller's circumstances?"

"If you're referring to that time traveling babble, I know all about it," Monica responded. "Not sure how much of it I believe, but the good captain knows way too much about myself and the Directorate than anyone whom wasn't actively involved in all of the dirt we got up to. And seeing as I don't remember ever seeing him before, he got that information somewhere."

That was not exactly a ringing endorsement but at least the Knight of Twelve seemed willing to accept that Rai did know what he was talking about.

"I see," Kallen said, and held her hands open. "Well, I'm all ears about your alternative."

"Previously I mentioned that my artificial code was hardened against intrusion attempts," Rai said. "I also mentioned another line of defense, specifically NEMO herself. We cannot transfer my artificial code to you, but NEMO can be surgically extracted from me and installed into you."

Kallen spent several moments staring blankly at Rai. "I'm sorry, what?"

Rai rubbed the back of his neck. "NEMO is installed at the base of my brain, right where my spine connects. She is a completely compartmentalized module, designed to be pulled out for repair or replacement with relative ease. We can install her within you, which will give you the full benefit of her neural defenses. It'll be almost as good as my hardening, and NEMO actually does possess a similar failsafe. She can destroy a code if certain conditions are met, including if a Krell attempts to seize control of your mind."

Kallen massaged her temples. "So wait, why can't we just have her zap my pseudo-code the moment she's, well, installed? Assuming I agree to that in the first place."

"NEMO can only maintain her own consciousness when interfaced to someone with a code or geass," Rai said. "Asking her to destroy your code is akin to asking her to commit suicide, since the destruction of your code would propagate back into her neural network and effectively reset it."

That caused the Japanese girl to regard Rai with a curious look. "You, do consider NEMO to be a person."

"Of course," Rai responded frankly. "She's been with me since I received my artificial geass when I was 10." And after a beat. "She's kind of like that older sister whom is always trying to get you to do the right thing, but you don't always listen."

That caused Kallen to snort before she shook her head. "Well, when you asked to speak with me I sure as Hel wasn't expecting this."

"To be frank lieutenant, I would not be suggesting this unless there was another way," Rai said, rubbing the back of his neck again. "NEMO is, an old friend. Parting with her will not be easy."

The AI was not just an old friend, Kallen knew. She was effectively the last remnant Rai had of his old life, the time he came from. And as horrid as that world might have become, it was still his home, those people he left behind his family and friends. And he was willing to give NEMO up to make sure Kallen would be safe. Regardless of the fact that she was a bit creeped out about having something stuck into her head, but considering the alternative was getting her mind hijacked. Kallen cocked her head aside as a thought occurred to her.

"Wait, if my pseudo-code makes me vulnerable to compulsion, then why didn't the Krell inside of Suzaku try to take control of me?"

"To be frank that's a very good question," Rai admitted. "And the answer is we don't know. It may well be that the Krell decided that it would not win if it tried to continue fighting us. Alternatively the artificial code that Suzaku has might have limited its abilities in some manner."

Seeing as both possibilities were complete shots in the dark Rai could probably have just left it at, we don't know.

"Alright, so when should we do this?" Kallen asked.

"As soon as possible," Rai said, "but we will probably need to wait until the princess has recovered sufficiently that she is again taking an active role in government."

That elicited a deep sigh from Kallen. "Tall order there, captain. Even with Milly keeping her company, that will take a fair amount of time."

To that Rai adopted a thoughtful expression. "Perhaps, and perhaps not."

Both Kallen and Monica regarded the young man thoughtfully but Rai made no further comment on the matter. He obviously had some sort of plan but apparently did not intend to share it.

"Captain."

Rai looked over at Kallen, meeting her gaze.

"Do keep in mind that it was you that recommended her highness accompany us to the thought elevator," Kallen stated bluntly. "We've thus far taken a lot of your advice on faith, that you are genuinely trying to help protect humanity. But at this point you are at least indirectly responsible for the mess that the princess is in. If I find out that you have been holding back in the least on anything, anything at all, that might have kept her highness' family alive, I _will_ kill you myself. Am I clear, captain?"

Rai regarded Kallen with remarkable sanguinity, seemingly unfazed by the knight's threat. His eyes flickered ever so slightly however and after a moment he unfolded his arms and came to attention.

"That is understood perfectly, your grace," he said.

Both Monica and Kallen tilted their heads aside.

"I'm, sorry?" Kallen said quizzically.

"The Knight of One, Her Grace Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki," Rai said by way of answer. "Known as one of the most dedicated of Her Majesty the Empress Euphemia's knights, steadfastly loyal and of firm conviction. To be honest I had not seen much to suggest you warranting that reputation. But a reputation is something established over time, as you have now reminded me thereof." The young man nodded his head respectfully. "I give you my word, your grace, as one knight of honor to another. I seek whatever is best for Euphemia li Britannia, for her person, not her station."

* * *

"Your government did WHAT!?"

Alphonse Pierre Juin was quite capable of raising his voice. Those whom were subject to that raised voice tended to find the experience unpleasant to say the least. The marshal found nothing wrong with that however. He probably considered it a personal failing if someone turned out to be unmoved. Field Marshal Richard Hull, chief of the British Defence Staff, was most certainly not unmoved even if he tried to appear nonplussed.

"As I said," Richard continued after clearing his throat, "my government has acquired intelligence that presents an opportunity to end this conflict before further lives are lost. As the window is slim, they have dispatched Minister Caccia to directly negotiate with the Britannian government. While such negotiations are underway, we request that the European combined armed forces cease any offensive actions."

It was not just Alphonse that looked at the British field marshal with incredulity, the other members of the European general staff were also gapping at the man, including one General Richard O'Connor.

"And your government determined all of this without attempting to consult, or even share, the intelligence that underpins this presumption?" Erwin said incredulously.

Marshal Hull sniffed somewhat defensively. "As I said this was a time sensitive matter. The fact that I am here to personally brief all of you on the matter should indicate the seriousness with which my government takes in its obligations to keep its allies informed. Obligations that, I should add, some of those same allies seem to be finding difficult to fulfill themselves."

Alphonse bit back the response he should have shouted at the other man. Instead he glanced over at Pytor Ivashutin and the Russian nodded.

"I suggest you get to the point, Field Marshal," the Frenchman said instead, "and present a _very_ convincing case for why we should call off the operation that will launch in six hours against the Britannian Seventh Fleet in Japanese waters."

Richard blinked. "The what?"

It might have been a bit childish on Alphonse's part but he would relish the surprise on the British officer's face.

"The intelligence, Field Marshal," Alphonse persisted.

The British man's jaw tightened but he understood that there was no time for recriminations. And besides, if he did get the French officer to back down that by itself was worth a bit of unpleasantness now.

"The geological event that caused earthquakes to erupt across the entire North American east coast," Richard began. "We have acquired intelligence that indicates the cause was the thought elevator located in New York."

The other men all looked at Richard somewhat blankly, causing the man to clear his throat again.

"The thought elevator, they are archeological remnants of an ancient civilization of which historians know little about," Richard tried explaining. "Apparently they actually act as conduits to sakuradite veins that run under the crust of the Earth. The Britannian government had a program seeking to unlock the thought elevators, to use them as a source of power generation and transmission. The destruction of the New York thought elevator however resulted in a significant injection of energy into the sakuradite network, which fed back into the Earth's crust and caused the earthquakes that have so severely ravaged the North American east coast. The cause of the thought elevator's destruction was a power play within the Britannian imperial family, wherein one of its princes attempted to launch a coup to seize control of the throne. He failed, and the thought elevator's destruction was a final act of vengeance on his part."

The faces that regarded the British field marshal were looking no more enlightened now than they had before. In fact they looked distinctly more incredulous.

"And who exactly sold you this pack of lies?" Alphonse asked. "No, I have a better question. Who the hell are the idiots in your government that decided to actually believe those lies?"

Richard's face flickered with a hint of anger but the British man maintained his stoic composure. "The source, currently in my government's custody, has provided convincing proof of his claims, especially in regard to the purpose of the thought elevators. He has demonstrated actual functionality of the thought elevator's systems and our boffins are working to validate his more, complex, claims even now."

"You will forgive me if I remain skeptical on the whole matter and am unconvinced that there is any chance of a peaceful resolution to the current conflict," Alphonse said bitingly. "In fact considering the turmoil the Britannian government is currently in I would say now is the perfect opportunity to launch a decisive strike to free Japan from the Empire's occupation."

"Were you not listening?" the British field marshal retorted, impatience starting to creep into his own tone. "The one responsible for the Empire's current catastrophe is an imperial prince. Were that to become public knowledge, the ability of the government to retain control over the Empire as a whole would be seriously jeopardized. _That_ is the stick by which we have a chance to get a settlement from Britannia, perhaps even one that achieves our strategic objectives without further loss of life."

Alphonse had been listening and a sinking feeling was starting to well up in his stomach.

"And just which imperial scion committed suicide by stupidity here?" the marshal asked.

"According to our source, and we have a high degree of confidence in the matter, it was the Prince Lelouch. He was the son of the Empress Marianne and reported to have committed suicide after his mother's death. His sister was also reported dead alongside their mother, but she was revealed to have been in hiding in Japan a few weeks back. That should have alerted us to the possibility that her brother might also be alive, though to be honest-"

While Richard continued rambling on the faces on three of the attending officers were growing paler with every passing word. That they did not yet give voice to their growing horror was a fairly good indicator of their respective shock, something that did not go unnoticed by the other members of the general staff. They too soon had apprehension coloring their faces before a loud voice finally exploded.

"You fucking IDIOTS!"

The British field marshal blinked. "I beg your pardon!?"

His own voice sounded more surprised than offended while Alphonse's tone was pure fury.

"Lieutenant Lelouch _Lamperouge_ was a Service Action operative for the Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage," the Frenchman roared. "He was sent to Britannia for the express purpose of fermenting infighting at the imperial court. _He_ was the one that instigated the uprising in Pendragon, just as he did in Tokyo! There wasn't any imperial prince involved, it was _us_ that were responsible for those events!"

Richard's own face was now also rapidly losing its complexion as the field marshal absorbed the implications of what Alphonse was saying.

"This is why you consult with your allies before gambling on our collective fates," Pytor said bitterly.

"Field marshal," the Frenchman said darkly. "You will return to your masters back at Whitehall. You will inform them that I expect to have this, source, of yours transferred to the joint command's custody for interrogation within the next six hours, or else we will proceed with the Pacific operation as planned."

"Bu-but-"

Alphonse rose. "The next I hear from you, field marshal, it had better be to inform me that the transfer is under way. Otherwise I have _nothing_ further to discuss with you."

* * *

Euphemia was at least out of bed now, though the manner in which she spent so much time staring blankly as she sat in the sofas of her room barely qualified as an improvement. She was eating a bit more though, and after a long bath some of the stress from her body seemed to have been washed away. Keeping in mind what Kallen had said, and though she doubted Euphemia was still that depressive, Milly had accompanied the princess while she bathed. Just holding onto the younger girl was enough to tell Milly she was no longer as tense, but Euphemia still had a long way to go.

A knock sounded on the door and Milly looked up from her book. Euphemia however paid it no mind.

"Enter," the Ashford girl answered instead.

The door opened and a young silver haired youth that Milly did not recognize stepped in. While Euphemia might not have deigned to notice the initial knock, the moment she caught sight of him her body tensed up again and a scowl appeared in her face. Milly frowned. The man would not have been allowed in had he been a threat to the princess, but she was clearly unhappy to see him. Now what did that portend.

"Lady Ashford," the young man said with a slight blow. "I am Captain Raibeart Koller, Imperial Britannian Knightmare Corps. I require a few moments with the princess."

The frown deepened and Rai visibly pursed his lips.

"This has been cleared by both General Nu and Lieutenant Stadtfeld."

If that was supposed to convince Milly the young woman was not impressed, not with the way Euphemia was regarding the captain. She was not yelling at him to get out, though whether that was because of her improved composure or something else entirely Milly could not be certain. And then through the open door she caught sight of Kallen standing outside. The red haired girl nodded. Milly's own expression remained unhappy but she stood, gave Euphemia's hand a comforting squeeze, and headed for the door. As she came aside to the captain she paused.

"Tread very carefully, captain. I will be _most_ upset if I find Euphie given cause to be."

Rai nodded solemnly and waited until the door closed behind Milly before stepping over to stand before the princess. Euphemia continued glaring at him, her anger mixed in with resignation. She likely knew why Rai was here, knew it was inevitable. That did not mean she was obliged to accept any of this inevitability. Rai took a deep breath.

"Your majesty."

A cushion bounced off his face. The captain could have easily caught or dodged it, his reflexes were hardly going to be tested by something this mundane. He let it hit anyway. Perhaps that would help the princess work out just a bit of the resentment and pain she was feeling.

"I never wanted the throne," Euphemia hissed. "I never wanted it then and I have no wish for it now. Do _not_ address me as such, Captain Koller."

Rai met that burning gaze unflinchingly. "My mother, she was the imperial chronicler."

That caused some of the anger to shift into puzzlement. Euphemia did not interrupt however, instead waiting for Rai to say his piece.

"She was charged with preserving as much of humanity's history as possible, to make sure that we never forgot our heritage, the achievements of generations past, and ultimately the mistakes that we made every step of the way." Rai smiled sadly. "When I was much younger, she would sit by me and tell me stories about that past. About the different eras of human history, about all the things we had lost in the war. And about the people whom were no longer with us." The captain now regarded Euphemia with a soft, gentle expression. "And she told me about Euphemia I, the 99th Empress of the Holy Britannian Empire."

Still Euphemia remained silent, but her gaze was less angry and now more contemplative. Even a bit sorrowful.

"Euphemia the Just," Rai continued. "That was what you were called. Because you ruled with a firm, but fair, hand. You looked out for your people to the best of your ability. Never showing undue favor, but never slighting one over the other. Your brought them prosperity, and security. And they loved you for it."

The princess seemed unmoved by those words, likely considering them cold comfort to the loss of her family.

"They loved you," Rai repeated, "but they often wondered if you loved them."

Euphemia blinked.

"The Iron Heart of Britannia."

And her expression tightened.

"That was the other appellation history deigned to grant you. Because after the events that led to your ascension, you remained cold and composed. You showed mercy, but not compassion. You demonstrated resolve, but not passion. You bore an heir, but it was out of duty. And you raised a prince, but did you raise a son?"

If Rai had intended to try to cheer the princess the continued darkening of her face made clear he was not succeeding. But the captain was not finished. He took another step closer to the princess and bent down onto one knee.

"All this my mother told me," he said. "And all this, I could not believe when I first laid eyes upon you."

Again Euphemia regarded Rai quizzically. Perhaps even a bit impatiently. Rai smiled again.

"You love, your majesty. No one whom could have met you would ever doubt the depths of your love. That is your greatest strength, the light which burns so brightly in your soul."

Puzzlement turned into surprise as Euphemia held Rai's gaze. There was a softness, a gentleness, to his eyes. A yearning, a hope, and a great sorrow.

"I had often wondered, how could the line of Britannia be capable of such love when history claimed you showed so little of it. How could, she, have shone so bright. And yet I see that the light she bore, she inherited from one whom bears it ever so strongly."

Euphemia stared at Rai, noting the glistening of tears that welled within his eyes. Ever so gingerly, she reached out and placed a hand over Rai's. With great effort Euphemia asked a question.

"Whom do you speak of, captain."

Rai bowed his head, the tears breaking loose and streaking down his cheeks before staining Euphemia's hand.

"The Princess Relena li Britannia, one whose honor I was sworn to. And one whom I proved unworthy of her faith and love." He looked back up at Euphemia. "Your majesty, I beg of you. Please, do not let the light that I know to be within you be hidden from the world. Do not let your sorrow overcome the love that you yearn to share." And bowed his head once more. "Please. Do not consign to darkness the lambent of your heart."

Euphemia remained silent as she regarded the young man. She said nothing, but slowly reached out with her other hand and gently stroked his hair. Her heart still ached. It still throbbed from the gaping hole that had been torn. But her head recalled that she was not the only one mourning. Milly, had lost Nunnally as well. And the countless families across the Empire, they were all crying now. And Rai. She had known that Rai, in coming here, was forsaking everyone and everything he knew. And loved. And yet he still came, still bore the brunt of her anger and frustration. He had called himself unworthy, of the faith and love of his own liege. Euphemia gently raised his face so he would meet her gaze once more.

"Raibeart Koller," she said kindly. More kindly than she could recall her voice being ever since that fateful day in the thought elevator. "It was not you whom brought sorrow into my home. I should not seek to lay blame upon you, or malign you with my anger. I acknowledge that you sought within the best of your abilities, to avert the tragedy that has struck my family. And I thank you for it."

Rai took hold of Euphemia's hand, giving it a tight squeeze. "Whatever your majesty requires, whether means are necessary. I swear that you _will_ have a family restored to your person."

That took Euphemia aback a little. But then she smiled again. Due to his knowledge of history Rai almost certainly knew whom she was supposed to marry, and how many children she would have. But that was not what Rai meant. A husband was not necessarily a lover. An heir was not necessarily a child. And both were not necessarily family. Family. That was what Rai spoke of, of what he was determined she would have once more. Euphemia regarded the young man. The conviction of his words were firm and true. Many a man could not claim even that much. The princess leaned in and gave Rai a light kiss on the forehead. The captain blinked, surprise evident even in his slightly muddled eyes.

"My family will be of my own choosing, Raibeart," Euphemia said firmly, but gently. She smiled. "And they will know my love. Of that, I swear to _you_."

* * *

"This, could be a problem."

The Earl Mountbatten smirked at the understatement of his colleague. "That is certainly one way of regarding it."

Zechs allowed a smirk of his own before his face reverted to a more serious visage. "How were the Russians able to sneak such a large force to Vladivostok without us noticing?"

"Inclement weather has been preventing aerial reconnaissance of the area for quite a few weeks," Curtis Le May, head of the Imperial Britannian Air Force, answered that one. "We should've kept trying though, the Russkies obviously weren't bothered none too much if they got their entire Baltic Fleet through the Arctic Ocean like that."

Zechs nodded. The effective destruction of the Russian Pacific Fleet had left Britannia with effectively uncontested control of the Pacific and the waters around Area 11. The Empire had taken advantage of that by shifting a stupendous amount of manpower and munitions across the ocean, reinforcing their positions in Japan, the Philippines, Australia, and the Indonesian Archipelago. A few more weeks and they would have been in position to kick off offensive operations of their own, to retake the island of Sumatra and genuinely threaten the Malay Peninsula. And with the completion of Sixth Fleet's working up, they could also have begun offensive operations against the Korean Peninsula and perhaps even the Russian Far East. The sudden infusion of Russian naval reinforcements however promised to be quite the wrinkle.

"Numerically we are at effective parity with just Seventh Fleet's local assets," Mountbatten said. "Qualitatively we should still hold a slight edge, but even odds are not the conditions I would want to engage the enemy in."

That was certainly true. Zechs rubbed his chin.

"I'm not sure I like this, but we could dispatch one of-"

The door opened and the assembled men looked up. Eyes widened all about as Euphemia entered, trailed by two of her armsmen. All of the officers present rose.

"Your highness!" Zechs said for all of them.

"Field marshal." Euphemia regarded the others. "General. Air Chief Marshal. Admiral. I hope my intrusion is not inconvenient?"

"Not at all your highness," Zechs said, noting the slight color of Euphemia's cheeks, and the steady resolve of her eyes. "Is there any way in which we might be of service?"

"I know this to be abrupt, but as I have been indisposed the past few days I find myself in need of being brought up to speed on the state of the Empire, in both civil and military terms."

Hints of smiles were creeping upon the faces of the assembled officers and aids, though Curtis was the only one of the flag officers present to actually succumb to openly displaying his building elation. The Princess Euphemia was returned to them.

"It would be our honor, your highness," Zechs said solemnly, stepping aside from his own seat at the head of the table. "Please."

The others also shifted over before Euphemia could say a word, making clear their agreement on where she should be for this meeting. Euphemia graced all of them with a smile of her own as she accepted. Once everyone was settled in the princess turned slightly towards Zechs.

"Now then," Euphemia began. "Might we begin with any domestic facing military matters? Any issues of security that need to be addressed, or difficulties in the humanitarian relief efforts?"

Zechs' eyes actually flickered for a brief moment, a reaction not lost upon the princess. Her own eyes narrowed.

"Field marshal?"

"There is, one matter, that should be resolved with due speed," Zechs said, "due to its proximity to Pendragon."

At that several of the other officers also shifted.

"Ah. And that would be?"

"The Knight of Ten, Sir Luciano Bradley," Harold Keith Johnson, chief of the army staff, answered. "He has remained holed up in his estate and refuses to obey a summons to the capital. A company of his regiment is with him, though the rest have obeyed the order issued by General Enneagram to stand down."

Euphemia raised an eyebrow. "The rest of the Rounds have not already settled this matter?"

"There is a hole in their chain of command," Zechs stated very carefully. "With his majesty, General Waldstein and Admiral Manfredi all deceased, exactly whom still possesses the authority to issue orders to the remaining Rounds has become something of an open question."

Euphemia's eyes flared a bit. "Should not either General Enneagram or General Ernst have sufficient seniority to issue an order to him."

"The, command structure of the Knights of the Round do not work in quite so linear a fashion, your highness," Zechs said. "Each knight is appointed by the sovereign, and is only answerable to his or her liege. Their relative positions to the other Rounds do not allow them to issue orders to each other. Their liege however can appoint them specifically to subordinate positions, as was the case when the Emperor Charles appointed General Waldstein to command Pendragon's defenses. This placed Generals Ernst, Enneagram, and Bradley, and Admiral Manfredi all under General Waldstein's command. He also explicitly appointed Sir Weinberg and Dame Alstreim to serve under General Waldstein."

"And my father did not deign to explicitly lay out a command structure beyond that?" Euphemia said somewhat incredulously.

"It, would appear not," Zechs said.

There it was again, the barest hint of anger in Euphemia's eyes. But the young woman was keeping it in check as she met Zechs' gaze.

"Field marshal. While the formalities have yet to be completed, may I assume that you will accept an order from me?"

Attention was now squarely on Zechs as the man returned Euphemia's gaze. There was no hesitation in the man's response however.

"I recognize you as heir apparent, your highness. I have no reservations in obeying any command you might issue."

And just as quickly the tension completely evaporated from the room. The field marshal's acceptance was unequivocal and unconditional. In so giving it, he was declaring just whom the Britannian military would stand behind. Euphemia acknowledged that pledge with a grateful smile. Her expression assumed a solemn tone as she spoke next.

"I then hereby order Luciano Bradley taken into custody for the crimes of drug and human trafficking."

Tellingly no one seemed particularly surprised at the order, though a few looked at least mildly disgusted at the rationale.

"Should he attempt to resist," Euphemia continued, "any and all means are authorized to put a swift end to his defiance." The princess' eyes hardened. "I will not see the lives of our soldiers spent out of consideration for that of such a venial dog."

Luciano Bradley was, not a very popular figure amongst the Britannian officer corps. In fact he was perhaps one of the most loathed individuals amongst the more progressive and open minded members of high society as well. Little wonder then that despite the venom with which the Princess Euphemia expressed her order none of the officers present showed a shred of reservation. Zechs bowed his head in acknowledgment of the directive.

"Your will be done, your highness."

* * *

"Grandfather!"

Ruben turned about to find himself enveloped by his daughter in a tight embrace. He wrapped his own arms about Milly and returned it.

"You should have let me know when you arrived," the young woman said as she let go.

"I would have, but her highness was insistent that I meet with her immediately," Ruben said with a wry smile.

Milly frowned slightly. "What did Euphie want?"

Ruben stroked his beard thoughtfully. "To try to set things right, as much as she can."

That caused the girl to shake her head. "Some things can't be set right, grandfather, and trying only makes things worse."

"That is certainly true," Ruben said, "and her highness understands this. But those things that can be set right, many people will be helped in doing so."

That Milly found she could not dispute. "And Euphie thinks our family can help with that?"

Ruben nodded and gave his granddaughter an affectionate pat on the head. "I said this before, Milly, and I say it now. You are the future of the Ashford family. I will leave the decision in your hands."

That elicited a weary sigh. "Thanks, grandpa."

The old man chuckled and then gave his beloved granddaughter one more embrace. Once they parted Milly took a deep breath and nodded to the armsman. The soldier politely opened the door for her and Milly crossed the threshold.

Euphemia had moved to a different suite, one with an actual office attached to it. While the princess was slowly working her way through all of her duties, Milly knew the young woman was tiring more quickly than before. Afternoon naps of about an hour or so were now effectively mandatory and for the past few nights Euphemia had slept a full ten hours before waking. When Euphemia caught sight of her the princess smiled warmly but did not rise. That was another difference from how Euphemia presented herself. The doctors that examined her noted a few symptoms of extreme stress but indicated that over time the princess' system should return to a more normal cycle. Milly certainly hoped so, seeing as the demands upon Euphemia were only going to grow.

"Milly. I'm sorry I rushed Ruben here instead of letting the two of you spend some time together."

"It's alright," Milly assured the princess, taking a seat next across from the younger girl. "You're not one to make demands upon others lightly, and I trust your judgment." A snort sounded. "I wouldn't exactly be here otherwise."

"Yes," Euphemia said softly. "And for that, you have my earnest thanks. And my sincerest apologies."

That elicited a raised eyebrow. "There's something you need from me."

Euphemia nodded. "And it is something that will, likely inconvenience you in the extreme."

Milly's mouth thinned. She said nothing, waiting for Euphemia to elucidate.

Euphemia inhaled deeply and let out a long sigh. "There will be, demands upon you. Demands of state. And of lineage."

The older girl blinked. Once. Twice. And then a hiss sounded as Milly Ashford realized fully just what Euphemia was about to ask of her.

* * *

Augustus adjusted the cloak that was draped over his shoulder even as he walked. He was still a few minutes early, but for an event like this that margin was hardly comforting. As he approached the main hall, passing the numerous soldiers on guard, the other reason his relative tardiness was going to bite him became apparent. The doors to the throne room were wide open and he could see a substantial crowd already assembled. With a sigh Augustus entered and slowly made his way towards the front, begging pardon from countless other nobles and officials. The majority he recognized, and they in turn recognized him. Quite a number he even knew personally. There were others however whom he knew only in passing, but whom could be expected to play a much greater role in the future.

The duke finally emerged in the front row, stepping next to the Duke Zechs Vander. The field marshal gave a respectful nod, a gesture that Augustus returned. The two men were well acquainted with each other and even if their relationship was more professional than personal, they held one another in high regard nonetheless. The other man that had made way for Augustus the duke also recognized, though the two were far from familiar. Ruben Ashford might have once been a noble, and would likely be one again before the day was out, but his exile from court had removed him from the circles of power just as Schneizel began consolidating his own position, and in the process lift one Duke Velaines to the highest tier of Britannian society. One thing the two did share in common in the strongest possible terms was however their support for a young woman both considered to be family.

There were others of Euphemia's camp, others that Augustus recognized. Lawrence Kraft, a commoner whom served as Augustus' counterpart in the viceroyalty of Area 11, and Edward Rochester, a baron that was also a member of the princess' cabinet. And then there was Baron Heinrich Stadtfeld, the man that turned out to be more than a mere baron in so many ways. In some ways Heinrich was still very much an enigma, but seeing as the man's daughter was Euphemia's knight of honor, the baron could probably also be counted amongst the princess' partisans.

Augustus' head tilted about slightly as he regarded a few others. There were quite a few military types gathered beyond just Zechs. The entire general staff, several of the remaining Knights of the Round, and a good number of men and women in the colors of not only Euphemia's royal guard but that of the princes and princesses that were no longer with them. Including that of Euphemia's sister and Augustus' own dear niece Cornelia. There, the bespectacled man whom had stood by Cornelia's side for so many years. Gilbert Guilford's expression was a stony visage, but the pain that he felt still shone in his eyes.

The duke took a deep breath. That was a pain that all of them still shared, not excepting Euphemia herself. His niece was strong, he knew this. But she would need all of their strength in the coming days, months, and years. And Britannia would need her to see the Empire through these blackest of nights. The soldiers suddenly all came to attention and Augustus instinctively straightened as well.

A door opened and from it emerged several figures. The first was one Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki, holding before her the Sword of Justice. Next was a silver haired youth that few recognized. What they did recognize however was the Sword of Mercy in his hands.

And then came Her Imperial Highness Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Realm, and Heir Quartus. The rose-colored gown swayed gently with her every step, the layers that formed it lending a solemn weight to the motion. Atop her shoulders was draped a violet shaded cloak, one that carried the fleur-de-lis on a darker overlay on the left. Several that stood before the princess immediately recognized the cloak as one favored by the Princess Cornelia. More than one of the attending persons felt their breath catch at the radiance and intensity of her visage.

A solemn silence fell within the chamber as Euphemia reached the throne and turned to face the audience. She did not seat herself however, not yet at least. The gaze that met each and every person facing Euphemia was one of stern resolve. And confidence. And dignity.

"My lords and ladies," Euphemia began. "Ladies and gentlemen. Today We find ourselves, the sons and daughters of Britannia, at a precipice. The Empire, so grievously wounded, yet stands. But so too do remain those whom would seek a final end to our nation, to our people. We bore witness, We shed tears, and We bade farewell, to all too many whose lives were broken these past days. And yet We endure."

All across the room, deep breaths were taken as Euphemia's words resonated with each and every person here. None of them could claim to have been untouched by the devastation that had rolled across the Empire since the Battle of Pendragon. And none of them were ready to give up, just like Euphemia.

"A choice now lies before Us, those whom death has yet to cast within its shadow, those whom hold remembrance of all whom are not with us this day. Whether the blood so shed shall be the last, whether it _should_ be the last. And whether We will be satisfied with mere memory."

Such simple words, and such a deceptively simple choice. Should the Empire continue to wage war against those whom had so wounded it, and them. Could they simply walk away, in acceptance of such loss. Should they.

"It is a choice, that We have made."

Eyes blinked as that word registered. We. Euphemia was not speaking purely symbolically, she was not just referring to the shared feelings, of loss, of grief, of anger, and of hope. She was referring to herself in the person of sovereign.

"The Empire did not elect to begin this war," Euphemia said, her voice carrying firmly across the chamber, and across Britannia. "We did not choose to invite such anguish and ruin upon the world. We did not seek to burn the very earth itself. But We will not be so remiss as to let those whom did so escape the repercussions of _their_ choices."

From the side Kallen stepped forth, and presented to Euphemia the Sword of Justice. On the other side Rai flipped the Sword of Mercy and planted it on the ground. Euphemia accepted Caliburnus, gripping the sword tightly as she too planted it before her.

"On this We, Euphemia li Britannia, do so swear. Those whom have wrought such grievous harm upon Ourselves and Our peoples, shall meet with a most final judgment."

There was an energy within the chamber, within the men and women so attending, and within each and every person across Britannia whom were watching or listening. A stirring of vigor that grew with every word uttered by the princess. No, by the empress. It was a stirring that was now given voice as Kallen stepped forth, fist raised high.

"All hail Her Majesty the Empress Euphemia! Long live the Empress! Long live the Empress!"

"Long live the Empress!" Heinrich's voice joined in.

"Long live the Empress!" Augustus cried out.

"Long live the Empress!" every man and woman within the chamber echoed.

"Long live the Empress," so declared the whole of Britannia.

End of Chapter 94

We're finally here. After 94 chapters and the prologue, we are finally here. But wait! The best is yet to come.

Britannian coronation procedures are different than that of the British. The deviations that you are all seeing thus far are entirely intentional and only have a little to do with the rather unique circumstances of Euphemia's coronation. I'll talk about it more in the snippet next chapter.

Rai hasn't really had a chance to unload until now, he was pretty much "try to make this work" mode for pretty much his entire duration in this timeframe up till now. That stress finally caught up to him.

This will likely surprise many of you, but Cole was not originally intended as a love interest for Kallen, he was intended to be Euphemia's love interest. The original outline had him and Kallen start getting close but not quite able to overcome certain, differences, in ideology, I suppose is the best way to put it. Cole is ultimately someone loyal to the Empire, whatever its faults, and Kallen would have had a lot more difficulty reconciling such loyalty to the government that so discriminated against her people even as she herself basically served it by serving Euphemia. Cole would have gone to Euphemia for advice, one thing would have led to another, and ultimately Cole and Kallen would have parted on at least amicable terms when he hooked up with Euphemia. Or rather, Kallen would tell him there are no hurt feelings when Euphemia basically broke down after the death of her entire family. Yes, Cole was intended to deliver that heartfelt plea that Rai ended up giving to Euphemia.

As I wrote more and more however that plan became increasingly infeasible, especially since Kallen ended up being much more able to reconcile the contradictions in her life than I was intending and Cole ended up being, uh, much stronger himself. By about chapter 60 I knew I was in a lot of trouble. By the end of the Hereticus kidnapping arc I knew that there was no way I could possibly break the two apart without seriously screwing up their character development. Hence my many remarks about writing myself into a corner in several previous author notes. So I needed an alternative. Which was when I thought of Rai and decided to integrate him in some way into the story, which ended up neatly solving another problem I had, how I was going to give Euphemia the information she needed to take down the Geass Directorate.

In some ways Rai and Euphemia's setup is a bit abrupt. Or rather, its resolution might feel abrupt. I have been dropping hints however that Rai was attracted to Euphemia since their first meeting. And to be frank, I've already demonstrated I can do slow and steady with Kallen and Cole's buildup. Now let's see if I can do snap judgment romances anywhere as well.

I could have also put the thought elevator atop that volcano at Yellowstone. Except there wouldn't be much of North America left if that went off.


	96. Chapter 95

_Britannian coronations have always been relatively unconventional when compared to that of other western dynasties. The sovereigns of continental powers marked their investiture with a series of rites performed by prominent figures in whichever Christian authority was dominant in their respective lands, with the placing of the crown upon the would-be king's head as the capstone of the ceremony. Britannia on the other hand until the conclusion of the great war actually lacked a formal crown for its sovereign, all of the British crown jewels save for the swords Caliburnus and Curtana having been lost when the royal family fled to the Americas in the wake of Napoleon's successful invasion of the United Kingdom. Upon his own ascension Ricardo von Britannia, the first emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire, swore to never set any crown but that of Great Britain atop his head. The precedence this set was carried on by all of his descendants, not excepting the Empress Euphemia._

 _Another tradition specific to the Empire was the declaration issued by the sovereign immediately before being acclaimed. During times of peace it would often be a vow to continue to safeguard Britannia's prosperity. During war, a promise to see the Empire victorious over its enemies. The ceremony was also a time when the great peers of the realm would reaffirm their loyalty to the imperial family and their liege lord. It was also an opportunity for some of these very peers to be further elevated, or new ones appointed outright. This added an extra political dimension to the ceremony, with much jockeying and maneuvering for favor beforehand. Astute sovereigns were able to play such factions against each other, balancing the power at court during the early years of their reign while they continued to secure their own power. The failure of Friedrich IV to achieve this balance led directly to the Emblem of Blood era wherein members of the court actively murdered one another with near impunity until Charles II launched his successful coup and put a stop to the worst of the bloodletting._

 _In the case of Euphemia I, the aftermath of the Battle of Pendragon resulted in a completely unprecedented situation wherein a significant percentage of noble patents had actually reverted back to the crown due to the deaths of effectively everyone normally in the line of inheritance. In point of fact the Empress Euphemia, by virtue of those patents, actually held 52% of the voting seats in the House of Lords due to their hereditary nature. Combined with the number of surviving peers that had been part of the Prince Schneizel's faction at court, her majesty effectively commanded a supermajority of 71%. Such concentration of power in the crown had never happened before in the Empire's history and the potential dangers inherent were something the empress herself was aware of. Her majesty's first step in alleviating such concerns were in the titles she granted at her coronation. By the end of her reign the percentage of votes directly controlled by the crown had been reduced to a far less worrying 6%._

 _-Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I_

Chapter 95

Multis e gentibus vires

The cheers had died down, the accolades fully delivered. The audience within the chamber waited patiently for the next phase of the ceremony, the investiture of those whom the new empress would entrust with carrying out her will. Augustus had spoken at length with his niece about the matter and so knew most of what the young woman had in mind. That did not mean there would not be some surprises, but the stability of the government and its institutions were effectively assured with the appointments that would be happening, not just here but in the official proclamation that would soon be issued.

Euphemia's gaze swept across the chamber, taking note of all the individuals present. There was still an energy to them, a vitality, and a drive. The day was not yet done and all knew this event, as momentous as it was, was only the start. And Euphemia was equally determined not to disappoint. Her eyes fell upon an aged man of dignified bearing.

"Ruben Nathaniel Ashford."

The patriarch of the Ashford family came forward. As he made to bow however Euphemia raised a hand, stopping him. She then extended it to Ruben, causing a ripple of murmurs amongst the audience. This was well outside of convention. Ruben regarded the empress quizzically but accepted the hand. Euphemia smiled warmly at him, and that much Ruben returned wholeheartedly.

"There be no need for such acquiescence from you, Ruben," the empress said. "You, whom were and am family to one whom We called sister. You, whom We acknowledge as family. You, whom We must call upon to serve once more."

"Your majesty," Ruben said, bowing his head. "Not just for my granddaughter, but for you yourself. You have but to ask, and I shall stand where you so command."

Euphemia took a deep breath as she nodded. "We restore to you, Ruben Nathaniel Ashford, and to your family, the Duchy of Michigan. We charge you, your grace, with the formation of a government. Lend aid to Our dear uncle, in reuniting Our people, Our empire."

The restoration of the Ashfords into the peerage had been expected. The appointment of Ruben as the empress' preferred candidate as prime minister though. A few glances were snuck towards the Duke Velaines but Augustus' expression remained composed and impassive. This development had obviously been expected by the man. Expected, and accepted. And with so many noble patents having reverted back to the throne, the empress herself effectively commanded an outright majority of the voting seats in the House of Lords. Ruben's long absence from court would therefore be nowhere as much of an impediment to his governance as it otherwise might have.

To these declarations Ruben did bend down upon his knee, accepting the favor so shown and the duty that came with. As he rose, Ruben gave Euphemia a comforting smile and Euphemia returned it gratefully. The newly restored Duke Ashford returned to his place amongst the audience. Euphemia looked out once more, her eyes quickly settling on the next person of whom she would call upon.

"Heinrich Stadtfeld."

The Baron Stadtfeld stepped before the empress and executed a bow with precision and grace.

"I answer your summons, your majesty," he completed the response that Euphemia had interrupted previously for Ruben.

The empress regarded the baron with a not insignificant hint of humor. "When We first met, your chosen course of action was to attempt to blackmail Our person in defense of your daughter."

Gasps sounded at that and curious gazes settled upon both Kallen and her father. The knight's expression flickered ever so slightly. Euphemia's sense of humor could be more than a bit trying.

"And I would do it again, your majesty," Heinrich declared, eliciting even louder gasps. "Above my station and my wealth, is my family."

Euphemia nodded approvingly. And smirked. "And for that reason alone, We have deigned not to, chastise you for that indiscretion. For that reason, We believe this duty to be most fitting to a man of your, character."

Heinrich raised a single eyebrow, something that did not escape the cameras angled towards him. Now it was not just the court but much of the Empire that wondered at the baron's seeming nonchalance.

"We name you viceroy of Japan, steward of a land and people whom We have grown especially fond of. A people whom you too have seen the worthiness of."

And from whom Heinrich had found the love of his life, the mother of his children. To that the baron actually bowed his head and bent upon one knee in respectful acceptance. And gratitude.

"You honor me, your majesty. In your faith, and your benevolence."

The viceroyalty of Japan. With the recent advances in the area it was easily one of the greater prizes a noble could be granted. And despite the little banter at the beginning, that it would be granted to Heinrich was not a terrible surprise. The man was after all the father of the empress' knight of honor, a knight whom had Japanese blood flowing within her. Back in Japan there was a palpable sense of relief amongst its people. Their former viceroy had not forgotten them, and still held them in favor. Heinrich rose, and returned to his place.

"Lawrence Rowen Kraft."

Lawrence took a deep breath and stepped forth before Euphemia and bowed.

"I answer your summons, your majesty."

Euphemia smiled kindly at the man. "Sir Kraft. We have demanded much from you since you entered Our service. Not just in effort, but also in faith. We hope that you have not found that faith misplaced."

The man knew exactly what Euphemia referred to, and though there were still many matters that remained obscured behind words and promises, the empress had also amply demonstrated that she repaid such faith with the fullness of her authority.

"Your majesty has given me your word more than once," Lawrence said, "and has remained true every time. The faith I so placed, there is no question or doubt that I would continue to hold to it."

The empress acknowledged the words. "We ask that you lend aid to Our beloved uncle, for We know there to be much that need be done in the days ahead. And We see fit then to name you Duke of Seattle."

Lawrence bowed. "By your will, your majesty, and by my hand."

The elevation to the peerage came as no surprise. To be given a title so prestigious however. Then again the von Eiterzental family that Lawrence's wife was from had deep ties to the province of Columbia, and the province was indeed in need of a new lord. It was not however the only land so bereft.

"Edward Fairfax Rochester."

With Lawrence dismissed it was now his old friend the baron's turn. Edward stepped forth and bowed.

"I answer your summons, your majesty."

Again the empress regarded the man before her with a degree of familiar warmth.

"You once bled for Us, baron, despite never having been asked to do so. And you have shown great care and love to one whom We hold dear. Yet We find Ourselves unable to thank you without placing ever greater impositions."

"Your majesty, the weight of your own duty is heavy," Rochester said. "It is not imposition to serve and lend my own shoulders to help bear this weight. Whatever the duty, I will fulfill to my utmost."

Another pledge, and another personage added to the service of her majesty's government.

"Edward Fairfax Rochester, We see fit to name you Duke of Richmond. We ask that you grant your, Our, people a lord worthy of their allegiance."

"I hear and I obey, your majesty," Rochester promised.

So it went, notable civilians, peers and commoners alike, called forth and granted posts or titles, or both. And then one more name was called.

"Millicent Amelia Ashford."

More murmurs were elicited. The Ashfords had already been granted much, not only their old holdings back but also immediate high standing in the House of Lords. What else did her majesty have in store for them. Milly stopped before Euphemia but as she was about to curtsey the empress' hand was once more extended.

"We will not have one whom We call sister bend her knee like so."

Milly smiled wryly, accepting Euphemia's hand and squeezed. "I have lost one sister already. Whatever must be done, I will not lose another."

Euphemia nodded solemnly and smiled in turn at Milly. "Many years did you grant sanctuary and comfort to Our sister. Many years did you provide what We proved incapable of. You returned her to Us. And yet We in turn failed. For this We, I, am sorry."

The empress was referring to the Princess Nunnally, everyone watching and listening could make out that much. Now they waited to see how Milly would respond. The young woman took a deep breath.

"It is not you whom owes Nunnally or myself an apology, your majesty. And there is nothing for her, or I, to forgive. So long as you live, true to your heart, and retain within your heart the love that you held for her, that is and always will be enough. Truly."

The words were kind, perhaps even comforting. The wound that still throbbed in the hearts of both women would take yet more to heal however. For now though, that was enough as Euphemia nodded.

"Millicent Amelia Ashford. We name you Duchess of Rothesay."

A moment of puzzlement swept through the room. And then gasps sounded from a few of the audience whom recognized that particular title. Euphemia however was not yet done.

"Duchess of Cornwall."

This time choking sounds could be heard, and a few gapping mouths seen.

"Princess of Wales, and Heir Primus to the throne."

With very few exception, most of them being the soldiers on duty to protect her majesty, but even then some of them took a brief moment to acknowledge what had just happened, everyone in the room stared at the scene before them with barely a breath being drawn. The silence was finally broken when Milly herself responded.

"To hold a place in trust, until a true scion of the blood is born, thus do I accept."

And then it clicked. The empress was not seeking to shift the line of inheritance to the Ashfords, she was ensuring a defined line of succession should something happen to herself. A sudden determination filled the soldiers and officers present to make sure that that eventuality was never to become necessary. Not just amongst them either, but many whom called Euphemia their liege.

The two women parted and it was Princess Millicent that returned to her place amongst the audience. Without needing direction, an armsman maneuvered herself to the young woman's side. Milly gave Mikasa an appreciative smile and Euphemia nodded approvingly. The camera caught the motion as well, and across the Empire the heritage of the armsman was noted, some more sharply than others.

One bombshell and been dropped in the session this day. Everyone waited with bated breath to see whether more were forthcoming.

"Zechs Matthias Vander."

The duke came before Euphemia and bowed.

"I answer your summons, your majesty."

"Field Marshal," Euphemia addressed the man using his military title. "For many years you have served Our empire, Our sister, faithfully and dutifully. Gratitude for such service should not amount to asking for further service, and yet that is the manner which We find ourselves expressing."

The edge of Zechs' lips quirked upward. "I swore an oath to serve the Empire, your majesty. The hardship comes not from upholding it, but from being found wanting."

Euphemia dipped her head slightly. "Few would We say this to, but you are one whom We have never found to be so. We name you Marshal of the Empire, sword and shield of the realm. Go forth, and see Our enemies laid low."

Zechs bent down upon one knee. "By your will, your majesty."

And returned to his place. The appointment of civilian stations was done. The empress was obviously moving onto martial ones.

"Victor Sandlot Arseid."

The solidly built man stepped forward without hesitation and bowed.

"I answer your summons, your majesty."

Euphemia favored him with a wide smile, one which Victor returned in kind.

"How many years has it been, your lordship? Since our first meeting."

"Nearly a decade, your majesty," Victor responded. "And in that time I was ever so heartened to see you grow into a fine young woman. Your sister, she would be proud."

Euphemia nodded, accepting the praise. "That pride, your lordship, is also something you are deserving thereof, for We spent many years under your care. A care that We would see continued, should it be your will."

Victor met the empress' gaze and without hesitation fell down upon one knee.

"In her memory, in your honor, I would see my duty fulfilled, in your service. My arms, my blood, as your sword. I, Victor Sandlot Arseid, do swear my self to thy service, and place my self under the grace of thy shield."

It was not completely unprecedented, for a knight of honor to swear to a new liege after the death of an old one. It was still exceedingly rare, but this was an instance where none could consider the decision by the viscount to be in any way a mark against the man's integrity. After all, what better way to uphold his oath to his liege than to serve faithfully the younger sister that liege so treasured.

Euphemia nodded solemnly. "We accept thy oath to Our service, and grant thee the grace of Our shield. We name thee First at the Table of the Rounds."

That elicited a few hushed murmurs and gasps. The newly appointed empress was wasting no time filling in the Rounds, emphasizing her sovereign right. The question then was what she would do with the Rounds that her father had appointed. The smoking crater just outside of Pendragon was probably not what she had in mind for those Rounds invited this day.

Victor stood, bowed once more, and returned to his previous place. Euphemia's gaze was already shifting towards the next personage she would be calling upon.

"Willibald Joachim von Merkatz."

The elderly figure stepped forward, his bearing dignified yet grave. The admiral knew well what was about to be asked of him and had even agreed to the necessity of it. Duty was however a heavy burden, especially when one felt as if one had not lived up to it.

"I answer your summons, your majesty."

"Admiral," the empress greeted. "Our gratitude, for having borne so much that We have asked. And for what is yet to be borne. We name you Knight of Two, in confidence that you will uphold the standard set by Admiral Manfredi."

Willibald knelt before Euphemia. "Your majesty, I will not claim to be so deserving of your confidence, but I shall uphold to my utmost any duty your majesty would entrust to my person."

And now another seat of the Rounds was filled, though again for a member whom was now deceased. The next number however, a knight already occupied that seat. What would her majesty do.

"Gino Soren Weinberg."

The Knight of Three, and just moments ago the de facto commanding officer of Fenrir Regiment at the moment despite his extremely youth, stepped forward. He too bowed, and in so doing signified to all the direction Euphemia intended, and which Gino himself had acquiesced.

"I answer your summons, your majesty."

Euphemia regarded the knight. He was only a year older than her and yet her father had deigned to elevate him to the highest martial order of the Empire. Considering Gino did not even have the benefit of the Empress Marianne acting as a constant mentor like Anya, that implied much about the young man's competence. By all accounts that competence had been demonstrated in full during the Battle of Pendragon itself.

"Your liege has fallen, and your oath ended," Euphemia said. "Do you consider Us to be worthy of a renewal of that oath, Sir Weinberg?"

It was a rather blunt and straightforward question, but the fact that it was being asked at all was quite remarkable. Few were the instances where a new sovereign would even bother attempting to gain the loyalties of his predecessor's knights. And yet there was so much about this coronation that was unprecedented, so many reasons that the new empress might be in a position to actually trust in her father's knights. Had they not all fought in defense of the realm after all?

Gino regarded the empress. And after letting out a deep breath bent down on his knee. "My arms, my blood, as your sword. I, Gino Soren Weinberg, do swear my self to thy service, and place my self under the grace of thy shield."

Euphemia smiled at the knight. "We accept thy oath to Our service, and grant thee the grace of Our shield. We affirm thee Third at the Table of the Rounds."

So did one Knight of the Round retain his seat.

"Dorothea Melinda Ernst."

And now to see if a second would do so.

"I answer your summons, your majesty," Dorothea said with a deep bow.

Euphemia regarded Dorothea thoughtfully for a moment before responding.

"Our paths have rarely crossed, Dame Ernst, and We find Ourselves lacking in any familiarity with your person."

"That is so, your majesty," Dorothea confirmed.

"And yet. Our dear uncle, the Lord Waldstein, made mention of you many a time when he called upon Our sister. A woman of heroic bearing, he so proclaimed."

Though she retained her composure Dorothea's cheeks colored ever so slightly at hearing the indirect praise. She waited however for the empress to complete her thought.

"The Empire faces trying times in the days, months, perhaps even years ahead. We wonder, do you consider Us to be worthy of lending your strength to serve?"

Dorothea cracked a smile of her own. She was not the only Round that the empress was less than familiar with. Yet Euphemia was not so unfamiliar to Dorothea herself. Bismarck Waldstein might have praised his fellow knight to Cornelia, but he had also spoken highly of one Princess Euphemia to that very same knight. The woman bent down upon one knee.

"My arms, my blood, as your sword. I, Dorothea Melinda Ernst, do swear my self to thy service, and place my self under the grace of thy shield."

If the empress was relieved she did not betray it on her expression. The gratitude however was obvious in her tone.

"We accept thy oath to Our service, and grant thee the grace of Our shield. We affirm thee Fourth at the Table of the Rounds."

And now three of the former knights had shifted their allegiance to a new master. Next however was one whom had yet to ever pledge an oath.

"Laura Sandlot Arseid."

The statuesque woman strode forth and bowed deeply before Euphemia.

"I answer your summons, your majesty."

As Laura rose, Euphemia found herself heartened by Laura's serene composure. And shared with the older woman the faintest of sorrow. They both had lost loved ones in the aftermath of the Battle of Pendragon. To Laura, a man whom would one day have taken her hand in marriage. To Euphemia, a brother she had not even known of. The empress vowed that that loss would not be forgotten.

"We were blessed, with many a brother and sister," Euphemia said. "And We were cursed, with far too short a time with them. Yet We find that there are others, whose love for Us is of familiar warmth. We would have those bearing that love remain close to Our side."

Laura needed no further heeding, bowing down onto one knee.

"The love that is given, is given without reserve," Laura said, "and is given because your majesty loves in turn. I would not presume or hope to be considered a sister, but I will also not hesitate to be there as your majesty desires, and needs. My arms, my blood, as your sword. I, Laura Sandlot Arseid, do swear my self to thy service, and place my self under the grace of thy shield."

It took some effort for Euphemia to retain the evenness of her voice. Nonetheless so the emotion behind it echoed with every word.

"We accept thy oath to Our service, and grant thee the grace of Our shield. We name thee Fifth at the Table of the Rounds."

So many ready to pledge themselves to her. Euphemia understood full well the magnitude of this devotion, the weight that it brought. She gladly shouldered it.

"Anya Alstreim."

The petite girl stepped forward and bowed. "I answer your summons, your majesty."

Unlike the Rounds that had preceded her Anya was not quite so unknown to Euphemia. She recalled the young girl that had stayed at the Imperial Aries Villa to learn etiquette from the Empress Marianne. Back then Anya had been a cheerful, enthusiastic girl. Now her stoic demeanor spoke of the heavy burden she had borne all these years. Before Euphemia could say anything Anya suddenly fell to one knee.

"My arms, my blood, as your sword. I, Anya Alstreim, do swear my self to thy service, and place my self under the grace of thy shield."

Euphemia blinked. She said nothing for several moments as the words sank in. By tradition the sovereign would say a few words, noting qualities that they found exemplary for why they would desire the service of the person whom came before them. Anya however had not waited.

"Dame Alstreim," Euphemia said, gentle yet firm. "Are you certain?"

Anya looked up at Euphemia, her eyes hazy, almost desperate.

"Where else do I have to go, your majesty?" she asked. "Whom else would have me, now that I have lost _her_?"

And then Euphemia understood. Though it might have been a burden, the Empress Marianne had also been Anya's constant companion for all these years. Without her guidance, without her care, Anya must have felt utterly lost. The empress nodded solemnly.

"We accept thy oath to Our service, and grant thee the grace of Our shield. We affirm thee Sixth at the Table of the Rounds." And smiled. "And We vow to always have a place for you by our side."

To that Anya finally smiled, joy and gratitude giving color to her cheeks. Another Round so appointed by her father. Another Round whom swore a new oath to Euphemia. That brought the count to four, but few doubted it would go yet higher this day.

The next woman that was called forth had no need to speak new vows however.

"Villetta Anastasia Nu."

The dark skinned woman stepped forth and bowed.

"I answer your summons, your majesty."

The smile that Euphemia favored Villetta was of warmth and gratitude.

"Dame Nu. You came to Us, with passion and pride. When We found Our self in need, you answered without hesitation or doubt. You have stood with Us, ever mindful of your duty, ever patient with Our, temperance."

That elicited a smile from Villetta herself. The empress could be quite disciplined in her actions. She could also show almost reckless daring.

"We are of firm belief that you will rise to whatever charge is set before you. And thus We name thee Eighth at the Table of the Rounds."

Not seventh, more than one person noted. That had to be intentional. Either her majesty was not intending to fill all of the seats, or she intended to reserve that number for someone else.

Villetta bent down upon one knee. "I will uphold my duty, your majesty. In honor of your trust, and in memory of his."

Euphemia nodded solemnly, knowing full well just whom Villetta referred to. The empress felt a pang of guilt, as she watched Villetta return to her place. How few of her guard remained, how few from those that answered the call issued by one Jonathan Eyre. And how she wished that the man would have been here this day, so that she could thank him for seeing her this far. Euphemia took a deep breath of her own. There would be time for such thoughts later. Right now she still had other matters to attend to.

"Nonette Enneagram."

The knight strode confidently before the empress and bowed.

"I answer your summons, your majesty."

The empress regarded the older woman. She remembered Nonette well, the woman having been a close friend of Cornelia and another pupil of the Empress Marianne. Both her sister and Nonette had also been close friends with one Aurelia Le Guin, until certain events in Cornelia's career resulted in a rupture with the other noble woman. Now of the three, only Nonette remained. Euphemia wondered what the knight thought of that.

"Dame Enneagram. We ask of you, as We have asked of your fellow knights. Would you swear an oath to Us?"

The smile that Nonette directed at Euphemia was wide and bright. Even at times like this the woman's confidence was seemingly insurmountable. There was however no hesitation as she knelt before Euphemia.

"My charge from his majesty was the safety of those he deemed worthy of succeeding him, your majesty. I see no reason why that charge has ended with your ascension, for you have demonstrated unequivocally your worthiness. My arms, my blood, as your sword. I, Nonette Enneagram, do swear my self to thy service, and place my self under the grace of thy shield."

"We accept thy oath to Our service, and grant thee the grace of Our shield. We affirm thee Ninth at the Table of the Rounds."

Only one last Rounds remained, though seeing as there at least two places before her that could be filled Monica would need to wait just a bit longer. Hopefully the braces she was using would allow her legs to hold out until then. And then the next personage was called upon.

"Gilbert George Percival Guilford."

The knight had been expecting it. The manner in which his expression twisted made clear he had also been dreading it. He nevertheless stepped forward and bowed before the empress, the beloved sister of the woman he had sworn his life to. And whom had left him behind.

"I answer your summons, your majesty," Gilbert said, his voice strained with emotion.

Euphemia regarded the knight with sympathy and compassion. When she spoke, her own voice carried a hint of the shared sorrow.

"Sir Guilford. For all the years that you stood by Our sister's side, for the service you rendered so honorably and faithfully. You have Our sincerest gratitude. We would ask, that you remain-"

"Your majesty."

Euphemia blinked and the others behind Gilbert also were momentarily taken aback. One did not interrupt the newly anointed sovereign when they spoke, it simply was not done. Yet Gilbert had done it, perhaps because he was one of the few that would be forgiven for it. The knight fell to a knee.

"My apologies, your majesty," the knight said, his voice sounding ever more distraught. "I know what you would ask of me, and I am honored beyond words. And yet, I cannot. My lord has passed, I would not be foresworn should I pledge my self to your service." Gilbert looked up, tears glistening in his eyes. "But I cannot. Forgive me, your majesty, but, I cannot."

Euphemia regarded Gilbert, her own expression fully mirroring the grief that the man expressed. She reached forth, caressing his cheeks gently.

"We will not have your love for Our sister be the cause of further anguish and pain," Euphemia said. " _I_ will not have it so."

Gilbert closed his eyes for a brief moment, a sense of relief washing over him even as he felt a flicker of shame. Euphemia, the beloved sister of his fallen liege, was asking for him to stand by her. And yet he was falling short. How could he call himself a knight of the Princess Cornelia's honor.

"Sir Guilford."

Gilbert opened his eyes, meeting Euphemia's gaze. The empress smiled at him once more, and the sight tore at the knight's heart.

"Would you swear, in _her_ name. To stand by my side."

The man's eyes widened and behind him the barest of muffled gasps were suppressed. To retain the knights appointed by her father was unusual enough, but they had all sworn new oaths to Euphemia herself. To take into her service one whom would remain sworn to another, even one whom had passed, that was utterly unprecedented.

The tears dried from Gilbert's cheeks but the man felt new ones readying to flow once more. He took a deep breath, an even greater feeling of relief welling up within.

"Yes, your majesty," he said, his voice gaining strength with every word. "In the name of my lord, Her Highness the Princess Cornelia. I shall stand by your side, and answer what duty you would call upon me to serve."

Euphemia once more graced Gilbert with a smile as she straightened. "Then We name thee Tenth at the Table of the Rounds. Restore to that seat the honor it once had, Sir Guilford."

Gilbert bowed his head. "Your will be done, your majesty."

As Gilbert returned to his place his eyes still shimmered slightly. These tears were however of joy and purpose.

Euphemia took a deep breath to compose herself. She had not expected such a turn of events, but she could find no fault in the outcome. And in coming through it the empress found that she was just a little bit more at peace with her own self. It was a start. Her gaze turned to the young man to her left.

"Raibeart Koller."

Rai's grip tightened on Curtana as he stepped before the empress and bowed.

"I answer your summons, your majesty," he declared.

The smile that Euphemia cracked this time was more of bemusement than anything else. Unlike effectively everyone else whom she had called upon, Rai was a genuine unknown to the men and women bearing witness to this day. As far as most of them knew, Rai was simply a captain within the Knightmare Corps, which admittedly was a remarkable achievement for someone as young as him. Just what he could have possibly done to garner the favor of the empress was a mystery. Then again the Emperor Charles had also elected to appoint knights whom were seemingly lacking in accomplishments. Time would tell if the Empress Euphemia shared her father's skill in finding and fostering diamonds in the rough.

"It has been a long journey for you, has it not, captain?" Euphemia asked.

Rai smiled slightly at the empress. "That it has, your majesty."

"Do you hold any regrets, any things you wish could be undone?"

The smile disappeared. "Many things, your majesty."

Euphemia nodded in acknowledgment. "And what do you intend to do with these regrets, captain?"

"There is nothing to be done, your majesty," Rai answered. "The past is, past. The future, that may yet be changed. And though I am but one person, I can still play a role in bringing about a future that I will _not_ regret, your majesty."

The nod this time from Euphemia was in approval. "We would ask that you stand by our side, Sir Koller."

Rai knelt. "My blood, your blood. My heart, your heart. By your grace may I, Raibeart Koller, serve, as your sword, as your shield."

That, was not the standard oath of allegiance. But then again four hundred years was a long time, and Euphemia easily saw the parallels between the one Rai uttered and that used by her other knights. In some ways Rai would always be a person out of time, but there was a deeper meaning to those words than just him falling back on what was familiar. Rai had sworn that oath once before. For him to do it again, was a step in making peace with his own losses. And together, perhaps the two of them would be able to make each other whole.

"We accept thy oath to Our service, and grant thee the grace of Our shield and We name thee Eleventh at the Table of the Rounds."

Rai rose and returned to his place at Euphemia's left. And then they were onto the twelfth. Yet there remained two persons whom might enter into that role, the one whom currently held that number and another whom represented her majesty's honor already. Unless Euphemia was intentionally reserving one Kallen Stadtfeld's appointment for some reason. The woman in question remained impassive as she held onto Caliburnus. There was no hint of worry or impatience on her face, only a certainty of purpose. The audience had not long to wait for their questions to be answered.

"Monica Kruszewski."

Not long, but a bit more. The knight moved as gracefully as she could though the stiffness of her motion was still quite evident. Euphemia however remained patient and waited for Monica to come before her and bow.

"I answer your summons, your majesty."

Euphemia regarded the knight. "We remember well, when you first came before Us, Dame Kruszewski. You claimed common cause, and We were slow to believe. Yet now, We do believe, and would have you stand by Us."

Monica flashed an irreverent smile, perhaps one as wide as Nonette's. She still winced a bit as she came down onto one knee however.

"You showed prudence, and determination, your majesty," the knight said. "And will. Such are the qualities of a sovereign I would pay homage to. My arms, my blood, as your sword. I, Monica Kruszewski, do swear my self to thy service, and place my self under the grace of thy shield."

"We accept thy oath to Our service, and grant thee the grace of Our shield. We affirm thee Twelfth at the Table of the Rounds."

Of the Knights of the Round so appointed by her father, the Empress Euphemia had now taken into her own service five of them. Had Bismarck or Michele been alive there was little doubt that number would have been raised to seven. As for Luciano, the former Knight of Ten had served in a different manner, as an abject example of the thoroughness with which the empress dealt with those that displeased her. As Monica slowly fell back, a thought flickered through the crowd. Had perhaps the Lady Stadtfeld also disappointed her majesty in some manner. Or was she placed last due to the heights the empress intended to elevate her to.

"Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki."

Now they would find out. With Caliburnus at her side Kallen stepped before her liege, her empress. The two held each other's gaze without a flicker of hesitation or doubt.

"There was a time, when you would have been set on taking Our life," Euphemia said.

No murmurs sounded, no coughs covered up by feigning them as clearing of throats. Simply silence in the chamber as all watched and listened to this exchange between two remarkable young women.

"And yet now, here we stand, an oath most solemn binding us both, your majesty," Kallen responded.

"Indeed so," Euphemia agreed. "Do you regret having bent knee to me, Kallen? Of having pledged yourself to the very embodiment of what caused your people such great suffering?"

Kallen shook her head. "Your majesty has always been true to her word. Slow to give it, as is right, but always true. My honor, bound with yours, has not seen any loss. My pain, my joy, you have shared without reserve. And I in turn, do not doubt my choice. I am and always will be your knight, your majesty."

The gratitude in Euphemia's smile was plainly evident. The two had indeed been through much, both apart and together. But now that they stood as one, none in this chamber doubted the two would fail in any endeavor they set themselves upon.

"We see before us more than a knight," Euphemia said. "We see one whose passion mirrors Our own. And We are heartened to so name thee Seventh of the Rounds."

And in so doing Euphemia had filled every seat at the table, a full twelve knights to serve as her champion. Few were the times when a sovereign ever had need to appoint so many, but even fewer were the times when the Empire had faced so grace a crisis. The Rounds would server their empress well, of that none in this room doubted. And yet Euphemia was not done.

"And name you Duchess of Tokyo."

That caused Kallen to look up, though she was not the only one taken by surprise. Then again this did perhaps explain why Heinrich had not been further elevated despite his appointment as viceroy of Japan. All his titles would eventually pass to his daughter, but it seemed the empress desired that Kallen hold some in her own right now.

"Duchess of York."

Kallen blinked. Now she really was confused. Naming her a peer with Tokyo as her domain made sense, but what did York-

The girl's mind blanked as the gasps that sounded reached her ever so sensitive ears. And she recalled just what this particular combination had resulted in before.

"Princess of the Realm."

Kallen suddenly felt all of the air squeezed out of her lungs.

"And Heir Secundus to the throne."

Kallen gaped at Euphemia. There was no other way to describe the sheer stunned look she was giving the empress. Euphemia apparently found enough amusement in the situation to smile at Kallen.

"Whom better to place on the path to the throne, than one whom most vehemently does not wish to be seated upon it?"

That Kallen's jaw was not dangling open was more due to her entire body simply being frozen than any awareness on the young woman's part. She regarded her liege, her empress, with a mixture of shock and horror. And ruefulness. She had vowed, had she not. To stand by Euphemia, to serve her wholeheartedly and without reserve. This was the service that her liege now demanded from her. Kallen inhaled, not without significant effort, before once more bowing her head. And thus this would be how she would serve.

End of Chapter 95

Huh. I just realized that this entire chapter was one long scene.

Victor, was an interesting little problem. When I included him in the story I realized that if he survived the Battle of Pendragon, there was literally no way Euphemia would not appoint him as her Knight of One. The simple reason is that while Kallen might be her knight of honor, she's not a general, whereas the Knight of One's principal responsibilities are to serve as a commanding officer for the defense of Pendragon. Victor already has a fair bit of experience, having been responsible for the safety and security of basically every imperial scion in Schneizel's camp, at least when they were in the capital. I could not justify putting Kallen over him, at least not at this point in time. If he had died however, I might have been able to come up with some contrived reason for making Kallen Knight of One now while actual command responsibilities fell to someone else like Villetta. Since he survived, he'll be Knight of One until he retires, at which point Kallen will have had enough seasoning to actually credibly assume that post, which just so happens to vacate the position of Knight of Seven for a certain other knight-to-be.

Due to Heinrich's Germanic heritage, he actually doesn't have a middle name. And his parents elected not to give him a second first name. Just one of those little minor details, I certainly did not forget or something.

So, how many of you were laughing your asses off at that ending?

I think the list of unexpected successors might need to see addition. Euphemia's needing to burn a bit of political capital for her appointment of Milly and Kallen into the order of succession. A bit more so for Kallen than Milly. Everyone understands however that their appointments are to ensure the line of succession is defined and it is not with the expectation that the throne actually leave the Britannia family, and Kallen sure as hell does not want to get any closer to the throne than she needs to. Nor Milly for that matter. The fact that they are in the succession however creates an expectation that they also bear heirs, if only to make the line of succession just a bit more solid. That's actually going to feel more inconvenient for Milly than Kallen. Though poor Cole. One can imagine his reaction once he hears this news.

Before any of you ask, the way seats work in the Britannian House of Lords works is a bit different than that of the British House of Lords. Seats are associated with patents of nobility and there has always been a sort of unspoken rule that if an entire line died out, the seat associated with that patent would revert back to the throne. Of course the sovereign is expected to very quickly grant the patent to someone else instead of holding onto the patent, but in this particular case so many nobles died that it's not a trivial matter to do so. As is evident, Euphemia is going to be working at that particular issue for a while.

Annie and the rest of Lelouch's team are currently 'guests' of the Empire. What will happen to them will be revealed in the coming chapters.

Several European governments are kind of still in denial that they're actively at war with Britannia. Probably something to do with the fact that the only fighting that's happened has been fairly distant from the European mainland. Then again European governments being in denial about problems or conflicts isn't exactly something new or out of the ordinary. Ahem.

Bismarck and Michele are as surmised distant imperial cousins. Both are close enough that Euphemia knew them as Uncle Bismarck and Uncle Micky. No joke.

I'm not sure where the notion of Rai somehow being descended from Euphemia is coming from. I don't think I really provided any suggestions to imply such. For that matter the only person whom I have explicitly claimed a relation to him is his mother, whom I said was the imperial chronicler. This implies that she works for the imperial family, or at the very least the Empire, but that says nothing about her lineage.

Why do I get the impression that some of the people who keep hoping Cole dies are in fact really Lelouch/Kallen shippers who still want that pairing to happen despite the circumstances of the story?


	97. Chapter 96

_Despite his considerable prominence the Lord Raibeart Koller's service record prior to his appointment as the Knight of Eleven remains a classified secret. Most historians have taken this to mean that Lord Koller served as an Inquisitio operative, likely of the Ordo Xenos due to his military background. That he and the Empress Euphemia apparently met during her majesty's tenure as viceroy of Japan lends further credence to this idea. What is known of the Lord Koller's past is that his family were minor nobility, whom fell in the line of duty to the Empire. Lord Koller thus spent his childhood in the Schola Progenium and upon graduation entered military service in the Knightmare Corps. His natural skill and acumen were apparently enough for him to be commissioned a captain and he displayed considerable valor during the Battle of Pendragon fighting alongside the then Princess Euphemia's royal guard. Several individuals furthermore credit the Lord Koller with helping her majesty recover from her severe state of depression in the aftermath of the battle. Little wonder then that the two would wed upon her majesty's twenty-fourth birthday._

 _-Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I_

Chapter 96

Operibus anteire

"Holy hell." Jean looked over at his friend. "Your girlfriend is Heir Secundus."

Cole's own jaw was dangling limply as he stared at the radio they were listening to. He and Jean were not the only ones present, Connie and Sasha were also hanging about. The latter two were not what one would call politically astute, but even they could grasp some basic nuances.

"So if you marry her, does that make you a prince?" Sasha asked.

That knocked Cole out of his stupor. "What? No, it doesn't work that way, I don't get made a prince just because I marry her."

The other three regarded Cole as he slumped into his chair, clutching his head.

"Well you might not become a prince," Jean said, just a hint of nervousness in his tone, "but your old man's a duke now, so you'll be one too someday."

"This. This is _not_ what I, oh Hel," Cole sighed. "What am I going to do?"

Jean cocked his head aside. "I wonder what our CO's are going to do with you."

Cole groaned. "Thanks for that thought, Jean."

"I'm just saying," Jean said with a slight smile. "Though wait, don't you have an older sister? So technically she'll inherit."

Britannia was, in many respects, remarkably forward looking in its treatment of gender. The law regarding succession stipulated that the eldest child, unless disowned, would serve as the heir for a noble's primary title. In this case the Duchy of Columbia should pass to Cole's sister, Nora, instead of him. Of course knowing the newly enthroned empress, and considering the tidbit that countless noble patents had reverted back to the throne and needed to be doled out, Cole was fairly certain that if he did marry Kallen her majesty would be more than happy to give him a separate title of his own. Perhaps even eager to.

"Since when did my life get this bloody complicated," Cole said almost wistfully.

Jean gave his friend a pat on the shoulder. "Just remember us little people when you move into the imperial palace."

"The Heir Secundus doesn't live in the imperial palace," Cole said somewhat grumpily. "Not unless she ascends the throne."

Jean cleared his throat at that bit. "Well, you might just want to relax a tiny bit. I mean, sure, your girlfriend just got put into the line of succession, but it's her that got put in, not you. Imagine how she's probably feeling right now."

"Oh Hel," Cole muttered. "And knowing the empress, she dropped that on Kallen completely out of the blue."

"Eh, she'd do that?" Sasha said in some wonderment.

"Yes, yes her majesty would do that," Cole said with a sigh.

"Huh, you really have hobnobbed with royalty," Jean remarked.

Cole thought back. "I've spoken to her on occasion. And had dinner with her like once. But that was when she was still a princess and viceroy of Japan."

"Only once?" Jean said. "Would have thought you'd have attended a few state dinners what with your dad's job."

"Her majesty didn't actually hold that many," Cole said somewhat absentmindedly. "And those that she did hold, I sat with my family so it wasn't like I was anywhere near her."

"Hey Cole," Connie spoke up. "Is your old man still working for the empress?"

That took Cole a moment to consider. "I think so, I mean, her majesty asked him to help her uncle. That should be the Duke Velaines, who's the Exchequer for the Empire."

"Ex-what?" Connie said.

"He's in charge of the government's money," Jean took that one. "Wasn't that what your dad was doing for Japan?"

Cole nodded. "That's right, though I'm a bit surprised her majesty didn't appoint Duke Velaines as her prime minster. I mean, I know she's close to the Ashford family, very close, but the same also holds true for her uncle."

"Maybe she wants to keep her uncle in the Exchequer until things have settled down a bit," Jean suggested. "Or maybe she doesn't have anyone else that could fill the spot. I mean, your old man was the Exchequer for Japan, but that's not exactly the same as for the entire country, especially with the war going on."

"Probably," Cole said, before his face suddenly paled. "Oh."

Sasha cocked her head aside. "Wot's wrong?"

"If my father is going to be helping the Duke Velaines…"

"Ah," Jean said, stroking his chin. "Her majesty might be intending for him to take her uncle's place eventually, maybe when Duke Ashford retires and Duke Velaines becomes prime minister. And isn't the position of Exchequer also a traditional stepping stone to the office of the prime minister anyway?"

"Oh gods I hope not," Cole said.

Jean chuckled and gave his friend a pat on the back. "Now I'm really curious as to what kind of title her majesty's going to give you. Maybe another duchy in Japan, like your future wife?"

Cole groaned, massaging his temple. The banter might have been lighthearted but in truth he was genuinely worried, for a lot of reasons. He knew Euphemia, at a personal level, not just abstractly as princess or empress. He also knew Kallen. The two young women must have gone through Niflheim and back the past week or so. He wanted desperately to be there for Kallen, to hold her and try to offer some sort of comfort. And yet here he was, on the other side of the world. Cole stood.

"Where you going?" Jean asked.

"I've got a letter to write," was the only answer Cole needed to give.

* * *

Annie twisted the cloth, wringing the water out of it before gently wiping down her face. The other girl still had large portions of her body wrapped in bandages and could not really move without agitating her burns. The doctors and nurses had done their best and while Laura would heal, eventually, for now she was effectively an invalid that required aid for nearly everything. The rest of her compatriots, those still alive, steadfastly remained at her side to make sure she was not wanting for anything.

Fie entered, carrying a tray with steaming food on it.

"Fresh from the kitchen," the petite girl declared. "We've got clam chowder, some really good rye bread, and a nice piece of roast pork chops."

Laura nodded slightly, her movements lethargic for reasons other than the wounds that were slowly healing. Of their little family she and Charlotte had been especially close, and to have lost both her and Lelouch at the same time. Her body would heal, but her heart would take much longer to mend.

Fie set the tray down. "Do you want to start with the soup or the meat?"

Laura looked over, and saw that the pork chops had already been sliced up into more manageable portions. The imperial palace's staff were attentive like that, especially for guests whom their mistress had decreed were under her care.

"Soup," the German girl said softly.

With a nod Fie stirred the chowder and filled a spoonful, blowing on it to cool it off a bit before presenting it to Laura. The other girl leaned forward, the spoon disappearing in her mouth before popping back out, cleared of its contents.

"After dinner we'll wash you down and change your bandages," Annie said.

To that Laura grimaced, eliciting a sympathetic smile from the blond haired girl.

"I know, it hurts. But it'll get better, you'll see."

Laura nodded, though again without much presence behind her motion. Her spirit was tired, but that she was making the effort at all was good enough for now.

A knock sounded and the three girls looked over, one a bit more gingerly than the other two.

"Enter," Annie said.

The door opened to reveal another silver haired youth, bringing the total to three. This youth however was male. Annie and Fie recognized him easily, whereas Laura simply stared blankly. She had been effectively unconscious when Charlotte had brought her badly burned form to Euphemia and her guard after all.

"Miss Leonhardt, Miss Boewig, Miss Claussell," Rai greeted.

"Captain Koller," Annie greeted. "Or would it be General Koller now?"

Rai raised an eyebrow.

"You are the Knight of Eleven now," Annie said. "Are not all Knights of the Round brigadier generals?"

"Well if I am a general, then I am one presently without a command," Rai said. "May I sit?"

Annie nodded. "Please."

Rai pulled up a chair so that he would be facing all three women.

"I am here, to discuss your respective plans," Rai said. "And to make an offer."

The three women exchanged looks.

"That sounds like something Bertolt should also be here for," Annie finally said.

"By all means invite him," Rai said. "I do not expect any sort of answer here and now, of course, but it would certainly be faster if I do not have to repeat the offer."

Annie nodded to Fie and the girl popped up, making for another door. A minute or so later she returned with the much taller man in tow. After they had seated themselves Annie nodded.

"I will be perfectly frank. There are those within the Britannian government and military whom believe all of you are too dangerous to be ever allowed to go free. And while they acknowledge the assistance all of you lent in the thought elevator, they have not forgotten the roles you played in the terrorist attacks that wracked Britannia in the months leading up to the Battle of Pendragon. And then there was the assassination of the Prince Adonis."

Though Rai paused none of the others took the invitation to respond. After a moment of silence the knight continued.

"While Lelouch's methods were overly extreme, he was not wrong about the dangers that code and geass represent. In fact with Suzaku on the loose, the threat that we face is perhaps even greater than before. I have spoken with her majesty, and she has given me permission to extend the four of you an offer. Or rather two choices. You can either live under house arrest for the rest of your life, in relative comfort even, or you can help me in building up Britannia's, no, humanity's defenses against the potential threats from beyond."

Annie raised an eyebrow. "You would trust us with such an endeavor?"

Rai pursed his lips. "Why did you follow Lelouch?"

The four exchanged looks and again it was the German girl that answered. It seemed she was taking on the de facto position of leader of their little group.

"He gave us each other, a family. He made us believe that this world was actually worth fighting for. And so we did."

"And do you still believe this world to be worth something?" Rai asked.

A pained expression crossed all their faces but each nodded solemnly, even Laura.

"The world, and its people, are worth it," Annie said. "We know what it feels like to suffer, to sacrifice. That's why it's all the more important that we do our part to try to make it so others won't have to sacrifice and suffer."

Rai smiled slightly. "And that is why I know I can count on all of you."

Annie raised an eyebrow. "Really? Are you certain we would not take issue with the fact that the Empire seems dead set on continuing this war, and inflicting an even greater calamity on others than the one that just struck it? While we may have followed a Britannian prince, it should not be forgotten that we four are all Germans and do hold some sense of loyalty for the Fatherland."

"I doubt nationalism serves as an actual motivator for any of you," Rai stated. "And I also recall that the Britannian prince you followed was prepared to initiate a resonance cascade himself. None of you are afraid to draw blood, even massive amounts of it, in pursuit of the greater good. It is that strength of will that I wish to employ."

That the four had to admit was true enough. Lelouch's own plan would have resulted in the devastation of the North American east coast, that it had ultimately been effected by someone else did not change that. Nor the fact that they were prepared to go along with it. Still, following Rai would not be entirely the same thing.

"Lelouch earned our trust and faith," Annie finally said. "He earned our loyalty. Why should we give it to you, or to the Empress Euphemia?"

Rai clasped his hands together. "Alle, alle, auch sind frei."

The four were now staring at Rai intently, even suspiciously. The young man said nothing, this time waiting for them to respond.

"How do you know that," Fie finally asked.

"The Lord Lelouch taught it to me," Rai responded. "He said, it would show others whom he trusted that I was a friend."

The German youths exchanged wary, surprised looks. They quickly and silently reached a conclusion however and exchanged nods.

"You know, that's not technically grammatical German," Annie noted.

"Probably why he chose it," Rai said with a shrug.

"Or like any other French twit he couldn't be bothered to properly learn other languages," Fie quipped.

That elicited a chuckle from the others and Rai also cracked a smile. They had accepted him. And in time, they might well follow him.

* * *

"Your majesty," Roy said with an unhappy expression, "Jusis Albarea, as you requested."

"Thank you major."

With Euphemia's own ascension came a raft of promotions for many of her armsmen, along with significantly increased responsibilities. For Roy those responsibilities tended to be more of the same, looking after the empress' immediate physical security. With Euphemia being who she was however that task was not any easier despite her own elevation. If it had been his choice this meeting would have occurred remotely, with Jusis locked up behind a set of solid walls. Euphemia of course did not see it that way and so here they were. Roy took what comfort he could from the two other armsmen hovering protectively behind the empress. For all his bulk Alexander was capable of moving remarkably fast, and Riza was a crack shot with everything from her pistol up to a proper sniper rifle. Then there were the guards just waiting out of sight. The empress should be safe in here. Should. With a bow Roy took his leave.

Euphemia regarded the young man standing before him. She recalled meeting Jusis in passing once before at some social event, though the memory was faint. What she did remember was a young man with an overly serious demeanor, a rigidity in personality, and a natural pompous air that was all too common amongst the Empire's nobility. Ironic then that Jusis himself was actually born of a commoner mother, and only taken into the Albarea household due to the lack of a male heir. In theory that should not have mattered, his older sister should have inherited when the time came. Their father however, one Helmut Albarea, was a stogy conservative whom insisted on having a proper male heir to continue the family line. At the moment he was in custody on charges of high treason and the duchy of Carolina already forfeit, so his opinion counted for rather less. A few loose ends still needing tidying up however, including the fates of Jusis and his sister. The empress leaned back into her seat contemplatively.

"I have received a very strongly argued plea for mercy on your behalf," Euphemia said, "from one of your classmates in the cadet brigade."

Jusis kept his expression level, not that he had any difficulty guessing just which classmate that was. That Laura would go out of the way even after losing Rean like that. Kindness, could be in its own way a major burden.

"You showed considerable courage in surrendering your forces instead of throwing away their lives," Euphemia continued. "That you only did so after it was clear you stood no chance of victory does not diminish that. Nor does it diminish the fact that ultimately the Carolinian provincial guard and yourself committed treason."

That was not an invitation for Jusis to try to excuse his actions, the young man knew. The empress was building up to a point, and likely a sentence.

"Out of deference to Laura and my friendship with her, I am inclined to grant clemency, but not pardon. That clemency will also have to be earned with service to Britannia. All elements of the Carolinian provincial guard that participated in the abortive attack on Pendragon are hereby conscripted for military service for the duration of this war. They will be integrated into the armed forces not as penal units but as regular conscripts. Those whom remain in good standing by the end of the war will be discharged as recognized veterans of the conflict."

At that Jusis allowed himself to relax ever so slightly. The sentence was by no means lenient, but it could have been much, much worse. It was already known that the surviving officers of rank captain and higher of the Virginian provincial guard would hang for their participation in the insurrection, and the remaining officers and soldiers would be sentenced to penal battalions in the military. Those soldiers even if they survived till the end of the war would not be granted any recognition for their service or any benefits and care afforded to recognized veterans.

"As for yourself however, I believe that you would better serve the Empire in a different role."

That caused Jusis to blink quizzically. An explanation would however have to wait just a bit longer.

"If you would please stand to the side, Jusis."

Jusis obeyed, confusion still evident on his expression. Once satisfied with where he stood Euphemia reached over to the intercom.

"Rachel, has Brigadier Kessler arrived?"

"Yes your majesty."

"Please send him in."

"Of course your majesty."

The doors opened immediately, revealing a solidly built man with a dignified and stern bearing. That was perhaps to be expected for the head of the Britannian Gendarmerie, one did not rise to such a position without a great deal of competence, strong moral conviction, and determination. All of which made the man perfect for what Euphemia needed.

"Brigadier Ulrich Kessler," Euphemia greeted.

The man came to attention. "Your majesty, how may I be of service?"

The empress reached into a drawer, pulling out a piece of parchment and setting it before her on the desk. A very old piece of parchment at that.

"Do you know what this is, brigadier?"

The man glanced down at the document, only the barest hints of a frown piercing his otherwise stoic demeanor. Despite his relative youth, the man was still on the lower half of his forties, there was a streak of white hair in an otherwise full brown running behind his ears. That was almost certainly a quirk of his heritage, though considering the stresses of his duty it was a minor miracle he did not look more weathered.

"It is the writ," Ulrich answered, "issued by his majesty the Emperor Ricardo von Britannia, authorizing agents of the Ordo Hereticus to utilize, extralegal means in the pursuance of their duty."

"Indeed."

Euphemia picked up the document, which was at this point an antique in many respects, and promptly tore it apart. The fragile parchment fell into several pieces.

"The writ is now rescinded."

Ulrich spent several moments staring at the scraps before looking back up at the empress. He was not the only one gaping at the empress, Jusis was also watching her intently from his position.

"Maribelle often spoke highly of you," Euphemia said. "She praised your integrity, your sense of justice, and perhaps most importantly, your unwillingness to back down from doing what you consider to be right. For these reasons I have a task for you, one which will not be easy by any means, but which I believe you are admirably suited to perform." The empress' head lowered a fraction of an inch. "I am appointing you Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus, with the mandate to dismantle all extralegal operations the Ordo is engaged, and to bring all of its procedures in line with those employed by the Britannian Gendarmerie."

The silence this time dragged on for near five minutes before Ulrich managed to find his voice. Euphemia could have prompted the brigadier to respond but she was patient enough to let the man get his bearings. She had after all dumped a rather substantial responsibility into his lap.

"Your majesty," Ulrich finally said. "There will be elements of the Ordo Hereticus that will refuse to abide by this decree."

"I am so aware," Euphemia agreed. "I would not set before you such a task with the expectation of failure, brigadier. The military has already moved in and secured the remains of Huginn Tower, but we will need proper forensic experts to sift through it to secure any relevant documents and data. Then there is the fact that not all of Hereticus' operatives are opposed to the reform of their Ordo. And Jusis there seems to be a most competent sort, I trust that his assistance in the matter will be of some help."

Ulrich blinked, and then glanced back at the young man whom he had noted standing off to the side when he first entered.

"I'm sorry, your highness?"

Euphemia clasped her fingers before her. "The house of Albarea owes a, debt, to the Empire. I believe under your guidance, that debt can be made whole."

Understanding lit up in both men's eyes. Jusis pursed his lips. In some respects the task the empress was setting before him might well be even more dangerous than joining the rest of the Carolinian provincial guard in being deployed overseas. The Ordo Hereticus' reputation was something it earned over many, many years, and those whom refused to be reined in would have no reservation in resorting to extremes. As for the brigadier, he was in fact being set two tasks; to bring the Ordo Hereticus and its conduct back into the realm of legality and to effectively rehabilitate Jusis. Both tasks came with their own set of difficulties, something the brigadier was obviously well aware of.

Ulrich took a deep breath. "I will endeavor to the fullest to live up to your confidence, your majesty."

Euphemia favored the brigadier with a smile. "I have no doubt you will, brigadier."

It was implicit, the dismissal. Both men came to attention once more, Jusis bowing while Ulrich clicked his heels together as well. There was a noticeable gravitas in the brigadier's steps, one mirrored in Jusis' as he followed the man out. Euphemia allowed herself a moment of satisfaction. Yes, Ulrich would see his duty through. And two less blemishes would mar Britannia once he completed his task. A servant entered and carefully swept the pieces of the writ off the table. They would be preserved, framed and mounted in a museum where they belonged, a reminder of a less civilized time in the Empire's history. Euphemia doubted she was alone in happily closing a door on that era.

Sighing, Euphemia sank into her seat. Two more matters now settled, two less things that needed attending to. How was it that in handling them she felt so drained. She tried to rise, and found her knees wobbling from the effort. With some effort Euphemia stood and looked out the window of her office. She could just make out some of the construction work taking place as the damage to the palace was repaired. Further out in the palace district more scaffolds could be seen. It would be some time before the city was back to normal, perhaps even longer before its residents would feel safe again.

Euphemia felt her legs start to shake and she grabbed hold of the desk to steady herself.

"Your majesty."

A hand took hold of her shoulders and Euphemia smiled wryly at Riza.

"Apologies, lieutenant. I should be more careful."

"Perhaps you should rest, your majesty," Riza suggested. "We can move the rest of your appointments to later this evening."

"No, I am fine," Euphemia insisted even as she was helped back into her chair. "So long as I do not overexert myself, I should be able to finish the rest of these appointments."

Riza did not look convinced but seeing as the empress was not visibly tired she relented. Euphemia was slowly regaining her strength and the doctors were confident that she would soon return to her usual vitality. Riza certainly hoped so, for all their sakes.

As she waited for her next appointment Euphemia flipped through some of the reports on her desk. The Russian Federation's fleet was still anchored at Vladivostok, though their readiness levels indicated they would be prepared to set sail at a moment's notice. The delay was however giving Britannia time to deploy two taskforces from Sixth Fleet, adding to the firepower concentrated in Japanese waters. It would still be another few days before they arrived however, and if the Russians decided to attack now Seventh Fleet's local assets might not be enough to ensure victory. Of course were Eighth Fleet to put in a showing, the odds would shift significantly in the Empire's favor. There was no longer any need for it to be hovering over Pendragon, the city was quite secured with the regular military forces and surviving royal guards. The fleet had also not expended any of its cruise missiles, and the railgun munitions could be easily replenished without having to return to the drydocks at Groom Lake. Once Eighth Fleet's new commanding officer was finished shuffling his staff, it could be dispatched to reinforce Japan.

"Your highness, General Arseid has arrived."

Euphemia set the report aside. "Thank you Rachel, please send him in."

The doors opened and the viscount entered, bowing as he came into Euphemia's presence.

"Your majesty."

"General. Please, have a seat."

Once Victor had done so Euphemia continued. "I believe you are here to discuss the reorganization of Fenrir Regiment."

"Yes your majesty," the viscount said. "Like the other royal guards of the Rounds Fenrir Regiment took substantial casualties in the Battle of Pendragon. It lost the equivalent of two battalions of knightmares and one battalion of infantry. Making good those losses will take a bit of time, but I believe I have a means of shortening that time for the infantry units."

Euphemia cocked her head aside. "I trust your judgment, general. Is there a reason you feel the need to personally consult me on this means?"

"Because of the precedent this would set," Victor said. "I believe it to be one your majesty would agree with, but I feel that I should nonetheless inform you of it."

"Very well general. What is this means you propose?"

"The 100th infantry battalion, the unit from Area 11, Japan, that you brought with you to secure the thought elevator in California."

Euphemia's eyes flickered. The viscount was right, that would set a precedent. And not one she was opposed to either.

"Might I hear your reasoning, general? Just for my own curiosity."

"The rationale is simple, your majesty. The loyalty of Fenrir Regiment must be absolutely unequivocal. While there are many whom would pledge themselves to you, few have actually demonstrated the depths of their loyalty and dedication. The 100th infantry division on the other hand fought in your defense at Keio, and then followed you across the Pacific in order to secure the California thought elevator. One amongst their number was even selected for armsman training," and more softly, "before going on to swear herself to your sister."

Euphemia's lips thinned, not out of any displeasure with the viscount, but at the slight tightening of her chest that came with any reference to her fallen family.

"Your point is made, general," Euphemia said as evenly as she could manage. "And it is indeed one I agree with. You may extend to the men and women of the 100th an offer to transfer to Fenrir Regiment. And convey my personal thanks to all of them, regardless of their decision, for having stood with me thus far."

Victor stood and bowed his head. "By your leave, your majesty."

* * *

"Well Heinrich, it seems you will be taking your leave of us again," Eleanor said.

"Are you not returning to the Schola?" the baron asked.

Eleanor shook her head. "In light of the losses we suffered, I have been requested to return to full active duty with the Ordo Xenos. But the Schola should be fine with General Vandyke overseeing it."

"I suppose so," Heinrich said. "I only know the man by reputation, but that and your confidence in him probably bodes well."

The colonel raised an eyebrow. "Probably?"

Heinrich cracked a smile. "Probably."

After a moment Eleanor returned it. She then extended a hand.

"It has been a pleasure working with you again Heinrich. While the Ordo will miss your service, I know that you will uphold your new duties with your usual efficiency and skill."

"I certainly hope so," Heinrich said, giving Eleanor's hand a firm squeeze. "Seeing as my daughter has been tapped to be one of Japan's provincial governors once it achieves satellite status, I'll need to make sure there's a firm foundation ready."

While the exact division of Japan into provinces had yet to be determined, the mere granting of a dukedom pertaining to the archipelago was an implicit notification by the empress that she considered the area to be progressing towards the point where it would be necessary. Heinrich had seen various proposals in the past as to how Japan might be reorganized, with the simplest subdivision splitting the island of Honshu into two separate provinces while the remaining three would in their entireties be turned into individual provinces. As Duchess of Tokyo Kallen would almost certainly assume control of the eastern part of Honshu. Exactly whom else her majesty would deign to name as provincial lords would however have to be resolved in the future. While traditionally a region's last viceroy would receive one of the provinces carved out of his or her former domain, in Heinrich's case that was already being done by proxy with his daughter. Then again perhaps her majesty was setting things up so that she could hand the entire island of Honshu to Kallen and her family. That would be exceedingly generous, but considering everything they had gone through for the empress an excess of generosity might not be out of the question.

A knock sounded on the door, causing both to look over. Heinrich glanced over at Eleanor, this was technically her office, but the colonel simply shrugged. She was not expecting anyone, but that hardly meant anything. Hopefully the visitor was not the bearer of any more bad news.

"Enter."

The door opened and a shortish but stoutly built man entered.

"Agent Thompson," Eleanor greeted.

"Ma'am," the man responded. "Your lordship. I hope I'm not intruding?"

"Not at all," Eleanor said genially. "What matter brings you to my office?"

"The matter, actually relates to the baron, ma'am."

Heinrich raised an eyebrow. "Do we need to take this somewhere else, agent?"

"No my lord."

"Well then, let's hear it."

"Yes my lord. I know this to be a bit, unorthodox, but a member of the kill team has a favor he would ask of you."

The baron cocked his head aside. "Oh?"

"It is purely a personal matter, and has nothing to do with your appointment as viceroy," Thompson continued. "It would perhaps be best for Private Jaeger to explain himself."

"I presume the private is waiting outside."

"Yes sir."

Heinrich looked over at Eleanor and the colonel nodded.

"Very well, show him in."

Thompson stepped back out, nodded, and returned with the private in tow. The young man came to attention before the them.

"Well private," Heinrich said, settling back into his chair. "What is it you wish to ask me of."

Eren took a deep breath. "The, soldier, that was standing by the Princess Millicent at the coronation. I think, she's someone that I knew growing up, sir, someone I lost contact with when the Empire invaded Area-Japan."

The baron regarded the young man. "You lived in Japan prior to the invasion?"

"Yes sir, with my parents. We, lived in a district outside of the Concession. The Ackermanns were neighbors of ours."

Heinrich's eyes narrowed. "So this young woman, her father was Britannian and her mother Japanese?"

Eren nodded, grimacing as he did so.

"And she has risen highly enough that she could attend her majesty's coronation."

"I don't know how that happened sir," Eren said, his face tightening further. "We, thought she had died with her parents."

Heinrich and Eleanor exchanged looks again and the baron tilted his head ever so slightly.

"You seem very certain that her parents did pass away," Eleanor noted.

Eren ground his teeth. "We, tried to reach them when we were evacuating. But, we were too late. There was a mob of Ele-Japanese, surrounding their home. I, saw them. Just, hanging there."

The look Eleanor gave Eren was one of immense sympathy. Heinrich's own expression was relatively impassive, not that he was actually unmoved by the young man's words. The outset of conflict between Britannia and Japan had taken many people by surprise, though due to his connections Heinrich was able to pull his own family into the Britannian concession before it was too late. Many other families had not been nearly as fortunate and in the hysteria that erupted quite a few of those families were lynched by Japanese mobs, men, women, children all. Granted the number of deaths were in the low hundreds and paled in comparison to the Japanese deaths that resulted when the Empire took control, but that they took place at all served to fuel Britannian animosity towards the Japanese people, an animosity that was already burning strongly due to the perceived betrayal by the Kururugi government's sakuradite embargo. The end result was a cycle of hatred and revenge that was now his responsibility to sort out as viceroy of Japan. He supposed he could get started on that now.

"Mind if I use your phone, Eleanor?"

"Of course."

"Here's hoping my precocious daughter actually remembered to keep her secure cellphone on her," Heinrich said as he began dialing.

* * *

Unlike their previous meeting there was a palpable nervous tension emanating from the British foreign minister. Augustus did not quite snort at the man's discomfort but he did take a mild satisfaction at seeing the man taken down a notch. Harold had come to Britannia so certain of himself, so self-assured. For someone whom claimed to be a cousin of the Britannian people, the British man certainly seemed to possess a rather poor understanding of the Empire.

"Mr. Caccia," Augustus began plainly. "Her majesty's government has reviewed the, terms, that you believe would provide for a peaceful resolution to the end of this conflict, and we find them to be unsatisfactory in the extreme. The Empire did not start this war, and we see no reason why we should be made lesser in ending it."

"Your grace-"

"I am not finished, Mr. Caccia," Augustus cut the man off.

Harold closed his mouth and once Augustus was satisfied the point was made continued.

"Her majesty the empress has decreed a different set of terms whereupon the world may return to peace," the duke said. "Note that these terms are not negotiable, either the European Union accepts them as is, or we dictate an entirely different set of terms from whichever of your capitals we need to occupy. The EU will withdraw from the Middle East, recognize Britannia as the rightful government for the region, and pay an indemnity of five hundred billion pounds."

The British foreign minister choked at that last bit, his mouth hanging agape as he stared at Augustus.

"The EU and its constituent members will also recognize any terms the Empire comes to separately with the Chinese Federation, unconditionally and without further interference in our conflict with them."

In other words, they also needed to abandon their nominal allies to their fate.

"Finally, the EU will transfer to Britannian custody Suzaku Kururugi, to stand trial for high treason for participating in the _European_ sponsored operation that destroyed the thought elevator in New York."

The shock turned to horror as Harold grasped what the duke was insinuating. The Empire was prepared to lay blame for the destruction wrought upon the North American east coast on the EU, perhaps even publicly, thus challenging the sequence of events Great Britain claimed to be able to release.

"Th-the return of Kururugi might be achievable," Harold sputtered. "But the rest-the EU would never agree to the other terms!"

"Well, that makes things quite simple then," Augustus said, cracking a wry smile. "Good day minister, your flight is already cleared to return to London. I suggest you take your leave while her majesty is still feeling hospitable."

"Your grace, you cannot be serious," Harold tried again. "The Empire is in no shape to continue prosecuting this war! Much of the east coast remains devastated, you should be focusing your resources on helping your people!"

Augustus' eyes narrowed at the insinuation. "My niece, her majesty, due to her time with the Exchequer is well-versed in economics. She is especially familiar with a specific term, the point of diminishing returns. I think you will find that the Empire is wholly capable of mounting the necessary humanitarian operations while simultaneously conducting any military operations necessary to end the war on _our_ terms."

The British man still regarded Augustus incredulously, as if incapable of comprehending the fact that the Empire would continue to fight under such circumstances, to perhaps invite even greater suffering upon its people in pursuance of victory. This time Augustus did snort.

"Though our two peoples have a common ancestry, I see that the century and a half of separation has resulted in a rather severe divergence in our respective sensibilities. It will have to be dealt with once this war is concluded."

If the duke's previous remarks had instilled upon Harold a sense of mild shock, the horror that now suffused the minister's face was of an entirely different degree. The insinuation in those words, the terms that Britannia would demand if they ended up achieving a military victory over the European Union. The Conservative party of Great Britain was always considered by many to be overly nostalgic for the era when the United Kingdom was one of Europe's great powers, and a monarchy with a landed nobility. Others even accused the party of being overly friendly with the Holy Britannian Empire, the spiritual successor to the old kingdom. Even so, reunification with their cousins across the pond was still considered something of a fringe agenda in Great Britain and completely anathema in the Republic of Ireland. The Holy Britannian Empire obviously did not see it that way, and the war triggered by the European Union now offered it an opportunity to achieve that ambition, to restore the British Isles to imperial rule. Harold found himself completely and utterly speechless at the very real possibility of that happening.

"I think we are done here, minister," Augustus stated firmly. "The lieutenant will see that you are provided transportation to the base."

And so dismissed the man.

* * *

"It's really not necessary for you to do this in person sir," Erwin said.

"You and I both know that's not true Erwin," Alphonse responded as the two walked. "This, Kururugi character has come with extraordinary claims that the British government was foolish enough to believe wholesale. I will hear these claims myself, and decide if we should just hang the man here and now for the fiasco he has caused."

Fiasco, might well be too tame a word for the situation the EU now found itself in. The delay caused by the British antics had seen the chance to launch a surprise attack on the Britannian Seventh Fleet escape them, what with the Empire discovering the presence of the Russian Baltic Fleet docked at Vladivostok thanks to the cleared-up weather. Then there was the fact that the entire gambit by the British had met with utter failure, their foreign minister returning the day before with what amounted to an ultimatum from the Empire. One that the Britannians must have known would be rejected out of hand by the EU.

Of course the decision to reject those terms had not come as automatically as they might have just a few weeks ago. The appearance of the Britannian Eighth Fleet was having all sorts of repercussions politically and militarily, not least because the Europeans were so bereft of intelligence on the fleet's actual capabilities. How quickly could its ships travel? How long could they remain in the air before they needed to land and refuel? Even the most pessimistic projections based on the publicly available information about the _Avalon_ suggested very unsettling possibilities. At best a radical shift in warfare had been effected upon a world unprepared for it. At worst, Britannia might well have the ability to directly invade the European mainland even without a staging point like the Middle East.

Then there was the entire mess that was the Battle of Pendragon and its aftermath. The operation launched by Lelouch had nearly succeeded, the young man was seemingly responsible for killing almost the entirety of the Britannian imperial family. Almost unfortunately was not good enough, not when the sole survivor was someone as willful and steel nerved as the newly ascended Empress Euphemia. Her majesty seemed determined to exact vengeance upon the EU for its complicity in the deaths of her family, and the frightening thing was she might very well have the means to do just that.

The only person whom might possess any insight into the events that unfolded in the Empire, at least the only one in European custody, was Suzaku Kururugi, assuming the Japanese man was telling the truth. The debriefing had provided enough information that lined up with what Alphonse knew that the man was probably not a maniac raving complete insanity, but there were enough incongruities that suggested either Lelouch had not revealed everything he intended to his superiors, or had been forced to massively improvise when the merdé started flying. In either case Alphonse intended to get to the bottom of this, which was why he had made the trip from Paris to the Arsenal de Toulon, the principal base of the French Navy and one of the most secure facilities in France.

While an army man, Alphonse was still able to appreciate the role the navy played in ensuring France's standing as a world power. On previous visits he had always found the sips of the Force d'action navale lining the docks, from the smallest frigate to the flagship of the entire Marine Nationale the aircraft carrier _Jeanne d'Arc_ , a comforting sight. These days however, the sight was less reassuring than it had been on previous visits.

The soldiers stationed at the base all came to attention as Alphonse passed, showing proper deference to the Marshal of France. Alphonse made sure to acknowledge their deference but otherwise wasted little time in reaching his destination, one of the detention cells deep within the base. As they neared an officer stepped before the two and snapped a salute.

"Marshal, before you speak with the prisoner, I must insist on a word of caution," the man said.

"Then speak it, captain."

"Yes sir. The prisoner, he has undergone significant surgical modification. We have not had time to complete a thorough examination, in fact that might not even be possible without dissecting him outright, but there are indications that his body has seen reinforcement in the bones, joints, and musculature. How this is even possible, our doctors are at a loss, whomever did this is decades ahead of our best medical practitioners."

That elicited frowns from Alphonse and Erwin both.

"The ramifications of these modifications?" the French marshal asked.

"We believe the prisoner to be capable of near superhuman feats of strength and agility, sir. And while I do not mean to sound alarmist, I am not entirely certain the cell that he is currently in would be able to hold him should he wish to escape."

"Guards have been posted to ensure any such attempt will end in failure?" Alphonse queried next.

"Yes sir. Though according to the British they found the prisoner after he had been shot several times, and none of the rounds had succeeded in penetrating into his vitals."

"Well, I suppose your men will just have to aim for the head," Alphonse said dryly. "Thank you for the warnings, captain, I will not let my guard down."

The captain nodded, though obviously still unhappy about letting the marshal into the prisoner's presence. There was little he could do about it however so he stepped aside.

The cell that Suzaku was held in was rather bare, with the basic amenities but little in the way of actual comfort. As Alphonse and Erwin entered on the other side of the barrier the young man looked up, a visibly haunted, even tired expression on his face. The two field marshals exchanged looks before Alphonse stepped closer to the glass and hit the intercom.

"I am Marshal Alphonse Pierre Juin, head of the European Combined Armed Forces. It is my understanding that you have intelligence pertinent to the events that so recently unfolded in the Holy Britannian Empire, Monsieur Kururugi."

"Britannia," Suzaku muttered. "Yes, yes I do. You, you need to stop the fighting. You _can_ stop the fighting. Otherwise, the world's going to burn. Like it did in New York."

Alphonse frowned. The reports had indicated that Suzaku, might not entirely be there. Then again anyone whom might have played a direct role in causing the devastation that struck the North American east coast was likely to be suffering from a certain degree of shock.

"You claim that the person responsible for the destruction of the New York thought elevator was a Britannian prince," Alphonse continued his questioning.

"Yes. Lelouch. He-he got to me in Japan. Got me to betray the Empire. To kill-people that trusted me. To-try to kill the viceroy." Suzaku shook his head. "Oh god, what have I done!?"

More than shock, Alphonse surmised. "What proof do you have that this, Lelouch, was actually a Britannian prince?"

"They knew," Suzaku said. "They were hunting him, and they _knew_ Lelouch was one of theirs."

The two European officers frowned.

"Who knew?" Alphonse pressed.

" _They_ ," Suzaku repeated. "They-they-the Directorate, the emperor, the princes and princesses, they _all_ knew it was Lelouch. It was their brother. They _all_ knew."

The claim was interesting, if true, but it hardly constituted proof.

"Monsieur Kururugi," Alphonse tried again. "Do you have _proof_ of your assertions."

Suzaku looked back up at Alphonse. The marshal thought he saw a slight bluish tint in the young man's eyes.

"You. _You_ know too. He got to you too, just like he got to me."

Alphonse frowned. And felt a slight headache start building. He massaged his temple, trying to remain focused.

"What are you talking about?"

"That's alright," Suzaku continued. "I can-I can help you. I can set you free."

And then a sharp pain rain through Alphonse's head, eliciting a cry from the elderly man. His knees buckled and he would have toppled outright save for the others reaching out and grabbing hold of him.

"Alphonse!" Erwin exclaimed in surprise.

Blood began pouring out from the Frenchman's ears, his eyes rolling over almost instantly.

"Get a doctor in here now!" the German man shouted.

One of the guards was already issuing the summons through his radio. The marshal was laid down on the floor, his friend cradling his head. Erwin looked up at the glass and glared at Suzaku.

"What did you do!?"

"I-I tried to help him," Suzaku said, his mouth hanging agape. "I-oh god, how-why didn't that work? Why didn't that work!?"

The German man uttered a curse even as the door flung open. The doctor took one look at the marshal and blanched.

"We need to get him to the hospital now," he said.

Erwin released his friend, letting the younger and stronger soldiers take hold of the marshal as they lifted and carried him out of the room. He spared one last glance at Suzaku.

"Get more guards in here," he ordered. "If he tries, anything, anything at all, I want enough lead in him to put him down, for good."

And stormed out after his friend.

Suzaku's gaze followed the German as he departed, and watched as several more soldiers appeared. All of them were armed with rifles, not just side arms. The young man backed away from the glass and stumbled back onto the cot. He had just wanted to help. That was all he was trying to do. Why did it always turn out like this. Always.

End of Chapter 96

I could have probably finished this chapter on Turkey day. Instead I spent it playing video games. I have no regrets.

Microsoft seems to have tweaked the grammar and spell checker in Word. It is now trying to tell me how to form sentences and ignore word is no longer the default option. They are progressively making Word less and less useful.

I had a couple of options for where to stick Suzaku once he was in French custody. Another possibility was Île Longue, which might have made more sense from the perspective of secrecy, but seeing as there is not yet a ballistic missile fleet (you first need nukes for that, and in fact it didn't become the home base for France's strategic submarine fleet until 1965) I decided Toulon would suffice. It also lets me do, something, in the coming chapters. Tum te tum te tum.

Not that many people actually know Heinrich is Ordo Xenos. He'll definitely be retiring from that job, again, but ultimately even if he kept on doing it it's not like anyone outside the Ordo's upper echelons, and probably Euphemia and Kallen, would know. Though considering his new responsibilities he really won't have time to act as a Xenos analyst, and that more than anything else would be why he'd be resigning.

Technically Euphemia has already stripped the treasonous noble families of their patents. She did just name Rochester as Duke of Richmond and give him the province of Virginia after all. It should be noted that Rochester himself was actually also a Virginian noble, he was baron of Fairfax before this.

Britannia still retains the historic titles like Prince of Wales, Duke of York, and etc. It's a legal fiction for the most part, though by the end of this story it'll probably be less fiction instory at least.

The Japanese writers came up with the concept of numbers for the Rounds. As I've mentioned a couple times in the story, it's not so much the numbers themselves but the duties associated with being a Round that would result in any sort of hierarchy between the Rounds themselves. Anything else the emperor or empress has to explicitly lay out a command chain for them, which was one of the reasons Luciano tried to use to justify him not obeying Nonette's orders. And also why his estate is now a crater outside of Pendragon. Not really smoldering though in retrospect, railgun strikes don't really convey explosive energy.

Appointing Rai as the Knight of Eleven doesn't actually cost Euphemia much if anything in terms of political capital. These appointments are entirely at the prerogative of the sovereign, and what is more due to the nature of their responsibilities they actually suck as a means of exerting influence beyond Pendragon itself. Granted being smack dab in the middle of the imperial court offers certain opportunities, but it is generally accepted that you cannot suborn a Knight of the Round, ever, which means that the knights never take advantage of their positions to advance their own standing to the detriment of their liege. The Rounds therefore serves as one of the direct instruments of power held by the emperor or empress, one which the imperial court has few means to try influencing. You do not get appointed to the Rounds as part of any sort of political bargaining, unless the sovereign in question is really inept. You get appointed because you are prepared to carry out your liege's will above anything else.

Charles has already set a few precedents in this department as well, what with his appointing of Gino and Anya, whom are both technically way too young for their respective positions or to have had time to establish any sort of reputation to justify such appointments. But he's the emperor, and he can damn well do what he wants. Both were also under Bismarck's command for a reason, publicly at least, and Anya cheated so hard with having Marianne basically act as her mentor all these years.

The only exception to the above lack of political clout is the appointment of Knight of One, wherein you can ask for a viceroyalty. In practical terms however, few knights actually end up asking for one, if nothing else due to the complexities of fulfilling both duties. In Victor's case he has no desire for one, and in Kallen's she's probably already going to be one of Japan's provincial lords by the time she is appointed so it would be moot by then. And she sure as hell has no interest in the viceroyalty of any of the other areas. There is also the fact that it is entirely possible for there to be no viceroyalty to grant. Once an area reaches satellite status in my version of the Code Geass universe, it gets reorganized into provinces and fully integrated into Britannia. As such if the Empire stops conquering new territory, or successfully conquers the entire world, it could conceivably reach a point where all of its territories are fully integrated without any viceroyalties remaining.

Now, Euphemia actually marrying Rai, that will cost her a bit. But due to her popularity with the general populace and the amount of power concentrated in the imperial government and her hold over it, it really is only a bit by that point. Charles again already set a precedent by marrying one of his own knights whom was previously of low standing. And God help anyone who tries to object or interfere with this union, as the empress' loyal and loving subjects will not take kindly to the little happiness their ruler finds getting messed with.

Rai already explained it in a previous chapter, but I suppose I can reiterate it here. Time travel in this story does not allow you to go back in time to change your past. Any change that you do creates a divergent timeline branching off of the point where the change is introduced. And because that divergent branch is not your timeline, if you try to go to that timeline you would be a foreign element. There might be another version of you that exists natively, but you and that version would be completely different people, there would not be a place for you to seamlessly integrate into. As such, there is not any direct advantage to traveling back in time seeing as you gain no direct benefit from any changes you make. If you do it anyway, you generally are after something else.


	98. Chapter 97

_The responses to the aftermath of the Battle of Pendragon across the Empire varied significantly. Many of the more recently conquered regions celebrated the near destruction of the imperial family, while those that had been more thoroughly integrated mourned along with the rest of the homelands. Japan stood out as an interesting exception, in that despite the relative recentness of its conquest, the tragedy of the imperial family actually served to rally its people behind Britannia. This was almost certainly due to the policies enacted by the Empress Euphemia while serving as viceroy of Japan, policies that significantly improved conditions for the Japanese people. Not only were standards of living on an upward trend, the Japanese people were also finding once more a sense of dignity and even pride in their person. The gratitude the Japanese felt towards the Empress Euphemia was thus considerable, as was the shock and rage they felt when news came of how perilously close their liege had come to perishing with the rest of her family._

 _Not long after the Empress Euphemia's ascension, recruitment offices in Japan were overwhelmed by volunteers looking to enlist in the Britannian armed forces. The policies regarding enlistment had yet to be updated so the process entailed swearing an oath of loyalty to the Empire and its sovereign to become Honorary Britannians. Over two million Japanese would do so over the course of the war._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 97

Pax viribus

Ever since the reported death of the Empress Marianne access to the Imperial Ares Villa was limited even to members of the imperial family. A detachment of Loki Regiment soldiers secured the grounds while a small staff maintained the estate proper. While it was possible to arrange visits, they all had to be approved by the emperor himself. The reason for this security was now clear as this was where Marianne's body was being kept, safe from prying eyes and any whom would attempt to bring further harm to the empress.

With the destruction of C.C.'s code and the loss of every geass it granted, Marianne was now effectively consigned to live out her natural life in her comma. There was no hope of reviving her, not with modern medical technology, and Rai had made clear that no advance within the empress' expected lifespan would be sufficient to change that. For this reason, and the simple fact that Marianne had explicitly consented to it, Euphemia found herself within the room wherein her surrogate mother's form rested, listening to the steady beep of the life support system. The young woman took a deep breath.

"I don't know if you can hear me, Aunt Marie. The doctors say you can't. Raibeart also says you can't. But, a part of me hopes that they're all wrong."

Marianne's form remained still save for the slight rising and falling of her chest as she breathed.

"I don't think I ever told you, how thankful I was that you took me in after my own mother passed away. You showed me the same love as you gave to Lelouch and Nunnally, and made sure I grew up feeling happy and safe. The debt I owe you for that, is something that could never be repaid. But I've tried, little by little. I've tried, to become a woman that you would have been proud to have raised. And the daughter that you always told me my own mother had always wanted."

Euphemia reached out, taking hold of Marianne's hand.

"I never realized, truly realized, just how many people had protected me over the years. From my brothers and sisters, to my uncles and aunts. Even my own father." The young woman smiled ruefully. "I thought he did not care about any of us, save as pieces on the board. And yet as I read through his letters, his journals, I see that he was playing an entirely different game. To nurture, but not coddle. To ensure that each of us would be able to face the cold harshness that was the imperial court, and much of the outside world. Had he not cared, he would have allowed each and every single one of us to wallow in decadent frivolity. Instead he demanded that we live up to our potential, for that would be the only way we could properly wield the power inherent in our station. And he did so by giving all of us a villain to unite against, himself."

Euphemia sighed, tightening her grip on the older woman's hand.

"I can understand father's reasons. I can understand the monsters that he thought he was making us strong enough to slay. And in a way he even succeeded, causing all of us to rally about Schneizel. But, I cannot approve of the means. I do not know if I will be able to raise them to possess the same degree of cunning, guile, and ultimately ruthlessness that a leader must be capable of. That I have become capable of. But, I would have them know, without question, that the greatest strength of our family is its love. I would have them grow stronger not because they are surrounded by doubt regarding their own worth, but because they are of firm confidence in that worth. And I would see them learn compassion and kindness, not because they believe it to be scarce, but because they would seek to treat others in the manner they themselves wish to be treated."

Marianne of course gave no answer, or any indication at all that Euphemia was doing anything but talking to herself. Yet the young woman still found immense comfort in so speaking, in hoping that her words reached the sleeping empress. She would not have the luxury of this comfort for much longer after all.

"I think you would approve, of the intent if not the methods," Euphemia continued. "After all, father could only have played the villain because he had you to play the heroine, and though you showed us love you did not once seek to bridge the distance between us and father. Perhaps the two of you thought that was the best circumstances would allow. Perhaps you were even right. But I would like to think that you would be proud that I would try to do better."

Euphemia placed the hand she held atop Marianne, and then the other as well.

"I couldn't save Lelouch, and I couldn't protect Nunnally. I thought I was strong enough, but it was Lelouch that saved me in the end. I couldn't save them, when all of you saved me. But maybe, by saving myself, and saving those that remain, I'll be able to make up for some of my failures."

The young woman leaned forward, planting a gentle kiss on Marianne's forehead.

"I promise, Aunt Marie. I'll take care of myself. I'll take care of my family. And I'll make sure that we truly are a family, without all of the lies and secrets that kept us apart before. So, please. Wherever your journey takes you next, let it be that you left this life content and without regret."

The empress turned towards the machines. The doctors had already told her the exact steps and with her photographic memory Euphemia could replay those instructions at will. She reached out, toggling the switches in sequence. The beeping from the machine kept in pace with Marianne's heart, and then turned into a single solid tone. The woman's form stilled, her chest no longer rising or falling in time with breaths that were no longer taken.

"Farewell, Marianne," Euphemia said, her voice wavering ever so slightly in its inflection. "May you find peace with our family."

* * *

The weather was remarkably mild for this time of the year, it might even be a hint of the approaching spring. Even so Euphemia wrapped herself in a well-padded coat as she followed the hearses bearing her family. This was the second time this duty had been required of her. The first, her dear sister Cornelia had been with her to share the burden. Now she was amongst those being taken to their final resting place. The empress was not alone however. To her right the newly appointed Princess Millicent. To her left Elise Schwarzer, the adoptive sister of the posthumously revealed Prince Rean. The three of them were the ones left behind, the ones that needed to pick up the pieces and continue on with life.

Before them was of course not just the three siblings whom had been especially dear, but all of the men, women, and children whom shared with Euphemia common blood. At the head, the late Emperor Charles himself. Amidst the many carriages being drawn, not only Euphemia's brothers and sisters like Schneizel, Cornelia, and Nunnally, but also a few imperial cousins. Some Euphemia had been quite close with, having effectively grown up and even attended primary school with them. Others were more distant, and whose inclusion had come as a surprise.

There was no doubt to Felix Cayenne's treason and the man's ashes had already been scattered to the winds. His daughter Cecilia however continued to receive recognition as an imperial cousin on the direct orders of Euphemia herself. Whether this was a purely political gesture, an olive branch to the partisans that remained sympathetic to the Cayenne and Le Guin families, or to what degree the empress believed in Cecilia's innocence was hard to tell. Regardless there were a number that appreciated the courtesy so extended to the deceased girl. Euphemia could have been unsparing in the casting of imperial ire. Instead she was showing a certain degree of tolerance, and a thread of hope.

The solemn procession stretched quite some length down the avenue, from the imperial palace to the Temple of Freyja. The spirituality of the Britannian people was no more or less than that of other nations and belief in the Norse pantheon was deeply ingrained in the majority of the population, even if most people did not treat them as literal gods anymore. What the likes of Odin and Thor represented was an abstract concept, an ideal to aspire to, not distant deities whom the people begged for favor and succor. Control of one's fate was no easy thing to achieve, but to entrust that fate to a capricious god would hardly be an improvement. The people of Britannia accepted that ultimate responsibility for their own fates rested in purely mortal hands, their own as much as anyone else's. And so when they invoked the name of the gods or offered prayers to them they sought not divine intervention but ultimately a measure of comfort, to be able to take that next step into the unknowable future. A measure of comfort, like now, to help soothe the pain that throbbed in the hearts that still beat.

Despite the immense size of the temple even its interior was hardly sufficient to house all of the caskets and those that wished to bade those that rested within them farewell. There was however space in the massive garden outside, if just barely. Standing before the crowds, Euphemia was effectively exposed to any attempt that sought to finish the destruction of the Britannian imperial family. To achieve this any would be assassin would however need to evade the sight of one Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki. With her geass having meta-stabilized into a pseudo-code, Kallen was now able to observe in minute detail everything with a five-mile radius without ill effect. No one was able to hide from her, no one could approach the garden grounds with a weapon intending harm. The most amazing thing of all however was the fact that no one did. All those gathered before the empress, all of them came in earnest desire to pay their respects, and offer what succor they could to their sovereign. And to listen to the words by which all these fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters would be remembered by.

Elise gave a slight shiver as she stepped forward, before the immense crowds. It was for the young woman a more than unnerving experience, standing before so many people. As the daughter of a baron having to attend some public event as a visible guest was not unknown to her. A part of her felt conflicted at the seeming spectacle all this seemed to be. Her brother was dead, nothing would bring him back, and to have all these people gathered here seemingly just to hear some words from her. Yet when she looked out at those before her, those whose eyes she could make out. There was a pain in them, a pain that she understood full well. She was not the only one to have lost family, the only one grieving. These people were here not out of some perverse, morbid curiosity. They were here because they too were seeking solace and comfort. Comfort that her words might offer. Elise took a deep breath.

"I never thought of Rean as anyone but my brother. That was how everyone in Ymir treated him, and that is how I hope he saw himself. I do not know if he ever suspected his heritage. I do know that the thought that he did not belong with our family weighed greatly upon him. It was why he applied himself to the sword, but never quite reached the mastery of self needed to master the blade. It was why he applied to the Imperial Military Academy, and accepted the appointment to the Knightmare Corps Cadet Brigade. He wanted to find himself, he wanted to be sure that he had a place in the world he could himself be certain of. And I think he was starting to find that."

Elise wiped away a singular tear. Through great will she kept others from joining it.

"That Rean felt so uncertain, I often asked myself if there was something more that I could have done. Something to make him truly see himself as who he was, without doubt or ambiguity. Something to make him realize that no matter what, he was and would always be my brother."

That last word rang with a certainty, a firmness that carried across the grounds. More than one person found themselves taking a deep breath at hearing it.

"I find now though, that such doubt on my own part must have touched him as well. And instead of soothing his own uncertainty, it surely would have only fed it. It is too late to take back my callous, selfish worry. What matters now is what I do from henceforth. And what I choose to do, is to remember that Rean was my brother, now and forever."

Elise dipped her form into a polite curtsey, to thank all those whom heard her words and listened. She stepped back, eyes closed, sealing away the tears that sought release. There was a time for crying. She would wait until then.

With a deep breath of her own Milly stepped forward. The young woman recalled when not so long ago she had been on the other side of this exchange, one of the audience instead of one speaking before them. She had not envied Euphemia that task when the princess bade farewell to Clovis. She would have preferred to not be here at all, but that was not an option here for so many reasons. So many reasons, when she could have done without that single one.

"Abigail Nunnally Ashford. That was what my grandfather called Nunnally when she came to us, her body frail and her heart broken. I had never had reason to want a sibling, a brother or a sister. What need, when my family saw to it that I was often visiting other children like Lulu and Nanna and Euphie? I had no brothers and sisters, for I had no need for them to not feel alone. But I was given one nonetheless, and I would not have given her up for anything in the world."

Milly's head dipped down.

"The world however, did not care. It took her from me, took all of them from us, with a callous disregard for the pain and suffering that loss would inflict on those of us left behind. A pain that drives within me not just sorrow but anger, anger at those whom stole my family away from me, and anger at the world for letting such a thing happen. That Nunnally would not wish me to endure such sadness or anger, I know full well. That she would want me to forgive, to not dwell on her passing." The young woman inhaled sharply. "In a way, she was too kind for this world. She held no malice towards others, and was always prepared to think the best of them. But I am not her. I am capable of hatred, and malice, and scorn. I am capable of all that and more, because I am also capable of love. And so long as my love for my sister lingers, so will all the other emotions that is driven by that love."

Not as poignant as Elise's statement, but meaningful in its own way. The former's sought to emphasize the comfort of remembrance. The latter, that with remembrance also came pain, and that there was nothing wrong with it. The crowds remained silent as they waited to see what the empress herself would say on the matter. Euphemia stepped forward, her bearing of regal poise. When she spoke, her voice carried across the grounds seemingly without effort.

"When last I bade farewell to one of my blood, I made a promise to see that no more of it would be shed. And yet here I stand, that promise not merely broken but in utter tatters. I failed to uphold that promise, and now I am left bereft of kin, but not kind."

The empress' gaze swept across those that listened to her words.

"I am bereft of family, but I am not alone. Not alone in my grief, nor my anger, nor my resolve. I am not alone, because I have all of you. Britannia represents not merely my family, but the sum of all those whom call themselves sons and daughters of the Empire. And in this manner, we are brothers and sisters all. Not by blood or birth, but by an oath that binds myself to each and every one of you. An oath made upon these very grounds, when Britannia emerged as a nation, and as a people. An oath, that those of my blood have held true to for over a hundred and fifty years."

The Oath of Affirmation, everyone listening now understood that to be what Euphemia referred to. It was the promise made by Ricardo von Britannia when he established the Holy Britannian Empire as not just a reorganization of the old United Kingdom, but as an outright successor carrying forth its own banner. The promise that those of his line would always see the needs of the Empire met, whatever it might cost in both treasure and blood. The promise that to this day still held.

"I am not alone," Euphemia repeated again. "And I will not be alone. Because I have with me all of Britannia, down to the last man, woman, and child. And all of them, all of you, have me. Just as all of you have had my father, my brothers, and my sisters, and they in turn had all of you, now, and forevermore. And because we all have each other, Britannia will endure." The empress looked over at Elise and Milly. "We will endure." And once more at the crowds. "I, will endure."

* * *

Euphemia had slept soundly the night before. It was not the deep, dreamless sleep that her body succumbed to due to sheer exhaustion. It was a peaceful, genuinely restful sleep that saw her awaken feeling refreshed. Euphemia would not claim that she was at peace or content, far from it. But she was slowly recovering, regaining the spark of life that had nearly been extinguished.

"Your majesty, Marshal Vander wishes to see you immediately, he says the matter is urgent."

Of course just as quickly as she recovered the universe came up with new demands for her. Euphemia set aside the fork and knife and wiped her mouth.

"Then please show him in."

The armsman clicked his heels together and a few moments later Zechs was brought before the empress. More than one of Euphemia's guard was giving the man beady looks for having interrupted her breakfast. The marshal bowed.

"Your majesty, I sincerely apologize for calling upon you so abruptly, but there has been a development. We've just received an update from one of our sources inside the French military. The source claims that Marshal Alphonse Juin, the head of the European Combined General Staff, has been incapacitated while visiting the Toulon naval base. Furthermore, the source claims that Suzaku Kururugi is also being held at the base."

Euphemia's eyes narrowed. "I see. One moment, marshal." She looked over to one of her armsmen. "Lieutenant Armstrong, please summon Dame Kruszewski, Kallen, and Raibeart."

"Yes your majesty."

"You might as well sit while we wait," Euphemia said. "Have you had breakfast yet, marshal?"

"I had an early start, your majesty," Zechs assured the empress.

"Ah. Well, I am just getting started, so I hope you do not mind if I finish mine."

Zechs dipped his head respectfully. By the time the three summoned arrived she had actually finished eating and servants were removing the plates and utensils. Once they were gone Euphemia nodded to Zechs.

"Now, marshal, if you would."

"Yes your majesty," the man said before shifting his gaze over to the three new arrivals. "An intelligence asset in France has managed to pass on the location of Suzaku Kururugi. He is presently being held at the Toulon naval base in southern France. What is more, Marshal Alphonse Juin has also been reported to have been incapacitated while visiting the base. There is a suggestion that the two are somehow linked."

Thoughtful expressions crossed all three faces as they considered the ramifications of this news. And whether it was of any actual use at this point in time.

"Well I don't know about Xenos, but I don't have any assets that can be used to take Suzaku out while he's held at Toulon," Monica said.

"Any realistic option that we have now would warrant basically taking out the entire base along with Suzaku," Rai stated frankly.

Zechs raised an eyebrow but made no comment. It had been impressed upon him the danger that Suzaku represented, just as it was made clear that there were details that remained secret even from him. Nonetheless the marshal trusted his sovereign's judgment and if she really did deign Suzaku worth such effort to eliminate he would see about the task to the best of his abilities. That of course did not make the task any easier as Rai was quite correct, the best way to guarantee eliminating Suzaku required the destruction of the Toulon naval base as well.

"That sounds a tad excessive," Kallen said somewhat uncomfortably.

"Considering the amount of damage Suzaku is capable of causing, I would say the destruction of the base, or even of the city itself, would be a small price to pay to neutralize him," Rai countered. "There is also the fact that the Empire is at war with the EU. Destroying the base, and the French fleet anchored there, would have strategic value in and of itself." The knight looked over at Zechs. "Not to mention eliminating Marshal Juin."

While Kallen hardly looked enthusiastic about these prospects, her expression was now more thoughtful and pensive than its previous discomfort.

"Do we even have anything that could be used to knock out the Toulon base like that though, your majesty?" Monica asked. "Cause this is sounding like we would need to outright level it, not just drop a few bombs and hope they hit their mark."

The expressions on Euphemia and Zechs' faces betrayed nothing. In fact the flatness of it was even reflected by Rai. That however was answer enough.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," the Knight of Twelve muttered before clearing her throat. "Your pardon, your majesty."

"That is quite alright," Euphemia said, the lightness of her voice almost eerie in its tone. "And as to your question, yes, Britannia does possess a weapon that would see to the complete destruction of the Toulon naval base and all those within it. Deploying the weapon is however, another matter entirely."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "What exactly is this weapon, your majesty?"

Euphemia looked over at Zechs and nodded. The marshal was perhaps better able to explain the matter, at least from a military perspective.

"The weapon that her majesty is referring to is called an atomic bomb," Zechs began. "It is an extremely recent development, the first successful test of it occurred only late last year. That prototype achieved a yield of 20 kilotons."

Monica's throat gargled. "A single device!?"

Zechs raised an eyebrow but nodded. "Correct."

"Gods," the woman muttered.

Kallen frowned. While abstractly she understood the metric by which explosive yields were measured after a certain point the numbers became hard to visualize or contextualize. Twenty-thousand tons of TNT certainly sounded impressive, but Kallen simply did not possess a frame of reference that would allow her to properly understand just how destructive that was. She glanced over at Rai. The young man's face was impassively stoic. Something told her Rai did possess such frame of reference. Perhaps even firsthand experience.

"We have additional warheads produced," Zechs continued, "but deploying them against Toulon would be extremely difficult. Due to their weight they can only be carried by our larger bombers, which would likely not survive to penetrate European airspace that deeply. Other options such as ships or submarines also have problems, not least of which is how long it would take them to reach Toulon, even assuming they had a way to enter the restricted parts of the port." The man grimaced. "There is also the fact that any such delivery would almost certainly be one way."

At that Kallen did visibly scowl. She did not like sending people on suicide missions, regardless of who they were. That sentiment seemed to be shared by Euphemia at least based on her own expression.

"Marshal," Rai spoke up. "What about the Senior Trend prototype?"

Three pairs of eyes looked at Rai blankly. One gave the knight an almost withering gaze. Euphemia looked back at Zechs quizzically.

"Marshal?"

"Your pardon your majesty," Zechs said. "It is just that, not five minutes ago I would have sworn that only a hundred and thirty-six people knew of the existence of Senior Trend."

"Well, seeing as I am not amongst that number, perhaps you could enlighten me?" Euphemia responded.

Zechs' lips quirked ever so slightly. Technically he had just received a direct order from his sovereign to not just explain Senior Trend to herself, but also to the others in the room. Seeing as all of them were personally sworn to the princess however, they were unlikely to discuss it even with each other. That would have to do.

"Very well your majesty. Senior Trend is the second phase of Project Hades, an effort by the air force to develop a deep strike bomber that is invisible to radar."

Monica's mouth dangled ever so slightly as she gaped at the marshal while Euphemia's own eyes narrowed. Kallen again was the only one whose reaction was relatively subdued, her intellectual understanding of what the marshal was saying not quite enough to fully grasp the ramifications. The young woman understood that radar underpinned modern air defense networks and being able to evade them would permit getting at targets that would otherwise-her thoughts chopped off as she made the connection between Senior Trend and the atomic bomb. A low hiss sounded from Kallen as she shot Rai a look. The young man remained unperturbed, not surprising seeing as he was the one to make the suggestion.

"Presently we have three prototypes undergoing evaluation," Zechs said, "though only the latest one is equipped to deploy ordnance. We have however confirmed their effectiveness against our radar, and unless the Europeans possess much more sophisticated detection systems than the Empire, that should mean the Senior Trend prototypes should be as effective against theirs."

"So a deep strike operation against Toulon is possible?" Euphemia asked.

"Yes your majesty, but it will still be a nontrivial exercise. The prototype does not possess the range to hit Toulon from any of our territories, not even the Middle East ones currently occupied by the Europeans."

Euphemia pursed her lips. "I see."

"I will discuss the matter with Senior Trend's project managers," Zechs said, "and provide you with a definitive answer by the afternoon. If it is possible to launch a strike using the prototype, we should be able to initiate it within the next day or so."

Euphemia nodded. "Please see to it, marshal."

Zechs rose, bowed, and vacated the room, leaving Euphemia alone with her knights. The empress glanced over at Kallen.

"You still have reservations?"

Kallen shrugged. "As was pointed out, we are at war, so it's not like hitting Toulon is not without some value in and of itself. And I agree we need to neutralize Suzaku as quickly and thoroughly as possible." The woman cast her gaze upon Rai. "Still, why do I get the feeling that this, atomic bomb, comes with way more caveats than you are letting on?"

Rai cocked his head aside. "Classified information."

Kallen snorted. "Oh, real helpful there."

"A measure of faith will be necessary here Kallen," Euphemia said. "Know that I am well aware of the ramifications of using this weapon, and I am not authorizing it lightly. Considering however how much damage a single Krell has managed to inflict upon not just Britannia but the world at large, I believe the authorization to be warranted."

Kallen sighed. "Very well, your majesty."

Euphemia nodded. "Now, while all of you are here, we should discuss the upcoming procedure." The empress looked over at Rai. "Raibeart. Everything is ready?"

"The Directorate surgeons have been fully vetted and briefed," Rai answered. "I believe they can be trusted to carry out the procedure."

If Kallen had looked unenthusiastic before her expression was now one of visible distaste. Rai might have been firmly convinced of the necessity of keeping the Directorate's research, and in some areas even continuing with it, but every new revelation regarding the Directorate's methods Kallen found herself more and more inclined to burn it all to the ground and salt the earth afterward. The only reason she refrained from openly advocating that approach was because she had had firsthand experience of just how dangerous some of the threats that humanity faced could be. Still, the young woman felt a significant disquiet at utilizing the fruits of such barbarity.

"Kallen," Euphemia said. "Are you prepared?"

Kallen nodded somewhat glumly. "Yes your majesty."

"My understanding is that you will likely be out of commission for at least a week," the empress continued.

This time it was Rai that nodded. "Yes your majesty. It will likely take at least that long for NEMO to fully integrate into Lady Stadtfeld's neural topology. After that, she should be effectively immune to any attempt by the Krell to hijack her mind."

"Good," Euphemia said, then looked over at Kallen again. "Have you informed your father that you will be out of contact for a time?"

Kallen nodded. "He wasn't, happy, about it, but he understands."

"Considering what your father did the last time he was unhappy," Euphemia said dryly.

To that Kallen cracked a wry smile. Granted she still did not know the full extent of what Heinrich had been up to back here in the homelands, but what hints she had picked up indicated that he was somehow involved with the effort to track down and neutralize Lelouch.

"The surgery will then be taking place tomorrow?" Euphemia asked.

"Yes your majesty," Rai answered.

The empress nodded. "Well, I refrain from tempting fate, and simply expect to see you both once you have awakened."

While the words were addressed to both Kallen and Rai, the former noted that it was the latter Euphemia regarded when she spoke. Kallen suppressed a snort. This was certainly an interesting little development. Then again, she would not begrudge the two growing closer. All of them had been through much, and if they found a bit of happiness in each other, then that was just fine.

* * *

The guards that escorted Suzaku out of his cell to the waiting car had not been polite or gentle. At this point despite orders to keep the incident secret, most of the base had some suspicion regarding his involvement in incapacitating Marshal Juin. Suzaku was not entirely clear on the elderly man's state, save that he was still alive. The roughness of the soldiers however was a clear indication that whatever the condition was, it could have been much better.

"Where am I being taken?" Suzaku asked in English.

The French soldiers ignored him, shoving him into the back of the vehicle where another pair of soldiers secured him to the seat. They obviously had no intention of showing him any courtesy, though that they were not shooting him outright was at least somewhat promising. If only he could figure out just what would happen to him.

A sharp pain shot through Suzaku's head. For a brief moment he thought he heard voices, multiple voices, speaking in a language he did not understand. It was definitely French, he had heard enough over the past few days to recognize that much, but he could not make out any meaning behind the words. And then the muddle of voices disappeared as one of the guards shouted something.

"Le détenu est prêt à partir."

Suzaku watched as the two soldiers exchanged a few more words. His eyes narrowed. He could hear them rather clearly, but it might as well have been gibberish. Sometimes they would say a word that he thought sounded like something in English, but even then he still had no context for the conversation. Beyond the fact that they were probably talking about him at least. And then the doors closed and the vehicle began rolling out. The two guards seated with Suzaku continued glaring at the young man, the rifles they carried pointedly directed at him. Suzaku grimaced. These people were not going to listen to him. At this point likely no one was going to listen to him. If he wanted to end this war, he needed to everything himself. But how.

There were no windows in the rear of the vehicle so Suzaku had little idea of how far they had gone beyond the amount of time that passed. One of the guards had a watch and Suzaku could make out the progression of minutes on it. Over an hour had passed when the radio the guards were wearing crackled and a somewhat frantic voice sounded.

"Que se passe-t-il!?"

One of the guards frowned and reached for his radio. "Quel est le problème?"

"Toulon est, la ville est-"

The vehicle braked hard, causing the guards to nearly slide off their seats. Suzaku, secured as he was, actually fared better. A few moments later the rear door popped open, revealing two more soldiers.

"Qu'est-ce qui-" one of the guards began saying before his mouth froze, jaw dangling.

Suzaku peered out and found himself similarly gapping.

"You!" one of the French soldiers exclaimed. "What is that!?"

The man pointed back towards where Suzaku presumed the city to be. High above Toulon was a billowing cloud, flickers of crimson flame flashing amidst the smoke. The cloud ballooned outward, creating a distinct mushroom shape. The heights to which it towered was unreal and Suzaku felt a cold chill run down his spine.

"I-I don't know," he answered honestly.

"Bordel de merde," the French soldier exclaimed, "il ne sert à rien."

"Qu'est-ce qu'on fait?"

"Je ne sais pas."

Even as the French soldiers conversed amongst themselves Suzaku continued regarding the sight in the distance. Something told him that it was the product of some sort of attack, almost certainly one launched by Britannia. It also must have been immeasurably powerful to be visible this far from the city. The question then was why did the Empire launch such an attack. Was this part of some sort of reprisal for what happened in Pendragon? Had Paris and other major European cities also been hit? Or had there been another reason behind the attack, another target entirely? Suzaku's face twisted. Had he been the intended target, with the city itself only falling victim because they thought he was there.

The young man rose, snapping effortlessly the restraints meant to tie him down. The soldiers stopped arguing amongst themselves and immediately brought their weapons to bear.

"Arrêtez!" one soldier shouted, and then as if recalling whom he was talking to, "stop!"

The soldiers should not have bothered with a warning. They might have lived just a bit longer had they simply opened fire. That at least would have slowed Suzaku down. Not much, but enough to prolong their lives for a few more seconds. As it was two of the soldiers were down before the others even got off a single burst. None of the rounds hit and a second later sickening cracks sounded, leaving the remaining two soldiers bleeding corpses on the road alongside their compatriots.

Suzaku breathed deeply, opening and closing his left fist as he felt the moist stickiness that coated his fingers. He had never killed with his bare hands like this before, the death he dealt previously had always been via a weapon of some sort. A knightmare, a gun, or even a knife. He tried to wipe the blood off on his clothes but all that served to do was stain the shirt. Grimly, the young man looked about. There was no one else on the road, but that would change soon enough. He needed to get away, to find someplace to hide so that he could think and plan.

As he turned about Suzaku hesitated. He looked back at the dead soldiers. After a brief moment mulling it over he knelt down and stripped off some of their gear. The rifle and pistol were frighteningly comfortable in their weight. The radio, he could probably at least use it to listen in on the enemy communications even if he would not understand much of it. Having taken what he needed, Suzaku darted off the road. When more soldiers arrived to investigate he intended to be long gone. And maybe on the first steps to finding some way to end this war, his own way. That was what he believed. That was what the whispers in the back of his head told him to believe. And so he did.

* * *

When Euphemia stepped into the conference room the officers present all rose. Only once she had assumed her place did they take theirs once more. The empress nodded in greeting.

"Marshal Vander. Marshal LeMay."

"Your majesty," both men responded.

"Let us get to the matter at hand," Euphemia said.

"Of course," Zechs said. "Your majesty, at approximately two hundred hours Toulon time, twenty-hundred hours Pendragon time, the Senior Trend prototype was able to deploy its payload against the military port of Toulon. Our preliminary evaluation is that the bombing was on target, and managed to completely destroy the military port itself, along with severely damaging the ships that were anchored. Personnel losses at the base also appear to be near total, and indications are Marshal Juin was still onsite when the bomb hit."

There was a grim satisfaction on the faces of many of the officers present. After what had happened to Pendragon, it felt good to hit back against the Europeans like this.

"What of damage to the city itself?" Euphemia asked.

"Based on the results of our own tests, the city itself would have emerged relatively unscathed, your majesty," LeMay answered that one. "The Toulon military port is quite large, and based on the accuracy with which the bomb was dropped, the brunt of the explosive force should have been confined to the base."

"Overhead flights by our reconnaissance aircraft have also confirmed that the destruction is primarily concentrated to the military port itself," Zechs added. "There is indications of damage to some of the districts immediately adjacent to the base, but the extent seems fairly low."

"I see," Euphemia said. "And what of the objectives?"

To that Zechs pursed his lips. "We have not to receive confirmation, your majesty. It is entirely possible that our source at Toulon was caught in the strike itself."

The empress nodded. That was indeed a risk they had run, and one deemed worth it, especially if the Toulon base was taken out of play entirely for the war.

"Our assessments of the strike are still in progress," LeMay said, "but it is quite clear that the bulk of France's naval assets, including its sole aircraft carrier, the _Jeanne d'Arc_ , was docked at Toulon at the time of the strike. Combined with the loss of port facilities that Toulon's destruction represents, we have effectively removed France's navy from play likely for the rest of the war."

Euphemia glanced over at Zechs and the marshal nodded.

"That is so, your majesty. And while the existence of Eighth Fleet provides us with a rather decisive strategic and tactical advantage, the removal of the firepower that France's navy represented is not to be discounted. Without the French Navy to support their North African colonies, the Europeans will find it considerably more difficult to prevent a landing."

Euphemia nodded in acknowledgment of the points. "Have there been any indications of a military response from the Europeans over the strike?"

"Not as of yet, your majesty," Zechs answered. "At present they seem to still be trying to come to grips with the strike itself. More likely than not they would issue a diplomatic statement first."

"The French president has already issued a statement vowing to avenge the losses at Toulon," Euphemia said with a shrug. "There has also been some noise from the other nations decrying the apparent barbarity of the weapon used. Nothing beyond what was already anticipated."

Barely suppressed contempt colored the expressions of several of the officers. None of them held any sympathy for their European opponents considering it was the EU that fired the first shot in this war, and especially in light of the Battle of Pendragon. While Britannia may not have started this war, the Empire would certainly be the one to end it. And if it took a few more of these new weapons to do so, then so be it. After all, a nation reduced to ash would hardly be able to rise up to threaten Britannia again.

"Was there anything else regarding the Toulon strike?" Euphemia asked.

"No your majesty," Zechs answered.

"Very well then. Shall we move onto the other matters?"

"Of course your majesty."

Without further consideration the meeting proceeded to the next topic. The war was more than just this single strike after all, and even if they were a step closer to winning it, it was not yet won.

End of Chapter 97

Technically Marianne would not have died so quickly after having the plug pulled, so to speak. I could justify it with all sorts of explanations, but in this instance I don't feel a particular need to. It was done for dramatic effect, and it worked nicely with the scene itself. That it can be explained even if I don't bother is good enough for me right now.

To be perfectly blunt this chapter was one of the most pain in the ass to write. Writing dialogue that actually sounds good as a pseudo-speech is hard, and it took me more than a week to slog through it.

Believe it or not I'm starting to feel burnt out with this story. Partially it's because I still need to work out the exact events between here and the ending. Which wouldn't be so bad, except trying to describe a world war isn't exactly easy. Then again I've managed to pump out approximately 750k words in one and a half year. That's pretty good, I think. Easily on the same scale as some commercial authors. And I've certainly managed more plot advancement than David Weber has in the last two years. The pace should pick up a bit more for the next few chapters, this one was just a slog overall while the others more things are happening so I should be able to keep interested well enough to focus on them. Though I suppose that depends on how busy work gets.

Conservatively speaking we're looking at another ten to twenty chapters, after which if I decide not to bother with _A Most Civil Campaign_ I'll probably be done with the Code Geass universe for at least a couple of years if not forever. There's really not any other story concepts in the series that I'm interested in exploring (and no, don't bother with any suggestions, as a blanket rule I do not accept story requests, ever). It'd actually be rather, relaxing, to not write for a while. Then again if I do want to set the record for most franchises covered by recommended fanfics for a single author, I just might dust off that Fullmetal Alchemist prequel, or that Mass Effect AU concept that I've been toying around with. Or we'll see if I'm able to kickstart all fanfic recs for the Kiseki series on tvtropes. I've already been recommended for C &C, Evangelion, and Code Geass. A good start, that, but only a start.

Oly oly oxen free. That should be enough of a hint.

Seattle is the capital of the province of Columbia. The Duke of Seattle is therefore Columbia's provincial lord. His domain is referred to as the Duchy of Columbia. I've kept to this pattern for basically all of the story, it's why I referred to Ruben's domain as the Duchy of Michigan, and to Cayenne and Rochester personally as the Duke of Richmond. And yes, Euphemia did have a provincial lord executed at the start of the story.

The 100th is a battalion, that was a typo in the last chapter.

It was a coin flip as to whether I would use Toulon or Brest for the main naval base of the French Navy. Well, not quite a coin flip. Historically Toulon has been France's primary naval port since the 1600s, primarily due to France's Mediterranean interests, and remained so even throughout WWII. At the same time, if you are a fan of Brest, in light of what happened to Toulon, are you sure you would have preferred I had Suzaku held there instead?

I'm pretty much indifferent to the announcement of a third season of Code Geass. As I have stated many a times, I'm not that big a fan of the franchise, I wrote this story because I thought I could do something interesting/creative with the basic concepts and characters. The only remark that I'm going to make is that realism in geopolitics and warfare was not Code Geass' strong suite, whereas I've made it a point to try to be extremely realistic in those categories. That is the metric through which I regard the original series, which should tell all of you what I think about the overall plot and ending.

I personally do not consider the Euphemia that I have portrayed to be perfect. Considering how many people that have gotten killed both as a direct and indirect result of her decisions, both from mistakes but also due to being willfully sacrificed to achieve some ambition, I'm not sure how she could be considered perfect. And she's been called out several times when her decisions veer towards the less than rationale, it's not like people just accepted that whatever she wants must be for the best. For that matter her own royal guard basically went behind her back when it reached a collective decision to kill Lelouch if he offered even a hint of resistance the next time they ran into him, Euphie's desire to take him alive be damned. But to each their own I suppose.


	99. Chapter 98

_Even as the Britannian Empire attempted to actually build an atomic bomb, the military worked in parallel to come up with a delivery method that would see the bomb actually reach its target. This proved to be a non-trivial problem due to the weight of the first generation of atomic weapons. The Trinity prototype came in at over two thousand kilograms, far more than could be mounted on even the largest missile Britannia possessed. The only option then would be to deploy the bomb by plane, though this again presented challenges. Of the aircraft in Britannia's inventory at the start of the war only the B-52 Stratofortress was capable of carrying the proposed bombs at ranges militarily useful. All of the targets of interest were however deep within enemy airspace and there was significant concern as to whether a single Stratofortress, even when provided with a fighter screen, could survive to reach its destination._

 _The solution to this dilemma actually came from an entirely different weapons program the Britannian Air Force was conducting to develop a deep penetration bomber. With classification levels on par to that of Project Muspelheim, Project Hades was an attempt to develop an aircraft that had a significantly reduced radar cross-section and thus be able to evade the air defense networks that protected enemy airspace, ultimately producing the B-117 Nighthawk. The work had been going on for a number of years and by the time the Great War commenced three prototypes had been built and were undergoing evaluations. Only the third was even equipped with the systems necessary to deploy payloads._

 _In the aftermath of the Battle of Pendragon the Britannian military hastily modified the third prototype to support the over two thousand kilogram Mark 4 atomic bomb. The device barely fit and lacking any overseas bases close enough to actually launch the plane forced the Empire to rely on several KC-10 Extender aerial refueling tankers to provide the prototype with sufficient range to reach the desired target. That the Empire succeeded in doing so marked an emphatic signal that it would continue fighting despite the near fatal blow it had just been dealt._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 98

E causa ignota

By the time Euphemia entered the observation room Kallen and Rai had already changed into the surgery gowns. The empress flashed an amused smile that Rai returned but only elicited a raised eyebrow from Kallen.

"Enjoying the eye candy, your majesty?" Kallen's voice sounded over the speakers.

"Why yes, I am," Euphemia responded. "Raibeart has a most impressive physique after all."

Those words elicited more than just raised eyebrows as a few muffled coughs could be heard. Kallen shook her head while Rai pretended to ignore the daggers being glared at him by Major Mustang.

"Setting that aside," Euphemia continued, "I did want to drop by before the procedure commenced. I know that Raibeart has assured me that there should be little danger, but considering everything we have been through together, I felt it would be remiss to not put in a showing."

"The sentiment is appreciated, your majesty," Rai said.

Euphemia favored the young man with a smile before looking back at Kallen. "There was also someone else whom wished to see you before the procedure."

Kallen cocked her head aside but her unspoken question was answered immediately as Heinrich entered the observation room. This time it was Kallen that cleared her throat. Her father almost certainly heard her opening remark to Euphemia after all.

"Father," she greeted.

"Kallen," Heinrich responded in kind before cracking a slight smirk. And then it disappeared. "I will be accompanying Eighth Fleet back to Japan shortly, and according to her majesty this, procedure, will put you under for about a week, not that she has deigned to tell me what exactly it is for."

Euphemia paid no heed to the baron's minor flippancy. The man was not exactly being irreverent, he was simply conveying the fact that he remained less than enthused about all the secrets about Kallen that were kept from him, much as any proper father would be. Kallen tried not to sigh. There was a time when the two of them barely talked, the consequence being a great deal of misunderstandings piling up and causing both of them a fair degree of grief. Having Heinrich taking such an active interest in her activities and wellbeing was proving to be testing in a different way.

"I'll be sure to let you know once I'm up and about again," Kallen said. "And, say hi to Mother for me when you get back to Japan."

At that Heinrich's expression softened slightly and the man nodded. "Of course."

Kallen gave her father a slight smile at that.

"Your highness, Lord Koller, we are ready to begin," one of the surgeons said.

The two nodded, Kallen trying not to wince at being so addressed. After exchanging a final look with those in the observation room climbed onto the operating tables. Heinrich grimaced slightly but allowed himself to be shepherded out. Euphemia lingered a moment longer but she too soon departed. There were many other matters demanding her attention after all, no matter how much she wanted to remain here for her two knights.

Inside the operating room Kallen laid face down, her head resting on a specially shaped brace to keep it from moving during the surgery. The procedure had been explained to her at some length, they needed to access the base of her brain, where it connected to her spinal cord. That was where NEMO would be installed. Rai had been helpful enough to describe exactly what NEMO was physically, the surgeons at least needed to know what to pull out of him, but Kallen still found it a bit incredulous that something so complicated could be referred to as akin to a handkerchief.

She would be asleep for the whole procedure however, though according to Rai she would be spending at least some time dreaming lucidly as NEMO integrated herself into Kallen's neural topology. Exactly what that would entail Kallen was not sure, though Rai seemed to think it was no big deal. Then again considering the knight's experiences his personal standard for big deal was likely somewhat skewed.

"We will be applying anesthesia now, your highness."

A mask was secured over Kallen's nose and mouth and after a minute or so she felt herself drifting off. Her last conscious thought was to wonder once more what she would be like once she awoke.

* * *

The gathered officers were a grim, solemn lot. Just a week or so ago the EU had seemed on the cusp of victory against the Holy Britannian Empire. Now, they were faced with not just defeat but also possibly annihilation. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, interim head of the Combined General Staff, clasped his fingers together as he regarded the men gathered before him. Here were the representatives of the various armed forces of the EU's member states. Here they controlled what had been thought a force on par with that of Britannia. Here they were being forced to confront a very simple and unsettling truth. They were outmatched. And they had no choice but to continue fighting even so. Not after Toulon, not after the deaths of so many of their fellow Europeans, and the death of one Alphonse Pierre Juin.

"Messieurs," Erwin began. "It would seem that we, and all of Europe, stand on a precipice. Britannia has revealed herself to be in possession of weapons that we had not even thought possible. A failure of imagination on our part. That failure, messieurs, has cost us a great deal in blood, and will cost us even more before the end is here. The only question is what form that end will take, whether we will be ground under Britannia's heels or whether remain a bastion of freedom and equality."

Erwin's gaze swept across the room, grim expressions looking back at him. These men knew full well just how great the cost would be, but there was a steady resolve in the eyes that met his own. Good. There would be no more waffling, no more vacillating, no more appeasement. By bombing Toulon, Britannia had handed the EU's military leaders a boon of immeasurable value. The attack, and all the deaths, had finally awakened the European populace to the threat that the Empire represented, and these people were demanding that something, anything, be done to protect them from Britannia.

"In order to fight the Empire we will need to understand the weapons they possess, their strengths and their weaknesses," Erwin said. "We were all blindsided by this Eighth Fleet of theirs, and then whatever they used to destroy the Toulon arsenal. But now that these weapons have been revealed, it is possible to make some, educated guesses as to what they are." The German nodded to the Russian general. "Pytor, if you would."

"Oui, mon ami," Pytor Ivanovitch Ivashutin, the staff intelligence director, said. "As much as it pains me to admit it, our intelligence failure regarding Britannia's latest weapons was near total. Still, now that the Empire has shown its hand, our analysts have managed to arrive at some conclusions, especially with respect to the attack on Toulon. The consensus is that what the Empire deployed was an atomic bomb, a previously theoretical weapon that employs the power of atoms, the fundamental building blocks of matter. Our own scientists have always suggested that the weapon was possible, but what research programs that were being conducted in Europe were still some ways to developing a functional bomb." The Russian snorted. "In fact prior to Toulon there had still been physicists whom though the bomb was not possible, or others whom thought detonating one would set the entire atmosphere afire."

The murmurs that rippled through the assembled officers were not of high opinion of said scientists.

"The yield of the explosive has been estimated to be approximately twenty kilotons," Pytor continued, eliciting slightly stronger murmurs with that tidbit. "The effective radius of the weapon is approximately 1.5 kilometers, which allowed the bomb to destroy effectively the entirety of the arsenal while leaving most of the city itself unharmed. We have however received reports of people receiving significant burns as far away as two kilometers away. Casualties, are still being collated, but the estimates are in the tens of thousands."

A single weapon. That was what was truly frightening, that a single weapon was responsible for that much destruction. And there was no telling if this was the upper limit of what these atomic bombs could achieve. What if next time the Empire used a bomb it struck a major population center instead of a military base. What if Paris or Berlin or St. Petersburg was hit instead. The death toll from that would not be tens of thousands, it would be in the hundreds of thousands.

"The, manner in which Britannia breached our airspace to deliver the bomb is also of significant import," Pytor said, drawing attention to the other elephant in the room. "We are almost certain the bomb was delivered via aerial means, our air defense network detected the presence of several large planes off of West Africa which we now believe to have been aerial refueling tankers intended to support the operation. What they did not detect however was anything directly intruding into our airspace, which suggests that Britannia has developed some means of evading detection by our radar."

If the notion that the Empire had a weapon that could raze cities was frightening, that they possessed the ability to deploy these weapons with effective impunity was downright terrifying. If they could not even see the enemy coming, how could they hope to prevent a repeat of Toulon?

"The air defense units are reviewing their records, to try and see if they picked anything up around the time of the bombing. It is entirely possible that something had been detected, but was not identified as a plane due to some abnormality. If we can at least detect some hint of such a plane, we might be able to send up fighters to try to locate it visually."

Then again it was likely to minimize that possibility that the Britannians deployed this new plane in the middle of the night.

"As for the Britannian Eighth Fleet, we have received reports that it has arrived in Japan to reinforce the Empire's forces there," Pytor said, moving the topic along. "Indications are the flight across the Pacific was nonstop, which provides at least some indication of the ships' endurance. They also appear to have made the trip in approximately fifteen hours, meaning the fleet can effectively deploy anywhere across the world within a day."

The bad news just did not end. That Britannia could torch all of Europe's cities at will was horrific enough, but there was still at least some hope that the Empire was not feeling so genocidal as to resort to such methods. The attack on Toulon was after all still a strike on a military facility. But the mobility offered by Eighth Fleet might well provide Britannia the edge it needed to decisively defeat the EU via conventional arms as well.

"More troubling however is reports of what appear to be dedicated flying transports," Pytor said. "News from within the Empire itself indicate that these ships were initially used as part of the relief effort, but several were further sighted accompanying Eighth Fleet as it traveled to Japan. The exact number is unclear, but indications are at least six accompanied Eighth Fleet. Their dimensions are also estimates, but each transport appears to be at least a hundred and fifty meters in length. Estimates are that each transport would be able to carry at least a regiment, including equipment."

The alarm was palpable on the faces of the officers, even more so than when they first heard about the seemingly invisible plane. It was not terribly difficult to do the sums and by extension the implications that this much lift capability would provide in terms of a strategic advantage. Pytor nodded.

"It is without a doubt the Empire's intent to employ those six transports to lift forces onto the Asian mainland. And thanks to their flight capabilities, they have no need to attempt a costly amphibious assault. All they need do is secure the immediate airspace, something their Eighth Fleet would have little trouble doing, and they could effectively land thousands of troops at a point of their choosing, bypassing the first line of both our and the Chinese's defenses. And if they achieve a breakout, effectively the entirety of the Korean Peninsula and perhaps even Manchuria and Eastern Siberia would be left wide open for the taking."

A deathly silence fell upon the room. What finally broke it was the creaking of a chair as Erwin leaned back.

"Well messieurs," he said. "It should be quite clear that the challenge before us is formidable. But we are only beaten if we give up, and I for one am not ready to do so. I trust that I am not alone."

Looks were exchanged and one by one heads nodded. They were not ready to give up, not yet. And if the day did come when Britannia would seek to knock upon their doors, they would remain on their feet to the very end.

* * *

Nina tried to remain composed as she was guided through the imperial palace. This would be the first time she would be seeing Milly in person since the latter's ascension to Heir Primus. The two had talked at some length over the phone but that was not quite the same as meeting in person. The young woman took another deep breath in an effort to calm her nerves. She hoped everything would be fine, but with the renewed attention that Milly would be coming under as princess, there was no telling what would happen despite the older girl's reassurances.

As they approached the room where Milly was residing Nina's lips thinned at the sight of the Japanese woman standing outside. Despite having become a fairly common sight in the Ashford residence for the few weeks she served as Nunnally's armsman, Nina still found Mikasa's presence a tad unsettling. That was perhaps not entirely fair to the woman, Nina was mature enough to admit that Mikasa had done nothing to deserve such animosity from her. Nonetheless she could not help but be slightly unsettled by the woman's appearance. Shallow of her, perhaps, but some emotions proved difficult to rein in with just reason. Still, she could at least make an effort. Nina nodded respectfully to the woman and Mikasa returned the gesture even while remaining alert.

"Her highness is waiting inside," the servant that led Nina here said. "She is expecting you."

"Umm, thank you," Nina managed.

The servant bowed and headed off to whatever his next task was, leaving Nina at the door. The young woman took another breath and knocked.

"Enter."

With the invitation so extended, Nina had no further excuses and she pushed open the door. When Milly caught sight of her the older girl beamed a smile. That smile quickly disappeared when Nina made to bow.

"Umm, pardon me, your-"

In a flash Milly was across the room. Her hands reached out and seized hold of Nina, keeping her from dipping any further.

"I will have none of that, Nina," Milly said sternly.

"But-"

"No buts, no excuses, and sure as Hel no subservience from you." Milly leaned in, giving Nina a gentle but firm kiss on the lips. "Never, ever from you. Am I clear?"

"But, you're a princess now," Nina said softly. "You're, they're going to expect you to marry. And to, have kids." The girl's eyes started glistening. "And, I can't provide that to you."

"Is that what you're worried about?" Milly's grip remained firm. "Nina, I'm not going to stop loving you just because of some stupid noble obligation."

"But…how?" Nina said weakly. "You _have_ to have a child, Milly. And that should be with someone you love. So that, you'll love that child as well."

Understanding dawned on Milly and she smiled ruefully. Sometimes she underestimated just how sensitive a soul Nina was. Milly gave the younger girl an affectionate pat on the head.

"I see. And you're right, it really wouldn't be fair, to either the child, to that child's father, and to you. I want any child I have to _know_ that I love them, and you. And I wouldn't want to have a child with someone out of mere convenience, or hurt you in the process."

Milly drew Nina into her arms again and gave a comforting squeeze.

"I'm not going to say it's easy, I'm not even going to say it's possible. But, I will do my best to make it work, so that all of us are happy. Not begrudgingly, not because of some sort of compromise, but because each and every one of us accepts the other. You hear me Nina?"

Nina regarded Milly. "I, don't know if I could do that, Milly. I don't know if I could ever love someone else like the way I love you."

"Then you don't," Milly declared. "And I won't love anyone else either."

"But, you _have_ to leave an heir," Nina persisted softly.

Milly snorted. "Nina Leah Einstein. Have you ever, _ever_ known me to do anything that I did not want to do?" Her grip on Nina tightened. "I've spoken to Euphie about this and she understands that I'm not about to just throw away my life to fulfill some political ploy of hers. Nor is she going to expect me to. She's made a lot of demands from my family, and this is _one_ demand that she knows I will not fulfill if it costs you me. So don't worry Nina, it doesn't matter if I don't have any kids. So long as you're with me, it'll be alright."

Nina returned Milly's gaze and after a moment allowed herself to be drawn into the older girl's embrace once more.

"Alright Milly," she said with a sigh. "You win."

"Of course I do," Milly said in a chipper tone. And chuckled. "Besides, I doubt it'll be much of an issue once Euphie and Kallen get busy."

Nina now regarded her lover more quizzically, causing Milly to chuckle again.

"Don't give me that look, you know I'm right."

"Maybe," Nina said, lips pursed. "But, do you always have to make things like that sound so, well, dirty?"

This time the tightening of Milly's grip portended something else entirely.

"Because, my dear Nina, I see no reason to pretend to be anything I am not."

* * *

The ships of the Britannian Eighth Fleet were, true to their naval heritage, capable of landing and even traveling via water if the need arose. The primary rationale for this was not out of simple nostalgia but a very real pragmatism. The operational planners that worked on Project Damocles had recognized that after the fleet's unveiling it would take some time before proper docks for the ships could be built across the Empire's widespread territories. If the fleet was to operate beyond the range of Groom Lake, it needed to be able to set down to refuel and rearm somewhere. Seeing as 70% of the planet's surface was water, and that the navy already had a logistic network for supplying ships overseas, making the fleet amphibious was an obvious, albeit nontrivial, design choice. Engineering a hull that could withstand being both in and out of water was not as simple as one might presume.

Disembarking from these ships was also nothing special when anchored in water. As the helicopter bearing Heinrich and Vice-Admiral Wolfgang Mittermeyer cruised towards Nimitz Base, the two could see countless people crowding the shores trying to get a glimpse of the fleet, a mixture of Britannian and Japanese both.

"It's my first time to Area 11," Wolfgang said. "To Japan. In some ways, it doesn't look that different from the homelands."

"That is the point," Heinrich stated frankly. "Britannia seeks to impose a certain uniformity of order across all its domains, so that wherever you go you can be assured of, consistency."

Wolfgang looked over at Heinrich. "Do you disapprove, viceroy?"

Heinrich pursed his lips. "Where were you born, admiral."

"One of the suburbs outside Pendragon," Wolfgang answered.

"And in your service to the Empire, how many lands have you visited? I presume as a navy man you've been posted to somewhere overseas at least once."

"Certainly," the admiral said. "Spent two years in Australia, another in South America. Prior to my posting to Eighth Fleet I was part of Third Fleet stationed in Hawaii."

"And I presume every place you went, there were plenty of familiar sights. The post office, grocery stores, hospitals and the like. All these things, you could be assured that there would be a consistency in service and quality, because they were all part of the Empire. But, was it a desire to seek out the familiar that drove you to enlist in the navy? Or did you seek to expand your horizons by seeing what lay beyond the curated walled garden that was Britannia?"

To that Wolfgang spent a moment considering. "I suppose I see your point, your excellency."

Heinrich chuckled. "Don't think too hard on the matter, admiral. I'm not here to lecture you."

"No, I've tried to keep myself as apolitical as possible through the years," Wolfgang said. "That has not been easy. But considering recent events, it is perhaps time that I pay at least some attention to the nuances of the places I am stationed. And seeing as Eighth Fleet will be operating near Japan for the foreseeable future, I should learn more about the place and all its people."

"A commendably open minded approach, admiral," Heinrich said. "I look forward to the strength of your conviction."

The helicopter touched down and as the two climbed out they were greeted by a retinue of officers and an honor guard composed of army troopers, navy marines, gendarmerie, and even Akatsuki. It was a marked sign of progress. The soldiers of various stripes all came to attention and the senior officers, one Lieutenant-General Andreas Darlton, Brigadier-General Jeremiah Gottwald, and Vice-Admiral William Alton Schoech snapped crisp salutes. Wolfgang reciprocated while Heinrich nodded respectfully in turn.

"Your excellency," Andreas greeted. "Admiral. Welcome to Japan."

"Thank you general," Wolfgang responded.

Heinrich's lips quirked ever so slightly. It was not a smile, nor was it a smirk or quite a frown.

"It has been, an eventful week or so," the baron said. "For all of us, I think."

To that solemn nods answered the noble before Andreas stepped aside.

"Please, this way."

As the party walked past the soldiers Heinrich made certain to regard them. Not just the ranks of Akatsuki, but some of the army units also had Japanese mixed within their ranks.

"The integration of the armed forces is moving apace I see," he noted.

"That it is," Andreas said. "Not without some friction, but the Japanese recruits have on the whole persevered. The first units were preparing to ship out for the Filipino theatre before events in Pendragon came to a head. Now with the presence of the Russian Baltic Fleet and the possibility of another attempt to force a landing in Japan, they will be remaining here for the foreseeable future."

"I doubt that will be for very long," Heinrich remarked.

The general regarded the baron quizzically. "Were you taken into confidence of what the military is planning next?"

"The Empire intends to invade Korea," Heinrich stated frankly albeit out of earshot of the honor guard. "You have been coordinating the buildup of forces and supplies for the past few months in preparation, General Darlton, and you, Admiral Schoech, have been preparing the necessary shipping to get all those troops and supplies across the Korea Strait. With Eighth Fleet's forward deployment and the transports that have been brought, Britannia is in a position to outright bypass the coastal fortifications and attempt to directly seize Busan."

Andreas raised an eyebrow. "That sounds rather like a strategic analyst's report, if you don't mind my saying so, your excellency."

This time there was a slight flicker of amusement as Heinrich's lips quirked. "I have been compared to worse things. But to be frank, it's a rather obvious path for the Empire to take. The Chinese military has been so battered it won't be able to meaningfully interdict our ships at sea, much less those that fly through the air. Their best bet is to try to overrun us on land. The only wrinkle right now would be the Russian Baltic Fleet, something I'm sure you gentlemen will be putting some thought to neutralizing before the formal invasion of Asia. And when that invasion kicks off, as viceroy of Japan, I will be responsible for a great deal of the logistics of making sure supplies pass through my domain quickly and efficiently. It is only reasonable that I give some thought as to where those supplies will be most needed, no?"

The baron did have a point there, the officers were all prepared to concede.

"Close coordination with the viceroyalty will certainly be necessary once the Empire adopts an offensive posture towards the Asian mainland," Andreas agreed.

While the lieutenant-general, Jeremiah, and Heinrich boarded an armored vehicle to depart, William and Wolfgang peeled off towards Nimitz Base's main administrative building.

"Still, there seems a rather urgent desire to go on the offensive," Andreas remarked as he settled in.

"That there is," Heinrich said, all humor disappearing from his demeanor. "The two of you have already received the general briefing about what happened in Pendragon, and what caused the devastation across the east coast."

The two other men nodded grimly.

"Of the eight thought elevators that yet remain," Heinrich continued, "three are in imperial territory and are in the process of being locked down, hard. Five others remain in foreign hands however, and there is significant concern on the part of the government that they could be employed against Britannia."

Andreas and Jeremiah exchanged frowns.

"Employed in what manner, your excellency?" the former asked.

Heinrich rubbed his chin. "When the New York thought elevator was destroyed, researchers stationed at the Antarctic thought elevator noted a reaction. It would appear that all of the thought elevators are linked in some manner. While this is speculation, what would happen if one of the five thought elevators outside the Empire's domain could be used to, induce one of the remaining three inside our borders to detonate?"

The other two men blanched visibly. The thought elevator situated on the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula was fairly remote, though an earthquake triggered there might cause some damage to the southernmost reaches of South America. California on the other hand was one of Britannia's most populous, and most prosperous, provinces. And Kamine Island was not so far from the island of Honshu that the largest of Japan's island would be safe from any geological instability caused by its thought elevator's destruction. For either of the two regions to face the kind of destruction wrought upon the east coast would have major consequences, not just for the war effort but for Britannia as a whole.

"Conversely," Jeremiah said. "Could not the Empire do the same with the thought elevators in our enemy's territories?"

Heinrich raised an eyebrow. "In theory? Certainly. I for one however have little desire to see the British Isles turned to ash. And the Indians are our allies in this conflict. At the same time, while devastating the Middle East would undoubtedly soften up the forces we would have to fight to retake it, in the end the Empire is the one left to put the region back together. As for central Africa and Mongolia, I am not aware of anything of strategic value that would be lost should those two thought elevators be destroyed."

Jeremiah dipped his head. "Your point is acknowledged, your excellency."

"So the urgency is rooted in the need to seize and hold the other thought elevators," Andreas said.

"Indeed." Heinrich leaned back into his seat. "That is going to be a nontrivial challenge. In theory our position in India means the thought elevator there can be secured quickly, and the Indians themselves will be eager to make sure no one tries to tinker with it after what happened to the North American east coast. But the other thought elevators are all fairly deep within enemy controlled territory, even if not in strategically important regions."

"I presume formal orders specifying the thought elevators as strategic targets will be forthcoming?" Andreas asked.

The baron nodded. "My little spiel was to give you an informal heads up, so that you might begin making any adjustments to your plans that you might feel necessary."

"The forewarning is appreciated," Andreas said.

Heinrich nodded again and then looked out the armored car. "It has been but a few scant weeks. And yet, I find myself to have missed this city so."

"Despite the war Tokyo has been fairly quiet," Andreas remarked. "We have been fortunate that no further acts of sabotage or terrorism have been attempted since the arrest of the JLF stranglers."

"None whatsoever?" Heinrich asked, eyebrow raised.

"Nothing that warrants the military's attention at least," Andreas said. "Then again General Gottwald is responsible for the Tokyo garrison proper, and his reports indicate the city is secure."

The baron's gaze shifted over to the other noble.

"Thus far the gendarmerie and, Akatsuki, have kept a firm grip on the city," Jeremiah said, a bit grudgingly but he was at least making an effort. "Petty crime has been remarkably low, even with the influx of people from across the country moving to Tokyo looking for work."

"Well, so long as there is work for them that should take care of itself," Heinrich said. "In the long term though something will need to be done to make sure the economy does not crater when the end of the war sees government driven demand taper off."

"That would be your area of expertise," Jeremiah said. "I will not feign any understanding of economics and fiscal policy."

Heinrich chuckled and looked out the window again. They were approaching the viceroy's palace, his new place of work and residence. Once all of the newly crowned empress' effects were packaged and shipped off to Pendragon, that is. The vehicle game to a halt and the three men climbed out. To Heinrich's mild surprise cheers started sounding. He had noted the crowds gathered along the approaches to the palace of course, but to see the people so seemingly enthused by his arrival. The baron smiled slightly and gave them a wave, eliciting even louder cheers.

"I was not expecting so warm a welcome," Heinrich remarked to the other two men.

"These people saw you appointed to the viceroyalty by her majesty herself," Andreas said. "They take comfort in that."

"Yes, I suppose they would," Heinrich said. "Well, best that I not disappoint them, or her majesty."

The soldiers standing guard all came to attention as their new viceroy climbed the stairs and entered the palace. The staff that Euphemia had left behind were also waiting within and they regarded Heinrich with wary but hopeful expressions. The baron was not entirely unknown to them but his appointment was rather sudden. Then again the ascension of their liege to the throne had been equally sudden, as was the transfer of the inner circle of Euphemia's cabinet. There were a lot of holes that needed filling. Heinrich returned their gaze, the edge of his lips quirking ever so slightly.

"I'm afraid I don't have her majesty's talent for speeches, certainly not off the cuff. And to be frank, we all have far too many things that need doing for any of us to waste too much time in theatrics. Japan is still a long way from fulfilling her potential, a long way from even what it once was. We're damn lucky that her majesty left for us such a firm foundation. It's not perfect, nothing ever is, but if things screw up, it'll be on us, not anyone else. And I for one have no intention of betraying her majesty's trust, and her faith."

The baron might not be one for speeches, but his words still succinctly carried his intended message. Heinrich might now be the viceroy, but he would not be shouldering the burden of duty alone. The Viceroyalty of Japan was after all the sum of the land and her people, including all of them here. It would be together that they would succeed.

Heinrich turned to the two men that had accompanied him. "If you two gentlemen would give me a few minutes, I will meet you in the conference room for the formal debriefing."

Jeremiah raised an eyebrow at that but Andreas nodded. "Take your time, your excellency. We will not begrudge you some time with family."

That caused the margrave's expression to flatten as he recalled whom was under the care of the palace staff. He could not feign approval of the baron's choice of a wife, Jeremiah was through and through Britannian and proud of it. At the same time the margrave was coming to terms with the simple fact that just because some people were not born Britannian did not mean they would never be able to rise to Britannian standards, from his perspective at least. Whether this opinion was shared by the people Jeremiah was ostensibly being open minded about was another matter entirely.

"Your consideration is appreciated, general," Heinrich said.

The baron parted ways with the others and made his way to the room in question. When he entered he found it much as he remembered. A few fresh flowers peeked out from the vase by the bedside, a mixture of irises and tulips. Despite his and Kallen's absence it was someone else had had the consideration to keep bringing them. Heinrich allowed himself a slight smile. A smile that disappeared as he gazed down at his wife.

Kotone looked so peaceful, her chest rising and falling with every steady breath. Yet her body looked thinner, less hearty than the woman Heinrich remembered holding in his arms. The nurses did their best, moving her limbs to make sure her muscles did not completely atrophy, but there was only so much they could do. Heinrich reached out, caressing Kotone's cheek.

"There's so much to tell you, Kotone. So much that has happened, to all of us. Our little girl, she's all grown up. And not just a knight, but a princess too." Heinrich chuckled dryly. "Every father likes to think of their daughter as his own little princess. How many of us is that literally true for?"

The baron withdrew his hand.

"We're all waiting for you, Kotone. And we'll keep waiting, no matter how long it takes. We will meet again, whether in this life or the next. When we do, we'll be a family again. I promise."

* * *

Suzaku stumbled, exhausting taking a toll on his body. Or perhaps not. The young man examined himself and found that in truth, he did not actually feel tired. Or hungry.

"What did they do to me?" he muttered to himself.

There were certainly advantages to his seemingly superhuman endurance. Without needing to rest, he had managed to cover quite some distance over the past few days. He only had a passing knowledge of France's geography but from the map he had managed to steal he should be close to Paris now. There was supposed to be an expat community of Japanese refugees in the city, if he could reach it perhaps he could hide for a time, get his bearings and plan his next move. The question was how to get into the city and then find the Japanese neighborhood.

Looking over the hill Suzaku noted the manned checkpoints. Those covered the roads however, he could probably just walk right into the city on foot. The problem was he did not speak any French, which could cause all sorts of awkward questions to arise if a policeman stopped him. There was no telling if the French authorities had issued some sort of alert to watch out for him either, considering his escape.

A slight pressure in the back of his head caused Suzaku to look about. There were, other people nearby. He was not sure how he could tell, but he could. Suzaku focused, honing in on the direction. And to his surprise, he felt something familiar. Not familiar as in he knew these people, but familiar like how one might recognize a compatriot in a far off land. These people were Japanese, Suzaku was sure of it. He made his way towards them. As he neared the impression became more distinct. There were three of them, two men and a woman. And, they were armed. That caused Suzaku to hesitate. How could he know this?

The young man shook his head. There was no time to hesitate, the three were on the move and approaching the city limits. If he wanted to ask for their help, he needed to do it now. His mind made up, Suzaku made his movements more obvious, creating noise that the three could not fail to notice. And notice they did, their forms tensing as hands drifted to the weapons they had concealed. One of the men, the leader by all appearances, looked back in Suzaku's direction.

"Qui est là?"

Of course they would speak French. Suzaku pursed his lips, stepping out onto the road, hands held up.

"I don't mean any harm," Suzaku said in Japanese. "I could, actually use some help myself."

Surprise was evident on the faces of the three at seeing one of their former countryman.

"Who are you?" the leader asked, also shifting to Japanese.

"My name is Suzaku," the young man answered. "I, escaped from Japan recently. And, I'm trying to get to the Japanese neighborhood in Paris."

The three exchanged wary looks. Suzaku could feel their doubt, their suspicions. These three were not law-abiding citizens by any measure, that much was obvious.

"I really don't mean any harm," Suzaku tried again, a bit more firmly. "I just need help getting to the Japanese neighborhood. Can you help me with that?"

This time the three regarded Suzaku somewhat blankly before they all nodded as one. It was a bit eerie, the motion, but Suzaku's relief overshadowed any suspicions he might have felt.

"Thank you," the young man said sincerely, "umm, I'm afraid I don't know your name."

The suspicion arose again, though not as sharply as before. Suzaku quickly sought to placate it.

"Just, something to call you by," he said. "It wouldn't be polite to refer to you guys as kimitachi after all."

Again that blank look as the leader answered. "Call me Ryo."

Suzaku nodded. "Ryo-san."

Short, simple, and it hardly mattered if it was an alias or the man's real name. There were a lot of Japanese people named Ryo after all. The others did not volunteer any names but Suzaku was fine with that.

"Shall we go?" he asked.

Another trio of nods, another set of empty gazes. None of which Suzaku noted in the least, just as he paid no heed to the slight pressure in the back of his head.

End of Chapter 98

A belated Christmas present. I've been extremely busy the past week or so due to work. I'm on vacation from now till the new year however, so we'll see if I can get more written before going back to the grind. Next chapter is going to have a lot of exposition as Kallen has a chat with NEMO.

The notion that the French would turn Île de la Cité into a refugee ghetto takes a lot of creative mental gymnastics. In other words, this is another rather nonsensical thing in the Code Geass universe that I'm ignoring. Especially considering that Paris has plenty of actual near-ghettos in the outskirts of the city as it is. Anyway.

I said previously that I was unlikely to use Akito and co. That's still the case, insomuch as I have basically no use for Akito and co in the form they appeared in the OVA series. I'm not entirely sure why the OVA was created, as far as I can tell it doesn't actually expand upon the Code Geass universe in a meaningful way, it just makes the entire storyline even more incoherent than it was after season 2 of the original anime. If the EU in my story does have a military force made up of refugees or whatever, I'll just use the bloody French Foreign Legion instead of making up some so-called special unit that is staffed by a bunch of kids whom are way too young to be holding senior commissioned officer ranks. A lieutenant-colonel at the age of 17? Do the writers not make any effort to preserve suspension of disbelief? At least when I gave Kallen and the other knights her age the rank of brigadier-general, I made clear that that was due to their position in the Rounds, and that they are expected to absorb a _lot_ more seasoning before anyone actually takes their rank seriously.

I suppose it's entirely possible that some of you might have missed the relationship between Milly and Nina. I was somewhat subtle about it. I would hope it's pretty obvious now.

It wasn't exactly the French Mediterranean Fleet that got nuked, it was the Force d'action navale. Something like 80% of all surface ships in the French Navy were docked at Toulon when Britannia nuked the base, which effectively takes France out of consideration for any naval operations that require surface combatants for at least the next year. Even worse for the French, since a significant percentage of the crews were being housed at the base due to the high alert level, they've lost a big chunk of their most experienced seamen as well. Even if France was able to build new hulls to replace its losses, which is entirely possible since the yards at Brest are still there, making up the loss in experienced manpower will take far longer. Now France does still have some ships left, including a taskforce stationed at Mers El Kébir, but well, umm, yeah.

I know I have more French readers. Surprised more haven't commented on what has befallen their homeland.

As an aside, it is rather interesting looking at the metrics on the site. Not surprisingly my biggest audience is in the US, with the UK a distant second. The surprise is I apparently have a chunk of readers from the Philippines.

I mentioned a while back that Groom Lake was building not just warships, but also flying transports. Each of the Naglfar-class transports are capable of carrying an entire regiment plus their equipment anywhere in the world within basically a day. If the Empire wanted to, they could basically airlift entire divisions across the world without needing to worry about any sort of naval interdiction. Those German U-boats are looking a mite less impressive now, I think.

That Lelouch did not commit suicide after his mother and sister's reputed deaths still remains a state secret. As far as the general population is aware of, Lelouch has always been dead, and the Lelouch Lamperouge that France sent was an imposter. And as far as anyone who does know the truth is concerned, he's still dead since he was at ground zero when the thought elevator was destroyed.

 _A Most Civil Campaign_ , assuming it ever gets written, was intended to be a test case on my part, to see if I could write a romance story set in the Code Geass universe. The title itself is inspired by the book _A Civil Campaign_ by Lois McMaster Bujold. The degree of sheer, insanity, is unlikely to match that of a Bujold book, but it's where I was taking cues from when I came up with the concept. It would have been set in an AU where Britannia was not a fascist warmongering empire, but a constitutional monarchy that was close allies with Japan. The target was for about 20 chapters, give or take, it was not intended to be a long work like _A Cold Calculus_. The following would have been the synopsis snippet.

As the daughter of a minor baron, Kallen expected her life to be utterly uneventful. She would go to school, hang out with friends, and occasionally go hunting with her brother and father. One day however she is called upon to help a new transfer student to Ashford Academy get settled. A transfer student whom happens to be the Prince Lelouch, fourth son of the Emperor Charles. Kallen would soon learn that all is indeed fair in love, and war.

That all said, the likelihood of it ever getting written is effectively nil. I've already played around with romance in this story and my interest in doing so again isn't especially high. And writing slice of life is not my strong suite, nor something I'm particularly interested in. Even if I do sprinkle politics about.


	100. Chapter 99

_With the Empress Euphemia having ascended the throne, the Holy Britannian Empire redoubled its efforts to win the Great War. While for much of the conflict it had been forced on the defensive, Britannia spent the time its overseas forces bought to prepare its manpower and resources and forge them into weapons to carry the fight to the enemy. In Japan, Eighth Army was constituted under the command of Lieutenant-General Andreas Darlton, whom would be quickly promoted to full general once the invasion of Korea commenced. Meanwhile Sixth Army was being formed up in Australia in preparation for the relief of Sumatra and then further incursions into the Asian mainland via Malaysia as well as supporting the Indian uprising. Fourth Army, which had just completed its own activation, was diverted and dispersed to handle humanitarian efforts in the aftermath of the Battle of Pendragon and also to serve as a domestic defense force should any further attempts be made to threaten the homelands._

 _At the same time the Third, Fifth, and Seventh Armies were being stood up as part of the second mobilization wave. While the even numbered armies were preparing to deploy to fight in the Asian theatre of war, the odd numbered armies were intended to deploy in Africa and Europe. The first to set foot on their designated target was Fifth Army, which in conjunction with Second Fleet and Taskforce 81 of Eighth Fleet conducted Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. From there the Empire would position its other armies in preparation for invading Spain and Italy. Britannia had not forgotten Spain taking advantage of the downfall of the old United Kingdom to reclaim Gibraltar and made clear her intention to replay that slight to her honour._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 99

Errare humanum est

"Kallen, wake up, you're going to be late for school!"

"Just five more minutes," the girl mumbled.

"You said the student council had something important for today!"

Kallen shot up, her hair a disheveled mess. She looked about, confusion suffusing her as she took in her room. It was, the same room she used when she stayed at the Stadtfeld estate. No, not entirely the same. There were a couple of items that she had intentionally kept with Ohgi, including a puppy stuffed animal that Naoto had gotten her for her birthday.

"Kallen?"

And that, that sounded like her mom.

"I'm up!" Kallen called back, scrambling out of her bed. "I'll be out there in a minute!"

She changed quickly, brushing her hair down so that stray strands were not poking out randomly, and hurried downstairs. And there her mom was, not dressed as a maid or anything, but actually being served by one that brought out breakfast.

"Thank you Morgan."

"You are welcome, milady," the maid said and then smiled at Kallen. "Ms. Kallen, I am glad you are able to join us this evening."

Kallen blinked. "Umm, yeah."

The maid chuckled. "Not quite awake yet I see. Still, you should have plenty of time to eat."

Kallen shook her head, trying to get a grasp on this surreal situation. Just what was going on?

"You're, not at the hospital?" Kallen said to her mother.

Kotone regarded her daughter quizzically. "Well, I am on shift tonight, so I won't be around to wake you up tomorrow. You'll need to get better at paying attention to your alarm, dear."

That, was not what Kallen meant.

"Something wrong Kallen?"

The girl looked over the table at her father, whom was seated next to Kotone. The man was already digging in with gusto at his own breakfast, a far heartier portion on his plates than what Kallen or Kotone's held.

"I," the girl said uncertainly. "I'm not sure." She looked at the clock and frowned. "But, I really should get going, otherwise I won't make it to school."

"Oh?" Heinrich said. "We should still make it in good time, Tokyo traffic is not quite that horrid during rush hour."

Kallen blinked. "What?"

"You asked me for a ride to school yesterday," Heinrich said. "Something about the student council wanting you early to help with something." The man frowned. "Are you feeling well, Kallen?"

The girl massaged her temple. "I, think so. Things have just been, extremely busy as of late."

"Well, try not to overextend yourself too much," Heinrich said. "I know you're intending to succeed Milly as the student council president, but your own health comes first."

"Umm, thanks father," Kallen said, finally sitting down at the table.

Her stomach growled at the smell of the food, causing her face to redden ever so slightly.

"Thanks for the meal," she said.

Ten minutes later she was in the car with her father heading towards the academy. Kallen could not recall the last time she actually rode with Heinrich like this, even as a child it tended to be her mother that took her to school. Or her brother once he reached a certain age. Kallen frowned.

"By the way, where's Naoto?" she asked as a test.

"What do you mean where?" Heinrich responded. "He was just home for dinner yesterday. Brought with him that Naomi girl he's sweet on."

Kallen pursed her lips. "I meant, did he say when he'd be home next?"

Her father seemed to think for a moment. "Not that I recall. You could just give him a call if there's something you wanted to talk about."

"That's true," Kallen allowed even as her thoughts raced.

This, something was very wrong here. More than wrong.

"Father, what do you know about the Princess Euphemia?"

Heinrich gave his daughter a quick glance as they sat at the red light. "Now what brought this on?"

"Just, answer the question please," Kallen said. "It's important."

The baron shrugged. "Well, if you say so. Let's see, she's the third princess, supposed to have a good head on her shoulders, and is regarded as an extremely compassionate young woman. I've seen her on occasion at a few official state functions, but I've never spoken with her."

"I see," Kallen said thoughtfully.

"That enough?"

"Yes, it is. Thanks father."

Heinrich regarded Kallen again but turned his attention back onto the road as the car started rolling again.

"Whatever is nagging you, Kallen, you can talk to your mother and I about this. You know that right?"

Kallen gave her father an assured smile. "I know, father."

Seemingly satisfied Heinrich did not press the point and the rest of the ride to the academy was in silence. When they arrived Kallen unashamedly gave her father a huge, a gesture that seemed to surprise him but did not stop him from reciprocating. From there the girl looked out at the familiar campus grounds and proceeded to the student council building with a determined pace.

This, was not the real world. It felt very real, but it was not. Kallen was certain of that much. She even had an inkling as to why she was undergoing this hallucination or dream. She just needed to find the person responsible and possibly give them a good thumping for putting her through this. When Kallen arrived she pushed open the door without any preamble and entered. Inside waiting for her was Milly and, a young man that Kallen recognized only too well. She froze.

"Ah, Kallen," Milly said with a wide, even playful smile. "Well don't just stand there, get your behind over here already!"

The young man sighed wearily. "I see you have not changed in the least, Milly."

The girl literally cackled. "Nope. And I never will, Lelouch."

Lelouch turned about and nodded politely. "And you must be Kallen Stadtfeld. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Kallen took a deep breath and forced herself to keep her expression politely neutral. "Likewise, your highness. I must confess to some surprise to your presence however."

Milly was actively grinning at that and Lelouch gave another weary sigh.

"I see Milly decided the purpose of my arrival was to further fuel her own amusement," Lelouch said.

"Hey, not just _my_ amusement," Milly protested. "There's plenty of fun to be had by all. Though." She regarded Kallen. "You don't seem quite as surprised as I would have expected."

"Oh believe me, I am surprised," Kallen said. "It's just that his highness showing up is not the biggest surprise I've had this day." She stared straight at the young man. "Isn't that right, NEMO?"

Lelouch and Milly froze. Not just them, but the entire room about them also seemed to stop. Kallen however was not so encumbered. She looked about, waiting for NEMO to make herself known. It was not a long wait.

"You are disinclined to spending further time in this simulation," a familiar voice sounded.

Kallen snorted, then narrowed her eyes. She recognized that voice.

"You got a face or something that I can speak to instead of a disembodied voice?"

"Very well."

Kallen spun about, to find herself facing a pale girl with long green hair and yellow eyes.

"C.C.?"

The girl cocked her head aside. "While it was her neural topology upon which my network was grown from, I am not C.C. You can think of me as her daughter. I am NEMO."

"Her daughter, right," Kallen said, then a thought occurred to her. "Was C.C., nevermind." And decided not to invade the other girl's privacy like that. "So, you're NEMO."

"That is what I just said," the construct said dryly.

"Well you definitely inherited her snark," Kallen remarked.

"Sarcasm has proven a useful mechanism of getting the attention of those I am supposed to advise," NEMO said flatly.

Kallen snorted. "I'll bet. So, what was the point of all this?"

"My integration into your neural topology is not yet complete," NEMO answered. "Your consciousness on the other hand has declined to remain asleep during the process, and so I needed to provide you with some degree of stimulation."

"And so you spun up this little, fantasy?"

C.C. cocked her head aside. "Not fantasy. This is a mnemonic engram I received from Duchess Stadtfeld."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "Duchess Stadtfeld. My descendant?"

NEMO shook her head. "I mean you yourself, your grace."

The young woman stared at NEMO blankly for a few seconds. The implications of the construct's words quickly percolated through her head.

"How long have you been active."

"Up till this moment and ignoring the temporal incongruity approximately 93 years," NEMO stated.

Which meant that Kallen herself, or at least the version NEMO had interacted with, must have been around at least that long. And the only way Kallen knew for that to be possible was if her other self was in possession of a code. Her lips thinned.

"Did my other self give you other, mnemonic engrams?"

"She did," NEMO confirmed.

"Does that mean you know how she got ahold of a code?"

"I do."

While NEMO was answering Kallen's questions she was not being entirely forthcoming with the actual information that Kallen wanted.

"Alright, how did she acquire the code?"

The avatar of C.C. that NEMO was using quirked her lips. "Before I answer any further questions I should perhaps explain something to you. Part of my programming includes a set of loyalty and obedience subroutines directly embedded into my base code. These are intended to ensure that I cannot be turned against Britannia and its allies, but they have the side effect that I cannot disobey a direct order from the person at the top of my chain of command, including one Duchess Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki. These subroutines make no distinction between the duchess that I knew, and yourself."

"So what you're saying," Kallen said slowly, "is that I can order to basically tell me everything about the future that Rai came from."

"That is correct," NEMO confirmed, "but there are many reasons for you to _not_ ask me to reveal all."

"And those reasons would be?"

"The primary one is one of affirmation bias. If you know in detail what is yet to come, you may presume that such events will occur and thus base your decision-making on that presumption. That would be a mistake."

"Why would that be a mistake?" Kallen asked.

"In the long term that will rob you of agency, of the ability to make decisions for yourself, especially when under duress. It is better that you remain ignorant of the minutia of future events, and in general as much of the future as possible, save for the truly critical bits."

"Huh, I never thought of that," Kallen mused. Then frowned again. "And you seem very certain it'll, what did you say, rob me of agency?"

"It was a mistake that took man years to undo," NEMO stated. "By yourself and the other humans of Rai's timeline."

"I'm starting to think they made a _lot_ of mistakes," Kallen stated.

"Errare humanum est, sed in errare perseverare diabolicum."

Kallen mulled over the words. "If telling me things about the future is dangerous, then what about the past? About the code and geass."

"I can attempt an explanation," NEMO said, "though you may not possess sufficient scientific knowledge to understand it."

Kallen snorted. "Try me."

"The concept referred to as a code is ultimately the ability to manipulate the information body, or eidos, of objects."

The girl stared blankly at NEMO. The construct was however not done.

"By modifying an object's eidos, it is possible to perform feats such as altering its physical properties and its current state in the world. An item at rest could be set to accelerate and act as a projectile. A solid could be transformed into a liquid or even a gas, irrespective of the surrounding temperature."

"Hold up," Kallen said with a raised hand. "Eidos? Information body? What are those?"

NEMO raised an eyebrow, causing Kallen to growl slightly.

"Fine, you were right, I don't know enough to actually understand your explanations. But since you already knew this, shouldn't you have started out with explaining the foundations first?"

"That was not the request you made of me," NEMO pointed out.

"And I doubt you're so literal minded that you need me to spell out everything for you," Kallen countered.

NEMO seemed to actually consider the remark. "That may be so, but to actually educate you in all of the scientific advances that underpin understanding of the code would take months if not years, time which we do not have."

"Then can you try giving a broad overview," Kallen persisted.

The construct actually shrugged. "I will attempt to do so. Whether it is of sufficient clarity however will depend on your mental acumen."

Kallen's eyebrow twitched. "I'm sorry, but did you just imply that I'm stupid?"

NEMO offered a beatific smile. "I issued a statement of fact, not an assessment."

"Okay, now I can really believe you're C.C.'s kid," Kallen snarked.

NEMO continued smiling for a moment longer before a firm expression overtook her face. With a wave of her hand the Ashford student council building, and Lelouch and Milly with it, disappeared. What took its place was, appropriately enough, something that looked like the interior of a thought elevator.

"You ask me what is code and geass. As I stated, in the basic sense it involves the manipulation of eidos, of the information body of objects in the materium. While the science of your time has received a point wherein the abstract foundations that underpin this manipulation have been conceived, the association does not yet exist."

NEMO raised a hand and a diagram appeared before the two, projected in midair. It had a series of boxes, five large ones and then a small one, and arrows between them.

"This diagram was published in 1948, in an article titled 'A Mathematical Theory of Communication.' Here we see the path that a communications system is composed of. A message is sent to a transmitter, affected by noise in the process of transmission, and this modified result is what a receiver must then decode to retrieve the original message."

That was all very straightforward, and Kallen found herself bemused that something so simple could warrant an academic article.

"The article served as the foundation for a field known as information theory," NEMO continued, "which underpins many of the modern conveniences you possess today, such as computers and data storage mediums, and would eventually lead to the development of the computation hardware that I reside in. What was not realized at the time however was that this information theory could also be used to describe the physical state of the universe itself, and it is a mastery of this description that allows the manipulation of the materium."

"Rai mentioned that," Kallen said. "How the code somehow lets one reshape the world."

"A simplification, but an accurate one," NEMO stated. "Modifying eidos however is not a trivial act, and requires significant computation to perform. In ages past there existed a subset of humans whom naturally possessed the mathematical acumen to perform this computation. It was they that established the so-called geas civilization and raised the thought elevators and the Sword of Akasha."

"Uh, how does maths allow one to reshape the physical world?" Kallen asked dubiously.

"To effect a change upon an object's eidos requires performing a calculation from its current state and computing the difference to the desired state," NEMO answered. "At an abstract level, all this is mathematics."

"If you say so," Kallen said, still sounding unconvinced.

"You were the one whom asked for an explanation," NEMO stated somewhat tartly.

It seemed this construct did have a personality of its own, Kallen mused.

"Sorry, just keep going."

After a moment regarding Kallen NEMO did so. "The number of people whom possess this natural mathematical intuition was however extremely few. It was however possible to alter the brains of regular humans to impart upon them this intuition. This, process, was not without risk and many did not survive the alterations, either dying or going mad. As you have likely inferred, the granting of a geass is the means by which this alteration takes place."

Kallen's fingers brushed the side of her face. "And those that did survive, they would acquire codes of their own, and be able to reshape the world?"

NEMO nodded. "That is so."

"What about the, powers, that the geass grants?" Kallen asked.

"A manifestation of your greater perception of the information that the world is composed of. In your case, you are able to sense in minute detail everything about you to the range of a few kilometers."

Kallen frowned. "I thought I was just picking up what other people saw."

"You employ your connection to C's world in order to tap into the senses of others, certainly, but all of the additional information that you glean is the product of your mind computing the current state of the materium within the range of those senses."

The young woman pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Then, what is this C's world that I'm supposedly linked to? And that supposedly lets me link my mind to others?"

"Even for code bearers, performing such computations can be extremely difficult and exhausting. As such a group of code bearers came up with a scheme by which they would tap into the subconscious domain of the human race, allowing them to make use of unaltered minds to assist in these calculations. While such minds were far from capable of performing the necessary computations individually, the total sum of humanity far eclipses that of a single code bearer or even a group. A code bearer that could harness a large number of minds together could thus achieve what can only be termed as miracles."

Kallen massaged her temples. She was still far from properly understanding NEMO's explanation, but she was getting the gist of it. And if what the construct was saying was true, then this geass civilization really must have been something. Yet that civilization still fell.

"If this civilization was so powerful, than what brought it down?"

"What brings down all empires?" NEMO asked rhetorically. "The elites of the geass civilization became complacent, more interested in their own personal privilege than in the wellbeing of their society. They engaged each other in power plays, trying to amass more followers for the sole purpose of tapping into their minds, reshaping the world according to whim instead of need. Eventually such thoughtlessness saw them weakened until a combination of internal and external pressures brought them down."

"But some of them survived," Kallen noted. "There were still codes floating about. C.C.'s for example."

"Indeed they did, and to prevent a recurrence of such folly the survivors instituted much stricter controls over their code. They also utilized the thought elevators to, fortify, the data that composes the materium, to make it much more difficult to reshape it."

Kallen blinked. "Wait, what was that about the thought elevators?"

"They served as anchors, to impose shape and form upon the materium," NEMO elucidated.

"But one was just destroyed in New York," Kallen said, alarm growing in her voice.

"The loss of a single elevator will not substantially weaken the data fortification," NEMO assured her. "There was a substantial degree of redundancy built into the system. One would need to destroy five of the nine to truly cripple the protections."

"Well one's already gone, so that means someone just needs to take out four more," Kallen said tartly.

And there was someone out there whom had the knowledge and perhaps even motive to do so. She really hoped they had gotten Suzaku with that atomic bomb. Kallen was also starting to see why Rai seemed to consider such measures completely necessary, even justified.

"Alright, I suppose that answers the basics of the code and geass," Kallen said.

NEMO smirked, causing Kallen to raise an eyebrow.

"What."

"Nothing, though I wonder whether you are answered versus that is all the answer you desire at this point."

Kallen gave NEMO a glare. "Yeah, you definitely inherited something from C.C. Anyway, my next question. How was it that Rai was able to come to our time?"

NEMO raised an eyebrow. "You wish me to explain temporal mechanics when you had difficulty grasping information physics."

"My level of understanding is equally dependent on how articulate you make your explanations," Kallen shot back.

"Hmm, I suppose that is also true," NEMO said. "Explaining the technology behind the temporal transfer will however require me explaining the Mimic War."

Kallen frowned. "Another war? Shouldn't humanity have gotten its fill of fighting?"

"Humans are beings driven by conflict, either with others or with themselves," NEMO said. "To achieve complete and total peace is likely impossible, and also highly undesirable, as that would weaken us in the face of external threats."

"External threats, like the Krell?"

NEMO nodded. "And the mimics."

Kallen blinked. "Wait, the Mimic War is a war against more aliens?"

The student council room disappeared, as did Lelouch and Milly. In its pace Kallen found herself presented with a view of Earth hanging in the dark void of space.

"It is technically the first conflict between humanity and a xeno threat. In 2105 three probes from outside the Sol system arrived on Earth. One landed in Manchuria."

A large red dot appeared in northeast China.

"Another in Africa."

The southern tip of Africa shifted over, with a similarly colored dot.

"The third landed in the Atlantic Ocean."

The planet shifted once more about and Kallen noted the much larger dot, apparently indicating a degree of uncertainty as to the exact point of impact.

"The Chinese were able to seize the one that fell in their territory and examined it. Their discoveries were extremely unnerving."

The scene shifted again, this time to a conference room where many solemn looking men and women were seated. Kallen almost immediately picked out the Britannian representative, especially with the omnipresent armsman hovering protectively behind his liege.

"Who is that?" Kallen asked.

NEMO raised an eyebrow.

"Oh come on, it can't hurt to tell me a little bit," she said.

"If you insist," NEMO said almost petulantly. "That is Reinhardt Ashford, Heir Secundus to the throne. Next to him is Siegfried Stadtfeld, his friend and confidante."

Kallen's eyes widened.

"He is indeed your descendant," NEMO confirmed before smirking. "Would you like to know more?"

The girl's mouth opened but closed wordlessly.

"No," she finally said. "No, I think that will be fine."

NEMO tilted her head a bit before continuing. "As I was saying, the Chinese were able to examine in some detail the probe they seized. They determined that the probes were in fact transports, carrying von Neumann machines, or self-replicating machines, that if left unchecked could potentially consume the entire planet. Surveys of South Africa, where one of the probes was able to touch down unmolested, confirmed this."

The room disappeared and now Kallen found herself floating in the sky above an arid landscape. Except, there was something very wrong with the terrain below.

"What are those?" she said, pointing at the round ball-like entities moving below.

"Mimics," NEMO answered. "Early stage ones at that. The von Neumann machines in the probes extract raw materials from the ground and use it for replication as well as terraforming. Notice the secretions they are producing, it is intended to transform the landscape into an environment suitable for habitation by their creators, and utterly uninhabitable to terrestrial life. To create a, mimicry, of an alien ecosystem. Hence the name, mimics."

"Oh Hel," Kallen muttered.

"Indeed. Upon the discovery of what the mimics were doing, the international community agreed to sterilize the site. To that purpose, explicit consent was given for Britannia to deploy a FREYJA warhead against the infected location."

The entire landscape was suddenly consumed by a blinding light, forcing Kallen to shut her eyes. When she gingerly opened one, she saw a massive mushroom cloud rising into the air. In fact, it looked like it was pushing into the upper atmosphere.

"Gods…"

"The two gigaton warhead was successful in sterilizing the southern tip of Africa, wiping out the mimics before they could expand further."

"Successful," Kallen said bitingly. "You consider that sort of destruction a success!?"

"Considering the suffering that the twenty years of war that followed entailed, there are many whom would have considered preemptively wiping out the mimics the better alternative, regardless of the weapons used."

Kallen's mouth again moved soundlessly.

"Twenty years?" she managed to rasp.

NEMO nodded and the projection zoomed out until they could see more of the world. There was a verdant green to much of it, and in the darkened side facing away from the sun Kallen could make out what appeared to be lights, likely from the cities that dotted the globe. But then even as the Earth continued to spin, those lights started disappearing. First in Europe and Africa, then the eastern parts of the Americas, then across the Middle East and even reaching into Asia.

"Twenty years, where the population of the human race was effectively halved, from eight billion to four."

Kallen found her chest tighten painfully. "Four billion."

She was parroting NEMO, but considering the subject matter that was easily forgiven. Kallen watched as some of that greenery also turned into a sickly brown.

"The mimics that survived in the Atlantic Ocean emerged and managed to overrun much of continental Europe, Africa, and significant portions of eastern North and South America before they were stopped. Humanity suffered immensely, not just from the direct devastation visited upon the people but also due to the changing climate caused by the mimic's terraforming and the loss of agricultural land. Were it not for the orbital farms the Holy Britannian Empire was able to adapt its orbital infrastructure into, it is highly probable that the number of deaths would have been even higher."

Kallen grimaced. "You say these probes arrive in 2107. So we still have time to prepare, to maybe stop them from ever landing in the first place."

"Indeed, though that is not why I am telling you about the mimics."

That caused Kallen to blink. "That's right, I was asking you about the whole time traveling thing."

"As Rai has stated before, it is not time travel in the classical sense. That, as far as known science is concerned, is impossible. What was achieved by Rai and myself was the transmission of sufficient information to reconstitute both of us using the capabilities of a thought elevator."

"Wait, what?"

"As I explained earlier," NEMO said somewhat tiredly, "everything about an object in the materium can be described in its physical information. The power of the code is to be able to make changes to this information, and thus change the object itself. And if you could use a code to completely duplicate all information about an object, you would in effect duplicate that object as well. To do so however takes a tremendous amount of computation power, one that no single code bearer could hope to wield. With the amplification of a thought elevator however, the impossible simply becomes, extremely difficult.

"Alright," Kallen allowed slowly. "So what does this, transmission have to do with the mimics?"

"It was the Mimics that introduced the technology of transmitting data nonlinearly through time to humanity," NEMO answered. "Or rather, humanity accidentally discovered that the Mimics possessed this ability after, a series of events. The application by the Mimics was fairly limited, they only transmitted audiovisual sensory data back a maximum of 30 hours. This however provided an immense tactical advantage on the battlefield. Imagine if you knew how a battle tomorrow would go, the positions of your enemy, their intended tactics and strategies."

"Is that how the mimics were able to overtake so much of the planet?" Kallen speculated.

"Indeed," NEMO confirmed. "It took humanity many years, but eventually you were able to duplicate the technology. And combined with information physics, you were able to turn the data transmitted back into concrete objects, and even people."

"You," Kallen said carefully. "When you say 'you' you don't just mean humans, you're referring to me specifically, aren't you?"

NEMO allowed a slight smile. "I see your insightful nature was not an acquired attribute."

Despite the rather serious nature of their discussion Kallen succumbed to the temptation of sticking her tongue out at NEMO. The construct however took the action in stride.

"And you are correct, partially. It was not merely yourself of course, but you played a pivotal role in seeing the technology brought to fruition, along with the Lord Lelouch."

"The Lord Lelouch," Kallen annunciated very crisply. "And what, exactly, was he lord of?"

NEMO clasped her hands behind her form, not that such actions actually meant anything in here.

"His Highness the Prince Lelouch, Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Chronos. Appointed to that role by the Empress Victoria li Britannia in light of the potential consequences to causality in transmitting information nonlinearly through time. His first task was to find a countermeasure to the mimic's usage of the technology, which he succeeded in doing with the assistance of the Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus, Her Grace the Duchess Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki."

"My assistance," Kallen said flatly. "Tell me, how many other things do I 'assist' the 'Lord Lelouch' with, NEMO?"

The construct regarded Kallen with a hint of wariness. "You should understand, your grace, that the Lelouch you know and the one from my timeline followed very different paths and ultimately emerged as different people."

Kallen snorted. "So does that mean if you had been installed in Lelouch's head instead of mine, you could have recognized him as a different person than the one you knew and not obey his direct orders?"

NEMO's lips twitched. "Biometric verification distinguishes identity, nothing else. For example I cannot distinguish you from the Duchess Stadtfeld that I knew from a logical perspective, but emotionally I am well aware that there is a distinction." The construct actually sniffed. "Your emotional state for one has not been tempered to the same degree as hers."

The glare Kallen was shooting NEMO faltered for a brief moment. "So, what did this Lelouch do differently? What did he do so much better that I didn't end up wanting to kill him?"

NEMO smirked again. "If your memories are any indication, there were certainly times when you did want to kill him. Your anger towards him was borne of something besides hatred though."

"Oh fuck that," Kallen scowled. "Are you seriously telling me I had some sort of relationship with that son of a bitch?"

" _You_ did not," NEMO said with some emphasis. "The Duchess Stadtfeld and Prince Lelouch that _I_ knew did."

"Then they must have been very different people indeed," Kallen stated.

"Evidently so," NEMO responded. "As such why should you be so shaken by decisions made by a person whom is demonstrably not you?"

Kallen ground her teeth. Technically she should not be, but even if this other Kallen was different, they were still at a basic level the same person if not very similar. The notion that she could regard Lelouch with any sort of affection, rankled. And not just because of all the times he tried to kill her, or all the people he did kill in those attempts.

"Let's just drop the matter and move on," Kallen said.

"Very well," NEMO acquiesced. "As I was saying, Britannia was eventually able to reverse-engineer the mimic's ability to transmit data nonlinearly through time. It was quickly discovered that the, strength, of the signal degraded exponentially the further back you attempted to send a message. The one whom discovered a way around this problem was the Duchess Stadtfeld, using the power of the code in conjunction with a thought elevator to fortify the data that was being transmitted back. With the enemy's primary advantage compromised, humanity was able to turn the tide and systematically destroy all the mimics."

"So we won," Kallen said.

"For a time. There was however the recognition that the mimics were simply tools, machines sent to prepare the way. It was therefore postulated that the aliens that had sent the mimics in the first place might one day make an appearance. Humanity thus set itself to improving its capabilities, seeking ways to strengthen itself. This effort was ultimately what led to Britannia seeking to reclaim the Sword of Akasha and its capabilities for mankind, and what led to the freeing of the Krell."

Kallen grimaced. "And what ultimately led to humanity's extinction in your own time."

"That is so."

"Well, that's not going to happen this time around," Kallen said. "With everything you've told me thus far, we can avoid that fate."

"I would not be so certain of that, your grace," NEMO said rather formally.

"What do you mean?"

"The events of this timeframe have already deviated considerably from what my own historical records indicate should be the case. That should have already been evident from the mnemonic engram that I was basing my simulation off of."

Kallen's widened. "That's right, Lelouch never attended Ashford Academy as a student. But, wait. Does that mean he was still a prince in your timeline?"

"Indeed. In my timeline the Empress Marianne was _not_ assassinated, and thus her children were _not_ driven into hiding. In fact the Britannia of my time was far from the warmongering empire that you grew up with. It had aggressively expanded in the past to dominate the Americas, yes, but its expansion had effectively ended by the start of the 20th century after it won possession of what was left of the Spanish overseas colonies."

"But, Euphemia still became empress," Kallen pointed out. "Does that mean there was still a Great War in your timeline?"

"There was, though as you have surmised the conditions that ignited it were considerably different, as was the ascension of the Empress Euphemia, even if there are striking parallels."

Kallen groaned. "This is, so much to take in."

"There is certainly a great deal of information, yes," NEMO agreed. "The salient point however is that you should not presume some sort of decisive advantage just because of information that I possess and which is accessible to you. It will be by _your_ efforts that you will emerge victorious over the myriad of threats that humanity faces, now and in the future."

"Alright, that's fair enough," Kallen agreed before sighing. "Gods, my life is getting more and more bloody complicated by the minute." And frowned. "You said that this timeline was different than what your own history records. Does that mean that, some other future might have also mucked with it?"

"That does appear to be the case," NEMO said. "Based on the historical records that Rai has accessed, there are at least five instances of information having been transmitted from a future timeplane to this one."

"Five? What five?"

NEMO held up a hand and began raising her fingers one by one. "The first and most obvious is whatever occurred with C.C. and Lelouch when they visited the London thought elevator. Next, the Empress Euphemia's connection to V.V. being severed when she entered the Kamine Island thought elevator. Furthermore, Dame Monica Kruszewski also entered that thought elevator and apparently ran into another variant of yourself. And finally, C.C. entering the same thought elevator and returning with myself and Rai. Of those incidences I only have a record of the last. None of the mnemonic engrams I receivd from the Lord Lelouch or Duchess Stadtfeld indicate their involvement with any of the other incursions."

The frown deepened. "That's a bit disturbing. Wait, you said five. That was only four."

"Indeed, though the last one is highly speculative and I have no direct proof of it occurring."

"Well, speculate away," Kallen said. "We might as well get all of the revelations out of the way now before I actually wake up."

"Very well. You are familiar with the legend of Arthur?"

"Sure, when the Romans invaded England he led the Celts in defeating them. What, you going to suggest he was also a time traveler?"

"No, but he was almost certainly a geass wielder," NEMO said, "if not a code bearer outright."

That caused Kallen to pause momentarily as she thought it over. "Huh. And if he was a code bearer, that would mean the Knights of the Round were his contractors?"

"Speculative, but a very distinct possibility," NEMO agreed. "That however is not the salient point. The legend of Arthur also existed in my timeline, but its resolution was different. Arthur was not a warrior-king, but more of a statesman and diplomat. He successfully negotiated with the Romans, turning ancient Britain into a client state of the Roman Empire but also obtaining for his people access to Roman technology and knowledge."

"Huh, okay, that sounds like nothing of the Arthur in our legends," Kallen said.

"Indeed, and I cannot help but think that this difference is of some import."

"But, to what purpose?" Kallen wondered aloud.

"Insufficient data to draw any sort of conclusion," NEMO stated. "Perhaps an examination of the London thought elevator will provide more answers, once Britannia reclaims the British Isles."

"Perhaps," Kallen said sullenly, recalling that in the real world there was a major war ongoing, one that she had already participated in and would have to do so again when she awoke.

NEMO said nothing, seemingly looking off into the distance for a moment. She then gazed at Kallen.

"Integration complete. I am now fully synced with your neural topology, your grace."

Kallen snorted. "You can drop the honorifics, NEMO. Just call me Kallen."

The construct raised an eyebrow. "If you wish, Kallen."

"So once I wake up, how do I talk to you?"

"You have but to think it and I will be made aware of what you wish to convey."

"Uh, does that mean you can hear everything I think?"

"No, only such messages that you wish to directly convey to me."

"Oh, good. I think."

"I am however privy to everything that your physical senses convey to you," NEMO added. "Sight, sound, taste, touch, and so forth."

"That, is going to take a bit to get used to," Kallen said, before thoughts of Cole entered her head. Her face flushed. "Oh, gods."

NEMO tilted her head. "Is something the matter."

"Is there, um, any way for you to _not_ share my senses? Even if for a short period of time?"

"No," the construct answered bluntly.

Kallen growled. "You're not lying to me, are you?"

"As I said previously, my loyalty subroutines mean I cannot disobey a direct order from you. That naturally means I cannot deceive you."

"Great, just bloody great," Kallen murmured. "You know, for all Rai's reluctance to part ways with you, I can see at least one plus to you not being able to basically peek on him."

"You would be referring to his growing intimacy with the Empress Euphemia," NEMO said.

"Hah, intimacy. Sure, let's call it that."

"I had advised him against it, but Rai is ultimately his own person. I would advise screening any children the two have for any genetic anomalies."

Kallen looked at NEMO blankly. "Screen? Why?"

"Their relation is within the third degree of consanguinity," NEMO said. "While Rai was specifically engineered to avoid carrying any autosomal recessive disorders, no such engineering is perfect-"

"Wait hold up," Kallen interrupted. "How the Hel is Rai within the, third degree? Wasn't he born something like four hundred years from now?"

NEMO regarded Kallen. "His relation is through his father."

Kallen's jaw dropped. Rai's father. That could only mean one person.

"What the HEL!?" the girl exclaimed. "Rai is Lelouch's _son_!?"

"Indeed so," NEMO said.

"Oh for the love of-and he never bothered mentioning any of this!?"

"Rai does not know."

That cut Kallen off mid-rant as she looked at NEMO. "What?"

"Rai is unaware of his parental heritage. As far as he is aware, he is an orphan, raised in the care of the Koller family."

"But, why?"

"To minimize any attachments he might have to remaining in his home timeplane," NEMO explained. "Rai was specifically engineered to be able to be, transmitted so to speak, back via the thought elevator. It was for that purpose that he was created."

"For that purpose-" Kallen began to roar. "You say that like he's not a person!"

"He is his own person," NEMO responded sanguinely. "He has made many decisions for himself. Ultimately however his birth parents elected to make one for him, to make sure that he would be sent back, that he at least would survive the fall of mankind."

Kallen's mouth thinned even as she continued glaring at NEMO. "That still doesn't make it right. To have, created a person like that."

"Needs must," NEMO stated frankly. "But ultimately Rai's parents did what they did as an act of love as well. Consider that throughout all the years they had lived, because of their code, they would have outlived all of their friends and family, generation after generation. What they did, they did so that at least one generation of their offspring would have a genuine future."

A chill ran down Kallen's back at those words.

"Who-who was Rai's mother," she asked, despite already knowing the answer.

NEMO's gaze confirmed it even before the construct spoke. "That would have been you, Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki."

End of Chapter 99

Well, there was that. Hopefully that was relatively coherent and didn't confuse the crap out of all of you. This should hopefully be the last major infodump for a while regarding the very tangled sequence of events regarding code and geass. We'll be dealing with the war proper once Kallen wakes up. There'll still be tidbits that slip in, but the focus will shift over to winning the war against the Chinese and Europeans, as well as hunting down Suzaku.

Rai in the original VN was stated to be half Britannian and half Japanese. In mine he's effectively quarter Japanese instead. Not much of a difference but whatever.

As I stated in the last chapter notes, my level of interest in doing the other story is minimal because pretty much everything I've wanted to play with in the Code Geass universe I've done so in this story. There's nothing to adjust or tweak with _Campaign's_ storyline to make me want to write it more, especially considering there are other stories I'd prefer to work on instead. And since my time is finite, I'd rather go do something else in another verse once I'm done with _Calculus_.

Whether Euphemia's reforms hold or not will depend on how well she raises her successors, and how well they raise theirs. While it is certainly possible that her heir ends up being a mediocre and lazy person, how many of you are going to bet against Euphemia in raising a proper heir?


	101. Chapter 100

_The reliability of its armed forces has generally not been a concern for the Holy Britannian Empire even with its extensive use of conquered subjects. As such there has traditionally been little need for political officers embedded within the line regiments. The only exception to this has been with the penal battalions composed of soldiers whom had transgressed against the Empire in some manner. Usage of such battalions was regarded as a necessary evil by the Britannian military leadership, providing a body of troops that could be committed for especially risky operations as needed. Of course morale within such battalions was always a tenuous matter, an issue not at all helped by the open questioning of the loyalty of those soldiers so consigned. As such these units were the only ones to have commissars specifically appointed to oversee them, officers whom held the power of summary judgment but were also capable of commuting a soldier's sentence should he or she display exemplary bravery in the Empire's service._

 _The Empire always tends to have a few such units available and the commencement of the Great War was no different. The size of the penal legions was however substantially increased in the aftermath of the Battle of Pendragon as the surviving soldiers of the Virginian provincial guard were forcibly conscripted into their ranks. To motivate such individuals and keep them in line was a feat beyond even that of many a commissar. Little wonder then that the man assigned this task was considered by many to be a Hero of the Imperium._

 _-in Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 100

Quam bene vivas referre, non quam diu

"Here you go."

"Oh, thank you," Suzaku said as he accepted the bowl of rice.

"It's no trouble," the young woman said with a smile. "We Japanese have to look out for each other after all. No one else will."

Suzaku looked out the window, at the rundown neighborhood he was currently residing in.

"I, had heard that refugees from Japan were facing tough times, regardless of where they went," Suzaku said. "I didn't know it was this bad. I would have thought that the EU at least would have treated our people with a bit more, dignity."

"The European governments pay a bit more lip service to the ideals of freedom and equality than the Britannians," the woman said. "That doesn't mean they extend such equal treatment to people not their own."

"It shouldn't be this way," Suzaku said.

"The world is an imperfect place. Those of us that want it to become better, need to make an effort with our own hands."

Suzaku looked down at his two hands. Could a pair that had been so stained with blood effect change for the better? He was determined to find out.

"Anyway, don't let your meal go cold," the woman said.

In truth Suzaku could not claim to have much of an appetite. He was unsure whether that was due to the changes made to his body or if it was purely psychological. Still these people were kind and generous enough to share what they had with him, it would be rude to make light of their hospitality.

"Thank you for the food," he said with a smile. "And, thank you again for letting me stay here, Shizuka-san."

The young woman smiled again. It was an affectionate, sisterly smile, one that Suzaku did not doubt she graced many a person whom passed through this place with. He still drew a measure of comfort from it as he began eating. Taking the time to eat also allowed Suzaku an opportunity to think, to consider his next course of action. With the Europeans starting to take the war more seriously, security in the major cities had been stepped up according to the refugees that had helped him get here. Getting to London would have been tricky enough before, Japanese refugees in general were not permitted the same freedom of movement as native Europeans. Now it looked nigh impossible, especially if the authorities were actively watching out for him after his escape. What to do.

"Yo, Suzaku."

Looking up Suzaku saw a rough, almost disheveled looking youth approach him.

"Ryo-san," he greeted.

"What's with the formality?" Ryo said with a smirk.

"Not sure I'm being terribly formal," Suzaku said with a wry smile.

"Well whatever," Ryo said, plopping down across from the young man. "Hey, no reason to let me interrupt your meal, you can just listen while you chow down."

"If you say so," Suzaku said, though he did start shuffling rice into his mouth again.

"So, getting to England wasn't the easiest thing to do even before the war broke out, especially for us refugees. The British are a, finicky group. They can't do anything to keep other Europeans out, but they like to pretend their island status still offers some insulation from the rest of the continent."

"That's a shame," Suzaku mumbled between mouthfuls.

"Quite. But us entrepreneurial types do have our ways. Now England is an island, with all that entails. They're not self-sufficient in food and a few other things, so there's a lot of shipping and trade. And where there's trade, there's opportunity."

"You mean smuggling."

Ryo clucked his tongue. "No need to make it sound so nefarious. We're just helping meet a demand that regular channels are uh, not fulfilling."

Suzaku smiled wryly again. "I was in Japan during the occupation, Ryo-san. I know all about unmet demand, and the lengths people go to have them met."

"There, you see? It ain't so different here. The Europeans are stingy about any help they give to us poor refugees, so we need to make do with our own wits."

"That we do," Suzaku said agreeably. "So, what exactly is this other way you have up your sleeve?"

"So, here's the thing. Fishing in European waters is pretty heavily regulated. Each country wants to make sure their own fishermen have enough of a catch to stay in business and the like, and overfishing has been a pretty serious problem in the past. At the same time, when you're out at sea, it's not like there are a lot of policing agencies about, so you can get away with quite a lot of stuff, one of which is the transfer of certain cargos. And well, there just happens to be some cargo that needs couriering to England. Interested?"

"Very much so," Suzaku said. "When can we go?"

"It'll be a few days yet," Ryo said. "Still need to make some final arrangements, but I could always use some more muscle. And you, well, you have the look of someone who knows his way around a gun."

Suzaku frowned. "Are you expecting trouble?"

"In our line of business, trouble always finds you," Ryo said, a hint of a grimace touching his lips. "And when it does, you need to be sure that those that got your back, got your back."

Suzaku regarded Ryo intently. "You know I'll have yours."

The other youth said nothing for a few moments before nodding. "Yeah, and for some reason I really believe it too. Don't know why, but I do. We'll see if that bites me in the ass down the line."

To that Suzaku tried to offer a reassuring smile. He was not quite sure if he was successful, but Ryo did not seem so melancholic as he took his leave. For some reason a lot of people seemed to open up to him now when Suzaku approached them. They answered his questions, offered suggestions, even tried to help him. That was a big difference than how things were in Japan, back then there had been so much distrust and animosity, especially towards Honorary Britannians like him. Here though, things were different. Maybe it was because the Japanese here did not need to lie to themselves. Suzaku was not sure. What he was sure of though was his path. He would go to the London thought elevator, unravel its mysteries, and from there make the first step to changing the world for the better. People lied too much, to both themselves and other people. It was time to put a stop to that, permanently.

* * *

"Your highness, are you alright?"

It still sounded weird as all Hel for people to address her that way, Kallen mused as she slowly rose from the bed. Her body felt remarkably light and her head clear.

 _NEMO, are you there?_ Kallen tested.

 _Yes your grace._

 _Oh well. Good._

"I'm fine," Kallen responded to the nurse. "How long was I out for?"

"Six days, your highness.

 _I could have told you that._

Kallen chuckled. _I'll keep that in mind for the future._

This would take some getting used to, the young woman could already tell.

"Any developments that I should be made aware of?" she asked aloud.

"I understand that a briefing will be conducted for your benefit once you have been discharged," the nurse answered.

"Ah. My thanks, lieutenant."

Kallen pulled herself off the bed and stretched, loosening her muscles and joints. A mere six days but her body was already stiff from the inactivity. She would need to make up for.

"I would recommend you get something to eat before diving back into your work, your highness."

And right on cue her stomach growled, causing Kallen to flush ever so slightly. "Sounds like my body agrees."

A few minutes later Kallen was seated in what was apparently her new, and very spacious at that, office with healthy servings of the palace's best. Across from her were Rai, Monica, and a blond haired youth that Kallen recognized as the Knight of Three, Sir Gino Weinberg. The latter two were watching somewhat incredulously as Kallen packed away the food with gusto while Rai seemed nonplussed. Then again seeing as he had apparently known another version of Kallen that possessed a code, her hearty appetite was probably nothing new.

"I do not believe we've actually had a chance to formally introduce ourselves, Sir Weinberg," Kallen said, setting down her utensils as the others seated themselves.

The young man flashed a smile. "Gino is just fine, your highness."

"Well in that case I'll have to insist on Kallen instead of your highness," Kallen responded with one of her own.

That caused the youth's expression to falter ever so slightly. "Umm, begging your pardon, but that might be pushing things a bit much there."

"Her majesty was the one that saddled me with the title, I never wanted it," Kallen said frankly.

"That may be so, but to address you so, intimately, would be somewhat impolitic, considering we have really just met now," Gino persisted.

Kallen sighed. "Fine, fine. Gods, this is definitely her majesty getting back at me for something."

Monica cracked a smirk while Rai remained impassive. Gino on the other hand raised an eyebrow but otherwise said nothing.

"Anyway," Kallen continued. "I hope you three don't mind if I finish my breakfast during the briefing, I have been out for about a week."

"Not at all, your highness," Monica said, still grinning.

"So, what's happened in the last week or so that I need to be aware of?" Kallen asked, picking up knife and fork again.

"Not much," Monica answered, taking the lead as the senior most knight present. "Seventh and Eighth Fleet are preparing to kick the crap out of the Russian Baltic Fleet in preparation for the invasion of Korea, the Filipino campaign is winding down and we're rotating forces there, Sumatra is next on the list for offensive operations, and that's about it for the Asian theatre. Seeing as there really isn't a European theatre, yet, that's about it for the state of the war itself too."

"What about domestically?" Kallen asked. "How are relief efforts?"

"They are progressing well," Gino took that one. "Food, water, and medical supplies are flowing steadily to the regions that need them, and some reconstruction work is already in progress. Her majesty has been especially active in coordinating the efforts."

And if Euphemia was personally overseeing them, then it was a pretty sure thing they would be going smoothly, Kallen mused as she chewed.

"Alright," Kallen said after swallowing. "So what's left?"

"There is the matter of the Directorate and the hunt for Suzaku," Rai said.

Kallen regarded the young man. Her emotions were more than a bit tangled where Rai was concerned thanks to NEMO's revelations. Should she treat Rai as if he were her own son? But the Kallen Stadtfeld that birthed him might as well have been a complete stranger. And blood did not necessarily mean family, never mind the fact that Kallen had no idea how a mother was supposed to act, much less towards someone that was physically approximately the same age as her. This, was weird, to say the least.

Instead of answering immediately Kallen glanced over at Gino. The implicit question was conveyed without any trouble.

"Gino here has already been read in on the Directorate and other matters," Monica said.

"Is that so?" Kallen said, eyebrow raised.

The other knight smiled somewhat mirthlessly. "Anya is a good friend of mine, your highness. And I learned much under the tutelage of the Empress Marianne."

"I see," Kallen said simply before looking back over at Rai. "Well since that is settled, you were saying?"

"We still have no confirmation of whether Suzaku survived the destruction of the Toulon arsenal," Rai said. "For that matter I am not likely to be convinced we have killed him short of us having the body in front of us. And even then."

Kallen gave Rai a look. "Would you mind?"

The young man smiled ruefully. "Apologies, your grace. I do not mean to ruin your appetite." And continued nonetheless. "Regardless of Suzaku's condition or status, we should still make haste to secure as many of the thought elevators as possible. With your pseudo-code and my own artificial code, we should be able to lock them down and prevent any further attempts at tampering."

"Easier said than done," Kallen remarked. "Aren't four of the thought elevators in enemy territory outright and another is in contested territory?"

"That is so, but the Antarctic and Kamine Island thought elevators still need further securing first," Rai said. "And the military is moving forward with plans to advance upon the Chinese, which should allow for easier access to the Indian thought elevator as well as open up the way to the Mongolian thought elevator."

"I presume this means I will be participating in the Asian campaign?" Kallen said.

Monica nodded at that. "You will likely be accompanying Eighth Army once it commences the invasion of Korea. Scuttlebutt says that General Darlton will be appointed its commanding officer."

"I see," Kallen said thoughtfully.

"I will also be accompanying you," Rai said. "In fact I have been putting together a team of operatives that will be directly assisting us in securing and sealing the thought elevators."

Kallen cocked her head aside. "Oh? More people from the Directorate?"

"To an extent," Rai said. "Dame Kruszewski has also deigned to lend me a few operatives of Loki Regiment, and I have secured the cooperation of Lelouch's remaining compatriots."

Kallen's jaw froze halfway through chewing on the pancake. She managed the swallow the not entirely broken up chunks as she gaped at Rai.

"Are you serious!?"

"They are familiar with Lelouch's plans for the thought elevators, and shared with him the intent to safeguard humanity. They _can_ be trusted."

Despite Rai's emphasis Kallen was far from convinced.

"They also were planning on helping him blow the New York thought elevator."

Rai regarded Kallen levelly. "And how long do you intend to hold that against them, your grace? Considering you yourself are where you are because certain parties within Britannian chose to forgo any animosity they held against you instead of actively protesting your rise."

Kallen grimaced. Rai had a point there. She was also mildly impressed by how, maturely, the young man was handling such things. And she was supposed to be his mother? Biologically at least.

"You've made your point," Kallen said.

Rai nodded, not pressing the matter any further as he continued on. "The bulk of the 100th infantry battalion is also being transferred to Fenrir Regiment. If there are any units within it that you want, you might want to put in a word now before the reorganization is finalized."

That got Kallen's attention. "Oh?"

Monica smirked slightly at the way the younger woman's face lit up. "General Arseid was impressed by their record since the battalion was formed, and by their steadfast loyalty to the empress." The smirk disappeared. "And considering the losses the guards of the round suffered from the Battle of Pendragon, well, those needed making up quickly."

"I see," Kallen said more thoughtfully. "I have a few names in mind. Suppose I better move on it quickly." She shoved the rest of the pancake into her mouth and chewed.

By this time Gino was looking on a bit incredulously at the amount of food Kallen was packing away. Monica, while seemingly amused, took it in stride. Rai was the only one that seemed completely unfazed. Perhaps this was a familiar sight to him.

"As for rounding out the personnel whom will accompany you, I believe that Sir Weinberg would be a welcome addition."

Kallen looked over at Gino, her cheek slightly puffed out from the food stuffed inside. It took all the knight's willpower not to laugh or even crack a grin. His body was almost shaking from the effort. Kallen suppressed a smirk of her own. She needed to give the young man some credit for his self-control.

"Well, I can certainly see that," Kallen said with a more genuine smile. "You certainly have more experience as a Knight of the Round and an officer than I, Sir Weinberg."

Gino returned the smile. "I will endeavor to serve in whatever manner I can, your highness."

"Obviously all of this will need to be finalized with General Arseid and of course with her majesty herself," Rai said. "Ultimately though our timetable is to move out within the next week."

"We're moving pretty quickly," Kallen noted.

"Let us hope it is quickly enough," was Rai's succinct response.

* * *

"Your majesty, Princess Kallen is here to see you."

Euphemia allowed herself a slight chuckle at hearing that. Princess Kallen. It was hardly becoming of her to find such amusement in Kallen's new title, but a mischievous part of her could not help it. There was little enough humor to be found in her surroundings as it was anyway.

"Send her in," the empress said.

The doors opened and Kallen entered, draped in the formal court dress of a Knight of the Round, cape included. Not surprisingly Kallen's was a bright red. It was a surprisingly tasteful contrast to the gold embroidered white suit and black blouse underneath. Equally not surprisingly Kallen had elected for the pants version of the uniform instead of the skirt, and the long coat instead of the tuxedo-like twin-tailed variant. All in all Kallen very much looked the part of a proper knight, her bearing of firm resolve and graceful poise. The latter was probably more relevant in her role as a princess of the realm than as a knight.

"And so the Red Knight emerges," Euphemia said playfully. "Or is it the Red Queen now?"

Kallen cracked a wry grin back at the empress. "Red Queen? I haven't heard that one before."

"Part of my daily briefing is a short summary on general public opinion," Euphemia said. "The tabloids have been, quite active in coming up with new appellations for you."

"Oh joy of joys," Kallen said with a sigh, then regarded the empress. "And what of appellations for yourself, your majesty?"

"The strangest thing, no mention has been made in the briefings thus far," Euphemia remarked with a curious tone.

Kallen snorted. It sounded like Euphemia's advisors had some sense in them after all.

"Anyway," Euphemia continued. "I am glad to see you up and about again, Kallen. And you can sit down already, there's no need for you to hover before me like that."

"By your leave then, your majesty," Kallen said with a grin.

Euphemia smiled back at the older girl. Her expression assumed a more serious visage quickly enough however.

"Raibeart has already forwarded me his list of candidates for your taskforce. He informs me you have a few others you wish to recruit."

Kallen nodded, her own face now businesslike. "A couple of members of the 100th, assuming you're willing to part with them."

"Any that are willing to sign on with you, you may have," Euphemia said. "Though, try not to make General Arseid's life too complicated with your poaching."

"I just need a few officers and enlisted," Kallen said. "Though I was wondering, should perhaps Rai remain here instead of following me around?"

Euphemia cocked her head aside. "Why do you say that?"

"In terms of dealing with the threat that the code and geass represents, Rai is extremely helpful in two respects. First is his artificial code, which is hardened against compromise so he's basically the only other person we have that can fight against a krell possessed code bearer. The other is his knowledge of the future, or rather his knowledge about the krell, the code, and geass. I'm the only other person that, with NEMO's installation in me, also has both. I just feel that one of us should remain here, in Pendragon, to protect you. Just in case we have another situation like what happened in the New York thought elevator."

Euphemia considered Kallen's points carefully. "Have you discussed this with Raibeart himself?"

"Not yet," Kallen admitted. "But well, something tells me that if you ask him to stay in Pendragon, he'll do it."

That elicited a raised eyebrow and Kallen smiled slightly.

"Everyone can see it, your majesty, so you don't need to even bother feigning ignorance."

After a moment Euphemia snorted. "I see. And I do find merit in the raised points. At the same time, I feel that Raibeart would be somewhat askance to be left behind, even if the purpose was to ensure my safety."

"You're probably right," Kallen agreed reluctantly.

Euphemia cocked her head aside. "Is there a reason why _you_ might want Raibeart to remain here?"

Kallen grimaced. She could tell Euphemia the truth, of whom or rather what Rai really was. Except, could she really do that? No, Kallen quickly concluded, she could not.

"Let's just say that I know a bit more about Rai now that NEMO is in my head, and well, even though I think he really wants to be out there doing stuff, it would also do him some good to spend some time in Pendragon in a more, sedate posting. He, hasn't had the easiest life."

"I see," Euphemia said thoughtfully. "I will, consider the point, Kallen. And I thank you for raising it."

Kallen smiled weakly. She really did want what was best for Rai, and for Euphemia. If only she could figure out what was best for the two. Her emotions were still too tangled up regarding the young man.

"Now if that matter is settled, there is the matter of the Directorate that I wished to speak with you about," Euphemia said.

That got Kallen's attention and she regarded the empress intently.

"Reviewing all of its records has been a, time consuming task, and I doubt we have delved into all of its activities, or even just the more sordid practices. The most amoral of the Directorate's personnel have already been held to account, though we have discovered a rather interesting fact while interviewing several of the more ethical researchers."

"Ethical," Kallen said dryly.

As far as she was concerned all of the Directorate researchers that had helped with turning out child soldiers like Joshua could freeze in Niflheim for eternity.

"Believe it or not, a substantial portion of the Directorate did believe that they were working for the greater advancement of mankind, to reawaken the power of the code and geass."

"Good intentions doesn't make up for all the suffering they've inflicted," Kallen said stubbornly.

Euphemia regarded Kallen and after a moment the older girl sighed.

"I get it, I'll keep my temper in check and not constantly interject, your majesty."

There was a hint of approval in the way Euphemia's lips quirked. The empress proceeded with her explanation.

"One of the points of interest that we discovered is that many of the more ethical researchers claim that their loyalty laid not with V.V., whom was officially the Directorate's grandmaster for a time, but with his predecessor, C.C."

Kallen had promised not to interrupt. Instead she simply gaped at Euphemia, eyes wide.

"I spoke with C.C. about this matter and while she was reticent, she has admitted that for a fairly lengthy period of time it was she that controlled and directed the Directorate's efforts."

The hiss that sounded from Kallen was not quite an interruption, if only because she did not have any words to follow it up with.

"Several of the geass holders that the Directorate had were actually C.C.'s contractors, not just V.V.'s. While the researchers in general are not quite clear on what happened, a schism emerged between the two and C.C. left, which paved the way for V.V. to seize control of the Directorate and begin pushing it to expedite its work using less ethical methods. Many are expressing, relief, that V.V. has been removed. Some even seem hopeful that C.C. might return."

Kallen sank into her chair. "What. The. Hel."

"It is certainly a rather unexpected development from our perspective," said Euphemia. "Still, I want you to be as prepared as possible before you head over to the Antarctic facility. You will see many things that will disturb you, but you will also need to keep an open mind as to the pragmatic uses of the work that has been produced there."

"Understood, your majesty," Kallen said firmly.

Euphemia nodded. "After the matter in Antarctica is concluded, you are to accompany the Empire's forces for the Asian campaign. While your primary responsibility will be to be onsite so that you may deal with the thought elevators, I ask that you recognize gaining access to some of those thought elevators does require Britannia to militarily defeat those opposing us."

To that Kallen herself nodded. That was something she had known would eventually come up. She was a long way from being just an insurgent fighting for Japan, she was now a sworn knight, even a princess, of Britannia. Those positions came with them responsibilities, including the taking up of arms against the Empire's enemies. And as much as she might not care for it, the Chinese Federation and the European Union had elected to make themselves enemies.

"I will carry out all of my duties to you, your majesty," Kallen said firmly.

Euphemia smiled, making clear she understood the gravity of what Kallen was committing to, and for whom the knight was doing it.

"Barring any unexpected surprises at the Antarctic facility, you should have a bit of time for a layover in Japan," Euphemia said. "It is my understanding that the 25th infantry division will be rotating back to reequip and be reinforced during the same time. Be sure to give Cole my regards."

While Kallen was again staring at Euphemia somewhat blankly the cause was entirely different this time. After a moment she snorted.

"I will be sure that Cole knows that his, dear sister, is thinking fondly of him."

The two women continued looking at each other before they spontaneously broke out into chuckles. It was a moment of brevity that both needed, even if they did not realize that now.

* * *

"Let me get this straight. _You_ founded the Directorate?"

"Twas a time wherein mine perturbation outweighed mine capacity. Code and geass may have the power to break the world, but we whom bear them have always been few when weighed against the greater sum of man. What I wrought, I did so to shield those whom were bound to me. Twas a, trying era."

Kallen regarded C.C. Euphemia had suggested strongly that the two have a talk before they departed for Antarctica, not least to better understand just what C.C.'s relation to the Directorate was. That the former code bearer had been the one to create the organization was, more than a bit unsettling considering the atrocities it had committed.

"So what exactly did you have the Directorate do when you were in charge?"

"The gathering and paying of coin, lands wherein we might evade those whom would brand us heretics. Many a vagabonds gathered to us, seeking sanctuary. It was granted, and together we sheltered each other in the midst of ever more trying times."

"But eventually it grew into much more than that," Kallen said. "I mean, based off of what Rai and Euphemia and even NEMO have told me, the Directorate was responsible for a lot of advances in the medical sciences."

C.C. nodded. "We grew quite skilled in the healing arts. The code granted me insight into the workings of one's humors. But care was demanded, of whom we lent aid to. To be too skilled in the healing of the body was grounds to be decried as consorting with demons and alike."

"I see," Kallen said with a frown. Superstition, was not one of humanity's more admirable traits.

"We sought rhyme and reason for our ministrations. And over time, we happened upon ideas and thoughts that lent a certain, firmness, in support of our actions. Man is ever in need of physics for his many ills. Twould become our means of continuance. We granted a service and were paid for that service. And in time, the coin so earned allowed for more than mere survival."

"How come I've never heard of anything like that in my history lessons?" Kallen asked. "I mean, I'm sure you tried hard to keep to the shadows, but this is sounding like major advances in medical care were a direct result of the Directorate, and something should have been noted in the official histories."

"Oh, but thou hast," C.C. said. "We saw to it that generation after generation of children were brought into this world to be held by their mothers."

Realization dawned on Kallen's face. "Midwives. You organized midwives."

"Tis so," C.C. nodded.

"That's. That's actually kind of amazing," Kallen said.

That elicited a slight smile from the other woman. A proud one, but also an appreciative one.

"When did you found the Directorate then?"

C.C. actually took a moment to think it over. "By thy reckoning, over five centuries hence."

"Five centuries," Kallen muttered. And frowned. "That would have been around the time of the Hundred Years War concluded."

"A, trying time," C.C. repeated.

"I can well believe it," Kallen agreed. "Does that mean, you participated in some manner in the war itself?"

"I? Nay, but one whom I cherished as a daughter did. Her dream was met, but she was discarded by the one whose banner she held aloft once they found no further use for her. It was an abject lesson, one I swallowed despite its acerbity."

"Wait," Kallen said slowly. "Are you saying, Joan of Arc was a geass holder?"

At that C.C. smiled sadly. "Mine Jean. Indeed she was."

"So then, what was her power then?"

C.C.'s lips thinned. "Twas a firmment of, will. Jean could bolster conviction, belief, morale. An army's esprit de corps, or a nation's faith."

"Huh. That, does line up with what the histories say," Kallen said. "Or I suppose legends. Though, if Joan could manipulate belief like that, couldn't she have gotten out of being branded a witch?"

"Her geass was doubly edged, like so many others," C.C. said. "To her countrymen she instilled a firmness in the rightness of their cause. To her enemies, their belief was that she consorted with fel forces, and this in turn her geass thusly affirmed."

"Oh," Kallen said softly. "But still, this is incredible. You've been there for so many pivotal moments of history. The things that you could tell us, about the past…"

Kallen's voice trailed off as C.C.'s expression hardened ever so slightly.

"I have lived centuries, tis sooth enough, but to do so is to bear witness again and again time claiming those whom walked at my side. Imagine, should thee have the strength of will, the slow breaking of mine heart. Least now I have been granted the mercy of mortality, and have but one more lifetime afore time claims I as well."

Kallen regarded C.C. What the other woman was talking about was not just some abstract thing, there was a very real possibility that Kallen herself would get stuck with that kind of fate if she fully awakened her code. At the same time it was not just a matter of her refusing to do so, if Suzaku had survived she might well need to draw on the power the code would give her to eliminate him and the krell that might potentially be possessing him. If that happened, could she bear to watch people like Cole, Euphemia, and even C.C. herself grow old and pass away, leaving her behind?

"You're a lot stronger than I've been giving you credit for," Kallen remarked.

C.C. cracked a smile and gave Kallen an affectionate pat on the head. Despite their seemingly similar age it somehow felt appropriate that the green haired girl was the one dispensing such affectations.

"I have but many years left still," C.C. said. "You have met your end of our plight. Till time lays claim to mine soul, I shall uphold mine."

* * *

It had been a long day with a lot of conversations taking place. By all rights Kallen should be turning in to try to get at least some rest. Her mind was unfortunately still swirling with everything she had learned. Like how apparently C.C. had known Joan of Arc. There was a bit of irony there, how one of the woman's past contractors was a champion of France while Kallen herself was a champion of a nation determined to beat France into a bloody pulp. Then again Kallen doubted that C.C. felt any sort of sentiment regarding France, the place that she was from originally had long disappeared in the annals of history and likely bore little resemblance to the nation that now existed.

Kallen entered the vehicle bay where several of the knightmares belonging to the Rounds were stored. Alongside her own Guren she could see the ashen colored Lancelot, bereft of its pilot yet again. To her surprise there were a small cluster of people gathered by the two knightmares, people that she recognized and whom recognized her in turn as Kallen approached.

"Your highness," Laura said politely.

Kallen grimaced. "I know it's protocol to address me like that Laura, but as a personal favor to me, could you please just call me normally. Or use my military rank. Just, anything but that."

After a moment Laura nodded. "Very well Kallen."

The younger girl smiled. "Thank you. That, means a lot to me." She then looked over at the others that had gathered. "I hope I am not interrupting?"

"Not at all," Rakshata said. "We were just discussing the, reorganization that has taken place. It appears that her majesty wishes for Camelot, the Reinford Group's Special Projects division, and myself to pool our resources and intellect together."

Kallen looked over at Cécile and Alisa, noting the rather sullen look of the latter. The chipper, enthused air was gone. Now there was just a grim determination.

"Alisa."

The blond haired girl blinked at hearing her name. "Um, yes your highness?"

Kallen smiled kindly. "Any friend of Laura, and Rean, is a friend of mine. I just want you to know that."

To that Alisa's eyes actually glazed over for a brief moment. Her nod was however firm.

"Thank you, your highness."

Kallen nodded in turn and looked over at Rakshata again. "Do you have any, objections, to this collaboration?"

The Indian engineer shook her head. "Considering what we seem to be up against, I'll take any help I can get. And since I'll have oversight of the modifications being made to the Guren, I can be certain that no one will meddle with my child."

"Modifications?" Kallen's ears perked at that. "What sort of modifications?"

Rakshata smiled wryly but regarded Cécile instead of Kallen. The Britannian woman took that as an indication to answer.

"One confirmed addition would be a Blaze Luminous shield system. The Guren already possesses an impressive power plant in order to power the Radiant Wave Surger, and its capacity is well within the margins needed for the shield. I should note however that with the Guren's current design usage of the surger will also drain the shield's charge."

"I see," Kallen said thoughtfully. "So if I do use the surger I need to make sure I'm not about to come under fire right afterward."

"Something to that effect, your highness."

"Makes sense. Oh, and a belated congratulations on your promotion, Major Croomy."

Cécile blinked but responded quickly. "Umm, thank you, your highness."

"Still, if power really is an issue, then I presume a float unit is out of the question," Kallen continued.

Rakshata actually snorted at that one but again it was Cécile that elaborated.

"Yes, your highness. In all likelihood we would need to build out a second generation of the Guren, with a considerably greater capacity power plant. Though we have been making improvements to the efficiency of the float system, their energy demands are still greater than can be practically supplied by any power source that can be mounted on a knightmare frame."

"And it's not like a knightmare is that aerodynamic in the first place," Kallen remarked.

Cécile allowed herself a slight smile. "It is good that your highness has an appreciation for the practical challenges of engineering."

Kallen smiled back at the woman before looking over at her fellow knight. "And what of yourself, Laura?"

The older girl returned Kallen's gaze levelly and firmly. "Lancelot is once more a stead without a knight. I would be that knight."

She would take up Rean's sword, in other words. Kallen nodded.

"I couldn't think of anyone better."

To that Laura smiled appreciatively.

Kallen looked out at the knightmares lined up again. Beyond the crimson Guren and the ashen Lancelot, there were others as well. The rather flamboyantly colored Lancelot Tristan belonging to Gino, the violet shaded hulking form of the Mordred, and the strangely colored pale pink that was the Galahad. There was a lot of firepower gathered here, enough to probably take on an entire armored regiment and come out on top. That was the kind of power Britannian excelled at, a power forged of iron and steel and paid for in blood. Time would tell if that power was the answer to the true threat facing the Empire, and humanity as a whole.

End of Chapter 100

Been playing a lot of Final Fantasy XV the past few weeks. Or rather Fishing Fantasy XV. I swear it took me ten minutes to real in the liege of the lake. And my line had only 45 durability left at the end of it. That plus work is the main reason I've been so slow with updates. I've been mentally mapping out how the rest of the story will proceed. We'll see what the body count is at the end of all this.

So this was again a somewhat shortish chapter, but ultimately it's more important that I get these scenes out of the way so that I can move the story forward. Kallen still needs to visit the Directorate, which will see her learn even more things, after which she'll be heading to Japan to participate in the Asian campaign. I generally know how I want to end the story and tie off all of the various loose ends. It's more of setting up the sequence of events that lead to the ending that still need a bit of fleshing out. But we are slowly, very slowly, heading into the end game. There's at least two major story arcs left that I need to deal with. I do have a world war I need to wrap up after all.

Something that I think I need to make clear, when Milly was named Heir Primus she was the one that spoke the line about being just a placeholder, not Euphemia. It was Milly's way of making clear to everyone that she had no personal desire to actually shift the line of inheritance to the Ashfords, as much as it was to make it clear that she expects to be bumped once Euphie starts having kids.

Other aside. All of my posted chapters have spelling and wording errors in them. I am well aware of this, and I am intentionally not doing much to try to catch them before I publish. I don't proofread before I publish, for one. My master draft does incorporate corrections, but I usually do not bother posting corrections unless the error is really egregious and cause outright problems with an important scene. I've stated this before but since I am ultimately doing this in my free time, and combined with the fact that even with all of the mistakes that slip in I'm still one of the most readable writers on this site, I consider it an acceptable tradeoff. One thing that I do want to state is that when it comes to punctuation, for all intents and purposes every punctuation that I use, or in some cases lack of punctuation, is entirely intentional. For that matter I've explicitly turned off Microsoft's grammar checking for punctuation for the explicit reason that I am intentionally not following convention in a lot of places. Technically punctuations are used for separation of ideas. I however primarily use them as flow control. As such, don't rely on punctuation (or lack thereof) to help you distinguish between subjects in a sentence when reading my works.


	102. Chapter 101

_One of the challenges of modern warfare is keeping soldiers in the field fed. This was a problem more acutely felt by Britannia than its opponents as the Empire's forces were deployed to overseas theatres in far greater numbers. The Empire approached this particular logistical challenge much as it did others, seeking to standardize to ease the procurement and flow of supplies. Rations were thus organized into different grades, A, B, C, D, and K, denoting the freshness of ingredients used in making them and in the opinion of most soldiers also the degree of how edible they were. A rations were considered decent enough fair, especially for soldiers that had spent a day in the rough, even if they were still short of the food served in base cafeterias. The C ration MREs while filling left much wanting in terms of actual texture and taste. As for the K rations, it became a category of much loathing amongst units stuck with it during deployments. The D ration was something of an exception to this downward trend, if only because of the chocolate bar included with it._

 _Despite the standardization there were some regional variations that cropped up as imperial forces fought across the world. One of the more interesting variations occurred due to the large infusion of volunteers recruited in Japan. Units composed of predominantly Japanese subjects managed to arrange for a modification to their C ration allocations, swapping out the bread for a pack of instant noodles. Combined with the widespread availability of water boilers, Britannian units issued with this C ration variation could easily create a more palatable meal by combining the noodles with the meat unit and whatever other ingredients the soldiers might get their hands on. This relative improvement in satisfaction did not go unnoticed by the Quartermaster Corps and instant noodle C ration variants started making their way into units without large Japanese components. While creating a genuinely palatable field ration still eludes human ingenuity, every little improvement helped in maintaining the morale and readiness of those men and women whom had to rely on them._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 101

Flatus vocis

"Alright, this royally SUCKS!"

The reaction to Kallen's outburst was a mixture of bemused chuckles and feigned obliviousness as the party disembarked the _Avalon_. The continent of Antarctica was never going to be a warm place and with the end of March upon them they were slowly slipping towards ever colder temperatures. Considering it was approximately -60F right now, the difference was probably of only academic interest.

Kallen wasted no time crossing the landing strip to the large building that served as an entrance into the Directorate's facilities. The majority of the structures were underground but a few buildings did pop out above ground for reasons of pragmatism if nothing else. Fortunately once indoors the temperature rose quickly to a more survivable degree so Kallen could stop feeling like she was about to drop dead. The warmth also helped her retain at least a shred of her supposed dignity as a knight, and princess, as she came face to face with the welcome party.

"Your highness," a statuesque woman with flowing blond hair bowed. "Welcome to Niflheim Base."

If there was a more appropriate name for the place Kallen was hard pressed to think of one now.

And then the woman actually fell to one knee, as did the others with her, as another figure stepped forward. C.C. pulled back her hood and regarded the men and women before her.

"Grandmaster, we are heartened to see you returned, safe and well."

The woman's lips twitched. "There be no need for such deference. I art your mistress no longer."

The kneeing figures looked up, a mild confusion on several faces as they parsed C.C.'s speech. Whether it was for her grammar or the content of her words Kallen waited to see.

"We may have failed in upholding our pact with you, grandmaster, but we ask that you not cast us aside so callously. Let us at least attempt amends for past sins."

C.C. tilted her head side. "If thou so earnestly wishes, make they mends by serving without reserve one whom art still bound to me. Kallen here has met mine terms and fulfilled her plight. Whence she goes, I shall follow."

If the woman was at all perturbed by C.C.'s manner of speech she showed no indication of it.

"Then we too shall follow in her highness' wake," the woman said, rising and facing Kallen once more. "I am Arianrhod, one whom pledged herself to the grandmaster. In her name, we shall rally to your banner."

Kallen feigned a cough as she cleared her throat. The deference and respect being shown C.C. was a tad unexpected considering the woman's irreverent personality. Even knowing that C.C. had founded the Directorate itself did not help with expectations that much.

"There are a great many things we will need to discuss," Kallen said. "Including the disposition of all of the, test subjects."

"Of course, your highness."

"Speaking of which, could we get deeper inside?" a voice called out from behind. "This place is still a bit chilly."

Looking back Kallen glanced over at the speaker, the petite German girl named Fie. She was bundled up warmly enough by the looks of it, but the young man in the wheelchair beside her needed a bit more careful handling.

"Yes, we're lingering a bit too long here," Kallen said, shooting Bertoldt an apologetic look before regarding Arianrhod once more. "Shall we?"

"Right this way your highness," the woman said, turning about and leading the way.

Fortunately for the German youth there was a proper elevator leading down, otherwise someone would have likely needed to carry him, what with his missing leg. Said loss was the primary reason he was here, the cybernetics that the Directorate had developed could be applied in more ways than simply augmenting individuals, they could also help them overcome certain debilitations.

The corridor their elevator arrived at still retained a certain rugged appearance, but past the checkpoint Kallen could make out a clean, almost sterile environment. And a lot of people, adults and children both. There was close to a thousand people that looked to be Directorate members and nearly three times that many soldiers that were obviously part of Loki Regiment. Considering the abilities of the Directorate enforcers, that ratio might have been a bit inadequate if the regiment was actually intended to purge the Directorate. Not that that should be a problem at this point, with all of the code bearers stripped of their connection to C's World their contractors should be equally powerless.

Kallen extended her senses further, examining the people at a more detailed granularity. Quite a few people possessed enhancements of one sort or another, and it was not just the adults. To her disquiet she could actually sense numerous children possessing additions or outright replacements of one sort or another. In preparation for this trip she had been briefed, by C.C., Monica, and even NEMO about what to expect and the fact that many of the modifications were not just voluntary but also even necessary for their recipients to live a relatively independent life. People that would otherwise be confined to wheelchairs or even completely bedridden had found a second chance with the Directorate's willingness to push into the cutting edge. That some did not survive their procedures, or whom emerged worse off, was the price that had to be paid for that progress. Whether it was worth it was a very subjective matter, especially after V.V. seized control and pushed the Directorate to attempt ever more risky procedures in his effort to create a fully functional artificial code.

Another oddity that Kallen found herself faced with was the deference by which those they passed treated C.C. with. Many bowed their heads, others even fell to a knee. Compared to the flippant personality Kallen was used to, the C.C. that now walked these halls did so with an almost regal bearing, as if a sovereign returned to her realm. Kallen wondered just how much influence C.C. could have exerted on the Directorate even after her ostensible ousting by V.V. Had she not been bound by the failsafe, could she have engineered some sort of counter-coup even with Loki Regiment keeping an eye on the Directorate? A distinct possibility, meaning whomever saddled her with the failsafe had even more to answer for.

Out from around a corner a girl appeared, carrying with her a large stuffed bunny. Kallen cocked her head aside even as she took note of the very long knife strapped to the girl's back. An unsettlingly long knife for that matter.

"Is there something you need Renne?" Arianrhod said.

Renne smiled, an expression that Kallen could tell was entirely sincere while also carrying very unpleasant undertones.

"I just wanted to see the lady that saw Joshua on his mission," Renne said chipperly.

Kallen's breath caught at that name. Joshua. How long had it been since she even gave that boy any thought? The enforcer that had sacrificed his own life to break from the Directorate. Kallen shot C.C. a look. The usage of enforcers was something that originated during C.C.'s time as grandmaster of the Directorate and not merely a change enacted when V.V. began exerting his influence. And while C.C. had not actually deployed enforcers at such a young age, the same could did not prevent their induction and preparation for their roles. It was another reminder that C.C. ultimately grew up in a different time with an entirely different set of ethics and morals. Even after having lived so long those standards were ingrained in the woman and even if she did not sink to the levels that V.V. had, it was still not possible for Kallen to outright approve of some of the other woman's methods.

Turning back to the girl, whom could have been no more than ten years old, Kallen spoke. "That would be me. Your name is Renne?"

Renne nodded, the glint of her eyes sharpening. "Does that mean you're the reason he didn't come back?"

What a question. Kallen answered nonetheless.

"I bear a degree of responsibility in that, yes."

"Okay!" Renne said, her tone always remaining in that cheerful pitch. "Then that means you're the one I need to beat up since you beat Joshua, right?"

"Uh, that's not how that works," Kallen said.

"Oh? Didn't Joshua not come back because you were stronger than him? That means if I beat you, then I'll be stronger than Joshua, and no one will be able to hurt me like they did him!"

Kallen shot a glare at Arianrhod. Just what had they been teaching the children here? Arianrhod returned the gaze unapologetically.

"If you believe there to be a better way to restore hope in a shattered heart, you are free to try."

"This is not hope," Kallen said scathingly.

"And whom are you to define hope so rigidly?" Arianrhod responded coolly. "Prove your conviction with deeds, not words, your highness."

Kallen bit back a retort. Trying to verbally spar with Arianrhod was obviously not going to get her anywhere. Something told Kallen that persisting would also damage her overall credibility with these people, something that she could ill afford. They needed the Directorate, as distasteful as Kallen found many of their actions. She looked back at Renne.

"Strength alone is not something that guarantees safety," Kallen said. "And strength is not just about being able to hurt others. Far from it."

Renne cocked her head aside. "But that's how the strong get stronger. By hurting others."

"No," Kallen said emphatically. "That is _not_ what the strong do. The truly strong are strong because they can _protect_ others, not hurt them."

"Then," Renne said, feigning thoughtfulness, "did you not protect Joshua because you're _not_ strong?"

Just what went through this girl's head, Kallen wondered with a sigh.

 _NEMO, do you have any records on any Directorate subjects named Renne?_

 _Renne, the Angel of Slaughter. Beyond that appellation there is little concrete data._

 _Angel of Slaughter? Okay, that is_ not _a nickname that a girl that young should have._

"In a way, no, I'm not strong," Kallen stated plainly. "And I won't get any stronger just by hurting others. I'll only get stronger as I protect others."

"Then if I protect myself, that also makes me stronger, right?"

With her geass active there was little that Kallen did not pick up. The motion of Renne's arm was subtle as the girl reached for her knife, subtle enough that most would not have been able to distinguish it as such. In Kallen's case her own body was responding even before the blade was drawn from its sheath. As Renne spun about, a move that could easily have been mistaken for a pouting child turning away, Kallen's hand tapped her elbow, blocking her from actually drawing the blade. Renne responded immediately, starting to turn the other direction to restore her arm's freedom of motion but Kallen was even faster, pushing Renne so that her original turn carried through and faster than the girl intended. When her back faced Kallen the knight reached out, grabbing hold of the sheathed knife and deftly slipping both off of the girl. When Renne was facing Kallen once more, a genuinely stun expression on her face, the older girl was holding the still covered weapon.

"Only if you protect yourself without hurting others," Kallen answered.

Renne gapped at Kallen, first at the woman herself and then at the knife she had just been relieved of.

"You, are strong," she uttered.

Kallen smiled sadly. "Some might think so. But, strength isn't the end all and be all." The smile disappeared. "There are many more important things out there, things that you should have been taught long ago. If nothing else, I will try to teach you now."

A sharp whack sounded and it took Renne several moments to feel the sting on her cheeks. She turned her head back to face Kallen, a hint of tears in her eyes.

"Wha?"

"And this, this is something else that should have been done."

Kallen reached out and pulled Renne into her arms. The girl's mouth fell open again, her entire body freezing up. All strength seemed to escape her as she sank into Kallen's embrace.

"I'm sorry about the slap," Kallen said, "but it needed to be done. For trying to draw that knife, for trying to hurt me. I don't need to hurt you back, but I do need to make sure you understand that it was wrong."

Renne's body began shaking, and through her geass Kallen felt every spasm.

"And this," she continued. "This, is to let you know that I care, so it doesn't matter if you don't feel strong, I'll lend you my strength to keep you from getting hurt. And if my strength isn't enough, well, there are others too whose strength we can borrow."

Kallen released Renne but still kept a hand on the girl to keep her from teetering over. The smile was back.

"That's my definition of strength, something that can be shared with others to help them."

Renne looked at Kallen, clutching her stuffed bunny even more tightly. She was trying so hard to keep the tears from escaping that her face was quivering. A single sniff was what she allowed herself, after which she broke free from Kallen's grip and fled, her shoes sounding against the floor. Kallen sighed and stood, letting Renne flee. This sort of thing was a lot harder than books and soap operas made them out to be.

As Kallen watched Renne go she frowned. She had noticed the odd fixture attached to the base of Renne's neck before but the girl's abrupt remarks had distracted her from fully processing what it was. Or rather what it appeared to be, seeing as Kallen did not know what it was.

 _NEMO, can also see the things my geass lets me see?_

 _I will require a specific data point. The amount of information your geass produces is too voluminous for me to process in a usable timeframe._

Kallen focused on the attachment, thinking it to NEMO in the process. Though a moment passed before the construct answered, NEMO was likely intentionally delaying her response to accommodate Kallen's own mental process than out of any need for the time that delay bought.

 _That appears to be a very, very early iteration of the neural-digital interface that houses my information body._

Kallen raised an eyebrow. _Already? From what Rai said it took a really long time to come up with the technology that underpins, well, you._

 _Only a mere two hundred years._

 _Well, okay. But, why is it attached to Renne then?_

 _Likely because she is serving as a test subject for its viability. Children her age heal faster and are generally more adaptable to changes in their physiology._

That elicited an outright scowl from Kallen. There would be changes around here even if she needed to shove them down their throats.

"Well then, let us get to the other matters at hand," Kallen said, her face still darkened by her scowl. "There is much that needs to be discussed after all."

* * *

"Is tea actually that valuable?" Suzaku remarked.

"The British are obsessed with it," Ryo said. "They might even drink more tea than us Japanese, which is really saying something. And with the war raging, the supply of luxury items like tea has been getting more and more constrained, especially with India in open revolt against the Chinese."

"I see. Still, why bother smuggling it then? Shouldn't you be able to make a lot of money just selling it openly?"

"The British government's been rationing tea, setting extremely strict quotas on how much people can buy," Ryo said. "Of course whenever a government tries to regulate supply and demand like that, all they really end up doing is create a black market for the stuff."

Suzaku watched as the burly men finished hauling off the last boxes of tea from the boat. A slightly better dressed man then handed an envelope to Ryo and after the Japanese youth flipped through it the two exchanged handshakes.

"This is what I like about working with pros," Ryo said once the others were out of earshot. "No fuss, no muss, you show up with the goods and get paid. Unlike the wannabe gangsters who think they need to put up a tough front and waste time by thumping their chests."

Suzaku cracked a slight smile.

"Anyway, here's your cut," Ryo said, taking out the envelope again and handing Suzaku a smaller wad of bills. "If you're interested in more work, let me know."

"Well, I am headed towards London. If you have anything that needs to be couriered up there, I could probably handle it," Suzaku said.

Ryo rubbed his chin. "Well, I got nothing that needs going up there, but if you find anything interesting that you think'll sell on the continent, you know where to find me."

"I'll keep you in mind," Suzaku said. "Thanks for everything Ryo-san."

"Hey, no sweat. Well, here's hoping I see you again."

Suzaku bowed slightly, a motion reciprocated by the other Japanese youth. Ryo then hopped back onto the fishing boat that would take him back to France while Suzaku headed deeper into the city of Brixham itself. He would need to get to the London thought elevator, which was over 300 kilometers from his current location. Not an insurmountable problem and based on what Ryo had told him there were trains he could take to get there. The only issue was whether there was a public alert out for his arrest and whether he would run into any problems buying a ticket because he was obviously a foreigner.

A dull pain reared up in his head. Suzaku massaged his temple. Brixham. He had asked Ryo to help him get here for a reason. Why. The pain sharpened slightly and Suzaku felt words echo soundlessly in his mind.

"Brixham's a good spot for discrete insertion into England, it's a major fishing port so lots of boats going in and out. Once you're in England of course things get simpler, but it's always useful to have some resources prepared beforehand."

Images of a residence apartment flashed through Suzaku's head, shifting images as he seemingly walked through the place. It appeared to be an apartment, compact and entirely functional in its fittings. A hand reached out, opening a drawer filled with clothes for a man. Reaching under, a large envelope was pulled out and opened up to reveal more wads of cash.

"Small bills, easy to use," another voice remarked, this one feminine and distinctly familiar.

"Charlotte?" Suzaku muttered.

"Enough money at least to get to the London safehouse unless you're really incompetent," the first voice said, stowing the money away and closing the drawer. "It would have been even better if we could have stored a car here, but without active maintenance there's no guarantee would it still be useful when we needed it."

The figure turned about and Suzaku found himself staring at a reflection on the mirror atop a desk. A reflection not his.

"Lelouch," Suzaku hissed.

"Not a great deal of money, but certainly enough to get to the London safe house," Lelouch continued. "From there we'll make contact with my agents in the British government. See if I can give them a slight nudge in the right direction."

"Would not a change in the British government's policy be seen as somewhat strange considering its tendency to treat Britannia on friendly terms?" Charlotte asked.

"Hmm yes, an overt one would be considered suspicious. But if I could weaken the Conservative government's vehement pro-peace stance just a bit, that might give the pro-war factions in the other nations the boost they need to push through a formal declaration."

Charlotte cocked her head aside before shrugging. "That seems a bit optimistic. Do you really think your grasp of politics is nuanced enough to be able to influence governments in so subtle a fashion?"

"Well, I seemed to do well enough with the Luxemburg government," Lelouch said. "And besides, the real test will be with the other continental powers like Germany and Russia. The English are just another, practice run."

"Is that also why we smuggled ourselves into the country even though we could have entered without any trouble legally? To practice for when we need to actually enter a country illegally?"

"Well, there might have been some question of someone our age traveling alone."

Suzaku growled, shaking his head. The vision began to blur until he was looking at the port again. A few people were starting to give him looks too, suggesting he had been standing there for a bit. He hurriedly made for the city itself. His mind was however fully occupied by what he had witnessed. This war, everything that had happened. Lelouch had been behind it from the start, setting the Europeans and then the Japanese on a path to war against Britannia. Lelouch, a Britannian prince. The Empire truly was filled with irredeemables, no, ruled by irredeemables as well. All anyone cared about was their own advancement, fulfilling their own greed and ambition. It sickened him, and drove within him a strengthening desire to see them stopped no matter what.

* * *

 _Something is off here_ , Kallen thought to NEMO.

 _Agreed. The level of technology being demonstrated by the Directorate is years if not decades ahead of what was salvaged from their archives after they were purged in my timeline._

An example of that technology was the massive knightmare frame Kallen was standing before.

"This here is the prototype of our Gordias-class knightmare, the Pater-Mater" the man, introduced to Kallen as one Jörg Rosenberg, presented proudly. "Its centerpiece is the hadron cannon that the Camelot Institute was developing, with the blooming problem they were encountering solved. The cannon is capable of accurately targeting and destroying targets up to 25 miles away."

Kallen frowned. "That's above beyond the horizon at ground level."

"Indeed, which is why the Gordias is equipped with a float system able to lift it high enough and keep it at altitude to take full advantage of the hadron cannon's range."

Kallen massaged her temples. "How are you powering both the hadron cannon and the float system at the same time?"

"Well, we are also powering a Blaze Luminous system," Jörg said proudly. "As to power, it is simple. The majority of the Gordias' bulk comes from the batteries that we use to supplement the onboard power plant. They are rated for half an hour of loitering time, while the power plant trickle charges the capacitor that feeds the hadron cannon. The Blaze Luminous draws power directly from the power plant, so if the Gordias is under attack, that will of course reduce the rate of charging, and thus the rate of fire."

 _A rather brute force solution_ , NEMO remarked.

That Kallen agreed with. _Though it seems to at least be a solution._

She walked about, letting her geass give her a full look of the knightmare. And frowned.

"Where is its cockpit?"

"Ah, the Gordias does not possess one, your highness," Jörg answered. "There was simply not enough room for it."

"So, what, is it controlled over radio or something?"

"In a, manner of speaking," the engineer said, a hint of tension in his voice.

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "Is this not going to be to my liking, Mr. Rosenberg?"

Jörg grimaced slightly. "Due to the space constraints, we were obliged to develop an alternate means of controlling the Gordias. We originally determined to, as you suggested, build a radio based remote control system. One of the other researchers, Dr. Novartis, however pushed through a change that would use a new control mechanism he was developing be used instead."

"Novartis," C.C. said rather coolly.

That tone certainly did not bode well.

"Mr. Rosenberg, perhaps you could cut to the chase?" Kallen said. "If you consider this other, system, distasteful, that is noted. So, what is the control mechanism for this knightmare?"

"The control mechanism is via a neural interface, your highness," Jörg answered with palpable reluctance.

At that Rai, having been examining the Gordias prototype more closely, turned to regard the engineer.

"A neural interface?" he said quizzically. "How is that interface connected to the pilot?"

The distaste on Jörg's expression only deepened. "It is a module that is, surgically attached to the base of the pilot's neck, tapping into their spine."

Kallen's own face twisted in mild consternation as she recalled the strange thing she had seen on the back of Renne's neck. Could that have been the neural interface Jörg was talking about? And they had, installed, it on a girl that age? Kallen felt her stomach churn a bit at the thought.

Off to the side Rai's eyes also narrowed. "Has this interface actually been installed in someone?"

"It has," Jörg said.

That the man himself sounded so unhappy did not change that fact however. Kallen turned about, looking at the girl that had been trailing her for much of her time here at Niflheim Base.

"Renne, could you come over here?"

After a brief moment the girl did so even as she regarded Kallen warily.

"What is it?" Renne asked, lacking the false cheer she had initially greeted Kallen with.

Kallen leaned over a little. "Is that a neural interface that you have?"

After a moment Renne nodded. The eerie smile was back. "Of course. It lets me talk to Papa and mama."

Kallen grimaced. Of course. Mater and pater. Latin for mother and father. Just where had the Directorate found Renne? From the same human trafficking circles that the late and unlamented Knight of Ten had worked with? So many compromises. So many people that deserved to die but would continue to live because they were useful. It was a very different world than one Kallen had thought she would fight for. Before Kallen could actually vent however another made their displeasure known.

"Whence did we make use of children to satiate the need for progress?" C.C. said coldly.

"Dr. Novartis spearheaded the development of the interface," Jörg responded. "He, determined that children, due to their still developing characteristics, would be better able to adapt to the stresses of using the interface. And seeing with your absence and V.V.'s refusal to, assist, in its development, the doctor elected to pursue alternatives."

"And none of you bothered to try to stop him!?" Kallen said incredulously. "Do any of you think you are somehow less complicit because you did not do the deed yourself?"

"They are certainly not innocent, but the ones directly guilty have already been called to account," Rai spoke up. "Recall that Novartis was amongst those purged."

"That doesn't-" Kallen began before reining in her temper. Lashing out like this was not going to do any good. "I am aware of that point. My concern is to ensure that there not be a repeat of such callousness."

"Is it callous to grant power to the powerless?"

Kallen blinked, looking down at Renne. There was an intense focus in the girl's eyes that belayed an intelligence that Kallen had somehow missed when they first met.

"What they did to you was not granting you power," Kallen answered the child. "They demanded a great sacrifice from you to satisfy their own desires."

"The acquisition of power demands sacrifice," Renne responded. "To think otherwise is folly. In making the sacrifice, I was given the strength to keep others from hurting me. Or would you prefer that I once more submit myself to the mercy of those that do have power."

This conversation was more than a bit weird considering the girl speaking these words could not have been more than ten, eleven years old. And yet her presence carried with it a mature air far beyond her age. This was more than a bit creepy.

"It is the responsibility of those with power to make sure those without are not harmed by their lack," Kallen said. "To do anything else would be an abuse of power and a demonstration that they are not worthy of possessing it."

"Worth has naught to do with it," Renne countered. "Those that have power simply do, whether they are deserving of it matters not. Your moralizing is a luxury afforded by the power _you_ possess, your highness."

Kallen stared at Renne for a few moments. She then looked over at the others, whom returned her gaze with a fair degree of bemusement.

"Are all the kids here like this?" she asked.

C.C. snorted even as she maneuvered herself about and took hold of Renne from behind. The girl squirmed a bit, tilting her head back to look at the woman.

"Thy manners art lacking a mite, but thy wisdom speaks volumes themselves." C.C. spun Renne around and the girl's head dropped back down. "Power is power, there be no doubt. But power given thee by another, that power is never your own. And what power doust thee hold now by thy own hand?"

Renne stared at C.C. for a few moments before sniffing. "You talk funny."

She then pulled away and disappeared into the corridors out of the hanger. This time it was Kallen that gave a snort. The frown remained on her face however as she turned back to the engineer.

"Is this neural interface actually, safe?" Kallen asked pointedly.

"Renne has shown no signs of rejection of the implant, and it seems to have integrated into her nerves seamlessly," Jörg answered. "At this point she is able to direct the Pater-Mater as if it were an extension of her own body."

"That Renne can make use of the interface is not the same as it being safe for her to do so," Kallen said firmly, holding the engineering in her gaze. "So I ask again. Is it safe?"

The man grimaced. "I honestly cannot answer. The interface was only, implanted within Renne a few months ago. What the long term consequences are, there is simply not enough data to say."

The frown deepened. _NEMO, can you provide any insight?_

 _Based on what your geass could see, the is at least well thought out. Its manner of attachment and connection should not see Renne become susceptible to any sort of infection or impede her natural growth. The concern is with the neural-circuitry, whether it will degrade with time and cause problems with her own nervous system._

 _Great. Just great. We'll have to keep an eye on that and if that ever happens, get it removed._

 _You do not intend to demand its removal now?_

Kallen sighed. _Something tells me that would just make things worse for Renne. She's obviously been through a lot, and she's much smarter than that little girl façade she puts on. She'll need to be handled carefully if we want her to not end up even more of a mess._

NEMO said nothing in response so Kallen turned back to Jörg.

"I will be keeping myself abreast of Renne's situation, Mr. Rosenberg. I trust that to be clear."

"Of course, your highness," the man said with a nod.

"Now," Kallen continued, looking back at the large knightmare. "As for the Gordias, I am afraid I am unconvinced as to its practicality as an actual weapon of war. The limitations due to its power demands especially, would it not be effectively a sitting duck against any opponent with modern jets or missiles?"

"That is true, but the hadron cannon is not the Gordias' only weapon," Jörg said. "It is also equipped with a small railgun that can be fired at a faster rate, which combined with the targeting system should serve as a workable point defense against smaller, faster threats."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "Really."

"Would your highness care for a demonstration?" Jörg asked.

The man certainly seemed confident in his design.

"Assuming I accept your claim, the question still remains as to whether there is a practical use for the Gordias versus say a cruise missile or even regular artillery," Kallen responded. "Especially considering the very limited loiter time."

"Well, this is only the prototype," Jörg attempted. "There is an issue with power density that must be resolved, but if we succeed we could substantially increase the Gordias' flight time, or even permit it to remain in the air indefinitely."

"That sounds rather implausible," Kallen said.

"The basic principle is sound," Rai spoke up, causing the others to look over at him again. He pressed a hand against the knightmare frame. "Having some sort of artillery piece that can loiter in a station keeping position in the air would be of immense benefit for close air support."

"Well if that's what you wanted then aren't Eighth Fleet's ships better suited for that?" Kallen asked. "Doesn't that big battleship have like eight railguns or something?"

"Perhaps, but even the Caerleon-class destroyer is a fairly large ship," Rai said. "Something smaller, something plane sized, would offer greater tactical flexibility, and be much cheaper to deploy."

The engineer was looking a mite pleased that someone was at least taking his side. Kallen tried not to sigh. Boys and their toys.

 _NEMO, you don't need to go into detail, but did the Empire, or I guess any other nation, come up with something like that and actually get use out of it?_

 _Yes._

Kallen waited a moment. _That's it?_

 _You said there was no need to go into detail._

The young woman suppressed a sigh. That was true enough.

"Still, this system is still at a prototype stage. Taking it into combat right now seems a tad risky. Or do you disagree, Rai?"

"It has promise," the other knight said, "but the flight time is too constrained. And its size would make it difficult to transport as well." And shrugged. "Maybe the next war."

"If I have it my way there won't be a next war," Kallen said dryly.

"This is the only weapons system the Directorate is working on?" Rai said, not bothering with a responding quip.

"Beyond our cybernetics," Jörg said. "We only really began active development of such weapons a few years ago."

In other words around the time when C.C. left and V.V. assumed control.

"A shame," Rai said. "I had hoped the Directorate would have developed systems that would have been geared towards exploiting the power of code and geass."

"Those efforts are still in the theoretical, conceptual stages," Jörg said. "Progress in tapping into code and geass, to effect the material world with them, has been extremely slow."

"Good," Kallen muttered under her breath.

"The usurper was also more interested in strengthening the geass of his contractors directly, to try to induce the formation of a code. As such more emphasis was placed on trying to pharmaceutically accelerate a geass' development."

Kallen frowned. As did Rai.

"Pharmaceutically accelerate?" the former said. "You mean with drugs?"

Jörg nodded. "I am not terribly familiar the details of that project, organic chemistry is not exactly my area of expertise. That project was run by Professor Weismann."

Another senior Directorate member whom had been purged, Kallen recalled easily.

"I do not recall there being a proper overview of this pharmaceutical program," Rai said, frowning.

Kallen looked over at him. "Does it matter?"

The knight pursed his lips. "Just, a vague recollection. Something that had slipped my mind until Mr. Rosenberg here mentioned the pharmaceutical program."

 _NEMO, do you know what Rai is talking about?_

 _He is likely referring to the Directorate's development of the Refrain drug._

The world froze all around Kallen as suddenly her senses flared. All air seemed to be squeezed from her lungs even as her body began to literally shake.

"Your grace?" Rai said, his voice tinged with concern.

"Get me every scrap of data on this pharmaceutical program," Kallen said, a chill ring to her own tone. It exploded with the next word. "NOW!"

* * *

Getting to London had been easier than he originally presumed, especially with the money and documents he found at the safe house. None of the identification papers were of any use since they were intended for Caucasian operatives, but other papers pointed to persons whose services could be tapped discretely. The code words were fortunately still up to date and so Suzaku had spent a couple of hours bumping along in a fairly old trailer to England's capital. From there he was able to make his way to another safe house and despite not feeling physically tired the young man took some time to rest. It just felt unnatural to not be tired after having basically stayed up for two days straight. And even if his body felt fine, his mind was another matter entirely.

Irregular as they were, the headaches were also proving rather bothersome. Then there were the glimpses he seemed to be getting of Lelouch's memories. Those also seemed to come randomly but thus far he had avoided freezing up anywhere public. What he had learned from them however made clear to the young man that Lelouch was a monster. He had manipulated the various governments of Europe to adopt a more aggressive stance against Britannia, a remarkable feat for someone so young even if those same governments were not friendly to the Empire to begin with, and effectively precipitated the war that was now raging worldwide. A war that he seemed utterly helpless to stop.

He had tried, approaching the British government upon emerging in London and revealing the truth behind Lelouch. They seemed to believe him, but the French had not. And when he tried to undo the strange knot in the mind of the French marshal, he only ended up killing the man and destroying all credibility that he might possess. Even before then it was evident that a lot of people simply did not want to hear what he said, if only because it would force them to question some of their preconceptions.

Suzaku rose. He could not sleep. There was just, too much noise. In the back of his head he could hear, not voices exactly, but a sort of static. It had lingered there in varying intensities ever since he awoke in the London thought elevator. In the immediate aftermath he had been able to ignore it, especially with the urgent need to get the truth out to the European governments. After his escape from the French authorities it had receded as he headed north while avoiding major population centers. In Paris the static had returned with a vengeance, enough so that had only slept once or twice while in the city. It then receded again during the brief voyage from the mainland to England. Now that he was in another major city, the volume was loud enough that he was having trouble blocking it out again.

People. That seemed to be the source of the noise. Other people. Suzaku tried to pick out something, anything, in that static that could explain just why he felt it when around others. There was no form to the static, at least nothing that was understandable. What he could tell was that it was all, different from him. An other. Suzaku growled. It was not as if he could actually hear those others, but the fact that they were out there, they whom were not him. They whom did not understand him. That really was the problem, people did not understand each other. They did not even bother trying to understand each other. There would never be peace that way, people would always be willing to hurt others for their own personal gain. If only he could make them understand each other.

Suzaku blinked. Make them understand each other? Now where had that thought come from? Was it even possible? He could hear others, even if he could not understand them. Could he make them hear him? Focusing, Suzaku tried reaching out. His left eye began to throb but he ignored the sensation. The noise did not lessen, at least not right away. But as he continued focusing the static that clouded Suzaku's mind began to shift. The hash of white noise began to sharpen, to take on what almost sounded like tones. It was like, music. Suzaku laid down again, closing his eyes. A pure note, that was what each tone felt like. Together they created a cacophony of dissonance unpleasant to any ear. He reached out, humming mentally a single note.

The change was gradual and came almost unnoticed. And then Suzaku felt a bass, swelling ring as the note he chose crescendo. He stopped, and the noise also stopped. Not just the pure, singular note that he had begun to sung but also the hash that previously plagued him. He reached out again, singing a different note. It took a bit of time, but soon others seemed to resonate with his own tone and there was a glorious, serene unity reverberating within his mind, no, his soul. It felt right. Suzaku smiled and closed his eyes, letting the harmony wash over him. This was a good start. It was however just that, a start.

End of Chapter 101

Renne pulling out a scythe would have been a tad over the top, so I gave her a knife instead. Then again a child her age wielding a knife is probably unsettling enough.

Suzaku's plotline was still somewhat muddled the last time we saw him, but now I've got it basically locked down. His activities are going to offer a very, interesting peek at some things that many of you speculated about but which I never really had time to fully develop. To be entirely consistent I'd need to go back to redo his Paris scene, but I'm not going to bother at this point. From here on though I do have the basics planned out so there should not be any strange inconsistencies.

One of the tricky bits was always going to be how to describe the, abilities that he has come into. I didn't want to treat it much as I did with Lelouch and Kallen, where there is actually a fairly concrete, discrete projection of what they are doing. I wanted the perspective that Suzaku slips into to be more, abstract. More, alien. Ahem.

V.V. wasn't completely out on the loon with respect to the Gordias. The thing literally is flying artillery, with sufficient protection to fend off any single fighter that might try to bring it down, if only by tanking all of the shots said fighter might take at it and running it out of munitions. It's also liable to be able to survive a few cruise missile strikes as well, though in the long run it can be overwhelmed by enough firepower. The question regarding its deployment is ultimately a question of cost effectiveness, and in the general case it probably would be more cost effective to spend all that money on other weapons instead, though there are liable to be cases where having a heavily armed and armored knightmare would be useful. Oh and it should be noted, even though its float system does allow it to fly for longer distances than the ones deployed by Camelot, it still can't maneuver worth a damn.


	103. Chapter 102

_The Britannian Eighth Fleet is widely recognized as one of the decisive factors that tilted the Great War in the favor of the Holy Britannian Empire. By the end of the war it was composed of two taskforces, 80 and 81. Taskforce 80 is arguably the more famous of the two, having relieved Pendragon when it came under attack from the Swords of God and the Carolinian and Virginian provincial guards and then assisting with the humanitarian effort all across the east coast. Composed of the carrier the_ Empress Marianne _, the battleships the_ Prince Clovis _and_ Prince Lelouch _, and its four destroyer escorts_ Johnston, Samuel B. Roberts, Hoel, _and_ Heermann, _it would go on to participate in several decisive battles across the Asian theatre under the command of Vice-Admiral Wolfgang Mittermeyer. Admiral Mittermeyer had served as deputy and protégé to Admiral Willibald Joachim von Merkatz, Eighth Fleet's former commander, whom was appointed Knight of Two after the passing of Vice-Admiral Michele Manfredi, another victim of the European bioweapon. By the end of the war Admiral Mittermeyer had well and truly stepped out of his mentor's shadow, gaining a reputation for rapid and daring maneuvers as the Gale Wolf._

 _Taskforce 81 was still in the final stages of construction when the Battle of Pendragon erupted, but it too was soon ready to take to the air. The taskforce was composed of its flagship the_ Empress Annabella, _the two battleships the_ Prince Odysseus _and_ Prince Schneizel _, and the destroyers_ Franks, Haggard, Hailey, _and_ Abercrombie _. Under the command of Vice-Admiral Oskar von Reuenthal, it spearheaded the African offensives that saw the Empire seize control of the French Protectorate of Morocco and then establish footholds on continental Europe with the invasion of Spain. His most famous action would however be the role he played in the fall of Paris._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 102

Vis major

Wolfgang regarded the display showing the position of his forces relative to the Seventh Fleet taskforce and their target, the Russian Baltic Fleet. Or he supposed it would be the new Russian Pacific Fleet seeing as the Russians had gone to the trouble of sneaking their ships through the Arctic Ocean over to the Pacific. That was quite the impressive feat and probably required the Russians to divert all of their icebreakers for the effort. Had they been able to launch an attack before Eighth Fleet's arrival, Seventh Fleet would have had quite the fight on their hands. Now though the Russians would have the honor of being the first foreign opponents his fleet would face.

An alert sounded, informing the occupants of the flag bridge of the Russian ships opening fire. At this distance the only weapons the enemy had with the necessary reach would be their missiles and the radar quickly resolved that the Russians were launching with abandon. Dozens of ship killers rose into the sky before veering towards the Seventh Fleet taskforce to the south. Seventh Fleet responded in kind and soon two waves of fire were approaching their opposite numbers.

Despite their closer proximity the Russians elected not to fire upon Eighth Fleet. The reasons for this hesitancy could be many, though Wolfgang suspected that it had a little something to do with the difficulty of properly targeting his ships. Fire control for modern cruise missiles depended on either a radar lock or guidance provided by spotters. At this height the Russians would be hard pressed to maintain a proper lock and getting drones up here without his point defenses blasting it out of the sky would be equally difficult. As such the Russians had elected to try to neutralize the threat they could track, hoping to knock out enough of Seventh Fleet that they could try to fight Eighth Fleet without the additional pressure. How unfortunate for the Russians that Wolfgang would not be so accommodating.

"Commence bombardment," he ordered.

"Commencing bombardment, aye sir," the rating responded even as she relayed his order to the rest of the fleet.

While the _Empress Marianne_ did possess railguns, those were intended primarily as last resort weapons if the carrier ever found itself unlucky enough to engage in relatively close combat with an enemy. The two Logres-class battleships on the other hand were designed specifically to employ their impressive firepower to lay waste to anything they set their sights on. And at this altitude, they had effectively direct line of sight to their targets. The railguns slung under their hulls thundered and mere seconds later several ships on the surface snapped in half, the impacts cutting cleanly through them. A second salvo sounded and an equal number of ships were again shattered.

The Russian fleet slowly began to turn about, trying to put some distance between themselves and the flying warships. More missiles blossomed from them as well, these rocketing high into the sky. It seemed they had decided ignoring Eighth Fleet was no longer an option. Of course whether they had time to worry about Wolfgang's taskforce was also something of an open question. The missiles launched by Seventh Fleet reached the Russians and the immediate vicinity lit up as counter missiles and point defense guns tried to swat them out of the sky. They were only partially successful as more ships went up in flames. Those that remained, and there was still a substantial number, were defiant in their response as they opened fire again.

"Sir, enemy jets are diverting towards us," another rating reported.

Wolfgang regarded the radar. The Russians had deployed most of their fighters from their carrier before the first missile exchange, positioning them to try to sweep in afterward. Seventh Fleet had done much the same, having their planes loiter and wait for an opportunity to strike when the enemy was distracted or weakened. Wolfgang's own fighters had joined them, the admiral having all of his combat squadrons launched before the fleet rose to bombardment altitude. At their current height they were still well within the combat ceiling of the Russian fighters, but they would take at least a bit of time to climb up to engage. During that climb they would be hideously vulnerable to his fleet's defenses however.

The destroyers shifted formation, two of them positioning themselves to intercept the oncoming fighters. The other two fell back a bit to be better able to pick off any that made it through the first line of defense. The turrets on the larger capital ships also began tracking. Of course missiles were already being lit off, seeking to kill the fighters before they reached a distance where the point defense guns could actually range on them.

Again the sky was dotted with a series of explosions as some of the missiles found their mark. Quite a few dots continued to close in on the fleet however and they were greeted with a wave of fire as the turrets all lit up. The fighters responded in kind, releasing their own payloads against the Britannian ships. Green sheens glowed as the Blaze Luminous shields absorbed the incoming fire, and in a few instances even swatting aside an enemy fighter unlucky enough to collide with it. Even with their primary munitions expended the Russians fighters did not turn tail, instead coming about for additional attack runs with their internal guns. What they hoped to achieve when all their missiles, and those launched by the Russian fleet, had failed Wolfgang could not say. Still their courage was laudable as they continued their attacks even as the fleet's defenses picked off more and more of them.

Even as Eighth Fleet dealt with this minor impediment its battleships continued raining down fire upon the Russian fleet below. Whereas the Russian missile ships were quickly running down their munitions, the battleships still had plenty of rounds left for their railguns. For that matter there were still the missiles inside of their own cells, missiles that Wolfgang was holding in reserve. In all frankness he did not really need them for this engagement, and seeing as rearming them would require a trip to dry dock he was inclined to save them for a future battle.

Down below with the opposing fighter screen diverted, the Britannian jets charged in and began pounding away at the enemy fleet. With their formation effectively scattered, the Russian ships found themselves each fighting on their own instead of in a coordinated defense. They were far from helpless, the ships of the Baltic Fleet were some of the most modern in the entire Russian Navy after all, but forced to fend for themselves their effectiveness was considerably reduced. For every enemy fighter they downed it seemed like three more were right behind, ready to avenge their fallen comrade. Bombs and missiles slammed into the Russian warships, shattering hulls and burning through decks. By the time the fighters pulled away, their ordnance expended, little that remained was floating under its own power.

* * *

"The destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet was effectively total," Mountbatten said. "Not only did the Russians lose all of their surface combatants, few of their fighters were able to escape back to Vladivostok either. At this point we have effectively complete control of the Pacific Ocean, as well as the waters surrounding Japan."

Euphemia's head tilted in acknowledgment of the report. "And what of our own losses, admiral?"

"Seventh Fleet's taskforce took the brunt of the losses, your majesty," Mountbatten said. "The Russians were able to get off several missile salvos before their own ships were neutralized. While our carrier was able to avoid major damage, we lost a good portion of our missile cruisers and few of the destroyers were able to emerge completely unscathed. For the short term at least the taskforce will need to spend time in dock for repairs."

A victory though the battle was, it was certainly not as decisive as one could have wished.

"Our fighter losses were much lighter, probably because the Russians diverted the majority of their air cover to try to bring down Eighth Fleet," Mountbatten continued. "Ultimately with the arrival of elements of Sixth Fleet and Eighth Fleet's continued readiness, we are still positioned to carry forth with Operation Blue Hearts."

At that a few smiles broke out on the expressions of the officers present. Blue Hearts had been on the drawing board since the very start of the war, with the buildup of over five hundred thousand soldiers taking pace in Japan in preparation. With twelve infantry divisions and another five armored, Eighth Army was in position to teach the Chinese an abject lesson once it landed on the Korean Peninsula. No one expected the fighting to be easy or quick, especially with the Chinese shifting so much of their forces to the peninsula in anticipation of the invasion. Of course there was a limit to how many troops they could divert when they had two other fronts to deal with.

"Thank you admiral," Euphemia said and Mountbatten nodded before taking his seat. The empress looked over at Zechs. "Let us proceed to the next item, field marshal."

"Yes your majesty," Zechs said and a moment later the map being displayed shifted from the Sea of Japan to that of the Malay Peninsula and its surrounding area. "Operations against Chinese forces situated on Sumatra have been progressing well. Third Fleet has managed to effectively blockade the island despite the short distance separating it from the mainland. What intelligence assets we have on the ground indicate the Chinese are prioritizing munitions over food supplies and that their forces on the island have been ordered to make use of local sources for the latter. This is starting to cause some tension with the locals, especially considering the Chinese do not seem to have a systemized manner of actually paying for whatever supplies they seize."

An army well and truly did march on its stomach, something the Britannian military took to heart regardless of who first said it. And whatever the faults of Britannia's authoritarian regime, the military did tend to recognize that unrestrained looting only invited partisan reprisal. It was ironic that much of the abuses suffered by occupied populations, apart from targeted executions and the like, came from civilian interests that arrived after the initial conquest of a region. The military did tend to actually pay for things it took, a responsibility its quartermaster corps was responsible for. Even the labor drafts it might institute saw those laborers compensated. Poorly perhaps, but compensated. Usually. Corruption was after all difficult to ever completely weed out.

"Our forces are on track to commence landing attempts as previously scheduled, and with local naval and air superiority we expect Sixth Army to have little trouble breaking the Chinese forces occupying the island. From there they should be positioned to attempt a landing on the Malaysian Peninsula, especially with the transports that have been freed up from usage in the Korean landings."

That was another major shift on warfare doctrine Project Damocles had allowed, the ability to airlift large numbers of soldiers and equipment without the need for an airstrip to receive them. The transports that had been deployed to Japan would be able to bring entire divisions over to the mainland over the course of a day and the soldiers were even now drilling on embarking and disembarking procedures to make the process as quick as possible. With Eighth Fleet itself providing cover, the Britannians could completely bypass the defenses the Chinese Federation had erected to defend against an amphibious landing on the peninsula.

Of course until the Empire was able to put the transports into serial production they only had a finite number to deploy, which was why seizure of a port was still a high priority objective for the landing forces. At the same time the invasion of Malaysia would be done the old fashioned way, but again with local naval and air superiority chances of success were at least favorable if not outright good. Still it was not all good news.

"Unfortunately the Chinese have not diverted as much strength as we would have liked to putting down the Indian uprising," Zechs said. "Their local commander has proven to be considerably more competent than we had presumed and has been outfighting the Indians despite being at a numerical disadvantage. At the same time he has been avoiding engaging our own forces, denying us the chance to wear down his numbers. The Indians are becoming sufficiently concerned with their defeats that they are pressing us for more reinforcements and for what troops we do have on the ground to advance deeper into the subcontinent."

"Do we have the numbers by which to reinforce them?" Euphemia asked.

"Not at this point, your majesty," Zechs said. "And deploying our forces deeper in is complicated by the, less than ideal logistical situation they find themselves in. Transportation links within India are severely underdeveloped relative to the population density and distances. If we are to credibly mount an offensive campaign, we are going to need to send in a lot more heavy duty trucks and even start building airstrips ourselves to allow for easier flow of supplies."

"I see," Euphemia acknowledged.

"Still, the Indian and even Malay campaign would primarily be sideshows, efforts to divert the Chinese Federation's attention from our drive through Korea. If we can knock out the Federation's industrial heartland in Manchuria, we can likely force them to come to terms."

For all the effort the Empire was putting into defeating the Chinese Federation militarily, the entire campaign itself could be considered a sideshow. The real enemy, the one that everyone in this room wanted to go after, was the European Union, and the sooner the Chinese were out of the war the sooner Britannia could direct its full attention to its old enemy.

"It seems then our current campaigns are proceeding according to plan, for the time being," Euphemia noted.

"More or less, your majesty," Zechs agreed.

Both knew that that could change quickly, but the tide was very slowly turning in the Empire's favor. If they could maintain the momentum, that favor would carry them to outright victory.

"Very well then," Euphemia said. "I believe that the next item is then the briefing on the preparations for Operation Torch."

And here it was, the first step towards that victory."

"Yes your majesty," Zechs said with a nod.

The map on the display shifted again, this time to North Africa.

"Operation Torch is the current designation for the planned invasion of North Africa, specifically the seizure of French Morocco. Taking control of the colony will allow us to threaten not only Mediterranean shipping, it will also provide a staging point from which we will be able to threaten the south European states such as Spain and Italy, and of course the southern coast of France."

That went without saying, of course.

"It is the general staff's intent that the landing in North Africa also be an airlift operation. Due to the distances involved we will need a much larger initial force to establish a beachhead, more than our current complement of Naglfar-class transports would be capable of. This will require the completion of additional transports, as well as the escorts necessary to protect them en route."

Euphemia ran the numbers in her head. Since the lifting of the veil of secrecy around Britannia's flying ships several major shipyards around the country had been retooling to be able to build more. That retooling, as well as further expansion of the yards at Groom Lake itself, was still in progress. Still it would not be long before more ships would be laid down and the ones already under construction would be ready for deployment.

"At present Taskforce 81 is scheduled to begin working up within the next month," Zechs continued. "The _Empress Annabella_ is actually slightly ahead of schedule and we expect it to start taking delivery of its squadrons starting next week. Final preparations for the _Prince Odysseus_ and _Prince Schneizel_ have also completed, and their crews are already conducting drills."

A solemn silence hung in the room for several moments in respect for the namesakes these ships represented. Euphemia herself nodded, even as the names reverberated inside her heart.

"He would have been heartened, to be so honored by the service he cherished," she said.

To that Mountbatten bowed his head, as did the other officers a moment after. Odysseus had truly loved the navy, had likely been more comfortable in uniform than in the dress of the court. It was only right then that his name be carried by the ship that would spearhead the Empire's effort to avenge his death, and that of so many of his family.

* * *

It had been remarkably easy to get access to the thought elevator. All Suzaku needed to do was reach out and, tune the guards to resonate with his own chord, and they stood idly by as he walked straight in. And the best part was, he was not hurting people. He was not tearing their minds apart like Lelouch did. He was, just making them realize that there was a better way by opening their minds. By making them understand each other. By making them understand him. Yes, this was much better.

The interior of the thought elevator was a rather stale white, the main chamber with little in the way of visual stimuli. There was the crest carved into the floor and a few stone panels held at waist height, the sight of which echoed in Suzaku's mind as he watched the memory of another man approach them. A pair of hands extended and the seemingly cold panels lit up, projections of some sort appearing in thin air before the other's eyes. Suzaku retraced those steps and extended his own hands. And a moment later what was mere memory became reality as the projections solidified before him.

He did not understand what he was doing even as he mimicked the motions he saw, touching the holographic symbols around him in the same sequence as his memory played them back. And then a globe formed above him, one that he quickly recognized as showing the entire world. Bright white dots appeared at specific points. One in England, another down in the heart of Africa. The Middle East, India. Japan was there too, and another in the Britannian homelands. There was another in the deep south, at the tip of Antarctica. The last however was a glaring red, one he immediately recognized as being in the province of New York. There, that was the thought elevator where he had awakened. The thought elevator that the Britannians had destroyed to prevent it from achieving its glorious purpose.

Suzaku blinked. Where had that thought come from? What glorious purpose? He tried to focus. What did he know about the thought elevators? Why were they so important?

"They're gateways," Lelouch's voice rang in his mind.

"Gateways?" a quizzical sounding Charlotte echoed.

"Each human's mind, or soul if you will, is walled off from that of others. There remains however a link to each mind, that ties them to the collective unconscious of all mankind. And through that link, one can reach out to a mind not your own. The thought elevators serve as a gateway to that link, at least for those whom possess the key."

"The key," Charlotte said thoughtfully. "And that key would be known as geass?"

The vision Suzaku witnessed shifted side to side.

"No. The key known as the code."

And faded away, returning Suzaku to the present once more.

"Gateways," he muttered to himself before unconsciously stroking his left cheek. "And a key to open them."

That was it. That was what the Empire had been so desperate to stop, the tearing down of the walls that kept people from truly understanding each other. Because it was the fear that kept people apart that underpinned Britannia's rule. The fear of the other that allowed it to drive its populace to treat with such callousness anyone that was different. The Empire would rather people suffer than give up power for the sake of peace, of harmony. It would even murder its own people, not just foreigners but its own subjects, to cling to its position. Britannia, it truly was irredeemable.

Suzaku took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. Letting his rage at the Empire boil over would do little good. Besides, it was not like all people in the Empire would bad. Surely once their minds were opened, opened like those of the Londoners he had tuned, they would realize the folly of their fears and embrace unity. That, that was the answer. He would use the thought elevators, use them to open everyone's minds. And then the human race would know peace.

Suzaku began pressing the projected panels again, his fingers racing as he retraced the motion that played back in his head. It was another memory, one that was showing him exactly what to do to achieve his sacred charge. He did not know how he knew this, but the surety that flowed through his mind was undeniable. He was doing the right thing.

The interior of the thought elevator began to light up as even more projections appeared, including one of the structure itself. It seemed to display some sort of activity going on deep within the core as flows of energy coalesced into discrete shapes and patterns. A hum began to build and Suzaku felt his own mind resonate with it, the tone filling him with warmth and serenity. And then a horrible cacophony intruded upon his bliss. Suzaku's eyes flew open and he watched as the thought elevator released the energy, letting it bleed away unspent.

Suzaku's mind raced. Something had gone wrong, but what? And then he regarded the globe hanging before him. There, the London thought elevator was pulsing now. It was ready. But the others across the world, they remained silent. Did that mean he needed more than one thought elevator? Perhaps all of them? Suzaku considered his options. Three of the thought elevators were in Britannian hands, including one in Japan. Another four were however outside Britannian control in Africa, the Middle East, India, and Mongolia. If he could reach them, if he could activate them like this one, perhaps that would be enough to tear down the walls that separated people.

Just as he settled upon that course of action Suzaku felt a discord tinge the melody of his thoughts. Outside people had noticed what he was doing, people that he had not granted the tranquility of unity to. They could ruin everything if they tried to stop him. Suzaku reached out, but a headache suddenly surged in his head. The young man fell to one knee as he tried to fight down the pain. Perhaps there was a limit to how many people he could touch, how many people he could save, all by himself. That was fine. He now knew the means to save everyone, he only needed to reach the other thought elevators. To do so however he needed to escape here, to return to mainland Europe. That much he should be able to manage with just those few touched thus far. At worst, they would be able to buy him time to escape. Some sacrifice was inevitable, if it was for the greater good.

* * *

Kallen was no expert in biochemistry or pharmaceuticals. What biology and chemistry she did know was from the few mandatory courses she took before A-level prep work dominated her course load. As such all of the documentation that was presented to her about Refrain, its chemical makeup and the way it interacted with the brain, were well beyond her understanding. There were other people however that could make sense of all this information, people that indeed might even be able to make use of the documentation to develop proper treatments for Refrain poisoning. As such Kallen made sure that every scrap of information on Refrain was copied and prepared for transport with her when she departed for Japan. At the same time there was some information that she could personally understand and perhaps even make use of, information that she spared no effort in wringing out of anyone even tangentially related to the development of the drug.

"So Refrain effectively alters a person's brain to forcibly create a connection to C's World," Kallen repeated.

The researcher seated across from her nodded nervously. Beads of sweat rolled down his face, the product of an hour of grilling by the willful woman.

"Is that what induces the vivid memory recall?"

The man grimaced. "That is the hypothesis, your highness."

Kallen raised an eyebrow when the man did not continue, as clear a prompt as any that that was not good enough.

"But the amount of evidence supporting the hypothesis is thin," the man continued reluctantly. "We are, unclear why a person's memories become so forcibly asserted."

Recalling what Euphemia had told her about the empress' own experience inside C's World, of the books that apparently seemed to hold the memories of people, Kallen was less dubious as to the connection. Still it was as the researcher said, hard evidence was scant. Personal experience counted for a great deal less than most people liked to think when it came to these kinds of situations.

"How did the Directorate deal with Refrain overdoses then?"

A hint of fear crept across the man's face as he licked his lips. He was obviously not looking forward to answering this particular question.

"The Directorate never developed a treatment. Subjects, individuals that succumbed to a Refrain overdose were, usually euthanized. Or, repurposed."

The glare that Kallen shot the man caused in him a not insignificant shortness of breath. To say that Kallen was tempted to reach out and snap his neck would have about summed up the young woman's present mood. It was with considerable effort that the young woman reminded herself that lashing out like this would do little good, in fact would likely do greater harm to her reputation. Not that she cared in the least about what the Directorate's members thought of her at this moment, but there were others whose opinion she did care about. Still with the sheer strength of the murderous aura she was projecting, no one would have been surprised if she did succumb to her temptation and painted the walls of this room with blood.

"And what of those, subjects, that did not succumb to an overdose?" Kallen asked, her voice flat and hollow.

The man swallowed. "The, intent was to have the drug be refined to the point where it could accelerate the development of a geass holder's connection."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "Intent?"

"The, drug had yet to be refined to the point where the changes it induces in a person's brain does not prove fatal."

The person whom Kallen was interrogating was really not making the case for why she should not kill him.

"Alright." Somehow her voice was even more devoid of emotion and tone than mere moments ago. "So how exactly did Refrain get leaked out to the general populace?"

The sheen of sweat was now so thick the man likely felt as if he was being literally as well as figuratively roasted.

"The, false grandmaster, he was becoming impatient and demanded faster progress in the drug's refinement. We were reaching the limits of our ability to test the drug internally, so Professor Weismann proposed releasing the drug to the wider population and using the reports from people being treated to increase the raw data that we could collect."

Kallen frowned. "If that was the intent, then why did the Empire ban Refrain outright?"

"I, do not know," the researcher said. "I was not privy to that level of decision making."

 _NEMO?_

 _The recovered records from the Directorate do not include any documentation on this decision._

A growl began to sound in Kallen's throat but she squelched it. It seemed she had wrung out all the information she would get from the man. Those that could tell her more were regrettably already dead.

"Very well doctor. That will be all for now."

The man rose, issued a hasty bow, and vacated the room even more quickly. Kallen remained seated for several moments, her body so still not even her eyes flickered. And then her fist clenched. A deafening crack sounded as it smashed through the table, snapping the metal and caving the top into itself. The violet gleam in Kallen's eyes slowly faded with every breath she inhaled as the woman worked to compose herself. During that entire time no one dared enter the room to check on her. When she emerged her eyes were back to an icy blue. And not one mark upon her hand.

* * *

"So how does it feel?" Fie asked.

Bertoldt lifted his newly installed prosthetic foot and bent it slightly. "It feels a bit stiff. I suppose that's something that I'll just have to get used to."

"Your brain should be able to adapt given enough time," Rai said.

The German youth set his foot down and pushed himself off the bed. His bearing was not entirely steady but neither did he topple over outright. Carefully he lifted his new foot, set it down, and then tried doing the same with his still attached foot. He quickly grabbed hold of the edge of the bed to support himself.

"Not quite there yet," he said with a slight smile.

"As I said, give it time," Rai responded in kind.

"Don't take too long though, you're kinda heavy for me to be pushing around all the time," Fie said.

Heavy though she might have found him Fie had not let anyone else shoulder the duty during their stay here and Bertoldt himself was usually more than up to wheeling himself around. Both Germans were physically quite fit and Fie especially was so quick and light on her feet that she gave Rai a run for his money when the two sparred. For un-augmented humans Lelouch's compatriots were remarkably capable warriors, capable of even standing against the Directorate's enforcers when fighting as a unit. Had the former prince been given the time to expand their numbers, he could have toppled any government he wished. As it was they had come perilously close to doing so to Britannia.

"General Koller."

Rai looked over at the junior officer, in rank if not in age, that had addressed him.

"Yes?"

"A message has arrived for yourself and the Princess Kallen, sir. For your eyes only."

"Very well," Rai said before nodding to the others. "We'll be leaving in two days, so make sure everything that might be needed to service your prosthetic is ready to go by then."

"I will," Bertoldt responded.

With that Rai followed the lieutenant to another section of the base, one where Loki Regiment was camped. Kallen was already there, an impressive scowl twisting her expression. Rai paused a step.

"Is something wrong, your grace?"

The young woman looked over at him. "How many people have died due to the Directorate's medical experimentation under V.V."

The absence of tension in Kallen's voice, the completely even tone and lack of inflection, this was not a question.

"You have already determined a count," Rai replied.

"Yes, yes, I have," Kallen said, a voice rising in pitch ever so slightly. "Accounting for not just the people directly experimented on here at Niflheim Base but also those that died from Refrain poisoning in the general population, the lowball estimate is at least 100,000 over the nine years that V.V. controlled the directorate."

Rai said nothing. Kallen was after all not done yet.

"How many fucking times are we going to have to compromise, to let such deaths go unavenged, for some so-called greater good?" the girl hissed.

That was a question, but it was still one that Kallen already knew the answer to. Rai answered nonetheless.

"As many times as we must, for _we_ are still alive, your grace. Nothing you do now will change or mean a thing to those that have already passed."

"And that's supposed to be good enough!?" Kallen exploded. "How long before I turn into a murderer myself, how many people am I going to let die or kill with my own hands!?"

"How many people have you already killed?" Rai shot back. "How many people do you think I have killed? Or her majesty has killed, even if indirectly? None of us are clean or pure, your grace. We can't save everyone, but we can at least try to save _someone_."

Kallen's jaw tightened, her hand clenching and relaxing repeatedly. It was clear that she was not convinced but Rai had little idea of what else he could say. These decisions, he had been making them since childhood. It was however evident that despite everything Kallen had been through the young woman still struggled with the bitter aftertaste of such things. Kallen had Rai's sympathies, and the young man even felt slightly envious at the woman's relative innocence. There was also a slight flicker of irritation that she was still so conflicted. They simply did not have the luxury of time for Kallen to sort through her emotional turmoil.

Kallen turned about, accessing the console in the secured room.

"Let's just see this damn message," she said softly.

Rai said nothing, instead moving next to her so that he could get a view of the screen. After Kallen entered her authentication key text scrolled over the monitor. As the two read another hiss escaped Kallen while Rai frowned.

"Bloody fucking Hel."

Rai's verbalization of his reaction was more composed. "This is, extremely unfortunate."

"That's certainly one way to put it," Kallen sneered, crossing her arms. "So, what now? We try dropping another one of those bombs on London this time?"

Rai shook his head. "The intelligence is already out of date and Suzaku will have likely moved on."

Kallen grunted in agreement.

"And besides, the yields on the atomic weapons are not large enough to guarantee the total destruction of the city necessary to kill him without knowing his exact location."

That elicited something a bit stronger than a grunt. Kallen however decided not to press the point.

"What was he doing in London anyway? Was he there for the thought elevator?"

"Almost certainly," Rai said thoughtfully. "Have you had a chance to review the schematics for the artificial code that was installed in him?"

Kallen frowned. "No. I hadn't gotten around to it yet."

"Well, please see to it quickly, your grace," Rai said. "At this point you are the only one whom can discern how much of the thought elevator's functionality that code can access."

Because she was now playing host to NEMO, Kallen inferred without much difficulty.

"I'll get it done," she said, this time with a bit less bite.

Rai nodded, his expression still pensive. "We may need to accelerate operations to secure the remaining thought elevators."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "Is that even possible?"

"Logistically? Likely not. But we only need to secure one more and that will lock out any attempts to use them to fire the Sword of Akasha."

Because doing so required an absolute majority, Kallen recalled.

"The Indian thought elevator technically is in friendly hands," Kallen said.

Rai grimaced. "Perhaps. We will need to discuss the matter with the theatre commanders once we arrive in Japan. It might well be that launching a raid on the Mongolian thought elevator will be more feasible than trying to work through the quagmire that is India right now."

"I guess we'll see." Kallen regarded Rai, a gaze that did not go unnoticed by the young man.

"Is something the matter, your grace?"

The young woman's lips thinned. Her irritation with Rai was still palpable. At the same time her anger had subsided enough that she could see a bit past the immediate situation.

"If Suzaku really is back, and if he's playing host to a Krell, doesn't mean he might be able to hijack other people?"

"A distinct possibility," Rai said with a nod.

Kallen rubbed her hands together. "How many people are there that would be able to resist his form of compulsion?"

That caused Rai to adopt a thoughtful pose. "Of certainty, six."

Kallen blinked. "Six?"

"The two of us, by virtue of NEMO and my artificial code," Rai said, raising two fingers. "Then there are the Lord Lelouch's surviving compatriots. Annie, Bertoldt, Fie, and Laura." With each name he raised another until he was holding up both hands. "Six in total."

"How are Lelouch's team immune?" Kallen asked quizzically.

"The imprint that the Lord Lelouch made with his geass," Rai explained. "As Charlotte explained, it was not a compulsion so much as it was an implantation of a fragment of Lelouch himself. Simplistically put, that fragment acts in a similar manner as NEMO, shielding one's mind and preventing outside influences from intruding."

"Technically isn't that fragment already an intrusion?" Kallen pointed out. "And how do we know they aren't still being influenced by it?"

"It is an intrusion, but it is not a compulsion," Rai said. "The Lord Lelouch's geass can certainly instill a command, but it can also produce other effects. In the case of his compatriots he used his geass to, fortify, their already existing characteristics, the things that made them unique individuals."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "Does that mean they could have betrayed him?"

"Of course."

"But they went along with all of his plans."

Rai clasped his hands together, standing half at attention. "And they still are. It is why they are willing to help us against Suzaku."

That did not make Kallen any less unhappy but they were drifting slightly off track of what she originally wanted to discuss.

"Anyway," she said somewhat brusquely. "My point is now that we've confirmed Suzaku is still running around, how much danger is Euphemia going to be in? I mean, Suzaku managed to get to London from southern France. And couldn't he cross entire continents using the thought elevator's teleportation system?"

"The, potential threat to her majesty is nontrivial," Rai agreed. "I presume you have a suggestion after having brought it up?"

Kallen took a deep breath. She could not believe she was doing this, but she was.

"You should return to Pendragon. Maybe even hold onto the two girls there, Annie and Laura, and keep a watch over Euphemia. If Suzaku comes after her, you'd be her only line of defense."

Rai frowned slightly. Before he could respond however Kallen continued.

"I'll have NEMO with me, and you're right, she is like an older sister that always thinks she knows better." The young woman shrugged. "Well, she might not always be right, but that doesn't stop her from saying her mind. And I'll listen. Sometimes."

Rai did not look entirely convinced and Kallen's earlier outburst probably had not helped. Nevertheless much as he had a point, so too did she now.

"I will speak with her majesty and General Arseid," Rai said. "Her, Euphemia's security is indeed paramount. But so is securing the thought elevators."

"Well good thing there's two of us," Kallen said, offering the slightest of smiles.

"Yes, I suppose there is," Rai agreed.

* * *

In light of the news of Suzaku's survival Kallen found her departure for Japan pushed up, if only by a single day. Still considering how packed her schedule for her stay at Niflheim Base was, even that small a change was causing a not insignificant amount of scrambling. Kallen herself was equally at fault on this matter, first due to the time she had taken out of the original schedule to grill the researchers here about the Refrain work and second due to the medical equipment she insisted on taking with her to Japan afterward. While the Directorate had never developed a genuine treatment for the drug, they did have procedures and a few formulations that were supposed to help mitigate some of the effects. Whether they would be of any use for someone suffering from so severe an overdose as Kallen's mother was uncertain, but the young woman was determined to at least try.

The final reason for the frantic hustle to prepare for Kallen's departure was also the girl's fault. In this instance however Kallen's actions had actually caused more disruption to persons not actually located at the Antarctic base itself. Still, the diversion of a Naglfar-class transport was no small thing and Kallen likely never quite realized just how many logistical schedules she had scrambled with her request. It was not like the quartermaster corps was going to decline a direct request from the Heir Secundus and a Knight of the Round after all.

"Whoever decided installing that neural interface in a kid was a good idea was an idiot," Kallen growled as she watched the Gordias prototype be loaded into the flying transport.

Its sheer size and weight meant the _Avalon_ was not capable of embarking it and shipping it by sea would have taken a bit too long.

 _You were the one that decided to bring the child along_ , NEMO pointed out.

 _I know, I know_ , Kallen mentally replied. _But like hell I was going to leave her here like this. She needs to go out and see the world, to actually live._

NEMO made no response and Kallen sighed again. In truth bringing Renne might yet turn out to be a really bad idea. The girl needed a fair degree of monitoring to make sure the strain of the neural interface did not cause her problems, and if an issue did arise Kallen was forced to admit that the Directorate's facilities were the best place for her to be treated. But just as Renne had been following Kallen all around, Kallen had also been observing the little girl. She was afraid and shaken and her trailing after the knight was very much a plea for attention and help. And while Rai was right that she could not save everyone, he was also right that she could try to save someone.

Of course taking Renne from the Directorate was not quite as simple as just having her climb aboard the _Avalon_ when they departed. The girl needed to be within a certain range of Pater-Mater, otherwise the dropped connection caused her outright discomfort if not pain. And so the giant knightmare would be coming with them, even though Kallen had absolutely no intention of ever putting Renne in a situation where she would actually need to make use of it.

"Your highness, the knightmare has been secured," a soldier reported.

Kallen nodded. "Then I best get onboard myself."

The diversion of the transport was not just to fly the Pater-Mater to Japan. Another change in plans would see the _Avalon_ returning to Pendragon, bearing Rai and Bertoldt while Fie would accompany Kallen. Ultimately it had been decided that Rai should return to the capital, to act as a final line of defense in case Suzaku did attempt a return to the homelands. They were technically splitting their forces this way but it was not like Kallen would be entirely without help. Not just Fie, but two other Knights of the Round were already in Japan waiting for her arrival. And then there was the, help, the Directorate was actually sending along with her.

"Your highness."

Kallen turned about to see three women in armor kneel before her.

"Dame Duvalie," Kallen greeted in turn. "Dame Ennea. Dame Ines. Rise."

They did so and Kallen regarded them one by one. The three most skilled of the Stahlritter, Arianrhod's elite guard, Kallen did not doubt that they would be immensely useful in the field of battle. Each was also supposed to be a skilled knightmare pilot and once equipped with the Lancelots being prepared in Japan Kallen would have the probably the equivalent of an entire knightmare battalion at her disposal. A powerful force, but would it be enough.

"Your lord has assured me of your skill and dedication," Kallen said. "I look forward to seeing them demonstrated."

"We will not have her word foresworn," the bob haired brunette in the lead said.

"I pray that be so," Kallen said. "We will be leaving shortly, so make sure all of your effects have been loaded."

"Yes your highness," Duvalie said with a bow of her head before nodding to the others.

As they fell out Kallen walked over to another young standing out in the cold. Rai looked over and nodded respectfully.

"Your grace."

"Well, I suppose this is where we part ways for now," Kallen said.

"That is so," Rai agreed.

The two continued watching as the final bits and pieces were carted onto their respective conveyances. After a brief moment of awkward silence Rai cleared his throat and Kallen looked back over.

"I just wanted to say, your grace. Thank you."

The young woman blinked but after a while nodded with a slight smile. "You are welcome, Raibeart."

For a moment Rai's eyes flickered and became unfocused. When his gaze met Kallen's once more however there was a hint of renewed warmth within them.

End of Chapter 102

I think at this point we can all stop pretending there's any doubt to the outcome of the Great War. As hurt as Britannia was by the Battle of Pendragon and its aftermath, a good chunk of its industrial capacity is still intact and a lot of its people have blood in their eyes. Really, they're basically baying for the blood of the European and Chinese leaderships. Most especially the Europeans. The only question that remains is, how bad will the body count get before the fighting ends.

Regrettably I don't know enough naval terminology to actually portray a detailed running conversation between Wolfgang and his subordinates during a battle. Also consider it a degree of laziness. Getting the terminology both correct and consistent would have required mapping the battle out in much greater detail than I have time to do these days. A year ago I might have had the time, but with how busy work is these days, not so much.

Writing the Suzaku scenes have been complicated by the simple fact that it's basically a long running internal train of thought on his part. Which has the major risk of getting really boring to read after a certain point. Hopefully this will be the last bit where he's basically alone and next time we see him there will be actual people for him to interact with.

So I received a message from a reader that expressed a degree of dissatisfaction with some of the things I've done with the story. Which is fair, I am not so arrogant to demand that everyone agree with every choice I make. That is not to say I'm not arrogant to begin with, I'm just not _that_ arrogant. The one thing that did elicit a slightly stronger reaction on my part though was what appeared to be a mismatch between my intended portrayal of Euphemia and the interpretation the reader had been inferring. It was a very subtle mismatch and I expect many others to also be making a similar inference. Generally if nothing else I try to at least explain my side of things, so I'm expanding upon the response I gave said reader here. We're also far enough into the story that what I'm about to say better not constitute a spoiler.

The story in broad terms can be regarded as a sort of three-way struggle between Euphemia, Kallen, and Lelouch, their objectives clashing and complementing each other in differing ways. All three of them have developed along a fairly consistent trajectory that I'll discuss here. Note that Lelouch I'm going to admit now I have not handled as well as I could have, and in any remaster he would see considerable reworking. I'll explain a bit more when I get to him.

First, Euphemia. At the start of the story I presented her as a young woman determined to do what she could to keep her family together and safe. That determination was a lot, stiffer, than what we saw in the anime, insomuch as Euphemia did not hesitate to reach for the hammer if the situation called for it. She was capable of using diplomacy and resolving problems peacefully and in many ways she even preferred to solve problems without shedding blood, but she did not ever doubt the necessity of force or regard it merely as a necessary evil, violence was simply one more tool at her disposal. It's not even a tool of last resort either.

In fact Euphemia's willingness to resort to force, has actually grown as the story has developed. Even near the start she actively supported her sister's campaign to purge the Blood of the Samurai, and the majority of the JLF were executed outright after the Black Rebellion was put down. Then there was the way she dealt with the Lord Edward, his father, the other Refrain traffickers, and Luciano Bradley. It's a long list of people that Euphemia has had killed, directly or indirectly. All this however pales in comparison to Euphemia's prosecution of the Great War. Her siblings might have laid the foundation in the early stages of the war, building the Empire's forces up in preparation for taking the offensive, but it will be Euphemia whom orders those forces to set forth and basically set fire to Asia and Europe. And what she orders done to Paris will poison relations between Britannia and France for generations, something that she is fully cognizant of and orders anyway.

What Euphemia seeks is not peace, but order. She wants to eliminate the chaos, at its source, that she considers to be responsible for all the losses she has suffered. To create that order will ultimately require a peace, but Euphemia is quite prepared, and not hesitant in the least, to impose that peace upon others whether they want it or not, and that is pretty much what she is doing by prosecuting this war to the fullest extent possible. After all, one could argue that the order she desires is more readily achievable if external forces like the EU were completely wiped out so that there is no chance of it rising again in the future to conflict with Britannia.

Taken to extremes, Euphemia's desire for order could see her become as dictatorial and autocratic as the worst of her imperial predecessors. Kallen and Rai and many of the people around her are going to significant lengths to make sure that does not happen. Euphemia herself is also aware of the danger, which is why she explicitly asked Villetta so many chapters back to be prepared to stop her if she crosses a line. At this point Euphemia is starting to skirt that line, enough to worry those around her. They still hold out hope that she will recover though, that her rule while firm will still be fair and ultimately compassionate. Perhaps not kind, but certainly tolerant. Note that none of them consider what she does to Paris to be crossing the line, not even Kallen despite how manifestly unhappy she is with the order. In many ways Euphemia started as more level headed, cool, and logical, and has grown much angrier over the course of the story. She's not about to go on a ballistic rampage, but she is letting her emotions flare a bit more visibly now than before.

In Kallen's case, it's something of an opposite development. Kallen started as extremely hotheaded, motivated by her anger more than anything else. A lot of that anger was vented however when she killed Clovis, and as she witnessed the fallout from that she was able to take a step back and think through what the ramifications of her actions were. Kallen isn't stupid, and she recognized that simply killing more Britannian nobles and royals, no matter how emotionally satisfying, was not going to bring back any of the Japanese that had died. If she wanted to effect real change, to try to stem the suffering of her people as a whole, she had to make decisions more strategically. We spent literally the first 40 chapters having Kallen learn how to do that, and in the process she was able to reconcile her two halves as well. Not perfectly, there are certainly still moments of tensions and times when her emotions flare very strongly, but she's gone from an active insurgent fighting against the Empire to the highest echelons of its hierarchy and actively fighting under the Empire's banner. Her old self would have been absolutely appalled at such a notion and would have considered her present self a sellout. Her present self is more pragmatic and flexible. Even though Kallen is not entirely happy with everything, she's realistic enough to understand that at present this is the best that she can do and the most effective course of action is to work steadily to improve things for the future instead of wallowing in self-loathing about the past.

Lelouch. Ah, Lelouch. Suffice it to say he's been a pain in the ass to write, not least because portraying his motives has been so difficult. I fumbled that badly, so at this point I'm just going to explain it and leave it as a potential future exercise for me to go back and rework him in the story proper. Lelouch is, in a broad sense, diametrically opposed to Euphemia. While she seeks order, he incites chaos. Where Euphemia blames the chaos of the world for stealing away her loved ones, Lelouch considers their deaths to be the backlash from a too stringent attempt to impose order. From his perspective, the strictures of the human ecosystem are too rigid, too inflexible. There is no room for the building tension to be released, it will just build and build until something snaps outright, inviting even greater suffering as the entire thing collapses.

This posture has consequences. Namely, many of you presumed that Lelouch was going after his family due to their involvement with code and geass. This was partially my fault, I perhaps overemphasized this aspect of his conflict with them in the current iteration of the story. Yes, he is going after them because of the potential involvement with code and geass. He would have however gone after them ANYWAY even if the connection had not existed because the Britannian imperial family represents one of the central pillars of rigid order in the world. The venal and self-indulgent nobles? A house of cards that with the right push could be toppled without too much difficulty. The institution of the imperial family, especially the more competent scions? They've built a power structure that actually has depth and strength behind it that can reach out and impose its will upon others. And this imposition of uniformity is absolutely anathema to Lelouch's beliefs. Ironic that his geass allows him to basically impose his will upon others, but it could be said that it is because he possesses this power at so intimate a level that he finds the notion so utterly horrifying.

This of course raises all sorts of questions about his psychological state. Here and there I had scenes where it was evident that Lelouch is under a lot of mental strain. In fact he's pretty much at risk of a complete mental breakdown. Emotionally he is in a lot of pain due to the decision he's made, to inject chaos into the world to break up the rigid structures that are causing tensions to build up. He knows he's getting a lot of people killed, he knows that he'll need to kill a lot of his own family including those that he genuinely loved. He's doing it anyway, because the way the world is turning, in the long run the stasis that would be effectively imposed should his family or some other power succeed would be even more catastrophic. This threat however is too abstract to be something that a lot of people could emotionally invest themselves in. Hell, Lelouch can barely invest himself emotionally in it, despite how doggedly he pursues it. By the time of the Battle of Pendragon, he's so burnt out that Charlotte and the others are pretty certain that he's preparing to commit suicide once it is over, which drives their own dynamics in various ways. We'll see more of that later on.

Now, it should be mentioned that Euphemia never truly understood Lelouch's motives. She thought that his actions were a misguided attempt to protect the world from code and geass. That was literally the only reason she was willing to try to talk him down. If she had realized that what Lelouch sought was to inject chaos into the world, to weaken the pillars of order, the gloves would have come off and Euphemia would have issued kill orders. That's not to say if he was by some miracle taken alive she would have him executed, in that case she would have settled for locking him up for the rest of his life, but she would not have been nearly as willing to risk herself, her retainers, and ultimately her ambition just to take Lelouch alive if she knew what he was actually after. She would have made the same decision Lelouch had made and sought to put him down, hard, even at the considerable grief and anguish it would cause her. And considering her intelligence and resources, my version of Euphemia probably would have succeeded in doing just that. It was after all because she and the rest of the family did not go in for the kill that Lelouch got as far as he did in a lot of respects.

In summary, if at their best Euphemia were lawful good and Kallen neutral good, Lelouch would be chaotic good. At their worst, lawful evil, chaotic good, and chaotic neutral, with all the complexities and inconsistencies that entails.

One additional thing that I will note. All the dynamics described above, they apply for only _this_ iteration of Euphemia, Kallen, and Lelouch. An entirely different set of dynamics were at play from Rai's timeline. There are certainly parallels, but there is a reason that Rai is from time to time surprised by the way some of the characters act. Some differences he's happy about, others not so much. From his perspective, Kallen is a bit more whiny than he recalls, notwithstanding the four hundred years that his version had to mature mentally. Euphemia is a lot kinder than the histories he learned portray her as. And Lelouch, well, suffice it to say he's more than a bit disappointed with this timeline's Lelouch compared to the Lelouch that he looked up to.


	104. Chapter 103

_The Baron Heinrich Stadtfeld's business acumen had already seen him accrue a vast fortune by the time of his appointment as viceroy of Japan. During the years of his governance he would jokingly complain from time to time of how the restrictions of his office precluded him from investing as widely as he would have liked in the many businesses and enterprises that began to boom in Japan during the war and after. Even with the restrictions imposed upon him as an agent of the crown the baron still found opportunities to expand his wealth even while patriotically supporting Britannia's war effort. The war industry's appetite for raw materials was voracious and the baron's skill in funneling that material to where it was needed most, both in Japan and other parts of the Empire, nearly saw him recalled to Pendragon again to take a position in the war ministry. Only the fact that her majesty did not have any other candidates acceptable to the native population to serve as viceroy of Japan remove that consideration._

 _The baron also scented opportunity in the postwar environment, buying up a large number of the_ Empire _and_ Victory _-class cargo ships built to transport supplies across the vast distances over which Britannia fought. These ships would form the core of Stadtfeld Lines, a major shipping company that rose to be one of the largest in the world. By the time the baron was, in his own words, conscripted to serve as industries minister in the cabinet of his old friend the Baron Rochester, the Stadtfeld family was one of the richest in the world even setting aside their provincial holdings and imperial dignities. Little wonder that the Stadtfelds have remained staunchly loyal to the line of the Empress Euphemia._

 _-A Spare to Spare: The Royal Houses of Ashford and Stadtfeld_

Chapter 103

Ex gratia fortis

Prior to her arrival in Japan Kallen called ahead to order that there be no ceremony, no honor guard, and sure as Hel no reception of any sort for her. The officers at MacArthur Base were more than a bit taken aback by the vehemence by which the newly appointed Heir Secundus insisted upon all this, as well as the order that unless the matter was of such urgency that the very safety of the entire world was threatened, it could wait until tomorrow. Despite their confusion Kallen was still a princess of the realm and so they obeyed. It probably helped that most of the ceremonies had been scheduled for tomorrow originally anyway, seeing as Kallen was arriving a day earlier than originally intended.

One individual whom was not quite as confused about the whole matter was Heinrich, whom had received another set of requests altogether. Some of it was purely mundane, logistical in nature. With the changes to her entourage there was a need to make sure additional rooms were prepared, along with space cleared out in the vehicle bay for what was apparently a gigantic knightmare that his daughter was bringing along. Other requests Heinrich humored his daughter on, though the manner in which he regarded one Lieutenant Cole Kraft suggested a certain reluctance in doing so.

Cole came to attention before the man, clicking his heels together. "Your excellency."

"Lieutenant Kraft," Heinrich responded as formally.

The baron's tone was level, even respectful. Cole could still make out the slight glint in the older man's eyes. It was his daughter that Cole was courting and Heinrich was letting it be known that, however much Cole might have distinguished himself thus far, as a father the baron was still keeping a close eye on how Cole treated his beloved daughter. He was not stopping Cole however, which was a provisional good sign.

"The demands of Kallen's duty has seen her considerably drained over the past few weeks," Heinrich continued. "I trust she will not be further exhausted due your, attention."

Cole idly wondered if any other youth had ever been delivered a warning so, veiled, about keeping his hands off of his girlfriend. Probably, there were plenty of fathers out there whose daughters found someone to be amorous with. Most of those fathers however had little besides their own presence with which to, encourage, these paramours to be on their best behaviors. That was not to say such presence was not unimpressive in its own right, but far fewer had the august offices that one Heinrich Stadtfeld held to back up his encouragement. Again Britannia being what it was, there were quite a few fathers that could marshal a similar level of stature.

Still Cole was hardly any mere lad seeking the affections of a highly born daughter. Even before his elevation he had some claim to being well born himself, from his mother's side at least. As far as Cole knew his father was commoner stock through and through, which was never anything he felt any shame or regret about. Now though that same commoner father had been elevated to the highest level of the peerage, with even higher precedence than the Baron Stadtfeld. And as his eldest son, even if he was not the eldest child, Cole was himself elevated to certain heights as well.

Of course the woman that Cole was courting, the baron's beloved daughter, had been elevated to even greater heights. A duchess in her own right, the future provincial lord of at least a portion of Japan. And a princess of the realm, positioned as Heir Secundus, the second in line to the throne itself. Cole shuddered to even think about the possibility that Kallen might find herself even closer to the throne, or atop it outright. But where she was already, the weight of that responsibility. Little wonder she was exhausted.

"I assure you, your excellency," Cole responded, firm confidence echoing in his words. "I will see to it that my visit does nothing but lift Kallen's spirits."

That was probably not quite what the baron wanted to hear considering not all spirit lifting methods were, restful. Still the man deigned to do little more than let his head dip half an inch, a full inch at most, before stepping past Cole and taking his leave. Only once the young man was certain the baron was out of earshot did he let out a sigh of relief. It might have been tradition for a girl's father to breathe down the neck of her boyfriend, and he might one day do much the same, but at this moment Cole was not particularly inclined towards that tradition. Giving himself a shake he stepped forward himself and knocked on the door.

"Enter."

And smiled. It had been a while since he last heard that melodious voice. He pushed open the door and was greeted with the sight of Kallen rising from her seat. The smile that she favored him with was filled with sincere affection. It was all the invitation he needed to cross the distance between them and pull Kallen into his arms. Their lips met and Cole found himself sinking into the gentle softness of the touch. He held her like this for a very long time. When the two finally parted, Cole was fairly certain that Kallen's flushed expression was a reflection of his own. Reaching up he stroked her cheeks.

"It might be just for a short while, but I'm back Kallen."

The young woman smiled right back at him. "I knew you would be."

And leaned in once more.

* * *

"I'm bored."

The knife danced in Fie's hands as she twirled it about, but it was not the German girl that had given voice to those thoughts. Looking over Fie regarded the younger girl that was her roommate. Renne was what she was called. And Fie agreed with her. Since their arrival, granted it had only been a few hours, the two had been told to stay in their rooms until plans were established for what the Princess Kallen would do next in her mission to secure the thought elevators. Well, not their rooms, but at least within the palace itself.

Fie had done a little bit of poking around the areas they had access to, just to figure out where places of utility were. The princess had been given the section of the palace vacated by the now Empress Euphemia's guard and the facilities were impressive. It was not just the extremely posh rooms but there was a large gymnasium and a big swimming pool for their use. Then there was the technical wing with the vehicle bay, armory, and machine shop all next to each other. Overall they had basically everything they could wish for to prepare for the upcoming mission. Right now however Fie found herself in agreement with Renne. They were bored. Maybe she should take a nap.

"That's a nice knife," Renne remarked.

Fie stopped twirling it about and looked over at the girl. "Thanks. It was a gift, from a friend." A grimace crossed the girl's expression. "A good friend."

Though they had only known Crow for a few months, Fie and the others had warmed up to the seemingly whimsical young man. Part of it was the amusing way he playfully flirted with Charlotte despite the French girl's adamant disinterest. Another part was the fact that he was a genuinely kind person. Capable of ruthlessness when situations demanded it, but still a nice guy at his heart and loyal to those he considered friends. It was a loyalty he proved in full when he fought to the death in defense of Laura.

Renne cocked her head aside, and then drew the long knife strapped to her back. "I got this knife from a friend too. He's also the one that taught me how to use it."

Fie noted the glint on the blade. "Show me yours and I'll show you mine?"

With a rather cheerful looking smile Renne's head bobbed once. Flipping her knife over, Fie presented her blade handle first. Renne did likewise and the two exchanged weapons. The German girl tested the flex in the longer weapon. Proportionally when paired with the younger girl it was more a short sword than a knife. The edge did not look quite as hard as the tool steel knife that Crow had crafted for her, but it was still a good blade. Renne's own examination of Fie's blade was a bit more active. The other girl sliced through the air almost haphazardly but Fie's keen eye easily picked up the practiced and precise motions.

"Your friend has good taste," Renne said approvingly.

"He certainly thought so himself," Fie said.

The two returned each other's weapons but when Fie made to sheath her weapon another suggestion came from Renne.

"Wanna test them out?"

Fie cocked her head aside. "The knives?"

Another bob of the head. "Yep. You've got a good knife. Are you as good as it?"

That elicited a slight smirk from Fie. "I wouldn't have it otherwise."

"Okay!" Renne said, popping up onto her feet with ease. "Then let's go!"

Fie's own rise was not quite as enthused but seeing as there was nothing better to do she acquiesced.

"Let's do this in the gym," she said. "More room to run around."

Renne followed in Fie's wake, humming cheerfully along the way. The few people they passed gave the two curious, even slightly worried looks, but no one tried to impede them. When they reached the large room they found it empty, which was probably just as well. Who knew how the servants or guards would react to the two of them trying to knife each other. Not that Fie actually intended to draw blood from the younger girl.

Renne set aside her stuffed bunny, a black stuffed bunny, Fie noted with some amusement, and drew her knife in one smooth motion. The German girl did the same, gripping own weapon with the blade pointing down. True to form the manner in which Renne held her weapon was closer to that of a short sword, but there was a slight slant to the angle at which she brought it to bear. Fie made a mental note to not let herself be caught unawares of any sudden shifts.

"Here, I come," Fie declared.

She closed the distance between the two of them with a single bound and drew her blade horizontally across at Renne. Metal rang as Renne deflected the slash with remarkable ease. For all her small frame, there was definitely some muscle in her arms and legs. One foot shifted back to give her a firmer stance before she lunged with a powerful thrust. Fie brought her knife down, clashing with the attack and preventing Renne from gutting her. Her free hand came forth to deliver a punch to Renne's side but the other girl spun about, dancing around the strike even as she withdrew her blade from contact with Fie's. Renne was certainly quick and light on her feet, but so was Fie. The German girl slid right alongside her opponent, preventing her from opening the distance between them.

To her credit Renne did not even bother trying to disengage. Instead she used her small stature and the relative length of her blade to continue dueling with Fie. Of course Fie was no great giant either so the angles of attack available to Renne were not quite as plentiful as she would have liked. Fie's guard was also tight, leaving even fewer opportunities for Renne to exploit. The reverse was also true and the two girls found themselves more or less evenly matched. In some respects that spoke greater volumes about Renne's own skill considering their relative age. Fie felt no particular frustration on this point however, instead focusing solely on how best to break through her opponent's guard.

Fie was starting to breathe more heavily. Even so she felt a lightness in her body, a thrill as the blood pumped. It was the same feeling she got whenever she sparred with one of her compatriots, when she was being pushed to her limits by her friends. She flashed a fierce grin, one that Renne returned with equal zeal. Something told Fie that they would get on swimmingly.

A full ten minutes passed before the two girls collapsed due to exhaustion. Fie wiped away a layer of sweat from her forehead even as she continued to breathe deeply. Renne was no better off, though the girl somehow found the energy to stand and grab her stuffed bunny before meandering over to Fie. The smile she beamed was of remarkable cheer as she plopped down next to Fie.

"That was fun."

"Yeah," Fie agreed. "Yeah, it was."

"You're really strong," Renne remarked.

Fie pursed her lips. "Maybe. But, there are a lot of people out there stronger than me."

To that Renne made no immediate response. Instead she snuggled up closer to Fie, leaning against the older girl. Fie smiled slightly, giving her a pat on the head.

"Your friend," Renne said. "Could he make a knife for me?"

Fie's expression tightened and the stiffening of her muscles was immediately felt by Renne.

"Oh," the girl said softly, a mixture of disappointment and something else coloring her tone. "Guess not."

"He made knives for all of us," Fie said. "For the girls at least. When he presented the first one to Charlotte, we all knew we wanted one of our own. And he took the time to make them for us. Even made a short sword for Lelouch. These blades, they've saved us many times over."

"Your friends are still alive?" Renne asked.

Fie nodded. "Some of us. Not all of us made it that day. But some of us did."

To that Renne seemed to hug more tightly to Fie, adding a warmth that despite their exertions Fie found more than welcome.

"You're lucky. You have people left."

Fie wrapped an arm around Renne, causing the girl to tense a bit before slowly relaxing.

"I ain't the only one. You've got me, you know."

Renne regarded Fie for a long moment before a smile softened her expression. She then nestled herself against Fie once more and even closed her eyes. Fie yawned. A nap did not seem like such a bad idea. Two hours later when one of the palace staff found the two girls slumbering peacefully with each other, the servant hesitated to disturb such a picturesque scene.

* * *

"I don't know Kallen, that seems a mite speculative," Cole said as he held the girl in his arms. "Surely her majesty did not name you princess just to get back at your remarks about your, ample appetite."

Kallen snorted. The two were seated in one of the lounge chairs in her room, though it would be more accurate to say that Cole was sprawled out on the chair and Kallen herself was resting against him.

"For someone so close to your, dear sister, you seem rather oblivious of her low sense of humor."

"I don't know, I think it's quite charming," Cole said lightly. "What, don't tell me you're jealous, Kallen?"

The ribbing Kallen gave her boyfriend was relatively gentle for two reasons. One was the rather awkward angle. The other was she was not actually trying to hurt her boyfriend, that much. From the way a chuckle escaped Cole perhaps she should have ground her elbow in his chest a bit more firmly.

"So when is your family planning on moving to Pendragon?" Kallen asked. "Or I suppose Columbia."

Despite facing away from him Kallen easily made out the slight grimace that touched Cole's lips.

"Mom will be heading to Columbia next week to take over the duchy, she wanted to be here long enough to see me while I was on leave. Nora's still attending school so she'll be in Japan for at least a few more years, though I expect she'll be visiting mom or dad when she's on break." Cole looked down slightly. "Seeing as this place is yours, I'll probably be in Japan for a while yet after I get discharged."

To that Kallen let out a chuckle of her own. "I'll have to make sure her majesty gives you a patent in Japan."

To that Cole sighed. "I'm starting to think you're getting back at me for something as well."

"Oh, so if I do it I'm being capricious, but if her majesty does it, she's not?"

"Well capriciousness is a mark of nobility," Cole responded. "As is a flawless self-image."

That earned Cole a slightly sharper, albeit still affectionate, elbowing.

"So have you spoken with your friends?" Cole asked.

The young man felt Kallen's form stiffen slightly. He tightened his own embrace of her, offering what comfort he could.

"Not yet," Kallen said. "I don't, really know how they're going to handle all this."

"Well, I can say a little bit at least about the Japanese I've seen at the base," Cole said. "Their morale seems to be remarkably high, and a few I've spoken with are even encouraged with your appointment."

Kallen tilted her head back to look up at Cole. "They don't think I sold my people out for my current titles?"

"No one I spoke to thought that," Cole responded. "I mean, they were all people willing to sign on with Britannia, but still, considering how many recruits are filtering through, that is a lot of people."

Kallen still grimaced slightly. Cole gave the girl an affectionate pat on the head.

"It's pretty obvious that you care about your people, Kallen. That you've never been in it for your own benefit. The fact that you have benefited is, in my opinion, because you've been succeeding in helping your people. All the accolades, the titles, the appointments? It's her majesty recognizing the role you've played in making things better."

This time when Kallen looked up at Cole her eyes were still uncertain, but less nervous.

"There will be people who will try to claim you were only out for yourself. You can't satisfy everyone, and there will be some people whose jealousy or anger or petty small mindedness will never let them admit that they were wrong and you were right. But look around, Kallen. The ghettos outside the concession, they're alive again. The buildings and streets are getting fixed up, people are coming and going, not just Japanese, but Britannians too. And when you take up your post as provincial governor, I know you're only going to make things better, because you care about both of your peoples."

"There was a time I wouldn't have," Kallen said softly. "A time where I thought of myself as just Japanese, and hated the fact that I have Britannian blood in me. But I do, and so will my children. And I don't want them to hate themselves because of their heritage, either of them."

"Well, I'll certainly try to lend my hand where that goes."

The chuckle this time was lighter and more playful. "Why Lord Kraft, I had no idea you possessed such daring! What would my father say if he heard you?"

"I suppose if I am lucky, he would find the prospect of grandchildren tempting enough to not rend me unto itty bitty pieces with that scowl of his." Cole glanced down at Kallen again. "At least now I know where you got yours from."

And was promptly rewarded with a bonk on his head. The two shared a chuckle however.

"Never really thought about that," Kallen said. "Never really wanted any. But now on top of all of my other responsibilities, it's somehow my duty to have kids too."

"Dynastic considerations are always a major concern for the great peers of the realm," Cole remarked. "And having a certain, continuity, isn't a bad thing for the long term stability of the Empire as a whole."

"So long as that continuity doesn't turn into indolence and then avarice," Kallen said.

"True," Cole agreed. "But do you really think that any child of yours would fall into indolence or avarice?"

To that Kallen nuzzled her head against Cole. "Don't you mean any child of ours?"

Cole cracked a smile. "And what would your father say if he heard you utter such words?"

Kallen turned about, her entire body, not just her head, and pressed herself against Cole. The smile crossing her lips was mischievous, and just a bit provocative.

"I'm sure he will be more than placated when presented with grandchildren."

Kallen leaned in and their lips touched once more.

* * *

The formal welcome to Her Imperial Highness the Princess Kallen, Heir Secundus, proceeded as originally scheduled. Never mind Kallen had already been in Tokyo for a day, but the forms must be obeyed and so she went through the effort of actually meeting the _Avalon_ while she was still on approach so that she could disembark from the ship once it landed at MacArthur Base.

Kallen came to a stop before the assembled figures. They each bowed, though Kallen was pretty sure her father was intentionally not going quite as low as the others, and the honor guard presented their arms in one crisp motion. Arrayed to the side was not only a contingent of the Britannian Army, Navy, and Air Force, but also men and women in the colors of the Gendarmerie and Akatsuki. That was perhaps not too surprisingly, she was now not only a Knight of the Round but also a princess of the realm, whatever her own personal preferences. As such despite her mixed lineage protocol demanded a certain degree of pomp to greet her and all of them waited until the band playing the Britannian anthem to finish before proceeding to the next step of this little dance.

Before her was a collection of the area's more prominent civil and military authorities, which of course included her father whom she had breakfasted with this morning. To Heinrich's right was the newly promoted General Andreas Darlton, commanding officer of Eighth Army, and Major-General Jeremiah Gottwald, perhaps the most prominent of that same army's divisional commanders. The margrave's expression was solemnly serious but Kallen picked out the slight tension on his face with little difficulty. The man was at least trying however so she paid him the courtesy of pretending not to notice his conflicted feelings.

The military contingent was rounded out by Vice-Admirals Wolfgang Mittermeyer and William Alton Schoech, the commanding officers of the Eighth Fleet and Seventh Fleet taskforces that had won the Second Battle of the Sea of Japan. Not without cost seeing as the Seventh Fleet taskforce would be out of action for several months, but seeing as their victory had effectively secured the entirety of the Pacific for the Empire the exchange was well in Britannia's favor.

Besides the military officers, and her own father, a slightly larger numbered party of civil personages were also here to greet her. Kaguya Kallen easily recognized, the younger Japanese girl smiling with remarkable good humor. The presence of the Japanese girl was in many ways also promising, indicative as it was of at least Kaguya's continued personal involvement in the area's civil affairs. She might not have possessed the broad formal authority previously accorded to the Numbers Administration Council, but Kaguya was at least still listened to and entrusted with a few specific responsibilities.

Of course Kaguya was not the only Japanese present, though the man standing beside her was having less success than his junior in maintaining a serene composure. Ohgi never did like being the center of attention but as the superintendent-general of the Akatsuki policing force he was ever more under the glare of the public eye. Thus far Ohgi had done admirably however, helping maintain not only order and stability in the Tokyo wards outside the concession but establishing an amicable and sound working relationship with the Britannian Gendarmerie. Even more importantly the people trusted his officers, trusted that they would be fair and transparent in carrying out their duties, and with that trust came a respect that ensured Akatsuki would by and large not be regarded as turncoats or sellouts. That was no minor achievement and Kallen knew much of it was owed to Ohgi's determination and skill.

And probably just a bit of help from the next man over. Colonel Cassius Bright was another whom Kallen regarded with a degree of warmth. The gendarme was high up on the list of Britannians that Kallen not only respected but actually liked. Granted that list was seeing considerable growth, but Cassius' honest demeanor, his dedication to his wife and daughter, and ultimately his genuine compassion set him well above so many other Britannians in positions of authority. Besides, his daughter Estelle was as cute as a button and had managed to retain her strong spirit even after her harrowing kidnapping experience.

The last two members of the civilian entourage were considerably older than their fellows, and while Kallen recognized both she could only claim any sort of familiarity with one of them. Collins Jenis was apparently an old friend of Ruben Ashford and was ultimately the person that took the education portfolio as part of Euphemia's cabinet here in Japan. The original plan had still been for Milly to perhaps step into the role after a few years under the man's tutelage, which would have allowed Collins to retire as he originally intended before Ruben called upon him. Now however it was looking like even greater demands would be placed upon the man what with so many of the empress' staff shifting over to her imperial cabinet. In some ways they were lucky that the secretary of state for education had survived the Battle of Pendragon and its aftermath, otherwise her father would have had an even rougher time reconstituting the viceroyalty's cabinet. That he had stayed on to shoulder those responsibilities earned him high marks in Kallen's opinion, almost as high as the last of those gathered to greet her arrival.

The reason for her re-acquaintance with Toshihiko Kuroba was hardly pleasing, but Kallen was still glad to have gotten back in touch with the doctor despite it all. Her memories as a child of the man still remained vague but she could recall a few meetings where Kuroba dotted on her as if she were a favored grandchild. And in a way, she was, just like every other little boy and girl that ever crossed the doors of Keio University. Kuroba loved them all and would do his utmost to see to their care, just as he was doing his utmost to see to the care of one Kotone Kouzuki. The warmth with which Kallen regarded the man saw Kuroba smile in return. Hopefully with all of the equipment and data she had brought, they would have even greater reason for joy in the not so distant future.

"Welcome back to Japan, your highness," Heinrich spoke.

And smirked. How very like her father to still treat such occasions with irreverence. Kallen smirked back. She supposed there were some things that the two of them shared.

"Thank you your excellency," Kallen responded as formally.

Father and daughter continued smiling at each other, seemingly oblivious to everything save their own private little joke. And then the moment was over as Heinrich stood aside, hand held out.

"If it would please your highness, we have a car waiting to take you to the palace. Or would you prefer to idle here a few moments longer?"

"A few moments should do no harm, I would think," Kallen said as she turned to the others. "There is much to catch up on, after all."

To that Ohgi, Kuroba, and Kaguya returned once more the smile Kallen graced them with. Yes, there was a lot of catching up to do, and what better time to start than now.

* * *

"I do not like this, sir."

Tohdoh glanced over at the woman seated next to him in the car.

"Surely you do not believe Kouzuki intends something untoward," he chided lightly.

"No sir. But still, the distance between us and her have widened considerably since our last meeting. I find myself at a lost as to what her thoughts might now hold."

That was a reasonable concern, though Tohdoh suspected his subordinate's concerns were somewhat overblown. Yes the girl they had known as the Akakishi was now a princess of the Empire, second in line to the throne even, but the events that led to her sudden ascension were in their own ways equally extraordinary. And considering the blood price exacted along the way, Tohdoh doubted Kallen had actually actively contrived to such an end. For all the suffering Britannia had inflicted upon his own people to, Tohdoh would have never wished for the Empire's own subjects to experience the devastation that wracked its east coast. The final death toll was still being collated but estimates put the lower bound at around five million, with many more rendered homeless.

Tohdoh was not quite sure if he believed all of the reports and rumors coming out of the homelands, that the cause was some sort of covert operation launched by European intelligence agencies. There was likely some grain of truth in them however and he felt certain that the purpose of this summons was to inform him of at least a portion of what had transpired. And to ask of him something in return.

That was what Chiba, and truthfully Tohdoh himself, was concerned about. If there was some unspoken truth to what happened during and after the Battle of Pendragon that the Britannian government was keeping secret from the general populace, then there must be a dire reason if they were prepared to reveal it to him. Tohdoh could think of a few possibilities, in generalities if not in specifics, as to what they might ask of him. Kallen was not just a knight now, but also a princess of the realm. And one of the privileges of a princess was the right to sign on direct retainers. Kallen's position as a royal had to be precarious due to her mixed heritage, whatever the strength of the newly crowned empress' support. If the young woman was serious about remaining relevant, she would need to establish a power base of her own. What better way than to recruit some of her fellow Japanese. And what better way to further tie Japan to the Empire as a whole.

There were nights where Tohdoh genuinely wondered whether he had made the right decision aligning himself with Kallen and the Akatsuki. Whether he was doing the right thing now as an officer of the ostensible policing force. In his heart he still desired a free Japan, a Japan guided by the will of its own people. That surely was not so much to ask for in this world. Except, it was. A nation needed not just the will but also the means if it wished to chart its own path. And Japan, whatever its will, had sorely lacked the means when the bill came due. They were not betrayed, or abandoned, or any of the other comforting lies its people told themselves in the aftermath of the Britannian invasion. No, Japan had gambled its fate and lost when its hand was revealed to be a poor one indeed. Having won so great a prize, Britannia was unlikely to ever willingly let it slip no matter what Tohdoh and his compatriots might have attempted. That futility, more than anything else, was what was truly bitter about their present situation. It was a bitterness that Tohdoh controlled but had yet to make peace with. He wondered if this day would see it stoked, or whether Kallen might somehow come up with a salve for it in whatever she proposed. Or whether he wanted the pain lessened at all.

The car rolled to a stop and Tohdoh climbed out. He had only been to the viceroy's palace once before, though this would be Chiba's third time after having accompanied Kaguya and then him on his first visit. The structure felt cold and imposing to him, though he supposed unlike him its Britannian minders drew a sort of comfort from its form. It was likely as familiar to them as it was still alien to him. Quite a few soldiers were visibly stationed outside, though they were likely intended to serve as crowd control. A few hours might have passed since Kallen's arrival but the grounds before the palace still had substantial numbers of people scattered about.

"This part of the palace grounds used to be closed off to the public," Tohdoh remarked.

Chiba regarded him quizzically. "Sir?"

"The Britannian nobility maintain a distance from the common people, much as the old imperial family did," Tohdoh continued. "Looking at this I wonder though, whom kept a greater distance."

To that Chiba had no response. She likely had an opinion, but chose simply not to give voice to it at this moment. Turning about Tohdoh climbed the stairs up to the main entrance. The guards gave him little more than a passing glance, apparently having been forewarned of his arrival. The security inside of course was a bit more stringent but even then the two were admitted without undue fuss. A servant guided them deeper in the palace before finally stopping what was presumably Kallen's office. The man knocked.

"Your highness, Superintendent Tohdoh and companion here to see you," and announced.

"Enter."

The butler opened the door and stood aside with a slight tilt of his form. Japanese or not Tohdoh was still a guest and so was accorded due courtesy. The Japanese man himself nodded in thanks before entering, and came to a halt at the sight.

Instead of being at her desk Kallen was still seated at the lounge area of the room. She was also not alone, two other girls of obviously younger age seated across from her. All three of them had ice cream cones in their hands.

"Lieutenant-Colonel," Kallen greeted in English, likely for the benefit of the two other girls. "Please join us. Would you care for any refreshments?"

Blinking and shaking himself out of his daze Tohdoh shook his head.

"That will be alright, Kouzuki-san. Or would that be your highness?"

Kallen made a face. "Only if you want to get on my bad side."

To that Tohdoh allowed a slight smile as he walked over and seated himself. He spared a quick glance at the two girls, seated next to each other and letting their legs dangle freely off the sofa edge. They made no move to leave and Kallen did not seem inclined to dismiss them either. Now what could this be about.

"Thank you for coming so promptly, colonel," Kallen said.

"Your summons carried with it the air of urgency," Tohdoh replied, his own English carrying a notable but still understandable accent.

The two other girls continued licking away at their ice cream as if the conversation taking place had nothing to do with them. There was a hardness and alertness in their eyes however that hinted at their true depths. And at such an age. Just where exactly had Kallen found these, children.

"Yes, there is certainly a degree of urgency," Kallen agreed, also not paying any overt attention to her other guests.

The knight set down her own cone into a cup and after wiping her hands settled back into her chair with a pensive expression.

"What I am about tell you, colonel, is the truth. Any details that I leave out will be because at present my objective right now is to convey to you the basic, most pertinent facts, not because I am seeking to obfuscate or alter those facts."

At that Kallen fell silent, regarding Tohdoh. The man nodded his understanding of what Kallen was trying to get across.

"Before I begin however, I will require both your word and that of Lieutenant Chiba, that you will not reveal to anyone outside of myself and those assigned to assist me in the relevant matters what I am about to tell you. If you feel that you cannot in good conscience give me that word, there will be no hard feelings, and you will be free to leave."

There it was, his, no, their chance to just walk away from all this. Continue with his present service to Japan and not involve himself with anything else touching upon the imperial court and its schemes. It was a very tempting path to take, one that he doubted anyone would ever blame him for walking. But Tohdoh was not the man he was by choosing the easy path. He had made many hard decisions over his life, he could not run away from one now. The man looked over to his side.

"Chiba."

His companion met his gaze.

"What will you do."

"I follow where you go, lieutenant-colonel, as always."

To that Tohdoh shook his head, causing the woman's eyes to widen. "Not this time."

"But sir!"

"The decision here," Tohdoh cut her off. "It must be one _you_ yourself make. I cannot make it for you. Can you give your word, not to me, but to Kouzuki."

Understanding lit up in Chiba's eyes as she slowly closed her mouth. She glanced over at Kallen, whom was sitting completely still as she watched the exchange. Her dislike for this situation, and the person she considered responsible, was obvious. Ciba's jaw tightened but after a long moment she nodded.

"I will see this through sir, for myself."

Tohdoh nodded and looked back at Kallen himself. That brief exchange had been in Japanese and now the man shifted back to English.

"You have my word, Kouzuki. I will reveal to no soul what I hear from you on this matter."

Kallen's eyes shifted over to Chiba now. The woman grimaced but responded to the unspoken prompt.

"I also give my word, that I will keep secret anything you reveal to me in trust."

Now it was Kallen's turn to nod, though for having received their word the young woman could not be said to look terribly happy. Another portent to the gravity of what she was about to reveal.

"Suzaku is alive."

For a moment Tohdoh did not even realize he was no longer breathing, the tightness of his chest driving out all other sensation.

"He was the one that caused the devastation of the North American east coast, by detonating the thought elevator that was located in the province of New York."

The stiffening reached his face, but it did not prevent his jaw from cracking open. No sound escaped his mouth however, he simply sat there gaping incredulously at Kallen. The young woman was not done however.

"He managed to escape the destruction, and we have reason to believe that he might attempt something similar with the thought elevators that yet remain."

Surprise was far too inadequate a word to describe what Tohdoh was experiencing now. Shock might yet still be an understatement. Horror however was a most pronounced element in it.

"Her majesty has charged me, her knight, to find and kill Suzaku before he can wreck yet further devastation upon the world." Kallen's eyes hardened into a pair of icy diamonds. "The mistaken mercy I showed during the Tokyo Uprising, will be rectified."

End of Chapter 103

I ended up needing to create yet another fictional book. While Kallen and Milly certainly have very strong ties to Euphemia, there's enough that I want to talk about regarding their families that aren't directly connected to Euphemia that I couldn't fit it in any of the others. The title of the newest book should also give a few hints about the future.

Conflict of interest laws in the Empire, prior to Euphemia's overhauling of the judicial code at least, were, interesting. Graft is almost expected in certain offices, though how blatant it gets varies considerably. In the provinces a lot of the graft comes from how some provincial lords cut corners in things like infrastructure and services, adding on additional levies or taxes or service fees and what not to try to pad their revenue streams. A lot of infrastructure like roads and rail at least stopped being terrible after the central government stepped in, said screw it, we'll handle this, and took all that over. Or I should say the average quality rose significantly. Some provincial lords were doing a good job, but a lot were not.

With positions like viceroyalties the graft happens with padded government contracts awarded without bidding to companies in the viceroy's favor. The viceroy in question usually holds preferred shares with higher paying dividends in such companies, or in some cases might outright own such companies. Needless to say there was none of that nonsense when Euphemia was viceroy of Japan. Every contract was put out to bid, with claw back clauses for non-fulfillment or poor quality of work. And companies that screwed up too often got blacklisted outright.

While Heinrich was serving as viceroy there were no rules forbidding him from continuing to run his own businesses, so long as he did not do anything to the detriment of the crown. The man was also constitutionally incapable of not seizing hold of opportunities that came his way. Unlike many other nobles however Heinrich possesses a degree of self-control and ultimately a sense of responsibility. While he continued to make lots and lots of money as a viceroy, he never put his own personal business interests ahead of that of his governmental responsibilities. Perhaps even more importantly, he recognized that he did not need to, that in the long term seeing to the best interests of the area he was governing would provide for a far greater return over the long term than anything he might earn if he went into slash and burn mode in the short term. There is also the fact that Heinrich knows that his daughter will be named provincial lord for at least a portion of Japan, so he has every reason to make sure that her rule, and the rule of her descendants, has as solid a foundation as possible.

It is also a rather interesting situation, where Heinrich is actually of lower precedence than his own daughter. The baron probably finds a degree of amusement in that point. Kallen probably wishes he had less of a sense of humor in that respect.

That scene between Fie and Renne. I think I struck the right balance between creepy and cute. I think.

We're at this point where I still need to do character development for a lot of people, but I also need to move the plot along. It's an interesting balance, to say the least. This chapter was geared more towards character development than plot advancement however. And obviously Cole and Kallen's relations are getting, more serious.

There is a certain degree of pressure that is already starting to be exerted on Euphemia, Kallen, and Milly to get busy in the heir department. The latter two are the primaries in the succession even if they are placeholders. Even so the line of succession is still extremely fragile at this point so anything that strengthens it would be a plus for a lot of people in Britannia.

Euphemia is in some ways lucky insomuch as her health is still recovering and the doctors are pretty pointed in wanting her to spend some more time doing that recovering before committing herself to something so strenuous as a pregnancy, and all the other details that entails. That and anyone that tried to rush Euphemia in that regard would likely draw the immense displeasure of her very protective guard at this point in time.

Of the two Milly will be coming under the most pressure, at least in the short term. She's the oldest of the three and in theory is the most eligible for a match. In fact you can bet that some ambitious noble houses are already considering how best to maneuver themselves closer to the throne with such a union. Milly is going to cause something of an uproar once her affection for, or more specifically loyalty to, Nina becomes known. It's not so much that Milly would have another lover besides her husband, even one of her own gender, though that's also going to turn some heads, but the fact that Milly is adamant on not marrying unless Nina herself is also happy with the arrangement will perturb some people. After all, marriage is not about love at this level of society, even though that is considered desirable just for the sake of harmony in the new family. Marriage is ultimately about duty to one's house. That Milly might refuse to carry out that duty will be considered a mark against her.

In Kallen's case the more conservative elements of Britannian society are really ambivalent. She is of noble heritage but her mother was a number and that's something a lot of them can't quite see past. That's she's as close to the throne as she already is scares that crap out of those people, and a few of them might even be stupid enough to try something about it. If that happens the only real question is whether there'd be anything left for Euphemia to put on trial for treason.

Anyway, Kallen. It's not exactly widely known, but some people are aware that Kallen is the only one of the three that is in an active relationship, and her boyfriend happens to be completely and purely Britannian. Cole also happens to be of noble descent, even if before his father's elevation neither of his parents held titles in their own right. That any child the two would have would carry a greater Britannian heritage is of some reassurance to certain elements of society, though anyone crass enough to bring it up in the presence of either Cole or Kallen, may not enjoy the aftermath. Still the fact that Kallen is at least known to be in a relationship with someone considered to be of quality lineage has some people considering that perhaps she should start doing her part to strengthen the succession. Granted she's apparently joining the military on active campaign, and her boyfriend is also an officer on active duty, but surely if she got pregnant, that would see her safely cosseted in Pendragon or at least Tokyo, so on and so forth. Hilarity, I am sure you can all tell, is abound, and Kallen is not amused by what little murmurs she has already heard.

Had a thought as I was writing this chapter. Once Japan is reorganized as provinces, Kallen is going to get the viceroy's palace as part of her domain. The palace which happens to sit atop the grounds of the former Japanese imperial palace which was razed to the ground after the Empire conquered Japan. Considering the insane property values in Japan, or rather Tokyo specifically, the value of the palace plus its grounds might well surpass that of the imperial palace in Pendragon.

There will always be parts of Japanese society, especially amongst the older and more conservative elements, whom look upon the viceroy's palace as an abomination and would like nothing more than to have it torn down and the Japanese imperial palace rebuilt. The chances of that happening are however effectively nil. While Kallen might be partial to the idea, it's effectively politically impossible for her to attempt it. Financially I've already established it wouldn't be too difficult for her means, and the Sumeragi family would probably be falling over itself offering to help pay. But politically, a complete non-starter. As much as Kallen might identify with her Japanese side, this would be one of the times where she would have to accommodate her Britannian side.

Has Euphemia actually jumped off the slippery slope? Not quite sure she could be considered evil or amoral or mad.

Forgot to answer this last chapter. No, Renne's interface does not expose her to getting hijacked by the Krell. The mechanics of how it works differs fairly radically from the artificial code the Directorate created.

Torch is still a few months away at least. The Empire hasn't even started laying down more transports in the yards outside of Groom Lake. They'll need a few more before they can land a credible enough force to take North Africa. Though once Taskforce 81 is ready, they might take it out for a spin at say, Mers El Kébir, and do something about the few ships left in the French Navy. Kicking them while they're down, might well be a Britannian pastime.

Long (non-grammar/spelling related) reviews are nice. They allow for establishing a conversation between me, the writer, and all of you, my readers. They give insight in how all of you are interpreting various things, and give me things to comment back if I note discrepancies or questions. One of the reasons I, and presumably other fanfic writers, write at all is to get feedback and at least establish a sort of indirect dialogue with our readers. Otherwise why would we bother to publish our writing at all?


	105. Chapter 104

_Despite her many martial achievements the Princess Kallen never established a formal royal guard like that of other princes and princesses of the realm. Her highness' security while in Tokyo was handled by an elite section of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force and in the rest of her province by similarly capable elements of the provincial guard. When in Pendragon her highness fell under the same security screen as that protected the Princess Millicent and the other members of the imperial family. The rest of the time the Princess Kallen tended to be accompanied by a contingent of regulars from the army, regardless of whether she was on campaign or traveling domestically within the Empire. These soldiers were however still not direct retainers of her highness and were usually part of whatever command she was leading at the time._

 _The absence of a recognizable royal guard was certainly not due to a lack of need. Officially seven direct attempts were made on the Princess Kallen's life after her appointment as Heir Secundus while a further three were sufficiently documented to be considered credible despite the refusal of the imperial government to confirm them. Conversely her highness demonstrated that even without a royal guard she was extraordinarily difficult to kill, as demonstrated by her personally thwarting five of the seven known attempts. Against anyone with designs on maneuvering closer to the Britannian throne, the Princess Kallen stood as an implacable barrier that none were able to surmount._

 _-A Spare to Spare: The Royal Houses of Ashford and Stadtfeld_

Chapter 104

Palma non sine pulvere

"Sorry for dragging all of you out here," Kallen said with a slight smile. "For some reason the military is really twitchy about me leaving the Concession's limits. Or the viceroy's palace for that matter."

A few wry grins answered her own. None of the people attending the dinner tonight had ever imagined that something like this would happen, but they each possessed enough humor to be able to weather that uncertainty.

"Well it's your treat," Tamaki put in with a wider grin, "and what man can say no to free food?"

The chuckles that elicited sounded almost natural. Still there was an edge of, not wariness, but worry. Worry not for themselves, but for the girl they had called one of their own not so long ago.

"Kallen."

The girl in question looked over at the speaker.

"How are you doing, really?" Ohgi asked.

A sigh sounded. "I don't know. There are times when I feel like I'm drowning under all of the expectations and demands of state. There are other times where I couldn't be more sure of what I'm doing. I suppose it all depends on what time of the month it is."

That elicited a few embarrassed grunts and coughs. Everyone here was an adult, even Kallen, but feminine bodily functions could still be counted on to cause awkwardness amongst men regardless of their maturity.

"Well setting that aside," Ohgi said after clearing his own throat. He raised his wineglass. "Belated though it is, happy birthday Kallen."

The others did likewise, echoing the man's sentiment. Kallen smiled, raising her own.

"Thanks Ohgi."

The chaos of the Battle of Pendragon and its aftermath had stretched well through the end of March and Kallen's birthday had passed effectively unnoted, initially at least. Of course since then a steady procession of people had wished Kallen well, starting from the Empress Euphemia to the Princess Millicent to of course the men in her life and now Ohgi and her other former compatriots in the Japanese resistance. The sentiment offered a measure of comfort to the girl, comfort that she knew would help sustain her once she took to the field once more.

"So how have things been for all of you?" Kallen asked. "I did kind of just up and disappear."

"Things are, for the most part going well," Ohgi said. "Even with all of the resources being diverted for the war effort, the reconstruction of the ghettos has been progressing nicely. Shinjuku especially, it's starting to get hard to tell the difference between it and the Concession. Well, aside from all of the scaffolds and what not."

"That's good to hear," Kallen said. "What about the rest of Japan though?"

"A lot of news has been coming in from Hokkaido," Minami answered that one. "The farmland up there has been getting reclaimed in preparation for this year's planting, and we expect to double the yield compared to last year. In fact a lot of the families that fled south to Kyushu are heading back north again, staking their claim to their hold family lands."

Kallen nodded, popping a piece of steak into her mouth and chewing. Much of Japan's food still needed to be imported but that was more due to depressed production than the lack of arable land, for now at least. The archipelago was unlikely to ever be genuinely self-sufficient, but there was no reason they could not boast a strong internal agricultural sector.

"Have you spoken with my father yet about what else Akatsuki might do?" Kallen asked.

"Some," Ohgi said. "He seems to want a Japan-wide policing force established as quickly as possible. We don't have the manpower for it, but if Stadtfeld-san is actually prepared to come up with the necessary funding, we could help provide training cadres to seed the other regions of Japan."

"Oh, I think you can take it as a given that the money will be forthcoming," Kallen said somewhat dryly.

To that Ohgi cracked another wry smile before cutting into his own steak. While Kallen had accepted Euphemia's provision that the government would not directly fund Akatsuki originally, now that circumstances had significantly changed the girl was determined to see to it that the one source of authority that was predominantly Japanese could tap into the wealth being generated by Japan. That was but one way in which Kallen made clear that whatever her new lofty station, she still cared deeply for her people.

"If you don't mind me asking," Minami spoke up. "What do you intend to do, Kallen? After the war that is."

No mention was made of the possibility that Kallen might not see the end of the war, what with her actively going on campaign and all the dangers that entailed. That might be undue optimism on their part, or just a firm conviction that nothing could stop the little girl they had all watched grow up into a formidable young woman.

"That is a very good question," Kallen said. "I expect that I'll need to attend to the court in Pendragon at least part of the year, and I'll likely be traveling quite a bit for my other duties. I do want to make sure I spend at least a few months in Tokyo though. Maybe the summer vacation months."

Ohgi cocked his head aside. "The summer vacation months?"

To that Kallen offered a mischievous grin. "That would be when my kids would be out for their summer break."

The reddening on the faces of her guests was a slightly deeper shade than even when Kallen mentioned her period. Ohgi idly wondered where Kallen had gotten this sense of humor from. She certainly never displayed anything like this before. Then again she had never had a boyfriend before. Could they have-the man quickly chopped off that train of thought. Some things were best left un-thought, especially when it involved someone that was like a little sister to him.

"Does that mean you expect your, children, to spend most of their time in the homelands?" Ohgi asked as tactfully as he could manage.

To that Kallen actually pursed her lips. "I had a, brief, discussion about this with Milly and the empress. There are, considerations that have to be taken into account due to what her majesty did. She might have named the two of us her heirs, but that was with the expectation that we would only be placeholders. Neither of us would have the necessary political backing to actually credibly hold the throne in our own right. Well, Milly might, I sure as hell wouldn't. But anyway, the empress is only getting away with naming us heirs because everyone knows we're placeholders. As such we need to make sure that we don't do anything that would suggest we're trying to strengthen our claim to the throne. Part of that involves making sure none of our children ever marry."

Ohgi nodded thoughtfully, as did Minami. Tamaki simply stared blankly.

"What does that got to do with your kids being in Pendragon?" the latter asked.

Ohgi sighed at the rather blunt questioning while Minami smiled slightly in bemusement. Kallen however offered a chuckle before answering.

"The easiest way of eliminating that possibility is to have all of our children raised as if they were siblings. That way as they matured they would see themselves as brothers and sisters instead of as potential romantic partners. And seeing as there is literally no way in hell the Britannian authorities are going to let her majesty's children be reared anywhere but Pendragon, for security reasons if nothing else, my own children will need to also spend the majority of their time there as well."

Ohgi blinked. Kallen was being remarkably forthright about all this, some of which almost certainly should be, if not an outright secret, still something very private. Nonetheless she was telling them all this and not even bothering to veil any of the information. The young woman obviously had a reason for doing so.

"If your children grow up primarily in Pendragon," Minami said slowly. "How much, Japanese, will they be exposed to?"

And that was it. Any child of Kallen's would by virtue of the place of their upbringing be raised in a predominantly Britannian environment. They would grow up learning to speak English, be acclimated to Britannian social norms, and ultimately view things from a Britannian worldview. Not just any Britannian worldview, but one of its nobility. Could such a child still be able to identify with his or her Japanese heritage, especially one that would see further dilution if Kallen did end up marrying her boyfriend.

"I have given some thought to this," Kallen said. "I intend to establish a number of Japanese servants at my residence in Pendragon for the express purpose of making sure my children will at least be exposed to the language while growing up. I also intend to use that language when interacting with them. Furthermore there are the, vacations, that I spoke of. And I think both Milly and I would want our children to complete their secondary education here, in Japan, likely at Ashford Academy. We might even be able to convince the empress to have her children do the same, as a means of having them, broaden their horizons beyond just the homelands."

It was not quite relief that the others felt, even with such measures there was no guarantee that Kallen's children would continue to remain in touch with their Japanese lineage. But with these measures there was at least a chance, and considering all the other constraints and demands that was likely the best they could hope for.

"Well, I think I've embarrassed the lot of you enough with all my talk about me having kids," Kallen said, cracking a grin. "I think it's only fair that I get to hear how all of you have gotten up to. Tamaki, you still saving up for your own restaurant?"

The man in question was momentarily taken aback by the sudden change in topic but for one reason or another continued the segue without much difficulty.

"Yeah, but it's gonna be a while. Not sure I'll ever be able to save up enough what with the way prices keep rising. Might need to try fer a loan. Unless your highness here is feeling generous and wants to help out an old friend?"

The smile on Tamaki's face was shamelessly frank, though Kallen could hear in the tones of his voice the request was at least made half-jokingly. That did not mean she would not take it seriously however.

"Give me an address and I'll see what I can do," Kallen said without a hint of humor in her tone.

Tamaki's face went rigid, as if he really had not expected Kallen to actually take him seriously. Kallen however was not done yet as she looked out at the others.

"The same goes for the two of you. If there's something you want, let me know and if it's within reason, I'll see it done. You've all been with me from the start, and it's not fair that I'm the only one that's come out so far ahead. You all deserve your own shot at happiness too."

Perhaps the three should not have been surprised. Kallen had demonstrated often enough she possessed a generous spirit, especially where her friends were concerned. And having been through so much together, having lost so many people, she was certain to want to see those that remained taken care of. Ohgi offered a grateful smile.

"If something comes up, we'll let you know," he answered for all of them. "For now though, just come back to use, safe and sound. I wouldn't be able to face Naoto or Inoue if anything were to happen to you too, you know."

To that Kallen responded with one of her own, and a firm promise of a nod.

* * *

"Hey Ryo."

The youth in question turned about, eyes wide. "Suzaku!? When'd you get back to Paris?"

"Just now actually," Suzaku said with a wry smile before tossing the other man an envelope. "Managed to find what I wanted, along with a little bonus too."

Carefully, and discreetly, Ryo flipped open the envelope and peeked inside. A slight gurgle sounded before he quickly closed it again.

"How'd you get this much?"

This much was not actually that substantial in the grand scheme, just a little over a thousand euros. Great Britain had basically been forced into the single currency monetary union when the EU was founded and so used the euro like the other member states. While convenient for purposes of commerce and trade, and in all likelihood contributed to Great Britain's prosperity over the last couple of decades, the forced integration still rankled for the British, or perhaps more accurately the English. The Scots and Welsh on the other hand seemed enthused about the euro for the sole purpose of irritating their English cousins. All of this however was beyond Suzaku or Ryo's interests or attention, the two youths having far more pressing things on their minds than the very convoluted question of Britain.

"Ran across, an old business associate of mine," Suzaku said. "A contact I made while in Japan. He's a man of some means, and needs."

"I see," Ryo said understandingly, then held the envelope out at Suzaku.

"Keep it," Suzaku said. "Think of it as my thanks for all the help you've given me so far. And an, inducement for a job that he wants us to run."

Ryo spent a few moments staring at Suzaku before withdrawing his hand. "Well, so long as you don't come asking for it back." And slid the envelope inside his jacket. "Makes one wonder though, just how big a gig this is if your, friend, is willing to throw money around like this."

"I won't say it'll be easy," Suzaku said as he stepped over next to Ryo. "And we'll need a lot more guys too. But the payoff? Well, it'll be big. None of us'll ever need to work for a living again, if you get my drift."

Ryo stroked his chin thoughtfully. "You're making some pretty grand promises, Suzaku. Which can only mean that it's pretty much a suicide mission."

"Did I overdo it?"

"Hell yeah you did," Ryo said, giving the other youth a playful slap on the back. "Look, I'm not one to avoid risk, but I've gotta believe that I'll be coming back to enjoy the loot afterwards. You get that, right?"

"Yeah, yeah I do," Suzaku said, smiling understandingly at Ryo. "We all gotta look out for ourselves, and for the people we care about."

Ryo nodded. Suzaku was not done however.

"But there is something that needs doing, and I need your help to do it."

Ryo blinked. For a moment his confusion prevented him from mustering a response. And then that confusion was replaced with a cold, hard conviction. This thing had to be done, no matter what.

"Do I have it?" Suzaku asked.

It was not exactly a pressure, or anything overt that bound him. It was just that, he could not think of declining Suzaku. As if it were completely nature that whatever Suzaku asked for, it was perfectly reasonable for him to acquiesce. That was just how things were supposed to be.

"Yeah, sure."

Suzaku smiled again, and a chill ran down Ryo's spine without him even realizing it.

"Good." Suzaku looked around. "Let's find somewhere more private to chat. We'll be traveling some ways, so we'll need to find more people that we can depend on. You should know some people we could call on, right?"

"Yeah, I do," Ryo said, his tone flatter than usual.

"Good. That's good."

The two started walking, heading for a place where their conversation would have a smaller audience. With every step Ryo's own mind became more clear, more focused, until the only thought he could muster was how best to see to Suzaku's ambition. The numbness of his mind was soon lost upon him, and became one more thing that was entirely natural.

* * *

Kallen looked down from the railing. With the size that her taskforce had grown to they were barely able to fit in the old guard quarters at the viceroy's palace. As for the knightmares, ultimately the sheer numbers assigned to Kallen's command and their more complex maintenance requirements had seen all of them moved over to MacArthur Base and into the ASEEC's facilities. The Guren itself was undergoing basically a complete rebuild, taking advantage of several pieces of technology being furnished by the Reinford Group as well as the latest in the ASEEC's systems. When it was done, the Crimson Lotus would probably be individually the most powerful knightmare in existence.

Of course the Guren was not the only knightmare being upgraded, the Lancelot series was also seeing iterations and improvements based on all of the test data Camelot had accrued over the past year or so. The Lancelot Valimar previously piloted by Rean was being overhauled and given a new paintjob, replacing the ashen gray with a deep azure. Kallen did not know what they would ultimately call it, but she was certain that Laura would be a fitting knight for her new stead.

The Lancelot Tristan, Gino's knightmare, was also seeing some upgrades while it got touched up from the wear and tear of the Battle of Pendragon. Unlike Laura or Kallen's knightmares however it would have to forgo the Reinford upgrades, much to the chagrin of the Knight of Three. The conversions for the former two's machines had been in the works for some time before the Battle of Pendragon and there simply was not enough time to design and perform the modifications for the Tristan. To Kallen's surprise the Tristan variant of the Lancelot had some major differences from the Valimar variant, representing a different divergence from the baseline Lancelot that Suzaku had piloted so long ago.

The last of the Rounds knightmares was Anya's Mordred. In some ways the Mordred was kind of like a scaled down Pater-Mater, heavily armored and mounting a large cannon. It was however much smaller and lighter than the giant knightmare and likely easier to find situations where it could be advantageously deployed. Likely on account of its thick armor, the Mordred had emerged from the Battle of Pendragon completely unscathed. As such beyond some basic maintenance and servicing it was ready to go, a notable distinction considering all of the other knightmares under Kallen's command were in some stage of workup or construction.

Just counting these four knightmares together, Kallen commanded quite a formidable force. Their combined firepower probably rivaled that of an entire armored company, perhaps even a battalion. The forces under Kallen's command however included more than just a single knightmare platoon. In fact she had enough knightmares to organize two more platoons, even ignoring the impractical Pater-Mater.

The three Stahlritters accompanying Kallen had been assigned late model Gloucesters instead of more Lancelots. There being a distinct limit to Camelot's manufacturing capabilities and until Britannia could design a new model that incorporated the Lancelot's capabilities while still being pilotable by the regular Knightmare Corps, and of course get it into production, this was the best they could provide in the short term. Still the three women were obviously quite capable pilots and Kallen did not doubt they would be fine using the older knightmares. In truth it really was her and the Rounds that were getting spoiled by getting the very latest in knightmare designs.

Kallen's gaze shifted over to the six Gloucesters standing at rest. The extra three were not spares or backup units, they also had knights to mount them. Or perhaps knights was the wrong appellation for them, seeing as none of them held a formal knighthood from Britannia and were unlikely to accept even if offered one. They had answered Kallen's call for aid however, which was what actually mattered. And as it were, Kyoshiro Tohdoh, Nagisa Chiba, and Kosetsu Urabe were not the only Japanese that would be serving with her. There were also the soldiers formerly of the 100th infantry battalion, now all armsmen serving in Fenrir Regiment and on detached assignment under Kallen's command, two platoons in all.

One knightmare company and a short infantry company, about a hundred or so combat soldiers in all, not counting the support personnel. A respectable force, and one that Kallen did not doubt would be capable of punching above its weight. The problem was whether it would be enough in light of the threat facing mankind. Kallen snorted. Mankind. Just a year ago all she had to worry about was fighting for the Japanese people. Now the fate of the entire human race rested on her shoulders. That sounded like a bad joke but here she was.

Kallen straightened. A lot of people's lives were riding on her making the right decisions. People would die, that was a given. She would spend them, as a leader must, but she would not waste them. And in the old, history would decide how stained with blood the balance was.

* * *

"Feuer im Loch!"

A thunderous roar sounded and moments later a loud boom echoed. Looking out at the firing range Rommel waited for the dirt and debris to finish raining down. Once his line of sight was clear the field marshal was greeted by a crumpled hunk of steel split almost in half from the impact.

"Impressive," the German man noted.

"Perhaps so," his companion allowed.

Rommel looked over at the British officer, inviting the man to elaborate on his thoughts.

"Oh don't get me wrong, the railgun can pretty much punch through anything it hits," General Richard O'Connor said. "But using it on a firing range is a very different beast to using it in the field."

That Rommel had to agree with. The prototype railgun that had fired the shot was still very much a work in progress, the EU's efforts severely hampered by their substantially lower supply of the superconducting sakuradite. With Britannia's near monopoly of the stuff, the Empire was able to field weapons that were generational leaps ahead of what the EU possessed. It was a difference in parity that had been demonstrated with lethal consequences at the Second Battle of the Sea of Japan.

The reports from the few survivors of the engagement made quite clear that the Britannian Eighth Fleet had played a decisive role in the destruction of the Russsian Baltic Fleet. With the Russian ships possessed armaments comparable to that mounted on the Britannian Seventh Fleet, Eighth Fleet's capabilities proved to be something else entirely. Its railguns, combined with the new generation float systems that allowed the ships to assume bombardment positions almost out of range of the Russian weapons, had decisively smashed the coherence of the Russian fleet and handed Britannia a decisive victory. And with that victory, the Empire was poised to commence its invasion of Korea and very possibly also the Russian Far East. Even now the Russians were rushing troops and equipment along the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Two divisions would be arriving within the week, followed by six more over the coming month. And even if Britannia did not attempt to seize Vladivostok, those reinforcements would likely be highly welcomed by the Chinese in trying to hold the Korean Peninsula.

"All journeys start but with a single step," Rommel said. "Whatever the suitability of this particular prototype, we would never get a serviceable weapon if we insisted on waiting to test until after we were certain everything would work."

"True enough," Richard agreed again. "Now how about we take a look at the state of that prototype, to see just how many more steps are on this journey?"

Rommel smiled wryly and nodded, following his friend out from the observation bunker. With a few other officers they walked over to where the gun was mounted, staying far enough back to not interfere with the engineers examining the prototype but still close enough to observe the deformations along the rail.

"A single shot," Richard remarked unhappily.

Rommel nodded with a grimace. Destructive as the railgun was, if it ended up destroying its own barrel after every shot the weapon's practicality was effectively nil. The problem was not insurmountable however, Britannia's deployment of the weapon was proof enough of that. Of course without more sakuradite, even if the EU was able to come up with a durable rail system their ability to mass produce the weapons would be severely constrained. Another reason to regret the failure of the Japanese gambit.

"Looks like we won't be getting this particular wonder weapon into the field anytime soon," Richard said somewhat grumpily. "I don't suppose the French have gotten any further in getting their combat mechs into service?"

"The will certainly exists," Rommel said dryly. "The means however, as ever, is lacking."

Richard snorted. "Figured as much."

Rommel allowed himself a slight smirk at his friend's irreverence. The historic British and French animosity was still in fine form even now, and a fair amount of the famous Scottish stubbornness had rubbed off of the man from his time serving with the Cameronians. The man could fight though, which was one reason Alphonse had selected him to serve as the operations chief for the combined general staff.

"It is a complex engineering problem," Rommel said, not entirely convincingly, "and Dassault-Dunois is making progress on the matter. They expect to be conducting field tests of the Rafale within the next sixth months, ten on the outside."

"Remind me again, sir, how many divisions of Panzer Hummels you Germans have managed to mobilize?" Richard asked somewhat rhetorically.

Rommel's lips twitched. "Four, last I checked."

"Which makes out to eight regiments total, assuming I've got the sums right," Richard said. "How many of these, Rafale, will Dassault-Dunois be deploying for their field test?"

"I believe, and I will need to confirm this with Dassault-Dunois' managers, of course, they intend this to be a preliminary field test. Say, platoon size."

"Oh, wonderful." The words were literally dripping from Richard's lips. "Might it be that the company actually intends to, I don't know, actually supply us something usable for _this_ war?"

"Well, the lack of progress on the combat mechs aside, Dassault-Dunois has stepped up its production of Mirage F1 fighters, and the development of the Mirage 2000 is on track. Combined with the Panavia Tornado and the MiG-27, our air complement should be sufficient to face anything that Britannia might bring to bear."

"Let us hope so," Richard said. "Our troops had a hell of a time in the Middle East what with Britannia's ability to provide cover for their troops. The next time we have to fight the Empire, I want it to be their boys that get it in the neck."

Rommel nodded. The sentiment was one he heartedly agreed with. Britannia had revealed a few too many surprises since the start of the war. The appearance of their Eighth Fleet was bad enough, the existence of the atomic bomb and an invisible plane able to carry it was the stuff of nightmares. Fortunately either the Empire did not possess many of the new bombs or they were not so genocidal as to raze all of Europe with them. And despite the tactical and strategic advantages Eighth Fleet offered their enemy, the basic complement of Britannia's arsenal did not appear to have undergone any radical advances. The basic kit of their infantry was still the same, and ignoring the knightmares, Britannia's tanks were well matched by what the EU possessed. The fighting would be brutal, especially if the Empire managed to force its way into the European lowlands, but it was not as if the EU's armies stood no chance against their Britannian counterparts.

"All of our arsenals are now pouring out munitions and weapons day and night," Rommel said. "The economy is finally being mobilized to a full war footing, and by the end of the week we'll have made good on all of the munitions we expended during the Middle East campaign. From there we can start building up stockpiles to support additional campaigns, and ship more out to our forces stationed overseas in case the Empire decides to make an attempt on them."

"Oh they will," Richard said glumly. "It's just a matter of time. We know the Empire has organized at least five field armies. Two of them are about to bugger the Chinese Federation, but that leaves three more just sitting there. Where do you think those troops will be headed, sir?"

"Assuming the Asian campaign does not turn into a complete disaster for the Britannians, they're probably headed our way," Rommel responded. "The most logical and obvious target would be North Africa, which would serve as a natural springboard for an invasion along southern Europe. The question is when the Empire will be able to transport all of those troops across the Atlantic."

"Whenever they get around to building more of those flying transports, I suppose," Richard said.

Rommel nodded again. Prior to the revealing of those flying ships, the EU had been confident that its naval assets would be sufficient to deter any serious landing attempts for at least the short term, if not the medium as well. The French and Russian navies, the largest of the European powers, had boasted substantial numbers of surface combatants and Germany's U-boat fleet would have presented an additional challenge to any force trying to cross the Atlantic. Now however the French Navy was reduced to a single taskforce anchored at Mers El Kébir, while the Russian Navy had only its Black Seas Fleet left. As for Germany's U-boats, they would be all but impotent to offer any support at all if Britannia conducted an aerial invasion. The token forces of the remaining powers like Italy and Spain were, even when combined, far short of making up for the French and Russian losses. Europe was exposed, almost frightfully so, and it was only a matter of time before Britannia set its eyes on their shores.

"Well, I suppose that means we will just have to work that much harder to provide the Empire a few surprises of our own when the time comes," Rommel remarked.

To that Richard nodded in agreement. Whatever his common heritage with the people of Britannia, he was first and foremost a man of Great Britain, and Great Britain was as much at war with the Holy Britannian Empire as the rest of Europe. He would perform his duty to the utmost, to see that his nation triumphed.

* * *

The city of Pusan was the second largest on the Korean Peninsula, as well as possessing its largest port. It had been identified at the start of the war as a high priority target for the Britannian military, as control of the port would allow them to ship in tremendous amounts of supplies to support the Korean campaign. As such the city had seen increasing numbers of soldiers garrisoned in it and its approaches fortified. A not insignificant portion of the city's population had been forcibly relocated to make room for the fortifications and soldiers and once the decision was actually made to begin construction progress had been steady. One thing the Federation was not lacking in was manpower and even if they did not possess all of the mechanization Britannia would have thrown at a similar task, the thousands of laborers toiling away was a quality of its own.

The problem the Federation now faced was that like the Europeans it assumed that any direct incursion into its territories would have to take the form of an amphibious invasion, with all the complexities that entailed. True Britannia was one of the few nations capable of launching a mass amphibious landing, it had demonstrated that with the invasion of Japan, but the sheer difficulty of the task meant that the advantage lay with the defender. If they could mass enough troops for a quick counterattack, the defenders could usually drive any invaders back into the sea.

Unfortunately with the reveal of the Britannian Eighth Fleet it was now clear that the Empire did not need to perform a costly amphibious landing to put boots on the ground. What they did need to do was achieve air superiority and a small patch of ground, after which they could apparently land regiment sized units at will. The air defenses situated around Pusan were formidable, but they were intended to take down bombers or fighters, they were most definitely not equipped to handle a flying fleet of warships.

The Chinese Federation had of course not stood idly by after Eighth Fleet made its debut. Several more squadrons of fighters had been shifted over to Korea to bolster its defenses. The Empire however had also been building up its own air complement in Japan and effectively matched the Chinese in terms of numbers. In doctrine and training, Britannia held an edge that tipped the scales in her favor.

Andreas watched the as the updates flowed into his temporary command center in western Japan. Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Fleet had begun their bombardment of the Korean mainland and even now fighter squadrons were sortieing, seeking to keep the skies clear for the troop transports behind them. He disliked sending his troops in while he sat here safe and sound, but accompanying the first wave would have been far too reckless considering his responsibilities. Once his forces had secured a beachhead however he intended to follow on with the rest of the command staff. Right now however it was the navy's job to make the initial landings possible.

The first wave of attacks had been accompanied by EA-6B Prowlers to black out the enemy air defense network's radar and tracking systems, and when the opportunity arose, destroy the dishes and emitters outright. The second wave had gone after defensive emplacements and positions, to soften the opposition up before the troops arrived. The Chinese forces were demonstrating remarkable discipline, refraining offering anything more than token resistance to the Britannian attack runs. They recognized that what would make or break this invasion was Britannia's ability to actually land troops, and the key to that landing would be the flying transports that were not here yet. And so they held their fire, weathering the death rained down upon them by the Britannian Navy, until their weapons would do the most good. This stratagem did not come without cost as many of the weapon emplacements were destroyed without firing a shot. Still the Chinese soldiers held their nerve and waited for the chance to strike a true blow against their enemies.

The Britannian military had of course considered this possibility and accordingly drew up a variety of options to deal with it. One option had been to send in the lead transport without any troops on it so that were it to be destroyed they would not suffer from significant losses. This option was however disliked for the simple reason that if the transport did manage to land, then the effort of getting it through would have been wasted. At least some troops needed to assume the risk of being the first wave otherwise Britannia would never get anywhere.

The original plan had been to ask for volunteers, if nothing else the Empire's troops could be counted upon to sacrifice for the greater glory of Britannia. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on one's perspective, certain events had resulted in a body of troops that could be volunteered for such dangers and be motivated to do their utmost to succeed. As such a regiment of former Virginian provincial guardsmen found themselves aboard the lead transport and set the task of seizing the initial beachhead that would allow the Empire to reinforce them and prevent them from being overrun by the inevitable Chinese counterattack. Assuming they even made it to landfall to begin with.

The navy's guns fell silent as all of the visible enemy weapons had been reduced to rubble. They remained alert however, ready to react immediately to any hidden emplacements that decided to reveal itself. The moment of truth drew near as the transports approached land, flanked by a fighter screen to discourage their Chinese counterparts from making a run.

Suddenly missiles erupted from the shore and a wave of fire rolled towards the first transport. Flares and chaff erupted in an effort to divert them and the navy lit up again, pounding the newly revealed targets with everything they had. The single salvo the Chinese defenders got off slammed into the lead transport, its Blaze Luminous shield flickering for a single moment before collapsing outright. Its armor plating buckled from the bombardment it found itself under, but the Naglfar-class had been built with one purpose in mind, to get its passengers to their target. The transport was losing altitude but its momentum carried it the rest of the way. It slammed into the ground, the hull cracking in several places. The soldiers within rocked back and forth in their crash webbing and quite a few suffered from rather severe whiplash. Others however were ready to go and once the transport ground to a halt they piled out.

The four destroyers of Eighth Fleet had settled into station keeping positions about the initial landing zone, their own guns offering another measure of security for the disembarking troops. The first transport was almost certainly a loss and if the Chinese did manage to launch a successful counterattack they had orders to destroy it to avoid its technology falling into enemy hands. Of course getting that counterattack going when one was being pounded constantly by railguns was a rather nontrivial challenge.

The other five surviving transports were already in the process of landing and a further five regiments of soldiers charged forth, establishing defensive positions even as they tried to push deeper into the city. The level of resistance was intensifying with Chinese forces dug into the urban environment putting up a ferocious fight. Once the transports were done disgorging their passengers they lifted off, heading back to Japan to pick up more reinforcements. Their departure also meant the soldiers already here had no line of retreat, acting as further motivation for them to secure their beachhead as quickly as possible.

Three knightmare battalions had been included in the first wave and now the bipedal mechs tore through the streets of Pusan, their forms ideally suited to urban combat. With their speed and mobility the knightmare battalions systematically maneuvered around Chinese units trying to form up and concentrate, harrying them every step of the way and buying time. Every minute they could keep the enemy from launching a counterattack was another minute closer to the arrival of the second wave.

The Chinese forces were of course not the only ones being harried and artillery units strategically positioned outside the city limits began shelling Britannian positions. The problem of course was that with control of the air any artillery that opened fire was inviting swift reprisal. A few were able to move quickly enough after getting off their shots to avoid immediate destruction. The swift decrease in volume of fire however made clear which side was winning this particular duel.

Britannian control of the sky was not entirely uncontested as Chinese forces called in squadrons from further inland. The problem ultimately was that none of their fighters possessed the firepower needed to crack the defenses possessed by the Britannian destroyers, much less the battleships or the carrier. A sufficient number of long range cruise missiles might have done it, but China's complement of these weapons was more limited than either Britannia or the European powers and so could not muster the density needed to overwhelm the active and passive defenses of the Britannian ships. And so Britannia maintained control of the skies, providing her soldiers with fire support and tactical intelligence that tilted the advantage in their favor.

Two hours later the five surviving troop ships returned with fresh reinforcements. Another five regiments were landed, with four ships departing immediately again for more. One lingered long enough to take on the wounded before also departing. By the end of the first day of fighting a full five divisions, two armored and three infantry, were occupying what was left of the city of Pusan. On the second day General Andreas Darlton arrived, the first Britannian flag officer to of his own volition set foot upon the home territory of one of Britannia's enemies in the Great War.

End of Chapter 104

I think I'm finally done with setup and next chapter we can get into the swing of the war in full.

The invasion of Korea in many ways shows just how much of a game changer the flying ships are. Britannia was able to basically completely bypass the defenses the Chinese Federation had erected to stop an amphibious landing and also bring in a staggering amount of reinforcements in the process. Britannian infantry divisions also tend to be pretty big, somewhere around twenty thousand troops, so within the first day the Empire was able to land something upwards of sixty thousand troops. By the end of the week all five hundred thousand troops of Eighth Army will probably have arrived.

Operation Overlord in WWII landed basically 160,000 troops on its first day, so significantly more than Britannia, but the Allied battle plan was considerably different than what Britannia came up with. The Empire knew that if it could secure air superiority, it could secure a beachhead, so it didn't have to throw quite as many troops in one go at Korea. The Chinese had some 300,000 troops stationed in Korea in preparation of this invasion, but they literally just could not get close enough to drive the Britannians back. There's also a reason why the chapter ended with "what was left of the city of Pusan" there. The fighting got ferocious enough that a good part of the city was outright leveled by Britannian naval bombardment.

Anyway, the Asian war is about to flare up dramatically and I expect to take at least a few more chapters covering it. There will likely be more time skips, I'm not going to do a week by week description of the campaign. That'd get tedious really fast.

It says sad things on the part of the Europeans that they had drawn down their munitions stockpiles that much and had not been actively replenishing it as quickly as they should have. Hence why Alphonse was so pissed at the civilian authorities, while he was still alive at least. The EU is starting to realize the giant they've awakened however, so they are ramping up war production. At which point the fighting will become much, much more destructive as the two slug it out.

That all being said, the EU's war fighting capabilities are more or less on par with Britannia's. Their tanks are for the most part comparable to Britannia's, they've got jets that can match Britannia's frontline complement, and their warships, their modern ones at least, are even matches for what the Empire has. It's just that there are a few specific pieces of technology, knightmares, atomic bombs, stealth bombers, Damocles, that the EU has no real good counter for. That combined with the economic disparity is what is going to cause the Chinese and Europeans the most pain. Britannia's economy is much larger than the other two powers, perhaps not quite as large as the two combined, but pretty close. It is much more developed and efficient than the Chinese Federation's and while Europe matches the general level of maturity, by itself the EU is completely dwarfed by the Empire. If the Europeans can somehow step up their war economy and actively transfer more modern weapons to the Chinese, and also instill better training doctrine, Britannia would be in for a hell of a fight. The Empire knows this, hence why it wants to knock the Chinese out of the war before that can happen. The European general staff also knew this and pushed hard for it, but the civilian governments were hesitant. It's another reason why the European military is so pissed at their civilian leadership.

Euphemia and co are counting on the Westermarck effect to come into play in making sure all of their children do not end up attracted to each other once they've grown up. Which means in practical terms Euphemia in my story likely never saw Lelouch in any sort of romantic light. He was first and foremost always her brother, and that was how she loved him. Rai on the other hand, despite their close genetic relation, was for all and purposes a complete stranger until he entered her life. It will be an open question whether Kallen ever works up the courage to reveal to the two of them their relation.

The United Kingdom, in its present form, is something of a messy conglomerate. In my version of the Code Geass universe, there is no UK, it's been reduced down to Great Britain, with Ireland being its own thing. Britannia intends to reclaim both. That promises to be, messy. One can just imagine the Irish reaction to being forcibly incorporated into the Britannian Empire. They might need something a bit stronger than The Troubles as a euphemism for what will be happening. The Scots and Welsh probably wouldn't be too enthused either, though there's a large enough population of Scots in Britannia that the former might not be too caustic about it. Victor and Laura are after all Scottish in their heritage. Large parts of the English population, especially the more conservative elements, might actually be somewhat enthusiastic about the whole thing. Until they realize that English, or British for that matter, is not the same as Britannian, especially not after over a hundred years of separation.

I know I have quite a few British (whether they be English, Welsh, Scottish, or etc is beyond the detail of the site's metrics) readers out there (interestingly I do not appear to have many Irish readers). Any remarks or thoughts on the above?

Suzaku in the canon was fairly hypocritical. He was enraged with Lelouch basically turning people into his puppets, but he was perfectly willing to kill anyone that tried to go against him. It really was a case of it's all about me for him, and he was too psychologically broken to ever be able to admit it to himself. By the time we got halfway through R2, I was actively hoping that someone would call him on his BS and hang him for all of the times he went rogue and backstabbed people. In fact it made absolutely no sense for Schneizel to let Suzaku walk after he found out the latter was meeting up with Lelouch, or to then hand him the Freyja warhead. By that point Suzaku had demonstrated that he could not be controlled and out of sheer pragmatism Schneizel should have had Suzaku eliminated just so he would have one less wildcard to deal with.

In previous chapters I tried to offer the perspective of how Suzaku 'feels' when he, basically hijacks people's minds. From his perspective, he's creating harmony to replace the static noise that he 'hears.' Now I have provided, at least a glimpse, of what his victims feel. As is evident, for them the sensation is nowhere as pleasant. Not that they're capable of caring at that point.

Fie is at this point 14 years old. Maybe 15. Renne is around 10 or 11. Haven't decided on a firm number yet. Anyway. The two's interactions might well have been cute, I was going for a degree of that, but that does not change the fact that two girls their age were actively trying to knife each other, even if it was a mostly, friendly, duel. And Renne especially. What kind of emotion is elicited by the image of a 10-year-old girl wielding a giant knife trying to slice someone up?

Punctuations are useful. A long, rambling, run on sentence is not conducive in making an argument, or making yourself easily understandable in general.

That being said, I'll leave just two remarks as a response. The first is do not take my characters at face value. The only character that tended to wear her heart on her sleeves was Kallen, and even she is learning to be more subtle and not so open about her beliefs. If you take my characters at their word, you are basically missing out on a significant portion of the story. The second remark is that the purpose of this story is not to provide assurances that in the end, the "good guy" always wins. If that is what you take away from this story, then I've not done a very good job. If I've managed to make you root for Britannia, in its current autocratic state, over the European democracies and republics, whom in most other stories would be the "good guys," then I've done a good job. And if you find yourself uncomfortable with the fact that I've managed to elicit sympathies for the autocratic empire over the democracies, then I've done a very, very good job. This story is not about providing support or reassurances about conventional moral or ethical boundaries (from a geopolitical perspective). It's about how far I can push those boundaries and capture the complexities and contradictions inherent in the real world. Sometimes the side that wins is not the one fighting for liberty and equality. Sometimes the side that wins is an autocratic, imperialistic hegemony.


	106. Chapter 105

Snippet spoiler: Meh.

 _While the Princess Kallen did not possess a conventional royal guard, she did retain a small number of direct armsmen in her service. The first and perhaps most prominent of these armsmen was Sir Kyoshiro Tohdoh, formerly an officer of the Japanese Army and a senior commander in the Japanese Liberation Front before he and a small contingent of JLF soldiers defected to the Akatsuki. A private man, Sir Tohdoh shied away from the limelight and preferred to simply carry out his duty to the best of his abilities. That many of his own people might consider some of his actions treasonous was known to have weighed upon Sir Tohdoh and ultimately was one reason why he declined the princess' offer to make him the captain of her guard. Indeed Sir Tohdoh's polite but firm declination has often been cited as the primary reason why the Princess Kallen elected not to form a proper royal guard._

 _Upon the Great War's conclusion Sir Tohdoh was released from his service with the princess. Her highness gifted him with a small estate in the countryside and a generous pension to support himself and his family. Beyond occasionally entertaining a few old friends or curious guests Sir Tohdoh spent the rest of his life in relatively peaceful obscurity. For a man whom had spent much of his life fighting, this was perhaps the greatest reward Sir Tohdoh could have wished for._

 _-A Spare to Spare: The Royal Houses of Ashford and Stadtfeld_

Chapter 105

Dulce bellum inexpertis

"The situation in Korea is most unpleasant, hmm," the opulently dressed man said. "Surely the military can do something about it?"

The man the remark was addressed to tried not to grimace. It was hard though, when those he ostensibly reported to demonstrated such ignorance of even the most basic aspects of military affairs. Unfortunately the High Eunuchs did hold the balance of power at court and thus authority over the country as a whole. As the officer responsible for liaising between the court and the military command Li Xingke was thus obliged to answer the rather inane question.

"Our forces have engaged the Britannians with alacrity," Li Xingke said. "Unfortunately the ferocity of the bombardment from the Britannian navy and air force prevent them from massing against the Britannian beachhead, and without sufficient numbers our forces simply cannot overcome the disparity in arms."

The Chinese Federation Army, or more formally the Grand Army of the Chinese Federated States if one was inclined to take the literal translation, was something of a mixed bag in terms of troop quality. Some military districts boasted divisions on par with that of their Britannian or European counterparts. Other were, several steps below in quality. The greatest strength of the CFA was ultimately its sheer size. With over two million soldiers on active duty and another half million ostensibly in its reserve, the CFA was the single largest army in the world. Not even Britannia, with its vast overseas possessions, maintained so many soldiers on active duty during peacetime.

On the flipside the quality of the CFA's equipment had some notable deficiencies. There was nothing wrong with its basic small arms and its artillery and heavy weapons were only marginally less capable than that of the other great powers. The majority of its tanks were either Russian built or domestically produced Russian licensed designs and on the whole competent weapons. All in all the army could, assuming it could concentrate, put up quite the fight when it made contact with any potential foe. The air force and navy on the other hand was another matter entirely.

While China did possess some large concentrations of heavy industry, its manufacturing prowess was still geared towards fairly low tech processes and products. As such while it could build tanks, and even large ships, producing the higher tolerance airframes for combat jets and the electronics necessary for both planes and modern warships was still a challenge for Chinese industry. The Chinese were making progress, working to build up domestic advanced manufacturing capabilities, but that progress was slow and so they were still reliant on imports for the higher end weapons and so had fewer of them. It also had not helped that Britannia had given the Chinese Federation Navy and Air Force a very thorough bloodying over the first year of the war.

This relative lack, compared to the overall size of the military, meant that doctrine was fairly immature and the overall level of training the Chinese pilots and sailors could attain was lower than that of Britannia or the European powers. This disparity had made itself felt in the decimation of the Federation's naval forces as it unsuccessfully tried to break the Britannian interdiction that effectively cut China off from the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The air force had proven equally impotent in stopping the bombing campaigns Britannia had conducted against the Federation's coastal regions and farmlands. Now with its ranks so reduced over the last year of fighting, Britannia was effectively unchallenged in the air or at sea and so could provide ample support to their troops on the ground, support that was seeing the Chinese armies

"If we could perhaps convince the EU to lend us some of their air units," Li Xingke suggested. "The Russians for example. Reports indicate they are already transferring forces to Vladivostok."

And they were nominally supposed to be allies. If the Chinese Federation fell, or was at least forced out of the war, the EU would be all alone to face Britannia's wrath. Something told Li Xingke that after the Battle of Pendragon, the Europeans would not enjoy that attention.

"Hrm, certainly a possibility," one of the other high eunuchs said.

Li Xingke glanced over at the figure. Gao Hai was the one ostensibly responsible for China's foreign relations and had been the one to propose approaching the EU in the first place for an alliance against Britannia. The turning tide of the war had however seen his standing diminish due to the reverses China had suffered and he would be eager for any opportunity to use his office to try to stem the Britannian advance.

"But will the Europeans actually help?" another eunuch questioned. "Their prosecution of the war after the fall of the Middle East has been, tepid."

Li Xingke kept his face impassive, doing his best to not wince at the rather shrill voice of Cheng Zhong. The latter was one of the older members of this council, responsible for the internal security of China. Due to that responsibility he had been much more reluctant in having China openly challenge Britannia for fear that the conflict would cause unrest within their own borders. With the Indian Uprising his fears had been realized, giving him a stronger voice amongst the High Eunuchs. The others might disagree with him, but they could not ignore him.

"Since the reveal of Britannia's flying fleet, the Europeans have given their military freer rein in pursuing the war," so stated Huang Qian, the eldest of the eunuchs and their de facto leader. "Their generals understand well the ramifications should China withdraw from this conflict. They will help."

"Well, so long as any assistance from the Europeans do not place us in their debt," Cheng allowed.

The EU and China might be allies in name, but the distrust between the two powers was still quite evident. Despite its name the Chinese Federation had more in common with the totalitarian Holy Britannian Empire than the European Union. It officially had an empress ruling over the Federation's constituent members, there was a great deal of deference to the upper echelons of society, nobles in all but name, and both China and Britannia had been subject to complaints by the EU, or at least various NGOs based in Europe, about ostensible human rights violations within their borders. The response of both imperial powers had been the same, to tell the Europeans to pound sand. Since the outbreak of hostilities the European governments had kept a lid on their more vocal citizens, something that probably did not do wonders for the popularity of those administrations. As ever, political expediency trumped principle. Li Xingke sometimes wondered why the Europeans even bothered with their attempted lecturing of civics and ethics when they obviously considered them to be malleable.

"Does the military have an estimate of how much support would be required to deal with the Britannian infestation?" Huang asked.

Technically that question should have been directed to Zhao Hao, the eunuch ostensibly responsible for dealing with the military. In practice Li Xingke did most of the actual work as the liaison officer, something that everyone in this chamber knew. Zhao regarded Li Xingke with a glower but there was little the former could do. His standing had taken an even greater beating since the conflict's start. It probably did not help that the invasion of Australia had been his brainchild, a plan that Li Xingke and several other staff officers had tried to talk him out of. The complete loss of two divisions, while not crippling, was also not something that could be written off. Compounded with the other losses the military had suffered and Zhao's control over the military itself was becoming more threadbare. That could well be dangerous to the High Eunuchs' control of China, and advantageous to those whom possessed ambitions of their own.

"Yes, your excellency," Li Xingke answered respectfully, playing the faithful servant.

"Then the arrangements should be made," Huang declared.

"By your wish."

"Still, we cannot count on just the Europeans to turn the tide," another eunuch said, pushing up his glasses. "Surely we have troops that might be transferred to further support the Korean theater?"

The others turned to regard Xia Wang, the second most powerful amongst their number. As the man responsible for the treasury, and of dispensing the graft that helped support all of their respective comforts, Xia was another whose opinion could not be ignored, not even by Huang. In fact most expected Xia to take the latter's position once old age claimed the elderly eunuch. That Xia possessed the patience to wait instead of actively trying to speed the natural process made him all the more dangerous.

"Do you have a suggestion?" Cheng asked.

"All indications are the Britannian invasion of Korea represents their principle effort," Xia said. "Their efforts in India and the threatening of the Malay Peninsula are intended to draw our strength away their true purpose, Manchuria. Should that region fall, our ability to continue fighting this war will be gone."

As stereotypically bookish as Xia looked, he both possessed a keen intelligence and was willing to use it.

"India can be reclaimed in time," he continued, "and the Malay Peninsula is far to the south, meaning we can trade space for time if need be. In that time, we should be focusing our efforts to crushing the Britannians in Korea."

"You are suggesting we withdraw our forces in the south?" Zhao said incredulously. "Ludicrous!"

"A man whom chases two rabbits catches neither," Xia said with a sniff.

The other eunuchs exchanged uncertain looks. What Xia said had merit, but they were still loathe to go along with it without further assurance. Naturally they sought that assurance from the only one remotely qualified to make such judgments.

"What say you, Captain Li?" Huang asked.

"Councilor Xia raises a valid point," Li Xingke answered without hesitation. "The war staff have considered at length what Britannia's stratagem is. We believe that their goal is to force China's withdrawal from the war quickly, to avoid becoming entangled in a costly war in the Asian mainland. Should we succeed in stalling Britannia and preventing them from achieving a quick breakout, even their ability to sustain an extended campaign will be sorely tested."

To that Xia smirked triumphantly while Zhao glowered at the captain. His displeasure however would need to be conveyed behind the scenes considering the favor Li Xingke was currently being shown by the other eunuchs.

"Very well," Huang said. "Convey to the marshals that they have permission to withdraw our forces in India and that they are to concentrate on checking the Britannians in Korea."

Li Xingke bowed his head. "As you command, excellency."

Whether this change in strategy would do China any good, only time would tell.

* * *

A part of Kotone was reluctant to waken. Another, for reasons she could not quite fathom, demanded that she did so. And so the woman gingerly opened her eyes, blinking a few times as they adjusted to the sunlight gentling warming the room. She tried to rise but her body felt weak and lethargic. There was no one else in the room and the only other sound was the steady beep of medical instrumentation. Beside the bed was also a button which Kotone instinctively knew to be for summoning a nurse. Reaching over, she pressed down upon it.

The woman was still trying to sit up when the door opened and a Britannian nurse entered. The other woman's eyes widened and she began speaking rapidly into a radio pickup. While her mind was still muddled Kotone had already figured out that she was not in a regular hospital, the room was far too large and fancy. The uniform worn by the nurse was further confirmation of that, along with the radio itself. She could make out broadly what the nurse was saying in English, reporting that Kotone herself was awake and calling for, Heinrich. Kotone's eyes widened slightly. With great effort she finally managed to rise.

"Lady Kouzuki, please," the nurse said as she arrived at Kotone's bedside. "Do not strain yourself, you have been through much."

"Wh-" Kotone started before her voice cracked unnaturally.

The nurse picked up the pitcher and poured a glass of water before helping Kotone drink it slowly. Once the liquid was done Kotone felt a bit better, though she still felt weak.

"Where am I," she managed to ask.

"The viceroy's palace," the nurse said. "Your husband has been notified of your waking."

The palace. Where Kallen worked. Those bits of information filtered through Kotone's head. Her memories were a bit muddled but she did at least still remember, every bit of information serving to prompt another recollection.

"Where-where is Kallen?" she asked.

"Her highness is presenting not in Japan right now," the nurse answered.

Kotone blinked. "Highness?"

The nurse regarded Kotone sympathetically. "Much has happened, Lady Kouzuki. You were in a coma for several months."

Kotone took a deep breath, one shaky hand rising and massaging her temple. Her head still felt groggy and heavy but she could still think, still remember.

"The kidnapping," she said. "There was, Cole. And that little girl, Estelle. Are they alright?"

"Everyone was rescued safely," the nurse assured her. "Lieutenant Kraft completed his training and is even now continuing his service, and Estelle was safely returned to her family."

"I see, that's good," Kotone said. "But, what about. There was a boy. Joshua, I think his name was."

"I am, afraid I do not know, milady."

That was probably answer enough in its own way, or at least as much as she would be getting know, Kotone recognized.

"Thank you, for indulging my curiosity, miss."

The nurse nodded. "Anything you need, Lady Kouzuki. You have been through much, and we will do our utmost to ensure your comfort as you recover."

Before Kotone could thank the nurse again the door literally slammed open, causing her to start slightly. Through the entrance Heinrich burst through, his eyes intent and immediately locking upon Kotone's frail form. They softened upon seeing her and the sheer relief that suffused his face elicited a heartfelt smile from Kotone. Heinrich crossed the room with quick, wide strides and took the place of the nurse that stepped back, not before shooting the baron a reproachful look for the forcefulness of his entry. Heinrich did not care. He reached out, placing a gentle hand on Kotone's shoulder, as if trying to confirm she really was there. And then his grip tightened as he pulled the love of his life into his arms.

"Kotone. Thank the gods you're back. Thank the gods."

Kotone felt the shiver in her former husband's form, the sheer joy that was causing him to shake. She had only seen him like this a few times before, when his emotions managed to break through the confident, snarky exterior he naturally projected to mask his kind, loving core. Once, when she accepted his proposal to marry. Again the first time he held Naoto in his arms after his birth. And a third when Kallen herself was born. Kotone lifted her arms, draping them across Heinrich's shoulders as best her feeble strength would allow her, and whispered in his ears.

"Tadaima, anata."

* * *

"Holy fucking hell," Jean's voice sounded with an exasperated, exhausted sigh. "And I thought the fighting in Area 12 sucked balls. Bloody hell, these new Chinks don't know when to give up."

"Probably because they know if they lose here, they might well lose the war," Cole said, taking a bite from his ration bar and trying to choke it down.

The fighting over the past week had been intense and near constant, with priority being placed on ammo and weapons over food. As a consequence after going through their initial allotment of MREs the 25th infantry division and its fellow compatriots in Eighth Army had been forced to make do with the widely despised K-rations. Word was that with the situation settling a little bit proper, or at least more palatable food, was on the way, and Cole fervently hoped it got here before someone died from the crap that they were being fed now.

The brief respite the division had enjoyed in Japan seemed like a lifetime away now, though it was hard to describe the time as genuinely restful. While in Japan they had been both reequipped and reinforced with another wave of recruits coming out of training. Every waking minute that Cole had not spent with Kallen saw him working to make sure the new troops would have everything they needed for combat. By the time they deployed he was starting to sound as jaded as some of the regulars regarding the fucking new guys.

"Still man, I really didn't think the Princess Kallen would actually be joining us," Jean remarked. "I mean, isn't she a bit too important to be risked like that? And it's not like things are that bad that we need her help."

While Cole normally would have agreed, and not just because Kallen was his girlfriend, he did have some inkling as to why her presence was necessary. He was of course not going to give voice to those facts.

"Well, it's not like she's alone," Cole remarked. "She's got three other Knights of the Round with her, two more knightmare platoons besides that, a company of soldiers, and on top of all that the _Avalon_. Anyone going after her would need a lot of firepower to get past them, and if they had that much to throw around, they'd be gunning for us first."

"Now there's a happy thought," Jean growled slightly.

Cole chuckled in morbid agreement with his friend. The 25th was one of the divisions advancing north after the beachhead around Pusan was secured and had already managed to reach the city of Pohang, another port facing the Sea of Japan. Off the coast was the battleship HMS _Prince Lelouch_ and the two destroyers _Johnston_ and _Samuel B. Roberts_ providing them with fire support. They were not the furthest north, that dubious honor went to the 1st cavalry division. The 1st was advancing steadily cross-country, heading towards the city of Taejon where the Chinese had established their next defensive line. Breaking through it would not be easy but if they succeeded Britannian forces would be halfway to Soul and out of the blasted series of mountains that ran across southern Korea.

"Still, her highness has got to be eating better than us," Jean said. "Surely the army isn't sticking her with the same crap we're getting?"

"In point of fact, I have it firsthand that Kallen and her unit are also stuck on K-rations," Cole said, eliciting an incredulous look from his friend. "She insisted that any decent food that gets through goes to the troops on the frontline first."

"Really? Well, I'm liking her more and more!"

Cole chuckled but before he respond further the radio crackled.

"All units to positions," the order sounded.

"Oh hell, what now," Jean growled.

"Maybe someone taunted Murphy while we weren't looking," Cole said, grabbing his own gear.

"Good thing I hadn't gotten around to turning in my mags to the armory," Jean said, hefting his rifle.

"According to the logs, you've never returned ammo to the armory," Cole said.

"Hey, it's not my fault he never asks," Jean said with a smirk.

"Just make sure you don't have any extra ammo when he does," Cole said as the two hustled towards their positions.

With any luck, there would actually be some extra ammo when the night was over.

* * *

"It has become clear that the Chinese forces are capable of a degree of subtlety in trying to blunt the advance of our forces," Andreas said to the assembled officers.

The place of honor to his right was accorded to the Princess Kallen, despite her complete and self-admitted lack of suitability to meaningfully contribute to the meeting. The forms must be obeyed however and to show the woman disrespect would have also been a slight to the one whom named her a princess of the realm. Mindful of her lack of experience Kallen for the most part simply listened and, hopefully, learned.

"We have confirmed that several divisions managed to advance under cover of darkness to approach our forward most units. Surveillance flights were able to identify the forces advancing upon the 25th infantry division before they could launch an attack, but the 1st cavalry division was less fortunate. They are managing to hold the line and reinforcements should be reaching them promptly. Still, the momentum of our advance has been slowed and the Chinese will be making use of the time bought to further reinforce their Korean armies."

The initial intelligence estimate had placed the number of Chinese troops on the peninsula at approximately three hundred thousand. In theory Eighth Army outnumbered them but as they were fighting in China's home turf that could change very, very quickly.

"Do we have an actual count of the numbers our forces are facing sir?" Jeremiah asked.

Andreas nodded. "The Chinese are throwing at least three divisions against 1st cavalry and two at the 25th infantry. We spotted six more divisions advancing south but after they realized they were discovered those units have diverted to join the two forces already engaged instead of trying to sneak further south." The general's finger fell upon the map. "The danger is these two divisions advancing upon 1st cavalry's eastern flank. If they can maneuver just a bit more south, they could encircle them."

This particular danger was not quite as disastrous as it would have been in the past thanks to Britannia's flying ships. Conversely it was still not something that could be ignored outright.

"Will their reinforcements arrive in time?" another officer asked.

Andreas grunted. "It will be a close thing, but even if they are able to link up we need to do something to push back the Chinese forces. Much as the Chinese are threatening 1st cavalry's flank, that means those same forces have been forced to extend themselves fairly deeply into our lines. The salient that they have created could well end ruinously for them if their gamble does not pay off.

Kallen regarded the map marked up with the positioning and maneuvers of the two sides. She had learned how to read such maps as part of her armsman training and so could make out the pertinent details. As much as her experience allowed her, Kallen could understand the strategic and tactical considerations being raised in meetings like this. It also helped that she could ask NEMO to help her with anything that she did not immediately understand. After all, it was only cheating if you got caught. As a consequence from time to time Kallen would ask questions or raise points that would seem remarkably insightful for someone of her age and experience. After all, who would expect a former insurgent leader and for all intents and purposes very green officer to be able to pick out details and intuit things that usually took years of experience to grasp.

"Is 1st cavalry's position sufficiently tenuous that we could not deploy reinforcements with the Naglfar transports?" Kallen asked. "Our supply needs are now being met by conventional naval resources now, and my understanding is that was the intention all along so that the flying transports could be used to support further advances inland."

"Yes and no your highness," Andreas answered. "While the airspace above 25th infantry is sufficiently secure for us to dispatch reinforcements via the transports, 1st cavalry is sufficiently forward that we could not guarantee sufficient cover to fly in reinforcements to them. We can have one of the divisions behind them hold position long enough for it to cover the transports, but that would then delay their own deployment to assist 1st cavalry. It is a, balancing act between having sufficient forces available and getting them to their intended target quickly enough to make a difference."

Kallen nodded, accepting the explanation and filing away the lessons to be drawn. Case in point, do not try to fly in transports into contested airspace unless you are really, really desperate. Then again the initial landing of troops in Pusan was probably lesson enough all by itself.

The meeting was brought to a close not too long later, with the various divisional commanders being handed modified orders to account for the counterattack the Chinese were even now mounting. The Britannian advance might finally be running into stiffer, or at least more successful resistance, but the flow of forces northward was still continuing. Shifting half a million soldiers took time after all. As the other officers departed however Kallen remained at her seat. Once they were alone Andreas regarded the young woman.

"Was there something else you wished to discuss, your highness?"

"If you have the time to spare, general," Kallen said. "I understand well that you have many demands to attend to and I would not want to distract you from more pressing matters."

"If the matter is short, I do not believe there is anything in need of immediate attention," Andreas said.

That was probably true enough, it was not as if Andreas himself was on the frontlines with the 1st or 25th divisions. Any decisions he made would take at least a few hours to percolate to the rest of the army.

"Hopefully my question will be brief," Kallen said. "The situation with respect to 1st cavalry's position. My understanding is that our inability to reinforce it by air is due to our forces not yet having secured the surrounding airspace. At the same time with our existing commitments, neither Eighth Fleet, the regular naval air wings, nor the air force have the assets necessary to do the securing."

Kallen paused a beat to let Andreas correct her if the general felt the need. He did not, simply nodding in confirmation of the young woman's points.

"Those aerial assets however are not the only ones available to you," Kallen continued, albeit falling silent once more after the brief statement.

An eyebrow rose on Andreas' face as the general inferred the real meaning.

"Begging your highness' pardon," he responded, "but the _Avalon_ is not of an optimal design for actual combat deployment."

"That is true," Kallen agreed readily. "It does however possess a railgun, which should allow it to at least serve in the ground bombardment role, which should allow it to replace any of Eighth Fleet's destroyers serving in that role right now and free them for deployment elsewhere. Or it could complement the existing task groups with its firepower."

Andreas pursed his lips with a tentative thoughtfulness. "I presume your highness has another point you are trying to get across."

The edge of Kallen's own lips twitched ever so slightly. "I just want to remind you, general, of all of the combat assets available to you. The units assigned to me might be a mere short battalion, but I think you would agree that it packs a rather significant punch. I would ask that you not feel any reservation to making use of my forces out of consideration for my position."

The general had admirable control over his face and so managed to keep it mostly impassive. Kallen however still picked up on the very slight hints of unhappiness that flickered through a few muscles. She could sympathize with the man considering the position she was basically putting him in. True Kallen's force could probably thoroughly wreck any Chinese unit of comparable size that it encountered, and working in concert with the rest of the military they might well be able to serve as a most sharp tip of the spear. Had Kallen merely been a Knight of the Round, then her participation on the frontlines during time of war would have not only been actively encouraged but outright expected. Her position as Heir Secundus however, when the line of succession was so tenuous and fragile, was literally the stuff of nightmares for the military's planners. This was even worse than when the Princess Cornelia insisted on actively campaigning simply because at this point in time, the only way the Princess Kallen could credibly contribute to the military's success was by actively taking to the field in her knightmare, whereas Cornelia at least was experienced enough to actually command instead of fight herself.

"Your highness," Andreas managed with a remarkably level tone. "My understanding is that you have a mission of your own, one of significant importance to the Empire's, if not the entire world's, continuance. That being the case, it would seem to me extremely imprudent to utilize your forces for anything short of a genuine crisis, lest such deployment results in their unavailability for your actual mission."

Kallen suppressed a smile. The general possessed a fair degree of tact, not something military officers tended to be known for.

"Your concern is acknowledged, general, and I can find no fault with your reasoning. I do however want to emphasize that should an actual need arise, I _will_ expect my unit to be called upon as appropriate. I do not ask for any extra consideration or favor, I simply ask that you remember that the forces under my command are here to contribute to the campaign as needs arise."

And Kallen herself was also not lacking in tact. That might be a rather recent development though what with everything she had gone through the last year or so.

Andreas regarded Kallen, thoughtful and pensive in his gaze, for a few moments longer before nodding.

"I will remember the points you have raised, your highness. And I assure you, I will treat them with the appropriate consideration they deserve."

Kallen could tell that Andreas' words were entirely sincere. And that would be good enough for now.

"That is all I ask. Thank you for your time, general."

Andreas bowed his head. "Highness."

As Kallen rose the radio she wore beeped. Checking it, she saw the caller was coming in over her unit's command channel.

"Yes?" she said once she was out of the makeshift conference room.

"Your highness, we have received a dispatch from Japan, undersigned by the viceroy. Its priority is marked as important, but not urgent."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. There were only a few things that would prompt her father to message her like this while in the field. Her pace picked up as she headed back towards where her unit was billeted.

"I'm on my way, thank you for notifying me lieutenant."

"Highness."

And a click signaled the closing of the channel. Kallen however barely heard it, or rather did not pay any attention to it. She was not exactly running, but anyone that saw her could tell that the young woman had a destination in her intent. A few minutes later Kallen was presented with the decrypted message in her office. She read it, and smiled.

* * *

Kotone stared out the window of her private room, or rather her and Heinrich's. So much had happened while she slept, such violent change sweeping over the world. Her love, now the Viceroy of Japan. His sponsor, the recently ascended Empress Euphemia. And their precious daughter, the amount of titles and duties accrued to Kallen was almost beyond belief. And more than a little worrying. Taking a deep breath Kotone rose, making sure not to move too suddenly. She was not exactly an invalid but her atrophied muscles would need more time before they would allow her to walk any meaningful distance. For now the best she could do was navigate the room she shared with Heinrich, and even here she would need to rest in between such movements. Anywhere else in the palace and she would need to call for a wheelchair and a servant.

The door opened and Heinrich entered, trailed by a girl that Kotone had made the acquaintance of a few days ago. Renne, her name was. An orphan that Kallen was apparently seeing to the care of. An orphan that insisted on walking around with a very large knife strapped to her back. Heinrich had explained the background to her, how Renne had come from the same place as that boy Joshua, had even known him in fact, and was taken in by Kallen with the determination that she at least would have a chance at a more normal life. Kotone approved of her daughter's decision, and in truth it also provided her with something to do while she physically recovered.

"Good evening Renne," she greeted the girl.

Renne regarded Kotone. She was still leery of the woman, not least because of whose mother Kotone was. Kallen's father had already been something of a surprise to Renne, with how nonchalantly he had accepted his daughter's explanation about Renne's situation and gone about meticulously seeing to her needs. Needs like her education. As a consequence Renne found her days filled with private lessons and her meals always taken with Heinrich, or Kotone, or both. Needless to say this was not what Renne had been expecting when she departed the Antarctic with Kallen. In truth she had expected to follow Kallen when the knight departed for the Korean theater. Renne was feeling just a tad peeved about being effectively left behind, whatever Kallen's claims about wanting her to experience a normal life. Renne was smart enough to know and understand that even if her current existence was closer to what most girls enjoyed, there were still pointed differences. Most did not live in a massive palace, for one.

"How was your day?" Kotone continued after Renne declined to respond to her initial prompt.

The girl tightened her grip on her stuffed bunny. "It was boring. None of my tutors have been able to teach me anything new."

"Oh really?" Kotone asked, glancing over at Heinrich.

The man snorted. "I clearly misjudged Renne's academic levels, but I think I can blame at least some of that on Kallen. She made no mention of the fact that she was bringing me not a poor little waif but a prodigy."

Renne flashed a less than pleasant smile. "A waif, am I?"

"Indeed," Heinrich said without missing a beat. "One whom has been removed from her original surroundings, and so finds herself lacking challenge in her new environment. Your grasp of mathematics and logic is superb, but whomever instructed you in the past severely, nay, criminally neglected your humanities. No appreciation for the great classics, like the Brontë sisters. That will have to change."

Renne sniffed. "Books are boring. I would rather prefer the simplicity and absolutism of hard numbers."

"Numbers are absolute because they are abstract things," Heinrich said in mock admonishment. "You, Renne, live in a concrete world, which for all its firmness is quite malleable and dynamic."

Kotone allowed herself a slight smile. She recalled a time when Heinrich had been like this to their own children, especially Naoto whom he encouraged to read widely works from many different cultures and places, not just those of his Britannian and Japanese heritage. That had inspired their son to delve into topics and ideas that were in many ways anathema to at Britannian convention. Thomas Paine, Kotone recalled that the man was a favorite of Naoto's literary hobby. And a shared belief in the ideals espoused by that long executed activist was what led Naoto to take up arms against Britannia and die for a similar cause.

Kotone took a deep breath, eliciting a slight look of concern from Heinrich. She offered him a comforting smile. There was still an edge to those memories, a dull pain that would never go away. But she had been blessed by so many second chances thus far that she would no longer dwell on the past, she would look forward to the future, her own and that of others.

"You had quite a large collection of such works in your study at home," Kotone said. "Could we have them brought here?"

"Well, certainly," Heinrich said. "Though the library here does as well. You know, it even has a copy of Carl Schurz's _Reminiscences_. A rather peculiar choice, that. I wonder if the empress brought it with her, or if it was a leftover from during her brother's administration."

The name did not ring any bells for Kotone as she was unable to recall seeing it in their home nor having heard either Heinrich or Naoto mention it.

"That may be so," she said instead, "but many of your copies were filled with annotations that I think would benefit Renne."

Heinrich raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Kotone smiled. "Call it a mother's intuition."

"Well, whom am I to argue with that," Heinrich said with a bemused chuckle. "Beware, Renne. Ideas will not bend so easily to logic and reason, for they are given birth and fueled by emotions."

"If I must," Renne said somewhat petulantly. "Kallen seems to think I am to gain something from all this effort, but thus far I have yet to see a worthwhile end."

That was the other somewhat strange bit about Renne. Sometimes she would speak with a maturity far beyond her youthful age, others her whining and petulance was almost endearing. The seesaw back and forth was however unambiguously disconcerting and a cause for significant concern in Kotone's mind. Which one was the real Renne, and would she be able to express her real self without fear and anxiety. Only the girl herself could answer those questions, but that did not mean she could not receive help in the search.

* * *

"Major-General Yang."

The man in question cracked a wry smile as he turned about to greet the speaker. "Captain Li. Or would it be Major Li now?"

Li Xingke own face reflected Yang's expression. "It would appear that fortune smiles on us both. You are finally receiving the recognition your skill deserves."

"Would it not have come with so onerous a task," Yang said heartfully.

To that Li Xingke did not disagree. After all, being asked to check the Britannian advance through Korea was no small feat.

"How goes preparations for your new command?" the newly minted major asked.

"As well as can be expected," Yang said. "The majority of my old forces will be spending time recovering from our misadventures in India. The 13th group army that I have been nominally tapped to lead is being assembled from odds and ends dispatched from several different military districts. Heaven only knows how well we will do once we meet the Britannians in battle."

Li Xingke nodded. That was an entirely valid concern on Yang's part. The Chinese Federation was rushing to get as many bodies over to Korea as they could, and there was no denying that in that rush the units they were dispatching lacked the cohesion necessary to make them a match against the Britannians.

"Still, I personally would feel much better having you assisting in the defense of Korea," Li Xingke said. "If the Empire does manage to break out from the peninsula, we would be at serious risk of losing the war."

Yang cracked another smile. "You think so?"

Li Xingke blinked. "Manchuria holds the bulk of China's industries. Do you seriously believe that we could hold out if it were to fall?"

"Well, I suppose that all depends on whether Britannia has the manpower to actually commit to an occupation of Asia. But that is not what I meant. Why do you say that it is only with the fall of Manchuria that the Federation would be at serious risk of defeat?"

"You see other avenues through which Britannia could defeat us?"

"Well, I couldn't help but notice it was those flying ships of the Empire that allowed them to seize Pusan and have been supporting their advance north."

"You are concerned that they could attempt a repeat of that, but strike directly at the capital?"

"Are you suggesting you are not?"

"The war staff has considered it, but its analysis suggests that penetrating that deeply into China is not within the means of the ships the Empire has available. They certainly do not have the troop transports, and Luoyang's defenses have been heavily fortified with anti-air weapons and missile batteries since the reveal of Eighth Fleet."

"Would that be why the forces in Korea were left sadly bereft of those very same weapons that they needed?" Yang asked dryly.

"There was a degree of fear in the orders issued by the high eunuchs," Li Xingke allowed.

Yang cracked another humorless smile. "And how long did the war staff project it would take Britannia to increase the size of its flying fleet sufficiently to credibly launch a direct assault on Luoyang."

To that Li Xingke shook his head. "We simply do not know. There are reports coming in that the Empire is beginning construction of the ships in other shipyards, but we simply do not know how quickly they can be built. The effort to build the original ships of Eighth Fleet must have taken a substantial amount of time, at least two or three years, but at least some of that would have been due to the need for secrecy. With the veil lifted, it would not surprise me if the Empire could cut the construction time in half."

"So a year, if we're being pessimistic," Yang said, rubbing his chin.

"Give or take," Li Xingke nodded.

"Well, I don't know if I'll be able to buy you a year," the general said, clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'll try, but I'd rather not be both foresworn and dead at the same time."

Li Xingke furrowed his brow. "Yang, what are you talking about?"

Yang squeezed gently. "I will be recommending to the war staff that our forces fighting in Korea be allowed to rotate out, with elements peeled off to form training cadres so that the veterans can better impart their wisdom to the green soldiers." And withdrew his hand. "Do pass on my regard to her majesty for me, and ask her to wish us luck in our ventures. Something tells me we will need it."

Li Xingke held Yang's gaze for several moments, searching for something, anything in the other man's eyes that might provide some further hint. He found none, and so all he could do was simply nod.

"I will. You have my word."

End of Chapter 105

So while I was writing this chapter I came a realization and thus have a question to ask all of you, my readers. Namely, do any of you actually want to read about Britannia's European campaign?

This question was prompted by the realization that I could settle the Suzaku subplot either before the start of the European campaign or at the end of it, I have plotlines thought up that could work either way. If that subplot is settled, the primary point of conflict between the main characters would be resolved. After that point it's basically a conflict primarily focused on the nation state level, where Euphemia and Kallen aren't directly in the thick of things anymore. I expect that once Suzaku is dealt with, Kallen would head back to Tokyo and/or Pendragon and hang out in those two places for the rest of the war. And probably Antarctica as well.

That being the case, and considering that all of you already know how the war will conclude, do any of you actually want to read the campaign itself unfold and take its course? Regardless of whether I portray the actual campaign, I will be putting together chapters that describe a few key events like the Battle of Paris and the negotiations afterward that conclude the war. It's the stuff in between the conclusion of the China arc and the conclusion of the Europe arc that I'm asking if there is any interest in. If there is a large amount of interest, I have material for talking about the rest of the war, material that I think can be kept as interesting as the more personally focused arcs in the past hundred or so chapters. If there isn't, I'll just do a couple of highlights from the European campaign and timeskip the rest of it.

Li Xingke is technically a bit young to be holding so prestigious a position, since close proximity to the court offers lots of opportunities for advancement and graft. At the same time he's one of the few actually competent officers in the position, partially because he's one of the few competent officers that can stomach being at court. Li is building up a power base, slowly, and I expect the role he will play will grow in time. His age and lack of seniority however are going to preclude him from playing exactly the same role he did in canon.

Conversely Yang is actually a bit older than he might seem. As Li mentioned during his first appearance, had Yang been a bit more motivated he could have been a senior colonel (brigadier-general) already, so a bump up to major-general is not that unexpected, especially during wartime. That and Yang was basically acting as the senior officer in India after his superiors got their asses handed to them, so he's at least demonstrated that he can handle the administrative load of leading divisions.

One of the scenes that I will need to add for the remaster is Kallen taking the time to try to awaken Kotone again before she departed for Korea. With her greater control of her geass and her pseudo-code, she would have tried to do something again. That something would have revealed a bit more about the way Refrain and the code in general worked, which might get touched upon in the future instead. I literally forgot to write the scene, I had not put it into the outline for last chapter, and so it ended up getting skipped.

Kallen at this point holds the rank of brigadier-general, but she is emphatically not ready to actually exercise that kind of authority. For that matter none of the knights of the round accompanying her are actually ready, not even Gino. The one that comes closest would be Tohdoh, but even he would need to brush up on Britannian combat doctrine before he could effectively command a large unit. As such the irregular battalion that Kallen is currently in command of is not, yet, suitable for running any actual operations. Whether they will be given the time to coalesce into a functional unit before being tossed into the deep end, we shall see.

I have some snippets thought out that deals with the, dislocation, that incorporating the British Isles into Britannia causes for their inhabitants. It'll need to wait a bit since I have others queued up for the upcoming chapter. I will however make one remark here. In the broadest terms, Euphemia and her government consider themselves responsible for a set of services owed to their subjects in exchange for their loyalty. These services are intended to allow for the opportunity for a prosperous life, assuming one works hard, saves up, and isn't an idiot with one's money. In general however the way of life is not considered to be the government's business, insomuch as any way of life that does not violate imperial law will be regarded as people's own private business. Conversely this also means that the Britannian government will _not_ offer any support for a person to maintain their "way of life" beyond the basic set of services like education, law enforcement, healthcare, and so on. If for example a farm or a factory is not profitable within the bounds of the law, there will not be any attempts to subsidize it or provide any sort of direct financial support, it's sink or swim basically as the market wills it. Now the Empire does have social safety nets, even before Euphemia ascends the throne. If you are out of work, there are retraining and migration grants to help you find a different job or a job somewhere else in the Empire. If you are genuinely disabled, you'll get a stipend (this one only came in after Euphemia became empress). So on and so forth.

If however a region's economy goes down the shitter because its local businesses can't compete and the local community is basically shattered as a consequence, sympathy is about the only thing the government will extend, it will not make any effort to allow uncompetitive industries to remain where they are, it would rather they be unwound and the former workers move on (sometimes literally). This is, based on what I've read (and I am fairly widely read), literally the exact opposite of what the British government usually attempts, or at least pays lip service to, what with their constant going on about guaranteeing and preserving jobs locally (the recent sale of Opel by GM to Peugeot comes to mind). The imperial government will barely blink if a factory or two closes in the British Isles, seeing as it is responsible for literally half the world. A few thousand workers are out of work? Hey, there's a labor shortage in Australia due to all the mining going on, let those workers know. After that it's their decision whether they accept the migration and retraining grant to move across the world, as that is the extent of help the imperial government is going to offer. Which, in retrospect, might well be more help than the British government is currently offering, which might explain the hyperbolic reactions to any potential job loss in the UK right now.

I've seen Legend of Galactic Heroes. Hell, I'm borrowing a few characters from the series to make my life simpler. Though I can see the parallels, I would not consider this story to be an attempt to frame the LoGH story in the context of Code Geass. It's an entirely different set of character dynamics at work, and an entirely different set of geopolitical dynamics as well. Note that I'm ultimately not making a judgment or attempting to assert one way or another whether one system of governance is superior to another. I have my own political views, as I'm sure all of my readers do, and it is inevitable that some of those views will leak through. On the whole however my intent is for all of you to arrive at your own judgments, whether you want to root for Britannia vs Europe in this conflict, taking into account both the good and the bad. Granted I need to show a bit more of the good in Europe, the lack of more examples is primarily a matter of them not getting quite enough screen time, so to speak.


	107. Chapter 106

Spoiler: Medium

 _Marshal Yang Wen-Li is widely regarded as the foremost of the Chinese Federation battlefield commanders that faced the Holy Britannian Empire during the Great War. A major at the start of the conflict, Yang was sent as a regimental commander in the punitive force tasked with putting down the Indian Uprising. A series of reverses suffered by the Chinese Federation saw Yang, despite his relatively junior rank, assume command of an ad-hoc division of troops composed of survivors from other divisions. Yang's forces were able to successfully stymie the progress of the Indian rebels, defeating several larger enemy forces that attempted to advance upon the regional capital of Delhi. Britannian efforts to bring him to heel were frustrated by Yang's refusal to engage the Empire's forces, a wise tactical decision that nonetheless saw him come under some criticism by other, more aggressive officers. Fortunately for Yang he was able to outlive all of his detractors and by the time of his recall had risen to the rank of senior-colonel in the Grand Army._

 _Promoted further to the rank of major-general, Yang was handed command of one of the group armies that were being sent to reinforce the defense of Korea. Again events would see Yang rise to command units far larger than his rank officially warranted as the Empire's successes saw several of his superiors killed in the fighting. It was in Korea that Yang truly earned his moniker of Magician, conducting a hit and run campaign against Britannian forces that inflicted a steady stream of casualties that sapped combat strength and morale. At the same time Yang instituted a rotation of his forces so that units could be sent to the rear or other parts of China to rest and recuperate. While there they also imparted upon units yet to be blooded against Britannia their hard-won lessons, and planted the seeds for events that would change the course of the Chinese Federation._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 106

Mens rea

"About bloody time," Rommel grumbled. "Tell the Chinese that they can have more than air units, the Russians have several divisions in transit that are prepared to help in the defense of Korea if they are willing to let them enter Federation territory."

The German cast a glance at Pytor and the Russian officer nodded. No more playing around, stalling and trying to pass off hard decisions. They needed to hit Britannia with everything they could muster if they were to tie down the Empire's forces and prevent an invasion of continental Europe. That meant committing enough manpower and equipment to the Asian theater to keep their mutual enemy bogged down, and the Chinese Federation in the war. If the Federation was forced to withdraw, there would be nothing to stop Britannia from arraying the totality of its might against Europe, something the Union would not be able to withstand.

The officer in question before Rommel clicked his heels together before executing a sharp turnabout and marching out. The field marshal sank back into his chair with a sigh.

"Do you think the Chinese will accept direct assistance, Pytor?"

The Russian grunted. "Hard to tell. Chinese pride can be prickly, and the Rodina and Federation have not always been friends."

That was true enough, in fact the two had fought a minor war shortly after the turn of the century over the disposition of Korea, though back then it had been the Russian Empire. Neither side could be said to have covered themselves in glory, the weaknesses of their respective militaries in plain sight as they slugged ineffectually back and forth. China ultimately won by virtue of Russia becoming too exhausted to support such a long distance campaign. The years since then however the Chinese seemed to have done little to genuinely reform their military's practices, considering their poor showing against Japan a few decades later and now against Britannia.

"If other EU members would provide additional reinforcements, the Chinese might be more pliable than if this was purely a Russian expedition," Pytor suggested.

"That's already in the works," Rommel assured his subordinate. "The Bundeswehr is prepared to provide three frontline divisions, and France another five."

Pytor nodded in satisfaction. Such numbers would go some lengths in shoring up the Chinese position, perhaps even allow them to push back the Britannians despite the firepower demonstrated by their Eighth Fleet. Forcing Britannia to the negotiating table was starting to actually look more and more feasible, so long as the Empire did not produce yet another miracle weapon.

"Now if only we could do something about the Britannian Navy," the Russian remarked.

Rommel sighed heavily. "Indeed."

The naval assets of the alliance were in tatters, in both ships and manpower. The combined losses of the French and Russian Navies constituted effectively half of Europe's naval assets. And the Chinese Navy currently existed in name only after the heavy losses they suffered trying to support the various invasions against Britannia's overseas territories. The Empire certainly had not emerged unscathed from all the fighting, reports indicated that almost all of its fleets had taken at least 50% losses over the last year. The problem however lay in the fact that Britannia had already made good all those losses, whereas it would be several more months before the Europeans could get their new ships into commission much less worked up to fight. The Chinese on the other hand seemed inclined to not even bother at this point, focusing all of their efforts on the land war.

There were still some assets left in Europe, the French taskforce at Mers El Kébir was respectable if still well short of the Force d'action navale lost at Toulon. Then there was the Russian Black Seas Fleet, which constituted the largest modern fleet the EU possessed. And should Britannia's conventional navy attempt to sale across the Atlantic, they would find the German U-boat service more than ready to make the journey a treacherous one. The various frigate taskforces that the smaller powers possessed were also in the process of being integrated into a fleet of their own. Assuming they did not have to fight against one of Britannia's carrier taskforces, they could probably put on a respectable showing.

In all Europe had the equivalent of three fleets, assuming one was prepared to be generous with the term. Britannia unfortunately had seven actively deployed, and was busy expanding their lines of battle. The European nations were of course not standing still and even now repairs were underway at Toulon in preparation for the vessels currently being built at shipyards like Brest.

Rommel frowned as the train of thought elicited a point raised in a recent report.

"Pytor, what do you make of the reports we are getting from Toulon, of residents dying?"

"Radiation sickness," the Russian answered immediately. "I made inquiries, of both medical and scientific personnel, and that is their conclusion. This, atomic bomb that the Empire dropped seems to have irradiated the area around the port."

"Radiation, like that from an x-ray?" Rommel asked.

Pytor nodded. "You know how doctors and nurses always stand behind a lead wall when they take those things? Well, in a high enough dose radiation can kill."

Rommel pursed his lips. "I wonder if the Britannians knew about this."

"Perhaps, but also perhaps not," Pytor said. "This weapon is so new, I doubt anyone actually _knew_ what its effects would be when actually deployed. I will say however that if we can convince the Empire to not drop any more of those bombs, I might even be inclined to reciprocate and not employ any that we eventually build."

"There might be something to that," Rommel agreed.

Britannia had plenty of reason to want to burn Europe to the ground, especially after what happened to the New York thought elevator. If they could get the Empire to exercise at least some restraint, the field marshal was prepared to take off the table what would otherwise have been a brutally effective weapon.

The phone rang, forestalling any further discussion of that topic.

"Shall I excuse myself?" Pytor said with a slight smile.

"No, we still have more matters to discuss," Rommel said. "Wait a moment, I'll shoo off whoever this is, or at least try to." He picked up the phone. "Allo?"

"Field Marshal Rommel," a voice said in English, not French. "We need to speak."

Rommel frowned. "Qui est-ce?"

There was a brief pause and a shuffling sound before another voice spoke up.

"Apologies Field Marshal," this time in accented but still understandable French, "my associate here did not consider that you were not conversant in English."

"Who is this?" Rommel asked again.

"My name is not important. That of my associate however is of interest to you. The two of you met not too long ago, in the city of Toulon."

Rommel inhaled sharply, eliciting a curious look from Pytor. After a moment he placed a hand over the receiver and met the Russian's eyes.

"Get this call traced, _now_!"

Pytor's own eyes flared but he rose immediately and made for the door. Once the Russian was out Rommel began speaking once more.

"I presume then that I am speaking with an associate of Suzaku Kururugi?"

"That is correct, field marshal. Suzaku has information that he believes would be of interest to you, and would like to establish a means of providing it."

"And I am to believe this after his actions resulted in the death of Marshal Juin?"

"That was not Suzaku's intent and he sincerely regrets the marshal's death," the voice replied. "The information that he possesses however _is_ of significant import, and requires action be taken. He would prefer that such action be performed in cooperation with European authorities, but if he is forced to do it alone, well, he cannot be held accountable for unintended side effects of commandeering the resources he needs."

Rommel fought to keep his temper in check. It was not easy.

"What makes you or Suzaku think that you would be able to do anything of the sort?" the German said flatly.

"We were able to get your direct line, were we not?" the man on the other end pointed out.

That Rommel had to concede was a point. Granted his direct line was not impossible for an outside party to acquire, but it should have still been close to impossible for a fugitive like Suzaku.

"I presume then that Suzaku has no intention of surrendering into our custody for questioning?"

"You presume correctly. We would prefer that the initial exchange of information be done, discretely and at arm's length. A dead drop. Are you ready to write this down?"

Rommel grabbed hold of pen and paper even as he wondered whether he should take this seriously. "Go ahead."

The man rattled off an address, one that was inside Paris. No, one of the suburbs on the outskirts.

"There is already a dump ready for you to collect," the man said afterward. "We will expect a response within a week. If we do not receive one, we shall take matters into our own hands."

A click sounded, robbing Rommel of any chance to respond. The man looked at the receiver and grimaced. However this turned out, his instincts told him it would not end well.

"Merde."

* * *

Ryo put the phone down and looked at Suzaku. The other youth smiled and nodded.

"Good work."

Ryo likewise reciprocated but said nothing further. Suzaku sighed a bit. Ever since he harmonized Ryo and the others, their responses had tended to be somewhat wooden, especially when he was not concentrating on them. Perhaps that was the price to pay for unity and tranquility. Still, it seemed like such a small price to pay to end all of the suffering humans willingly inflicted upon each other.

Suzaku looked over at Ayano. "The package is delivered?"

"Yes Suzaku," Ayano said with a flat tone.

"And we have someone watching it?"

"Yes Suzaku," she repeated.

In truth Suzaku had no need to seek verbal confirmation of any of this, he could just extend his mind and feel what Ayano knew. Something in Suzaku was still reluctant to do so however, it all felt so, cold and impersonal. Not that the dispassionate responses the others gave him were that much of an improvement, but he still liked to think that they were people. They just were people that understood him, just as he understood them. Just like how everyone would understand each other once he was done.

* * *

"Here you, calm down now!"

Renne peeked into the room at hearing Heinrich's irritated tone. Barks sounded and she was greeted with the sight of a large dog impatiently hopping back and forth.

"Bloody Hel, sit!"

The dog barked again.

"Suwate!"

Its ears flickered and head cocked sideways. Reluctantly it obeyed.

"Lovely, the dog doesn't understand English," Heinrich said with a sigh.

Renne walked over. "Where'd the doggy come from?"

The baron looked over at the girl. "Oh, Renne. The dog's Colonel Tohdoh's, he's an Akatsuki officer that's serving with Kallen right now. Couldn't take the dog overseas so Kallen offered to have it cared for at the palace."

"I see," Renne said, approaching the dog. "So we were both abandoned by our respective minders."

"Renne," Heinrich said reproachfully. "Kallen did not abandon you, you are exactly where you need to be under my care."

"Says you," the girl retorted. "What I need is for me to determine, just as what the doggy here needs is for him to decide." She flashed a smile at the animal. "Isn't that right?"

A sharp, almost cheerful bark sounded.

"And apparently she can talk to animals too," Heinrich said almost resignedly. "Well since you two seem to be such kindred spirits, what say you to looking after Iku? It'll be a good chance to learn some responsibility too."

Renne raised an eyebrow. "Is everything a lesson to you?"

Heinrich chuckled. "Just the important things."

Renne looked over at the dog again. Its long, pointed snout was reminiscent of the huskies the Directorate had kept at its Antarctic base for use as sled and guard dogs. This dog's fur had an orange tint running along its top instead of the black and gray she was used to. Renne reached out one hand and gave the dog a pat on the head. It barked again, seemingly satisfied with the attention, and gave Renne's hand a lick. The girl giggled.

"Hey, that tickles."

Iku rolled over, exposing his stomach and Renne gave it a playful rub. The dog yipped, tail wagging incessantly.

Heinrich chuckled as he observed. "Kindred spirits indeed."

"I see no reason why I could not see to his care," Renne said, adopting a prim and proper attitude again before flashing a smirk. "Just do not expect me to give him back."

"Well, we shall settle that when the time comes," Heinrich said. "Oh, and do be sure to pick up after Iku. Seeing as you have assumed responsibility for him, it should not be the gardener's job to do so."

Renne sniffed. "Some fertilizer would do the grounds good."

"I assure you, the grounds are getting enough as it is," Heinrich said with a smirk of his own.

* * *

"Captain Celeste."

The woman turned about and bowed slightly. "Your highness."

The woman next to her, also clad in the working uniform of a Britannian army nurse right down to the red armband, did likewise, though she retained her characteristic smirk.

"I trust Cecilia has been making herself useful during her time with you?"

"Eminently so, your highness," Victoria assured Kallen. "Lieutenant Clermont's language issue aside, she has demonstrated an understanding of medical principles far beyond what her age would suggest."

C.C. was still smirking and Kallen resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Considering how many centuries the other woman had lived, she damn well better know more about medicine than a regular doctor, never mind the fact that the Directorate was responsible for quite a few breakthroughs in the medical sciences and was still ahead of the rest of the world even now. A shame that knowledge had been so badly abused in even the few short years V.V. had commandeered control of it.

"And her familiarization with nursing procedures?"

"No problems there either, your highness. For that matter Lieutenant Clermont has demonstrated a natural commanding presence. I had her oversee a shift last night and no problems occurred."

"Really," Kallen raised an eyebrow.

"Thy faith be so lacking, your highness?" C.C. asked, her tone admirably polite but the smile just dripping with irreverence.

Kallen snorted before meeting Victoria's gaze once more. "Well, in that case thank you very much for your assistance, captain. I'll take Cecilia off of your hands now."

"It was my pleasure, your highness," Victoria responded with another slight bow. "Lieutenant Clermont has been most helpful, and I hope that her time with me will see her contribute even more in the future to the nursing corps."

To that C.C. actually clicked her heels together respectfully before the captain. "You and I art both healers, captain. Twas a pleasure to share in your duty herein."

The farewells politely exchanged Kallen and C.C. took their leave of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital and made their way towards the part of the base set aside for Kallen's unit.

"The paperwork's already on the way to move you up to captain," Kallen said. "From then on you'll be in charge of our medical section."

"A most expeditious progression," C.C. remarked.

"Well considering you have seniority over everyone actually in uniform," Kallen said with a smirk.

C.C. sniffed. "Tis most impolite to allude to a lady's majority."

"Good thing you're far from being a lady."

As if to accentuate that assessment C.C. directed a rather impolite gesture at Kallen. The two shared a slight chuckle as they entered the commandeered hanger.

"So, what be your next endeavor?" C.C. asked.

"Well for the time being, sitting tight. 1st cavalry division's advance has resumed and they're hitting the city of Soul pretty hard. 1st Marine division is right behind them, and there are at least three other divisions maneuvering to try to encircle the city. The Chinese seem determined to dig in and try to hold the city, but that's not going to end well for anyone."

"Hmm? Hast not thy imperium in hand a most mighty of earth shakers?"

"I know you know the word ship, so just go ahead and say ship," Kallen said. "And yes, the navy is planning on basically leveling the city block by block if they have to. But that's going to leave a lot of people homeless, never mind all those that will be killed."

"Tis quite the change, from whence you came," C.C. remarked. "There was a time when you saw naught wrong with death in service of a cause."

"I still do," Kallen said. "It's just that the things I'm prepared to die for have changed, and I don't think fighting a losing battle that you don't need to win is one of them."

C.C.'s head bobbed once as if to agree, though the woman added no verbal affirmation.

"But mine question remains," she said instead. "What is it that thou intends next?"

Kallen shrugged. "At this point, more training. We need to get my battalion into actual combat readiness before we have any way of contributing at the front. Hopefully by the time Soul falls, we'll be ready and I'll be moving us up north."

"Doust thee actually intend to bear arms against the Chinese?" C.C. asked.

"We need to break out of Korea if we're to cut a path to the Mongolian thought elevator," Kallen said frankly. "Oh I know, we could use Eighth Fleet to make a quick raid, but pushing that deep into the mainland is just too risky at this point, maybe when more taskforces are ready."

"Hmm," C.C. responded noncommittedly.

"It's going to take even Suzaku some time to travel from London to the other thought elevators," Kallen continued. "According to Lelouch's compatriots the London thought elevator was the only one he ever tinkered with and so was the only one with its transport system active, all the others are still either off or we've locked down. That'll give us time. And we'll know when Suzaku does put another thought elevator in standby."

"Thou art taking a chance," C.C. summed up.

"Yes, we are," Kallen agreed. "But it's a measured risk we're taking. If Suzaku starts looking like he's moving faster than we expected, I'll be on a plane to the Indian thought elevator immediately and the moment I'm back Eighth Fleet will hit the Mongolian one. Till then though we'll keep going based on the campaign plans, and hopefully not get more people killed than we have to."

"Fair enough," C.C. said.

By then the two had reached a few of the other gathered officers, all whom came to attention at Kallen's presence.

"Your highness," Gino said for all of them.

"General," Kallen nodded in turn before looking over at a more junior ranking but physically older officer. "Captain."

Levi nodded. "Highness."

"Well, I'm sure you'll all be glad to know that our medical complement is now complete," Kallen said lightly.

Gino cracked a smirk while Levi remained politely attentive.

"Anyway," Kallen continued. "Captain, are the training exercise plans I asked for complete?"

"Yes your highness, I was just reviewing them with General Weinberg."

"Ah, mind if I join in?"

"Of course not, your highness."

Levi gestured at the maps laid out as he began to explain the basic points. The problem that Kallen's little battalion had right now was that even if individually each of her units were pretty good, they had never worked together as a cohesive group. It was not just the knightmare platoons learning to fight and maneuver together, there was the matter of effectively employing the infantry to both support and receive support in turn instead of just outrunning them. Of course the infantry company did have vehicles of their own, but the M113 armored personnel carriers were ultimately troop transports and even with their weapons were not intended to engage in running fights with an enemy.

Modern military tactics called for heavier combat vehicles like knightmares to be used to punch out hardpoints such as machinegun pits and gun emplacements. The infantry was supposed to follow closely behind both to suppress any attempts to ambush the knightmares or tanks and also to mop up any survivors of the initial assault. In the case of knightmares and their greater mobility, infantry could also serve as the anvil against which the former could hammer the enemy against after outflanking them. All this however took coordination and practice, something that Kallen herself lacked whereas pretty much everyone else in the company, even Anya, had some experience in the necessary fieldcraft. NEMO could in theory tell Kallen what needed to be done, but that was far from Kallen herself actually understanding and being able to proactively deal with the ever shifting environment of a battlefield. Fortunately they had time for her to learn and she did not intend to waste it.

* * *

"Alright Pytor, what did we get?"

It seemed ludicrous that some of the most powerful men in the EU would be forced to attend to a counterintelligence matter personally, but considering the damage that one Suzaku Kururugi had already caused to Europe the man certainly warranted the attention.

"Gibberish, or fantasy, or outright delusion," was the Russian's response. "We picked up the payload at the dead drop and it was a set of documents on a CD. In English, of course. The translators that went over it claim that they had a lot of difficulty discerning the actual meaning in a lot of the documents and looking over the original I agree with them."

Rommel cocked his head aside. "So his claim to have vital intelligence can be dismissed?"

"Yes, and no." Pytor grimaced. "There are broadly two categories the documents fall under. The first details his understanding of the Britannian military, some of the organizations that he was affiliated with, and even a few details about the Britannian imperial family that we were not aware of, for all the good that does now. It's his claims about the thought elevators that border on the incoherent. His writing, assuming Suzaku was the one that did the writing, was all over the place, as if he could not actually organize his thoughts. He kept referring to 'it' or 'that' without properly establishing or remaining consistent on what the actual subject he was referring to is."

"So were the translators, or even you, able to get anything useful out of that portion of the texts?" Rommel asked.

"We were, but I'm not sure how much of it I believe. According to Suzaku, the thought elevators are some sort of conduits, able to somehow affect the material world. Just what they can actually do he gave no details, just that in the wrong hands they can cause great harm, which we already knew after what happened in New York."

"I don't suppose he could tell us what actually _did_ happen?" Rommel growled.

"He actually did," Pytor said, eliciting a raised eyebrow from his superior. "That was one of the bits in the other section of texts. According to Suzaku, one Lelouch vi Britannia attempted to commandeer the thought elevator for his own purposes. He doesn't know how exactly the thought elevator was destroyed, he claims he escaped to the London thought elevator before that all happened, but it's pretty clear whom he considers to blame. And another interesting tidbit, he claims that the Empress, well, back then still Princess Euphemia, was physically present. Obviously she also managed to escape the thought elevator's destruction."

"I can see why the, reliability of this intelligence is so, questionable," Rommel said. "So in your opinion Pytor, did Suzaku provide us with anything actually useful?"

"As a practical matter, no."

"What I thought," Rommel said. "Very well, then onto the other matter. Were you able to track where Suzaku might be holed up?"

The Russian grimaced. "That, has actually turned up something very disturbing."

Rommel frowned. "Oh?"

"As suspected it was another Japanese ex-pat that checked the dead drop for our response. A man, which the French police were able to identify as a known smuggler, suggesting Suzaku has at minimum managed to tap into the Japanese criminal networks that have sprung up in the ghettos. Trying to track him further is complicated by the lack of agents and officers that we have that could actually slip into those ghettos unnoticed."

The German nodded, none of this was in any way unexpected. Pytor was however not yet done.

"We'll certainly try, but that's going to take some time. The more disturbing thing was how Suzaku managed to connect to your direct line. That literally should not have been possible. If he called from an outside line, he would have had to get past the operators with the right passcodes. The other option is calling from one of our secure lines, which would require that he have compromised that network. Neither option is particularly palatable."

"Agreed," Rommel said. "So, which of our two bad choices are we looking at then?"

Pytor grimaced. "Suzaku managed to make that call of his from one of our secured offices. Or more specifically, he made the call from an SDECE secured office."

That elicited a rather stronger reaction than just raised eyebrows. "You're kidding."

Pytor shook his head. "This is still being kept under wraps, but I don't know how long that will last. We moved in to take all of the people assigned there into custody, just as a precaution, but during questioning our interrogators noticed something odd. The, responses of the detainees were, wooden and flat. There was a noticeable lack of emotion, of vigor."

"Just like in London," Rommel uttered.

"Exactly."

After a moment Rommel let out the breath he was holding. "Mon Dieu."

"I think at this point we can assume that Suzaku is doing, something, to people to get them to help him. Or to at least not obstruct him."

"Is it permanent?" Rommel asked softly.

"We don't know, yet. The detained officers are all getting checked out now, the results should be back within the week."

The German nodded numbly.

"What do you intend to do, sir?" Pytor asked.

Rommel grimaced. "One thing that we absolutely have to avoid is letting Suzaku do this to more of our people. Use the dead drop, give him a set of authentication codes that will let him get through to me from an outside line."

Pytor nodded, but the German was not done.

"Also pass on orders. Any Japanese that approaches any of our secured offices are to be turned away. If they try entering, shoot to kill."

That caused the Russian to regard Rommel with surprise. "Are you sure sir?"

"Considering the alternatives, yes, I am very sure."

The concern did not disappear from Pytor's expression but again he nodded in agreement. And in a way Rommel was right, the dangers that they were now faced with most certainly warranted such extreme caution, and ruthlessness.

"I presume then our objective would be to find and permanently neutralize Suzaku?"

"Indeed," Rommel said. "And the sooner the better, lest he completely upend our command structure yet again with his haphazard actions."

The fierce scowl now presented by the German field marshal could well have stilled less men's hearts, for it was entirely personal for the man. He had had the chance to put Suzaku down when they first met, and he should have after the bastard murdered his old friend. If another chance arose, he would not let it slip by.

"Well then, I had best get to it," Pytor said. "If there is nothing else, sir."

Rommel nodded but said nothing more. So dismissed, the Russian clicked his heels together respectfully before taking his leave. Rommel spent a few moments staring at the door after it had closed, considering the situation. True enough he had ordered Pytor to see about to Suzaku's death, and the Russian would certainly bring to bear all the resources of the various European intelligence agencies. The problem was that Suzaku had already demonstrated the ability to compromise the SDECE, widely regarded as one of the more efficient and ruthless of those agencies. And if he was doing so via unconventional means, then there might well be little that Pytor and his subordinates could to do overcome them. To truly neutralize Suzaku would probably require going to outside channels, calling upon assets not connected to the official organs of state. Rommel reached for the phone and dialed. On the third ring a click sounded.

"Ja?"

"Alle, alle, auch sind frei," the German said.

Time to put another piece on the board.

* * *

"With the fall of Soul, Eighth Army has taken control of yet another port that we will be able to use to land supplies at, which will help considerably in the coming advance north," Zechs said. "General Darlton is momentarily pausing his forces to let more of them consolidate, as well as provide time to start building up a stockpile in the city itself. One week from now, he expects to cross the 38th parallel and begin his push through northern Korea towards Manchuria."

Arrows and lines appeared on the map being displayed in the conference room in time with Zechs' remarks. Euphemia idly wondered just whom had put together the animations for the briefing. There was always someone behind the scenes, working to make these seemingly mundane things work. When they did, barely anyone commented on it because it was just that natural. When they did not, well, it was not as if they needed them to be able to follow along with Zechs. They just helped with the visualization a bit.

"There are however two developments that will significantly complicate the Korean campaign."

The map shifted slightly to the northeast.

"Recon flights have sighted several of the Russian divisions gathered at Vladivostok moving southward, likely to support the Chinese forces already fighting. This would be the first instance of the Europeans and Chinese are actively collaborating instead of conducting their respective campaigns on their own. That implies a significant change in the strategic calculus driving our enemies, a change that is unfortunately to our detriment. China's greatest strength is its massive pool of manpower. The Europeans on the other hand possess an industrial and technological base as advanced, for the most part, as ours. If those two were to be combined, the path to victory will become much more difficult."

"Our options to preventing this?" Euphemia asked.

Zechs pressed another button and right on cue a large X appeared over Vladivostok.

"The first step is to eliminate Vladivostok as a transit point for European reinforcement and arms. It is the terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway and to deprive the alliance of it would significantly complicate their logistics."

"Are you suggesting another landing operation like that performed at Pusan?" Euphemia continued her questions.

"Yes, your majesty. The relief efforts in the homelands no longer have need of the Naglfar transports, and Taskforce 81 will have finished working up by the end of the month. Combined with Taskforce 80, Third Fleet, and Sixth Fleet, we would have the naval and aerial support necessary to mount an operation against Vladivostok."

"And the necessary ground forces? The majority of the troops staged in Japan have already been deployed to the Korean Peninsula."

"Indeed, your majesty, but we have over a million more soldiers standing by in the homelands that could be employed for this task."

Euphemia nodded in understanding. "The Third, Fifth, and Seventh Armies."

"Quite, your majesty. The idea would be to rotate the divisions assigned to those armies through Eighth Army, to allow them a chance at a blooding before they are deployed against the Europeans. Or I suppose against the Europeans in the Euro-African theater."

"A sound plan," Euphemia said. "Assuming the landing against Vladivostok can be made to work."

"It can be, your majesty," Zechs said, his voice firm and confident.

Euphemia held the gaze for a moment before smiling. "Very well. Then see that it is, marshal."

Zechs bowed his head. "By your leave, your majesty."

Euphemia looked back over at the map. "You said there were two issues that would complicate the Korean campaign."

"Indeed, your majesty. The other issue is that the Chinese Federation is apparently conceding the other fronts we are engaging it on, specifically the Indian and Malaysian fronts. They have been pulling troops back and are reorganizing them, likely in preparation for sending them to reinforce Korea."

The young woman frowned. "Oh?"

"This leaves us with a rather interesting strategic conundrum. We never had any intention of actually trying to seize portions of the Chinese Federation, only to force them to split their attention to permit us to strike at Manchuria and force them out of the war. The Chinese have obviously decided to trade space for time, with the belief that if they can defeat our Korean efforts they will be able to reclaim any other territory they have lost."

"Well, I suppose we could not have hoped for our enemy to cooperate in the creation of our dream engagement," Euphemia quipped.

Not all of the officers present were quite able to hide their surprise at the empress' remark. Who knew that her majesty shared in the knowledge of that little packet of insightful, and humorous, proverbs.

"Your recommendation then, marshal?"

"As a practical matter it would be inadvisable to actually attempt to occupy the Federation's southern regions," Zechs said. "There are a few points of strategic interest that we should attempt to seize, such as Singapore, but otherwise conducting any further campaigns would be extremely costly in terms of manpower and resources. That is, unless your majesty wishes to change the strategic objective of the Chinese campaign to be one of outright conquest?"

Euphemia shook her head. "The objective remains as it was at the start of this war. I want the Federation out of this war, so that Britannia can bring the full force of its might against our true adversaries."

"In that case, the general staff's recommendation, and one that I fully concur with, is that we should divert the manpower currently concentrated in Sixth Army to Eighth Army. Maintain enough strength in the Sixth to allow it to seize Singapore and hold it, but the rest should be deployed to the Korean Peninsula to further reinforce General Darlton."

The empress nodded. "I hold no objections. Should we perhaps also console the Indians to not attempt any offensive operations into China?"

"That would be advisable, your majesty," Zechs responded. "The Indians are on the cusp of achieving independence, but the state of their restored nation is not such that it could credibly support any sort of campaign abroad."

"Very well, I shall make sure word is passed along our diplomatic channels. And I presume you will also do so via the military's own channels."

Zechs nodded. "Yes your majesty."

"Then are there any other matters that need to be addressed today?"

"No your majesty, that is all the pertinent developments."

"Very well then." Euphemia rose and the others did likewise, eliciting a slight smile from the young woman. "Until next time ladies and gentlemen, I leave you to your actual work."

With that Euphemia took her leave, trailed by two armsmen and one knight, though the knight was not quite trailing her.

"Well Raibeart, would you say things are proceeding satisfactorily?" Euphemia asked once they were outside.

"As well as can be hoped at this point, your majesty. The war must be won and though it is not my place, it would appear to me that Marshal Vander is deftly handling its conduct."

"And yet you offer your opinion anyway," Euphemia teased.

"Well, your majesty did ask," Rai replied with a slight smile of his own.

"I suppose I did," Euphemia said lightly before adopting a more somber expression. "And what of the other matter that you are attending to?"

"Laura and Bertolt are making great strides in their recovery," Rai answered without missing a beat. "Another week or so and their rehabilitation should be advanced enough to allow them to assume active duties."

"I see," Euphemia said, her voice level.

The empress' attitude towards Lelouch's remaining compatriots was complicated. She recognized that they had fought by her side, effectively saving her life within the thought elevator. She also remembered that they had helped orchestrate a campaign of terror against her subjects and assassinations against her family. At present their assistance could be counted upon, but Euphemia was not about to trust them unconditionally. After all, the possibility that they might turn against her and Britannia could not be dismissed, and it was a risk that Rai himself was cognizant of. Right now they shared a common enemy. Once Suzaku was permanently neutralized however would they still be allies, or would they revert to form and attempt to continue Lelouch's vision.

"As regarding the Inquisitio's efforts to locate Suzaku in Europe, we are picking up some hints that he is hiding amongst the Japanese refugee community in one of the Parisian ghettos. That will make finding him, difficult, and directly targeting him when amongst so many civilians problematic."

In other words it would be extremely unwise to try to drop an atomic bomb on Suzaku while he was hiding out there, something that Euphemia already understhood.

"What about our reactionary options?" the empress asked.

"I've spoken with the various branches of the military," Rai said, "and at this point Britannia simply does not possess the global strike capability needed to mount a viable response against Suzaku the next time we detect him. The rockets Britannia was developing to launch its satellites might serve the purpose if a suitable warhead could be strapped onto it, but the necessary targeting capabilities do not as yet exist." The young man shrugged. "The need for an intercontinental ballistic missile did not really arise until the development of nuclear warheads, and that technology is still in its infancy."

"I see," Euphemia said again.

The two arrived at the armored limo that would ferry Euphemia back to the imperial palace. Rai stepped forward and opened the door for her, earning an appreciative smile for his effort. He was right behind Euphemia and settled in across from her.

"Does that mean then you believe it worthwhile for the Empire to attempt construction of a miniaturized warhead?" Euphemia asked once the door was closed.

Rai grimaced. Him or NEMO providing some technology to help in their efforts to neutralize Suzaku had been something of a given. In a way that was what NEMO's transplantation into Kallen had been after all. But to provide weapons technology like the designs for a nuclear warhead compact enough to be launched in a missile and the targeting system that would allow that missile to strike with at least passable accuracy against any place in the world, that was a major escalation. Granted Britannian engineering capabilities was already at the point where they could design and build such a device and system, it was mainly an issue of time. By Rai's estimate if Britannia was serious about it they could probably put together a usable ICBM within a year, two on the outside and perhaps as quickly as six months if they really pushed. That might well be too late to be useful against Suzaku, but once the Empire had that kind of capability there would be all sorts of other geopolitical ramifications, ramifications that would then be brought forward if Rai helped them come up with the weapon now.

It was a strange thing, to actually be considering long-term ramifications instead of being forced to live day by day focused only on the immediate results of one's actions. In his past life Rai would not have hesitated to reach for any weapon offered to him and damnation take the consequences, for if he did hesitate there might not be a tomorrow to worry about them anyway. Now though there was a world that actually could be preserved and knowing full well what nuclear fire could do he was starting to feel reluctant to further fan its flames.

"I think, your majesty, that effort should be made to actually curtail the temptation to use such weapons," Rai finally said.

Euphemia held Rai's gaze silently for a moment before smiling again.

"I see."

Rai leaned back into his own seat. "You seem to see much these days, your majesty."

The empress let out a slight giggle. "Well, that is certainly true." And once more her expression hardened. "And with that sight comes certain responsibilities and obligations, does it not?"

"Yes, yes it does," Rai agreed, his face mirroring the flicker of sorrow.

End of Chapter 106

Hrm, not very many responses to my question last chapter. Readers have been very quiet as of late. Almost as if they are getting bored. Hrm. What to do, what to do.

Rommel to my understanding was not fluent in English though he did know French. And in this timeline there was even less reason for him to know English. In truth back during that scene in Toulon Suzaku had absolutely no idea what Rommel was yelling, I should have rendered that in French instead.

Tohdoh's dog is an Akita inu breed. Just a sidenote.

As a practical matter I needed to give C.C. something to do while following Kallen. Unlike in canon, she's not going to be able to just lounge around eating pizza in between battles, Kallen is going to make her _work_. With C.C.'s medical knowledge, the most logical place would be to put her in charge of the unit's medical needs. Note that my version of C.C. has not actually ever piloted a knightmare and it's questionable how well she would do if she needed to.

Britannia is going through a lot of munitions. That being said, they did spend almost a year stockpiling munitions, so they have a lot to spare. The Empire recognizes that if they have to actively fight to take Soul (Seoul), that's going to slow them down and they'd prefer to avoid that, hence their willingness to basically wreck the city and force the Chinese troops there to surrender.

One thing that I have not touched upon regarding India is the matter of India and Pakistan. To put it lightly, that issue has not been somehow magically resolved in my timeline and is one reason Britannia does not want India, it's at least aware of the boiling animosity between the two peoples and wants absolutely nothing to do with it. The Empire might be imperialistic, but it also knows a Charlie Foxtrot waiting to happen when it sees one and will be working to pull its troops out of India as quickly as possible.

Yang's remarks, don't really have anything to do with China winning. That's not what he's trying to buy time for. I leave the rest to all of you to speculate.

So as a slight thought exercise, and as a preview of sorts. Let us consider what the postwar world will look like. Britannia is going to reclaim the Middle East and at minimum also retake the British Isles. Whether it will attempt to annex Africa outright I will leave to be revealed in the story proper, but you can assume that at minimum European hegemony over it is broken. Britannia does take a few bits and pieces of strategic territory, but again I'll reveal which bits and pieces in the story itself. But we can assume that postwar the Empire is composed of the following territories; North and South America, Hawaii and assorted Pacific islands, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australasia, the Middle East, and the British Isles. The total land surface area of Earth is ~57 million square miles. Britannia by itself has ~24 million square miles, so 42% (not all of it livable of course, there are those giant deserts in the middle of Australia and the Middle East). Now let's look at another metric, population. Let's say 1970 for simplicity's sake, since by then the war would have ended. In the real world population was at 3.7 billion people. The territory encompassed by Britannia comes out to be about 842 million, so 22% of the world population. Now let's talk natural resources. The major known oil deposits are the Middle East and Russia, with the next tier being the North Sea and Scandinavian deposits, Mexico, Venezuela, Alaska, and a few spots in Africa. I'm sure I'm missing a few, but the above should capture the salient point.

Now, assuming that Euphemia and her descendants can keep the Empire from imploding from internal tensions and guide it along a path to continued growth and development, does anyone believe for a moment that any of the remaining nations on Earth have any chance whatsoever of displacing the Empire from its dominant position? There is also the fact that space development is expensive, and Britannia has lots of reasons to push that as hard and fast as possible, so they'll be staking claims on the other celestial bodies as quickly as they can. Moonbase anyone? But the nation that takes the lead in space development will reap immense long term benefits. And along the way they'll be putting up a few toys in Earth orbit as well, like Project Mjölnir and Project Jörmungandr. The latter by the way cost an order of magnitude more than all the money sunk into Damocles.


	108. Chapter 107

_While both the Empress Euphemia and the Princess Millicent were known to be quite found of cats, the Princess Kallen is generally remembered for the many dogs in her household. One was almost always by her highness' side and all were well trained specimens. The majority of her highness' pets were of the Akita or Shiba Inu breeds, both of which experienced a surge in popularity in the Empire after being pictured in the princess' company so often. All of her highness' pets seemed especially attuned to their mistress' mood and those about her soon learned to heed any disquiet by her pets._

 _On several occasions the Princess Kallen's pets have even played a role in ensuring her safety. Though never publicly confirmed, all of the dogs were believed to be trained to detect explosives or other dangerous substances. The remarkable fact here was that despite her highness often coming into contact with explosives due to her military duty, the dogs proved able to distinguish between when the presence of such compounds was warranted and when they were not. On at least one documented occasion a would-be suicide bomber hoping to assassinate the Princess Kallen was brought down by one of her pets whom had detected the explosives strapped to the man's body. In this manner, her highness' pets served as a sort of royal guard for their mistress._

 _-A Spare to Spare: The Royal Houses of Ashford and Stadtfeld_

Chapter 107

Nil volentibus arduum

When Rai entered the workspace set aside for his little taskforce he found Annie waiting for him, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently.

"We need to talk."

"By all means," Rai said, closing the door. "Is something the matter."

"In a manner of speaking." Annie's face twisted unhappily. "One of the jaeger corps has been activated."

Lacking NEMO to help provide him with cues and reminders it took Rai a few moments to dredge up this particular reference. When he did however an eyebrow rose.

"One of, but not all?"

"The one that activated the corps only knew of that one."

"And just whom was able to do this?"

"Field Marshal Erwin Rommel."

The eyebrow stayed up. "I see. And for what reason did the field marshal activate the corps?"

"That's the matter," Annie said. "Suzaku's apparently trying to cut some kind of deal with the Europeans, and the field marshal wants the corps to put him down, hard."

"Now that is interesting," Rai said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "That means he's going outside the EU's regular military and intelligence organs."

Annie nodded. "He's worried that Suzaku will be able to compromise those organs based on what he did in London and the means with which he used to get in touch with the marshal in the first place."

"Now that's an unpleasant thought," Rai said. "Alright, you better fill me in on the specifics."

That Annie did and after half an hour Rai was in Euphemia's office relaying the information to the empress. Euphemia's own reaction was thoughtful, and pensive.

"I will admit to some mixed feelings about this," Euphemia said. "The thought of Suzaku wreaking the sort of havoc on the Europeans that Lelouch subjected Britannia to, is not something I find myself necessarily sorry about. Save for what exactly he has turned into."

The edge of Rai's lips twitched but he remained otherwise impassive as he stood before Euphemia. After a moment the empress sighed.

"I presume the prudent thing would be to lend what discrete assistance we can to this, what did you call it, jaeger corps?"

"Yes your majesty," Rai answered without hesitation.

"Well, before I accede to your counsel, perhaps you could explain to me what exactly this corps is," Euphemia said. "And have a seat already, Raibeart. There is little reason for you to be uncomfortable when you come to deliver me news, regardless of its pleasantry."

This time Rai was just a bit less successful keeping his expression stoic. "Of course, your majesty." Once seated he proceeded with answering Euphemia's question. "The jaeger corps were, are, essentially a covert army that the Lord Lelouch established over in the EU, separate from the official military commands and loyal only to the directives he set down. In fact prior to his deployment to Japan it had been the focus of his primary efforts. They were intended as a trump of sorts, a force that he could call upon if there was a target that the regular authorities could not be manipulated to deal with and which required significant firepower to neutralize."

"Is there a reason he did not bring these corps over to Britannia or Japan to support his operations there?" Euphemia asked.

"Each corps numbers approximately a thousand members, your majesty," Rai said. "Sneaking that many people into Britannian territory would have been a decidedly nontrivial venture. That and Lelouch assumed that the forces he could suborn in Britannia would have been sufficient for his purposes."

"I see. Please, continue."

Rai nodded. "The jaegers are all retired or discharged military, and Lelouch also manipulated the conscription rolls so that in time of war they would only be called up in later waves, if at all. The one that was activated to go after Suzaku is at effectively full strength, meaning if given the opportunity they would have little difficulty overwhelming him if properly prepared."

"And what of this new form of compulsion that Suzaku seems capable of exerting?"

Rai cleared his throat. "All of the jaegers are already under the influence of Lelouch's geass, your majesty. Assuming my hypothesis is correct, they would be immune."

That got Euphemia's attention. "But would that not make them vulnerable to Suzaku's artificial code?"

"Umm, these individuals, yes, your majesty. As such if they are to successfully confront Suzaku they will need to engage him at range, something that they as of yet are not aware of."

"Is there any way we could directly recruit them?"

"That is unlikely," Rai said immediately. "Much as with Lelouch's immediate team, they will only cooperate with us on matters that directly align with their established interests. And to be frank, their presence might well complicate any sort of effort to directly annex any of the European nations that they are based in."

"I see," Euphemia said thoughtfully. "Still, for Lelouch to have gone to such lengths. Was it paranoia, or just being very thorough in his preparations?"

"A little of both, your majesty," Rai said. "The Lord Lelouch recognized early on that should his geass run amok, the options for stopping him became extremely limited. His immediate team was one failsafe, all of them were instilled with an earlier imprint of his self that was still fully lucid and cognizant, which rendered them immune to any attempts at manipulation. He then had them organize a second tier of assets, the jaeger corps, that would provide them with a powerbase should they ever need to act independently."

"How many corps are there?" Euphemia asked.

"Four, according to Annie," Rai said. "Jester is based in France, with Charlotte as the primary point of contact. They are effectively, well, lost to us at this point with her and Lelouch's deaths. Nord is based in Finland, that one we still have contact with through Bertolt. Nidhoggr is based in Germany and Annie and Laura both know how to get in touch with them, in fact it was Annie checking in on them that allowed her to acquire this intel. And lastly Zephyr is based in Switzerland, with Fie as the point of contact for them."

"And Nidhoggr was activated by Field Marshal Rommel," Euphemia noted. "Does that mean others could do the same with the other corps?"

"Yes, your majesty."

"Who."

"Major-General Wilhelm Mannerheim of the Finnish military is the only other individual with access to one of the corps. Besides himself and Field Marshal Rommel, the others are all deceased."

Euphemia frowned. "Deceased?"

"Marshal Juin had access to Jester, and a Colonel Rutgner Claussell of the Swiss armed forces to Zephyr."

"Claussell," Euphemia noted. "Any relation to Fie?"

"Her late adoptive father," Rai answered. "It is my understanding that Colonel Claussell was responsible for organizing Zephyr for the Lord Lelouch."

Euphemia nodded to indicate her understanding and ending of that line of inquiry.

"You said the corps each have about a thousand members. What do they possess in terms of arms?"

"Mostly small arms, your majesty, though they are supposed to have a few specialized pieces of equipment as well."

"Specialized equipment that would be able to take down Suzaku?"

"Potentially, your majesty."

"If they knew what to expect," Euphemia summed up.

"Yes, your majesty."

"What information specifically do you want to pass on to Nidhoggr?"

"The specifications of Suzaku's cybernetic enhancements, including the danger that his artificial code would present to them," Rai answered. "Presently his body is far more durable and capable of feats beyond that of a normal human. If they are to kill him, they will need to employ a fair amount of explosives, simply shooting him will not suffice. Then there is the threat that his artificial code would pose to the imprint Lelouch placed in all of them."

Euphemia considered the issue for a mere moment before nodding. "Permission to pass on this information is granted, Raibeart. Make sure it is put to good use."

* * *

Cole's rifle thundered as he fired off a three-round burst. The Chinese soldier ducked, not that it saved him as a moment later the grenade chucked by Jean exploded at his position.

"Why is it that every time I'm on supply duty with you, we get attacked!?" Jean exclaimed as he hunkered down next to Cole. And almost as an afterthought. "Sir."

"Now that's just unfair," Cole retorted. "There were plenty of times when we didn't get shot at. Though come to think of it, you weren't there so maybe you're the one that attracts bad luck!"

Jean snorted but any response he was contemplating was forestalled as bullets peppered the ridge they were hiding behind.

"Ah fuck!"

"Give me some cover," Cole said.

With a growl Jean rose ever so slightly, taking potshots at a few enemies that he could so. Cole also rose but instead of firing simply surveyed the battlefield. The two squads with him were spread out along the ridge trying to hold off the Chinese attack, but there were a lot of enemy soldiers slowly pushing towards them. Even worse, these guys had somehow managed to set up at least three machineguns hammering away at them, keeping the Britannian troops pinned down. The two ducked back down as one of the guns traversed in their direction.

"That looks like bigger than company level of troops headed our way," Cole said unhappily.

Jean nodded. "Any bright ideas sir?"

"Just the one," Cole said and grabbed his radio. "Sergeant Cardemonde, you read me?"

"Yes sir?" came the hurried and harried response.

"We can't hold this position, we need to pull back."

"But the supplies sir-"

"Are irrelevant compared to the lives of the troops," Cole stated somewhat brusquely. "We're not going to get them out before the Chinese overrun us, there's too many of them. I'm going to get the charges set, hold while you can but be prepared to evacuate the moment I say so."

"Yes sir," Cardemonde acknowledged.

"Follow me," Cole said to Jean as he toggled off the pickup.

"Right behind you," Jean responded. "Sir."

Cole chuckled. At times it was easy to forget that he outranked Jean. When the bullets started flying however, the other youth knew not to make too many presumptions and follow the chain of command. The two hurried back towards the small supply depot that had been set up, really nothing more than a few pallets under tarp at the moment. With all of the forward momentum the 25th infantry division had been rotated from frontline duty to supply convoying for the time being and this was one of several shipments that they were supposed to look after. Of course a short platoon was not exactly going to be doing much looking after when it was under attack by what looked to be nearly a thousand enemy soldiers.

Fortunately one of the squads accompanying them was from the engineering corps and thus they were in possession of copious amounts of explosives. The combat engineers worked quickly, planting blocks of explosives spaced out to do the most damage when they went off.

"Ready in ten minutes sir!" one of the engineers shouted.

"Let's hope we've got that long," Cole said. "C'mon, let's get the vehicles warmed up and ready to go."

All of the Humvees with mounted guns were already at the perimeter trying to help hold the line. The rest Cole and Jean hurried through to get engines started and moved upward so that the troops could pile in once they were ready to withdraw. By the time Cole hopped out of the second vehicle he had parked the radio crackled again.

"Charges set sir, place is ready to blow."

"We on a timer or detonator?" Cole asked.

"Both sir, press once for ten minute countdown, twice for immediate detonation."

"Alright, get me the detonator and then get your troops to the trucks. Don't wait up. Sergeant Cardemonde, begin pulling your troops back."

Less than a minute later a transmitter was slapped into Cole's hands before the corporal in question hustled off. The remaining defenders quickly broke off, piling into the waiting Humvees. Once the last soldier was in Cole slammed down on the accelerator. His was not the last vehicle out, that dubious distinction fell to one of the armed Humvees. Still Cole had waited until every other soldier was aboard a vehicle before pulling out himself. He might not have been a frontline lieutenant, but as the ranking officer he was still responsible for the outpost and everyone manning it. Of course one of the marks of a good officer was knowing when to delegate. Cole pressed once on the detonator.

"Jean, if you would be so kind as to pop up top and check how the Chinese are doing," Cole said, holding out the detonator. "Once they've moved in on the base, drop our little farewell present please."

Jean grinned as he took the transmitter. "Be my pleasure sir."

The skirmish had been brief but bloody and Cole could still make out a few bodies of fallen comrades being left behind in the rear-view mirror. Even then the Britannians had given a good accounting of themselves and Cole knew that the Chinese had taken much greater casualties trying to seize the outpost. The Chinese however had the numbers to absorb the losses while he did not, and so he elected to cut and run instead of committing his troops to some idiotic last stand. That of course did not mean he would say no to an opportunity to take a few last parting shots at the Chinese. And who knew, maybe he would get lucky and catch a good chunk of the enemy troops when the supplies were destroyed.

* * *

"General Yang."

Yang took the offered report. "Thank you lieutenant."

A quick glance over it was all he needed to know that his stratagem was, for the time being, working. With their supply lines coming under hit and run attacks, the Britannians were forced to slow and consolidate their lines of communications before they could risk advancing further north. With his own troops dispersed carrying out these attacks, the Britannians did not have any single body of troops that they could decisively smash. Death by a thousand cuts was a perfectly valid strategy when one was so badly outgunned by the enemy. Of course with the incoming reinforcements from the Russians that particular imbalance might well be rectified, though coordinating with his Russian counterparts promised to be interesting to say the least.

"At present how many of our deployed units have reached their fallback points?" Yang asked.

"Approximately 40% sir, another 30% have reported in that they are in the process of falling back after completing their strikes."

"I see," Yang said with a dry smile. "I was hoping for a bit higher ratio, but I suppose with the need to sneak around the others will have to be sparing in radioing in their status."

That was being mildly optimistic considering the other, unspoken possibility that they would not be making their rendezvous. Of course it was rather unlikely that the Britannians had managed to mousetrap and defeat in detail a third of his forces already, but waiting for news like this was hardly good for one's nerves. What he would not give for a glass of whiskey right now. It was the one western luxury he really missed with the outbreak of war. For all Britannia's many faults, its people had a fine appreciation for good alcohol.

"What of our own supply situation?" Yang asked.

The Chinese battalions had been stripped down, those that actually had gotten their originally assigned weapons complements anyway, to make them as mobile as possible, traveling mostly by foot and bringing with them few heavy weapons. That left them at a distinct disadvantage against Britannian armor, but Yang had issued explicit orders for his troops to avoid engaging the heavier imperial formations. Still even so lightened the mere act of fighting and marching was going to see the Chinese forces expend munitions and consume food, never mind the wear and tear on things as mundane as clothes and tents. All of this needed replenishing if he was to continue trying to stall the Empire's advance.

"We're receiving ample supplies of munitions and weapons directly from Manchuria's factories," another officer answered. "Food, is coming in more slowly and unfortunately the amount that we can locally requisition in the current season is limited. Our other concern is boots, the troops are wearing them out very quickly due to how much marching they've had to do."

Yang grimaced. The situation was only going to get worse once the Russians were thrown into the fray. He wondered if St. Petersburg had considered the little issue of how they were going to keep their own troops fed on the other side of the Trans-Siberian Railway. They probably thought the Chinese Federation could help with that little detail, but if the reports were right he would be having trouble keeping his own troops fed, much less his allies.

"What of the Britannian supply lines that we've been hitting?" Yang asked. "Any luck with scavenging from them?"

"Some, though a few of the Empire's depots and convoys were able to torch their supplies and keep them out of our troops' hands."

Yang nodded. That all made sense. The Britannian military hardly needed any reminders of what could happen if their own supplies were seized and then employed against them, they had employed that stratagem to devastating effect against the Middle East Federation not so long ago after all. Still, pillaging enemy supplies was hardly a reliable way of keeping his own forces in fighting form. When it came down to it, he would need to get his supply lines sorted out or the Empire would eventually run him to ground.

"I'll send a message back to the capital, see if I can get the war staff to lean on the quartermasters harder," Yang said.

That was about the best he could do while out here, and truth be told even if he personally went back his ability to effect change would be limited. That was the job of certain other officers, like one Major Li Xingke.

Yang regarded the map showing the estimated positions of both sides. The fall of Soul was allowing Britannia to bring more supplies closer to the front and he did not doubt they were building a substantial stockpile to support the next big push. When that push came, he was unlikely to have the troops necessary to stop it if only because of the fire support Britannia's air force and navy would be providing its army. That same firepower also made a direct attack on the city itself inadvisable, but not impossible. It was certainly a topic he could broach with the Russian commander. If they could cut Soul off, neutralize Britannia's ability to use it as a forward staging point, that would force the Empire to reconsider its entire plan of attack. At this point Yang was even prepared to settle for simply forcing the Empire to fight tooth and nail to keep the city in its hands, as every soldier committed to it was one less marching northward.

There were some disadvantages to Britannia slowing down its advance as well, as that implied a discipline on the part of Eighth Army's commanding officer in not overextending his lines. General Darlton was obviously no fool and having managed to punch his way through most of southern Korea over the course of two months seemed content to hold at just north of the 38th parallel, building up larger stocks of supplies that would be better able to support future offensives. And despite the pinpricks of Yang's raids, that buildup would be proceeding steadily apace. Stopping it was however not Yang's primary objective. The cobbled together divisions that formed the 13th group army were far from being a cohesive fighting force. They needed a first bloodying that did not end up decimating their ranks and morale, thus the light raids while avoiding direct action. As his divisions gained more experience, Yang could contemplate pitting them against stronger and larger Britannian formations. Time. He and China both needed time. It remained to be seen whether Britannia would be willing to grant it.

* * *

The makeshift base that Cole and his forces pulled into was abuzz with activity. Several other platoons could be seen loading up preparing to deploy while the guards at the perimeter seemed especially attentive.

"What do you make of that sir?" Jean asked.

"I don't know," Cole answered frankly. "And I'm not sure I like it."

The Humvee came to a halt and they climbed out. Sergeant Cardmonde was soon standing before Cole.

"Sergeant, get the troops billeted and see that they get a hot meal. I'll report in about what happened to the outpost."

"Begging your pardon sir, but one of my squad leaders could see to the former two," Cardemonde said. "Something tells me I should be there with you for the latter."

Cole allowed a slight, and grateful, smile. "That would be, appreciated, sergeant. Delegate as you see fit."

"Yes sir." Cardemonde then barked a few quick orders at a corporal and then nodded at Cole. "Right after you, sir."

With a nod Cole made for the large tent at the center of the base. Once inside he immediately recognized the officer at the center of the cacophony.

"-and get me reports on the rest of the depots ASAP," Sulla's voice sounded, cutting clear through the rest of the noise.

Taking a deep breath Cole walked over, snapping to attention.

"Lieutenant Kraft, reporting as ordered ma'am."

Sulla turned about and Cole met her gaze unflinchingly. Shortly after abandoning their position Cole had radioed in to report the withdrawal. The acknowledgment that came back was accompanied by orders to report to this particular outpost and to the officer in charge. Now he was doing so, and waited for said officer's judgment in his decision.

"Lieutenant Kraft," Sulla responded. And then cracked a smile. "Good job getting so many of your troops out of that Charlie Foxtrot. Even better job making sure the Chinks didn't get their hands on your supplies."

Cole fought to keep from gaping. "Ma'am?"

"You weren't the only one hit Kraft," Sulla said, her smile disappearing, "and I won't claim to be happy about you being forced back. But you kept your head on and didn't waste the lives of your command trying to hold an indefensible position. And that deserves to be noted. So good job, lieutenant. I expect you to keep showing such good sense in the future, and knowing the difference between a battle you can fight and a battle you _need_ to fight. Clear?"

It took a moment for Cole to register the prompt but when he did he nodded firmly. "Clear, ma'am."

Sulla favored Cole with another smile and then glanced over at the man standing almost protectively over Cole's shoulder. She chuckled.

"Go get some food, lieutenant, and some sleep. You'll be needing it."

Cole clicked his heels together. "Yes ma'am!"

* * *

A whine sounded from the room, one of obvious distress. Kotone frowned as she paused before the door.

"Renne?"

There was hardly any other sound inside but Kotone was certain the girl was behind those doors. She knocked, calling out again.

"Renne, can I come in?"

No footsteps offered any forewarning before the door opened, the girl being remarkably light on her feet. Renne poked out from behind the slightly ajar door, obviously reluctant to actually come out and greet Kotone.

"What is it?" the girl asked bluntly.

Kotone frowned, not at the girl's lack of manners but at the obvious fact that she was trying to hide something.

"Renne, come out here."

The girl stared at Kotone for several long moments before finally opening the door and standing before the Japanese woman. The dog left in their care by Colonel Tohdoh, Iku, whined again as he paced back and forth behind Renne. He then nudged her arms, which were covered in long sleeves. Renne pretended not to notice but Kotone immediately sensed the pertinence of the dog's actions.

"Renne, let me see your arms."

The way Renne regarded her now was a mixture of anger, and shame. Slowly, ever so slowly, the girl pulled up one of the sleeves. A patchwork of bandages and gauze wrapped her arm.

"Oh Renne," Kotone said, concern resonating in her voice.

She reached out, taking hold of the girl but took care not to be seen as reaching out for the knife Renne carried. No matter how much she wanted to take it away, to stop Renne from doing this sort of thing, she knew the kind of reaction that could provoke. The knife was a safety blanket for the girl, even as at the same time it was what allowed her to commit such self-harm. Taking away the knife would not make her stop, it would only make things worse. They needed to make her feel safe, and maybe even happy. Only then would Renne not feel the need to resort to such actions, as if that were the only thing she could control.

"Come with me, I want to take a look at those bandages," Kotone said, gently but firmly gripping Renne's hand as she led the girl to the medical wing.

"I know perfectly well how to deal with such minor snips," Renne said, almost petulantly.

And left unsaid the reason why she would have such practiced experience.

"Perhaps so, but for my own assurance I will want to see them attended to myself," Kotone replied, still with that gentle firmness, not quite pushing Renne but also not broking any disagreement.

Iku offered a bark, as if approving of Kotone's handing of her charge. Renne gave the dog a betrayed look but all that elicited was a quizzical cocking of the head. The girl sighed.

This was not a tone of voice that Renne was unfamiliar with, many of the doctors at the Directorate, men and women both, had tried to use it on her to ply her cooperation. Those usually learned very quickly that Renne was not fooled in the least as to their actual intent and considered their manners condescending, reciprocating what she considered their lack of sincerity by putting on the faux good girl persona. Most of the researchers wised up to this pretty quickly and gave up on that tact.

Kotone however was doing something Renne had rarely if ever encountered before, taking this parental tone without a hint of deceit. She was being entirely herself when taking this sort of tone with Renne, which was more than a bit confusing to the girl. There had been people entirely upfront and sincere with Renne. Arianrhod for one. She Renne considered someone whose word could be trusted. Kotone gave the same genuine impression, but her tone was so reminiscent of that of those dishonest doctors that Renne was having a hard time trying to make up her mind.

"Lady Kouzuki," one of the nurses on duty greeted politely. "Is there anything we can help you with?"

"I need to patch Renne up a bit," Kotone said. "Could you get some gauze, bandages, alcohol, and antibiotic cream? Oh, and a rag run through child water."

"Of course, milady."

Heinrich and Kotone were still not remarried and so the latter technically did not warrant the courtesy of lady. No one working in the viceroy's palace was stupid enough to forgo it however. The nurse quickly assembled the dressing material and other items and set them before Kotone. The woman nodded her thanks and began to undo the bandaging that Renne herself had performed. Her lips thinned as she regarded the relative freshness of the cuts, as well as the scarring visible on the arms from prior incidents.

"This will sting," Kotone warned.

"A little pain is nothing I can't handle," Renne declared.

Kotone smiled slightly. "People often try to avoid pain, or pretend that they do not feel it. But pain is a useful thing. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things."

Renne regarded Kotone, watching intently as Kotone dampened her arms with the ice-cold cloth. After letting them mostly dry, the woman cleaned each of the still raw cuts with alcohol dabbed swabs. The sharpness of the pain was enough to crack even Renne's demeanor and she flinched once or twice, but the numbing effect of the cold water from before helped take some of the edge off. Kotone then applied the antibiotic cream and finished the dressing with the bandages and gauze. The woman's actions were perhaps a bit more thorough than what Renne herself had settled for, but the girl did not consider her own bandaging to be in any way insufficient. Still Kotone had insisted to seeing to the matter personally with her own hands. That deserved at least some acknowledgment.

"Thank you."

The words were a bit stiff but Renne managed them nonetheless. Kotone smiled and gave the girl an affectionate pat on the head. She then pulled Renne into an embrace, causing the girl to squeak a bit in surprise.

"We're here for you Renne, whenever you're hurt, and even if you're not," Kotone assured the girl.

Renne stiffened. There was a comforting warmth being in Kotone's arms, one that tempted her to just relax and enjoy it. A part of her however was hesitant to truly accept this, for fear that the affection would be merely transitionary and disappear all too quickly. For this reason, and others, Renne did not return the embrace even as her heart ached ever so strongly to do so. This aching, it was another sort of pain. And it too drew attention to an unhealthy state, one that would take much longer to mend and heal.

* * *

Kallen entered the makeshift conference room to find all of the other officers already present, Laura and Gino right behind her. They were not late, there was still a good five minutes before the scheduled time and the men and women already here were all engaged in various side conversations. Upon their entrance however those conversations died down and a respectful silence fell. The young woman smiled wryly.

"Apologies for keeping everyone waiting," she said as she maneuvered to her seat to Andreas' right.

"Not at all your highness," the general said. "Well, now that we are all assembled though, perhaps we should get things rolling."

Murmured agreements sounded and the various attendees directed their full attention to the general.

"As I'm sure all of you are aware, Russian forces have entered China and our forward most elements have already encountered their reconnaissance screens. Russian air units have also been sortieing aggressively, very aggressively, and our own air losses are steadily climbing. The Russians however have not been unbloodied themselves, and fortunately their ability to actually threaten our positions with their airpower remains severely constrained. And hopefully with the commencement of Operation Matryoshka."

Ears perked at that, not least because the name was a new one. It was easy however to infer what the name alluded to. A fierce grin crossed Andreas' face.

"Taskforce 81 completed its workup last week, and is scheduled to arrive in Japan in two days' time."

This time more than ears perked up as quite a few lips twitched as well at that news.

"Like us the Russians are operating on the end of a very long supply chain," the general continued. "The endpoint of their chain is the port city of Vladivostok, the terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway. All of their supplies need to flow through that city before it can reach the units they are deploying to Korea. If Vladivostok falls, the next drop-off point that could handle the traffic would be the city Khabarovsk, over 450 miles north. And every mile, ladies and gentlemen, that get added to the last leg of the Russian supply lines further complicates their logistics and ultimately their combat effectiveness."

That reminder was more for the three youngest flag officers present, most of the other generals and staff officers present had long ago internalized such considerations.

"The entirety of X Corps under Lieutenant-General Gregor has finished transferring to Japan in preparation for the landing operation. All of the Empire's current complement of Naglfar transports are being committed, to allow for the quickest deployment of the corps' numbers as possible. Supporting the operation will be both taskforces of Eighth Fleet, as well as elements of Sixth Fleet. The immediate consequences for us here in Eighth Army is that we will be losing the cover provided by those ships, though Seventh Fleet's ships and planes will remain positioned to continue their fire support."

The invasion and neutralization of Vladivostok was undoubtedly necessary from a strategic perspective, seeing as it was the gateway through which the Russians were pouring reinforcements to the Chinese. Shutting that off would make Eighth Army's life much easier in the long term. The short term cost was of course they would be without a substantial portion of the naval and aerial firepower that had helped propel their advance this far north on the Korean Peninsula.

"We have no idea how the Russians will react to the landing attempt, though it is certain that they are expecting it," Andreas said. "Fortunately the Russians have no naval assets worthy of the term to try to stop us. The city itself has been heavily fortified, but the general staff have determined that leveling of the city would achieve our strategic objectives as much as taking it substantially intact."

In other words the Empire was prepared to bomb the place into oblivion to root out the defenders if the need arose. Kallen tried to keep her face impassive but she was already computing the potential civilian casualties that would result. Or rather, having NEMO calculate it for her. The answer, was not to her liking.

"Hopefully once we crack the initial defenses the Russians will commit to actively engaging us instead of trying to rely on some sort of defense in depth, especially once we demonstrate our willingness to repeat what happened to Pusan."

Then again the Russians might not. They were if nothing else a very hardy people and might well be willing to make the hard choice conceding the city itself in order to wear down the Britannian invaders.

"All of that will ultimately however be General Gregor's problem," Andreas said, reminding Kallen of the other reason she was less than happy with the proposed landing.

Lieutenant-General Berthold Gregor was in all respects a competent commander. He was also emblematic of the old aristocratic officer corps, disdainful of his social lesser and especially those of non-Britannian heritage. The man was especially brutal in his treatment of such persons militarily and his actions during the suppression of the Philippines insurrection had likely done more damage to Britannia's efforts to integrate the islands than anything the insurgents themselves managed to achieve. Kallen would have loved to see the man simply stripped of his command, but Britannia still had uses for someone of Berthold's character. Seeing as that use involved sending the general straight into harm's way, Kallen could always hope that the bastard would come to an unpleasant end. Hopefully without taking his entire command down with him.

"Our problem is how to prevent the forces already engaged against Eighth Army from taking advantage of the decrease in our naval and aerial fire support."

And that quite aptly summed up the immediate concern for Andreas' command. The general looked over at Kallen, eliciting a raised eyebrow from the girl.

"Your highness," Andreas said respectfully. "May we count upon the services of the _Avalon_ to supplement the support that we will be retaining?"

Now that was certainly a change, though Kallen had to admit that the differing circumstances warranted it. Still the issues Andreas himself raised previously had not disappeared with the new circumstances.

"The _Avalon's_ railgun would certainly be a valuable asset," Kallen said. "With the presence of the Russian fighter squadrons however, is deploying it forward still a feasible option?"

"I believe it to be, your highness," Andreas answered. "In fact, I believe that its forward deployment would allow us to set the stages to break the Chinese and Russian forces currently arrayed against us."

Kallen clasped her hands before her. "Well, that certainly sounds ambitious, general. Please, if you would be so kind as to elucidate."

Andreas worked the console before him and a map of Korea appeared.

"Our advance north is and has been hampered by the presence of the T'aebaek Mountains, which effectively divides the peninsula into two. Our forces have been advancing along parallel approaches east and west, but thus far beyond the initial attempts to destroy our beachhead and then the counterattacks on our approach to Soul, Chinese forces have declined to engage in open battle with our forces. Without an opportunity to destroy China's armies, the advances that we have achieved thus far are strategically meaningless since Britannia's intent is not outright conquest. Furthermore, by allowing the Chinese forces to continue maneuvering even as we advance closer to Manchuria, we are potentially, no, we _are_ leaving our own lines of communications vulnerable.

"Conversely the Chinese face a similar problem, in that those troops committed to raiding our lines of communication are far from their own supply lines. Reports indicate that most of the Chinese units are light infantry with little to no heavy weapons. That might make them more mobile, but their effectiveness if caught in open battle against our line regiments would be dubious. Pinning them will certainly be difficult, but not impossible, especially if we can funnel them along the directions we desire."

Lines appeared on the map, along with a large dot.

"The cities of Wonsan and Iwon, on Korea's eastern coast," Andreas said. "Seizing them would permit us to threaten China's Korean armies with encirclement, representing a threat that they would have to honor."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "Is it not also over a hundred miles from our current position? Would not an advance on those cities still further stretch our own lines, the very danger you were previously referring to?"

Said current position was Soul, where Andreas had moved his command to better coordinate the front.

"That is all true, your highness," Andreas agreed, "assuming we had any interest of holding the territory we have already wrested from the Chinese. Our goal however is to force the Chinese, and preferably also the Russians, to commit their forces to an open battle, meaning we can withdraw from the countryside south of the 38th parallel once we have established commanding positions north of it. At the same time seizing Wonsan would present a threat to Pyongyang's eastern flank, and the Russians will almost certainly see a landing at Iwon as an attempt to link up with our forces in Vladivostok. They could not risk not honoring the threat either option represents."

Kallen rubbed her chin. It was certainly audacious and the assessment NEMO was feeding her agreed, mostly, with Andreas' own analysis. Of course trying to perfectly predict your enemy's actions, and then relying completely on those predictions, was usually a prelude to disaster.

"What happens if the Chinese or Russian commanders do call your bluff?" Kallen asked. "Hypothetically, that is."

Andreas allowed a slight smirk. "Then I would demonstrate to the Chinese what allowing their forces to be encircled means."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "So you _are_ intending on trying to advance westward from Wonsan, despite the expected logistical difficulties."

"A threat is only a threat if it is genuine, your highness," Andreas stated simply. "And ultimately either option has the possibility of producing the desired end result."

"And what exactly is that end result, general?" Kallen asked.

"The destruction of the Chinese Korean armies," Andreas answered. "Whether they come to me or I am forced to run them down, they _will_ face a reckoning."

The general was probably right about that much, Kallen was prepared to concede. She had seen Andreas handle Eighth Army with skill and daring, advancing rapidly north even as he parried the many attempts by the Chinese forces to slow or outright halt his progress. Thus far however the Chinese had always managed to successfully withdraw, so despite their bloodying the enemy still possessed a substantial number of soldiers that could yet be employed against Britannia. The next time however Andreas was obviously not willing to let that happen and whatever the vagaries of war, Kallen was not about to bet against the general.

"It is certainly ambitious," Kallen allowed. "Still, I am as yet unclear on what role you intend the _Avalon_ to play, and the feasibility thereof."

Andreas nodded, acknowledging the point. "It is not just the _Avalon_ which I believe would provide a major contribution to the success of this gambit, your highness. The forces that are accompanying you, I believe they too could well play a part."

Kallen ignored the slight murmurs that sounded at that, from the other staff officers present. She did however take note of the furrowed brow and thoughtful expression on Gino and Laura's faces respectively. The two obviously wanted more information, as did Kallen herself.

"Please," Kallen repeated. "If you would be so kind as to elucidate."

* * *

"You can stop smiling now Jean," Cole said without even looking up from the papers in his hands as the two walked.

"I don't know what you mean sir," Jean said, grin still plastered over his face.

"Of course you don't corporal," Cole responded, not quite rolling his eyes.

Jean's promotion to NCO rank was in some ways long time coming. The young man had demonstrated courage, a level head, and loyalty in his service as a rank and file private. That Cole kept tapping him to serve as an assistant likely both helped and hurt his advancement prospects seeing as usually, usually, Cole was not at the front getting shot at. At the same time those few instances where the quartermaster lieutenant did get stuck in, and managed to get back out with his commands mostly intact, was sure to draw at least some notice to the men and women that kept Cole's ass intact, likely explaining his jump from a mere private to corporal, bypassing the grades of private first class and specialist.

"Well, I suppose having you around to manage Connie and Sasha will be helpful," Cole added, almost as an afterthought.

Jean shot his a friend a dirty look. With Cole's back to him he had no way of seeing the smile on the other man's face, but Jean knew it was there. Cole's remark was a reminder that with his new rank also came new responsibilities, specifically command of his own fireteam in Sergeant Cardemonde's squad. The sergeant had made known that he would be making damn sure Jean was worthy of his new authority and Cole knew the hours that Jean was not with him were spent under the tutelage of the older NCO. And with the casualties and general consolidation underway, two members of Jean's fireteam were the perennially troublesome fellow recruits from boot camp. Cole idly wondered just how Jean was finding time to actually enjoy his promotion.

Those musings came to an end as Cole entered the large workspace the also newly promoted Major Sulla was presiding over. With the damage to the Britannian supply lines the captain was working on consolidating and rerouting depots, convoys, and generally making sure that the Chinese would have far fewer opportunities to pounce on her quartermasters. It likely helped that the entire Eighth Army was also consolidating around a couple of strongpoints. They were conceding the initiative, somewhat, to the enemy in doing so, but on at the local theater level. Britannian forces were very aggressively patrolling in the vicinity of its strongpoints around Pusan, Soul/Inchon, and Kangnung, and should the need or opportunity arise they had enough supplies stockpiled that they could drive very deeply into the rest of the peninsula. That opportunity was coming, all of them could feel it.

"Ma'am, you wanted to see me?" Cole said as he stopped before the major.

Sulla nodded. "New orders from up high, lieutenant. Pack your bags, the 25th is being rotated back to the frontlines."

Cole nodded, a bit uncertainly. "Yes ma'am."

That uncertainty was not due to any hesitation to return to the front, excepting the fear of one's own mortality that all humans possessed of course. It was more of a questioning of why the major was telling him personally like this.

"I'm sending you back to Soul to assist with the transfer of our assets," Sulla said. "You already know the state of most of the units in this sector, and you'll be going back with up to date records as well. Coordinate with the others in the support battalion to make sure whatever needs making up is ready when the rest of the division arrives in Soul."

Cole's eyes bugged out slightly. "Ma'am!?"

"Oh yes, and one more thing," Sulla charged straight ahead. "Attention to orders!"

Cole went rigid, his feet clicking together and arms snapping to his sides. Jean likewise came to attention, as did several of the other soldiers and officers that Cole suddenly realized had been watching him. Amongst them was one Sergeant Mayhew Cardemonde, whom stepped forward next to the major.

"Lieutenant Cole Kraft," Sulla began again. "In recognition of your demonstrated valor and skill, and in light of the needs in service of the Imperial Britannian Army, you are hereby elevated to the rank of lieutenant, senior grade."

Cardemonde and Sulla moved to Cole's sides and removed the yellow bar that represented the youth's former rank and replaced it with the solid silver of his new rank. Cardemonde then stepped before Cole again and rendered a salute. Cole immediately returned the courtesy. Sulla then did the same.

"Congratulations, lieutenant," she said with a broad smile.

"Thank you, ma'am!"

End of Chapter 107

Kallen always seemed more like a dog person. Perhaps because the way she kept tagging along with Lelouch made her look like a puppy.

I need to do a better job describing battles. I think part of the problem is that none of the characters thus far have been directly engaged in an all-out battle on the Korean front yet. Even Cole's little skirmish was just that, a skirmish. I have a potential battle lined up that a named character will likely participate in, but it's at least a few weeks ahead in the timeline and I need to get a few other things out of the way first, and there will be intervening battles beforehand that I don't have any named characters present at.

X Corps is presently three infantry divisions with a few knightmare battalions attached. So give or take about 60,000 soldiers. Note that they are ultimately the first wave, if the landing works Britannia has more troops waiting right behind to pour into the Russian Far East to try to screw the Russian logistics as much as they can.

Interesting tidbit. There is not a Chinese Far East Railway connecting the Russian Trans-Siberian with Manchurian regions in my timeline. China in this timeline was not colonized by the major European powers so Russia never got the concession to build it, nor did the Chinese ever see a major reason to hook into it themselves originally. The lack of that railway is however going to bite the Chinese and Russians majorly in the ass since they will need to reroute the flow of manpower and arms once Britannia hits Vladivostok.

Hey look, Cole's been promoted. He's no longer a lowly JG or butter bar, but he's still pretty low on the totem pole. It's technically a brevet promotion, his permanent rank is still lieutenant junior grade, but it'll get formalized once all the paperwork gets processed. At this point the division needs Cole in his senior grade lieutenant position now, so they're handing him the rank and letting the red tape catch up after the fact. And for those people that might complain he's getting promoted too quickly, this is war and there is plenty of precedent for a rate of promotion this fast during say WWII or the Korean War or etc. Cole's rate of promotion is actually a bit slower than if he had been a combat lieutenant instead of being a member of the quartermaster corps. In that case he would probably have been bumped to a senior grade lieutenant shortly after his first or second combat engagement, assuming he did not die and showed he could keep a cool head and react at least somewhat competently. By the end of the war I expect Cole to reach major, assuming he doesn't die. Probably not lieutenant-colonel unless the war takes longer than I intend. Postwar, well, we'll see what his career choice ends up being. Assuming he survives.

That being said, I haven't actually been able to find any nicknames for senior grade/first lieutenants. Those readers of mine that have served in the armed forces, any help in that regard?

I do need to make one clarification here. Traditionally junior grade and senior grade when referring to lieutenants tend to be for the naval ranks. For armies it tends to be 1st or 2nd lieutenant. Britannia's rank structure, while reminiscent of that of the British and American armies, does have a few differences. That and the Britannian Navy was for a while considered the junior service so its, umm, opinions on the likely confusion this would cause went, unheeded. In the Britannian Navy a junior grade lieutenant would actually be equivalent to the army's senior grade lieutenant.

Technically Jean should not be so flippant with Cole, I'm going to need to be more careful with that in the future. Getting too chummy with the troops can cause discipline issues, as real world soldiers can attest to.

To save anyone the trouble of looking, Wilhelm Mannerheim is a made-up character. I am giving him the history of being descended from Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim however, and yes, you can assume he inherited his grandfather's badassery. Assuming I can work it in, he's going to be giving Britannia some headaches.

A bit surprised no one caught on to the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital reference. Or are most of my readers too young to get it?

In some respects I did not foreshadow the existence of the jaeger corps well enough. I did hint in the past that Lelouch had more assets stashed away in Europe that he was not able to call upon while he was in Japan and Britannia. Lelouch created the corps as a trump to use against the Directorate should the opportunity ever arise to directly attack them. Of course he did not know about their artificial code and what it could do to people he had geassed, but there was still a better than even chance of them winning if they had assaulted the Antarctic facility.

Forgot to mention this last chapter, but China's ability to field a gigantic army is actually somewhat constrained. One needs to keep in mind that China's economy is much less mature and efficient than Britannia's, so they need more people working the fields and factories to keep producing the food and goods that the country as a whole needs. After all, there is not much point in putting together armies if you can't feed or arm them adequately. Now China can put together a much larger army than Britannia, that much is true. The question is can they can come up with enough troops, and arm them, to offset the qualitative edge Britannia's forces possesses. In the Korean War after the UN forces were able to absorb the initial offenses launched by the PLA, Chinese forces began to take much heavier casualties due to the logistical challenges they ran into and combined with better equipment on the part of the UN/US forces. Now if the EU can crank out enough modern weapons to arm the Chinese troops, well, that changes the calculus substantially, and Britannia will be going to great lengths to try to prevent that from happening.

My remark about India and Pakistan was not in reference to the two countries' animosity, in this timeline they are all part of India since the Chinese obviously never performed a partition. It's referring to the internal animosity that existed even before partition. The impetus for partition obviously had to exist for it to happen in the first place, and it was driven by a combination of incompetence on the part of the British authorities (as well as some intentional social engineering to undercut opposition to British rule), actually existing societal pressures and rivalries, and just plain bad luck all around. Britannia maintains contingency plans for a lot of situations and they do their best to remain abreast of issues in other countries that they might be able to exploit should a war break out. The tension between the Hindu and Muslim populations of India was one they were already cognizant of and the notion of Britannian troops needing to deploy in that environment was heavily disfavored amongst the general staff. Britannia has a lot of experience conquering and pacifying places, after all, and its institutional memory regarding good and bad conditions is quite strong. One look at India and the majority of the professional officer corps had a collective big "nope" regarding whether it would be worth it trying to reclaim the subcontinent for the Empire.

The officer corps also has a similar opinion about trying to outright conquer China. Too many people and too much territory. In fact if they did conquer China they would then be responsible for the welfare of several hundred million more people, while the amount of resources they would gain would still result in a net decrease of the average amount of resources each imperial subject could theoretically get pre-conquest. Britannia makes an explicit decision not to assume that responsibility, and thus preserve more resources to provide for the prosperity of their existing subjects.

Following off of that, the post-war political climate is going to be, interesting, to say the least. Britannia will have in effect broken, in one form or another, the other major powers, leaving in many places a vacuum. There will be groups that will attempt to fill in that vacuum and frankly the Empire will have likely created an even bigger mess than what happened post-WWII in some parts of the world. The regions that Britannia seizes will stabilize much more quickly but the regions that they leave to their own devices, well…

I'm technically not assuming things when I make remarks about the longevity of Britannian rule. I, as the author, have information that none of you yet have, after all, meaning I know the policies that Euphemia and others will enact. I am making an assumption about how well those will work, but as I've demonstrated multiple times over the course of this story I try to root my assumptions based on at least some solid foundations, it might be premature to suggest I'm assuming too much before we've gotten to that point in the story.

People keep going on about supernatural/mystic stuff. I'm obviously not getting through the point that there's a scientific underpinning to what the code and geass are capable of. I may well need to do an infodump in the author notes some point in the future if the prose text isn't getting it across.

One wonders why one would stick with a story for 107 chapters if it was bad.

Charlie Foxtrot = Cluster Fuck. It's basically military slang.

The review notification system is at least partially broken, I think a third of the reviews that came in for the past chapter never made it to my inbox.


	109. Chapter 108

Snippet spoiler: To a degree

 _For the Holy Britannian Empire, the most prominent theatre commander in its ranks during the Great War would certainly have to be Field Marshal Andreas Darlton. A lieutenant-general at the start of the war, Lord Darlton was elevated to the rank of general and appointed commander of the Britannian Eighth Army being organized in Japan. Once the Korean offensive commenced, General Darlton led his army in a series of rapid advances that steadily pushed back the Chinese and Russian forces while simultaneously grinding them down. Combined with the landings executed against the Russian Far East conducted by elements of Sixth Army, Britannia was on the verge of a decisive breakout into Manchuria in a scant six months after first landing troops in Pusan._

 _Following the conclusion of the Chinese campaigns, General Darlton was rotated out to command the Seventh Army when it commenced operations to retake the Middle East from the Europeans. Utilizing his experience from the first time he served in that theatre, General Darlton proceeded to thoroughly decimate the enemy formations opposing him. The fighting was by all accounts extremely difficult, but the wide terrain allowed for the very sort of maneuver warfare Britannia excelled in. By the time the Empire was prepared to commits its forces against continental Europe, General Darlton's successes made him the perfect choice to serve as the overall commanding officer for all of the Britannian armies so converging. Duly appointed field marshal, Lord Darlton would lead Britannia's forces to a final victory over the Empire's foes._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 108

Age quod agis

"I swear to the gods, the next brainless twit that tries to flatter me with empty platitudes is going to get booted out a window by his pompous ass," Milly groused.

Euphemia gave her friend an understanding smile. Ever since Milly's appointment as heir primus, not to mention the fact that the girl in question was undoubtedly beautiful in her own right, scions from the various remaining noble houses were doing their utmost to find some reason to call upon her. Milly however was having none of it, employing every trick that she had learned over the course of evading the various marriage interviews her parents had tried to force upon her prior to their restoration to avoid meeting with any of the prospective courtiers in anything remotely resembling a private, intimate setting. There was no way she could avoid them at the social events her standing demanded she attend, but Milly refused to grant any of the men trying to woo her any hint of warmth or consideration.

One measure that Milly shamelessly utilized was to camp out at the imperial palace, ostensibly as part of her duties as heir primus. And truth be told she was doing work, not just as part of her court duties but also in matters related to actual governance. The original plan for Milly to become more involved in the education ministry was still on the table, even if now Milly would be dealing with policies that impacted the entire Empire and not just Japan. Either way, while at the imperial palace Milly could count on the very tight security that protected Euphemia to also help keep out her unwanted admirers. Those armsmen could probably achieve that end using much less lethal means than what Mikasa would likely resort to.

"Not all of your suitors are how did you put it, brainless twits? Some of them are even quite accomplished in their chosen pursuits."

Milly snorted. "And how many pursuits are in actually useful professions and not just idle fancies that those supposedly wellborn think is not above themselves to sully their hands with?"

"Well," Euphemia tried. "What about those serving in the military?"

And pointedly did not bring up any that were in civil postings.

"Do you really want me to be flirting with your armsmen, Euphie?" Milly asked, eyebrow raised. "Cause they're about the only ones left that aren't either overseas already or in the process of shipping out."

"Point," Euphemia considered, the rather serious expression on her face giving Milly pause. The words next out of the empress' mouth did a bit more than that. "I would prefer you not distract my armsmen, but there are certainly prospects amongst my knights. What of Sir Weinberg?"

Milly's eyes bugged out momentarily. "Euphie, are you seriously trying to play matchmaker!?"

The empress cocked her head aside. "Why should I not be?"

"Guess this is what I get for letting Kallen snatch Cole for herself," Milly said with a sigh.

Euphemia offered another smile at Milly, this one tinted with bemusement. "I did not know you and Cole were so, close."

Milly shrugged. "We flirted a few times, but nothing serious. And my parents weren't exactly their encouraging selves about it since back then Cole's family didn't have any titles of their own, even if his mother was of noble birth."

Euphemia nodded in understanding. The Ashford family's desire to restore their fortunes was something she was well aware of, especially after her appointment as viceroy of Japan. True that was no longer a concern, but there were times when the lengths Milly's parents went was more than a bit off putting to Euphemia. Then again seeing as they never forced Milly to choose a suitor, their hearts were probably in the right place.

"Still," Milly said. "I can't help but notice you suggested Gino, and not that other stud you've got. Raibeart, was it?"

The smile on Euphemia's face now still retained the empress' humor, but there was something else there as well. In fact Milly could almost see a hint of a chill beneath it.

"That goes without saying," Euphemia said lightly. "Raibeart's basic persona would find your active sense of humor rather trying, whereas I know Sir Weinberg to be a rather jovial sort."

"Oh, I can be trying, can I?" Milly shot back, even as she noted the subtext.

Euphemia could evidently be very territorial when it came to romance. Not surprising in the least when one considered the young woman's basic personality. She could be kind, but was still stubborn. And her love was resolute, which could well be a burden for those it was directed at. In some respects Cole had it lucky, Milly mused, not getting any more involved with Euphemia than he had to before explicitly and openly embracing Kallen. Hopefully this Raibeart character was of solid enough constitution to accept Euphemia's affection, and return to the empress the love that she needed in turn. Now as to whether the Knight of Three was in any way a match for Milly, well, that would remain to be seen.

Before either woman could continue with their banter the door opened and both looked up to see whom had entered. As far as Euphemia could recall there were no appointments scheduled for this time and had it been an unexpected guest her secretary would have announced them. That left very few possibilities of whom would be allowed such discrete entry into her presence, such as members of her personal staff or guard. The woman that now stood before her and Milly was of the former and Euphemia favored the woman with a smile. Before she could direct her attention back to the paperwork before her however Jane spoke.

"Your majesty, could I have a moment of your time?"

"Of course Jane," Euphemia said, a brief flicker of surprise passing her eyes.

"Well, I better get back to my own office," Milly said as she stood.

As she took her leave Jane offered a polite bow before turning back to face the empress. The woman favored Euphemia with a smile of her own before assuming a more formal poise.

Jane Eyre had been with Euphemia for near on four years at this point, having begun her service when the young woman was a mere auditor in the Exchequer. She had been there for many pivotal moments in Euphemia's life, from her appointment as viceroy of Japan to the Battle of Tokyo, where her uncle gave his life saving his liege, to Euphemia's ascension to the throne. All of Euphemia's staff had her confidence, that went without saying. Nonetheless Jane did hold a special place amongst their number.

"Your majesty, I would like to thank you for everything you have done for me this far. Circumstances however have arisen that require that I resign my position on your staff."

Euphemia's eyes widened. That, was most definitely not what she had thought Jane was here to broach. Some matter involving her work, a question to clarify one of Euphemia's directives, certainly. An announcement of her resignation? It took Euphemia a few moments to fully comprehend.

"May I ask the reason why?" Euphemia finally asked.

To the young woman's surprise again Jane smiled. Brightly, happily, and genuinely. The older woman clasped her hands over her heart.

"My duties in the Duchy of Virginia will I am afraid demand all of my time and attention, your majesty. My sincerest apologies."

And then it clicked. The next moment Euphemia was out of her seat and across the room. She enveloped Jane into an embrace, one the other woman returned after a brief moment to recover.

"I am glad for you Jane, truly," Euphemia said softly. "And I know Edward will take good care of you."

"Thank you your majesty," Jane responded with heartfelt gratitude. "For everything that you have done for me. For bringing the two of us together."

Euphemia shook her head. "What I have done, pales when set against the loyalty and service that you, your family, have gifted me with." The empress released Jane and met the other woman's eyes. "Should you or your family ever, ever find yourselves in need, know that my doors will always be open to you."

Jane smiled, taking Euphemia's hands and giving them a squeeze. "And know too, your majesty, that should you ever have need to call upon me once more, I will be there for you."

* * *

"They're definitely stalling," Suzaku said aloud.

The others in the room all turned in response to Suzaku's words, though the motion was wooden. No one offered any response or query to Suzaku's remark however, they just stood there with their attention fixed on the youth. Suzaku grimaced. He was starting to discover some limits to the harmony that he was gifting others with. With uniformity of purpose and thought also came a limited, more narrow perspective on matters. Oh sure he could tap into the collective knowledge all of them possessed, that provided him with a fair amount of details which the lack thereof might have derailed his plans, but it was not the same as having a different perspective to view his ideas from. Still, this was only a temporary problem. Once everyone was unified in this harmony, there would not be any need for this kind of scheming and maneuvering so a lack of differing views would hardly be a problem.

For now though he needed to be pragmatic and recognize that there were such things as differing views, and that they could even be helpful. And obstructive, as the European authorities were proving. The German field marshal had promised to consider his offer and request for resources to help against Britannia, but the lack of trust was palpable. And though Suzaku had managed to amass some resources via Ryo's underground connections, he would need access to more legitimate channels if he was to organize movements out of Europe proper unless he wanted to spend months traversing the world to get to Central Africa, the Middle East, India, and Mongolia. Britannia was still being held up in Korea according to the news, but Suzaku knew better than to underestimate the Empire's strength. They would eventually commit forces to seize the other thought elevators, and if he was confronted with the likes of Kallen, Suzaku knew he would need some actual firepower to carry the day. The issue was the obvious unwillingness of the Europeans to provide him with said firepower.

Suzaku considered his options. There were other places from which he could get weapons and supplies though, even beyond what the criminal underground could provide. Actual weapons of war, things that might allow him to enter the battlefield with the sort of lethality he once possessed. After all, was it not the Dassault-Dunois company that was working on knightmares for the Europeans?"

Suzaku blinked. Now where had that thought come from? How had he known this? Another memory, faint as it was, flickered in his mind.

"Dassault-Dunois is actually building knightmares?" a male voice sounded.

"Apparently so, if what my father was insinuating is true," this time a woman's.

Suzaku grimaced. Charlotte. Charlotte Dunois. She was a member of that family.

"Well, that is certainly interesting," Lelouch's voice continued. "Are they actually making any progress on the matter?"

"My father certainly seems to think they will with the research data we stole from Camelot. Whether they will, well, Krupp was able to produce their Panzer Hummels, so I see little reason why Dassault-Dunois could not do the same for their design."

"Though if they are attempting to emulate the Lancelot, they may be setting their sights a bit higher than they should for their first iteration," Lelouch remarked.

"Time will tell," Charlotte said. "Though I doubt we will have any further news on their progress while in Britannia."

The voices faded and Suzaku grimaced again. Charlotte, the girl that Lelouch had turned into his pawn, just like he had done to Suzaku himself. How many other lives had that former Britannian prince destroyed? Well, at least Charlotte herself was now at peace and beyond the reach of those that would abuse her. Now it was up to him to make sure others would not share her fate.

"Ryo," Suzaku spoke up again. "See what you can dig up about Dassault-Dunois. Specifically, where they might be working on any special projects."

The other youth turned and took his leave without any courtesies, but that might well be because Suzaku's own attention was no longer directly focused on him. The young man was digging through those memories again. Lelouch and Charlotte had been, intimate, a notion that he found distasteful in the extreme. Nonetheless there might yet be more information about the company within those fragments, so Suzaku steeled himself. There were secrets buried within those thoughts, secrets that would make or break this world. He was determined that they would see him be the one doing the making.

* * *

As Ruben entered the office Euphemia looked up and greeted her prime minister with a warm smile.

"Good afternoon Ruben."

The elderly man himself smiled back. "Your majesty."

It was a testament to the two's closeness that Ruben had no need to wait for an invitation and simply seated himself before Euphemia's desk. He then placed some of the documents he was carrying before the young woman.

"The acts that await your imperial assent," he said.

Euphemia reached over and collected the folders. She glanced over them, noting which ones Ruben had brought her today. The few short months of his tenure as prime minister thus far had been busy and productive times. Granted there was no actual opposition worthy of the term in the House of Lords right now, Ruben still took care to build a basic level of consensus amongst the nobility of the various laws and provisions being brought forward. The most difficult of those was now before her, an adjustment to the way in which taxation was split between the provinces and the imperial government.

The proposed adjustment had originally been presented by the Prince Schneizel as part of a ploy to draw the former Dukes Albarea and Cayenne to Pendragon and potentially delay their planned attack on the capital. In the aftermath of the battle and the formation of the new government, Euphemia had seen no reason to withdraw the measure, especially in light of the significant demands on the government's finances from fighting the war. A change this contentious was not going to sale through unopposed even with the brutal winnowing of the Lords' membership and unless Euphemia and Ruben were prepared to risk a delayed backlash they needed to offer concessions to the nobles in exchange for the increased centralized control.

"I see you managed to induce a few more members of the Conservative Association to see reason," Euphemia noted. "Or have they found a different appellation yet?"

There was nothing gentle or warm in Euphemia's smile this time around. Truth be told Ruben himself was not terribly broken up about the current problems that faction of the Lords was facing, what with the open treason of two of their most prominent members.

"There was some initial murmurs about referring to themselves as Conservative Loyalists," Ruben said. "The Crown Loyalists in the Commons made their opposition to what they considered a misappropriation of that label very emphatically, so right now they are still the Conservative Association while the remaining members try and find some way to disassociate themselves from the tainted history of that brand." The man gestured at the document Euphemia was holding. "In fact some of their members whom did vote in favor of the reapportioning are doing so solely for that purpose. We however cannot count on their desire for political survival to outweigh their instinctive opposition to any erosion of their prerogatives to continue for long."

"Of that I am well aware," Euphemia said. "Still, I wonder if these nobles understand just what it means for the crown to assume fiscal responsibility for additional services within their domains in exchange for the reapportioning."

"They likely due to some extent," Ruben said, "but quite a few will fixate on the fact that they will no longer have to provide funds for things like local education and not think too hard about what they have lost in turn."

That kind of short term thinking was unfortunately far too endemic of Britannian nobility but in this instance it was to Euphemia's advantage. In the long term the empress intended to try to do something about it though, the Empire needed a peerage that actually did think in the long term beyond its own personal comforts and power.

"I did however have to toss them one other bone," Ruben continued with a shrug. "As expected, the personal holdings of the peerage will have to be exempted from the increased level of taxation."

"Nothing we did not expect," Euphemia said. "Though I wonder if the lords actually understand just how limited a revenue source that will be in the long run."

"Some probably do, intellectually at least, but the direct association between their titles and their holdings is still ingrained in many nobles, and so naturally they are instinctively more protective of those holdings."

"Well, time will tell," Euphemia said.

The empress withdrew the fountain pen from its holder and in one smooth practiced motion set her name upon the document. She then affixed the imperial seal and closed the folder, handing it back to Ruben.

"Now, I believe there are these other matters," Euphemia said.

One bill down, many more to go. Her agenda was advancing bit by bit, but it was advancing.

* * *

Fie skipped back, putting enough distance between herself and Kallen to be out of the reach of the latter's katana. The modified pair of pistols, unloaded of course, were surprisingly effective melee weapons with the blades mounted under their barrels. Kallen at least was learning a healthy respect for them when in Fie's hands. As for why the two were trading blows, the reasons were manifold and perhaps slightly nonobvious.

The simplest reason for the two to duel was that Kallen needed to keep up her training and Fie was a very, very competent combatant, making her an excellent training partner. The younger girl relied on her speed and maneuverability to overcome the disparity against larger opponents, literally bouncing around the battlefield to outflank her enemies and wear them down before delivering the final blow. She rarely bothered trying to fight head on, instead employing feints and other tricks to keep her enemies guessing as to her real intent. This often proved frustrating for opponents more used to direct forms of combat but that did not make it any less effective.

The other reason Fie was serving as Kallen's training partner was due to a very special quality possessed by the girl, one shared by her compatriots back in Pendragon as well. Namely, Kallen's geass could not read them, which meant she could not track or predict their movements. With that particular advantage nullified Kallen needed to rely on her combat instincts the old fashioned way to stand a chance against Fie, much the same as she would need to do when they finally confronted Suzaku.

Fie came at Kallen again, directly charging her from the front. There was no way the girl actually intended this to be her main effort and Kallen's suspicion was vindicated when on the last bound the girl tossed one of her gunblades and leapt to the side. Kallen easily batted aside the rubber knife thrown at her, spinning about at the same time to avoid losing line of sight on Fie. If that happened, she might not lock back onto the girl before Fie managed to land a winning blow.

Out of the corner of her eye Kallen caught sight of something arcing towards her. She came about just in time to-

"Gah!"

Or perhaps not. The metal boomerang's edges were not sharpened, otherwise they would have easily sliced through the armor Kallen was wearing. The impact might still leave a bruise though Kallen was a bit too preoccupied with other matters to care, like just when Fie had managed to throw the thing and how had she not seen it happen. A chill ran down the back of Kallen's neck and she spun around, this time quickly enough to block the slash of Fie's blade. The other blade came thrusting in horizontally while the first locked down her katana, but Kallen was not out of options yet. She leapt back, taking advantage of the fact that Fie was still in the air and thus unable to adjust her vector, or so she thought. The moment before their blades broke contact Fie gave a mighty shove, pushing herself down onto the ground and bouncing forth at Kallen again. There was no time for Kallen to turn her blade about to intercept Fie. Instead Kallen kicked up, nailing the smaller girl in the stomach with her boot.

"Oof!"

The wind knocked out of her, Fie crumbled to the ground and Kallen brought her katana down.

"Looks like my win," a very winded Kallen declared.

"Not bad," Fie said after taking a few gasps of air. "Maybe you'll stand a chance against Laura yet."

"Surely she's not that much stronger than you," Kallen said as she sheathed her katana.

"You keep thinking that," Fie said in a completely deadpan tone."

Kallen rubbed her chin. Sometimes it was genuinely hard to tell when Fie was joking and when she was dead serious. Then again seeing as Fie's Laura had been out of commission the past month or so from the injuries she suffered facing a Directorate enforcer it was not as if Kallen had had any opportunity to test the assertion.

The two made their way back toward the waiting vehicles, picking up the sentries along the way. Having people around whose senses Kallen could tap into would partially nullify Fie's advantage, hence why they had conducted their little duel away from everyone else. To Kallen's bemusement the soldiers all looked rather relieved at seeing her unscathed. It was not like they had any way of knowing Kallen could see basically everything within a ten-kilometer radius and so was at little risk of being ambushed or sniped.

A quick ride back to base and Kallen sank into a nice hot bath, one of the few times where she unashamedly took full advantage of her position as heir secundus. Feeling nicely refreshed, she made her way to the command center. There was no meeting scheduled and no urgent summons had been issued, but the war did not stop just because she was taking a bath. In fact as she regarded the situation map things had gotten rather, excited, since the last briefing.

"Your highness."

Kallen glanced over at Andreas as he joined her and nodded respectfully. "General. Assuming I'm not reading the map wrong, the situation in Vladivostok has, evolved."

"That it has, your highness," Andreas said.

Xenos reports had indicated prior to commencement of the landing operation approximately three Russian divisions were being held back in defense of Vladivostok, two armored and one infantry. Combined with the Russians' considerably stronger air power, that might well have been enough to stand off a normal amphibious landing. As it was the attempt on Vladivostok had required Britannia to commit effectively the entirety of its Pacific naval assets, with taskforces from Third, Sixth, and Eighth Fleet participating. Even then the landing of X Corps' units using the Naglfar-class transports would have been no sure thing.

Ultimately X Corps had made landfall, getting the entirety of its forces into the city and initial reports had indicated they were able to establish a beachhead, even if fighting was still fierce. Now however the map showed several additional tags representing a substantially larger European force than previously thought.

"The Balkenkreuz," Kallen said. "That represents Wehrmacht units, correct?"

"Indeed your highness," Andreas said. "At least three division's worth, our analysts estimate. And one of them seems to be an armored division equipped with the Panzer Hummels."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "Those are the German knightmares, are they not?"

"Bipedal combat mechs at the very least," Andreas said. "Their design philosophy is considerably different from that of the Empire's knightmares. There is a direct, utilitarianism to them. Optimized for their specific task, not generalized or as flexible outside it. A very, Germanic approach."

Kallen suppressed a bemused snort. "And how are these, not-knightmares performing?"

"We shall see once they engage X Corps' units," Andreas said, "and whether the lessons we learned in the Middle East can be applied."

That was right, Kallen recalled, this was not the first time the Empire had faced the German weapons.

"Based on their past performance, how would you rate these machines?" Kallen asked.

Andreas rubbed his thin thoughtfully. "As I said, the German design is optimized to its purpose, allowing for quick strikes and maneuvers. Out in the open deserts of Arabia, they proved more than even matches against our tanks and could even outmaneuver the Sutherlands that made up the bulk of our knightmare forces there. Speed wise they still might surpass our Gloucesters. Vladivostok is however a very different environment, and I have had some thoughts as to the best manner to exploit their designs."

"Care to share some of those insights?" Kallen prompted.

Andreas moved to one of the consoles next to map and typed away. A moment later he gestured at the display, now with an image of a Panzer Hummel being projected.

"The Hummel possesses two cannons mounted on what amounts to its arms," Andreas said. "Reports from the field indicate that they can actually be targeted independently, which is quite an impressive achievement for the European engineers. The angle at which they can pivot however is limited, due to the need to deal with recoil and back blast, meaning for all intents and purposes a Hummel needs to be facing the target it is trying to shoot. On an open plain, that is not too difficult to achieve."

"But in an urban environment," Kallen followed the line of thought, "where there are lots of tight turns and corners."

Andreas nodded approvingly. "Indeed, your highness."

Kallen clasped her hands, drumming her fingers. This particular tidbit might well be useful to her personally, considering she might one day face these Hummels on the battlefield.

"Have the German units actually entered the city?" Kallen asked.

Andreas shook his head. "It appears they were on their way to Vladivostok when the city came under attack. They've unloaded outside the range of X Corps' naval support and will likely attempt to approach under cover of what air assets the Russians are able to muster."

"And we are certain they're not going to be sent towards Korean instead?"

"An unlikely possibility," Andreas said. "Vladivostok remains the closest terminal of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the only effective means the Europeans have to maintaining a supply line to their forces in Asia. If the city falls, they risk losing all of their forces here."

Kallen looked back over at the map. "But the Germans. Will they be able to recognize that risk and respond prudently?"

The general raised an eyebrow. "Your highness?"

"Well it's just, one of the briefs I read about the Wehrmacht," Kallen said. "It noted that they had a tendency to go after objectives of major strategic advantage even when the risk of failure was catastrophic."

"A point," Andreas agreed. "And if the Germans are mad enough to make a push against our Korean forces, I do not intend to be caught flatfooted. For now however best that we focus on the threats that are actively arrayed against Eighth Army than unlikely hypotheticals."

To that Kallen nodded. The general himself had a point there, with all the problems they were facing already they should not actively invite more. Hopefully the Germans would show some common sense and commit their units to Vladivostok's defense instead of making for some mad dash against the Empire's Korean positions. With that matter so resolved Kallen shifted her attention onto others.

"In that case general," Kallen said, "how goes preparations for our own offensives?"

It was not as if there was not plenty of work left to do here after all.

* * *

Rai retreated, or more like tumbled back from the onslaught Laura unleashed upon him. The German girl was fast, strong, and despite lacking any of the cybernetic enhancements Rai possessed was actually outpacing the young man, at least in bursts. She could not quite sustain that pace, there were definite windows wherein Rai was able to reverse the pressure on Laura, but when she was able to go all out the girl was like a force of nature. A force driven by grief, and fury.

"HEEEEEYAH!"

The spinning kick slammed into Rai's guard, the impact strong enough to have shattered normal bone. As it was Rai knew his arm would see some bruising, but he was able to absorb the strike and reach out to seize hold of Laura's leg. Using the very momentum the girl had put into her kick, Rai spun about, twirling Laura around and tried to slam her into the ground. Laura was having none of it however, actually kicking her other foot back so that she could arch her body back. The sudden jerk was enough to wrench her foot free from Rai's grip and the girl cartwheeled away and was back on her feet, stance solid and ready to go, in a mere moment.

Rai was starting to suspect that had Laura not been incapacitated by McBurn inside the thought elevator, the confrontation against the Krell-possessed Lelouch and Suzaku would have gone very differently, especially with the trump in her left eye. It would not have been much use against a geass wielder, but against a code bearer, it would have been absolutely lethal. Rai had always wondered where the original design for the anti-code came from. He never considered that he might have the opportunity to witness the fruition of so many pieces of technology that underpinned his own life but here he was, riding along on Damocles' debut and now sparring with someone that possessed a primitive anti-code. Just how Lelouch had managed to pull that off Rai would love to know, but the deceased prince's compatriots were being very tightlipped about it.

Before Rai could launch another attack Laura winced, gripping her side. Annie was immediate upon her, helping steady the other girl.

"That's enough for today," the blond-haired girl declared.

Laura nodded curtly and let the older girl guide her out of the gym. Rai watched the two leave. Laura was unlikely to have opened up any of her wounds, but better safe than sorry.

"She's bouncing back," another voice sounded.

Looking over Rai regarded Bertolt. "You don't sound very happy about that."

The young man grimaced. "She's pushing herself too hard. She wants something, wants it so badly that she's not stopping to take a breath. And when she gets it, I'm not sure what she'll do next."

The loss of her best friend and brother figure had emotionally crushed Laura. To keep functioning, to keep living, she needed some goal to pursue, and the one that Laura had settled on was ending Suzaku's life. While it might be a stretch to say Laura blamed Suzaku for Lelouch and Charlotte's death, in the German girl's mind the Japanese youth did represent the thing that ultimately killed them. To exact vengeance on Suzaku was now the driving force behind Laura's life, and Rai did not doubt for a moment that if the two ever met Laura would have his head. If there would be anything left of her afterward, that he could not say.

"I'm somewhat amazed at the pace Laura is setting for herself," Rai remarked. "Was she always this strong?"

"Annie and Laura are our best hand-to-hand specialists," Bertolt said. "None of us have ever managed to beat them one-on-one. Between the two of them, Laura's always been stronger physically while Annie is faster." His lips thinned. "Or rather, was. At this point I'm not sure if even Annie could match her."

"Interesting," Rai remarked. "She's not quite at the level of an enforcer, but had she been provided with the enhancement suite, she probably could have taken down McBurn by herself."

"Maybe. There's no guarantees in a battle, and frankly some of the Directorate enforcers sounded like real freaks considering their abilities."

Rai regarded the other youth. "You have issue with geass holders?"

Bertolt grimaced. "It's, unnatural. Even ignoring the fact that you're basically a thrall of the code bearer you're contracted with, you're meddling with things mortals were not meant to touch upon, the very fabric of the world. There are consequences for that kind of power, none to my liking."

"Despite the fact that Lelouch himself wielded such power?" Rai pointed out.

"You know our opinion regarding Lelouch's ability," Bertolt said. "The few times he employed his geass on a large scale, he was pretty much addicted to opioids to deal with the severity of his migraines by the time we made our move on the thought elevator. It might have been necessary, but it would never have been anything more than a necessary evil. And evil always begets more evil in the end."

Rai clasped his hands behind him. "You disapprove of us coopting the Directorate's projects."

"I certainly do," Bertolt said. "Better that that entire place have been burned to the ground and the earth salted. Better that the whole rotting thing never touched human minds. God knows we have enough ways of murdering our fellow man without the abominations that code and geass can produce."

The German youth was not exactly wrong, but neither was the man right. What the Directorate had done, some of it was certainly abominable. And yet it was in the nature of man to never stop thirsting for more; more wealth, more power, more knowledge. That was inevitable and to try to slam the door shut on progress out of fear of stumbling across something beyond man's means to control or contain, that would as surely lead to humanity's doom in the long term. This Rai believed even after the history he had lived through, the destruction of mankind in his native time plane.

Bertolt's words had not changed Rai's mind. It had however reminded the young man that the current partnership with Lelouch's compatriots was one of mutual interest, not of natural congruence. A time would come when they would consider themselves opposed to Britannia again and considering the resources Lelouch had squirreled away, if they were able to escape Britannian custody they might well be able to strike a very damaging blow. That was a problem, one that Rai could see a very direct solution to, albeit not necessarily simple. And yet that particular option did not sit well with him. Never mind that by the end of all this they would likely have shed blood together, these men and women had still been Lelouch's most trusted compatriots, effectively the only family he had had for his years of exile. Perhaps Rai was being overly sentimental, but the young man could not find anything wrong with that. Sentiment, it was another thing that had not been burned out of him despite the many years fighting a losing war. Or perhaps because of it.

Rai grimaced. A solution would need to be found. He would prefer that it leave Lelouch's compatriots alive in the end, finally able to live a relatively normal and quiet life. And if that ultimately turned out to not be possible, Rai was not afraid to admit it would be with utmost regret that he would face them for one final bout.

* * *

The sound of boots thundering against the ground was an almost welcome change of beat for Li Xingke, compared to the stale quiet that was the Forbidden City that he was used to. Out here he could feel the motion of life, the struggles of the men being pushed to their limits, and ultimately their sense of triumph when they surpassed those expectations. These people knew adversity, knew courage, and it would be they that would hold the balance of China's future, if China could buy the time to forge them into the soldiers she so desperately needed.

"Six months," Li Xingke remarked.

"Sir?"

The man glanced back at his assistant, a comely woman by the name of Zhou Xianglin. A very rare sight in the Federation's military, Zhou was a steadfast and determined individual whose superior valued for her not just her competence but also her firm loyalty. Part of that loyalty was another all too rare feature, a willingness to speak her mind. More than once Zhou's insights had allowed Li Xingke to avoid some oversight or mistake that would have cost his ambition gravely.

"General Yang's mobilization plan included a rotation of his forces every six months," Li Xingke said. "I cannot help but wonder whether the soldiers here will be ready in time."

It was not just the soldiers, Li Xingke left unsaid, for there was also the matter of arms, clothing, and the countless other minutiae that went into standing up an army. China should have been able to provide ample amounts of all that, but the reverses it had suffered over the course of the war had removed a considerable amount of its military equipment from play. Effectively losing entire divisions whenever the Britannian Navy was able to interdict any of the island theaters tended to do that. And as a member of the war staff, Li Xingke understood well just how much the Federation was straining to meet the demands of the war.

"The men here seem most enthusiastic in their drilling," Zhou remarked. "I have no doubt their spirit will carry them to meeting their charge."

"That it might," Li Xingke agreed with a slight smile.

The soldiers training did seem to be putting in their all, which suggested at least a certain esprit de corps. That was no small feat on the part of their officers. Li Xingke looked down at the men overseeing the effort.

"Lieutenant."

The man spun about and immediately hurried over, snapping a salute as he came before Li Xingke.

"Yes sir!"

"In your own words," the major said. "How fares the men?"

"We've straightened out any slack that there was at the start sir," the lieutenant said. "Don't worry sir, we won't be disappointing General Yang when we join up with him."

That got Li Xingke's attention. "You served with General Yang before?"

The man nodded. "Yes sir, in India. The General led us through hell and back, but he led us back. It's only right we go where he goes next."

Understanding lit up in Li Xingke's eyes and he nodded accordingly. "That it is, lieutenant. When you next see the General, be sure to pass on my own regards. I learned much from him over the years, and I would wish nothing more than for him to have many more years yet to teach me."

The lieutenant beamed back at Li Xingke. "Yes sir, I will be sure to do so."

With another nod the man was dismissed and he hurried back to his station. Li Xingke watched for a brief moment as the lieutenant resumed urging on the trainees.

"It would seem the cadre system is working out well," the major remarked. "And some had even been with the General in India. That is, promising."

In more ways than one, Li Xingke did not state aloud. Still it was reassuring in the extreme that the soldiers here were so prepared to defend China from her enemies, whomever they were and wherever they might be.

End of Chapter 108

Jane deserved a happy end, considering what she's been through. I intend to give her that happy end, though we're not quite there yet. And woe unto anyone that gives the new Duchess of Richmond crap about her commoner heritage. Assuming such a person survives contact with Jane's own steely will, there's her husband the honorable Edward Rochester and the loving couple's principal patron, the Empress Euphemia. Oh and every soldier that holds her late uncle Jonathan in high esteem.

Anyway, just a general reminder that even with the war going on, life still goes on for all of the rest of the characters not actively fighting at the front. I needed the break as well considering writing the pseudo-frontline stuff was getting a bit tiresome. I needed those scenes for setup purposes, but they were effectively filler until we get to the next sequence of more active events.

The range of Kallen's geass has increased substantially since the little jaunt in the thought elevator. At this point if you want to kill her, you might well need to drop a nuke or MOAB on her, anything else she actually has a decent chance of outrunning.

The last couple of chapters have been a bit plodding, but I needed to get a few plot important scenes out of the way. In general I think a lot of you are as much if not more interested in the character development aspects of the story as the political/war developments. The last couple of chapters haven't really had too much of that, primarily because there hasn't been any big crisis for the characters to deal with. And for all intents and purposes Euphemia is past most of the major evolutions that will be covered in this story. Kallen on the other hand still has some growing to do, and the next arc will encapsulate some of that.

In truth I should write a bit more about what Euphemia is up to back in Pendragon in terms of her running the government, but nothing has really come to mind for me to show. If any of you have any specific requests, that might be helpful in jogging my own thoughts, as right now I'm actually drawing a blank.


	110. Chapter 109

_The Battle of Chosin Reservoir was easily one of the most decisive engagements of the Asian threatre. Occurring at the Changjin Reservoir, the battle's name comes from the pronunciation used by many of the Japanese soldiers that fought there on the Britannian side. The battle's origins can be traced to the landings at Wonson and Iwon executed by the Britannian Eighth Army. The 1_ _st_ _Marine Division spearheaded an advance further north as part of General Darlton's attempts to draw the Chinese forces into an open battle. In this the general did succeed, though perhaps more so than he originally desired._

 _It was about this time that the Chinese 9_ _th_ _Group Army was deployed to the Korean Peninsula and launched a determined attack to beat back the Britannian advance. The Marines were able to withstand the initial onslaught, but then news came that a large contingent of German troops, originally thought to be occupied by the Battle of Vladivostok, had been sighted maneuvering south to encircle the Britannian forces. What was previously a tenuous situation became an outright dangerous one and Eighth Army rushed reinforcements north. The first units so dispatched were led by the Princess Kallen herself, and in the coming battle her highness would establish her reputation as the greatest knightmare pilot of her generation, and one of the deadliest soldiers alive._

Chapter 109

Omnibus locis fit caedes

Rare were the days that Christoph Dunois was able to spend a quiet evening at home, what with the tempo of the war picking up. The demand for arms was growing with every passing day and as one of the great industrial conglomerates Dassault-Dunois stood to profit handsomely from the conflict. Of course wealth was not the only thing that motivated the Frenchman, he was a patriot at heart after all and had no desire to see his homeland fall under the Britannian heel.

Of course not all of Dassault-Dunois' efforts to aid the war effort were going as smoothly as one might have wished. The Rafale, the promising but perennially problematic combat mech the company was trying to get into production, was again requiring an adjustment of its project schedule. The frustration this caused for all involved, ranging from the engineers to the managers never mind the military officers was palpable. Whether Christoph putting in a personal appearance was more likely to hinder than help the development team the man could not say. At the same time things had gone on long enough that some sort of change needed to happen. Otherwise by the time development was complete on the Rafale the war might well already be over.

The car slowed, eliciting a frown from Christoph as he looked out the window.

"Is there a problem Francois?"

The driver made no response. Instead the locks on the car doors clicked open. A moment later one opened and an Asian youth slid into the car next to Christoph. Before the Frenchman could gather his wits and respond to this sudden intrusion the locks clicked again and the car start moving.

"Monsieur Dunois," the youth greeted, a noticeable and coarse accent sounding. "You and I have much to discuss."

"I beg your pardon?" Christoph finally exclaimed. "Just who the devil are you?"

"I am, an acquaintance of your daughter, Charlotte."

Christoph's eyes narrowed. "I somehow doubt that my daughter would keep company with someone so crass."

"Mou attankedo," the youth muttered.

"Pardon?"

The young man cleared his throat. "Tell me, Monsieur Dunois, do you know what exactly it was that your daughter did?"

Christoph looked at the youth blankly, and then frowned. "What it _was_ that she did?"

The youth nodded.

"Well seeing as you are insinuating you know something I do not, perhaps you should be the one answering that question?" the Frenchman said shortly.

The other man tilted his head. "Fair enough. Your daughter was an operative for the French foreign intelligence service. I believe you call it the Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage."

Christoph spent several moments simply staring at the young man.

"That's ridiculously," he finally exploded. "Charlotte might well have been a cadet at the military lycée, but she certainly was no spy!"

"On the contrary," the youth insisted. "It was through her duties as an intelligence operative that we met in Japan. And it was from me that she acquired the technical data on the knightmares that Camelot was developing, data which was passed onto your company."

The manner in which Christoph regarded the Japanese youth was now more than just wary, there was a hint of trepidation as well.

"Just who are you?"

"My name is Suzaku Kururugi. I was the test pilot of the Lancelot prototype, the very machine that your engineers have been working to duplicate the capabilities of. I have, reasons of my own to wish Britannia's downfall, and I believe I might be able to offer some insight into the issues you are having with your knightmare. In exchange, all I ask are some resources to allow me to continue my fight against our mutual enemy, the Empire. Does such an arrangement pique your interest, Monsieur Dunois?"

Christoph regarded the young man, Suzaku, more thoughtfully this time.

"Suzaku Kururugi. I have heard your name, and not in too flattering a circumstance."

In truth all Christoph had were rumors that associated the name with Toulon and the late Marshal Juin. Considering the fate of the latter two, calling the rumors unflattering was putting it rather mildly. Suzaku himself however seemed rather unperturbed by Christoph's insinuations.

"I have done things, things that I am proud of and things that I am not. But I have no intention of letting my past stand in the way of my purpose."

Purpose, not goal. That was a rather strong way of describing his intentions. Suzaku's tone reeked of fanaticism, which was never a good sign. Still, fanatics could be controlled if one were careful in handling them. And if there was any truth to the rumors, merely knowing just what happened at Toulon, and to the Marshal Juin, could be useful in its own right. But was this knowledge worth the risk. Christoph continued to regard Suzaku thoughtfully. It might well be, if the man's claims were all true. It would require a great deal of gall to spin a fantasy like this, but if it were true Dassault-Dunois might well profit from some sort of deal with him. Christoph himself might well profit even more.

"You claim to be acquainted with my daughter," Christoph finally said.

Suzaku smiled slightly. The Frenchman was inviting him to prove his claim, and so he proceeded to do just that.

* * *

"Status," the captain said.

" _Johnston_ and _Samuel B. Roberts_ report ready," the rating answered.

The captain nodded. "Then bring us in. And may the gods smile upon us this day."

The three warships began to descend and the tactical display lit up with position data of all of their targets. There were a lot of them, indicating the sheer numbers arrayed against the 1st Marine Division at the Chosin reservoir. Even worse, none of those positions were definite and the lack of observers able to provide accurate targeting data required the ships to get much closer than they really had any business being, Blaze Luminous or not. For one thing, the distance they were put them actually within range of the massed artillery raining death down upon the marines. At the same time the presence of these three ships offered an irresistible target to the Chinese artillerists and thus just might divert them from pounding on the ground troops.

Almost immediately the ground lit up with flashes of cannon fire. Not just that, the anti-air batteries that had remained hidden also unleashed their fury. The point defenses aboard the two destroyers responded in kind and swatted aside a substantial number of missiles that rose to try to slay them. The shells on the other hand were not so easily brushed aside and slammed into all three ships. Green light flared from their shields, but they held. The fire that rained down from the three warships was more deadly, despite the best efforts of the Chinese soldiers in digging out bunkers and other holes to protect themselves and their weapons. Dirt was actually surprising good protection against a variety of battlefield hazards. Against 32 megajoule railgun rounds, the Chinese had not dug deeply enough.

Positions all along the Chinese lines ballooned into fiery blossoms as batteries were knocked out one by one. The fire pounding the marine division slackened ever so slightly as more and more guns tried to range on the ships hovering above. Fighters and helicopter gunships added to the cacophony of destruction and the dying that accompanied it. The slaughter was far from one-sided however as even under this bombardment Chinese units inched forward closer to the Britannian defenses. While the larger guns traded blows with the warships, smaller mortars and pieces continued pounding at targets on the ground. This was not the first time Britannian forces had found themselves under such pressure and sheer weight of fire was grinding them down. The only question was whether the Chinese were themselves being ground down faster as they hammered away at the Britannian lines.

"Sir, Blaze Luminous system is in serious danger of overloading," one of the bridge officers reported. "We need to pull back, to dump all of the charge we've built up."

The Blaze Luminous was an interesting piece of technology. It consumed energy to nullify the kinetic energy of projectiles that impacted upon it, but the absorption process also generated static that needed to be discharged. For the likes of the Lancelot that discharge was trivial since the knightmare frame was effectively always grounded. For the flying ships, that could be much more complicated. The capacitor banks that buffered the charge before they were discharged could be overwhelmed by sheer volume of fire, with catastrophic results. The larger warships like the battleships or the flying carrier had sufficient capacity to withstand fire from even the 64 megajoule railguns they mounted. The destroyers and the older prototype _Avalon_ were much more limited however and the strain they were coming under would require them to withdraw soon or risk outright destruction. At the same time if they withdrew, the Marines down below would become exposed to the very artillery fire hammering them.

"Hold position," the captain ordered. "We need to give time for her highness to complete her mission, otherwise nothing we'll have done will have meant a damn thing."

There was a grimness to the determination set on the crew's face, but they obeyed the command and continued laying down fire as well as they could. Between the three warships they only had three weapons suited to ground attack and the cycling time for the railguns meant even with their individual destructive power the sheer weight of fire still favored the Chinese attackers. This also meant of course that despite the attacks upon them the Chinese were still pushing ahead.

"Sir, we have two Chinese columns pushing against the Marines' left flank."

The captain grimaced. "I see them. Shift target priorities, we need to keep them from hooking around."

"Trying sir, but-wait, what the?"

The captain's eyes widened as he watched one of the destroyers maneuver itself closer to the enemy lines.

"It's the _Samuel B. Roberts_ ," an officer said. "What are they doing?"

The destroyer in question was dropping down perilously low, in fact it was so close to the Chinese soldiers that many of their small arms were reaching high enough to hit the shield. Conversely the point defenses that studded the destroyer suddenly found the targets on the ground within their range, a point clearly annunciated as they peppered the enemy positions. The automated fire control for these turrets were never intended to for such targets, but that was why manual overrides existed and the gunners manning them made every round count.

The Chinese advance began to crumble even as they continued to pour fire against the flying demon darkening the sky above them even as it savaged their ranks. And then a brilliant light eclipsed the brilliance of the sun for a single moment before molten slag and shrapnel slammed down onto the ground. Those Chinese soldiers unlucky enough to be caught directly under the ship likely never even realized what was happening. The others outside of the immediate blast radius survived just a bit longer, though they likely remained just as ignorant of what caused their demise. The pressure wave that slammed into them, assuming it did not kill them outright, was more than enough to disorient them long enough for the flying debris to finish the job.

"Did any boats make it off?" the captain asked immediately.

The crewman manning the appropriate station spent a few moments consulting his instruments before shaking his head grimly.

"No sir, no beacons are being detected."

The captain clenched his jaw. The chances of anyone making it off the destroyer under those circumstances were low, but that did not make confirmation any easier to accept.

"Status on the enemy units," the captain said softly.

"Hard to tell sir," another officer answered. "Visibility is a mess right now, but, the Chinks are definitely reeling. _Samuel B_. definitely managed to take out those two columns."

The captain nodded. There was also a noticeable slackening of incoming artillery fire as well, just enough that the two remaining ships were not in any immediate danger of sharing their compatriot's fate. It was however also noticeably picking back up as the Chinese gunners recovered their wits and took heart in their apparent success, however pyrrhic it might have been for their fellow soldiers.

"Sir, 7th regiment is signaling that they are going to attempt to flank the Chinese forces concentrating along the northeastern tip of the reservoir," the communications officer reported. "ETA thirty minutes."

At which point the _Avalon_ and _Johnston_ would need to stop shelling those particular positions to avoid catching the Marines in friendly fire. There were plenty of other targets to choose from, but the captain grimaced nonetheless.

"Advise the regimental CO that I do not advise they try to advance that far out from our lines," the captain said. "That far north we can't provide them with any support if they get encircled."

The time it took to relay those words and receive a response was likely not all that long. Time still seemed to crawl even with the thundering shells slamming against the shield.

"The colonel acknowledges, but is still going to make the attempt," the officer finally reported. "If those enemy troops can get over to the outpost at Hagaru-ri, the Marines will lose their closest supply depot and airfield."

There was a definite logic to the colonel's points, something the captain acknowledged with a glum nod.

"Inform the colonel that we will provide what support we can from our position. If he can notify us when his units will be in position, we'll try to lay down enough covering fire that the Chinks will still be hiding in their holes when his boys move in."

"Yes sir."

The intensity of the fighting raging below was still fierce and it was an open question whether the 1st Marine Division would survive, much less emerge victorious. Were they to fall though, they would be in good company, for the cost to the Chinese army to advance even this far had been horrendous. And if Britannia could push that cost just a bit higher, then it would not just be survival these Marines would achieve, but victory outright.

* * *

A slight tremor ran through the frame of the knightmare. Kallen took a deep breath as she tried to remain calm. This was certainly not the first time she had gone into battle, would almost certainly not be the last, and yet somehow everything felt different. It was not just the fact that she was being ferried to the battlefield aboard a Naglfar-class transport, which was in and of itself still something of a novelty. No, what was really different was whom she was going into battle with, whom she was going into battle for.

"Five minutes, your highness," a voice crackled over the radio.

"Acknowledged."

There was no time to ponder such circumstances however, if Kallen allowed herself to become distracted in the upcoming battle it was not just herself that might die, but all of the men and women under her command as well. That feeling, that sense of responsibility, was still the same, and Kallen was as determined now as she was back then to not fail her charge.

The sudden attack upon the Marine division at Chosin was bad enough, even worse were the German divisions advancing south to try and encircle the Britannian forces. Eighth Army was rushing reinforcements north, but they needed to stop the Germans from hooking up with the Chinese forces that were even now marching east. That was Kallen's job, to buy enough time for more of Eighth Army to advance and establish a defensive line to keep a corridor to the ocean open. If they could do that, they could break the Chinese and German forces instead of the other way around.

"Two minutes."

Kallen took deep breaths, letting her senses envelope the immediate vicinity of the transport as it rapidly descended towards the ground. She noted the corridor being opened up along the Britannian lines to allow for her units to pass through, and the dozens of Panzer Hummels pressing forward just beyond those lines.

"One minute!"

The turbulence was now buffeting the transport so severely that its passengers would have been thrown about were it not for their webbing and other restraints. At least some of the tumult was not due to simple air currents as the green sheen of the shield flashed from hits achieved by the distant German units. Those were however mercifully few and the transport landed, with a thud, but still landed, and its ramps dropped down.

Kallen seized hold of the controls and the Guren glided gracefully out into the cacophony of battle. She arced about, Laura's Lancelot Azure, Anya's Mordred, and Gino's Lancelot Tristan right behind. The three knightmares of Duvalie's short platoon and the equally numbered platoon of Tohdoh's maneuvered left and right of Kallen's central thrust. They were still not quite in sight of the enemy units but when they finally came into range Kallen intended for their attention to be solely fixed on her formation, and not just because of the colorful palettes of their knightmares.

The Guren started lowering its frame before pushing off the ground and leaping into the air. It did not fall back down, not immediately at least, as the float systems kicked in and carried the knightmare even higher. Right behind her the rest of her platoon likewise lifted off and the four soared towards the advancing column of Panzer Hummels.

The German frames caught sight of them quickly and their guns traversed upwards in an effort to track and fire on them. The fire control system that they were equipped with came with some distinct limitations however, never mind that they had not been designed for use against targets in a 3D environment. The other problem was that they were limited to firing on targets within one kilometer of the Hummel itself, their automated rangefinders not able to lock onto anything further out. The guns could still be aimed manually of course, but doing so from a moving platform was less than idea. As such the Hummels slowed in preparation for when the Britannian knightmares touched down and provided them with easier targets. Unfortunately for them Kallen and the others had no intention of making it that easy for them.

The railguns carried by the Guren and the two Lancelots opened fire, cleaning nailing their respective targets. Those three knightmares then swung aside to give Anya a clear firing lane. The girl made good use of it and her Hadron cannon sliced through a quartet of Hummels that had been clustered together too closely. In the space of a minute the lead company of Hummels had been gutted. Things only promised to go downhill from there.

From the flanks the six Gloucesters finally caught up and poured fire at the surviving German mechs. The Hummels began to backtrack, trying to get out of the crossfire they were coming under. The weight of fire however continued to deplete their numbers even as they found themselves unable to concentrate on one front without risking getting mauled from another. And then the point became moot as Kallen's platoon recovered from their landing and rejoined the fray. While a Hummel might survive a hit from the cannon rifles carried by the Gloucesters, each railgun round was still going even after cleaning slicing through its target. More than a few German units further back found themselves on the receiving end of an unpleasant surprise before the rounds finally spent their velocity or slammed into a hillside.

"Lead column neutralized," Kallen reported, then grimaced. "German units are still advancing, I make out at least two more companies of Hummels backed by regiment-sized force of infantry."

"Acknowledged your highness," the senior Britannian officer of this particular redoubt, outside of Kallen's own command at least, responded.

"We're going to maneuver south, try to get them along their flanks," Kallen continued. "If we can turn their advance in our direction, be prepared to hit them from your position."

"Understood your highness. Good luck."

Kallen switched back to her own command channel. "Captain Ackermann, are your units disembarked?"

"Yes your highness," came the response. "We are moving to link up with you now."

"I want you on our right flank," Kallen said, "due east of my position. If the Germans try to sneak a force after us when we hit them north, I'll need you there to keep us from being caught unawares."

That was not entirely true, it was literally impossible for anyone to sneak up on Kallen at this point short of a supersonic missile. Still having Levi's company in that position would at least slow the Germans down long enough for Kallen to extricate and reposition her knightmare company to beat off the attack.

"Understood your highness, we're moving out now."

"All knightmares on me," Kallen said over the company channel. "We've got a second Panzer company headed our way, we're going to maneuver south and try to hit them from that direction."

"Yes your highness," acknowledgments came.

She was still not used to being so addressed but now was not the time to dwell on such trivialities. The battalion followed Kallen south and the infantry company maneuvered due east before the APCs popped their hatches and the soldiers poured out. There was not much time to dig in too deeply but shovels still came out to make at least some shallow foxholes. Remarkable that a few inches of dirt could mean the difference between life and death.

By this point the Germans knew that their forward units had run into something serious and the Hummels now advancing were doing so much more guardedly. The colors of Kallen's direct platoon made them impossible to actually hide so the young woman did not even try. The Gloucesters were however more sensibly painted for field deployments and so again Kallen had them held in reserve as a surprise while her unit drew the enemy's attention. With their Blaze Luminous they were at least more likely to survive that attention.

Off in the distance explosions were audible and Kallen noted the blasts that erupted along the Britannian lines.

"Your highness, the Germans are starting to shell our positions," another report came in.

"Noted," Kallen said as she mentally mapped out with NEMO's assistance where those artillery batteries were situated.

They were coming from outside the range of her geass, but she could still track the trajectories of the shells when they entered her sight. Taking into account the rate of fire and other factors, there were at least eighteen howitzers shelling the Britannian positions, making up one of the two artillery battalions the Germans would have attached to their Panzer division. With the airspace still contested aerial recon was spotty at best and it was not clear if both battalions were participating in the attack. Even if they were not firing just yet, Kallen was not about to assume their absence would continue forever.

"This is General Stadtfeld, requesting immediate strike on battery of enemy artillery," Kallen said into the radio, rattling off the approximate coordinates that she, or rather NEMO, had calculated.

"Request acknowledged your highness, executing ASAP."

The artillery officer seemed at least prepared to accept Kallen's word on where the enemy batteries were located as all of the Britannian guns thundered moments later. The barrage landed outside of Kallen's range but there was a noticeable lack of counterbattery fire from the Germans. That suggested it had hit close enough to distract the German gunners, a distraction that Kallen was happy to take advantage of as her knightmare company swung north again.

The second company of Panzer Hummels was now in visual range though well outside the effective range of the standard weapons on both sides. The VARIS rifles on the other hand would have little trouble reaching that distance and the three knightmares so equipped each popped off a shot, nailing their respective targets. The German units responded quickly however, turning south to try to close the distance to where they could answer even as they zigzagged back and forth to make themselves harder to hit. Gino's next shot missed by a hair while Laura's shattered the arm of her target, crippling but not quite neutralizing it. Kallen's however hit dead center before blowing through and smashing the leg of another Hummel that had the misfortune to turn into the shot.

The German forces were being chewed through with merciless efficiency, really rather inevitable considering the range advantage the railguns offered Kallen's unit. Combined with Kallen's preternatural accuracy, by the time the Hummels were finally able to range on them the second company's numbers had been reduced by nearly half. The rationale decision here would have been to withdraw or even surrender when faced with such a one-sided slaughter. Rationality however tended be in short supply in the heat of battle and the temptation to do something, anything, now that they were in range was too great for the German Hummel pilots. They opened fire, and were promptly answered by the Gloucesters that were also now in range.

"Targets neutralized," Kallen reported. "Enemy infantry is still advancing, though they seem to be swinging south to try to flank us."

Which would see them run right into Levi's company. Of course there was no reason for Kallen to allow the Germans to merrily make their way unharrowed towards her other troops.

"This is Stadtfeld," Kallen said again, "requesting immediate strike on enemy infantry columns."

Again with NEMO's help she plotted the approximate location the enemy troops would be by the time the artillery batteries could respond to her request and open fire. Kallen was still watching the Germans riding forth in their troop transports when the bombardment swept through their formation. It was not a clean sweep, not even close. At the same time Kallen saw clear and crisp glimpses of blood and broken appendages from the shattered wrecks of the APCs caught in the blasts. She grimaced, a sharp pain spiking in her head.

 _Your grace, I am detecting dangerously elevated levels of glutamate and nitric acid. You should restrain further extension of your geass._

 _I'll be fine_ , Kallen responded somewhat brusquely. _The battle isn't over yet, I need to stay focused._

NEMO made no response and Kallen felt a slight pang of guilt. She did have a point however, distractions during a battle could be fatal and whatever compounds NEMO was detecting could be no more lethal than getting hit by a shell or bullet.

The German units, while stunned by the artillery strike, were not knocked out of the fight outright. Their APCs continued to charge forward, obviously deciding that closing in until they were point blank with the Britannians was the best protection against further barrages. That was probably true, but the first warning they received of the proximity of the Britannian troops was when Levi's company let loose with several bazookas, nailing more of the APCs. The survivors bailed out and were quickly joined by others in relatively unscathed transports even as others popped up top to man the machineguns.

While the Germans quickly tried to find cover wherever they could, Levi's troops had had enough time to dig in to an extent. They could hardly be considered entrenched, but the Germans would find digging them out of their foxholes an unpleasant experience. Of course if the Britannians had it their way not only would the experience be unpleasant, it would also be a failure.

A flash erupted in the sky and a moment later an advancing squad of German soldiers was turned to ash as the Hadron beam literally vaporized them. Mordred hung above for a moment longer before slowly dropping to the ground. The other knightmares were however already on the move. This time it was the Gloucesters that advanced first, their rifles better equipped for anti-personnel work than the railguns the Guren and Lancelots possessed. The attention of the German troops quickly shifted from the Britannian soldiers to the mechs savaging their ranks.

If infantry could be said to have any advantage over armored opponents, it was that they tended to outnumber said opponents. Even after the destruction visited upon their ranks this was still true for the German soldiers and so it was inevitable that they would start popping off anti-tank weapons at the knightmares. The missiles were not quite able to punch through the armor of the Gloucesters, but a lucky hit could still disable one of the knightmares if a leg servo was knocked out.

The Gloucesters were of course not simply standing still waiting to be hit. The two platoons pushed forward, the infantry following closely behind to provide support even as they used the knightmares as distractions. Without proper entrenchments and more anti-armor weapons, the Germans had no choice but slowly fall back. They did not go quietly however, forcing the Britannians to fight for every inch of ground.

Casualties were also starting to mount on the Britannian side even as German losses remained both absolutely and proportionally higher. It was about to get much worse for the Germans however as four shadows crossed their positions before growing behind them. With a loud crash the four knightmares made their landing immediately behind the German positions. The panicked response was brushed almost contemptuously aside by the Blaze Luminous shield. What answered them was far deadlier.

The VARIS rifle did possess anti-personnel capabilities and its shots could be stepped down to preserve power for a faster rate of fire when penetration capability was less essential. The three shots that smashed into the clusters of German soldiers exploded in a shower of shrapnel, easily puncturing the armor those troops were and shredding the lucky ones so quickly they barely realized what happened.

Kallen flinched again as the smell of blood and smoke flooded her senses. She spun about as another missile streaked towards her, dropping her knightmare down and just barely evading it. She was clustered too closely with the rest of her platoon to maneuver easily so the knight leapt forward, crossing the distance to her attackers in a single bound. At this range the VARIS rifle was too unwieldy to utilize against the soldiers right before her. Another missile launcher rose, ready to unload upon her, and Kallen instinctively used the best weapon at hand. The claw on the Guren's right arm began glowing.

Kallen had never used the Radiant Wave Surger on targets as small as foot soldiers. In her previous engagements with the Guren she had used it against other knightmares and even a few vehicles. Intellectually she knew what happened when the human body was subjected to the massive burst of radiation the Surger emitted. She had however never witnessed it firsthand, not least because the explosions caused by the Surger cooking off fuel or ammunition tended to just as quickly consume anyone caught in the blast.

These soldiers were however out in the open and though they carried with them some explosives, in the open ground the resulting blasts were not confined and channeled like inside a tank or truck. Then there was the considerably more developed state of Kallen's geass, and the degree to which she had ramped it up to catch every detail on the battlefield. As such this time Kallen saw the flesh bursting as the radiation smashed the cell walls. This time she watched as the heat began outright boiling the blood. And she witnessed every step of the painful, excruciating death the dozen or so soldiers caught in the Surger blast were subjected to.

Each second seemed to slow and stretch out into an eternity. Kallen tried to pull her knightmare back, to get her camera off of the soldiers literally exploding into a red mist. Except that she did not need her knightmare's camera to watch, the scene played out in the sight of dozens if not hundreds of other eyes. Only one was needed for her to share that sight. And then she watched as another soldier rose, readying yet another missile in her direction. This time there was no torturous wait, no sudden halt in her motion. The Guren spun about and another shot rang from its rifle, eviscerating the soldier and his comrades. That single moment stood out, when those bodies began pouring forth blood and broken limbs. And then Kallen was onto her next victim, and the next, and the next as the Guren cut a crimson swath of death and destruction across the German line.

Kallen was not sure how much time had passed, was barely even cognizant of her actions. The next thing she was aware of voices were shouting her name, frantic and even panicked.

"-llen! Stop!"

The young woman blinked, looking at the display. Before her was a cluster of German soldiers, bloodied, weary, and staring back at her in absolute horror even as they held their arms up in desperation. The Guren's right claw was pointed straight at them, though the Surger was not yet activated. Off to the side Kallen absently noted Laura and Gino approaching in their own machines.

"Kallen, can you hear me!?" Laura's voice sounded.

Try as she might, Kallen could not let go of the joysticks. Her body was stiff, locked into its present pose just a moment before she would have incinerated the surrendering German soldiers. And it was not just this group, dotted all about the landscape were bloody clusters smeared against the ground. None of the survivors were trying to run, all of them had thrown down their weapons and were gaping at her knightmare in horror and shock. How many people had she killed in her rampage, how many literally boiled alive by the savagery of her weapon?

The answer came as her geass played back in precise and excruciating detail each and every kill, showing her every moment that she could not recall in her own memory. It was almost like she was watching someone else's actions, someone else's slaughter. But it was not someone else, for in every moment she could also see that it was her knightmare and her motions that effected every single death she now witnessed.

The pain in her head was now more than just a mere throb, it was a raging maelstrom. Kallen tried to breathe. She tried to answer Laura, to will her body to do something. But she could not, as the scenes played back one by one, until all she could see and hear and taste were the deaths that echoed in her mind.

* * *

The lull in the fighting was a welcome reprieve to the soldiers clustered at the rallying point and makeshift camp. It would not last long, the reports were clear that Chinese forces were preparing for yet another push against the Chosin positions. Those lines were however a bit less tenuous than they had been just a day ago and the Britannian forces had some breathing room to regroup and bring forward more reinforcements.

It was thus somewhat ironic that one of the persons responsible for winning this reprieve was in no condition to actually enjoy it. When the cockpit of her knightmare had been popped open Kallen was found, if not quite catatonic, in obvious shock. Even now she was resting in the quarters set aside for her unit, the soldiers of her command attentively at their stations. Others attended to matters that Kallen herself was in no shape to handle, including her own care.

"How is she?" Laura asked.

C.C. grimaced. "Her ladyship be still indisposed, mayhap for quite a time."

"That's not good," Gino remarked. "Maybe we should have her moved back towards Soul or maybe even Tokyo."

"Nay," C.C. said firmly. "Milady will recover her spirit, and were she to find herself treated so lamely she will be most sore."

"That may be so, but we already took a pretty big risk letting her run the op against the Germans," Gino countered. "And all things considered, that mission was achieved. The Germans got so badly mauled their other divisions are just sitting there instead of making another go at our eastern lines."

That was true enough. The loss of basically an entire regiment, either dead or surrendered, had badly hurt German confidence, especially when they were expecting to easily punch through the thinly manned eastern perimeter. The delay that Kallen's holding action had bought allowed the Empire to bring up substantial reinforcements, enough that the risk of encirclement was likely gone. There was still the possibility that their enemies could defeat them the old fashioned way, but the best chance of victory the Chinese and Germans had was to achieve a breakthrough early on. Short of some unforeseen act of the gods, the only open question left was how high the butcher bill would be in the end.

"Is she conscious, or still slipping in and out?"

"She be awake," C.C. said. "It might do her well to have the comfort of others' company."

"I'll drop in then, see if I can get her to unwind a bit," Laura said before looking at Gino. "As you said, general, our mission is complete. I do not think it would be inappropriate for us to at least prepare to withdraw to Soul."

Gino nodded. "I'll see to it."

The young man headed off to confer with the other unit commanders while Laura followed C.C. to the tent Kallen was resting in. After giving the green haired girl another nod Laura pushed past the drapes into the dimly lit tent.

Kallen's form was motionless as it lay on the bed. Laura could not even make out if the girl was breathing. She took a seat at the younger girl's side and grimaced as she noted the eyes staring blankly at the tent wall. Reaching out, Laura gently caressed her.

"I'm right here Kallen," she said softly. "We all are."

Kallen stirred and her eyes met Laura's gaze. There was still a deadness to them, a lack of the light and vitality that Laura recalled seeing so often before. It reminded the girl of the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Pendragon, when Euphemia had basically shut down. The empress had recovered thanks to the comfort they received from all of them. Whether the necessary comfort would be available to Kallen quickly enough, Laura could not say.

"Please."

The word came as a whisper, causing Laura to lean forward.

"What is it Kallen?"

"Please," Kallen repeated, her voice husky. "Tell me that it becomes easier. Please."

Laura regarded Kallen sadly, shifting onto the bed to allow her to take hold of the girl. "I'm sorry Kallen, I really am, but I can't do that."

A pained sound escaped Kallen, causing Laura to squeeze her more tightly.

"I can't do that," Laura said again, "because it should _never_ become easier, and I think you know that, Kallen."

That she did, but right now that offered no consolation to Kallen. She closed her eyes, trying to shut off all the noise that reached her senses. It was not just sound, but smell, touch, and even sight. It did not matter whether she closed her eyes or ears, if she wrapped herself in the blankets. Her geass refused to let her hide, forcing her to experience everything that went on around her, as well as replaying everything that she had herself done. Worse however it was a reminder of what she had yet to do, would have need to do.

Amidst the cacophony, a few words broke through the hash that all the noise was turning into.

"…tenant..Kraft…request…forces…have been…miles southwest…heavy attack…"

Kallen stiffened, almost tearing herself out from Laura's arms. Her eyes flared, the geass burning brightly in the left. Kallen's mind sharpened, this time picking up every single word coming out of the radio headset an operator was manning.

"I repeat, this is Lieutenant Cole Kraft, 25th infantry, requesting support from any Britannian forces hearing this. We are 10 miles southwest of the Chosin Reservoir, under heavy attack from-"

An explosion washed out Cole's voice for a brief moment.

"Gods, sergeant! They're coming through!"

And then the transmission cut out entirely. Kallen remained frozen for a brief moment, Laura regarding her with some consternation. The next she made a mad dash for her knightmare. Images of what she had done in the Guren flashed through her head, and what she would have need to do yet.

End of Chapter 109

Microsoft decided it would be a good idea to go and organize my emails between "focused" and "other" and that they knew enough about me to be able to do this automatically. This is the kind of idiotic nonsense that makes me think they have no idea how their users actually use their emails. Anyway.

Something else that a lot of stories never really touch on is the long term consequences on all of the characters for having killed so many people. I mean, Kallen's kill count by the end of the anime had to have been in the hundreds, and we're supposed to believe that she went back to being a regular schoolgirl? Yeah, right.

It should be noted that this is really only the third major battle that Kallen has fought in. The first was the Shinjuku Incident, where her cell tangled with Clovis' royal guard, the Purists, and a few of the what was back then considered more expendable elements of the Britannian Army. Quite a few people died, and it was Kallen's first real taste of how brutal fighting in a war could be. She mostly got over it and it helped her grow a bit and tempered her rage. The second major battle would be the Black Rebellion, where Kallen found herself fighting against the JLF to defend Tokyo. That one again saw her kill quite a few opponents, but on the whole she was acting on the defensive and it was the Britannian military that did the heavy lifting and the actively hunting down of JLF units. So though she played a pivotal role in several instances, it was still not as if she was participating in some wholesome slaughter.

The Battle of Chosin is different. Kallen's battalion has just fought off the equivalent of a regiment of German troops, and Kallen herself was responsible for a disproportionate number of enemy fatalities. There's a reason why the surviving German soldiers aren't even trying to run and they're all actively trying to surrender. Kallen and the rest of her unit are actually a bit east of where their initial contact with the enemy forces began, because the Germans had actually tried retreating when it became clear that there was no way in hell they were going to punch through the Britannian forces. Except, at that point Kallen had basically blanked out and was in autopilot mode and didn't let them retreat. She actively pursued them and wiped out several more platoons outright before the survivors became so horrified that they just gave up. Now that Kallen is conscious again and becoming cognizant of what she did, which includes inflicting absolutely horrific deaths on the soldiers she fought, the shock to her system is going to be considerable. It is one thing to shoot someone off in the distance, or to even stab someone and feel them bleeding out at your hands. It is another thing entirely to watch someone's blood boil and their flesh melt, and due to her geass Kallen saw that happen to every single soldier that got caught in the blast of the Guren's surger.

Kallen won't be the only one that will suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder. It can be safely assumed that Rai already suffers from it considering his life. And Cole will be going through his own cycle, and he and Kallen are going to be relying on each other a lot for support after the war. The two are also going to be every active in advocating for veteran's benefits to help other soldiers deal with not just mental concerns but ultimately in integrating them back into civilian life. As a general rule Britannia is not bad about seeing to the care of those that bear arms for her, but nothing is perfect and the two will be making it a personal mission to see that the men and women that served get the care and attention they need. That ultimately is one reason why Kallen wins the acceptance of the military despite her mixed heritage, she gains the admiration of the rank and file when they see her actually paying attention to their needs instead of just paying lip service to it.

As a note, the ultimate fate of all of the characters have already all been decided and are unlikely to change.

I've already explained my opinion regarding Suzaku in the chapter notes in one of the Black Rebellion chapters, I'm not going to rehash them here. They can however be summed up as, Suzaku was an insecure and suicidal young man that tried to hide his insecurity by pretending to want to help others, when in reality all he was doing was trying to find a cause that could be considered worthy that he could then latch onto as an excuse for why his life had any meaning, no matter how many people he needed to kill in the process. No, I really don't have any sympathies for him, it really doesn't matter if he was traumatized by his past, no one that mentally a wreck should have been granted the responsibilities and duties he received in the anime. In my story, had his plotline not developed the way it did, my version of the Britannian Army would have eventually yanked him from active service once they realized just what a basket case he was and sent him to get some therapy. That is to be frank what those people who claim to like Suzaku should want to see happen to him, as anything else is just exacerbating the eventual mental breakdown that he will suffer.


	111. Chapter 110

_The destroyer_ Samuel B. Roberts _was the first warship of Eighth Fleet to be destroyed in combat, being part of the flotilla hastily sent to support the Marine division at Changjin. The suddenness of the battle's outbreak and the continued intensity of fighting around Vladivostok meant Britannia was unable to provide the usual degree of fire support it would have preferred for its forces. Along with its partner_ Johnston _and the prototype battleship_ Avalon _, the_ Sammy B _arrived just in time to help the Marines defend against a massive Chinese attack, the second of many that would be launched against the Britannian lines. Despite the firepower their railguns represented the sheer number of Chinese units threatened to overwhelm the Marine positions nonetheless and even possibly sink the ships sent to support them._

Samuel B's _captain, Commander William Booth Murray Jr, made the decision to maneuver his ship closer to enemy positions to allow all of the destroyer's weapons, including its point defense batteries, to be employed against the advancing Chinese forces. This daring move allowed the destroyer to thoroughly savage the advancing Chinese forces, destroying them before they could reach the Marine positions on the ground. Unfortunately it also exposed_ Samuel B _to far more fire from the ground, overloading the ship's Blaze Luminous system. The catastrophic failure of the system caused an overload of its discharge buffers, completely destroying the ship with all hands onboard. The valor shown by her crew during the battle would however be remembered not just by the Marines whose lives they had saved but by the Empire at large when_ Samuel B. Roberts _became the first ship to be placed on the list of honour._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 110

Horribile dictu

"C'mon, let's move it, move it, move it!"

Of the solders hurriedly embarking on the Naglfar-class transport Cole was one of the few that could ignore the sergeant's beseeching without consequence. The reason for that had a little to do with the fact that he was responsible for another piece of cargo that would be accompanying the battalion to Chosin, namely all of the munitions that would help replenish what the Marines had expended over the past week or so of fighting. Needless to say there was a lot of explosives included amongst the pallets and Cole and his superiors would like all of it to arrive intact and with minimal additional energy being added to them. The consequences of that would be, most unfortunate.

"That's the last load sir," a corporal reported as another pallet rolled past Cole.

Cole nodded, checking off from his own list as he watched the pallet disappear into the transport's hold.

"Get your boys and girls aboard, corporal. I'll join you once I make sure the navy ratings are putting our stuff where they should, I don't want to have to dig too hard for them when we need them."

The corporal flashed an irreverent grin. "Understood sir."

The rest of the loading proceeded mercifully smoothly and within half an hour the transport was lifting off into the sky. There were other transports also in the process of loading up, but the one Cole was on was being sent ahead. Partially it was to give the soldiers on the ground enough time to unload all of the munitions and get them under cover before the other reinforcements had to set down. Another reason was simply that the Marines actually needed the munitions just a bit more than the warm bodies. A good chunk of the 25th infantry division was already deployed around Chosin, along with elements of 2nd cavalry. 3rd and 7th infantry were not far behind and by week's end the Chinese might be looking at a force that was at effective parity with their numbers. If there was one thing the Chinese Army had learned since the start of the war, it was that fighting the Empire's forces at anywhere close to numerical parity was a very bad idea. Hopefully that would induce the Chinese to be more reasonable and fall back. Though as the good book said, don't expect the enemy to cooperate in the creation of your dream engagement.

The takeoff was about as smooth as one might expect from a military craft and considering the relatively short distance of the hop from Wonson to Chosin it did not bother rising too high. The after-battle analysis would attribute considerable responsibility for the fiasco the battalion suffered to this decision. No one was really blamed for that decision, seeing as it had been the correct one in the context it was made. That was little consolation to the survivors.

The first that any of the passengers knew anything was going wrong was when the klaxons started blaring, indicating that the transport was coming under fire. That was not completely unexpected, seeing as they were flying into an active combat zone. The words that sounded over the intercom were still not welcomed.

"All hands, brace for impact."

The officer's voice whom made the announcement was firm and steady, suggesting the situation was probably not too dire. The next thing Cole knew he was being thrown violently against his crash webbing even as explosions audibly rocked the transport.

"Oh SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-"

Cole could not tell whom had started screaming. It might have been him for all he knew as in one frantic moment the thought of all the munitions stored beneath his feet flashed through his head. Everything after that was a blur as he tried not to let his head be banged about or neck snapped. Cole clamped his jaw tight, grabbed onto the seat, and prayed that his end was not yet come. The loud boom that sounded did a very good job convincing him those prayers would not be answered. The pain that started suffusing his body on the other hand suggested otherwise.

Cole cracked one eye open, and found himself staring at a tangled mess of metal, and blood.

"Oh, Hel."

He moved gingerly, feeling his own body and all the places where it hurt. Nothing seemed to be outright broken though there was a dampness when his fingers brushed his forehead. Looking at their tips Cole was greeted with the sight of red.

"Hel," he muttered again.

The bleeding was not necessarily indicative of a major injury, head wounds tended to bleed far more profusely than other scrapes after all. Still it was something to be mindful of as Cole untangled his crash webbing and tried to pull himself up. Scraping metal sounded and Cole looked over to see the hatch slowly crack open.

"Anyone alive in there?" a gruff voice called out, one that Cole recognized quickly.

"Sergeant," he responded, his own voice cracking a bit. Cole swallowed and tried again. "Sergeant Cardemonde!"

"Lieutenant Kraft?" The door finished being wedged open and the towering man entered. "Oh gods."

Cole followed the man's gaze, and gasped as well. One seat over and the section had been caved in, a bloody smear next to him. Come to think of it, some of the blood splattered over his uniform was likely not his either. Cole tried to stand but his knees wobbled. The NCO was at his side immediately, helping hold him stead.

"Steady there sir," he cautioned.

"Sergeant," Cole said. "How many survivors have you found?"

"The rest of my company's mostly there," Cardemonde answered. "Captain Rush sent me to check the rest of the ship. Came here first."

Cole nodded. That made sense, seeing as this was where the battalion command staff had been riding. A command staff that was now reduced to just him.

"You'll need to inform Captain Rush he's most senior," Cole said, trying to keep himself calm and rationale and not dwell on how close his own brush with death was.

"Getting to that sir," Cardemonde said. "Corporal!"

Jean was suddenly next to the sergeant. "Oh Christ! You okay sir!?"

His friend was obviously a bit less shaken if he was aware enough to address Cole correctly.

"Get the lieutenant out of here, we're going to check the other sections," Cardemonde ordered.

"Yes sir!"

Jean grabbed hold of his friend and helped him out. At first Cole thought he should be able to make his way himself. And then he saw outside the door.

"Crap, we're going to need to climb that, aren't we?" Cole said, gazing at the twisted panels of metal.

"Hey, think about how we felt trying to get down here," Jean remarked with a wry smile.

Cole grunted. "The munitions okay?"

"Trying to not think about that," Jean admitted. "Another squad got sent to check up on those."

A dry chuckle sounded. "Fair enough."

It took over ten minutes before Cole was finally brought to where the surviving officers of Alpha company had assembled. To the young man's surprise his arrival was greeted with a fair amount of what seemed to be relief.

"Lieutenant Kraft, good to have you back with us," Captain Rush said.

Cole nodded. "Glad to still be with you sir. Is there anything I can do?"

"Matter of fact, there is," the captain said grimly. "We're still assessing the butcher's bill, but it looks like most of Alpha and Charlie company made it out alright. Bravo lost a lot more of its boys and girls, and we're trying to pull the survivors out. The real problem though is the munitions down in the main bays."

Cole nodded in understanding. "I know which got shoved where, sir, I could probably go down and help make sure nothing's going to get set off."

The captain sighed in mild relief. "Glad to hear that, lieutenant. But it's starting to look like we're going to need more than just making sure they don't blow up on us."

Cole cocked his head aside. "Sir?"

"The Chinks that blasted the transport out of the sky," the captain continued. "From what the surviving crew have said, it's pretty clear they massed a bunch of anti-air batteries to pull it off, and they hit us because of our vector. Right now we're 10 miles southwest of the Chosin Reservoir, and outside the line the army's established."

Cole inhaled sharply. The captain nodded.

"That's right, they'll definitely be coming at us." The man straightened. "Lieutenant, I want you to start pulling out all of the munitions that could be of use. Mortars, grenades, anything that our heavy weapons teams can make use of. Get to it."

"Yes sir."

Without waiting for further words Cole spun about and headed for the lower decks. There was a squad already down there, but seeing as they were rather gingerly looking through the crates they obviously did not know which were which.

"Sergeant," Cole called out.

The squad leader turned about, immediately noting the chevrons on Cole's uniform.

"Sir!"

"What are your men looking for?"

"Grenades sir, and machinegun ammo," the sergeant answered.

"With me," Cole said.

The soldiers fell into line behind Cole as he clambered over the boxes.

"Here, FSN 1330," Cole said. "These crates here are grenades." He then pointed at another set of crates. "These should have ammo for our machineguns. Get cracking."

"Yes sir!"

Using their bayonets as makeshift crowbars, the soldiers cracked open the crates and started pulling out their contents. As Cole had noted one was full of smaller boxes within that held belts of machinegun ammo. Another had grenades carefully stored to keep them from rolling about. Soon enough more squads appeared, informing Cole of what they needed and following his instructions on which box to pull apart. Mortar teams, machinegun crews, regular infantry, all of them streamed through and soon enough they were hauling out not just munitions but the empty crates that used to hold them. And while Cole could not see what was happening outside, it was pretty obvious that what was left of the battalion was digging in as fast as it could in preparation for the inevitable Chinese attack.

"Lieutenant Kraft."

Cole turned about and smiled. "Sergeant Cardemonde."

"Good to see you up and about," the sergeant said.

Cole nodded. "All thanks to you. What is your squad here for?"

"Missiles," the sergeant answered. "We've been tasked with anti-armor work, if the need arises."

Cole ran through his memory of where those had been placed and grimaced. "Those are on another deck, but the main doors were jammed."

"Damn," the sergeant murmured. "What do we have then?"

Cole considered the problem. "Some mines, I know there were, ah, here."

The sergeant and his men followed Cole deeper into the bay.

"Anti-tank mines," Cole said, pointing at several pallets. "That's all we've got right now. If the Chinese really do send tanks after us, we're going to be in trouble."

Cardemonde nodded in agreement. "Not a lot of flat ground for them to maneuver though, we could probably plant these in the pass and it should stall them for a bit."

Long enough hopefully for the air force to come through with some support.

"Alright, let's hustle," the sergeant said.

Before they could start however a slight shudder vibrated through the bay. Cole frowned but before he could speak the radio crackled.

"Enemy mortars on our position," a soldier reported in.

"So much for the mines," the sergeant said with a grimace.

"So much indeed," Cole said. "I need a weapon."

Cardemonde nodded. "With me sir. But once you're armed, you need to hang back. No one else knows the loadout better than you, if we need more ammo, you're the only one that can get us to where they are quickly."

"Understood sergeant," Cole said, grudgingly accepting the NCO's point. "But even if I'm hanging back, I'll still feel a lot better with a rifle."

To that the sergeant nodded approvingly and proceeded to lead Cole to where a stash of weapons had been pulled out. Cole was already wearing a light flak jacket but he was more than happy to trade it in for a set of heavier plates. Once properly armed and armored, he hurried back to his station even as he stayed abreast of the situation over the radio.

"…enemy column sighted…making out at least three platoons…"

"…bombardment continuing…vector tracked, responding with counterfire…"

"…scratch that, seeing battalion level units, I repeat, battalion level units…"

That did not sound promising. In fact that sounded like the Chinese were about to hit them with a lot more numbers than they had clustered around the downed transport.

"Captain Rush, this is Lieutenant Kraft."

"Make it quick Kraft," the captain responded brusquely but understandably so.

"Sir, we should start pulling the munitions out of the bay, as much of it as we can, and get them closer to the troops instead of forcing them to fall back here to get more," Cole said.

The wait for a response was very brief. "Agreed. I'm sending a fireteam your way. We've got three Mk 19s and a lot of thumpers. Get any cartridges you can find for those out here."

"Yes sir."

A minute later Jean reappeared, breathing heavily. "Man, what am I, your gopher?"

Cole cracked a grin. "That's right, and don't you forget it corporal."

Jean responded in kind. "Aye, aye sir."

"Now c'mon, let's get moving!"

The sounds of gunfire and explosions were growing louder, the former being especially worrisome since it indicated the Chinese were close enough to exchange direct fire with their troops. As they emerged from the transport with their first load of munitions it became pretty clear that things were much, much worse.

"Oh shit."

Cole gazed out at the mountainous terrain before them in complete agreement with Jean's assessment. A large column of Chinese troops were pushing hard towards them, maneuvering between what cover they could find even as the Britannian soldiers poured fire on their positions. Even worse from their perspective, the Chinese obviously had mortars behind the ridge and spotters to help aim them. The Britannians on the other hand had no such assistance and unless they could get some air cover were at the mercy of the Chinese bombardment. Still their own mortar teams were firing as fast as they could, trying to whittle down the advancing enemies as much as possible before they got into range.

"This way, let's get the ammo to the Mk 19s first," Cole said.

The others followed him to the first of the three automatic grenade launchers the battalion had set up. The launcher was already pounding away, carving a trail of small craters as its operator arced his shots behind the cover the Chinese troops were trying to use. The moment Cole dropped the box of grenades he was using another soldier cracked it open and began filling refilling the empty belt. Cole and his fireteam did not stick around to help, instead hurrying to another strongpoint.

"Sir!" one of the soldiers huddled in the shallow trench shouted.

"Private," Cole responded crisply. "Get these two boxes to the Mk 19 left of us."

"Yes sir!"

The last one Cole and the others hauled ass to themselves, completing the arc around the perimeter, dropping smaller grenades for the other troops all along the route. The thump, thump, thump of M79 grenade launchers sounding made clear the soldiers were putting their bounty to good use.

"Please tell me the rest of the division knows about our little Charlie Foxtrot!?" Jean said emphatically.

"Oh, they know," Cole said, his own voice barely audible over the gunfire.

And then a different sound entirely filled the air, drowning out everything else. Looking up, they had a mere moment to see the form dart through the sky before explosions rippled across the ridges. The boom that thundered afterward managed to drown out even that. Cole could see Jean's mouth move but that was about all it seemed to do. He could however make a pretty good guess as to what his friend was trying to shout. Instead of wasting his breath however Cole gave Jean a pat on the shoulder and then flashed a hand signal. Jean nodded, following Cole back into the transport. The cacophony outside dimmed just a bit, but enough that Cole could issue verbal orders now.

Back and forth the fire team went, emptying pallet after pallet of their explosive loads. And then two of the soldiers were diverted to haul belts of machinegun ammo. Another fire team was dragooned to shorten the time to get the munitions into the hands of those soldiers still fighting. Cole was starting to lose track of the time and barely even noticed when the sky took on an orange tint. Then again how much of that was from the sun sliding down to the horizon versus the fires burning all across the battlefield was even harder to tell.

"Fuck, you got another mag sir?" Jean asked as he ejected an empty one from his rifle.

Cole peeled one loose from his outfit and tossed it to his friend. "I really, really hope they just decide to write off the shipment."

Jean let out a bark of laughter, though there was a noticeable tinge of exhaustion to it as well.

"Hell sir, we're getting the shit and you're worried about the paperwork you'll have to file if we get out of this?"

Cole flashed Jean a smile of his own but he shared his friend's exhaustion, both mental and physical. The battalion had stood its ground, holding its position and keeping the Chinese from seizing the downed transport ship. In the process they had fended off attacks by what had to have been an entire division of Chinese troops. The cost of their continued survival was steep however, with over half the battalion casualties and a third of that fatal. The only reason they had lasted this long was because of the airpower being diverted their way, and even that was going to become iffy once night fell. Worse, the Chinese were not just launching attacks against their position, they had been encircled outright. Cole knew that additional units were trying to fight their way through the Chinese lines to relieve them, but that was easier said than done when it looked like they were in the middle of a major flanking attack being launched by the Federation forces.

In truth their position was untenable, and if the Chinese really wanted to they could have just used their artillery to bombard them into submission. It was however obvious that the Chinese wanted to capture the downed transport as intact as possible, even if it meant sending their men into the meat grinder that was the battalion's entrenchments.

"Lieutenant Kraft, come in."

Cole toggled his radio pickup. "This is Kraft."

"Get down here to the second bay, captain wants a word with you."

"Yes sir."

Cole very carefully fell back to the transport proper, making sure not to pop his head up too high. The Chinese had some pretty competent marksmen out there. He made it safely back and climbed down to the bay in question. Standing inside was not just Captain Rush but another officer, a Sergeant Cheslock if he recalled correctly.

"Captain," Cole said.

"Ah, Kraft, good." Rush let out a sigh. "You know you've been tapped into the command channels, so you already know how bad our situation is."

Cole nodded grimly but waited for Rush to continue.

"Well, that being the case, I'm afraid we're going to need to put into effect contingency measures," the captain said unhappily. "Specifically, we cannot let the technology of our flying ships fall into enemy hands."

Cole's eyes flickered and he snuck a glance over at the brown haired woman standing next to the captain. Brown paint under her eyes almost look like she had deep circles from lack of sleep, and a beanie was fitted snuggly over her head. What really drew Cole's attention however was the ordnance patch on Cheslock's uniform.

"I presume you want charges set to destroy the flight systems, sir," Cole ventured.

Rush nodded. "We've used up quite a few explosives in holding the Chinese off this long, but there's still plenty left over. And frankly, if we have to go, I want to take as many of the bastards with us as we can."

Cole could understand the sentiment, even if he did not necessarily share it. The flight technology that underpinned Eighth Fleet and the transports truly was revolutionary, representing such a major tactical and strategic advantage that for most imperial subjects it was not a question of if but when they would triumph over their enemies. That being the case it was imperative that the Chinese and Europeans not get a chance to examine the technology, even if it meant every single soldier holding this position dying to make it so. Cole grimaced. He had been entirely serious when he told Kallen he felt a duty to serve the Empire when called forth. He would be lying however if he claimed that he did not feel some trepidation and reluctance to actually laying down his life now. The ordnance technician on the other hand looked downright enthusiastic at the prospect what with that grin plastered over her face.

"I presume you want me to supervise, sir?" Cole said.

Rush nodded, the slight smirk the only humor the captain likely felt at the moment. "Sergeant Cheslock will handle the actual installation of charges. You know where the explosives that were packed as part of the cargo should be, and yes, I want you to surprise."

For ever so obvious reasons. Cole nodded, and then snapped a sharp salute.

"I'll see to it sir."

Rush responded in turn. "I have full confidence that you will, lieutenant."

* * *

Jeremiah was not having a good day. As the divisional commander of 2nd cavalry, he was used to fighting engagements that centered around maneuvers and flanking tactics. Right now however his units were bogged down trying to punch through the Chinese lines the hard way, via direct assaults. There was no flank for them to maneuver around, at least not in a manner that would help achieve his objective. And if he took any longer fighting his way through the Chinese forces, the battalion trapped around the downed Naglfar-class might well be overrun. Looking at his maps the general unfortunately could not see any way of speeding his advance up, at least not without significantly more support from the air force or navy. Well, technically he could, if he wanted to get encircled and wiped out himself.

The one advantage that he did hold was the two battalions of knightmares attached to his division. The Gloucesters possessed much better all-terrain capabilities compared to the M60 Pattons that formed his armored regiment, capabilities that he was making ample usage of in flushing out Chinese troops that thought they could hide behind a narrow ridge or some equally treacherous landscape. Unfortunately instead of steadily advancing, Jeremiah was effectively stalemated as he fought as much on the defensive as he did on the offensive. It was pretty clear that the battalion from the 25th had had the misfortune of not just crashing behind enemy lines, they were dead center of an attempt by the Chinese to encircle the entire Britannian position at Chosin.

The chances of the Chinese succeeding were not high, especially with the defeat of the German half of the operation at the hands of the Princess Kallen. Jeremiah snorted. It still caused him a mild degree of bemusement and chagrin that one such as the Princess Kallen could have reached such heights. The margrave knew better than to express that irritation openly however. That could be construed as a slight against the one whom appointed her to such august station after all, and despite his continued uneasiness of the Princess Kallen Jeremiah was not inclined to second guess the Empress Euphemia.

The margrave gave himself a shake. There were more immediately pressing matters for him to dwell on. The problem was no matter how hard he tried, he could not see a way to break through the Chinese lines. Not without substantially more troops than he presently had, at least. Jeremiah looked out at the sky again and grimaced. Night was fast approaching and when it did the battalion's chances might well disappear with the setting sun. But short of a miracle, he could conceive of no way to extricate those troops from their position. So stymied, Jeremiah found himself doing something that he had not done in a long time. He prayed, and hoped that the gods would deign to lend him their ear, and their favor.

* * *

A Naglfar-class transport was equipped with a total of three float systems, two primaries and a backup. The placement of the three systems was at the bow, stern, and center of the ship. In the case of the transport that Cole had crash landed in, said crash had already done a very good job smashing the bow system. Of course one could never be too certain, at least according to Sergeant Cheslock, so a few charges were still set amidst the wreckage. The two had just finished setting charges around the backup unit when the steady stream of explosions outside turned into a thunderous storm. Cole knew without bearing witness, the Chinese were done holding back and had launched a massive barrage as a prelude for one final push to take the transport.

"C'mon, let's go!" Cole said, literally dragging the sergeant with him as he bolted for the stern of the ship.

"Lieutenant, are the charges set!?" Rush's voice sounded over the radio.

"Moving onto stern float system sir," Cole said. "ETC five minutes."

"Understood," came the curt response before the radio cut out.

That hopefully meant the captain thought they could last for five more minutes. Cole picked up the pace. He might die today, but he would prefer to at least finish his mission if he did. The pair hurried up the steps and through the corridors even as gunfire and explosions echoed all about them. When they reached the system more boots sounding against the grating could be heard. Cole leveled his rifle, wondering if the Chinese had already managed to break through. To his immense relief familiar faces emerged from around the corner.

"Lieutenant," Cardemonde greeted.

"Sergeant," Cole said, beaming at the man. "Glad to have you with us."

The older man grunted. "Captain sent us to watch your back, buy you as much time as we could."

The smile disappeared. "How bad is it?"

"Bad. Chinks have overrun the trenches and are pushing hard. We've got ten, maybe fifteen minutes before they cut through to us."

Cole nodded. "Then we'd best not waste them. Sergeant-"

As he looked over Cole saw that Cheslock was already busy at work with her explosives. The girl was even grinning maniacally. Cole tried not to sigh.

"Best give her some space," he said. "Lest we get in her way."

"Quite sir," Cardemonde agreed with the heartfelt feeling of someone whom possessed personal experience of the ordnance technician's ways.

Cole checked his rifle and made a count of how much ammo he had left. Only half a magazine, and that would not last long.

"Here."

Looking up, he saw Jean holding out a full mag at him. He raised an eyebrow.

"Payback for earlier," Jean said with a slight smirk.

Cole chuckled and accepted it. "You owe me a lot more than one mag considering how many you've kept between deployments."

The smirk only grew wider, at least for a moment. Jean's face however quickly reverted to a more solemn expression.

"So, I guess this is it."

"Well, unless the gods are in a generous mood, then yeah."

A shrug. "Don't know about gods, but I'm pretty sure God will at least listen to any last words we might have."

Another reminder, however slight, that Jean was Christian. And yet that little detail hardly seemed to matter, not at a time like this. The only thing that did matter was knowing the man or woman next to you would have your back, and in that Cole held no doubts about his friend.

"S-sir?"

Cole turned about and found himself facing a young woman wearing a radio backpack.

"Yes private?"

"I'm getting, I'm getting some chatter over the divisional channel, but no one's responding," she said. "I mean, Captain Rush isn't responding."

Cole's eyes widened. "Here, give it to me."

The woman quickly took off her headset and handed them over to Cole. As the lieutenant strained, he could make out voices through the hash of static.

"-is General Gottwald of 2nd cavalry, is anyone reading me!?"

Cole's eyes widened again. "This is Lieutenant Cole Kraft, 25th infantry, general, can you hear me?"

"-can…repeat-"

Cole looked over at the radio operator. The woman immediately inferred his intent and began adjusting her set. Slowly, the voices became clearer.

"Lieutenant, if you can hear me, can you repeat?"

"Yes sir!" Cole said, elation building. "This is Lieutenant Cole Kraft, 25th infantry. We're holed up inside the transport, by the aft float unit."

"Lieutenant, what is the current status of the battalion?"

Cole looked over at Jean. Again the unspoken query was understood but Jean simply shook his head. Cole grimaced. He then listened for a moment. There was still gunfire outside, but not nearly as much as he could have hoped.

"I'm sorry sir," Cole said. "I only have a single squad with me. There must be other survivors still engaged, but I do not know what their present status is."

"Understood lieutenant, hold your position," the general said. "We have inbound-"

The room shook violently, the aftershock of a far too close explosion. Screams and cries sounded as the soldiers tried to avoid toppling over.

"Lieuten-!"

The voice cut off, though why Cole could not tell.

"General! General, can you hear me!?"

The only response he received was the hiss of static. Cole cursed.

"Private, can you boost the signal?"

"Wha? Uh, yes sir!"

"As much power as you can then!"

The radio operator hurriedly worked her equipment and gave Cole a nod a moment later.

"This is Lieutenant Cole Kraft, 25th infantry," he shouted into the radio, "requesting support from any Britannian forces hearing this. We are 10 miles southwest of the Chosin Reservoir, under heavy attack and Chinese forces have breached our lines. I repeat, this is Lieutenant Cole Kraft, 25th infantry, requesting support from any Britannian forces hearing this. We are 10 miles southwest of the Chosin Reservoir, under heavy attack from-"

Another explosion rippled through the room. When the boom died down, voices could be heard. Voices speaking a distinctly unfamiliar language. Cole dropped the headset and raised his rifle.

"Gods, sergeant! They're coming through!"

And opened fire.

* * *

The encampment where 2nd Battalion, Fenrir Guard, was a hurried conglomerate of makeshift buildings and tents. It was however equipped the service the knightmares currently parked there, including the more esoteric ones like the Guren, Lancelot variants, and Mordred. As such when one Brigadier-General Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki, commanding officer of 2nd Battalion, came tearing out of her tent in her pilot suit, her knightmare was fully charged and ready to go. The rest of the battalion, not so much.

"Kallen, wait!" Laura shouted as she struggled to finish zipping up her own suit.

The young man trailing behind them was also not quite finished dressing, even as he tried to stem the need for having changed.

"Your highness, I must protest this course of action!" Gino called out. "This is far too reckless!"

Kallen was not paying any attention. "This is General Stadtfeld," she said into her radio instead. "Plug me in directly into the air force strike operations' command channel. I will be calling in immediate strikes in situ."

"Gods damn it Kallen, will you just wait!?"

Kallen came to an abrupt halt, causing Laura to nearly run into her. The younger girl spun about, her gaze harsh and almost maniacal.

"If I wait, Cole will die. Are you saying I should let him!?"

Laura's jaw tightened. She did not doubt the veracity of Kallen's statement, but her belief or disbelief played little part in her attempts to restrain the girl.

"Kallen, if you just charge in like that you're not going to save Cole, you're just going to get yourself killed."

The girl's eyes hardened. "I will not die. I _will_ not die."

And that was the last word Kallen had for her as she turned about and sprinted for her knightmare.

As one of the people actually briefed on the code and geass, Laura knew that Kallen was not entirely bluffing with her assertion. Nonetheless the powers that Kallen possessed did not make her outright invincible and with enough firepower she could still be neutralized as a tactical threat. Of course Kallen was also the only one amongst them that possessed those powers in the first place.

"Even if you might not die _we_ do not have the advantage of your talents," Laura tried. "There is a very high chance that the Chinese forces will be able to overwhelm us with sheer numbers if we engage so recklessly.

"Then don't follow me!" Kallen snapped.

They were at the knightmares and Laura was out of time to try to talk her friend out of her chosen course of insanity. And while as Kallen said she did have the choice of not following the girl, that was never really an option for the knight. She had a duty to see to Kallen's safety and the completion of the young woman's mission. Letting her fly into a major combat zone alone would be a gross dereliction of that duty, especially in her present state of mind.

"We should have locked down her bloody knightmare," Gino groused as he finally finished putting on his suit.

Laura shook her head. "I doubt that would have stopped her. Slowed her down, perhaps, but then we would simply have to deal with the consequences of that."

Gino conceded that with a grunt as he climbed into his knightmare. The Guren was already rising and rolling out of its makeshift hanger. The patch of dirt that served to provide helicopters a place to land and taxi could not really be called a runway. It was however long enough to give the red knightmare a running start before its float system kicked in and it ascended into the sky.

The fighting raging below came into Kallen's sight quickly. Britannian knightmares were pounding the enemy lines, but Chinese forces were also hitting back, hard. There was no way the Empire's troops would be able to break through quickly enough to relieve their compatriots trapped at the transport. For that matter Kallen and the rest of her platoon might well fail to save them as well. The probability of success or failure however mattered not a bit in the young woman's mind right now and she pressed forward.

As the transport came into her sight Kallen's grip tightened. She could see it, she could see the smoldering wreck that was the destroyed transport. There were definitely three points where explosions had torn through the hull, from the inside based on how the metal frame was bent. Those were however trivial details. The sight that she latched onto was of a small cluster of Britannian troops, encircled with most of their number reduced to mere side arms as the Chinese moved in for the kill. Right at the front, one arm dragging along a wounded compatriot, Cole's pistol barked in what was almost surely a final defiance.

The sight on the VARIS rifle's targeting system shook from the buffeting wind. Kallen pulled the trigger and a single round streaked through the sky before slamming into the midst of the advancing Chinese troops. A bloody smear was all that remained of those in the immediate impact radius. Others further away only had to deal with the concussive force that swept out. Quite a few did survive the shock, at least momentarily. And then the second shot arrived, this one a fragmentation round intended for anti-infantry use.

The Chinese soldiers attempting to wipe out the last of the Britannian survivors had made a simple mistake. Certain of their numerical advantage, they had bunched together to bring as great a weight as they could for the final push against the Britannian soldiers. The Britannian soldiers had all gone prone the moment they felt the small quake caused by the first shot. Kallen had also picked her target for the second one well so there was little risk of the blast harming them. The Chinese ranks were still trying to figure out what had happened when well over a hundred more of their numbers no longer had anything more to worry about. Those behind them were however greeted with the horrific sight of their fellows reduced to bloody pulps. And then the Guren itself arrived, the large claw on its right arm glowing red.

The first time Kallen had employed the Radiant Surger on mere infantry it was without any awareness of how brutal its effects were. This time around she was fully cognizant of its abilities, and unleashed them without any hesitation. Those that were able to scream were the unfortunate ones, for they had long enough to feel their blood boiling away before passing on. The anguish from their cries finally broke through the shock of the Chinese forces and they unloaded everything they had at the red demon in their midst. A green sheen flickered as all their shots bounced ineffectually off the Guren's barrier. It would not hold for long, nor did it need to as three more thuds shook the battlefield. The screaming this time lasted longer and was even louder as the Lancelot Azure, Lancelot Tristan, and Mordred unleashed their own arsenals.

Two regiments of Chinese infantry with support from a few armored fighting vehicles had been invested in the effort to seize the downed transport. The single battalion of the 25th infantry had managed to exact a heavy toll already, making liberal use of all the explosives originally destined for the Marine division further north. The four knightmare's of Kallen's personal platoon more than doubled the number of enemy fatalities in the first few minutes of their landing. By the end, the percentage of fatal casualties far eclipsed that of the nonfatal ones.

* * *

Cole took deep measured breaths as he gazed up at the faint hints of dawn in the sky. He was alive. Somehow, against all odds, he was still alive. But so many others weren't. Of the thousand or so men and women that had climbed aboard the transport just a day before, only a dozen or so were left. Missing amongst those numbers was to his immense regret Sergeant Cardemonde. The sergeant had somehow gotten them out of the deathtrap that the last float unit, gotten them out of the transport itself before the charges blew, and all it cost him was his own life. Cole clutched the sides of his head. Rivalz. How was he going to tell his friend that his father had lost his life saving Cole's.

And yet, how alive were they? The little huddle of troops, him, Jean, that ordnance technician, all of them were just sitting there, clutching their weapons as if they were any comfort. Standing about them were the four knightmares that had come to their rescue, that had massacred the Chinese forces before they were able to do the same to Cole and the rest of his squad. There was no other way to describe it, to describe the carnage he had witnessed. The sheer, bloody horror that was the deaths of all those hundreds of enemy soldiers. Enemies, yes, but still human beings whom died in truly painful and grotesque manners. Whom died so that he himself would not.

The Chinese lines had broken after that, not only around their position but also the main thrust that was trying to flank the Britannian forces at Chosin. The fleeing enemy troops had not even tried approaching the area around the transport, giving the area a very wide berth. Perhaps they too were tired of the slaughter, Cole did not know. He was nonetheless grateful that the killing had stopped, if only just for this one night at this one place.

The sound of rotors could be heard and they grew louder with every second. Somewhat numbly Cole looked up to see a series of helicopters approaching their position. Gunships, escorting a few Chinooks, he absentmindedly noted. As the larger helicopters touched down they disgorged squads of soldiers in Britannian field dress. Several combat medics hurried over to the dazed survivors of the battalion. Cole rose, a somewhat instinctive act on his part, seeing as he was ranking officer of this ragtag group. Awareness of that fact caused his face to crease into a grimace.

"Lieutenant," the medic greeted. "Come with us sir, we're going to get all of you home."

Cole's mouth opened, but closed without making a sound. Instead he simply turned to regard the others. Jean was being helped up, wincing in visible pain as he tried not to put any pressure on his left leg. A stretcher was quickly brought forward and the soldier was gently laid onto it before being carried off. Jean would not be the only one not leaving here under his own power. Cole took another deep breath. He wondered if he too would be one.

Despite the whine of the engines a sudden hush seemed to settle about him. It was as if the other soldiers had suddenly all gone quiet. Turning about, Cole quickly saw why. Approaching them, still clad in her red jumpsuit, was Kallen. No, not approaching them, approaching him. Cole knew that he was why she was walking over. Knew that he was why she had come here at all. Cole shifted, and stepped forth to meet her halfway.

The two came to a step before each other, both saying not a word. And yet in the gaze they exchanged so much was being conveyed. Cole could see it. He could see the turmoil, the horror, and the sheer anguish reflected in Kallen's eyes. She had not relished her actions this past day, she was as horrified, even terrified, of what she had done. But she had done it anyway, and she had done it for him. Cole's expression softened. He reached out, caressing her cheeks gently. And then he pulled her into a tight embrace.

He had killed. She had killed. That was never going to change. But seeing her now, so distraught over the very things that would haunt his own nightmares, he could not let her go. He could not let her suffer so alone. Nor would she let him in turn, and that for now was good enough.

End of Chapter 110

Kallen and Cole are going to be carrying the scars from Chosin for a very long time. It is unlikely that those scars will ever fully disappear, however much they may fade. The control that Kallen had been building up is also slipping a little bit, and we shall see more of her turmoil visibly exert itself in the coming chapters.

Kallen's going to get chewed out a bit for her recklessness here, don't doubt that for a second. And Kallen herself recognizes that she was reckless and deserves to be chewed out a bit for it. The Britannian authorities are however going to get a bit, creative in how they express their unhappiness.

It should be noted that prior to the Great War the Britannian Navy was still working to shake off the Shame of Trafalgar. It's only really with the pivotal role that Eighth Fleet plays that its honor is restored and a few new traditions are established.

The float system is also a bit more complicated than just having three pieces, but the three that Cole was trying to blow up are the big critical ones. Considering how pressed they were for time, it was all they could do. In theory the Britannians should have set charges way sooner, but that would have implied they did not expect to make it out alive that much sooner, something Rush was not prepared to do.

I needed to come up with something to call Kallen's unit instead of just 'Kallen's unit.' Technically I needed to do so ever since it was formed, but I got away with not naming it until now.


	112. Chapter 111

_The Battle of Chosin Reservoir was an unmitigated disaster tactically and strategically for the allied forces. The Wehrmacht had committed three divisions as part of their attack on the Britannian flank, with the 1_ _st_ _Panzer division spearheading the attack. The Princess Kallen's counterattack however saw a third of the Germans' panzer hummels and a quarter of the division's supporting infantry lost, blunting the German advance long enough for the Britannian 1_ _st_ _cavalry division to arrive and execute a flanking maneuver of its own. Swinging northeast around the German units, 1_ _st_ _cavalry was able to encircle the rest of 1_ _st_ _panzer and decisively crush it before the two German infantry divisions were able to catch up. With the tip of their spear effectively smashed, the remaining German units soon found themselves badly outnumbered as more reinforcements from Eighth Army advanced north. Faced with the prospect of complete annihilation, the German divisions fell back towards the Russian border only to run right into the breakout operation the Empire was conducting out of Vladivostok. Over the next few months German forces were badly depleted by the continuous fighting, with only a third managing to evacuate back along the Trans-Siberian Railway before the jaws of Eighth Army and Sixth Army's trap shut._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 111

Honor virtutis praemium

Despite her nominal higher standing, it was Kallen that stood at attention before General Andreas Darlton in his makeshift office. The general's gaze was level, without any hint of anger or dissatisfaction. If anything there was a hint of worry on his expression.

"Your highness."

Kallen tried not to wince. Andreas' words were entirely sincere, there was no trace of any reluctance in his tone, the general genuinely believed Kallen to be deserving of the courtesy he was extending. That somehow made it all the harder to receive it.

"As you are well aware, even setting aside your particular station, I do not possess the authority to legally issue you any orders."

Another truth. As the Knight of Seven, by default there were only two people with the authority to issue such orders, the Knight of One Victor Arseid and the Empress Euphemia. Of course in an effort to avoid another repeat of what happened with Luciano Bradley, the late and utterly unlamented ex-Knight of Ten, Euphemia had also laid out an explicit hierarchy between her knights that would account for any contingencies that should arise if holes appeared in their numbers.

"Your attachment to Eighth Army is also of an irregular nature, seeing as you have your own mission to see to. A mission that I am to understand is of significant import to not only Britannia's continued survival, but the safety of the world at large. These were points emphasized in the letter her majesty sent me, and I have no reason to gainsay her judgment. And because I do believe in the significance of your mission, I find a need to remind your highness of that very significance. I trust my reasons for doing so are clear?"

"They are, general," Kallen responded with a slight nod of the head.

Andreas continued to regard Kallen levelly, his expression remaining passively stoic. There worry was still there, albeit invisible to anyone without Kallen's sight.

"Shortly after the Korean campaign began, you sought from me an assurance that I would not allow any consideration for your station to interfere with matters of military necessity," Andreas began again. "That if the need arose, I would call upon your battalion as I would any of the units under my command, especially if doing otherwise would endanger Eighth Army's strategic objective and your own mission. It was an assurance that I gave, and I believe I lived up to when I requested your deployment to Chosin. Would you agree, your highness?"

Another nod. "I would, general."

And another momentary pause before Andreas continued. "Having kept my word, I would like an assurance from you in turn, your highness. An assurance that you will remember the importance of your own mission, of the ramifications were you to fail, and that you, and only you, are capable of completing that mission."

That last bit was not entirely true, Rai could probably fill in for Kallen if worse came to worst. But that was a detail that Andreas did not need to know, and the general's basic points were still valid even so. And because they were, Kallen met Andreas' gaze unflinchingly when she answered him.

"You have it, general. I will remember."

"I am glad to hear it," Andreas said.

And he meant it, Kallen could tell. He meant that, and also that he believed Kallen's word. That was significant in its own right. The general was not a naïve or gullible sort, an outright lie or obfuscation would no more escape him than it would someone like Euphemia or Kallen herself. Yet he was also not the sort to instinctively assume the worst of others, to doubt the inherent integrity of others. If someone genuinely gave Andreas their word, the general was prepared to assume the other person would do their level best to keep that word.

That degree of trust, of faith, was somewhat out of character for a stereotypical Britannian noble. At the same time, Kallen was beginning to admit to herself that there were a lot fewer of those "stereotypical" nobles than she originally presumed. That of course did not mean there were not nobles as venal, backstabbing, and arrogant as those she saw all too often in Japan before Euphemia became viceroy, but quite a few nobles actually did care about their responsibilities as much as they did about their privileges. Andreas Darlton was one of them, and Kallen found that she genuinely did not want to reduce the man's personal opinion of her. Strange, how these things worked out.

"I am glad to hear it," Andreas repeated. "I myself have nothing further to say on the matter, but her majesty requested that I convey a few words of her own."

Kallen looked at the general curiously. She had submitted a report to Euphemia, as had Laura and Gino both, though no response had yet to reach them. Apparently her liege had elected to convey it via other channels instead of directly sending it to Kallen. That was not exactly confidence inspiring, but if Euphemia was genuinely angry Kallen was pretty certain she would have heard already. A reprimand was likely forthcoming, and a deserved one considering how reckless Kallen had been, but why have the general be the one delivering it? And then Andreas opened a drawer and pulled out a small box, setting it on his desk. It took a single moment for Kallen to note the shape and style, and she inhaled sharply.

"Her majesty has considered at some length how she should handle the matter. While she understands the circumstances that ultimately led to your actions and is prepared to overlook the, lapse in control that precipitated them, her majesty wants to ensure that the events are, even if forgiven, never forgotten." Andreas rose, picked up the box, and opened it. "As such, she has elected to mark your contributions to the thwarting of the flanking attacks by the Chinese and German forces, with the Shield of Freyja."

Kallen's jaws tightened. The Shield of Freyja was the third highest military declaration within the Holy Britannian Empire, after the Order of the Valkyrie and the Sword of Tyr. The first one could only be awarded posthumously as well, so for all intents and purposes the Shield of Freyja was the second highest award any living soldier could be awarded. It was by all rights a significant honor. Kallen did not doubt for a moment that Euphemia had an entirely different motive for awarding it to her.

Andreas stepped around his desk, medal in hand, and personally pinned it upon Kallen's uniform. The young woman looked down at it, feeling an unnatural weight with it now attached. She looked back up at the general.

"I hope you will pardon my lèse-majesté this one time, general," she said, "but her majesty seems possessed of a somewhat vindictive streak."

Andreas actually snorted at that. "Only when she is given cause, your highness. Only when she is given cause."

* * *

"Are you alright sir?"

Cole looked over at the young man acting as his chauffer and nodded. "Do I look otherwise, private?"

"No sir, just, you look a bit tired, sir."

Cole gave a snort but shook his head. "I'm fine private, so how about you relax and keep your eyes on the road?"

"Yes sir."

Cole knew he was being a bit unfair on the other soldier, but it was a bit hard to suppress his irritation at how the military was trying to coddle him right now. Some of it was not too bad, like the two weeks of leave allowing him to come to Japan to take care of some business. Having a soldier constantly assigned to him, ostensibly to help him in, whatever, less so. It appeared the military was finally waking up to the fact that he was now the son of a duke, and the boyfriend of the heir secundus. Suggestions were already being insinuated that perhaps he might be transferred to a more sedate posting, something Cole was fighting tooth and nail to stop from happening. The 25th was where he belonged, and like Hel he was going to abandon his friends after everything they had been through together.

For the time being however he had another battle to fight, one that he was even less enthused about. Some duties however one had to see to, and in person. The car rolled up to a nice, cozy apartment complex and Cole climbed out. The private stayed put, after receiving a direct order to do so, and Cole walked up to the main entrance, bag dangling under his shoulder. He hit the buzzer and the intercom crackled.

"Yes?" a woman's voice sounded.

"Mrs. Cardemonde? This is Cole, I called earlier about dropping by?"

"Ah, yes, Cole. Please, come on up."

The lock clicked and Cole pushed the door open. There was an elevator but he elected to use the stairs instead, as if that would somehow let him delay this meeting for just a longer. They felt heavier and heavier, each step that he climbed. And yet Cole was still not breathing very hard when he reached the fourth floor. His body found this degree of exertion laughably easy nowadays. His mind however knew full well what weighed upon him so. Taking a deep breath, Cole knocked upon the door. It opened and Cole was greeted by the sight of another old friend.

Rivalz cracked a slight smile. "Hey Cole, thanks for coming on over."

Cole blinked, staring blankly at Rivalz for a few moments. His mind struggled to find the words to greet the other youth but utterly failed. Rivalz fortunately knew just what to do. He reached out, offering Cole his hand. Presented with such a prompt, Cole reflexively responded and grasped it, giving it a firm shake.

"It's, the least I could do," Cole managed weakly.

Rivalz nodded. "Well don't just stand there man, c'mon in."

Cole followed his friend in, and came to a stop again as he entered the living room. Rising to greet him was not just Ingrid Cardemonde, but also Shirley and her mother, Brianna Fennette.

"Shirley," Cole greeted in surprise.

The young woman smiled warmly. "Hello Cole. It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too," Cole responded, clearing his throat. "I, wasn't aware you would be here."

"My fault there," Rivalz said, though he did not sound very apologetic. "I thought you would feel more comfortable with another familiar face."

"Well, it certainly doesn't hurt," Cole said, a brief moment of levity lightening his face.

Rivalz nodded. "Have a seat man, no reason for you to be uncomfortable."

Cole nodded, accepting the invitation and placed himself directly across from Ingrid. His gaze met the woman's, and he was reminded of his own mother. There was that same, gentle strength that all mothers seemed to share, but one that could still be moved, and shaken.

"Mrs. Cardemonde," Cole began once more.

The woman smiled. "Ingrid will be fine, Cole. You are after all an adult in your own right."

That might well have been true, but Cole doubted he would ever reach the innate wisdom that he saw in those eyes now. And because he saw them, he acquiesced.

"Very well." He took a deep breath. "Ingrid. I, know that nothing I say will make things better. Will make your loss hurt any less. But, I just wanted to come, and convey my thanks to the sergeant. To your husband. For saving my life. And, I'm sorry for not being able to save his."

Cole's chest tightened with every word, until the last was but a whisper.

"Cole," Ingrid said gently. "You have nothing to apologize for. Both my husband and I knew the risks of his service. I, made peace with the possibility that one of these days he might not return to me. And while it still hurts, I would never place any blame on you for his loss." The woman offered another gentle smile. "So please, do not blame yourself either. Show gratitude for my husband's sacrifice, remember it, by living yourself."

The smile that Cole managed was weak, but he tried nonetheless. "I, appreciate that, Ingrid. The sergeant taught me a lot of things, and I'm grateful for everything he did for me, even before the, battle. All of us are."

"Ramirez spoke of you and a few others in his letters," Ingrid said somewhat wistfully. "He said that there were quite a few youngsters with their head on straight. And of course a few that could truly try a man's patience."

Cole could not help but chuckle at that, and the brief moment of laughter seemed to loosen his chest considerably.

"Connie and Sasha," he said. "They were part of his platoon. We went through basic together. Those two, could be a handful."

"That's right," Ingrid clapped her hands together, and then leaned forward. "Is it true that Sasha would always steal food from the platoon supplies?"

The question was asked in an exaggerated stage whisper, easily audible by everyone present if Rivalz's own chuckle was any indication.

"Well, I think she finally stopped after getting her chops busted after she got caught for the third time," Cole said. "At least that's what Jean told me."

"Jean," Ingrid said thoughtfully. "Ramirez also mentioned that young man. Said he had a level head, and would go far."

"He probably will," Cole agreed, though left unsaid the obvious qualifier. There was still a war all of them needed to survive after all.

And so it went, Cole would recall bits and pieces of his time under Cardemonde's tutelage, and Ingrid would provide some insight into her late husband's mentality and habits. Like how Ramirez always carried with him some gauze and bandages after one time where Rivalz was a young boy and badly scraped his knee while playing soccer. Or how the sergeant got that giant non-regulation buck knife that he used for almost everything, from scaring new recruits to slicing up steak the few times the company mess actually served it. A gift from Ingrid's own father apparently, on their wedding. There was probably some subtext to that gift.

"I wonder if his excellency will be as creative when the time comes," Cole muttered.

The others gave him curious looks and the young man shrugged.

"Baron Stadtfeld, the new viceroy. Kallen's father."

Understanding tingled with amusement colored their cheeks, though Rivalz could probably have kept from beaming so widely if he cared to.

"Is Kallen well?" Shirley asked.

The slight flicker did not escape the others' notice.

"She, is still recovering from what happened at Chosin," Cole said. "Oh, she wasn't hurt or anything, but, things got intense."

An understatement that all of them could well appreciate, since one consequence of that battle was Cole's very presence here today.

"Let her know that we're all thinking about her," Shirley said. "After what happened in Pendragon, after she pulled out of Ashford, her and Mikasa both, well, things got a bit lonely."

Cole was mildly surprised at the mention of the other Japanese-Britannian girl, though perhaps he should not have been. Despite everything she had been through, the loss that she had suffered, Shirley was still at heart a kind and gentle person. Of course she would remember Mikasa fondly, and the little girl that all of them had dotted on like a little sister.

"I think Kallen does keep in touch with Mikasa," Cole said before cracking a wry smile, "or I suppose it would be Dame Ackermann now. I'll let her know that her friends here are thinking of her. I might even be able to get an address that you could write to."

"That would be wonderful," Shirley said, favoring Cole with a more genuine smile.

A chime sounded, marking the passage of the hour and Cole looked over at the clock.

"Ah. I'm afraid I may have dallied a bit overlong," he said, reaching for the bag he had brought with him.

Pulling it open, Cole reached in and withdrew a folder and a small wooden box. The others watched and waited patiently as Cole stood with them in hand.

"Ingrid. Rivalz. I apologize for the lack of ceremony. If you so wish it, her highness the Princess Kallen can see it arranged that you are given this by herself, the Princess Millicent, or her majesty at a mutually convenient time and place."

Ingrid shook her head. "That is alright, Cole. I know full well that Britannia recognizes my husband's sacrifice. I have no need for such gestures to affirm that knowledge."

"Then, I apologize if my own delivery might not match their eloquence, but in recognition of your husband's valor and dedication, her majesty has seen fit to appoint him an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the Britannian Empire." He held forth the box with the medal inside it. "On her behalf, I humbly ask that you accept."

Ingrid reached out, closing her fingers around Cole's hand for a moment. "Thank you, Cole. And please pass on my thanks to her majesty. While this will not bring Ramirez back, I will take heart in the gratitude being shown by Britannia, and by those whom served with him."

Cole took a deep breath at that last part and nodded. He was however not yet done, turning to face Rivalz. The other youth regarded him somewhat quizzically.

"Rivalz," Cole said, extending now the folder he was holding. "In light of the service your family has already performed for Britannia, and for her majesty personally, she has seen fit to issue you a full waiver for conscription into Britannian service."

That elicited sharp intakes of breath all around. Such waivers were not unheard of, or at least ones that saw a person excused from service in the armed forces. Those were usually issued on medical grounds or if one was a sole survivor of a family. Even then however such an individual might be called upon to serve in the civil corps that supported the Empire's war effort, such as replacing workers pulled from farms or factories or any of the other myriad tasks that kept a modern economy running. The way Cole worded his statement however suggested Rivalz's waiver was more extensive than that.

"You said Britannian service," Rivalz said carefully as he reached out for the folder.

Cole nodded as he let go his end. "That's right. Any and all service, military and civil."

Rivalz's mouth thinned and he looked at the manila folder. "I, I don't know what to say."

And then found his free hand no longer free as Shirley reached out, taking hold and giving him a squeeze. She gave him a bright smile, and then favored Cole with a grateful one.

"Thank you, Cole," the girl said. "For coming to see us like this. For delivering all this in person."

"It was the least I could do," Cole said, his own smile weaker.

Shirley however shook her head. "You didn't need to, but you did, and we're all thankful that you did. Not just for the award or this paper, but that _you_ came."

As Cole looked at the others, he found that they too shared that sentiment if the warm expressions were anything to go by.

"There is one more thing though, that I am going to ask of you," Shirley said.

Cole looked back at her quizzically.

"Promise me," the girl continued. "Promise us. That you and Kallen will come back, safe and sound. Alright?"

At the 'us' Cole watched as Rivalz, Ingrid, and Brianna all nodded. He found his knees start to wobble, but Cole took a deep breath and held firm his form.

"I'll come back," Cole heard himself say, "and I'll bring Kallen back with me. And I'll make her happy, just as Rivalz has made you happy. I promise."

* * *

When a city reached a certain size, it could be said to never really sleep. Combined with such modern marvels as artificial lighting and coffee, the ability to power through the night was at least feasible if not always practical. Still the increased tempo of the war was placing greater and greater demands on the civilian populaces, with resources being rationed and diverted to the war effort and creating a growing imbalance between the dynamic and less so parts of a city.

The Japanese quarter of Paris was never one of its more prosperous sections, and with the war its residents were forced to make do with even less. Still theirs was a hardy lot and after everything they had gone through to make it here after Britannia's conquest of Japan, they were not about to let further trials lay them low. This fortitude was however about to be severely tested early this morning as a convoy of trucks and military vehicles maneuvered through the streets towards the Japanese quarter. By the time the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon, a cordon manned by heavily armed soldiers was encircling the Japanese quarter.

Hardy as the refugees were, consternation panic were soon spreading throughout the quarter as the soldiers went door to door. Those that declined to respond soon had the option removed from their choices as the soldiers forcibly entered such homes. Soon enough residents were appearing in the streets, most clutching bags filled with the bare essentials and a few keepsakes. As neighbors looked at each other, the fear and anxiety reached palpable levels. They were being forced out of their homes once more, and no one knew what fate lay in store for them.

Despite the early morning Rommel had made it a point to be present at the operation's command center. He watched the monitors as they displayed the smooth progression of the eviction and detention of the Japanese. Satisfaction was one word that could not describe the expression on his face.

"Is this really necessary?"

The colonel actually overseeing the roundup glanced back at his fellow German.

"We already delayed the internment operation to ensure that the camps waiting for these people would be ready, Herr Marschall. Any further delays and we risk this, infection spreading further."

Rommel's lips twitched. He had been the one to call in Nidhoggr, and the corps' commander Heinz Fiedler was certainly not wrong on any of his points. This all however still left a distinct distaste in Rommel's mouth.

The total population of Japanese refugees in Paris was officially around twenty thousand. A more realistic estimate would have added on another couple of thousand to account for the odds and ends that filtered to the city since the last attempt at a census. Moving such a large number of people from their homes was no trivial task, and compounding it was the speed at which they needed to move. The intelligence that Nidhoggr had provided him made that much perfectly clear, which was why Rommel had contacted the French government and pressed them to carry out the task. And in support of this operation were several companies of Nidhoggr's troops, positioned strategically around the perimeter in case they had gotten lucky and caught Suzaku in this net. If they did, they had orders to cut him down without reservation or consideration for how the other Japanese might react. The danger that the youth represented, if even half of Nidhoggr's intel was correct.

Heinz leaned over, gazing at one of the monitors intently. Rommel moved over to also get a few and frowned. There was definitely some sort of commotion, though whether it was being driven by the sheer desperation of these people or instigated for more malign purposes was hard to tell. The colonel however was not taking any chances and issued a series of orders for one of his companies to prepare themselves.

A few of the military vehicles moved, the guns mounted atop them visibly manned and swerving to track the crowds.

"Colonel," Rommel said firmly. "The objective is paramount, but do _not_ cause a stampede or riot."

Heinz raised an eyebrow but still offered a curt nod. More orders were issued and while the jaegers were not backing off, they were at least not quite so visibly hefting their weapons.

"What is the situation?" Heinz said into the radio.

"Several of the residents are protesting their eviction as unlawful," came the response. "Others are demanding that their homes be secured during their absence. They do not seem to believe the French authorities' assurances."

Hardly surprising considering the circumstances.

"Any indications of instigators?"

"None Herr Oberst. All those not actively yelling at the police are definitely trying to back away from the confrontation."

That was probably a good thing. If there really was someone instigating the Japanese-

A gunshot sounded over the radio, causing Rommel's eyes to dart about as he tried to find the source on the monitors.

"Report!" Heinz shouted.

"Gunshot along northern perimeter, single shot, crowds are panicking," came the concise response.

"Searching for shooter," another followed up, "shot was fired into French ranks, angle suggests from one of the buildings."

"Any casualties?" Rommel demanded.

"One officer hit, nonfatal wound. French police are moving in."

Rommel grimaced. "Get them to hold their ground, if they leave the perimeter we could have people slipping out!"

Heinz spoke rapidly into the radio but the monitors were making clear they were already too late. As the French police advanced along the northern perimeter, several figures broke from the Japanese crowds seemingly intent on breaking through.

"Herr Marschall, my men have orders to employ lethal force," Heinz said curtly. "If you want to countermand those orders, you need to do it now."

Rommel's mouth went dry as he continued watching the screen. The jaegers were bringing weapons to bear, and once the Japanese crossed the perimeter they would not hesitate to shoot. That lack of hesitation was one reason why he had called them in in the first place, because he needed their willingness to make the hard choices that would be required to stop Suzaku. If he reined them in now, then why had he bothered to enlist their assistance in the first place? The German marshal kept his mouth shut, and watched the disaster unfold with his own eyes.

* * *

"Those bastards."

The only others present in the room besides Suzaku mirrored his furious countenance, likely because the only thing they felt these days was what he felt. Suzaku spent a few moments longer listening to the news report besides turning it off. The announcement of the internment of all persons of Japanese descent was bad enough, but then the French government had to botch the first relocation operation, resulting in the deaths of over a hundred of his people.

He did not buy for a moment the official reasoning of the internment, that the Japanese refugees constituted security risks due to the active role their people had played on the Britannian side in the Korean campaign. No, the sole purpose of this internment was to try to find and kill him.

"I should have never gone to the military," Suzaku muttered. "They're the same, no matter where in the world."

He had been naïve to think that the EU would actually care about the truth or seeing justice done, they were just like the Empire in that their sole focus was the perpetuation of their power, regardless of the cost to the common people. It seemed his decision was right, the only way to ensure peace was to unite all people behind a singular vision, a singular purpose. To do that though, he would need to gain access to the remaining thought elevators.

A knock sounded, causing Suzaku and the others to look up.

"Enter."

The woman that entered regarded Suzaku a bit worriedly. "Umm, Monsieur Kururugi? We are ready to begin the trials."

Suzaku took a deep breath to compose himself. "Thank you, Mademoiselle Clément. I will change and join you shortly."

Anna's head bobbed once before she turned to take her leave. As Suzaku watched her go he was reminded for a brief moment of Euphemia, though the latter's hair was a lighter shade, more pink than purple. He had had such hopes for the princess, now empress. Such hopes. Instead once seated on the throne Euphemia had elected to continue prosecuting the war against the Chinese and Europeans, demonstrating fully well that she too cared not for the masses and would sacrifice them in droves to serve her ambition. And Kallen too. For all her protestations the Japanese-Britannian girl seemed to have no issue also serving that ambition. Pitiful, the lot of them.

Shaking his head, Suzaku hurried to change into the jumpsuit he had been given. A few minutes later he was outside standing before a large orange colored knightmare. Or as the French called it, the Rafale combat mech. For some reason the French refused to call their machines knightmares.

"Ah, Monsieur Kururugi," an older engineer greeted. "Excellent, we can begin now."

"Then by all means, let us begin," Suzaku said.

The few weeks that he had spent with the Rafale's research team had made clear that while the French mech was a superb piece of engineering, they had tried to do too much too quickly with their first knightmare design. The Lancelot was the product of over a decade of development and field experience, starting from the Ashford Foundation's Ganymede prototype to the Sutherlands and Gloucesters now in service. By this point the Empire knew what worked, and even more importantly, what did not work, and the French's lack of similar experience had showed. And while he was no engineer, Suzaku could still tell what felt off the first time he climbed into the Rafale.

Based on his feedback and the few engineering explanations that Suzaku was able to provide, the French design had undergone some degree of refinement. Major changes would need to wait for the Rafale II prototypes to be completed to test, but the few tweaks that were possible to make to the current generation of machines were already paying dividends. For one, the machines no longer toppled over every other step even with someone as skilled as Suzaku at the helm. It was still far from matching the Lancelot he remembered however.

"Alright monsieur, today we are going to try and test out the auto-stabilization of the Rafale's arms," the lead engineer said over the radio.

The auto-balancing system built into modern Britannian knightmares was for more than just keeping the machines upright as they walked or stood about. The motions of the upper body could also become unsteady, and as strong as the arms were the recoil from rifle fire could easily throw off a pilot's aim. At worst, the shaking of the frame could cause balance issues with the knightmare as a whole. It was a problem that the French had not quite taken into consideration, so while they were been making progress towards the bipedal auto-balancing problem, they had not even started on the upper body stabilization before Suzaku came along. Suzaku had of course immediately noticed the issue. How could he not after landing on his ass just trying to swing an arm about?

The following weeks were then a blur of controlled tests and data collection as the French engineers recorded Suzaku controlling their prototype. From these recordings they could generate a set of parameters that could then drive an automated balancer program, and they were now at the point where other test pilots could walk around without falling over all the time. Moving at anything faster than a slow gaunt however was still problematic, at least in the gen one prototypes. Until the new machines were finished however that was all they had to test and train in, and it was not like they could not get some useful practice and data out of them older machines.

"Please pick up the rifle, and then assume firing posture," the instruction came in.

Suzaku had the Rafale grab hold of a large rifle. The movements were still stiff and clunky, but he was able to grip it for firing and pointed it at the targets downrange.

"Single shot on the first target on the right, if you would please, monsieur."

Shifting his mech's stance a bit to better brace it, Suzaku took aim and fired off the single shot as requested. The round slammed into the target dead on, smashing it into pieces. From the murmurs that he could just barely make out, the engineers still found his skills in the Rafale a small wonder.

"Very good monsieur," the lead engineer said again. "Now the next target if you would."

Suzaku turned the Rafale about, taking aim again. And again the target in question was blown into itty bitty pieces. Piloting the prototype, despite its deficiencies, was not that difficult for him. It did require a degree of concentration, but the challenge lay in not letting his mind wander from the relative boredom and suffer an embarrassing accident because he reacted too late to a problem that he could deal with had he been paying attention.

The temptation to think about other things was however ultimately too strong and Suzaku's mind did start wandering. Namely, how he was going to parlay his assistance to Dassault-Dunois into tangible assets for his journey to the other thought elevators. Some of that was already in motion, the company was making arrangements to allow him to travel to the Congo thought elevator next week. Getting to the Middle East thought elevator on the other hand would be tricky, seeing as the entire region was still under military jurisdiction with the expectant Britannian invasion. Though if the Rafale project progressed enough for a proper field test, that might be one avenue he could make his way there, assuming he could evade discovery of course.

"We will be moving into continuous firing now, monsieur," the engineer said after the last shot. "Please wait a bit while we set up new targets."

"Understood."

Suzaku sank back into the seat. It was not the most comfortable place to be, but all things considered it was a rather familiar position. In some ways things had not really changed that much from his past life, he was still piloting a weapon of war for a power that was not Japan, all in pursuance of some goal that he hoped would end the fighting. It was frustrating in the extreme that he never seemed to reach that goal, and there was a nagging fear that he was wasting his time here instead of just striking out for the other thought elevators himself. But the enemies he faced, he was not strong enough to face them by himself. He needed to marshal greater resources, more allies, and gain a better grip on this strange power he now had. Only then would he stand a chance, only then could he stop Kallen and Euphemia from tearing the world apart. And maybe, in the process, he could save them too.

* * *

The assembled officers all rose as Andreas and Kallen entered the tent.

"Be seated," the general said.

More shuffling of chairs sounded as they obeyed, after Kallen herself had taken a seat. Such courtesy might have been somewhat begrudging when Kallen first joined Eighth Army, but then Chosin happened and every officer here was provided a demonstration of just how fit Kallen was to serve as a Knight of the Round. And how appropriate she was as a placeholder for Heir Secundus, come to think of it. In return for their courtesy the nominal (in her own opinion) princess did not waste any time settling down herself. No one paid any heed to Kallen's lack of an armsman trailing her, after what happened at another consequence of Chosin being that most agreed the princess was more than capable of taking care of herself. Once everyone was comfortable Andreas nodded, beginning the meeting.

"The last few weeks have been trying, and our enemies have demonstrated both tenacity and daring in their maneuvers."

That went without saying, one only needed to look at the casualties the fighting had produced to confirm the veracity of Andreas' words.

"Nonetheless our forces have defeated the gambits launched by the allied forces, and progress on the major fronts continue apace."

Another truth, for with the defeat of the Chinese and German forces at Chosin, the Empire had defeated the bulk of the opposition between them and Manchuria. Even better, the diversion of the German forces had meant one less opponent for Sixth Army to fight around Vladivostok. Those same forces had been hurriedly withdrawn after the failure of the Chosin gambit, but they would still need a bit of time before they could be redeployed to help the Russians like they should have to begin with.

"At the same time we should not be tempted to celebrate victory too soon, for our enemies yet have forces with which to contest it."

A couple of grumbles sounded around the table at the obvious reference to the adversary Eighth Army was finding itself facing once more. The Chinese 13th group army that had bedeviled them with its hit and run campaign was now demonstrating that it could engage in a stand-up fight if the need arose. As Britannian forces pursued the remnants of the shattered 9th group army, they were suddenly faced with defensive entrenchments stretching across the Korean border. The 13th had obviously spent the two weeks their compatriots had bought at Chosin digging in, in fact they had likely started fortifying the line the moment they were deployed to the peninsula, with all of their previous attacks against Eighth Army stalling tactics. The positions Eighth Army now faced were tough, and indications were that the 13th's commander had retained enough of a reserve that any breakthrough attempt that succeeded would be promptly flanked. This left the Empire's forces little choice but to reduce those positions the hard way.

"Eighth Fleet's assets remain tied down at the Vladivostok theatre," Andreas continued, "and as we head deeper inland the navy's conventional assets will be less and less able to support our advance. The good news is that the air force will be transferring several additional squadrons over the next week, and with the withdrawal of Russian air cover from the Korean front, that should provide the advantage we will need to break the Chinese positions. In addition-"

Kallen's head jerked towards the entrance, a motion that did not escape Andreas. A moment latter the thudding of boots sounded and an urgent sounding voice could be heard conversing with the sentries. The flaps were pushed aside and a junior officer on Andreas' staff entered, coming to attention.

"Apologies for interrupting your meeting sir, but an urgent message has come in for you."

Andreas frowned and glanced again over at Kallen. The young woman however simply stared at the intruding officer quizzically.

"Then I best see to it," Andreas said. "The meeting is adjourned."

Even as Andreas headed to follow the officer Kallen rose and fell in step behind him in turn. The general did not try to dissuade her, anything that he had a need to know she would find out eventually anyway, and if the message was not meant for Kallen to see, his subordinate would have found some other way to notify him.

The trio made their way to the communications tent and were led to one of the more secured little hamlets inside. The soldier manning the station waited until the flaps were secured before presenting the message to Andreas. Kallen however was already reading it, and fought to keep her face impassive in the process. That was proving just a tad difficult however.

Chinese colonel approached with truce flag. Proposes ceasefire and negotiations. Request orders.

The brief and clipped message customary of such dispatches did not allow for a great deal of detail in their contents. What this one revealed nonetheless was enough to pique Kallen's interests considerably. She looked up at the general, waiting for him to finish parsing the message himself. When he did Andreas returned her gaze.

"Your thoughts, your highness?" he asked, as if taking as a given Kallen already knew the contents.

"The officer wants to talk," Kallen responded, not caring that she was confirming Andreas' suspicion. "Let's hear what he has to say. We can decide whether it's a good idea or not after that."

Andreas continued regarding Kallen thoughtfully for a few moments. At the end however he nodded.

End of Chapter 111

Euphemia awarding Kallen that medal was, umm, a mite evil on the empress' part. She did do it for a purpose though. A couple of purposes. Euphemia is if nothing else very economical with her actions. One reason was obviously to recognize the fact that Kallen had been instrumental in breaking the trap the Chinese and Germans tried to spring on Eighth Army. I know I've said previously that no single knightmare pilot will ever be on the scale of a strategic asset in my story, and that's still true since Kallen only got as far as she did due to the support the rest of her battalion was giving her. Nonetheless, she did play a major personal role in the victory and Euphemia has chosen to recognize it.

The other reason, or one of the other reasons, for the medal is much more nuanced. The Britannian military has a tradition that the first award for valor that you receive, you will always wear it, regardless of other awards that you might receive of higher precedence over the rest of your career. In Kallen's case, that will mean when she is in formal dress she will always have to wear the medal, thus guaranteeing that Kallen will always have a very visible reminder of what happened at Chosin. So in a way, Euphemia is being a bit evil. But Kallen understands her liege's reasoning, and while a bit resentful/irritated accepts the decision, because she also understands that Euphemia is right. So while others might see the medal and think solely of her valor at Chosin, Kallen will herself also be reminded of her shame.

For the curious, Ramirez Cardemonde was a staff sergeant, serving as the platoon sergeant for his platoon. That made him effectively the senior ranking NCO of the platoon, and he had the experience to back it up. A while back I also mentioned that the Most Excellent Order of the Britannian Empire is awarded to people whom have performed a service to the sovereign, the imperial family, or a viceroy. In Ramirez's case, his service was technically to Cole in saving his life, but since everyone is expecting Cole to marry Kallen and Kallen is sort of an imperial at this point, Euphemia stretched the letter of the requirement.

German's lack of the equivalent for "sir" is rather amusing. And at times annoying.

I swear, I did not intend for C.C.'s alias to be so similar to so many other character names. One thing to note that in my version Anna Clément is much older than 17. Whether that's going to matter or not we'll see, it all depends on if I actually have a use for her later.

Suzaku in the anime served Britannia without ever actually improving conditions for his people. In fact during his tenure as Knight of Seven it could be argued that things got worse for the Japanese as the Empire clamped down on Japan in the aftermath of the Black Rebellion. Instead of trying to do anything about it, he just wallowed in his own self-loathing and kept telling himself that once he became Knight of One things would change. Which frankly sounded like just another excuse he made up so that he could continue doing nothing to help his people.

My version of Kallen on the other hand extracted significant concessions from Euphemia in exchange for her service. While Euphemia was already pushing out basic services like education and healthcare, Kallen was able to gain recognition for a native Japanese policing force outside the Concessions, as well as full privileges for the Japanese people in Japan in the form of the Special Administrations Act that Schneizel pushed through parliament. And with Heinrich's appointment, Japan has a viceroy that has both the belief and the conviction to enforce that equal treatment. Kallen might be fighting under Britannia's banner now, but her service is being paid for by measurable improvement to her people's lot. That is in stark contrast to Suzaku in canon, whom fought for Britannia for the sake of his own self-validation and assurance. So no, they are very much not doing the same thing. If nothing else, Kallen is actually succeeding in her goals.


	113. Chapter 112

_As heavy as German losses were as a result of Chosin, Chinese losses were an order of magnitude worse. The Chinese had committed the entirety of their elite 9_ _th_ _group army to the offensive, counting on sheer weight of numbers and the relatively high quality of this body of troops to carry the day. For a time it indeed looked as if the Chinese would overwhelm the Marine position at Changjin, but the Britannian troops stubbornly refused to concede. Failure to quickly overcome Britannian resistance saw the Chinese forces' early advantage rapidly evaporate as the Empire began shifting more and more troops north to relieve their besieged compatriots. At the same time a flanking attack along the Britannian western lines ran right into the 2_ _nd_ _cavalry division and the 25_ _th_ _infantry division._

 _Despite some successes, such as the destruction of the destroyer_ Samuel B. Roberts _and the downing of one of the Empire's Naglfar-class flying transports, Chinese forces were unable to maintain the momentum of their advance and soon found themselves engaged in fierce, grinding battle against more and more Britannian units. And just as she had broken the back of the German flanking attack, the Princess Kallen once more played a major role in thwarting the Chinese advance against the Britannian western flank. As part of a daring rescue attempt of the Britannian soldiers trapped when their flying transport was shot down, the Princess Kallen and her forces succeeded in decimating two regiments worth of Chinese infantry that had been besieging that position. The suddenness and sheer viciousness of the fighting fractured the Chinese lines, allowing 2_ _nd_ _cavalry to completely rout the Chinese advance. All told, the two weeks of fighting saw over half of the Chinese Federation forces become casualties. These losses would see the 9_ _th_ _group army be completely removed from the rest of the war, and set the stage for the 13_ _th_ _and the ambition of its general._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 112

Ut incepit fidelis sic permanet

The Chinese officer seated across from Andreas and Kallen was a rather heavyset man, but it was obvious from even a cursory glance that the man was possessed of great strength within that large frame of his, both physical and mental. Little wonder he had been charged with crossing the lines to deliver a message to the Britannian military.

"I am Andreas Darlton, commanding officer of Her Majesty's Eighth Army," Andreas began. "This is Her Highness the Princess Kallen, the Knight of Seven."

Kallen nodded to the man and in turn received a much deeper seated bow. Deference to one's nominal social betters was in some ways as ingrained into the Chinese cultural psyche as it was the Japanese.

"I am Colonel Hong Hu, aide-de-camp to General Yang Wen-Li, commanding officer of the 13th group army of the Grand Army of the Chinese Federated States," the man introduced himself in turn. "I come with an offer for a temporary ceasefire from my general, and a means to potentially end the war between our peoples."

Andreas' face remained impassive while Kallen's own became more intent as she regarded Hong. The original message that had been relayed from Eighth Army's scouts had indicated a Chinese officer of moderately high rank wishing to speak with someone of sufficient authority that could ostensibly speak for the Empire. The request had been taken with a grain of salt but Hong's claim to be a personal messenger for General Yang was just barely enough for it to be taken seriously. Now they would see whether they were right to do so.

"Let us get to the matter at hand then," Andreas said. "What conditions is General Yang offering for the ceasefire?"

Hong nodded. "My general's proposal is simple. Should Britannian forces remain south of the Yalu and Tumen Rivers that delineate the Manchurian borders, the forces under his command will not conduct any operations against your own."

Andreas raised an eyebrow. "And why would I be willing to accept such terms?"

"Because by avoiding the need to engage Chinese forces, your Empire may throw the weight of its resources against the Europeans at Vladivostok," Hong replied frankly.

Another beat passed as Andreas continued regarding Hong. "Technically to move our forces against Vladivostok via a land route would require crossing the Tumen River."

Hong cracked a slight smirk. "You would have to move east of the river, indeed."

The subtext was clear enough. Kallen watched the two men stare at each other, her own impatience starting to build as they remained silent.

"How long would this ceasefire hold?" Andreas finally said.

"That would depend on whether your government is amenable to an end to hostilities with the Chinese Federation," Hong stated.

Something was off here, Kallen immediately noted. If there really was an interest on the part of the Chinese government to withdraw from the war, then having Hong be the one to broach the issue was a very roundabout method. There was a reason for this discretion, and Kallen suspected that that reason would underscore just how credible this proposal of ceasing hostilities was.

"General Yang was the one that ordered you to convey this message," Andreas more stated than asked.

"That is correct," Hong responded with a nod.

"Am I to understand then that he speaks for the Chinese Federation on this point?"

"He does."

Hong was lying. The man's face was collected and stern, his tone and eyes conveyed that of a firm conviction, but Kallen immediately saw that his last statement was a complete and outright lie. But what exactly was he lying about.

Andreas glanced over at Kallen. "Your thoughts, your highness?"

The young woman frowned. "Tell me colonel. What has prompted the Chinese Federation to consider withdrawing from the war?"

Hong's mouth thinned. "There is a, recognition, on the part of certain elements of the government, that entering this war in the first place was an unwise choice. China has already suffered greatly for that misstep, and even as the fighting saps our strength Britannia has given no indication that it will soon tire of this conflict. Better then to cut our losses now than to invite further ruination upon our nation."

Kallen held Hong's gaze. "And what makes General Yang believe he could, convince, the rest of the government that such a course of action is the preferable one?"

At this Andreas' eyes flickered as the general recognized the insinuation behind Kallen's words. His gaze at Hong took on a somewhat curious air. The Chinese colonel maintained his composure however, and only Kallen was able to see the hint of a grimace on his face.

"The general is not the only one whom feels this way."

And that, Kallen saw, was absolutely true as far as Hong himself knew. The man was not even stretching or exaggerating what he knew, there was a firm conviction that the numbers that supported this position were substantial. But it was not an outright majority, or at least it did not have a majority amongst the key decision makers that could actually effect such chosen path.

"Why does General Yang believe that Britannia would be willing to allow China to withdraw from this war?" Kallen asked, trying to further probe just what was motivating this particular faction.

"Two reasons," Hong began, putting on a surprisingly unperturbed front. "The first is that our own intelligence suggests that Britannia considers the Asian theater a sideshow, and that your empire wants to move on as quickly as possible to focus on the Europeans. We are not foolish enough to believe there will be no concessions demanded to allow China's withdrawal, but it is evident that Britannia is not interested in outright conquest of the Federation. The second, which supports the first, is that despite us having drawn down our strength in the south, the Empire has made no move to attempt occupation of Indochina save for seizing control of Singapore. That has suggested to many in the military that Britannia's goals do not include territorial expansion."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "In the military."

Hong nodded curtly but said nothing further. Kallen however now had everything she needed. The Chinese government was not prepared to withdraw from the war, but the military was, and it was ready to do something about it to make the government see reason. In other words, General Yang was orchestrating a coup. Kallen's eyes narrowed.

"Is the general actually interested in ending this war, colonel," Kallen said, "and not simply using this as an opportunity to advance his own ambition?"

A flicker of anger, genuine anger but no shame, flashed over Hong's face but the man recomposed himself, even if he needed to feign stroking his beard to buy the time to do so.

"Your highness, you swore an oath to your empress when you entered her service, did you not?" Hong then looked at Andreas. "And general, you did so as well, no?"

The two Britannians regarded Hong quizzically but both nodded.

"In much the same way, General Yang and I both swore oaths to our sovereign, to our nation, when we joined the military. For many years of our service however, we have _not_ lived up to that oath."

And then the other piece clicked. Kallen had learned a little about the Chinese Federation back in school, and the briefing she received before joining Eighth Army in Korea had provided her with a much more detailed background. Specifically, it made mention of how while the Federation did have a sovereign like Britannia, true power lay in the hands of the High Eunuchs. It was these men that controlled the Chinese court and various ministries, while the current sovereign, a young girl named Jiang Lihua, was nothing more than a figurehead. There was an addendum that suggested the girl's parents might well have been murdered by the Eunuchs so that they would have a more pliable puppet, and Kallen found herself genuinely sympathizing with Hong.

"What exactly does General Yang require from us to allow him to, correct the course of the Chinese government?" Kallen asked.

Both Andreas and Hong now regarded Kallen with surprise. And in the case of the latter, a flicker of hope as well.

"Time," Hong stated. "Time, and a feint."

At this Kallen cocked her head aside, waiting for Hong to elucidate.

"The, government, must continue to believe that Britannia intends to continue prosecuting the war against China, even with the cessation of active campaigns against Manchuria."

Kallen frowned, still not quite understanding. Fortunately for her Andreas inferred the objective immediately.

"Should the pressure on the Chinese government lesson, they might well pursue a negotiated end to the war themselves, thus robbing General Yang and his partisans of their opportunity," Andreas stated bluntly. "Is that not so?"

Hong said nothing in response, simply holding Andreas' gaze. The silence was however confirmation enough. Kallen's own gaze shifted back and forth between the two men locked in a staring contest. After a while the sound of her sigh finally caused them to break off and look over at her.

"Your intent is quite clear, colonel," Kallen said, "and I believe you are entirely sincere in your desire to serve your own empress, to see things set right in your country, and get China out of this war. I even sympathize with it. But as I am sure you know, things are never as simple as what we personally want. If General Yang wants our help in, restoring, his empress to her throne, then there will be conditions."

Andreas' eyebrow quirked but the general did not interrupt.

"Name them," Hong simply said.

Kallen grimaced slightly. "There are four principal concessions that Britannia will require. First, the Mongolian thought elevator and everything within fifty kilometers of it will be ceded to Britannian control, and Britannia will be granted right of way through China's airspace to reach it."

That elicited a slightly confused look from Hong but the colonel too did not interrupt, also waiting for Kallen to finish speaking.

"The second, India's independence will be recognized by China."

At that Hong actually nodded. It seemed both he and his general were pragmatic enough to recognize an established fact.

Kallen now took a deep breath. Now onto the thing that she herself really did not care about, but which the Empire she served demanded.

"The third, Singapore and its surrounding territorial waters will be ceded to Britannia."

That finally elicited a pointed reaction from Hong. The man's eyes flared momentarily, anger flickering over them.

"And the fourth?" he asked frostily.

Kallen smiled, causing Hong to blink in surprise. It was a charming, warm expression, one that easily disarmed the colonel of his anger, even if only for a moment.

"The fourth, is a condition. Prove to me that your General Yang can succeed."

The surprise this time Hong did not bother trying to hide, or perhaps Kallen's final point had come so unexpectedly that he was unable to. He overcame it quickly however, and in the end was beaming right back at Kallen with all his confidence.

* * *

"This failure is intolerable," a reedy voice sounded. "We were promised a stratagem that would check the Britannian advance across Korea, and instead we are faced with fresh disaster."

An accusatory glare was shot at Li Xingke by Cheng Zhong, the eunuch that had spoken. The major kept his face stoically composed.

"No military venture is assured of success," he said frankly. "Anyone whom promised so was outright lying, your excellency."

Cheng responded with an even sharper glare but before he could further verbalize his anger Huang Qian intervened, silencing him momentary.

"That is enough. There is no point in trying to lay blame for how we have arrived at this point, the important thing is to determine how best to restore our, China's fortunes."

That was not entirely true, all of the eunuchs here had arrived at their present station by ensuring blame for any failures along the way were shifted to someone else. And if any of their present fellows could find some advantage in laying the blame for their Korean defeats on one of the others, they would not hesitate to do it. Huang's remark was thus more a warning than a platitude, one which the others seemed prepared to heed. For now.

"Major Li," Huang continued. "What steps are the military taking in light of these developments?"

"General Yang has already established a new defensive line that is stalling further Britannian advances," Li Xingke responded. "Unfortunately he does not possess the numbers to launch any counterattacks, especially with the need to make good the 9th group army's losses. The general is however confident that he can buy China that time, and the next wave of recruits are nearing completion of training. At the same time the 13th group army's units have been actively fighting for several months now and will soon need rotation out, especially those that were with the general in India."

"We have no time for such nonsense," Zhao Hao growled. "China is fighting for her life, and these soldiers wish for a respite? Britannia will not halt its advance while they are resting on their laurels."

It was remarks such as this that made Li Xingke genuinely wonder how Zhao had become responsible for the military portfolio. That particular development was before his time however. Zhao had a tendency to bluster, but he really had absolutely no idea what it meant to conduct actual military operations. Li Xingke suspected that the aged eunuch had maneuvered himself into the portfolio to take advantage of the graft military procurement allowed. Now that China actually had need for her armies however, he was obviously out of his depth, something that his fellow eunuchs knew.

"To continue using a dull sword instead of taking the time to sharpen it once more would seem unwise," Xia Wang put in, causing Zhao's glower to shift to him. The treasurer however shrugged. "Even assuming the flesh is willing, the equipment wielded by the soldiers of the 13th group army will have seen considerable wear and tear over the past few months. They will need replacement, and better that units be rotated out and fully reequipped instead of trying to do it piecemeal while they are in the field. That would also provide an opportunity to reinforce those units whose manpower have been depleted by the fighting."

Li Xingke could not help but nodding in approving agreement. Xia was most definitely one of the more meticulous members of the council as a consequence of his responsibilities. And unlike some of the others, he actually took an active role in the management of the treasury. Amongst the council, it was he and Cheng that Li Xingke was most worried might discover Yang's machinations. Deflecting the two required not outright lies, but enough truth that they would draw the conclusions Li Xingke wanted them to.

"How long then before this, reequipping will be completed?" Huang asked.

"A few weeks at minimum, to rotate the units from the front," Li Xingke said. "At the same time we will be moving fresh units to replace them, so there should be no major dip in General Yang's combat strength. That however is not the same as the general possessing the combat strength to continue offensive operations against the Britannians."

That was clear enough to at least some of the eunuchs. The 9th group army that had been so badly mauled was ostensibly even stronger than Yang's current frontline strength and even received support from several of the Wehrmacht's best divisions, for all the good that ended up doing. The obvious conclusion was that China would need to marshal a much stronger force before they could next take the offensive. Obvious, but not necessarily welcome.

"Reequip if we must, but we cannot simply idly sit by during the process," Gao Hai said. "After having committed their forces to our aid, the Europeans will expect the same from us to help relieve some of the pressure they are facing at Vladivostok."

Li Xingke's lips thinned. That was the last thing he or Yang wanted to be sent off to do, for reasons beyond just their mutual ambition.

"That may be so, but if we move the 13th group army out of position to support the Europeans further north, we do not have any body of troops ready to replace them if the Britannians attempt to advance into Manchuria."

"Could not the units being transferred to the front now not make up those numbers?" Cheng said.

"That would be, suboptimal, your excellency," Li Xingke responded. "The new units will not have had time to work up into cohesive divisions, and if the Britannians were to hit them in force their chances would not be good."

"Then what good are all these men that we've poured so much money into training and arming?" Zhao spat out. "They are in the army to kill China's enemies, not take a holiday!"

Li Xingke idly wondered if Zhao had actually been maneuvered into his position by the others to keep anyone competent from managing the army and potentially turning it on rivals. It was hard to imagine any other way for the eunuch to have gained his current place.

"Building a proper military is an iterative process, your excellency," Li Xingke said politely instead of expressing what he really thought. "There is no shortcut to the process. The Britannian military has refined its forces over a long period of time. We cannot expect our own green units to face off against the Empire's more experienced forces and expect anything but fresh disaster."

"Well said," Xia interjected before Zhao could respond with his usual diatribe. "Regretful as it may be, China's reserve of manpower is not unlimited. We will of course attempt to send aid to our European allies as quickly as possible, but it would do them no good if the forces that we attempt to send now only weakens our position in the long run."

The European leadership might well have a different opinion in that regard, but there was no advocate of theirs present to try to argue otherwise. The closest to such a person was Gao Hai, whom looked less than enthused about delivering such a message to their nominal allies. Even he however did not attempt to argue against the decision itself, at least directly.

"How long then would it take for our forces to be able to take the fight back to the Empire?" the eunuch asked.

"That would depend entirely on what the Empire itself does in the meantime," Li Xingke responded entirely sincerely. "Should Britannia elect to give us the time to rearm and reequip, we could perhaps commence new offensive operations within a month's time. If the Empire were to launch fresh attacks upon our lines however, then the reinforcements that we would need to marshal for those operations will likely be diverted to support our defense."

A silence hung momentarily in the opulent chamber as the eunuchs considered the points. In frankness China had few good options at this point, short of something truly drastic. And drastic was exactly what Li Xingke and Yang intended. Time would tell whether fortune would indeed favor them however.

* * *

Only a small honor guard from Fenrir Regiment greeted Kallen as she stepped off the plane, for which the girl was thankful for. She still did not particularly like the pomp and circumstance that came with her title and station and for an errand like this even a little bit of ceremony felt overdone. Then again, at least some of that honor guard was obviously here to see to her actual physical security, so there was no reason to unduly slight any of them. Falling back on her persona as a knight, Kallen returned the salute being rendered before hurrying over to the waiting car.

Half an hour after landing at Bifröst Air Base, Kallen arrived at the imperial palace. Along the way however Kallen noticed a certain tension in the city. Nothing really worrisome, but there was an edge of anger on a lot of the people she passed, especially amongst the guardsmen. Just what exactly was causing it Kallen could not discern and so it was with a somewhat quizzically look that she entered Euphemia's office.

If the cause of this tension was in any way bothering the empress herself, Euphemia did not show it as she greeted Kallen with a warm smile.

"Welcome back Kallen," Euphemia said.

Kallen cracked a wry smile. "Thank you, your majesty." She then glanced over at the armsmen standing behind the empress. "Did, something happen in my absence?"

"Hmm?" Euphemia spared a quick look over her shoulder before ahing in acknowledgment. "Helmut Albarea's trial has begun. The former duke, demonstrated a notable lack of sense when he insinuated I survived the deaths of my family because my lineage was not, true."

Kallen tried not to gap at that. Lacking sense was something of an understatement to put it mildly. If the former duke really had said that publicly at that trial.

"Wait, how is he not dead?" Kallen blurted out.

From the expressions of the guards behind Euphemia it was evident they thought that was a perfectly valid question too.

"It was a close thing," Euphemia said with unnerving serenity, "but the gendarmerie was able to keep the crowds from breaking through to lynch Albarea." And shrugged. "He will hang, but it will be by the book."

Kallen's mouth thinned. If her memory was not failing her, this would actually be the third duke whose execution Euphemia would be responsible for. Hopefully Albarea's death would close that particular chapter of Euphemia's reign.

"Anyway, you bring news of an important development regarding the Asian campaign," Euphemia continued.

And not one word about Kallen's little misadventure. It seemed Euphemia considered that matter closed as well. Kallen nodded, and Euphemia dipped her head in turn, an invitation for Kallen to seat herself. Once she had done so, Kallen conveyed to Euphemia the salient points of Hong's offer, as well as the advantages it would offer over alternatives.

"So you believe that General Yang's proposal would allow for the withdrawal of the Chinese Federation with minimal further loss of life on the Empire's part," Euphemia said after Kallen finished speaking.

Kallen nodded firmly. "The ceasefire would see to that."

Euphemia did not bother asking for further confirmation of the sincerity of the offer, likely because she knew Kallen could detect any attempt at duplicity. That or she did have that much faith in her knight, whatever missteps Kallen might have committed thus far. No one was perfect after all, and the body count resulting from Euphemia's own mistakes were nigh legion.

"Well, I will admit a certain appeal to the general's proposed stratagem," Euphemia said. "The question is can he actually avoid taking any sort of military action against our forces for so long? Would not the High Eunuchs grow suspicious of his inactivity? And the Europeans will certainly press him to do something once our forces all divert to the Vladivostok theatre."

"That's why our window of opportunity is pretty slim," Kallen said. "General Yang estimates that he would need to move within two months. If we're in position by then to support him, the odds of his success go way up. If not, well, he's still likely to succeed, but there might be a lot more breakage and China might fall into chaos afterward. And to be frank, I can think of a lot of reasons why that would be bad."

Euphemia cocked her head aside. "Oh? Care to explain your reasoning behind that position?"

The obvious answer was that a lot of Chinese would die if the Federation actually descended into anarchy and the country fell into outright civil war. It was not that those lives did not matter to the empress, but in the cold calculus of war she would prioritize the lives of her own subjects, then her allies, then any neutrals that might exist, and only lastly those of her enemies. Kallen could not quite fault her liege for that, again it was not as if Euphemia was treating those other lives as worthless, she was just being very honest about which lives she did consider worth more. In some ways that honesty was more refreshing than the lip service offered by other, ostensibly nobler individuals whom claimed to value all life equally.

"The reasoning is simple," Kallen said instead. "Should China fall into chaos, Britannia's territories bordering the Federation would likely suffer from the overflow that would inevitably result. At a minimum we're going to see refugees trying to flee the fighting, and the waters that separate our territories won't be nearly enough to stop people desperate enough. Then there is the fact that a general breakdown of law and order would allow for criminal elements to carve out spheres of influence, and the really ambitious ones might try to extend the reach of their operations to Britannian territories as well. The Empire on the other hand, unless we're prepared to start intervening unilaterally on the mainland, would have few recourses to eliminating the source of these incursions, and it is my understanding that Britannia does not want to assume responsibility for additional mainland regions, which is why the strategic objective of the Asian campaign is simply to force China out of the war, not outright conquest."

There was an approving glimmer in Euphemia's eyes as she listened to Kallen's explanation, that much the knight could tell even with the empress effectively invisible to her geass. Her liege was obviously pleased that Kallen was learning how to weigh the consequences of her choices.

"Those are certainly valid points," Euphemia said, keeping her tone otherwise level. "In fact they weigh favorably in arguing for the gambling of Eighth Fleet."

Kallen dipped her head slightly. That really was the crux of the assistance that Yang wanted, beyond Britannia agreeing to a ceasefire.

"I know we've lost a destroyer already to the Chinese forces," Kallen said, "and the air defense network around Luoyang is going to be an even tougher nut to crack. But the point is we don't actually need to come into range of the city, we just need to give the impression that we intend to."

"And thus incite the Chinese court to panic and deploy as many military units around the city as possible," Euphemia concluded for Kallen, "many of which will be loyal to General Yang, the combined sum outnumbering those loyal to the eunuchs."

Kallen nodded curtly. "Yes, your majesty."

"Well, that is certainly audacious," Euphemia said. "Still, you are rather confident that the General Yang is, fit, for assuming responsibility over China's governance."

Another nod. "I may not have met the general himself, but I know for a certainty that Colonel Hong was entirely sincere in not only his offer, but his intent."

"I see," Euphemia said softly and thoughtfully.

The offer presented by Colonel Hong on behalf of General Yang was, seductive, to say the least. It had been phrased in just the right way to appeal to the Britannian public by presenting the coup as a restoration of the true sovereign to the throne and to Euphemia and her government as an opportunity to install a new, stable Chinese government that would owe Britannia a major favor for its assistance. Yang had even managed to make the entire endeavor sound fairly low risk from the Britannian perspective. Of course, appearances could be deceptive and Euphemia could see quite a few ways in which this entire enterprise could fall apart, disastrously at that. And while Euphemia did not doubt Kallen's judgment regarding Colonel Hong, there was still the possibility, however slight, that General Yang himself was deceiving all of them.

"The matter of the ceasefire is at General Darlton's discretion as the theatre commander," Euphemia said, "but I will send a note back with you to encourage the general to consider it favorably. That should provide you with the necessary time to meet with General Yang and, ascertain his ambitions."

"Understood, your majesty."

"That being said," Euphemia amended quickly, "I expect you to take care that in exploring the feasibility of this gambit, you do not take any additional undue risks."

Kallen's jaw tightened but she nodded, and repeated. "Understood, your majesty."

* * *

"Brother Li!"

Li Xingke turned about and smiled as the young girl trotted over to him, a bright smile on her face. It was an expression that was all too often absent from her face, seeing how little reason she had to be genuinely happy these days.

"Your majesty," he responded politely, but the smile he in turn graced her with was still warm and friendly.

Jiang however gave a pout, apparently unhappy with even this level of distance between herself and Li Xingke. Still, perhaps as a sign of her growing maturity, that was the only indication of her displeasure before she smiled again.

"Will you be coming to dinner tonight? You've been so busy lately that you're not around anymore!"

In truth those other instances of him dining with the young empress was nowhere as intimate a setting as the girl's remarks might have suggested. Officers and courtiers whom had gained the favor of the high eunuchs were often rewarded with an opportunity to dine with them and the empress, and as one of those officers whom had drawn such attention from the council Li Xingke really was just another body amongst the gathered supplicants. Nonetheless Jiang had singled his presence out, and continued to hold him in special regard.

"I honestly do not know, your majesty," Li Xingke said, already regretting the disappointment and sadness that now flickered through the girl's eyes. "I will however endeavor to do my best to put in a showing sometime soon. That, you can consider a promise."

At that Jiang brightened somewhat, giving Li Xingke a firm nod. "It's a promise then!"

The guard accompanying the girl cleared his throat. "Your majesty, we must get going, your lesson will be starting soon."

Jiang sighed but graced Li Xingke with one last smile before heading off. The major bowed his head respectfully, careful to not show too intimate a familiarity with the empress. Once Jiang was gone he straightened and sighed. Despite the girl's nominal importance, she remained an effective prisoner of the Forbidden City. A prisoner of the eunuchs that controlled the true levelers of power in the Chinese Federation. And that, in Li Xingke's opinion, was a tragedy that needed to be set right. Jiang was a kind girl at heart, that he was certain of. There was yet time to make sure that that kindness of hers would lead China into a gentler future.

Such thoughts for the future would need to wait however, right now there were other things demanding his attention. Li Xingke made his way to another wing of the palace and after a brief wait was admitted into the private office of Xia Wang, the Federation's treasurer. Of the members of the high council, Xia was not one whose favor Li Xingke had actively courted in the past. The treasurer in turn had never indicated any interest in the major's career, until the commencement of the war against Britannia. Now, these meetings were a semi-regular occasion, one that was in many ways drawing Li Xingke away from at least one of his original patrons, Cheng Zhong. The latter disapproved heavily of the decision to withdraw forces from India and Indochina, and his general unhappiness with the military's inability to check the Britannian advance was often vented at Li Xingke during the council meetings the major attended. That Xia, Cheng's greatest rival in succeeding Huang as chancellor when the elderly man finally decided to die, was exerting his influence to shield Li Xingke, only served to further inflame that unhappiness, especially since the military was one of the few institutions that could offset the power of Cheng's ministry for state security. Combined with Xia's control of the nation's finances, that combination could make for a potentially deadly threat to Cheng's own ambitions.

As Li Xingke entered the chamber he went down onto his knees in respectful greeting.

"I answer your summons, your excellency."

And rose to stand before the man, that bit of formality dispensed with. Xia allowed a slight smirk to appear on his face, one that Li Xingke did not doubt he was meant to see.

"I am sure you are as busy as I, Major Li," Xia said, "so let us get to the matter at hand."

Xia might have actually meant it too, in a sort of backhanded way. Managing China's finances was no simple matter, and to serve as treasurer required the eunuch to possess some degree of technical competency. Whether Xia really believed someone like Li Xingke could be as busy as himself was an open question.

"Of course your excellency," Li Xingke responded with due deference.

"I'm sure you're aware of the general unhappiness amongst the council as to the progress of the war," Xia said. "Hard to blame them, and I myself am less than sanguine about our losses. Nonetheless if China is to have any hope of emerging from this conflict intact, much less remain a first-tier power, we cannot let petty differences divide us. And we must ensure that whatever resources the military requires to stand against Britannia is made available."

Easier said than done, both knew, and Li Xingke simply signaled his agreement with an understanding nod.

"That being said, I would like your personal assessment of the progress of the military buildup," Xia continued. "Oh, I know the war staff supplies plenty of reports on it, but I am not a military man and so some of the nuances escape me, I am afraid."

That Li Xingke somehow doubted was complete honesty on Xia's part.

"Anything that your excellency has questions of, I am happy to help answer," he said nonetheless.

The eunuch smirked again. Or maybe it was a smile. It was hard to tell with him and his fellow councilmembers, when their expressions were genuine and when they were mere masks.

"There is a point of concern," Xia said, "in the wake of the loss of the 9th group army in Korea. A concern, regarding what Britannia might intend next."

Li Xingke said nothing, waiting for the actual question to be asked.

"The Empire has demonstrated that it can more than match our forces in the field, though even they must find doing so costly," the treasurer stated with a degree of confidence. "That being the case, I have to wonder whether after their triumph in Korea, they might not seek an alternate means to victory, one that does not require such a substantial commitment on their part."

The way in which Xia held Li Xingke's gaze made quite clear what the treasurer was suggesting.

"Your excellency believes they will strike at the capital?" the major asked.

Xia nodded. "Were I Britannia, I would recall the near disaster that was their Battle of Pendragon. That nearly succeeded in decapitating their entire government, and I somehow doubt the example would have been lost on the Empire's military planners. And unlike us, Britannia does possess the means to attempt such a gambit."

"Eighth Fleet," Li Xingke said immediately.

"Indeed," Xia said approvingly. "Now as impressive as this Britannian Eighth Fleet is, it would not do for us to ascribe to them infallibility. So tell me, major. As a military man, how would you approach the problem of deterring the Britannians from attempting to assault the capital, and harm our august sovereign?"

Countless thoughts ran through Li Xingke's head as he considered his response. This was a very unexpected line of inquiry from the treasurer, one that undoubtedly suggested deeper motives than what was being revealed presently. To find out more however, he needed to get Xia to commit further.

"There are two things to consider, your excellency," Li Xingke began. "The first is that Eighth Fleet, despite its impressive firepower, is still a fleet and does not possess the ability to actually occupy a territory. To do that, the Britannians would almost certainly have to send ground troops, likely airlifted in those flying transports of theirs. The second is that we know the defenses of these ships can be overwhelmed with enough concentrated fire, as we saw at both Pusan and Changjin. Any response to the threat the Britannians pose to the capital must take these two points into account."

Xia nodded, indicating his understanding and acceptance of Li Xingke's word, and inviting the major to continue.

"To defend the capital against the flying ships, both the warships and the transports, will require significant amounts of anti-air batteries to be stationed around the city," Li Xingke complied. "Not only that, but these batteries need to be tied into a unified control network so that they can concentrate and synchronize their fire against the enemy ships to provide the maximum chance of overwhelming their defenses. While the military has been transferring more of our modern air defense batteries to the city, they are as yet not tied into such a control network."

"Is there a reason for this?" Xia asked.

"A myriad of them, your excellency," Li Xingke responded, "though the most pressing is likely the fact that these batteries are all from different units. Working out a single chain of command for them has proven, less straightforward than we might have wished."

"I see," Xia said with a thoughtful frown. "Would it help if a ranking officer was appointed to oversee them?"

"That would, your excellency."

Xia nodded, making a note on some scrap of paper on his desk. "Please, continue."

"Yes, excellency. As I was saying, numerous batteries are already in the process of being installed around the city. The other problem however is that, well, the imperial guard may well not have the numbers to defeat an attempt by Britannian forces to seize the city, especially if the Empire is willing to commit the bulk of their flying transports to bring in their army en mass."

Something flickered in Xia's eyes, though the brevity of it almost made Li Xingke think he was imaging it. But no, he had not, and the major wondered at what the treasurer was thinking.

"That is indeed a valid concern," Xia said, surprisingly agreeably. "But the bulk of our standing forces already have commitments, so where might we find loyal soldiers that could be entrusted with the task of protecting the capital?"

Had China been properly governed, that sort of question would not have even been a consideration, Li Xingke thought ruefully. But with the state of the Federation now, it was indeed a concern. The question then was how best to convince Xia, and the rest of the eunuchs by extension, to trust those detachments that he and Yang wanted them to trust.

"Hmm, the training cadres," Xia said, again in that thoughtful manner.

Li Xingke fought to keep his face impassive. He was not sure if he succeeded as he felt Xia hold his gaze with unusual intensity. Then the treasurer smiled, no, smirked again.

"There is a significant body of troops within those cadres, is there not?" Xia said. "And these cadres, alongside the new recruits augmenting their numbers. They would understand the significance of defending the capital from an enemy such as Britannia, no?"

"I would think so, your excellency," Li Xingke responded, doing his utmost to keep his tone level. "If nothing else those men will understand fully the destruction Britannia is able to wrought upon China."

Xia gave a satisfied nod. "Then might there be the possibility of moving the training camps closer to the capital? I understand this would take them further away from the fronts where they will eventually be deployed, but there may be some merit to that as well, as it would lessen the possibility of a breakthrough in Korea reaching them, no?"

From a military perspective that was completely nonsensical, but that hardly mattered in this case. All it need do was provide an excuse to station those troops near the capital, no matter how threadbare it was.

"Your excellency has a point," Li Xingke said.

"Well, I am but a humble accountant," Xia said, "so I am certain the war staff will want to conduct their own analysis of any such deployments. But do keep me informed, major, of any conclusions they might draw."

And let them know that Xia was putting his support behind a favorable one, went the unspoken insinuation.

"Of course, excellency."

"Good, good," Xia said, leaning back into his chair. "Come to think of it, it has been some time since you last dined with her majesty, has it not?"

This time Li Xingke was not quite able to hide his surprise. Then again perhaps it would have been more unnatural if he had.

"There have been many demands upon my time, your excellency," Li Xingke said noncommittedly.

"Hmm, true enough," the treasurer agreed. "Still, such devotion to duty should not go unnoted."

Reaching over, he took out another piece of paper and with his chop stamped a seal upon it. Xia then placed it at the edge of his desk facing Li Xingke.

"An invitation, major. As busy as you are, surely you can spare some time for leisure."

Li Xingke looked down at the document, eyes slightly wide. It indeed was an invitation, one already filled out and dated for this evening. He then looked up at Xia, and noted the smile, or smirk, on the eunuch's face.

"My humblest gratitude, your excellency."

Xia nodded. "Her majesty often seems to enjoy your company as well, major. Be sure not to disappoint her."

"I will endeavor to never do so," Li Xingke said with completely honesty, and then with slightly less so, "your excellency."

* * *

As Kallen entered the room the others rose in greeting. No one actually bowed however, the closest anyone came to that was Rai nodding to her.

"Your grace."

While Kallen was a duchess, twice over, and grace was an appropriate address for her, technically Rai should have referred to her as highness in deference to her higher precedent station as a princess of the realm. Seeing as how Kallen did not care too much for that particular position, she was not going to quibble over it.

"Rai," Kallen responded, then looked at the others gathered with him. "Dame Kruszewski. Laura. Annie. Bertolt."

Monica cracked her trademark smirk while, which was somehow made all the more fitting combined with the new eyepatch over her left eye. The removal of her artificial code had unfortunately also required the removal of her prosthetic eye, and a replacement was not likely forthcoming in the short term. The Directorate's cybernetics were not exactly plug and play and it would be some time before they could craft a new artificial eye for Monica, assuming the knight wanted to risk yet another operation. Kallen would not have blamed the Knight of Twelve if she elected to not do so.

The German youths were more subdued in their acknowledgments, Annie looking almost apathetic in her demeanor. Laura on the other hand, even without her geass Kallen could see the manner in which the silver haired girl's jaws were set, the drive in her eyes, and the manner in which her stance allowed her to leap into action at a moment's notice. There was a girl that was raring to go and just waiting for her target to make the mistake of entering her reach. Rai had not been exaggerating about her mentality in his reports.

"Laura," Kallen addressed the girl again. "Are you ready?"

The girl gave a curt nod. "I have recovered from my wounds and am ready to avenge my brother and sister."

Kallen's mouth thinned. That was another point raised in Rai's report, the closeness Laura had shared with Lelouch and Charlotte, and how devastated she had been at their deaths. The fact that Lelouch's team was and in truth remained so close-knit said something about the charisma the former prince possessed, and the likely genuine affection he held for all of them. The image of Lelouch as an older brother figure was however difficult to reconcile with Kallen's view of him as an unfettered murderer after what happened at Ashford and then Keio, never mind the wider loss of life caused by the Battles of Tokyo and Pendragon.

The immediate consequence however of Laura's obvious attachment to her deceased surrogate siblings was whether the German girl would get too caught up in her vengeance and compromise the greater goal of securing the thought elevators. Then again the other side of that goal was neutralizing, and likely killing, Suzaku. On that point Rai at least was certain Laura would have no hesitation in lending her assistance. And if this Laura was anywhere as competent as the Laura Kallen already knew and considered a friend, her help would likely be invaluable.

And so Kallen nodded. "Get your kit, we leave in thirty."

To Kallen's mild surprise Laura clicked her heels together and snapped a crisp salute.

"Understood."

With that brief acknowledgment Laura headed for the door. Kallen watched her leave with a curious expression. After the door closed she sighed and looked back at the others.

"Laura will be fine," Rai assured her without any further prompting. "I have spoken at length with her and she understands the importance of bringing Suzaku to heel."

"So you are certain she won't just drop everything the moment a chance arises to take him down?" Kallen asked.

At that Rai glanced over at Annie. If his intent was to have her reassure Kallen however the shrug that Annie gave did not exactly succeed.

"Laura has a very tactical mindset," Annie said. "She can recognize when taking an opportunity would be unwise and will respond accordingly. For her, ensuring a mission is completed is more important than trying to complete it quickly."

That was not exactly the most encouraging of endorsements, but Kallen supposed it would do for now.

"In truth your grace, I would wonder whether you might not be the one tempted to hurry Suzaku's demise," Rai added.

Kallen looked at the other youth quizzically. "Why do you say that?"

"You have not heard of what is happening in the EU right now?" Rai responded with a question in turn.

A frown crossed her face. "What do you mean?"

This time it was Rai's jaw that tightened. "The EU has decided to move all of its residents of Japanese ethnicity into internment camps. Their official reason is concern about the risk of sedition, seeing the numbers of Japanese currently in Britannian service."

Kallen's eyes flickered as anger flared within her.

"The actual reason is it's part of the EU military leadership's efforts to contain and neutralize Suzaku," Rai continued. "They suspect that Suzaku is hiding out amongst the Japanese expat community and is using its members to advance his goals."

Kallen growled. Was it really too much to ask for Suzaku to not drag their people into the crossfire again. Granted it was not the young man's fault, but it seemed like everything he touched turned to shit sooner or later. Kallen forced herself to take a deep breath to try to calm herself.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to go on a rampage to try to put him down," she assured Rai. "That being said, it's becoming harder and harder to not enjoy the eventual prospect of putting him down for good."

At that Rai himself shrugged. "So long as the mission is achieved, certain compromises are acceptable."

That may well be so, but Kallen also knew that some compromises were not acceptable. How many of those she could keep from making would dictate the stain on her soul when all was said and done, and whether she would be able to face herself in the end.

End of Chapter 112

And now we're onto the next phase of the Chinese Federation arc. Those familiar with the original Yang Wen-Li might find it a bit out of character for mine to be orchestrating a coup d'état, but one should keep in mind that the Free Planets Alliance and the Chinese Federation are very different environments. Yang ultimately holds himself to a certain standard, one that he is extremely loathe to violate. Organizing a coup against the high eunuchs, I think all of us agree doesn't really involve any compromises of integrity.

Rendering Chinese forms of address into English can be as pain in the ass to deal with as Japanese conventions. As lofty as the Chinese empress' rank might be, even she would never refer to Li Xingke by his given name. The convention is just not there to permit it. If they were emotionally close, the closest she would come would be a nickname of some sort, or a familiar appellation like what I'm using now. One thing that I am not going to do is pretend everyone speaks English and just use English conventions everywhere. That'd be a tad too lazy. This actually raises a problem wherein linguistic idioms don't carry over, and I then have to make a choice of whether to use the English idiom or try to find something from the other language. I've done this a few times, the trick is ultimately to make sure that readers can still understand the intent. That is not always trivial. We'll see how well I'm going to be able to do that.

One thing that I previously did not take the time to establish is Li Xingke's motives. We know in the anime that he wanted to protect his empress and whatnot and that is still true in this timeline. The problem with just relying on such pre-established knowledge is that, even ignoring those of my readers whom never actually saw the original Code Geass (and yes, there are a few), I like to think that a lot of the strength of my writing comes from how I interleave all of the events together into a coherent narrative. All of the scenes ultimately build up atop each other to create an accumulated sequence of events that lead from one to the next. For example the coup that Yang and Li Xingke have been plotting was hinted at all the way back in their first appearance, and more hints were dropped along the way with every appearance thereafter. So that sequence worked out all fine. The problem lay in why would the two be plotting a coup. Sure I showed the eunuchs to be venal and corrupt, to an extent, but I still needed to provide additional motives. Showing Li Xingke interacting with the empress more would have provided that motive, but ultimately I didn't write those scenes. That came down to a combination of fatigue and forgetfulness, so now I have to basically play catchup and try to establish additional motives right as we're getting into the main sequence of events instead of seeding it earlier like I would have preferred. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it off convincingly.

In addition to the above, the Chinese Federation has not gotten very much exposition thus far. While I believe I've managed to sketch out a fairly expansive picture of Britannia, its institutions and society, China still remains somewhat opaque. That's obviously going to need to change if I want the Chinese Federation to be more than just a place that Kallen happens to be passing through during the war. This chapter really is the first time I've expended much effort in trying to sketch out more about the Chinese court. The eunuchs and their relative spheres of influence were introduced back in chapter 105, but the formal lines of government still remained muddled. For one, did the eunuchs themselves hold official offices or was it an informal but defacto control that they exercised? Little details like that provide hints as to how long such arrangements have existed, their strength, and so forth.

As for the Chinese Federation itself, umm, well, suffice it to say that the China as shown in the Code Geass anime was something of a caricature. Though I suppose that could be said for basically all of the countries in the series. I'm going to make some effort to not do that in my story, so yeah.

Next chapter, is going to be interesting. The way I've sequenced things I need to do something regarding Suzaku, and I think I have something that would be appropriate. It's also going to be a bit difficult to write, so will likely take longer than the current tempo that I've been on. Then there's the possibility that work will pick up and require more time on my part. Upon the conclusion of the Asian theater arc we will be moving into the final confrontation between Suzaku and Kallen, so look forward to it.

I know that the site claims I have over 900k words, but in truth in my master draft there's only about 865k words. Chalk that up to the fact that I've had lots and lots of author notes. While I likely will breach 900k words by the end of the story, I'm not quite clear if I'll top 1 million. If I do, I will apparently be in somewhat rare company for a single fan story that has gone on for that long.

Google Maps is what I generally use whenever I need to look up locations, distances, and etc. That and Wikipedia generally provides me with everything I need to know about a particular place or region.

In case it is not clear, I tend to put answers to reviewer questions at the end of my notes.


	114. Chapter 113

_Of the nations that faced Britannia during the Great War, the Chinese Federation was one of the more fortunate ones. Despite the loss of India and the ravaging of Korea, China's core provinces emerged intact as Britannia never advanced deeper into the country before a settlement was reached between the two nations. The postwar climate was also kinder to China than its former European allies, as diplomatic and commercial relations were reestablished with minimal fuss between the Empire and the Federation once hostilities formally concluded. Access to the vast Britannian market was a major driver of China's economic recovery and growth, and the general friendly terms between the imperial families of the two respective empires ensured little risk of a repeat of the rupture in relations that presaged the Great War. Crucial to forming this friendship was the rapport established by the Princess Kallen and then Major-General Yang Wen-Li as the two negotiated the terms of China's withdrawal from the Great War, and how Britannia might support the general's planned coup against the high eunuchs that had usurped power from his sovereign._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 113

Inter mutanda constantia

The two girls facing one another certainly shared a few similarities. Granted one was shorter, but there was a definite stockiness to their forms that came from the toned muscles both possessed. Their stances also shared certain similarities, both held themselves with the practiced balance of a martial artist. Laura however also carried herself with a certain noble air, while Laura gave off the impression of a predator just waiting to pounce. Then there was the ponytail Laura's hair was tied into, the bow-like ribbon helping brought out a feminine grace. Laura's straight and loose hair on the other hand framed her relatively petite form nicely, while the single strand poking out above her forehead took a slight edge off of her otherwise fierce scowl.

That was perhaps the biggest difference between Laura and Laura. Where the former was possessed of a serene composure, the latter gave the impression that she was always on edge. As the two faced one another, the other personnel watching from the sidelines waited with bated breath to see how this would all fall out.

Laura clicked her heels together. "Specialist Laura Bodewig, reporting for duty ma'am."

"Specialist," Laura responded with a nod. "I am Laura Arseid, Knight of Five to Her Majesty the Empress Euphemia. You have been assigned to my ground detachment, and the Princess Kallen has assured me that you are a capable soldier."

Laura returned Laura's gaze unflinchingly and the two women stood there, as if facing down each other. After a moment Laura reached out, poking the shorter girl on the forehead with a finger. Laura looked back at Laura in more than mild puzzlement.

"You're standing too straight," Laura stated.

That did not ease the confusion as Laura looked up at her new commanding officer.

"From your stance it is clear that you are possessed of great strength," Laura continued. "Most anything that might attempt to meet your strength will find itself overpowered. But what will happen when you meet a force greater than your own? Will you be able to bend, or will you break?"

The confusion disappeared from Laura's expression, shifting instead to one of stubborn defiance.

"Never will I break ma'am, of that you have my assurance."

Laura looked far from convinced. As she continued regarding the younger girl the rest of the room fell into a silent stillness as they waited for their commanding officer to pronounce judgment. Laura cocked her head aside thoughtfully after a moment.

"Come with me."

Laura clicked her heels together and fell in step behind Laura. Everyone else let out the breath they barely realized they were holding. It seemed the conclusion of this little dance would be resolved in private. A few of the soldiers actually looked mildly disappointed at that. It almost certainly had nothing to do with the betting pool about said resolution.

Laura and Laura entered another makeshift structure, one that was serving as Laura's private workspace. Her weapons and equipment were neatly stacked and organized, marking the resident of this place a meticulous and orderly person. Laura stepped around the table at the center and turned about to face Laura.

"Your sidearm, specialist."

Laura drew her pistol without hesitation, flipping it about and presenting it butt first to Laura. The knight accepted it and looked over the weapon.

"A Walther P38," Laura identified, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Laura. Apparently the German girl had not expected her new CO to recognize the German firearm. "I believe it fires a 9mm round. The Empire employs the .45 ACP round for our sidearms." Laura presented the weapon back. "Will you be able to procure sufficient ammo for your weapon?"

Laura accepted the returned weapon. "I brought with me an ample supply, ma'am. Should I run out, I will switch over to a different sidearm."

Laura raised an eyebrow. The girl before her said should, not when. That seemed less than innocuous.

"Detail strip the pistol," she ordered, nodding for Laura to perform the action on the table between them.

Laura gave Laura a questioning look but refrained from outright expressing any petulance at the order. She took a seat and got to work. First out was the magazine, after which Laura cycled slide a few times to make sure there was nothing in it. The last thing either wanted was for an accidental discharge. Laura pulled the slide back, flicked the lever at the front under the barrel, and released the slide so that it was flush once more with the frame. She then lowered the hammer and pulled the slide off outright. Flipping the slide over, she pushed a small plunger at the back of the locking piece, causing it to pop up. So disengaged, the barrel detached from the slide with ease. That was the straightforward bit. The rest of it would only get more complex.

Laura reached into one of the pouches attached to her belt and pulled out two tools. Flipping the slide about, she pushed another small piece that caused the top to rise. Taking that off, the rear site also came loose and those two went down onto the table. Below that was a small spring which she was careful to not lose. The chamber indicator came out easily enough just by Laura pushing on it to get it loose. Next, using the indicator itself, Laura pushed on a pin on the rear of the slide, which allowed the firing pin to slide out. Another spring fell out, which Laura caught and set aside carefully as well. After that the safety popped out with much greater ease. Taking one of her tools, Laura next popped out the extractor and its spring, thus concluding disassembly of the slide.

Laura looked up at Laura, waiting to see if this was enough.

"Continue," Laura ordered.

Taking hold of her second tool, which was revealed to be a screwdriver, Laura unscrewed the covers of the grip and exposed the set of springs and pieces that connected the hammer and magazine. Pushing up, she pulled off the hammer strut and spring, set them aside, and used her punch tool to push out the hammer pin before tilting the hammer up and sliding it out with ease.

Flipping the frame about, Laura unhooked the trigger bar spring, then on the other side did the same to the slide stop spring. All of that popped out easily enough. Then from the top, using her screwdriver, she popped out another spring and pulled off the trigger bar. With the bar out, the trigger started falling but Laura flipped the gun about and let it fall out via the top. The ejector pieces just needed some simple repositioning to fall out now that the other parts that held them in place were gone.

In all the process took Laura about five minutes, which was pretty impressive all things considered. The girl was obviously very familiar with her firearm and Laura did not doubt she could just as quickly reassemble it.

"When did you first learn how to do that," Laura asked.

Laura shrugged. "I've always known my way around a pistol, ma'am."

Laura's lips thinned. "I see. Reassemble the pistol, specialist."

That Laura did, in about as much time as it took her to disassemble. That was actually even more impressive considering the need to get the small springs, pins, and other finnicky pieces back into their places, a nontrivial task that Laura managed with just the tools she carried on her person. The German girl was if nothing else well prepared. Time to see just how prepared she was.

Laura withdrew her own sidearm, the standard issue M1911, a model that had served the Britannian Empire well for half a century at this point. In that respect it was a weapon with an even longer history than Laura's P38. Weapons were very functional things, one did not discard them for a newer version unless there was a fundamental improvement or the old one broke. And considering how many countless thousands of the M1911 were in Britannian inventory, any replacement had damn well be an actual improvement. After ejecting the magazine, Laura set it down before Laura. Laura looked down at the weapon and then back up at Laura.

"Have you ever fieldstripped an M1911, specialist?" Laura asked.

Laura nodded. "Yes ma'am."

"As part of your general training?" Laura asked.

A shake of the head. "A friend taught me."

There was a slight inflection in the word friend, implying a deeper and genuine meaning. Laura however knew when to press and when to leave things be.

"I see," the knight said instead. "Then please, show me."

The initial procedure was quite similar to the P38, Laura checked to make sure there was nothing in the chamber and proceeded to remove the slide off. Mechanically speaking pulling the slide off and then disassembling it was much simpler for the M1911. Laura flicked the piece at the end of the barrel to allow her to pull off the recoil spring, pulled the slide back, pushed the slide stop out, and took the entire assembly off the frame in a matter of seconds. The slide itself came apart even more quickly, requiring Laura to just press down on a few pieces to loosen them from their positions. The only really tricky bit was after pushing down on the firing pin, which released the main spring assembly, getting said spring assembly apart. That required pushing down using the punch tool a bit to loosen the assembly enough for her to pop out the spring itself. And yet Laura still managed to do it so deftly that the action looked downright trivial.

Reaching into her poach again, Laura pulled out another screwdriver to take out the screws on the grip covers. The plunger was next, then the hammer pin and a few more pins were pushed out using the punch tool and out came the hammer magazine spring. Laura then turned the magazine release, which then allowed her to release the trigger. Once she set the past pieces down, Laura had the entire pistol fully disassembled before her. The M1911 had taken even less time to do than the P38. Whether the difference was due to the times each weapon was developed in was an open question, though German designers had a well-deserved reputation for overengineering even the simplest things.

"Impressive," Laura remarked. "I doubt I could have done this any faster."

The girl rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Laura continued to steadily regard Laura, waiting for further orders.

"Reassemble the firearm," came the predictable one.

As Laura moved to obey however Laura stepped to the side and picked up a few other items from her little room, bringing them back over to the main table. Even as Laura quickly reassembled the second pistol she spared the attention to note just what Laura had set down. A teapot, a small kettle with water in it based on the sloshing sound, a burner, not electrical by the looks of it, and a bag of tea leaves. Actual tea leaves at that, not the nearly powdered stuff used in store bought teabags.

"Have you ever prepared a proper cup of tea before, specialist?" Laura asked.

Laura shook her head. "My general preference is coffee, ma'am."

"I had a friend back at the Point, whom knew how to prepare a superb cup of coffee," Laura said. "He swore by it, but was starting to grudgingly admit that there was some merit to a good cup of tea as well."

Laura lit the burner and set the kettle atop it. She then dropped in an amount of tea leaves into the otherwise empty teapot, apparently measuring by eye. Letting it all sit there, she picked up her pistol and did a quick check to make sure it was reassembled properly. Once satisfied, or as satisfied as she could be short of actually firing off a round, she holstered the weapon.

"Have a seat, specialist."

The two women settled down facing one another.

"Adaptable, well prepared, and obviously exceedingly competent," Laura remarked. "By all rights you should be exactly the type of soldier I would want under my command. And yet, are you really?"

"Ma'am, if you have doubts about my suitability for your command, please state them," Laura said bluntly. "It does neither of us any good for you to be circumspect with them."

Laura cracked a wry smile. "Under any other circumstances, I feel that you would be a person that I would want as a friend."

That caused Laura to blink in a mixture of confusion and outright consternation.

"You are direct and straightforward, unhesitating in acknowledging what you want," Laura continued. "You are obviously naturally talented but also work hard, not taking those talents for granted. All these are characteristics that I admire. And yet there is one issue that stands atop every positive trait you possess, one that I recognize well." Laura's eyes somehow managed to assume a sort of hardened kindness. "You do not imagine a tomorrow for yourself."

Laura's lips quivered for the barest of moments but she made no response.

"He was like that as well, when we first met," Laura continued. "He did not have a set goal in mind for attending the Point, had not put much thought for what he would do after graduation beyond serve out his term. For all his talents and skill, he seemed at a loss as to what to actually do with them." The young woman cracked a wry smile. "I was most disappointed in him."

Laura stared at the other woman in mild confusion. "Who are you talking about? Ma'am."

"Rean Schwarzer," Laura answered. "The love of my life, and though none of us suspected at the time, one of the many half-siblings to the one whom you paid fealty to."

Laura's jaws tightened, but before she could muster a response Laura plowed right on.

"I was there," she said, "when that _thing_ inside of the thought elevator seized control of Lelouch. I was there, when it spoke the words that murdered not just Rean, but every other member of the imperial family save the empress. I, was left behind. I, become one whom was no longer sure of what to do for the future. But I am not alone. I have my father, I have Euphie, I even have Kallen. I will fight to the utmost of my limits, and I will return to them. I would have you do the same."

Laura met Laura's gaze with unflinching composure. The German girl's expression quivered.

"You think I'm not alone."

Laura cocked her head aside. "Do you not have Fie? And Annie? And Bertolt?" And smiled. "For that matter, do you not have myself and Kallen and Rai?"

Laura said nothing and simply continued staring at Laura. After a seeming eternity she let out a sigh.

"Why won't you people let me do things the easy way," she said with a grumble.

Laura smiled, almost playfully. "Now where would the fun be in that?"

Laura looked back over at Laura and sighed again. "You remind me. Of her." The admission sounded very grudging. "A bit."

Laura needed no further elucidation as to just whom she seemingly resembled. Instead she simply continued smiling. And then the hiss of steam interrupted the otherwise serene setting. Taking the kettle off the flame, Laura poured the steaming water into the teapot.

"Would you like something to accompany your tea?" Laura asked. "I have some pastries that go well with black."

"Thank you," Laura murmured. "Ma'am."

Laura cracked another smile and moved to get the snacks. By the time they were laid out the tea had been sufficiently steeped for her own tastes and she poured the steaming liquid into the two cups. Laura looked down at the cup, and then back up at Laura.

"She was more of a coffee person," she remarked.

Laura chuckled even as she picked up her own cup and enjoyed the aroma. "Then perhaps next time you can prepare the drink, and we can have Fie with us as well."

Laura seemed the consider it with rather serious thoughtfulness. "Fie doesn't like coffee. Or tea. We'd probably need some sort of juice."

At that Laura chuckled again. "I am sure something could be arranged."

She took a sip. Just perfect.

* * *

As the door opened Euphemia looked up, favoring the man now entering with a smile.

"Good evening Raibert," she greeted.

Rai smiled back and dipped his head slightly. "Your majesty."

To that Euphemia gave a well-practiced pout. "And what have I said about such formality when we are alone?"

Rai cracked a wry smile. "I believe you said when we are off duty, you would prefer I address you with less, stiffness." And looked pointedly at the reams of paper stacked on the coffee table in front of the empress.

Euphemia chuckle. "I suppose you have me there." And set aside the document she had been reviewing. "There, that better?"

"Much, Euphemia," Rai replied as he walked over and took a seat next to the empress.

Some might have considered such an act presumptuous. Neither Rai nor Euphemia cared in the least what such persons thought however, evident in how Euphemia allowed herself to lean against the young man.

"Are you sleeping better, Raibeart?"

"Somewhat," Rai responded. "I need to start figuring out how to go to bed earlier though."

Euphemia smiled at him playfully. "Still up at the crack of dawn then?"

"Some habits are harder to break than others," Rai responded with a grin of his own, "as comfortable as the new environment is."

"You, Raibeart, have been driving my servants to distraction with all your complaints," Euphemia chided.

"But, I don't complain?" Rai said, cocking his head quizzically.

"Not in words but deeds," Euphemia responded. "What is this I hear you keep bunking in the guards' barracks instead of in your own room? Or that you, gods above and below, seem to actually _like_ the military rations and eat them not just for lunch but also breakfast and dinner? Think of the affront that my chefs have suffered! You, Raibeart, are _most_ unnatural."

"Well, but, the bed in my room is so soft," Rai tried somewhat lamely. "Whenever I lay on it, it feels as if I were floating in mid-air. The sensation is, most disconcerting."

"Then why not ask for your mattress to be changed?" Euphemia countered. "Come Raibeart, do you really think you are the only one with such predilections? The bed that Kallen had at the viceroy's palace was so hard I thought she usually slept on bare rock!"

"Well," Rai said again.

"And don't try telling me that you actually enjoy the MREs!" Euphemia continued. "I've had them once or twice just to see what my guard is subjected to, and while they are edible, that is _not_ the same as palatable."

The empress was probably being overly dramatic here. Probably. Rai managed a weak smile.

"The, taste may leave much to be desired, but well, at least it's obvious what to eat."

At that Euphemia's eyes widened, her expression taking on a more serious tint as she regarded the young man.

"Raibeart," she said softly.

Rai returned her gaze, cocking his head aside again. "Yes?"

After a moment of silence Euphemia smiled again and shook her head. "It is nothing. Well, seeing as it is about time, would you care to join me for dinner?"

Rai returned the smile with a slight but heartfelt one of his own. "It would be my pleasure, Euphemia."

"Good," Euphemia said as she reached for the phone. A single ring was all it took before she was answered. "Please send up two servings of rib roast. Ah, yes, a bottle of Bordeaux will be fine accompaniment, thank you."

Courtesy and respect, that was the manner in which Euphemia treated her servants. Such simple things, and yet they engendered amongst those that waited upon the empress a deep loyalty. Some might have suspected Euphemia to be dispensing such treatment with that calculation in mind. She was certainly not guileless, but Rai knew well that Euphemia was entirely sincere in her attitude. She could garner a stronger loyalty with it, certainly, but that was merely a happy coincidence instead of a targeted objective. Further proof of the naturalness of Euphemia's attitude came from the smile she favored Rai with as she set down the phone. A smile that caused Rai to regard her with an almost wary look. Euphemia treated those about her with courtesy and respect. She was however not above the occasional indulging of her own humor, at their expense.

The meals were soon brought up to them, with the prerequisite utensils. As Rai regarded the knife and fork with an unusual wariness, Euphemia could not help but giggle. It would be an exaggeration to say Rai did not know how to use them, but there was a certain terse efficiency whenever he employed such implements. Cut, stab, and then into the mouth with you. Rai tended to eat quickly, as if always pressed for time. A well ingrained habit, but one Euphemia was determined to train out of him. After all, he was safe here in the palace, safe with her. He could take the time to enjoy himself in the little things in life.

As Rai picked up the utensils Euphemia regarded him. "Are you left handed, Raibeart?"

"Ambidextrous," the youth responded.

"I see," Euphemia said. "Well, that would explain some of it."

Rai's knife had just dug into the cut as he looked back at the empress. "Explain?"

Euphemia cracked a smile, but her answer came by way of example. After she was finished cutting into her serving, the empress set down her knife, blade pointed toward the plate of course, and took hold of the fork with her right hand before spearing the meat and popping the piece into her mouth. Then with her now available left she picked up the wineglass and took a sip. Rai watched all this somewhat quizzically. It was clear the young man knew what Euphemia was doing, but why seemed to elude him.

"That, seems rather redundant?" he remarked.

"On the contrary, there is a rhyme and reason to the etiquette of dining," Euphemia responded. She gestured at her downed knife. "Here, the blade is pointed inward to indicate it will not be used against other guests." She raised her wineglass. "With my less dominant hand so freed, I am free to enjoy sips of wine in between bites of the main dish."

Rai did not look entirely convinced but seemed prepared to humor the empress. After cutting another chunk of meat he set down his knife, but did not switch which hand held the fork before spearing said chunk. Perhaps that was the degree of his indulgence. Euphemia however seemed unperturbed. Without a word she picked up Rai's wineglass, and set it on his right side. Rai raised an eyebrow, but the smile Euphemia answered with was guileless, and amused.

After a moment Rai found himself returning it as he finally switched hands. Still it would not do to let Euphemia have everything her way. And so after a sip of his wine, the hand that picked up the knife once more was the same that just downed the glass. Euphemia rolled her eyes, but it was an affectionate gesture. It seemed there would be limits to how much Rai could be trained. Still for a man he was showing considerable promise. Who knows, with time he might even shed some of his gender's less civilized habits. Euphemia watched as Rai shoved more meat into his mouth even though he had yet to finish chewing and swallowing his last portion. She sighed. Then again, that might be asking a bit much.

* * *

Jusis walked through the halls of the imperial palace, his attention on the documents in his hands though he was not so careless as to bump into anything while he read. His responsibilities as an aide to Ulrich Kessler, Brigadier of the Britannian Gendarmerie and Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus, were manifold. Not only did he sit in on most of the meetings the brigadier attended, he also helped collate and verify reports that came to the man's office. Jusis had even been dispatched on factfinding missions a few times, to check conditions in the field and ascertain details that were not present in initial reports. All in all it was a mark of trust that he was granted such responsibility, a trust that he would not use his relative freedom to build a network that would be employed against the imperial government and her majesty the empress. Considering that Jusis had not inherited his father's folly, he was not going to give her majesty any reason to reconsider her relative mercy. Not that getting shot at by renegade Hereticus wetwork cells was that much of a mercy.

As Jusis turned the corner he was greeted with the sight of his superior, and two others. Coming to a halt he politely dipped his form.

"Your highness." And then glanced at the other woman. "Lady Einstein."

As a woman of the bedchamber to the Princess Millicent, Nina was accorded a certain degree of courtesy and respect, especially so if one wished to remain in her liege's good graces. Jusis also was not the type to offer offense to those that had not done so to him, and it certainly cost him nothing to be civil and polite.

Nina herself simply nodded politely in response while Milly favored the young man with a smile.

"Well, I will not keep you any longer, brigadier," Milly said to the gendarme, and then to Jusis himself. "Lieutenant."

Jusis stepped aside to let the two women pass. He had never met the princess before her appointment and residence in the imperial palace and knew next to nothing about her lady-in-waiting. Since the two's arrival plenty of gossip and rumors had reached his ears, though surprisingly little from the actual serving staff. The servants directly employed in the palace were surprisingly tightlipped outside of their own members, indicative of a degree of loyalty that any noble house would have envied.

No, the rumors that Jusis had heard came from the few contacts with noble society that he still retained despite his family's treason. None of the other nobles were so tactless as to actively seek out his company, but many of those that he ran into over the course of his new duty did not treat him with any disdain or distance like one might have expected. The empress' consideration at play, no doubt.

As for the rumors themselves, Jusis tried not to dwell on them too much, if only for their relative crassness. Just whom accompanied the Princess Millicent to bed was none of his damned business, and it certainly was not the business of the rest of the nobility. No, that was not entirely true, there was the consideration of the succession after all, and the sooner the still tenuous line was strengthened the better. With the empress herself still recovering, never mind her relative age, that responsibility would for the near future fall squarely on the older women in the succession. And with the Princess Kallen off on campaign with the army, the Princess Millicent was the only one actually positioned to bear that duty. No wonder noble tongues were clucking, and with a degree of dissatisfaction at the Princess Millicent's seeming disinterest in finding a partner to do the deed with. Or at least a partner that could actually see her continuing the line.

It was almost childishly convoluted and Jusis was genuinely glad he no longer needed to deal with such matters. Life as a commoner might not necessarily be easier, but there were times it definitely beat some of the nonsense he had been forced to deal with as a noble.

"Well, we should still be on schedule for our meeting," Ulrich said. "Come along, Jusis."

"Yes sir."

With whatever pleasantries he was exchanging with the princess concluded, the gendarme, he actively disliked being referred to as an inquisitor, it was now concluded and Ulrich proceeded to the next business of the day. With Jusis trailing him the brigadier made his way to one of the palace's many conference rooms, this one recently having been remodeled to better suit the Empress Euphemia's tastes. The actually comfortable chairs were a welcome change.

The empress was actually already waiting and the two bowed before quickly taking their places. The three of them were the only formal attendees of this meeting, notwithstanding the two armsmen positioned behind her majesty. No one else was present, indicative of a certain sensitivity to today's topic.

"Please," Euphemia said, beginning the meeting, "if you would, brigadier."

"Yes your majesty," Ulrich said. "As of our last private briefing, we have tracked down and recalled an additional three Hereticus wetwork teams, and neutralized two others that refused to obey the recall order. This brings the total number of wetwork teams that have been accounted for to thirty-six."

Euphemia nodded. "That is excellent progress, brigadier."

Ulrich dipped his head at the praise. Nonetheless he did not show too much overt satisfaction or pride in the achievement.

"Thank you your majesty, but much work remains to be done to bring in the remaining fourteen, that we know off."

And that would be why. From the records recovered from the destroyed Hereticus headquarters they could confirm that there existed fifty wetwork teams under the ordo's control. Xenos similarly had fifty wetwork teams 'officially' on the books, and the less said about Mallus, which Ulrich did not know about, the better. Unofficially however the Duchess of Vauxhall had already confirmed that there were also wetwork teams even more off the books than the Inquisitio's usual furtiveness. Those units unfortunately only reported to the lord inquisitor of their respective ordo and their funding was intentionally obfuscated in the rest of the ordo's budget, assuming they did not come from completely outside sources to begin with. And with the former lord inquisitor of Hereticus dead and his only surviving deputy having gone to ground, the government was left with little choice but to dig them out the hard way.

On one side, a group of covert action operatives that represented the cream of the Empire's best and brightest, honed to a lethal edge and until recently with access to the wealth of Britannia's full resources. On the other, the very government that now sought to employ those resources to find and neutralize, if need be permanently, those same men and women. And at the head of that government sat the Empress Euphemia. Her majesty picked up one of the folders before her and held it out for the brigadier. The man rose and accepted it, raising an eyebrow curiously at his liege. Euphemia smiled somewhat mischievously before adopting a more somber expression.

"I have gone through Hereticus' official budget, as well as those records of its unofficial budget that we have been able to reconstruct. In the process, I found a money trail leading back to assets of dispossessed nobles which in theory had been liquidated by the crown. Based on the accounts uncovered so far, it appears that many were instead transferred to fund the Inquisitio's black operations."

Ulrich grimaced while Jusis frowned thoughtfully. If his memory was not failing him, the Princess Millicent herself came from one such dispossessed family before their fortunes were restored and even enhanced. Perhaps their encounter with her highness was not a coincidence after all.

"This information should be extremely useful, your majesty," Ulrich said as he leafed through it. "In truth, I am a bit amazed it was collated so quickly. And thoroughly, from the looks of it."

"Much of the money initially passed through my family's personal finances," Euphemia said, "or more specifically my father's. It was likely his means of keeping at least some track of the fact that these teams existed."

A quirk, that, of the way the Empire's finances were managed, Jusis knew. Officially taxes in Britannia were paid to the persons that represented the different levels of noble governance. In exchange to receiving these taxes, the personages involved were obliged to provide a set of services. In the case of a provincial lord like the former Duke Albarea, that meant all of the local provincial services like law enforcement, basic education, and the general administration of a large body of land and people. With the central government, the responsibilities also included matters like basic infrastructure across the empire, the judiciary, and defense. The surplus from these taxes went to maintaining the dignities of the noble or imperial, or were invested into other projects as those persons saw fit.

While legally tax money could be considered part of such an individual's personal finances, most governing nobles and the imperial family had long instituted some delineation between their own money and that drawn from their subjects. This was done for a myriad of reasons, not least to protect their own personal finances in cases of budget deficits, but one consequence was that any money that did go into said personal accounts were thus closed off to the regular imperial bureaucracy. What was done with the money in those accounts was thus much harder to track, unless one was able to gain direct access to the account books.

How fortunate that the empress was willing to provide some details from some of those books, though Jusis noted that she was apparently doing the auditing herself instead of letting the gendarmerie or the treasury directly investigate. Considering the circumstances such reserve could well be innocuous, they certainly did not want to risk any allies of the sleeper wetwork cells to get a hint of how the investigation was progressing, but it could also be viewed as a hesitancy to permit any sort of outside scrutiny. The Britannian imperial family held itself above many of the very institutions it charged with seeing to the governance and safety of the Empire. Was that a good thing, or a bad thing, Jusis still had not made up his mind on.

As if somehow aware of his thoughts, Euphemia's gaze shifted to Jusis and the empress gave the young man a knowing smile. Jusis blinked. On one side of this engagement, some of the very best of the Empire's covert operations teams. On the other, the trusted servants of the Empress Euphemia and of course her majesty herself. Somehow it did not seem fair at all, for the former.

* * *

The man seated across from Kallen looked disarmingly nondescript. In fact his disheveled state was so far from what Kallen would have expected for a major-general in the Chinese Federation's army she momentarily wondered if the man before her really was Yang Wen-Li. Then again she of all people should understand that looks could be deceiving.

"Yang Wen-Li," the man introduced himself, "commanding officer of the 13th group army of the Chinese Federated States."

"Kallen Stadtfeld," Kallen reciprocated, "Knight of Seven to the Empress Euphemia." And almost as if it were an afterthought. "Heir Secundus."

Yang cracked a wry smile at that, one Kallen returned in kind. What little she had seen of the general thus far she liked. Hopefully that positive impression would last for the duration of this meeting, for which the mere act of arranging had tried Kallen's patience. For obvious reasons neither side completely trusted the other, with the obvious consequence being that both wanted to make sure the other did not have any sort of undue advantage at the meeting location. The problem however was what Kallen considered an acceptable level of risk and what the other Britannian officers considered an acceptable level of risk differed, significantly. And it was not as if Kallen could explain to them just why she was less worried about deceit or subterfuge on the part of the Chinese, though come to think of it even those officers like Gino and Laura whom knew about her powers still sided with the other senior officers.

In the end those details had been hashed out to the mutual satisfaction of the two sides, with Yang representing himself and his cohorts and Kallen the Empire finally meeting face to face. Neither were alone of course, Colonel Hong and another Chinese officer accompanying the general while Gino and C.C. stood behind Kallen. Two attendants each, that was the agreement, and no one else within a kilometer of the meeting site. The tent also would make it harder for a sniper to try to pick one of them off, though all that really meant was someone wanting one of them dead needed to be willing to risk all of them dead.

"Let's skip the pleasantries," Kallen said, "and get down to business."

"I heartedly agree," Yang said, the slight smile disappearing from his expression. "The terms Colonel Hong conveyed are broadly acceptable, save for one."

Kallen cocked her head aside, though considering the colonel's own reaction when she listed them it was pretty obvious which Yang himself took issue with.

"You don't want to cede Singapore," Kallen stated.

Yang nodded. "Granting India its independence is already a significant concession, and then there is the point about the Mongolian thought elevator. While we are at a disadvantage, the situation is not such that we would just accept any terms that were offered."

Kallen's lips thinned. "That may be so, general, but Britannia has not forgotten just whom started this war. The terms are in many ways intended to _be_ punitive for that reason."

"No doubt," Yang said with a dry smile. "But if the Empire so desires to punish China beyond India's independence, I would prefer that you select an alternate means than demand possession of Singapore."

Kallen looked at Yang quizzically. "You yourself seem rather insistent on that point, general. Would you care to explain why?"

This time it was Yang that looked at Kallen a bit oddly. "Your highness surely understands the importance of the port?"

"Abstractly speaking," Kallen said carefully.

"Ah," Yang said, sounding almost professorially with that single word. "Well, no offense intended, your highness, but I am surprised her majesty did not make sure you were better briefed on the matter before sending you out as her representative."

"None taken," Kallen responded lightly. "Then again, should this not mean you are at an advantage in these negotiations?"

"Only assuming the Empire is prepared to consider an alternative to China ceding Singapore," Yang said, his eyes drifting to the two others standing behind Kallen, "and only if your highness' attendants are not intending to step in should they feel the need to."

The smirk on C.C.'s face made clear she would find more entertainment in watching Kallen flail about by herself. Gino on the other hand was there for just that reason, albeit not for this specific matter. Kallen however cracked a slight smirk, letting Yang know that he was not entirely off the mark.

"The issue of Singapore is open to discussion. The concession that China offers in place of it will however have to be of equal if not greater value," Kallen stated plainly, "especially considering the city is already under Britannian occupation."

"A recompense, of perhaps greater value," Yang said thoughtfully. And then he smiled. "I happen to have a passing interest in history, your highness. Would you be willing to indulge me and listen to a story?"

Kallen blinked. "A story?"

"Indeed. There may be something in there worth your time and effort. And something worth Britannia's consideration."

Yang was not bluffing there, that much Kallen could tell from her geass, the general really did believe what he was about to say would be important. Kallen nodded, inviting him to make his case.

"There was a time, your highness, a time when the Middle Kingdom was a simple geographical descriptor, not a label for a vast empire. There was a time when China as a unified nation did not exist, and instead a myriad of fiefdoms dotted the land. A time when man's knowledge and understanding of the world was as steeped in myth as it was in fact."

Kallen blinked, as she felt a sudden depth behind Yang's gaze, as if the man's eyes were now an endless void by which all light would sink into.

"It was a time, your highness, when the sum and limit of man could be grasped by mortal hands."

Kallen flinched. It was a purely instinctive reaction and the motion was itself strong enough to elicit looks from the others. At the same time the intensity of the gazes upon Yang himself also deepened.

"The histories say that during the Warring States period, there were seven kingdoms that vied for supremacy," Yang continued, seemingly unfazed by Kallen's posture. "Of the seven rulers, it was King Zheng of Qin that proved the most adroit amongst his fellows. He employed men of talent, delegating out the necessary authority to allow them to carry out their duties decisively and quickly. With Li Si, his trusted chancellor, he standardized measurements, coinage, and even written language throughout his empire, to forge a unified identity for its many peoples. Under his rule the Qin began work on the three great feats of ancient Chinese engineering; the Great Wall, the Lingqu Canal, and the Sichuan Dujiangyan Irrigation System. And he cut down all that dared stand in his path without hesitation or mercy." Yang smiled wryly. "A model ruler of the time."

Kallen did not quite grimace, but there was a visible hint of distaste coloring her expression. Still she did not interrupt, waiting for Yang to conclude his story in one manner or another.

"For his many achievements we have come to call King Zheng Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of Qin. And it is indubitably true that he achieved much during his life. He had united China, both its land and its people. And yet there remained much else for him to do, if only he had a little more time."

Others might have been tempted to interject, to demonstrate that they knew what came next in Yang's story. Kallen was not others, and besides, Yang might yet surprise her. The man certainly seemed certain of himself, if his heartrate was a beat above sixty that would count as the surprise.

"Like many rulers of old, Qin Shi Huang sought to extend his rule, for eternity if possible. To that end he expended considerable effort, treasure, and blood in seeking out means to stave off death. He sought out the man whom set him on his path, and whom promised to share even more secrets of the world should he ever find himself ready to do so. Qin Shi Huang thought himself ready. Would you say he was, your highness?"

"Of course not," Kallen stated without hesitation.

Yang cracked a slight smile. "You seem very certain."

Kallen snorted. "You said he was a model ruler for his time, general. That was both a compliment and a condemnation."

"Fair enough," Yang said, leaning back into his seat in a most relaxed pose. "In that case, your highness, what would you say was the principal reason for why Qin Shi Huang was, unsuitable?"

Kallen shrugged. "I can't claim to know much about the man, mostly just what you've told me today."

"Then that should make things easier, no? Fewer options to choose from."

There was a definite playfulness in Yang's words, along with a deadly seriousness. Somehow the general was still completely at ease. Either ice water ran through his veins or the man was really that confident of himself. Then again seeing how he had managed to string along Eighth Army despite having fewer troops and inferior weapons, Yang probably had reason for that confidence.

After a moment of thought Kallen finally answered. "He wanted it."

Approval flickered through Yang's eyes but the general still dipped his head, indicating for Kallen to elucidate. Kallen shrugged again.

"Qin Shi Huang wanted immortality for purely mortal reasons. He didn't seem to care about the costs or what it actually means to live for an eternity. That's just a disaster waiting to happen."

"An accurate enough assessment," Yang said. "Then how about you, your highness? Do you desire immortality?"

"Hel no," Kallen answered immediately and emphatically.

Yang looked at Kallen for a moment, and then burst out laughing. It was a merry sound, and also a relieved one. Funny that, seeing as Kallen had not been able to detect any sign of stress in the general.

"Of the many that I have asked this question, you are the first to answer with such certitude and alacrity." He then looked over at C.C. "You have raised her well, Witch of Orléans."

C.C. sniffed. "I hardly need such compliment from you, Magician of Penglai."

Kallen's wariness spiked. Her eyes narrowed as she regarded Yang intently before they widened in mild shock. He was no longer there. The, man, was still sitting before her, but he was gone from her sight. No heartbeats, no breathing, just a singular void, one she well recognized.

"You're a code bearer."

The man before her smiled. "It is a pleasure to have made your acquaintance, Princess Kallen. Allow me to introduce myself again. I am Anqi Sheng, but please, feel free to call me by my present name of Yang Wen-Li." The smile widened. "Consider it, my stage name."

End of Chapter 113

Hey look, that happened.

This chapter took longer to crank out due to work ramping up a bit. That and I needed to do some basic resource on firearms. And there ended up being more scenes to cover than I originally envisioned. At this point I'm going to stop trying to maintain a particular update pace, chapters will be done when they are done.

Yes, the naming in the first scene was entirely intentional. Yes, I was trolling all of you. Consider it a test to see how many of you could keep track of which Laura was which.

Laura (Arseid) is probably the strongest physically of her generation amongst the knights. Not even Kallen is a match for her at this point, and Rai just barely edges her out thanks to his cybernetic enhancements. Laura (Bodewig) is in a similar position amongst Lelouch's compatriots. The only one able to keep pace with her is Annie, she regularly handed Bertoldt and Reiner their asses during sparring matches, and Lelouch actively avoided sparring her because he tended to get beaten into the ground before he could even try to land a blow. On a good day, Laura is easily a match for Laura. Right now she's still in a kind of berserker mode, something Laura the elder picked up immediately. After seeing what Kallen was capable of when in such a mood, she wanted that worked out of Laura's system as quickly as possible.

I'm running into a slight problem as a consequence of all the characters I have. I need to give them all enough screen time that all of you continue to care what happens to them. Doing that and at the same time keeping the plot moving along is a nontrivial challenge. Hence why while I claimed last chapter I was going to shift over to Suzaku for a bit, we spent most of this chapter with the Britannian cast again. That was to be frank unintentional, I really was going to move things along, but as I looked over the past few chapters it became evident that as much as I was progressing the plot, I was starting to lose touch with the characters. That's a challenge for all long running stories, whether they're split into separate 'books' or whether they're kept as a single volume.

One thing that I have not quite mastered yet is setting up conversations for my characters. This might sound odd, but providing my characters with the opportunity to hold the various conversations I need them to hold is something that I still struggle with. The difficulty arises from the need to make sure the conversation feels alive, that the characters are doing more than just parroting the lines I've written. A big problem with these conversations is that I write them in one go, so the dialogue is basically stream of consciousness on my part. That being the case, that stream doesn't by default include a bunch of nuances like what the characters are doing in the middle of the conversation a lot of times. As a result, the unbroken dialogue can give the impression that the characters are just standing there and doing nothing but talking, which can come off as stale. This would be less of an issue if I actually did drafts and the like, but as a practical matter I do not have time for that amount of effort for what is effectively a hobby, so the best I can do now is to try to get it right on the first go.

Euphemia is probably one of the few people that calls Rai by his full first name instead of his nickname on an informal basis. Whereas in most cases usage of his first name would indicate a certain social distance, when Euphemia uses it she conveys a certain intimacy and warmth. Conversely Rai never, ever calls Euphemia by her nickname either. This does not go unnoticed by those around them, and it's a point of some amusement for some. They are of course careful not to be too open about said amusement, Euphemia is if nothing inventive about finding ways to derive her own amusement from those about her.

The portrayal of China in the Code Geass canon is, problematic, on a lot of levels. Overly simplified, almost a caricature as bad as Britannia in many respects. The canon really, really lacked subtlety in too many respects. So I decided to make it more interesting. Yes there is a rationale for why Yang was able to keep Kallen from realizing he was a code bearer initially, that'll get explored in the next chapter. And you can assume that C.C. recognized Yang and was just as, giddy, about the surprise being sprung on Kallen.

I am mildly surprised that Eighth Fleet wasn't added to the shout out page. Then again it's entirely possible that those readers of mine adding to the tvtropes page aren't Honorverse fans. Or haven't read _Jane Eyre_ either. Not saying Eighth Fleet is an intentional shout out, that one was more a happy coincidence than anything else.

I have a future snippet that will explain a bit about Britannia's usage of Latin. And Greek mythology. And Germanic/Nordic gods. And so on. Actually make that a few snippets. I'll pad those snippets with the author notes of those respective chapters.


	115. Chapter 114

_The decimalisation of the Holy Britannian Empire's system of measurement and counting was a long time coming. Conservative elements within Britannian society had always resisted such a change in standardisation, considering it a capitulation to the metric system developed by Britannia's historical enemy, the French revolutionaries that shattered the old kingdom with the occupation of the British Isles. Combined with the inherent reluctance of the common populace to change something so intrinsic to their day to day lives and most pundits assumed that Britannia would continue to use the old imperial units forever. These pundits however had not counted on decimalisation's greatest proponent, the Empress Euphemia._

 _Having recognized the inherent advantages in simplifying the units employed by the Empire, her majesty directed her government to draw the necessary plans to implement decimalisation shortly after the end of the Great War. The date of transition, known as Decimal Day, was set as February 15, 2027 a.t.b. In addition to decimalisation, this date also marked the transition of the Empire's calendar to use the Common Era numbering of years, turning the number back 56 years to 1971 CE._

 _The disruption that decimalisation's critics claimed would occur proved unfounded and after several years the Empire settled into a new normal. The advantages to the simplified system also became readily evident, not least in interactions with foreign entities. While Britannian relations with the European nations, France especially, remained estranged for many years, having a common system of measurement and counting made collaboration with the Chinese Federation, the Empire's great partner in the postwar environment, smoother on many fronts._

 _-Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I_

Chapter 114

Facilis descensus Averno

Kallen spent perhaps a good solid minute just gapping at Yang, or Anqi, or whatever the Hel the man called himself. And then she shot a most impressive glare at C.C.

"You _knew_."

C.C. raised an eyebrow, her feigning of offense at the accusatory tone almost as impressive as the glare she was being subjected to.

"Twould be obvious."

Though perhaps what she was taking offense at was not what one might have expected.

"Why the Hel didn't you tell me there were other code bearers about!?" Kallen demanded, ignoring C.C.'s flippancy. "Your binding is gone, and you know the damage that Suzaku could do if he managed to get ahold of another code!"

"Countless men have sought the Magician's secret," C.C. stated. "He hast not outlived them all for naught."

"Except how many of them have the ability to directly attack him via his code?" Kallen retorted.

As the two went back and forth Yang watched the unfolding exchange with visible amusement. It probably would not do to let it escalate further however and so he chose this moment to intervene.

"Perhaps we should return to the matter at hand," Yang suggested.

Kallen gave a resigned sigh, and then a thought seemed to occur to her.

"No pizza for you for a week," she said by way of a final parting shot. "Teach you to keep secrets like this from me."

C.C.'s jaw dropped but as she tried to muster a response Kallen's raised hand stopped her cold.

"Not now, the adults are talking."

To say that C.C. was seething at Kallen's treatment was probably an understatement. No, if anything, as annoyed as the woman was there was a definite twinkle of amusement in her eyes. It was not every day one of her contractors was able to so seize the initiative. Kallen was certainly growing up, which meant she should be ready for C.C. to pull out the big guns soon enough. But not today, today she would let the young woman get the business with the Magician sorted out.

"Anyway, it's a good thing you did decide to reveal yourself to us, umm, general," Kallen said. "There's a threat out there, a threat to code bearers such as yourself, and if it gets ahold of your code, it'll become a threat to all humanity."

Yang tilted his head aside. "I presume you mean Suzaku Kururugi to be this threat."

"In a way, though, might I ask how you know about him?"

"The Chinese Federation does possess its own foreign intelligence service," Yang pointed out, "and it has reported of disturbances caused by Kururugi. The European military's senior leadership seems especially worried, to the point where they have been rounding up people of Japanese ethnicity to try and limit the places where he might be able to hide."

Kallen nodded, a fierce glower clouding her face. She knew Suzaku was not entirely at fault for his actions, but the accounting for all of the problems he was causing kept growing. The sooner they put a bullet in his head, the better for everyone involved, including him.

"Your concern on the other hand seems to be that this Kururugi is somehow able to harm a code bearer," Yang said.

Another nod, firmer at that. "This is going to sound a bit insane, but we believe Suzaku has been possessed by a, well, extraterrestrial entity, one that is able to hijack people's brains via the code."

Yang's response was a thoughtful stroking of his chin instead of disbelief or dismissal. "Via the code, you say."

"Yes. We've already faced one of these things and, well…"

As she trailed off Kallen glanced over at Gino to see if the young man might protest further divulgence of such secrets. To her surprise Gino simply looked on impassively as if there was nothing odd about their present conversation. Frowning, Kallen looked back over at Yang. The general cracked a sly smile and shrugged.

"As far as our other companions are concerned, I am currently giving you a small lecture on the maritime importance of Singapore and why in the long term China would be so askance at losing possession of the city."

The young woman's eyes narrowed. "Is that your geass? Or code, or whatever."

"Indeed," Yang confirmed. "I am able to manipulate the senses of those around me, to make them hear, see, touch, taste, and smell what I want them to."

Kallen considered that. Assuming Yang was not lying, that might explain how he had fooled her own geass. Her extended senses relied on getting more information from other peoples' senses, so if they were manipulated then she too could be fooled. It was an indirect way of defeating her geass, and one she needed to keep in mind for the future. A thought then occurred to her.

 _NEMO, do you have records of Yang Wen-Li, or Anqi Shen, as a code bearer?_

 _Yes your grace_ , the AI answered.

Kallen tried not to keep the frown from reaching her face. She was not quite successful.

 _Then why wasn't I informed about this earlier? A code bearer running around would be at major risk from Suzaku._

 _The threat analysis for a potential confrontation between Master Yang and Kururugi puts a 92% probability that Master Yang would neutralize the Krell inhabiting Kururugi, even if it cost him his life. This puts the urgency of informing you about the master below the threshold necessary to break the classification of the information. As you instructed me not to override Duchess Stadfeld's lockouts, I therefore obeyed my constraints._

This time Kallen did not bother hiding the growl from her throat. Yang and C.C. both regarded her curiously but the girl declined to explain herself. Instead she straightened slightly and met Yang's eyes again.

"Okay, anyway," Kallen said. "The creature that I mentioned earlier, we call it a Krell. It's a creature that seeks to enslave minds. Normal humans are actually protected because of the shielding provided by C's World. Code bearers however are vulnerable, and if a Krell is able to enslave a code bearer, it can use the code to circumvent the protection that normal humans have and spread its influence."

"The Krell, you say," Yang said thoughtfully.

Kallen cocked her head aside. "Is that name familiar?"

"Perhaps. There are records inside the thought elevators, partial in their completeness, that make mention of some threat that laid low the civilization that originally erected them. No name survived, just references to an adversary or foe. It is difficult to even ascertain whether the references are for a singular entity or a multitude."

"Gods, I hope there aren't more of those damn things floating around," Kallen sighed. "So far we've definitely killed one, and a second is probably running around inside of Suzaku." She met Yang's eyes. "And there might well be a third trapped inside the Sword of Akasha."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Really."

Kallen nodded.

"Interesting indeed," Yang said. "If what you say is true, it would explain some of the constraints placed upon the celestial archaism."

This time it was Kallen that looked at Yang quizzically. "Celestial archaism?"

"The thought elevators, the Sword of Akasha, all these things are but parts of a greater whole. A gift from the Heavens, or at least a manifestation of their great power, that was how these things were viewed by our ancestors whom stumbled upon them."

"Oh, so you didn't mean some sort of celestial language," Kallen said.

From behind her C.C. snorted while Yang cracked a slight smile. "I suppose I am using the term in a nonstandard way for this age."

Kallen regarded Yang thoughtfully again. "The Qin dynasty was over two thousand years ago. How long have you actually been around?"

"Hard to say," Yang said, causing Kallen to gap at him. "We did not exactly keep track of time the same way youngsters like you and the Witch of Orléans do-"

C.C. let out a bark of a laugh at that bit.

"-and to be honest my memory is a bit foggy of my earlier days. I can tell you that the Xia dynasty as described in _Bamboo Annals_ is somewhat, wide of the mark."

Kallen shrugged. "I have no idea what dynasty that is."

"Quite," Yang said with a chuckle. "But getting back to the matter at hand, the warning about Suzaku and this Krell is appreciated. I would not be adverse to helping you neutralize the threat they represent, and I think you appreciate the value of such assistance."

"Yes," Kallen said with a nod. "Yes, I do. At the same time, I also appreciate the danger that you yourself represent just for being a code bearer."

"Even though you yourself might become one in the future?" Yang prodded.

"Takes one to know one," was Kallen's response.

"A fair enough point. Are you going to seek assurances that I will not employ my code against Britannia as well?"

Kallen's face tightened slightly. "I doubt I could enforce any conditions that you yourself did not want to actually acquiesce to, so let's just get to the point. What is it that you want, general?"

"After all this time, it is hard to say," Yang admitted. "I wanted peace and prosperity for my people, but I have learned that both come at great cost. Furthermore, what defines prosperity seems to change every generation. At one time it was simply having enough rice or wheat to survive the coming winter. Now? To go without meat for a single meal is considered deprivation. Funny, how the times change."

"The times may change," Kallen responded, "but in a way, should you not be proud of the progress that has occurred? Each generation is able to set its heights higher because they no longer lose what their predecessors have built."

"That is a very optimistic view of things, your highness," Yang said. "I approve."

"Thanks, I think?"

"I assure you, that was a compliment," Yang said with a slight smile before his expression turned more serious. "As I was saying, your highness, I used to wish for peace and prosperity for my people. To an extent, I still do, and yet I fear that the pursuit of such prosperity will inevitably draw our two peoples into conflict again in the future."

"What do you mean?" Kallen asked.

"What I said earlier," Yang answered. "Each generation wishes for more and more, and to fulfill those wishes require ever greater resources, in both quantity and diversity. The clothes that you and I wear now, the wool or cotton for them was likely produced in one place before being shipped to an entirely different place to be woven together. The sidearm we carry, the metal for them comes from how many different mines? Then there are the factories that machine the parts themselves. The world is growing more complex, the societies that exist within it dependent on ever more inputs to maintain themselves. Come the end of this war, and Britannia will hold dominion over how much of our planet? And with that dominion, over how much of the resources that all societies ultimately need?"

That, was a very good point, and one Kallen knew she had not dwelled very much on. She was still getting used to thinking in the long term and at a strategic level, so even though intellectually she was aware of such points the nuances still did not come naturally. On the other hand when she had the matter shoved in her face, she was not so dense as to miss it.

"Do you have a proposal to try to avert such a disaster?" Kallen asked.

Yang pursed his lips. "The solution I proposed to King Zheng was to unify what was then the known world under a singular rule, so that all peoples would be under his care."

Kallen openly grimaced. "That's, not going to work in this day and age."

"Quite," Yang agreed, to Kallen's pleasant surprise. "Notwithstanding the cultural differences between our two respective nations, Britannia for one has little reason to want to assume responsibility for hundreds of millions more people." The general cracked a wry smile. "Hence the Empire's lack of desire to conquer China outright."

Kallen said nothing, keeping her face relatively impassive. Yang was right though, at least part of Britannia's lack of enthusiasm for conquering the Asian mainland was not wanting to have to deal with the aftermath. For all the land that Britannia would technically acquire, huge chunks of it was desert and mountains and the sheer number of people whose needs would need to be met was daunting to say the least. Successfully conquering China would effectively double Britannia's population, with all the complications such an increase and shift in demographics would entail.

"There is also the issue of the even longer term," Yang continued, looking pointedly at Kallen, "when one world will no longer suffice."

Kallen fought to keep her expression as utterly neutral as she could. It was not easy. Yang's smile was slight, almost playful. His eyes though, there was no humor in them.

"Britannia has been experimenting with launch technology to put things into orbit for several years now," Yang said, "and I cannot imagine her majesty to be so shortsighted as to not continue the effort upon the conclusion of the war. In fact knowing her, I would expect the Empire to push even more aggressively in the future. And with the advantage that your float system offers, Britannian dominance of the ultimate high ground seems assured."

Still Kallen made no response, instead simply staring at Yang. The general however did not let the young woman's silence perturb him in the least.

"And here we approach the crux of the issue," he said. "The next step in humanity's advancement, to reach beyond this single world. The wealth of resources this will require, may well be beyond the reach of any singular power in the postwar environment, save that of Britannia. Considering the Empire's traditional attitudes, I cannot help but wonder whether they would let anyone else stake a claim beyond Earth should they be first?"

"It's more complicated than that," Kallen stated.

"I suppose it probably is," Yang said. "After all, letting just anyone attain physical access to the Sword of Akasha would be dangerous."

To that Kallen's eyes widened. "You know?"

Yang tilted his head aside. "Well, I suspected."

C.C. chuckled, eliciting an irritated glare from her former contractor. Kallen however declined to verbalize that irritation, instead staying focused on the matter at hand.

"Would you seek to stop us then, general?" Kallen asked. "If Britannia sought to monopolize access to space."

Yang rubbed his chin again. "I do not think that is within my means at this point. It has likely been beyond me for several decades now. To be honest, Britannia's rise caught me badly off guard. Most empires of its ilk have tended to flounder eventually under the weight of their own size. Yours on the other hand seems to have yet to reach its peak and already it stands on the cusp of triumph against the rest of the world. To come up with a means to defeat it, there might not be a world left over after such a confrontation."

To that Kallen allowed herself to relax just a tiny bit. She would not have relished trying to fight Yang even without NEMO's remark about how the code bearer could even take on a Krell controlled Suzaku.

"So what is it that you want then, general?" Kallen asked again. "And what is it that you offer in turn?"

"What I want," Yang said, this time not as a rhetorical answer, "is for Britannia to extend the hand of friendship to China. To not deny my homeland a measure of the prosperity that your own Empire will achieve in the near future. And what I offer in exchange, is my own code."

Kallen's eyes widened, in a mixture of surprise and even horror. Yang cracked another smile, this one devoid of humor.

"I am tired, your highness. After all these years, I am tired. Now that you sit before me however, I find hope that my long vigil might finally be passed on to one worthy of the power, and one strong enough to bear the curse that is code and geass."

* * *

Jusis came to a stop before the door and knocked thrice. He could hear a slight shuffling sound inside and after a few moments the door opened to reveal a bespectacled, mousey looking woman. Jusis politely bowed his head.

"Lady Einstein, I am here to see the Princess Millicent."

"Oh, yes," Nina said, opening the door wider. "Umm, her highness is not back yet, but please, come in."

"Thank you."

As heir primus the Princess Millicent actually had the use of an entire palace of her own separate from the empress' own residence. Her highness however seemed inclined to continue residing in the imperial palace and remain close to her majesty. To that end the empress had provided several rooms in this wing of the palace for Millicent's use, the one Jusis now entering serving as a sort of office and sitting room.

"Would you like some tea, lieutenant?" Nina asked.

"Ah, if it is not too much trouble," Jusis responded.

A gentlewoman of the bedchamber Nina might be, but only a fool would treat her as some mere servant of the princess. Jusis thus thanked her politely as he was presented with a steaming cup.

"Oh, do I detect a touch of honey?" Jusis noted.

"Oh, my apologies," Nina said. "I should have asked if you wanted a sweetener."

"That is quite alright," Jusis assured her. "I always had something of a sweet tooth as a child, and sugar and honey helped make tea more palatable before I was able to learn to, enjoy its refined textures."

Nina giggled at that, seemingly relaxing a bit about the young man. "I do apologize for her highness not being here on time. She was here just a little while ago, but disappeared after saying something had come up."

"Has her highness, always been like this?" Jusis ventured cautiously.

Nina actually thought it over before responding. "Her highness has always tended to be on the move. She tends to try to involve herself in a wide range of matters. When these matters start slipping, her attention is often split between too many things."

"It seems like her highness could do with a competent chief of staff," Jusis said in between sips.

To his slight surprise Nina nodded rather enthusiastically in agreement. "We tried to keep her reined in back at the academy, but, well, I think Milly just took advantage of having competent people around to delegate out so she could do even more things."

Jusis looked up. "Milly?"

"Oh umm," Nina stuttered. "The Princess Millicent, I mean."

Jusis cracked a slight smile. "I see you and her highness have been together for some time."

"Umm, yes, we have," Nina said somewhat nervously.

"It must be nice having someone so close," Jusis said. "Regardless of blood ties."

Nina cocked her head aside, apparently sensing the sincerity in Jusis' wistfulness. "Umm, I hope you do not mind my asking, but, is that a personal opinion?"

"I suppose it is," Jusis said, taking another snip of tea. "Hmm, might I have the recipe for this blend? It quite agrees with me."

"Oh, umm, sure," Nina said. "Umm, hold on, let me go write it down."

"My thanks," Jusis said, finishing the rest of his cup.

Nina flushed slightly but beamed a smile at the young man before hurrying off to do as she said. Just as she was handing Jusis the recipe the door to the suite opened and Milly burst in.

"Hey, I'm back, did-oh hey, you are here."

The sheer nonchalance of the princess caused Jusis to stare at her for a few moments. Milly herself stared back, and then flashed a smile.

"You two gonna keep indirectly holding hands like that?"

Realizing that his arm was still outstretched, Jusis looked over to see Nina hurriedly letting go of the note. The girl shot the princess an unamused look.

"Enough with the teasing already, Milly. I mean, your highness."

Milly's own lips quirked though she also shot a reproving look at the younger girl. Walking over, she gave her a light tap on the forehead.

"None of that highness nonsense while in here."

"But…" Nina's gaze shifted over to Jusis.

"Oh, the good lieutenant? You seemed to be getting along just fine with him seeing as you're up to passing notes already." Milly chuckled. "And besides, when have I cared a wit for propriety?"

"Milly…" Nina said tiredly.

Jusis found that his sympathies lied entirely with Nina here. In fact he felt a headache of his own building up. Clearing his throat, he tried to redirect the princess to the actual business he was here for. Jusis rose and bowed formally.

"My apologies for the intrusion, your highness."

Milly gave Jusis a look over, while at the same time a third woman seemingly appeared from nowhere to take a position behind the princess. The princess' personal armsman, Jusis recognized, from the coronation broadcast. A person of Japanese descent. The princess indeed cared not for propriety. And yet was that such a bad thing?

"Apologies of my own," Milly finally said, flashing a smile. "I regret having kept you waiting, Lieutenant Albarea. Please, have a seat."

"My thanks, highness," Jusis said formally, sitting back down.

Milly did likewise, crossing her legs in a most unladylike manner. She was still beaming that wide smile. And then all amusement seemed to disappear from her expression, even with her lips curled so.

"I believe you are here to discuss the progress of the gendarmerie's investigation into how my family's assets were employed by the Inquisitio," Milly stated.

Jusis felt a slight chill run down his spine. Now where had the whimsical and almost lackadaisical young woman of a few moments gone?

"Yes, your highness."

The Princess Millicent nodded. "Then, by all means."

* * *

Kallen burst into Euphemia's office, her expression tight if not outright distraught. The armsmen posted behind the empress tensed ever so slightly but remained otherwise motionless. Euphemia herself regarded Kallen worryingly. Something had obviously badly shaken her, something very serious indeed if Kallen was not even bothering with the courtesy she usually extended to Euphemia. Then again this something had also prompted Kallen to make the trip back to Pendragon in a rush, so that was perhaps a given.

"We need to talk," Kallen said without preamble.

Looking past the knight, Euphemia saw C.C. enter and nod firmly, confirming the matter so distressing Kallen related to the geass. The empress looked back at Riza.

"Privilege Red."

Riza bowed slightly. "Understood your majesty."

She and the other armsmen vacated the room, closing the door behind them and leaving Euphemia alone with Kallen and C.C. They would still be watching over the cameras of course, though the audio pickups were turned off.

"Considering that I have not received any reports about the ceasefire with the Chinese ending, I presume then talks with General Yang are at least progressing?"

Kallen snorted, then caught herself and shot Euphemia an apologetic look. Distraught as she was, that was no excuse for her continued disrespect for someone whom she had been through so much with. Euphemia responded with an understanding smile, letting Kallen know the apology was accepted.

"They're going well," Kallen answered, "in fact you could say they're going really well." She dropped the packet of papers on Euphemia's desk. "Those are all the topics General Yang thinks should be dealt with to avoid any major ruptures in relations between China and Britannia in the future, and that includes the issue of access to orbit."

Euphemia raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Kallen chuckled glumly. "Don't get too impressed yet, your majesty. It's what General Yang is offering in exchange for, a generous consideration for China, that's the real kicker."

Euphemia noted Kallen's expression carefully. The older girl was definitely angry, even a bit scared, but it was not about whether Yang's offer was insufficient for what the general was asking for. In fact if she had a guess, it was because what Yang offered was perhaps too great a prize that truly scared Kallen. Euphemia dipped her head, prompting Kallen to explain further.

"The general is a code bearer," Kallen said flatly.

Euphemia stared at the older girl silently for a few moments. She then directed a most ferocious glare at C.C.

"Yes, C.C. knew about this," Kallen said before the empress could verbally castigate the other woman. "And yes, I've already chewed her out for it. If you feel the need to, go ahead, but can we get the main issue out of the way first?"

Euphemia's lips thinned for a moment even as she kept her gaze fixed on C.C. After a moment however the empress nodded and looked back at Kallen.

"Please, continue. And you can sit down while you're at it."

Kallen sighed and did as she was told. "General Yang, his real name, or I guess his original name, is Anqi Sheng, he's been around for a while. Like, BC era. He claims he helped, inspire, the first emperor of China to unite the country into a single polity. And he knows things, things about the thought elevators, that none of us even suspected. Even more than C.C. here, even more than NEMO."

Euphemia nodded thoughtfully. "That would make sense, he has had considerably longer than anyone else to delve into their secrets."

Kallen nodded in turn. "He's willing to teach me everything he knows too, as part of the deal for China. But, he's also asking for something else in addition to a good deal for his country."

After a few moments of Kallen not continuing Euphemia prompted her. "And what would be?"

The answer came as a mere whisper, yet the words somehow still reverberated throughout the room.

"He wants me to take his code."

The tick-tock-tick of the large grandfather clock was the only thing that broke the silence that now hung in the air. It likely did not take Euphemia the entire duration to work out just what the ramifications of Kallen's statement were. Conversely it likely did take her that long to figure out what to say.

"Oh Kallen," Euphemia finally said, her own voice as soft and shaken as the other girl's.

Kallen took a deep breath. "I talked a little about this with C.C., about what to expect and all that. Apparently it's not that bad for the most part, I mean-"

Euphemia raised a hand, cutting the knight off. Kallen blinked, looking at her liege quizzically. The empress met that gaze, her own eyes shimmering ever so softly.

"You do not have to do this," Euphemia said. "Just tell me no, and we will decline General Yang's offer."

Kallen looked at the younger girl, her eyes now widening into surprise. "Wait, what? But, but this would give us everything we want! I mean, it could make sure there's not another war with China-"

"Kallen."

The empress did not raise her voice. She did not need to, for that singular word carried with it all the strength of her will even when delivered so calmly. Kallen shut her mouth.

"I can't ask this of you, Kallen. I could not ask this of anyone. The price of the code, you do _not_ owe it to me, or Britannia, or even Japan, to pay it."

The edge of Kallen's lips quirked. It was not a happy or humored quirk. "I appreciate that, your majesty. Euphemia. I really do, but I can't be selfish over something like this. You know as well as I what it would mean, if we could unlock the secret behind the thought elevators, the code. I'm not doing this just for you, or Britannia, or Japan. I'm doing this for humanity."

Euphemia shook her head, causing Kallen to look at the other woman quizzically again.

"You have obviously thought over the matter on the flight over," the empress said, "and you have obviously gone through much effort to justify to yourself why the importance of what Yang offers balances the personal cost to you. But Kallen, you know as well as I, that that is not good enough. This _cannot_ be about how much it would mean to others, or to even the world. You have to want to do this for _yourself_ , not for others, Kallen. Otherwise the prize is _not_ worth the cost. You know this, Kallen. I implore you, do not lie to yourself and commit to an even greater tragedy."

Kallen's expression tightened, even twisted, as she tried to muster a response. Before she could however another voice lent itself to Euphemia's words.

"Her majesty is correct."

The other two women looked over to the third of their number present. C.C.'s own eyes however fell squarely on Kallen.

"Thou hast sacrificed, compromised, lost untold measure. What hast kept thee merely at the brink of the abyss is thy fervor that thou hast made the proper choice. But proper for whom and what? For the greater good, or for thyself?"

Kallen scowled. "What is that even supposed to mean? This can't be about me, otherwise I'll just end up abusing the code like V.V. did."

C.C. snorted. "Doust thee sincerely think Vivian set forth to become a monster? He too sought power for a cause greater than himself, but nary a score passed afore the weight of time began to see his resolve crumble. Eternity bades, Kallen, and self-sacrifice can only serve as a cause for so long."

" _You_ didn't go insane," Kallen retorted. "And as far as I can tell the general is still mostly there even though he's way older than you. That means it's possible."

"You presume we have held at bay the ravages of time because of conviction?" C.C. said with a raised eyebrow. "I claim no country or people as mine own, Kallen. Even the Directorate, created ages past, served to fulfill mine needs. That it saw to the needs of others was a means, not an end."

"Are you seriously suggesting I need to be selfish in order to hold onto a code?" Kallen demanded incredulously.

C.C. met that gaze unflinchingly. "Yes."

"What? That doesn't make any sense! You heard what Yang said, he denied the code to Qin Shi Huang _because_ the emperor was too selfish!"

" _Too_ selfish," C.C. emphasized. "Whereas thou hast a blemish to the contrary."

"Being selfless can be a flaw?" Kallen said. "Is that what you think?"

"L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés ou désirs," C.C. said.

Kallen frowned. "What does that even mean?"

"Hell is filled with good ideas or wishes," Euphemia translated. "And I find myself in agreement with Cecilia, Kallen. You cannot go into this by girding yourself with the belief that you are sacrificing yourself for some greater cause."

"How else am I supposed to go into this?" Kallen nearly shouted. "You two really think it's any better that I do it for completely selfish reasons!?"

"You have the option of not going into it at all," Euphemia stated firmly.

"No I don't," Kallen said, her eyes flaring. "If I don't do this, millions more people could die."

"Millions of people are going to die anything," Euphemia snapped. "In the minutes that we have been holding this discussion, thousands have already died. By the end of the week? Millions more." The empress' expression softened. "People are always going to die, Kallen. You cannot allow solely that to dictate how _you_ live."

"So I shouldn't care about all the people that do die? I shouldn't care about all the people that die because of me? Or that were _killed_ by me?"

The answer to that was obviously no, just as all of them knew. That was not why Kallen had asked, no, demanded the question though. C.C. reached out, taking hold of Kallen and stilling the tremble in the younger girl's form. Neither of the other women said anything for a few moments, simply letting the tension bleed out from Kallen.

"I can't do this anymore," Kallen whispered.

"You don't have to," Euphemia said with a kind smile.

Kallen grimaced. "Don't I? _You_ didn't stop after everything that's happened. I'm your knight, how could I stop?"

Euphemia sighed, rising and stepping around the desk. She knelt down by Kallen, taking hold of the girl's hands.

"It is certainly true that I have not stopped," she said. "It is equally true that one reason I have not stopped is my duty to all whom call me empress. But you know what, Kallen? There is another reason entirely, one that I hold close to my heart."

The look that Kallen gave Euphemia was one of yearning and hope, that the empress might somehow relieve her of her burden. The smile that Euphemia offered in turn seemed to be reassurance of that. And then the smile disappeared, to be replaced with a hardened visage.

"The world has taken much from me, Kallen, and I wish to see it burn."

Kallen blinked. "What?"

The smile was back, albeit a more sorrowful version.

"Exactly what I said. I lost my mother at a young age, and then the woman whom took me in as one of her own. I lost Lelouch and Nunnally not once, but twice. And I have lost all others whom share my blood. A world so cruel, what worth could I possibly see in it?" Euphemia straightened, meeting Kallen's stunned gaze. "And so a part of me wishes to see it burn. The selfish, self-centered part, that is sick and tired of acting for others. When I was at my lowest, that was the part that gave me the final push to stand again."

A look of horror began to color Kallen's expression. "But if you-"

Euphemia reached out, pressing a finger against Kallen's lips and momentarily silencing the other girl.

"I said it was a part of me, and it is balanced against the part that does want to do my best for my subjects. The me that you see now is balanced between those two parts. I will see to the need of my subjects, and I will burn the world at the same time. I could end the war with a word, to agree to terms with the Europeans that would leave them with a measure of their dignity. But I will not, for I have a personal need to see them burn. And if I do not sate that need now, I know I will find some way to do so in the future, on a far greater and more tragic scale. Just as you must let your selfishness out, to do something that you genuinely _want_ to do, if you are to commit yourself to some service greater than your self. Otherwise the weight of your sacrifice will crush you, just as it could me, just as it did for Lelouch."

Kallen's lips thinned at that last bit. And yet as she searched for a response, the girl found herself at a loss.

"I don't know what I want," she admitted. "Not anymore."

Euphemia nodded, as if expecting that. And perhaps the empress had every reason to, seeing how incisively she seemed to understand the conundrum so tormenting Kallen.

"Go get some sleep, Kallen," Euphemia said. "Consider that an order. Once you are rested, we will discuss the issue further."

Kallen stiffened a bit but after a moment of consideration nodded. She really was not at her best right now and the girl had to admit she was feeling more than a bit tired.

Once the door closed behind Kallen, Euphemia turned to regard C.C. The empress' expression was not a happy one.

"What say you, Cecilia. Did General Yang intentionally cause Kallen to suffer from an existential crisis?"

C.C. considered it. "Methinks the general could not not have known what his offer would portend. And yet, I doubt there be any malice. Much as you and I, he had motives of a personal style. He spoke sooth when he claimed exhaustion from his long vigil."

Euphemia raised an eyebrow. "So this was some sort of final test, to see if Kallen really could inherit his code?"

"Aye, tis likely so." C.C. smirked slightly. "A most swift deduction on your part, your majesty."

"If there is one thing I have learned regarding you lot," Euphemia said, "it is things are never as they appear." The empress walked back around her desk and hit her intercom. "Major Mustang."

The response was near immediate. "Yes your majesty."

"I have an errand for you. Please have one of the supersonic transports readied."

* * *

"Here's the manifest captain."

Cole took the clipboard. "Thank you private."

The soldier clicked his heels, did an about face, and hurried away. Not out of any desire to avoid Cole, the young man was gaining a reputation for being tough but fair and so was becoming rather popular with the rank and file, but because all of them had plenty of work to do. The 25th was preparing to deploy north in pursuit of the European forces falling back towards the Vladivostok theater and as usual there were countless last-minute details that needed to be sorted out before they could depart Soul.

The few short weeks since the Battle of Chosin had seen more reinforcements join the division, with the veterans reshuffled to rebuild the battalion lost when the transport went down. A lot of promotions ended up getting handed out as a result, though not all were entirely due to merit. Cole had eventually prevailed in his effort to remain with the 25th, but his superiors were still twitchy about the possibility of him being endangered and causing Kallen to lead another charge to save him. Cole was honest enough to admit those were valid concerns, but the solution they found was still somewhat annoying. Instead of leaving him as part of the support battalion's general pool of quartermasters, he had been handed a promotion to captain and assigned to the headquarters staff. That meant he spent a lot more time at base doing paperwork than overseeing the transfer of supplies to the units that were actually doing the fighting. It also meant he had fewer opportunities to accompany his friends out into the field. That did not quite feel right, like he was hiding in the rear safe and sound while they were risking their lives.

With a sigh Cole flipped through the documents, noting the arrival of the requisitioned supplies. And a couple of typos. It was amazing how many mistakes could slip through when shifting millions of tons of freight. If only there was some way to automate some of the bookkeeping, to reduce the number of opportunities for human error to creep in. Like with a computer. Too bad the Britannian military had yet to put together a computerized supply system for its quartermaster corps. Scuttlebutt claimed that one was in the works prior to the outbreak of the war, but if so its deployment was most certainly an early casualty of the sudden demands.

By the time Cole was done checking the manifests it was well past noon as his grumbling stomach made clear. Cole considered his options. He could try going out into the city, it was effectively pacified with even some businesses opening up to serve the occupation force. That would however probably take too long, so he ultimately settled on grabbing something from the mess hall. The food was not that bad, for the most part, and he could probably get in and out quickly enough. Hopefully.

As it turned out, the mess line was not too long. A bit of luck there, avoiding the crunch immediately at lunchtime but not so late as to be left with stale food. Cole grabbed large helpings of the roast, some mashed potatoes, and a mug of steaming hot chocolate. The weather was starting to get downright nippy. As he navigated the roles of benches and tables looking for a free spot a cheerful voice called out his name.

"Yo, Captain Kraft."

Looking over Cole was greeted with the sight of a grinning Jean, accompanied by Connie and Sasha. Smiling back, Cole slid into the space his friends made for him.

"Well, this is certainly a pleasant surprise, Sergeant Kirstein," Cole replied. "I didn't expect to see you until next week."

"Same here," Jean said, his grin growing cheekier with every word. "Got notification to rotate back to Soul yesterday, just got in. Man, can't believe I actually missed the mess food."

"It's not so bad," Cole said. "Now that the city is effectively secured, we've been getting lots of shipment of fresh food. And Japan had a pretty good season with all the farms put back into operation."

"Anything that keeps us off of K rations," Jean said.

"Quite," Cole agreed heartedly while Connie and Sasha nodded with equal vigor.

"So any hints as to where we're headed out next?" Jean asked.

Cole took a moment to answer, if only to chew his bite of meat enough to swallow it without choking.

"North, but you knew that already," he said. "Anything more specific I don't know, though I am seeing cold weather gear in the latest supplies."

"Oh God, I really hope we're not going up into Siberia," Jean groaned.

"S'not so bad," Sasha said. "Be fun to see some real snow again."

"Aye, missed the snow last winter being down south," Connie agreed.

"Yeah, Area 12 was kinda balmy even for January," Jean nodded. "Still, not sure I want to be freezing my ass off up north."

"Well just be glad we're getting proper clothing to begin with," Cole said, taking another bite.

"Amen to that," Jean said, enjoying his mug of milk. "Still, they must be keeping you pretty busy at HQ. Didn't even get a chance to see you before I got shipped out last time."

To that Cole gave his friend a pained look. "Hey, it's not like I want to be stuck back here pushing papers. You know I'd rather be out there with you."

Jean snorted. "Okay, now I know there's something not right with that head of yours. Why would any sane man give up a nice soft bed and warm food to be out there in the damp cold getting his ass shot at?"

"Well," Cole said with a chuckle, "when you put it that way…"

The others shared a laugh with them as they dug into their respective meals.

"Still," Jean said, not quite bothering to finish chewing before opening his mouth again, "you're not really missing much right now. The front's pretty quiet, the Chinks seem to not want to get licked again like what happened at Chosin."

"I would hope not," Cole said. "The estimates I saw suggest they got an entire army group mauled. Even for a country as big as China, that's got to hurt."

Jean let out a low whistle. "You think we any closer to knocking them out of the war?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Cole said. "I mean, losing Eighth Army outright in Korea would have hurt, but the Empire has a couple other armies ready to go back in the homeland. If the Chinese also have that kind of strategic depth, they might still be able to hang on for a while yet."

"Now that's an unpleasant thought," Jean said. "Two of them in fact."

"Still, something tells me the Federation made a mistake with-" Cole began when suddenly a pair of shadows appeared to loom behind him.

The others looked up, prompting Cole to stop midsentence and turn about. Immediately behind him were two majors, one in the regular field dress of the Britannian Army, the other in the blue uniform of a certain royal, now imperial, guard.

"Major Sulla?" Cole said, and with considerably greater confusion, "Major Mustang?"

"Captain Kraft," Sulla responded. "There has been a development and you are being recalled to Pendragon."

The confusion only grew. "What's going on ma'am?" And looked over at Roy. "Or should I be asking you that, sir?"

Roy shrugged almost nonchalantly. "My orders are to bring you back to Pendragon to assist her majesty on a matter, captain. To be frank, I am not clear on the details myself."

Cole looked at the two officers once more. Finally he sighed, wiped his mouth, and stood at attention.

"Very well sir. I presume we are departing immediately."

"Quite," Mustang said, then nodded to Sulla. "Thank you for your assistance major."

"Please, it is the least I could do for her majesty's guard," Sulla responded, then at Cole. "Take care of yourself, captain. I'd prefer not to lose you so soon after just getting you back."

Cole cracked a slight smile. "I'll do my best not to disappoint."

After bidding farewell to an amused looking Jean and a slightly befuddled Connie and Sasha, Cole followed Roy out of the mess hall. Not surprisingly they headed for the airfield. What was surprising was the presence of one of the supersonic transports normally reserved for special couriers or members of the imperial family. Cole fervently hoped the matter was not serious. Hoped.

End of chapter 114

I give up on guessing when Suzaku will make another appearance. Le sigh.

The ramifications of the float system were never properly explored in the Code Geass anime. The fact that they could produce one that could get something the mass of the Damocles into orbit, even low orbit, is really, really important. That they could then also get the Damocles out of Earth orbit and shoot it into the sun, even more so. I mean, we're talking about some major lift capabilities there. Just by virtue of that, Britannia should have held an almost insurmountable advantage against the other nations. We'll explore more about what my version of Britannia intends to use it for in later chapters. Two hints though, Mjölnir and Jörmungandr.

The situation with China is, interesting. As one of the largest countries left in the postwar environment, it's pretty much inevitable that eventually it will come into competition against Britannia for resources and the like and actually be able to credibly threaten the Empire. Well, credibly threaten, but Yang knows that from a practical perspective, China still would not win, not if the Empire actually pushes hard enough to basically seize outright control of Earth orbit. At the same time, space is big. There is technically a lot of real estate out there to develop, and if an arrangement can be made now, a confrontation in the future might be averted. How long it will hold, well, that's another matter entirely.

A bit more of Kallen's PTSD starting to surface. She has not been sleeping very well, but was able to mostly handle it to keep on the campaign. The notion that she might live for an eternity and never shake off what she's feeling now however is pushing her towards her limits. Kallen is not invincible, or implacable, she is still a young woman whom is now fulling grasping how lethal she can be. And as someone whom is not intrinsically bloodthirsty, or at the very least is not a psychopath, the ease with which she can kill others eats at her quite a bit.

Cole is not the first person to be kicked upstairs because of, other considerations. He's not terribly happy about it. At the same time he's not going to be getting any further promotions for a long while since he's now at that level where he really will need more seasoning and experience, but he's high enough that his superiors can keep him far from the frontlines where he would be getting shot at. For now at least.

C.C. is not Joan. As mentioned in a prior chapter, Joan was one of her past contractors. The title Witch of Orleans was originally C.C.'s but Joan got stuck with the appellation as a consequence of the events that led to her death. That France, the nation that she gave her life for, did so little to save her, is something of a sore point for C.C., which is one reason why she isn't particularly invested in France's current wellbeing.

Hmm, how to respond, how to respond. At the most basic level, the buildup that Nunnally got in the story was the full extent of what I intended for her. There were no plans to further explore her perspective or to expand her role for the simple reason that this is _not_ her story. It's Euphemia and Kallen's. Nunnally was there to serve as one of the levers that would move Euphemia, and to a lesser extent Kallen, and that was how I employed her.

The amount of buildup that Nunnally received was no greater than the buildup several other characters received. Or to put it another way, the amount of effort that I put into building her up was no greater than what I did for several other supporting characters. Milly, Inoue, Jonathan, those are just some of the other characters that I put in just as much effort and planning, if not more so. And the amount of buildup each got was based on what I felt was necessary for them to credibly influence Euphemia and Kallen. That is ultimately the main consideration for how I employ the supporting characters.

Developments regarding Lelouch still require further explanation of the thought elevators, the code, and the geass, so will need to wait until those parts of the story are published.


	116. Chapter 115

Snippet spoiler: some ship related ones

 _The reputation of the Ashford and Stadtfeld families for eccentricity was well established even before they were appointed as royal houses by the Empress Euphemia. Baron Heinrich Stadtfeld's nonchalant irreverence went well beyond the usual stealth insults that served as a pastime for the more highly ranked peers, while the Lady Renne Stadtfeld's proclivity for randomly scaling the walls of the various estates she might reside in confounded and exasperated the security details often assigned to them. Additionally many firsthand accounts also indicate that the Lady Renne was always armed, usually with an oversized knife. Perhaps the only consolation for the Stadtfeld family's retainers during those early years was that the Princess Kallen was herself as exasperated as them at her family's antics, while her husband the Lord Cole was himself a more diligent and conscientious sort that tried to avoid causing too many inconveniences for others._

 _The Ashford family on the other hand was far less reserved, with the Princess Millicent herself setting the standard for eccentricity, a standard well and truly surpassed by her son the Prince Olivert. And while the Prince Cedric turned out to be a more serious and contemplative sort like his father, the Princess Alfin took after her mother in her sense of mischievous amusement. One must wonder whether the Princess Millicent's husband ever regretted joining such a rambunctious family, though all indications are that the relationship between him, the Princess Millicent, and the Lady Nina Einstein was a loving one._

 _-A Spare to Spare: The Royal Houses of Ashford and Stadtfeld_

Chapter 115

Nunc scio quid sit amor

"So Kallen would not be able to have children if she took the code?" Euphemia queried.

C.C. pursed her lips. "Tis, complicated. Thou art clear on the birds and the bees?"

"Of course."

C.C. raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Nay, mayhap I am of another age after all." C.C. chuckled, apparently finding her own amusement in the conversation. "Thou fathoms that the fruit a woman can bear be, fixed."

Euphemia actually rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know that as a woman I only have a set number of eggs that might be fertilized in my life."

C.C. chuckled again. "Aye, tis so, and as the seasons past these opportunities pass, for one whom knows the ravages of age."

That elicited a thoughtful look. "Does that mean Kallen will no longer have a period if she takes the code and becomes immortal?"

C.C. nodded. "Her form be fixed, some functions ended. I had no need for vittles for many an age, yet what I did partake passed with not an iota wasted."

"Wait, how does that even work?" Euphemia said, sounding morbidly curious. "I mean, does that mean you never had to, umm."

For all her seeming nonchalance about the human body's reproductive functions, the empress actually seemed somewhat embarrassed discussing that same body's waste handling functions. The grin on C.C.'s expression was probably getting a bit too wide. Still the woman remained on topic.

"Tis an uncertain thing, and likely to remain so till the ken of man grows yet further. But as to the issue at hand, man hast made strides to allow for births in unorthodox plights."

"In vitro fertilization," Euphemia said.

That caused C.C. to raise her eyebrow. The empress seemed remarkably well informed on the state of the art in the matter. Then again perhaps that was not so surprising. As part of her duty as sovereign, as the only surviving member of her family, Euphemia was obliged to secure the succession. The young woman was however physically still recovering, with a noted decrease in her prior vitality and endurance. A pregnancy was out of the question in the short term, and even in the future the opportunity for Euphemia to lessen her workload enough to see to her and her unborn child's health might be few and far in between. Considering how meticulous Euphemia was she would obviously have considered the matter from all angles, including less traditional ones.

"But IVF requires removing the egg from the patient's body," Euphemia said. "Would Kallen's, survive, outside of her body? For that matter, would the code cause the removed eggs to be, regenerated?"

"A most astute insight," C.C. said. "And the sooth, your majesty, is I do not know. When I bleed, my blood remains and seems no different." The woman bared her teeth in an unpleasant smile. "For an answer, you might be better served delving into your brother's butchery."

Euphemia did not wince, but neither did she take any offence at C.C.'s remark. What the other woman said was true enough after all, Clovis had effectively resorted to butchery in order to try to discover C.C.'s secrets. Any resentment for her treatment was entirely understandable, and thus far remained well within the realm of forgiveness.

"I will look into it," Euphemia said simply.

C.C. nodded. And then cocked her head aside quizzically. "You seek to see Europe burn."

Euphemia shrugged. "To an extent. I am realistic enough to understand that I cannot set the entire continent aflame. I will settle for a few cities."

An eyebrow rose. "A few cities?"

"We shall see what opportunities present themselves," Euphemia said. "Paris will however certainly burn."

"Oh?"

This time it was Euphemia that regarded C.C. thoughtfully. "You still hold some sentiment for your homelands?"

C.C. snorted. "I hast held no warmth nor sentiment since they abandoned Jean. In this thou and I art of accord, your majesty. Blood calls out for blood."

Euphemia nodded. She had heard only bits and pieces, but it was clear C.C. did hold some genuine affection for her contractors. It was a less that orthodox sort of affection, but still an affection. Any that harmed them without C.C.'s leave would see some sort of vengeance exacted upon them, sometimes years after the actual slight. There was much the empress could learn from C.C. in that respect.

"Still, to burn Paris," C.C. said, pronouncing the name in her native tongue. "Why Paris, and not Berlin, or Rome?"

"Paris will serve as an abject lesson," Euphemia said. "As the formal capital of the European Union, it is symbolic of the continental forces that brought about the downfall of the old kingdom. Its destruction will thus serve as a close to that era, and mark the beginning of Britannian supremacy." And shrugged. "Besides, the horror of the destruction might make the Europe's political leadership think twice about trying to fight another war against Britannia."

"Or induce within them a desire for vengeance," C.C. pointed out.

"Those that attempt it will die," Euphemia stated bluntly. "And there is no more final solution than death."

C.C. chuckled, apparently finding some amusement in Euphemia's position. "Thou art a true Britannia."

"Marianne may have raised me to care for others," Euphemia said, "but she did not raise me to turn the other cheek."

"Ah, I see mine lessons were well heeded."

"Oh? Are you suggesting that Marianne learned that from you?"

"Amongst others."

Euphemia pursed her lips. "I do not recall seeing you at all at Aunt Marie's estate."

Another shrug. "I was oft engaged in mine duties at the Directorate. Marianne also sought to insulate thee from the baser affairs she was entangled within."

"I see," Euphemia said before sighing. "So many secrets."

"Tis a mark of duty that thou hast need for them," C.C. said. "Yet mayhap thou be of fortune that many an ear has been lent to keep them."

"Well as Milly said, one can get too sick of having them."

To that C.C. nodded, and then tapped her chin. "A query. Doust thee intend to set Paris aflame with this, atomic bomb?"

"No," Euphemia said with a fair degree of emphasis. "There will be no need to employ that weapon. The Empire already has other means to execute the operation anyway."

"Oh?"

At C.C.'s curious look Euphemia herself shrugged. Her answer was a short three words.

"Bravo Delta Zulu."

* * *

The supersonic transport did not immediately return to Pendragon. It took the time to make a short stop in Tokyo, picking up another passenger, before proceeding across the Pacific. As such Cole found himself in the company of Kotone Kouzuki once more, and in much more congenial circumstances. The way in which Kallen's mother smiled kindly at him, she probably thought the same.

"I think Kallen's mentioned Renne a few times," Cole said, "but never in much detail, just that she was an orphan she was helping take care of."

"Renne has been through quite a bit," Kotone said, a hint of motherly affection in her voice. "Still, she is making progress and opening up more." And chuckled. "She also has become very attached to Colonel Tohdoh's pet dog, Iku."

"Oh, that's promising."

At Kotone's quizzical look Cole explained himself.

"My family has always had a tendency to have dogs as pets," he said, "Nora has one right now named Enek. I was thinking of getting one myself after the war."

"Kallen had wanted a puppy when she was a child," Kotone said. "Things ultimately did not work out, but I think it would do her some good to have another chance at having a pet."

Cole nodded. No need to expand on why things had fallen through, but they had a second chance to try to make it right.

"So," Kotone said. "How has Kallen actually been?"

Cole's lips thinned. Of course Kotone would ask this, she was Kallen's mother, and the fact that the two of them were being fetched was pretty obviously because of the girl.

"To be perfectly honest, she had it kind of rough during Chosin," Cole said. "I don't know how much she has told you, but Kallen was right in the thick of things." He smiled slightly. "She saved my life in the process."

Kotone took this all rather calmly, simply nodding and waiting for Cole to continue.

"Kallen's killed before," Cole said frankly. "That much I understood the moment I learned she was the Red Knight. There were times when I wondered just how she personally felt about having taken lives like that, especially after I myself was conscripted for service. I was even, a bit worried, about her, the fact that she has killed and she could continue killing. Part of that was just me being afraid for myself, since I didn't know if I would myself become, used to, taking other people's lives. That wasn't something I wanted, and I suppose I was projecting a bit on Kallen as well." He took a deep breath. "In doing so, I undersold her. Kallen doesn't like killing, far from it. She's not even used to it. She can do it, she had to at Chosin to save my life and the lives of my squad, but she really, really didn't like it. And it shook her. It shook her a lot."

Kotone nodded. "I see. I cannot say I am particularly happy hearing all this, but I do understand. The path that Kallen has chosen to walk is filled with dangers, but that will not stop her from walking it." She smiled slightly. "In a way I am proud of everything that my daughter has achieved, much as I fear for her."

"Tell me about it," Cole muttered with a sigh.

The two exchanged smiles of mutual sympathy. Kallen was the kind of girl to cause such reactions in those close to her, though she would likely protest that it was not intentional.

"Still, I cannot help but worry at being so called," Kotone said. "She, was very insistent that I come to her in Pendragon."

"But she would not explain the reason?"

Kotone shook her head.

"Well, that is more than I got," Cole said. "One of her majesty's guard was the one that pulled me out of Korea."

"Has that been common?" Kotone asked. "A matter suddenly arising that causes you to be summoned by Kallen?"

"Not really," Cole said as he thought back. "I mean, there have been a few times, more than a few times, when things seemed to go completely awry and I was kind of let wondering what had happened. This might be another one of those. But me being called in directly? I'm having trouble thinking of any other such instance."

"Then this is perhaps an incident that has had no precedent," Kotone said.

"Well, putting it that way, I suppose it is," said Cole. "But you said that Kallen spoke with you, even if only briefly."

"Yes, she did, and she sounded calm. Determined even."

"Determined," Cole remarked. "If only she chose to be determined about less trying matters."

The two exchanged smiles of mutual sympathy.

"Indeed," Kotone agreed.

* * *

Rai spent a full minute simply staring at his plate. When he finally looked up at Euphemia, his expression was a mixture of plaintive and downright befuddled.

"What, is this?"

Euphemia looked down at Rai's plate and then back up at the young man himself. "A souvenir C.C. brought back from China. She was able to sample some on campaign and brought several live ones back."

Rai looked back down at his plate. "This looks like some sort of daemon spawn."

Euphemia's face puffed up as she tried to keep a straight until the empress could no longer contain herself and burst out laughing. Rai on the other hand looked mildly offended.

"Apologies Raibeart," Euphemia said in between her gasps. "It's just, I never thought I would hear anyone say that."

"Well it is true," Raibeart said somewhat defensively, poking his plate with a knife. "I remember killing things like these during the Battle of Tokyo. Their pincers were very nasty things."

At that the humor disappeared from Euphemia's face. "I am sorry, Raibeart. I did not intend to make you recall unpleasant memories, or to demean them."

Rai smiled slightly, letting Euphemia know he did not hold any resentment over the matter. He still eyed the thing on his plate suspiciously, causing Euphemia herself to smile once more.

"These crustaceans are Chinese mitten crabs," Euphemia said. "They are a delicacy in eastern Chinese cuisine, especially in the Shanghai region. They are considered in season during the autumn period as that is when they reach sexual maturity and their roe is prized."

"I, see," Rai said sounding dubious. He poked at the hard orange shell. "And how is, one supposed to eat them again?"

"The meat is within the shell so you need to crack them open to get at them," Euphemia said, holding up an implement to do just that with one of the claws locked in between. She gave it a squeeze and a snap sounded. "After that, you pry out the meat. C.C. suggested they went well with soy sauce."

That at least answered what the small dishes with blackish liquid was for. Rai picked up his own cracker and placed a claw in it like Euphemia had. Squeezing, he was rewarded with a similar sounding crack. Taking his fork, he pried out a rather measly looking amount of meat. The eyebrow rose again.

"You'll need to dig a bit harder than that Raibeart," Euphemia said, then flicked her fork at her own plate. "And there are plenty more to pry open."

"This seems more than a bit inefficient," Rai said as he resumed poking about.

"Perhaps so, but good food often requires a bit of effort to enjoy," Euphemia said. "And that effort can well be part of the enjoyment."

"That, is more than a bit strange," Rai responded. "For us food was a basic necessity, to be eaten when the opportunity arose, quickly at that. We did not dwell too much upon taste or texture."

"That is something of a luxury that we have in this time," Euphemia acknowledged. "Just because you did not have the opportunity to enjoy it in the past does not mean you should deprive yourself of it now, Raibeart."

"I suppose so," Rai said, flashing Euphemia an indulgent smile before he went back to examining the main body. "So are we supposed to eat this as well?"

"Yes indeed. You pry it open from the bottom."

Rai flipped his around and looked at the underplate. It was already loose

"So, what exactly is edible?" he asked.

"The chefs have already removed everything that is inedible," Euphemia said. "Anything left inside should be fine."

"Oh." Audible relief sounded in his voice. "Good."

He started picking through the inside, pulling out a chunk of white meat and dipping it cautiously in the black sauce before shoving it into his mouth. After chewing for a moment Rai did not look entire dissatisfied.

"It certainly is an interesting texture," he said.

"But not particularly to your palette?" Euphemia queried.

"I am not sure yet," Rai said, this time spooning out a chunk of yellow mush and popping it into his mouth. "Hmm, this has a bit of flavor. A bit hard to describe, almost like a very mild butter?"

"Well I would hope that after everything we have been eating the past few weeks there would be something you would enjoy," Euphemia said.

"There have been," Rai assured her. "That, roast mutton last week? That was quite good. The meat had a pleasant sweetness to it." And thought some more. "The green leafy things that accompanied them were also delicious."

"You mean the lettuce?"

"Yes, quite, lettuce."

"Butternut," Euphemia said, her perfect memory allowing to recall in detail the meal in question. "They used butternut lettuce as a side for that one. Roasted too, like the meat. Takes a certain amount of attention to cook them that way without burning the greens."

"I can well imagine," Rai said. "Hmm, there was that other one. A rice dish, with meat and a thick orange sauce. That was quite enjoyable."

"Ah, the curry, yes," Euphemia said before cracking a mischievous smile. "A good thing I had them make it very mild. Curry is usually meant to be eaten spicy."

Rai's face twisted in visible disgust. "What possible purpose is there to make perfectly good food inedible like that?"

Euphemia shrugged. "Some people enjoy the sensation."

Rai's expression did not change and Euphemia suppressed another giggle. The young man was slowly becoming acclimated to contemporary culinary culture, but there were definitely things he emphatically did not like. Conversely there were definitely things he did like. Strawberries were apparently something of a guilty pleasure, or guilty from Rai's perspective. Apparently strawberries at least still existed from the time Rai was from, but they were rare enough to be a delicacy. With the majority of Earth's landmass overrun by the abominations from the immaterium, what arable land remained was dedicated exclusively to staple food crops or the few industrial crops that contributed to the war effort. Strawberries were decidedly nonessential, but they were grown in small amounts as part of the effort to preserve what of Earth's biodiversity as humanity could manage. Actually getting to eat one was an extremely rare treat, but one Rai was fortunate to be able to enjoy from time to time thanks to his mother's position as imperial chronicler. That made the fruit not just a reminder of his home, but the family that he had lost. The family that he would have anew with her. Euphemia smiled at him, and he responded in kind.

A knock sounded, causing the two to look over at the door.

"Enter," Euphemia said.

The door opened and in strode Kallen, her steps firm and with purpose. She had not been uncertain before, but a mighty weight had dragged at her. There was no sign of that weight now.

"Your majesty," Kallen began, then smiled slightly at the sight of the two before her. "Euphemia. I have made my decision."

Euphemia nodded. "I am glad to hear it. Please, have a seat. I can have the kitchen bring something else up while we talk."

Kallen accepted the invitation but as she pulled her chair closer she froze, her eyes locked on the crabs.

"Umm, Euphemia?"

The empress looked at her knight quizzically. "Yes?"

"Have you, ever eaten mitten crabs before?"

Euphemia shook her head. "This would be the first time I have sampled them. So far they are proving rather flavorful when combined with soy sauce as C.C. suggested."

Kallen visibly winced. "Does the palace have any ginger available?"

"I am not certain," Euphemia said, sounding ever more confused. "Is there a problem?"

"People whom eat too much mitten crab for the first time, or after a long time of never eating them, can suffer from severe stomach cramps," Kallen explained. "Ginger tea can help relieve those cramps."

Euphemia and Rai stared at Kallen. The silence hung between the three of them for a noticeable length.

* * *

Perhaps not surprisingly Kotone was the first to speak with Kallen. When she left the room after a very long conversation, the look Kotone gave Cole was serene and composed. The way she smiled warmly at him though, she seemed to have great expectations for him. That was hopefully a good thing. The servant than nodded for Cole to enter. Taking a deep breath to ready himself, Cole passed the threshold and the door closed behind. This time it was Kallen that smiled at him, and in hers Cole could see a hint of the maternal maturity that Kotone exuded. Maybe in a few years Kallen would be a mother herself, and that smile would come even more naturally. Cole did not hold back, walking over and wrapping his arms around Kallen.

"It's good to see you again," he said softly.

"It's good to see you too," Kallen responded, returning the embrace tightly. "And, I'm sorry to keep pulling you out like this."

"Well, seeing as the alternative is you keeping me out of your life, I can't exactly complain," Cole said.

The smile disappeared from Kallen's face. Cole reciprocated quickly.

"Oh, no, no Kallen, you are _not_ pushing me out again."

Kallen smiled wryly, pressing a hand against Cole's chest. "Let me finish first before you have a panic attack."

Cole gave her a look. Then nodded.

"I think it's pretty obvious, that I'm involved with some, less than ordinary things."

Cole raised an eyebrow, eliciting a chuckle from Kallen.

"Right, obvious statement," Kallen said. "I asked you here today, Cole, because you've stuck with me through everything. I never asked you to, but you did. And that, young man, makes a girl feel very special."

To that Cole smiled again.

"I asked my mother," Kallen continued. "About why she married my father. It couldn't just be because of passion, she had to put up with him, and you know how he can be."

If Cole was tempted to comment regarding Heinrich, the young man showed remarkable restraint. Kallen could still see the hints of an amused grin just fighting to show itself through his smile though.

"And my mother told me this. It isn't just about love, about passion, or the romance. It is about being able to live with the other person. To accept all of their little quirks, to forgive, but not to forget, any place where he might fall short. And to help him make up those places."

"Don't you mean helping her make up those places?" Cole said lightly.

Kallen smiled indulgently. "Yes, I suppose I do."

The smile on Cole's own face froze. He blinked.

"Are-are you suggesting, that we, umm, now?"

Kallen giggled even as Cole's face started to take on a shade more akin to her hair. But his expression quickly hardened as another realization came over him.

"Kallen, what are you planning on doing?"

"You know me so well."

"Kallen."

The girl reached up, caressing Cole's cheeks. "I'm not going to leave you, Cole." That caused him to relax a bit. "I want to be with you, for as long as I can. And not just that. I remember, how happy I was when me, my brother, my mother, and my father were all together, as a family. I want that happiness back." Kallen pressed closer against Cole. "I want that happiness with you."

"I want it too," Cole said, taking hold of Kallen again. "And yes, I'll marry you."

Kallen looked up at him, eyebrow raised. Cole chuckled.

"That is what you're doing, isn't it? Proposing?"

"Well," Kallen drawled. "I technically hadn't gotten to that part." And became more somber. "I hadn't gotten to that part, because there's something more you need to know. Her majesty has agreed to let me tell you everything, and I mean everything. All the secrets that you knew were being kept from you, everything that we think we know." She held his gaze, her own eyes unflinching in their earnestness. "It's going to be a burden, Cole. And you'll need to be saddled with a few additional security measures as well. But, I can't keep lying to you, or holding back from you these, things. But at the same time, I can't force all this upon you either."

Cole sighed. "Kallen."

"No listen," Kallen cut him off. "I know we've been over this a half-dozen times already, and I know your answer has never changed. I'm not expecting it to this time either. But you need to know that, if the time ever comes, the option is always there to just walk away."

Cole took Kallen's hands and squeezed. "Only if you're walking right there with me."

"I intend to," Kallen answered before leaning in.

Cole was more than happy to oblige, and the warmth that touched his lips was enough to let him forget, if only momentarily, the weight upon his shoulders and hers. It was an all too brief reprieve as they parted.

"Euphemia made the same offer to me," Kallen said.

Cole stared at her blankly for a few moments before his jaw started to drop. Kallen's own eyes widened when she realized how that might have sounded.

"No! No, I mean, that I could walk away!"

The relief on Cole's expression was so palpable that Kallen could not help but laugh. Cole gave her a hurt look.

"Sorry, sorry, it's just that, did you really think her majesty would proposition me?"

"Well how was I supposed to know?" Cole half-heartedly protested. "And are you telling me that Milly never tried to put the moves on you?"

Kallen stopped looking, a quizzical expression replacing the humor on her face. "Milly?"

"What, you didn't know she leaned that way?"

"Well, no, I mean, I sort of knew, but what does that have to do with the empress?"

"I guess, the thought has occurred to me," Cole looked around almost nervously, "that her majesty might also have an, interest."

Kallen stared at Cole for several long seconds before snorting. "Men."

"Hey what can I say, guys will be guys," Cole said with an unrepentant grin.

"I suppose you will," Kallen said with a resigned sigh. "Still, as I was saying before your hormones derailed the conversation, the empress also said I could walk away from all this if I so chose. But I'm not going to, and I think I'm doing it for the right reasons, not just some self-righteous ones. And not just because I have to, but because I want to as well."

That's, good," Cole said. "I think."

"But, it will cost me," Kallen continued. "It will cost me a lot. And eventually, it will cost me you."

Cole frowned, his expression worry mixed with confusion.

"It will cost me all of you, in time."

"In time," Cole murmured. "Are you, going to become like Cecilia?"

Kallen made no effort to hide her surprise. "What makes you say that?"

Cole chuckled wryly. "I saw her broken body, Kallen, from when she shielded you during the Ashford attack. And then she reappeared without a scratch, hale and healthy. After everything else I've seen, it's pretty obvious there are, powers, out there beyond what I understand."

It was not exactly a renewed respect with which Kallen regarded Cole, she always knew her boyfriend had a good head on his shoulders. Smart, frighteningly insightful at times, and very driven. They all reminded Kallen of her brother, her father, of even Inoue, Euphemia, and C.C. All people that she in one way or another admired.

"Yes," she said. "Yes, I will become like Cecilia. Like C.C. She, possessed, a form of immortality. A power that granted her immortality. And, a degree of control over the thought elevators, a control that will let me make sure the others won't go up like the New York thought elevator did."

Cole stared at Kallen. His next words were a whisper.

"Others."

Kallen nodded.

"Oh Hels," Cole said, reaching out and pulling Kallen against him again. "You never could do things the simple way, could you?"

"Sorry," Kallen said, entirely earnest and sincere.

"What, exactly are the thought elevators?" Cole asked.

Kallen stroked her chin as she considered an answer. And then took a step back.

"How about let's sit down, this is going to take a bit."

Cole looked about at the many comfortable seats and sofas. "Probably a good idea."

As the young man sank into one said sofa Kallen noted the way his form seemed to relax. He was handling all of these surprises pretty well all things considered. Still even a person as levelheaded as Cole had limits so Kallen gave him a few moments to sort through his thoughts.

"But to be honest, that there are other thought elevators that could go up," Cole said, letting out a sigh. "Kind of scary."

"Quite," Kallen agreed as she plopped down next to him. "There are eight of them in the world with the New York thought elevator now destroyed. Three of them are in imperial territory, in California, Antarctica, and Japan."

"Wait, Japan!?"

Kallen nodded. "It's on one of the small islands. Which, now that I think about it, if it blew, would probably cause a tsunami."

"Oh." Cole sighed again. "Lovely."

Kallen chuckled dryly. "The other five are in foreign territory and I need to get to at least two of them to lock them down. Mongolia, India, the Middle East, which was in imperial hands until the Europeans managed to kick us out, central Africa, and England."

"England," Cole said thoughtfully. "Does that mean we'll be trying to take back the old kingdom?"

"That's the government's plan," Kallen said.

Cole placed an arm around her shoulder. "That still bothers you a bit, doesn't it? Participating in the war on Britannia's side."

"I keep telling myself that the Europeans and Chinese fired the first shot," Kallen said, "and that's true, but only to a certain extent. The escalation of the war, that is a conscious decision on the Empire's part. On Euphemia's part. Now that the fighting has started, Britannia sees no reason not to turn it into a war of conquest."

Cole pursed his lips. Kallen did have a point, in both respects. While his girlfriend and soon to be wife would not hesitate to resort to force to defend herself, that was far from using that same force to take for herself something that belonged to someone else. Defeating the Europeans as thoroughly as scuttlebutt suggested Britannia intended was skirting very closely to the latter, and even though Kallen's loyalty lay firmly with Euphemia it was still a lot to ask her to actively contribute to the Empire's campaign. This was something that not just Cole was aware of, Kallen's remarks about Euphemia offering her ample opportunities to just walk away made clear the empress also understood this. But Kallen had not walked away. Instead she was choosing to carry out her duty to the utmost, to both her liege and the nation that liege ruled. No, not just to a single nation, but to the entire world and all its peoples. Reaching out, Cole wrapped an arm around Kallen.

"I can't tell you to not worry," Cole said, "because quite frankly the things that weigh upon you should worry you. But they are not things that you need to shoulder alone. They are not things that you need to worry about alone. As long as I am with you, I will bear them with you. You will never, ever be alone, Kallen."

Kallen smiled warmly, caressing Cole's cheek with a hand. "You know, sometimes I have to wonder if you have your head screwed on right, considering that you're willing to put up with all my baggage."

Cole chuckled. "Oh I do too. But you know what? That just makes you all the more special."

Kallen snorted. "Oh is that what we're calling it now?"

"Yes, that is what we're calling it," Cole said, smiling back at her.

After a moment Kallen reached over and gave Cole a rustle of his hair. "I guess it's a good thing I'm a sucker for cheesy platitudes."

She leaned in for another kiss. Cole was more than happy to grant her one.

* * *

"I still say you should wear a proper dress."

Kallen's head turned about, interrupting Milly's brushing of her hair as she gave the older girl an exasperated look.

"What? Just saying, it's your wedding, you should look your best!"

"This is not my wedding," Kallen insisted. "It's a civil ceremony so that Cole and I are officially married, but this is not my _wedding_." She pursed her lips. "My dad would kill me if it were." And looked at her friend. "Just like you would have killed me if I hadn't asked you to be a witness for my not-wedding."

"Well, there is that," Milly conceded, turning Kallen's face back and running the comb through her hair. "Still, when we first met I never thought you would be the first one to tie the knot."

"Did you think that would be you?" Kallen asked. "You are the oldest after-ow!"

Milly untwisted the comb, letting it untangle from Kallen's hair. "The laws don't have any provisions for what I want."

"You know you could ask Euphemia to change them," Kallen suggested. "Let you marry Nina."

"Yeah, I probably could," Milly said, setting the decoration. "But you know, in a way, I'm kind of glad you are getting married. Ought to draw some of the heat off me, for a little bit at least."

"My, aren't you the optimist," Kallen said with a chuckle. "You know that once word gets out this is just going to refocus attention on the one royal that the noble houses think is still available."

Milly snorted in a most undignified manner. "More the fool them. There, all done. What do you think?"

Kallen looked into the mirror. There had not been a lot of time to prepare for the ceremony, certainly not enough to get particularly fancy with her clothes or accessories. Not that Kallen would not have appreciated looking a bit nicer for what was still technically a very special day, just as she appreciated Milly taking the time to help with what they could manage. The single pink rose that Milly had somehow scrounged up was seated nicely in Kallen's hair to the left of her brow. The light makeup nicely accented her features, just enough to give her cheeks a hint of pink and her lips a mild red tint.

"You look beautiful," Milly stated.

"Thanks Milly. For introducing me to Cole. And for trying to play matchmaker."

Milly beamed at her. "The two of you are my good friends. I'm just happy that both of you are."

Kallen smiled back at Milly but before she could say anything further a knock sounded. Attentive as always, Mikasa opened it to reveal Kotone, whom smiled at the young woman in thanks before looking over at her daughter.

"Kallen, junbi shimashita?"

"Hai oka-san," Kallen said, rising.

The dress was a simple, understated affair. It was apparently one of many her father had sent along to Pendragon to Kallen's estate in the capital, in the event she needed to attend some state event and her dress uniform as a Rounds was not suitable. Knowing her father, it was also intended as a reminder that she did not always need to be a soldier. The overlapping pieces about her shoulder created a shroud-like impression, while simultaneously disguising the extent of Kallen's rather generous figure. Probably one reason her father chose it. The dress portion had a similar series of overlapping angled slices, creating the illusion of folded volume.

"I think your father got the dress from the same designer that Euphie uses," Milly remarked.

"I would have no idea," Kallen said frankly.

"Well, there's still time for you to demonstrate you inherited your father's sense of esthetics."

Kotone gave a bemused smile while Kallen snorted. The humor however helped ease ever so slightly the knot that was twisting in her stomach. Funny how she could go into battle with nary a care, but now the butterflies refused to go away. She took a deep breath.

 _Your grace, I am able to induce an increase in dopamine production in your brain. Would you like me to do so?_

 _No_ , Kallen responded mentally. _I'll be fine. This isn't something that I need to be drugged up for._

 _As you wish, your grace._

Kallen suppressed a sigh. Even NEMO was feeling her stress apparently. She needed to get ahold of herself. This was supposed to be a happy event, a joyous day. She should enjoy it. There would be time enough to fret after.

"Shall we?"

Kotone nodded and the three young women followed her out of the room. The imperial palace possessed its own small temple for the private use of the sovereign and his family. Today, it would see such use. Euphemia was already waiting inside, though seated next to the altar instead of standing out of consideration for her still recovering health. On her right was Rai, whom for the occasion was also in the dress uniform of the Britannian Knightmare Corps. Her left, the man that had captured Kallen's heart and in turn was offering her his, Cole Todd Kraft. Like Rai, Cole was in formal dress, though unlike the knight his had been hastily, albeit skillfully, modified from a spare to suit his present rank and posting. He smiled, and Kallen felt the knot disappear. Strange, how he always had that effect on her. Somehow Cole was always able to calm her down, to quell the fire that otherwise burned so strongly. Somehow, he was always able to make her happy. Kallen smiled back, and stepped towards him, bouquet in hand.

Preparations for the ceremony had been extremely rushed with barely any time to gather witnesses. Kotone assumed a place to Lawrence as the man rose, but Cole's mother Eve was notably absent and likely to be quite aggrieved at being forced to miss such an important moment in her son's life. Father and son could already imagine just how much she was going to splurge on the actual formal wedding ceremony once there was time to hold one to give vent to her irritation. In fact Kallen was certain that her own father would be joining right in.

Milly was serving as Kallen's defacto maiden of honor, while a giant smirk seemed stuck on C.C.'s face as she watched from the aisles. The remaining witnesses for this occasion were Euphemia's armsmen, and Milly's armswoman. Mikasa's expression was for some reason very intent as she regarded the entire scene, as well as Kallen in particular. Perhaps this would show the other girl that, even with all the hardships she had gone through, she too could find a measure of happiness in this life.

As Kallen walked down the aisles Euphemia rose, the young woman present today as both a friend and her formal person of empress to officiate the formalities. She beamed at Kallen's approach and the knight smiled right back at her liege.

"Well Kallen, how does it feel to be the first to tie the knot?"

Both Cole and Kallen gave wry smiles at the empress' apparent humor.

"It feels great," Kallen responded. "I trust you will not be too far behind, your majesty?"

Euphemia cast a telling glance over at Rai and it was with considerable effort that Kallen kept her expression from slipping. She knew who and what Rai was. In a convoluted way, he was her son, and Euphemia's nephew. Yet the two of them did not know, and despite the slight strangeness Kallen felt about the whole affair, they obviously cared greatly for each other. And she never could tell them, because they deserved their chance of happiness just as she was being given one herself. Kallen reached out and gave Euphemia's shoulder a squeeze. She then looked over at Rai.

"What I said before still holds. You take care of her, or else."

Rai raised an eyebrow but nonetheless dipped his head. "Understood, your grace."

"That would be your highness," Euphemia interjected lightly. "Kallen may be a duchess, but protocol stipulates that her higher title takes precedence."

"As you say, your majesty."

Rai's face was entirely stoic and composed. The beady look Euphemia shot him made clear she was not fooled in the least. At that Kallen allowed herself a more genuine and relaxed smile. Her and Cole both.

"Well then," Euphemia said, looking back at the two. "Shall we begin?"

"Yes your majesty," Cole answered, gazing warmly at Kallen.

The two were now squarely facing each other and Lawrence and Kotone's voices fell into hushed silence as they watched their children, now adults in their own right. The next words that broke this silence came from Euphemia.

"Blessed be the union of man and woman. Blessed be the union, faithfully kept. And blessed is the union that bears many fruit. Thou whom stands before Us this day, plight thy troth to whom thou would receive a vow in turn."

Maybe C.C.'s speech was not so stupid after all, Kallen mused, considering the boilerplate marriage liturgy basically still used those very words. She put any further such thoughts out of her head however as she waited for Cole to speak. The young man cracked a nervous smile, but there was no hesitation in his voice.

"I still remember, the first time we met. I was chasing Milly down to sign the invoice for the dance catering, and I nearly let her get away because I was too busy gawking at you."

Behind Kallen the girl in question failed to suppress a chuckle, covering it up with a feigned clearing of her throat.

"Your appearance took me by surprise. I had heard that the Baron Stadtfeld's daughter had been, invited, to join the student council, but I did not think much of the news. And then, I saw you. A head of red hair, and a pair of blue eyes that seemed like diamonds."

Cole was probably laying it on a bit thick, but Kallen was enough human enough to enjoy the flattery.

"They were like diamonds, because though they sparkled so, I saw a hardness in them. A hardness that, to be frank, frightened me a bit."

Okay, maybe it was not all just flattery.

"I wondered at that sight. I wondered, how someone whom could smile so brightly as she ate the food I prepared could have shown such a side. And I kept right on wondering, until I nearly lost you."

The attack on Ashford. A pivotal moment in both their lives. For Kallen, her first confrontation with one of her greatest enemies. For Cole, the moment when he learned that Kallen was involved in something much, much greater than just being the daughter of a minor baron.

"I stopped wondering then. I stopped wondering, and I started searching. I found answers, answers that more confused me than gave me any satisfaction. Because those answers did not come from you. They came from others, they tried to explain what you sought, what your dream was. But they did not come from you, and somehow that made all the difference."

Kallen's lips twitched. Maybe it was not love at first sight, and Cole was going in a roundabout way, but she was getting an inkling of what he was trying to say.

"When we met again, I started to understand just why I kept searching after you. It was because you dreamed, whereas I for all my seeming confidence, did not know what to do with myself. You offered the light of certainty while I shied away from an uncertain future. And what is more, you dreamed a beautiful dream. As beautiful as you yourself are."

And he was back to the flattery, though not empty ones.

"We give to each other that which we ourselves might lack. But that is not all. I have found myself receiving a warmth, a love, that I did not know I was missing. That I could never have guessed how much I would want. Because that love comes from you, and because of the love I in turn have to give to you."

The boyish smile on Cole's face caused Kallen's heart to flutter once more. It reminded her of the fact that, for everything both of them had gone through, they were still young. They still had an entire life ahead of them to look forward to, and the next step of that life would start with her answer.

"You surprised me, when it was my hand you requested for the school dance," Kallen began. "When you had as other prospects Euphemia, Milly, and Shirley. You went straight for me, without any hesitation. And I, I was at a loss as to why you would choose me. But now, standing here, I'm glad you did. Because it didn't take me long to realize that you are a sincere, kind, and loving man. And you have held steadfast, even after everything that has happened. That is a strength I did not think possible, blinded as I was by anger and sorrow at my own losses. But you showed me that I could still love, that I wanted to love. And you accepted my love. You accepted my love, and in doing so saved me. But the greatest gift that you offer me, beyond everything that I have received this far, will be you yourself, by my side, for many years to come."

Those years would be all too few, both knew, compared to the fate Kallen had consigned herself to. But those years would be a comfort to her, a reminder that life did not need to be a cold, foreboding existence. And that eternity was marked not just by loneliness and despair, but also by the moments of hope and warmth that stood in contrast. There could not be happiness without sorrow, and together they would color the fabric of her life.

End of Chapter 115

Was on vacation in Australia and so didn't have much time to write. Technically still on vacation but am currently behind the Great Firewall. Will be out soonish and I'll get to find out if work burned down without me.

I don't know if this particular development was good or bad or justified or not. We've been building up towards it, but a part of me is not entirely satisfied with how it all turned out. Kallen's being forced to rush her life, so to speak. She's running out of time to live a normal one, and those around her whom love or care about her are trying to do their best to let her live what she has left of it. After all, immortality is not seen as a boon by any involved. It's a sentence, a very, very long one, and ultimately one that will condemn her to losing everyone she cares about. So, they're trying to see to it that she gets a little bit of happiness while she can.

One thing that I wanted to avoid giving the impression of was that Cole was getting called in to try to calm Kallen down. Kallen as a character doesn't need to be babied like that, and trying to do that to her is more liable to piss her off. Euphemia knows this and did not summon Cole or Kotone to try to comfort Kallen. No, they were brought over to Pendragon so that Kallen could tell them her decision. And for Cole at least to be given an opportunity to walk away from all this insanity.

As an aside, Milly might actually know enough Japanese to know what Kotone said in that scene. Still haven't decided on just how fluent she is.

Well okay, that was a bit weird. For some reason I got a massive spike of story views from Indonesia for July. Not viewers, but views, unless there were lots and lots of people using the same computer or something to read the story.

Had I actually done an editing pass, the scene where Laura field strips the weapons would have been structured a bit differently. I would have had the two engage in conversation during the field strip, not before and after it. What you're all getting is basically stream of consciousness writing for the most part, without much filtering. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes not.

For the most part I don't have issues with readers bringing up their concerns and etc. I've only really taken issue a few times, usually when a reader demonstrates that they were completely not paying attention to the story when complaining about something. Also don't have much patience for people whom have particularly narrow and dogmatic viewpoints on character interpretation, usually because they like that character and feel personally affronted when said character is portrayed in a less than perfect manner. Those are however pretty much occupational hazards that one needs to be prepared for when actively publishing stories so for the most part I ignore those complaints after responding once or twice.

Reviews where a reader explains their issue or concerns I welcome, regardless of whether it is a positive or negative review. I obviously don't agree with everything that is said, but neither do I demand or expect everyone else to agree with my position on how I've developed this story.

That all said, I just want to emphasize once more, that the number of scenes a character gets, the number of times they are referenced by others, does not serve as a direct measure of how large a role they will play in the overarching plot. All of the supporting characters are given scenes to help advance the plot and act as levers to move the main characters, and each other. I take the opportunity these scenes provide to develop these characters, and I will often add scenes to develop these characters further so they can fulfill a future role, but in the long run I also cut a lot of stuff. There are entire plot threads involving characters that I elected not to bother with because of time and attention span considerations. There are additional plotlines that I am even now considering whether I want to spend effort developing or if I'm just going to skip past them. Will that shortchange some characters? Almost certainly. It's the price however for me to not get bored of this story before I can actually finish it. And seeing as we are nearing 900K words in my master draft, the story has gone on way longer than most commercially published novels. Or even some series of novels.


	117. Chapter 116

_The case of Suzaku Kururugi is an extremely difficult one to fully piece together, with many of the files regarding the youth still classified to this day. The origin of his infamy however can be directly attributed to his actions in the Battle of Tokyo, where he revealed himself to be a traitor to the Britannian forces and assisted the Japanese Liberation Front in their attempt to storm the Keio medical campus and murder the Princess Euphemia. Reports from the time indicate Kururugi was bested by the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld, then still the insurgent leader of Akatsuki, and most assumed that at the conclusion of their duel Kururugi had perished. What was not revealed at the time was that the youth had in fact survived and was taken into the custody of the Ordo Hereticus and moved to Pendragon for interrogation, a move that would allow Lelouch Lamperouge, the SDECE operative that first turned Kururugi, to discover his survival in the course of preparing for the Battle of Pendragon. Exactly how Lamperouge was able to free his former comrade has never been disclosed by the involved governments, but suffice it to say Kururugi's escape would provide the youth the opportunity to wreak considerable havoc, on both sides of the Great War._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 116

Ut res magis valeat quam pereat

The canopy draped over the light utility vehicle proved rather poor cover for the torrential rain pounding down. Suzaku ignored the steady stream of water dampening him, instead keeping his focus on the trail that ostensibly cut through the rainforest to the thought elevator. The locals had not been especially helpful, claiming that the structure was haunted by demons of some sort. Still Suzaku was now regretting not bringing one along to act as a guide. He had underestimated the density of the foliage and was at genuine risk of getting lost, save for the shining beacon that was the thought elevator to his expanded mind.

It had taken time and effort, but with Dassault-Dunois' resources he was finally able to arrange for a trip to the thought elevator here in the Congo. Ironically the closer he got the harder the actual going was. Leaves crunched under his car's tires but he was quickly approaching the point where the undergrowth would be too thick for the vehicle to traverse. Coming to a halt, Suzaku grabbed his gear and climbed out. Drawing his sword, he chopped away at the growth to clear a path for himself. The thought elevator was not far, but not far while traversing rough terrain could easily amount to a hike that might take hours. The downpour should have also made visibility problematic but the lack of light did not hinder Suzaku much. Whatever had been done to him, and he was still learning the limits of those changes, included the ability to see in near total darkness.

A gush of water splashed down upon Suzaku. The youth sighed in exasperation. Looking up, he saw a large branch with what looked to be some other leafy plant using it as a platform to grow from. Tilting his head aside, Suzaku considered the length and thickness of the branch. It would probably support his weight. He sheathed his sword. Dropping to one knee, Suzaku gave a mighty leap and went bounding up along the tree trunk. With only three steps he was at height and reached out, seizing hold of the branch. Even from this height it was still hard to see too far in the distance, but looking about Suzaku could make out quite a few branches like this one. Making sure his sword and other gear were secure, he made another leap.

Traversing the forest like this might have been unconventional but it was proving considerably faster than trying to cut his way through down on the ground. He needed to be a bit more careful up here though, one wrong step and he could end up tumbling to the ground. The height of the fall might not kill him what with his enhancements, but Suzakuwas in no hurry to test his relative mortality. Fortunately it did not look like he would be up here for long, the thought elevator was coming into sight.

Getting down turned to be mostly straightforward. There was no one around to hear his screech as he tumbled through a few smaller branches that slowed his descent, though not quite enough to not land on his ass.

"Ow."

Pulling himself up, Suzaku gazed up at the structure. It was identical to the one in London, including the complete lack of any sort of plant growth covering the exterior. He had assumed the one in London was like that because people had cut away anything that tried to grow on it. Now though, it appeared there was something about the thought elevator itself that kept its façade clean. Considering what these things were capable of, that seemed pretty minor a feat. He placed a foot upon the stairs-

The crack sounded before Suzaku even knew what was happening. Shaking his head, he found himself slammed against the trunk of a tree. He tried shifted. No, not against, into. With a grunt he dislodged himself from the dent and patted down to make sure nothing was broken. His bag of gear had been torn aside but his sword was snapped in two, likely having caught on something and been wrenched hard. He picked up the pieces, the blade might yet prove useful.

"Just great."

Suzaku approached the structure again, but took care. Instead of trying to climb the stairs however, he reached out with one hand, slowly. There was nothing slow about how it was sent jerking back however. And this time Suzaku actually felt the sting from whatever barrier he had touched.

"Gahhhhhhhh."

Shaking his hand as he hissed, Suzaku tried to fight down the pain. It was a sharp sensation, which fortunately was receding quickly but still smarted something awful. Looking at the structure again, he could not see anything that indicated a barrier was in place. With a sigh he ran his hand through his hair, and felt a slight prickle.

"Huh?"

He looked at his hand, and brushed his hair with it again. It was refusing to stay down. He did it again, and got a slight spark for his troubles.

"Ow."

This one at least a mere prick compared to the shock he previously suffered. Suzaku frowned. Was the barrier somehow electrical? He picked up a stick and tossed it at the stairs. Another flash lit up and when the branch landed it crumbled into a pile of ash. That probably was one explanation for the lack of vegetation on the thought elevator. Suzaku gripped the broken sword still strapped to his side. The metal of the blade might ground the barrier long enough for him to get in. Getting out should be simple enough, once he could override control of the thought elevator.

"Well, no guts no glory."

Taking the sword piece out, Suzaku jammed it into the ground. Then with a kick the blade was tilted towards the barrier. The moment a blinding flash erupted Suzaku leapt forward. He still felt a sharp sting cruise through his body, but this time his momentum carried him through and he landed with a thud on the hard stony stairs. The next moment a blast sounded and looking back Suzaku saw the molten remains of his blade pool on the ground. Hopefully that would not start a bushfire.

Suzaku let out a sigh and turned towards the entrance. There was no telling whether more defenses lay in wait and he was already down one weapon. He drew his pistol and checked the magazine. Fortunately the gunpowder had not been set off by the electrical field. Time to find out if they would be of any use. Suzaku climbed the steps and at the threshold reached out with one hand again. This time nothing tried to stop him. He pressed forward.

The inside of the thought elevator was seemingly identical to that of the London one, with the same set of stone consoles situated near the center. Suzaku stepped up to them and placed a hand on the flat surface. Nothing happened. Frowning, he tried to focus, to try to elicit any sort of reaction from the thought elevator.

"Gah!"

His hand went flying back as another shock cruised through his body. It seemed this particular thought elevator really did not like interlopers. The hair on the back of his neck stiffened and Suzaku immediately twisted aside. A sharp prick stun his cheek as the tip of a blade managed to scratch it and draw blood. He instinctively reached for his sword only to grasp nothing but empty air. Cursing, Suzaku pulled out his combat knife and assumed a defensive stance, only to find nothing around him. He frowned. Running his hand along his cheek, he could feel the slightly warm blood on his fingers as well as the broken skin. Something had definitely cut him.

"Great, now I get to fight a ghost," Suzaku muttered.

Suzaku turned about slowly, trying to sense whatever it was that attacked him. Another shiver rang through him, another nick that drew blood because he was just a step too slow dodging. Suzaku narrowed his eyes. There was a definite weight to whatever was slashing him, enough so that he could make a guess as to what angle the cut was being made. His grip on the knife tightened. If he could just-Suzaku leaned back and felt another sharp scratch on his cheek. This time however his own blade was moving and a wet thunk sounded. Before Suzaku had time to feel any elation with his success something hard struck him in the chest and sent him flying back. Stomping his foot down, he managed to come to a halt.

When he looked up, a trickle of blood could be seen staining the stony floor. The flow of blood did not last long, but even as whatever wound he inflicted sealed up the person that he had struck was coming into view. Or rather, the thing he had struck.

"What in the world?" Suzaku exclaimed.

The thing's long ears flickered, and it suddenly closed in on him with a single pound of its powerful legs. Suzaku instinctively raised his blade, ready to fend off another attack, but the charge was simply a feint. The real strike came from another burst of electricity from behind. The blast left him momentarily paralyzed, long enough for the rabbit-like creature to land another solid kick on his chest. In the past the force of such a blow would have likely saw his ribs caved in and killed him. It still hurt, but Suzaku was able to stand his ground and shake off the paralysis to assume a ready stance. The rabbit-like creature tilted its head, its whiskers twitching in what Suzaku presumed to be a quizzical expression. The thing apparently expected him to fall from its onslaught.

"Sorry to disappoint," Suzaku said in Japanese.

The youth had no way of knowing if the rabbit thing understood him. The way it too shifted into a combat stance however made it pretty easy for Suzaku himself to understand that it still considered him an enemy. The two stood there, staring at each other as if frozen in their respective poses. And then the mouth on the rabbit thing's snout twisted into an unmistakable smirk. Suzaku jumped aside instinctively but something snagged a foot and he went crashing down hard. He tried to roll away but whatever had caught his foot was strong, strong enough to keep him from wrenching it free. A brief flow of air was all the warning Suzaku got before the rabbit came charging at him with a pounce. Instead of trying to dodge Suzaku pushed himself up, into the creature's leap. That was apparently unexpected enough that it was unable to get its blade up enough to slash at Suzaku. After deflecting his opponent's weapon, Suzaku landed a solid blow with an open palm strike and sent the rabbit reeling. A hiss sounded from the creature, hopefully one of pain.

Suzaku did not waste any time, using his knife to cut through the sticky, webbing, that had caught his foot. To his irritated surprise this proved less than simple and he had only managed to grind through a few strands when the rabbit creature charged again. Suzaku ducked, avoiding another kick from those powerful legs and immediately went on the counteroffensive. The creature was not foolish enough to leave any openings, but an attack was still an attack and needed to be defended least it end up creating such an opening.

Suzaku did not stop at one attack. He launched a barrage of them, trying to keep the creature occupied even as he struggled to tear his foot loose. The rabbit thing kept pace with his attacks, and combined with its freedom of movement was able to get in a few of his own at angles Suzaku was not quite able to block. As fast and strong as the creature was however, it still seemed to be bound by some basic physical rules. Its feats were not outright impossible, Suzaku could still keep pace with it, and while he did owe his changes to being able to survive the blows he was suffering, the creature did not seem to have any further reserve of strength or speed to draw upon. And if this was the limit of its abilities, then it was still slow enough for a bullet to catch.

Even before his enhancements Suzaku was a crack shot. With them, he did not even consciously register drawing the pistol before instinct and muscle memory kicked in, bringing the weapon to bear against the creature. Only after he fired did he notice the complete lack of surprise on the creature's face. It recognized a gun. Not that that did it any good. The bullets found their mark and the creature jerked back slightly from the impact. It remained upright even as blood began to stain its furry form. Suzaku kept his gun pointed at the thing as he waited for it to either fall over and die or gain a second wind. In the meantime the youth finally managed to free his foot from the strange webbing. That was at least something.

A clink sounded. Then another. Then a third. Despite the distance Suzaku could just make out the three pieces of lead dropped to the floor.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Suzaku muttered under his breath.

The creature's mouth opened to reveal a very large set of teeth. Rabbits generally did not tend to look very intimidating. This one was managing just fine as it hissed and snarled at Suzaku. It charged, and Suzaku opened fire again. The shots caused the creature to stagger, and for a few seconds after each hit it did seem to slow. The bullets might not be able to kill the creature but they were at least still hurting it, a little bit.

"What the hell are you."

Even as he muttered the question Suzaku finished unloading the rest of his magazine into the creature. Another glob of webbing came flying down from above but this time Suzaku was fast enough to dodge getting glued down.

"And what the hell is up there."

The questions were not entirely meant to be rhetorical seeing as figuring that out would also tell him how to defeat, and likely kill, these things. That there was no one about to give him said answers made asking them out loud a bit pointless.

Suzaku focused on the creature before him, ignoring the slight throbbing in his left eye. The thing could bleed, that much was obvious. Anything that bled like so was therefore alive, and anything that was alive could also die. His grip tightened around the knife's handle. Something told him he needed to get his hands on the creature. By his hands, it would die. Suzaku stopped trying to maintain any distance with the creature. Instead he charged forth and closed in with a single bound.

If the creature was taken by surprise it showed no indication of it, standing its ground against Suzaku's charge. Whether it ever realized its mistake Suzaku neither knew nor cared. The thing tried to grapple him, likely with the intent to keep him in one place long enough to pummel him to death. The moment they touched however its form locked up. A single shudder ran through it as Suzaku seized hold of an arm. He barely felt the fluffiness, instead a burning sensation flashed through his own body. Gritting his teeth, Suzaku met the creature's eyes and slammed his blade into the thing's chest.

"Just go DIE!"

The thing's mouth gapped at him, as if it was trying to form words and speak. It shuddered again, and this time there was a noticeable glint of distress in its eyes. A distress that became more recognizable as the creature's form shifted from the lithe rabbit form to that of a dark, almost black skinned man. The man's mouth continued moving but only wheezes sounded, it was almost as if he no longer knew how to speak actual words. The struggling also became more and more feeble as blood continued pumping out of the ruptured heart. Suzaku did not let go however, letting the warm liquid run down his arm until finally the man stopped moving completely. Only then did he let the broken body drop, and watched as it seemingly scattered into dust as it hit the ground.

Looking at his arm, Suzaku watched as the blood too seemed to evaporate. He still did not know what exactly he had fought, but it could be killed. Suzaku looked up. Just as the thing up there could be too.

"Why don't you show yourself instead of slinking around up there?" he called out.

Suzaku did not know if the thing up there understood him, though he was pretty certain it had at least heard him. A skittering, clicking sound was the response as something emerged from the darkened corners of the chamber. Suzaku's eyes went wide. A big, bulbous something with long, skeletal legs.

"What. The. Fuck."

The giant spider finished descending along the thread from its rear and set down in near complete silence. Suzaku found himself gazing at not just one eye but a multitude. A shiver ran down his spine. A hiss sounded.

* * *

Li Xingke let out a tired sigh as he sat at his desk. The past few months had grown increasingly trying, ironic that considering the lull in open conflict between Britannia and China. The intensity of the fighting between the Europeans and the Empire on the other hand was growing daily, with the near entirety of Britannia's Sixth Army deployed against the Russian Far East. Bits and pieces of Eighth Army were also engaged in applying additional pressure on the Europeans, but the bulk of its forces remained in Korea as a threat in being to keep Yang's 13th group army pinned. Then there was the presence of Eighth Fleet, whose numbers were actually starting to increase.

The war staff had estimated that it would take Britannia at least a year to ramp up construction of its flying ships at its various yards. That estimate still seemed accurate, what reports they were able to glean from overseas indicated Britannia was just now laying down new hulls at those locations it had selected to tool up. The problem, one that all of the staff members recognized early on, was that there was nothing stopping the Empire from continuing construction at the shipyard that built the original vessels of Eighth Fleet, and that was exactly what Britannia had done.

Four new destroyers were already working up off the coast of Japan, an entirely deliberate exercise on Britannia's part to remind the Chinese Federation that its strength was growing as well as where that new strength would soon be directed. That message was not lost upon the Federation's military and political leadership, and the briefing sessions with the High Eunuchs were becoming filled with more and more recriminations. The eunuchs were starting to understand just how screwed China could be and were desperate for any way out. The problem for them was that any method by which China might extricate itself from this war would likely end badly for them personally, a cost that they were not willing to accept. Fortunately for China there were those more than prepared to make them pay the cost, if they could only stall for a little bit longer.

That little longer might prove more difficult to manage than he would have liked unfortunately. The nervousness of some of the eunuchs was starting to shift into paranoia, not unwarranted all things considered, but it was making things more complicated. The orders he issued as part of coordinating the reinforcements to the city's defense were coming under ever greater scrutiny, with ever more frequent demands for justification from Cheng Zhong and Zhao Hao. Such micromanaging would have been tiresome under even ideal circumstances. Now, their interference could spell disaster even ignoring Li Xingke's genuine ulterior motives.

Li Xingke's ears perked up as he heard the sound of footsteps fast approaching. A familiar set at that. The door nearly flew open as Zhou Xianglin burst through.

"Sir! We've received a report that the Britannian Eighth Fleet is crossing the Yellow Sea with over a dozen troop transports!"

Li Xingke's eyes narrowed. This was it, the opportunity that they had waited for. Now it was up to him to make the most of it. He rose.

"Begin executing contingencies," he ordered. "Start transferring reserve units to their designated points immediately."

"Yes-"

Before Zhou could finish more footsteps sounded. The woman turned about and Li Xingke looked past her to see a soldier in the dress of the imperial guard rapidly approach. The man came to attention before the major and spoke with further preamble.

"Sir, the council wishes to speak with you immediately."

Li Xingke tried not to scowl. This was not the time to be dragging him before the council to try to soothe their nerves, every minute wasted doing that would leave in theory leave him with that much less time to coordinate the capital's defense, amongst other things. The soldier obviously saw through Li Xingke's attempt at composure as he spoke again.

"They are insisting, sir."

"Very well," Li Xingke managed before looking back at Zhou.

"Continue the mobilization as you can, inform the field commanders to fall back on contingencies until they receive new orders."

"Yes sir," Zhou said before hurrying away.

Li Xingke looked back at the soldier. "Let us make equal haste."

The soldier nodded, turning about and leading Li Xingke towards the council chamber. Not that the major did not know his own way, but the eunuchs were obviously feeling nervous enough that they wanted assurances above and beyond the usual. The two hurried to the chamber and Li Xingke was shown in immediately. The obviously energetic discussions died down almost immediately as the major came to a halt and bowed before the old men.

"Your excellencies," he said.

"Major Li," Huang Qian said for all of them. "You know why we have called upon you."

"The Britannians appear to be making for the mainland," he answered frankly. "With the force composition that we are seeing, their target is almost certainly the capital."

"Yang should have attacked the Britannians instead of just sitting on his ass," Zhao Hao growled. "This would have never happened then!"

In fact had the general done that the Federation's defeat might well have been accelerated. There was little point trying to repeat this point when all previous efforts to make it clear had failed so Li Xingke did not even bother.

"Regardless of what might or might have been, the present situation requires that we focus on the now," the major said, perhaps a bit rudely and certainly without the deference that the eunuchs might traditionally expect. "I have issued orders for the reserves to be mobilized and deployed-"

"What!? Who said you could do such a thing!?" Cheng Zhong demanded.

Li Xingke's mouth remained hanging open for several seconds after he was cut off as the major simply gaped at the councilor. When he finally recovered he could not quite keep the incredulity out of his tone.

"This is all part of the contingency planning that I presented before," Li Xingke said. "Planning that this very council approved of."

It was plainly evident that quite a few members of this council had convinced themselves that such plans would never actually be used. Now that reality was asserting itself, they were at a loss as to how to respond. These were the men that held China's fate in their collective grip. Well, no longer.

"Your excellencies, time is of the essence," Li Xingke said. "If we are to stand any chance of saving the capital, we must begin mobilizing _now_."

The councilors were unhappy, anyone could see that, but even they were not so stupid as to refuse to recognize an irrefutable truth. Or at least this irrefutable truth, heavens only knew how many others they had ignored over the course of their lives up to this point.

"See to the city's defenses, major," Huang said, his voice taking on a gravely tone. "Succeed, and you will be assured a place of great honor."

Fail, and he would likely be too dead for any threat to matter. Li Xingke clicked his heels together, bowed, and quickly made his way out of the chamber. The future of China would depend on his actions these coming days. He would not be found wanting.

* * *

The various private apartments within the imperial palace were designed to be very comfortable to actually inhabit. As such the walls were actually thick enough to offer some decent soundproofing. Still there were gaps, as sturdy as the doors were one could still hear a little bit from their cracks. All these minor details were of pertinence as Jusis found himself waiting outside the door to the Princess Millicent's residence. He had knocked once already and a very muffled voice called out in response. What he could make of it seemed like the occupant was asking him to wait a bit. The sound of shuffling footsteps that was just barely audible gave further proof that there really was someone in there. When door finally opened a slightly flustered looking Nina greeted him.

"Yes-oh, Jusis!"

"Nina," Jusis greeted with a slight smile. "Apologies for disturbing you, her highness asked to meet with her today."

Nina blinked. "Really? Milly didn't make any mention of that to me."

The edge of Jusis' lip quirked at Nina's annoyed expression. It was just the right mixture of petulant and worried that he found it hard to suppress the laughter building up within. He cleared his throat, masking the sound as best he could.

"Knowing her highness, I am not surprised," he said. "Do you happen to know when she will be back?"

"Oh, actually she should be back already," Nina said. "But please, come in and have a seat, there is no reason for you to stand out here waiting."

"My thanks Nina," Jusis said with an appreciative smile.

The interior of this apartment was now a familiar sight to the young man, seeing as he had spent a considerable amount of time in them over the past few months while working with the Princess Millicent. And while he had also grown familiar with the princess' flippant sense of humor, he recognized early on that that attitude masked a keen and sharp mind that let little slip past. The fury that the princess felt about her family's old assets being used to support Hereticus' black operations was also made abundantly clear from the icy tone that often pervaded their discussions. All in all there were much worse nobles than her highness, and Jusis counted his own father amongst that lot.

As he settled into the couch Jusis noted the number of papers hastily stacked together and shoved under some books. He did not give them more than a cursory glance though, it was evident whatever they were he was not meant to see them.

"My apologies for disturbing you," he did at least extend that much courtesy as Nina presented him with a cup of tea. "And my thanks."

Nina favored him with a smile of her own. "It is no problem. As I said, Milly did not let me know you would be stopping by today. Though seeing how often you have been stopping by, I suppose Milly just took it as a given that I would know the schedule."

"You are possessed of an admirable patience," Jusis said with heartfelt sincerity.

Nina giggled. "She's not that bad."

Jusis declined to agree or disagree, instead sipping from his cup. "Hmm, a touch of mint this time?"

"Umm, yes. It was taught to me by one of her majesty's secretaries, or umm, former secretaries, while we were back in Japan."

"I see," Jusis said. "It adds a certain refreshing complexion to the drink."

"I thought so too," Nina nodded in agreement before a yawn escaped her. "Oh, excuse me."

"Putting in late hours?" Jusis remarked offhandedly.

"Umm, yes," Nina admitted. "There's just been a lot of work, and the time zone differences mean I have to be up late from time to time to communicate with the team back in Tokyo."

"Oh?"

Nina's mouth opened again but she seemed to recall something and shut it without a word. Jusis gave her an understanding smile.

"Forgive me if I am prying."

"No, it's alright," Nina assured him. "This is something that I'm not supposed to discuss with others in general, it's not you or anything. I mean, you've been helping Milly with all the things about her family's estates."

The young woman had likely meant her remark to be reassuring or serve as a compliment and that was how Jusis chose to interpret it. Still a small painful reminder of the circumstances that ultimately led him here was inevitable.

"I thank you for your consideration," Jusis said. "And I hope that the faith being shown in me will allow me to make at least some amends for my family's offenses."

Nina frowned slightly and reached out, placing a hand over Jusis'. "You're a good person, Jusis. Don't let what others have done define you like that, especially when you yourself didn't do anything wrong."

"That is generous of you to say Nina, but I'm afraid I cannot escape all responsibility for what happened that day. I failed to talk my father out of participating in the attack on Pendragon with our province's guard, and I accompanied those guardsmen when they crossed the border. I am complicit, even if I am not necessarily guilty."

Nina shook her head. "You may have accompanied the Carolinian guard, but that was not the only thing you did. You stood them down and saved many of their lives. That was a very brave thing to do, Jusis, and it showed that at heart you are a good person."

"Others have said this to me," Jusis responded, a slight smile forming. "I think this time I might actually believe it."

Nina smiled warmly back at him and Jusis found himself the most relaxed he could remember for a long time. Here was a person whom held no particular expectations for him, whom did not care about his past titles or heritage, and simply looked at him as the person he was. It was an almost quaint sensation, one that he had not even realized he missed from the time when he lived with his mother.

Before those thoughts could take their natural course the door to the apartment opened. The two looked over to see Milly enter with Mikasa right behind. Jusis immediately rose and came to a respectful posture.

"Your highness," he greeted.

"No need to trouble yourself on my account," Milly said, a wide grin for some reason plastered over her face. "I'm the one that's late. My apologies about that, traffic ended up being more tangled than expected."

Jusis simply nodded in acknowledgment and waited for Milly to get to the purpose of today's meeting. The way the princess was looking at him though, it was almost like she was a cat eyeing a mouse as it prepared to pounce. Pulling out a cellphone, she glanced at it and smiled.

"Well, look at the time. Have you had a chance to eat dinner yet, Jusis?"

Jusis' eyes flickered as alarm bells began ringing in his head. Not just alarm bells, but something like a thousand icicles running down his spine. He glanced over at Nina and saw that she too was taken aback by Milly's words. But when she met his gaze she offered a slight, comforting smile and the edge of his anxiety subsided. The core was still there, but his thoughts were at least a bit steadier. He looked back at the Princess Millicent and noted that she was still regarding him intently. But her smile was entirely natural, and there was even a touch of warmth to it. Her highness personally wanted him to accept, and not just for her own sake. Jusis took a deep breath.

"I have not, your highness."

The woman's smile grew wider. "I think you and I know each well enough to dispense with such formalities. Milly will do just fine. And since you have not eaten yet, would you care to join me and Nina? If nothing else, I can promise that the palace's chefs are entirely deserving of their reputation."

They would need to be if he was to be able to keep food down in his churning stomach. The answer he gave however showed no hint of hesitation.

"I am happy to accept your invitation, Milly."

* * *

Li Xingke checked the time. By now three regiments worth of infantry had taken up positions around the inner city. They were still outside of the Forbidden City of course, there was no way for him to justify stationing them within the walls without being completely blatant that he was launching a coup, but they were close enough to quickly advance upon the palace when the time came. Even more importantly, they had enough heavy weapons that they could breach the walls as well.

Timing would be the tricky bit. He needed to wait until the Britannians were close enough to warrant an active response otherwise the imperial guard would suspect something was amiss and try to stop him. They would likely be overrun eventually by sheer numbers, but the later Li Xingke could forestall the guard figuring out the truth the greater the chance of a clean coup de grace.

"Major Li."

Of course fate could yet intervene. Li Xingke turned about to face one such guardsman.

"Apologies sir, but Councilor Xia insists on speaking with you, privately."

The major's lips thinned. He had expected some sort of interference from the eunuchs, assuming they were not too busy packing up as much of their treasured belongs as they could before fleeing the city outright, but a request coming from Xia Wang came with a different set of portents than from the others.

"Very well," Li Xingke said and hurried towards the councilor's chambers without further delay.

In truth he should have perhaps verified with the guardsman that that was where Xia would be waiting, for all he knew the treasurer was as busy preparing to run away as his fellow councilors. That no correction came from the guardsman hurrying after him should have been promising in at least some respects. A few minutes later Li Xingke arrived at the councilor's office. To his surprise there was a significant number of guardsmen about. None barred his way however and he was promptly shown in, and was greeted with a joyous cry.

"Brother Li!"

The young girl dashed over and outright clamped onto him. Such behavior was most unbecoming of an empress, but for a girl of her age it was almost normal.

"Your majesty?" Li Xingke said, confusion clear in his tone.

"Ah, good, you are here."

Looking up the major watched as Xia approached.

"What is going on, your excellency?"

"Briefly, much as you and General Yang, Cheng Zhong has set his own plans into motion."

Xia's mouth quirked into a knowing smile as Li Xingke fought to maintain his composure.

"Your efforts to hide your intent were passable, but someone like Cheng Zhong is simply far too paranoid to not suspect something. He is a patient man however and so elected to try to commander your plot to serve his own purposes. Fortunately for you, the two of you were not the only ones weaving plans."

"So what do you intend, your excellency?" Li Xingke finally managed.

"I intend for you and the general to succeed. And for that to happen," Xia pointed a finger at the major, " _you_ need to get her majesty out of the city now."

For all his practice maintaining a neutral demeanor, Li Xingke's control utterly failed him this time as he gaped at the councilor.

"What?"

Xia chuckled mirthlessly. "Is it still unclear, major? I did say that Cheng Zhong is setting his own plans into motion." His eyes fell upon the young empress. "Or I suppose it is a continuation of his original plans."

Li Xingke's grip on the girl tightened instinctively and she in turn hugged him tighter as well. He looked down at her and was met by shimmering, frightened, and yet earnestly glad to be with him. He stroked her head and Jiang Lihua smiled at him. Li Xingke smiled back before looking back up at Xia.

"I will see her majesty to safety."

Xia nodded gravely. "Then make haste, major."

Li Xingke returned the motion, but hesitated a moment. "What of yourself, your excellency."

The major had used that address countless times before. This might well have been the first time he meant it. Xia smiled slightly, this time a hint of sorrow mixed in.

"Someone needs to remain behind, to ensure Cheng Zhong does not suspect anything until it is too late. And if you move quickly enough, you might well be able to bring your allies back to the city quickly enough."

That was a forlorn hope, both men knew. The moment the other eunuchs realized what Xia had done, they would almost certainly kill him out of spite if nothing else. Nonetheless Li Xingke forced himself to give a determined nod.

"I will return with haste, your excellency."

Xia smiled again, and reached out to give the empress a pat on the head. The girl did not flinch or draw back, instead smiled warmly at the older man.

"Thank you for everything, Uncle Xia."

"I am unworthy of your gratitude, your majesty. But if you wish to truly thank me, go, and live a long and happy life."

End of Chapter 116

Finally. Now I can ignore Suzaku for the next two or three chapters that will be necessary to conclude the Chinese Federation arc. Suzaku's scene probably confused a lot of you. This will be explored more as Kallen learns about the thought elevators from Yang, but what was shown here was a prelude to those secrets.

It was kind of a tossup whom Milly would end up with. Another candidate was Gino, and personality wise he likely would have complemented Milly herself quite well. The issue was whether he and Nina would mesh and I wasn't seeing it. There's also the issue that Gino is on the other side of the world. And knowing Milly, helping rehabilitate Jusis' familial reputation would be just the sort of thing she'd do to twerk all of the other noble families that wanted to try courting her to improve their own standings.

As with Britannia, the portrayal of the Chinese Federation in the anime had issues. I do not doubt for a moment that the eunuchs could be as completely venial as they were shown, but again China is a large country. At minimum if they actually controlled the government they needed at least a minimum degree of technical competency to run said government, otherwise China would have collapsed into warlordism as it did in the final years of the Qing. To have supported the conflict with Britannia for this long, my version of China could not be that fractured. As such for all their other failings, my version of the eunuchs are for the most part capable of discharging their duties, with some obvious exceptions. And seeing as one of the purposes of the eunuchs historically was to provide companionship for members of the imperial family and to act as advisors, not all of the eunuchs were on bad terms with Jiang Lihua's parents. Xia was one of those that was friends with the prior emperor and was one of the few such friends that survived his patron's murder. If he survives the coming chapters, that relationship might get expanded upon.

CVTs would not be appropriate technology for usage in a robotics application like with a knightmare. Keep in mind CVTs are to allow engines to run at different speeds. Electric motors like those used in a knightmare's appendages are not the same as engines in a conventional car. To change the speed at which an electric motor runs at, you just change the amount of power going in, you don't change the gearing. Different applications, different constraints and parameters.

Uh, what? The EU's atomic weapons program is at a minimum of months away from having enough enriched fissionable material to produce a prototype, more likely a year, and it will be months if not years afterward before they are able to actually mass produce atomic bombs. Building all those centrifuges takes time. These weapons will also only be in the kiloton range, not the megaton range needed to be true city killers. As stated previously, the bomb that Britannia dropped on Toulon only took out the military port, it barely even touched the city itself. Megaton range warheads, which would need to be thermonuclear, are at least a decade away for Britannia, the only ones with the proven knowhow to make any sort of nuclear arms. It's even further away for the Europeans. Nuclear weapons may sound scary, but one must keep some perspective about where we are in their development in my timeline. They are destructive, but they are far from world ending in both quality and quantity.

Then there's the issue that no one has ICBM technology. The Germans and Britannians have the most advanced rocket technology, but what they have is not designed for intercontinental strikes, nor do they have a warhead design small enough and light enough to fit on such rockets. Bottom line, the EU will not have enough time to develop nuclear arms to actually threaten Britannia credibly before the war has concluded. In the postwar environment, assuming they're willing to divert the resources from rebuilding and feeding their populations, they could put something together to try to apply MAD doctrine in case of a future war. Except by then Britannia will have finished putting up Mjölnir and Svalinn, rendering the sort of nuclear deterrence used by modern nations in our world obsolete.

As a rule I do not just give weapons to factions or characters. I go to some lengths to establish credible rationales for why a weapon enters service at the time it does. Several of the opening snippets are dedicated to providing that context, and I've sprinkled countless amounts of dialogue throughout to indicate the presence _and_ absence of various weapons development programs. The nuclear weapons program was hinted at way early on with Nina's interactions with Euphemia, Cornelia let slip a hint about Damocles when the _Avalon_ arrived in Japan, I showed the Europeans testing out their Panzer Hummels, the European war staff briefing made clear that their own atomic weapons program was extremely immature, so on and so forth. The only weapon that I can be accused of pulling out of nowhere might be the stealth bomber, and even that one I can justify since the one main character that might have known about it, Euphemia, had been intentionally kept out of the loop because of its classification levels. She might have been involved in arranging for funding for Damocles and Muspelheim, but not Hades and she had no need to know, therefore she, and the readers, did not know until after she became empress.


	118. Chapter 117

_The stratagem employed by General Yang Wen-Li in his coup d'état against the High Eunuchs was concurrently both extremely methodical and highly daring. The former, because the general had obviously been planning it for years before finally kicking it off. The latter, because the success of his plan hinged on gaining the cooperation of Britannia, a nation China was nominally at war with, and convincing his fellow countrymen that he was not selling them out for personal gain. This was by no means a trivial task especially considering Yang's promotions to flag rank were very recent. Still, the general did not let mere difficulty dissuade him and cultivated many partisans in both the military and government that shared his reformist sentiments._

 _Success however was far from assured and the entire endeavor was nearly stillborn when the eunuch Cheng Zhong, the councilor responsible for China's internal security, attempted a coup of his own in the confusion of the Britannian advance upon the capital. The attempt was thwarted only via the bravery of elements loyal to the Chinese imperial family, whom had remained hidden ever since the murder of the last emperor. This effort came with sacrifice however, and the blood that was shed would be remembered._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 117

Obliti privatorum, publica curate

Kallen's hands were clasped behind her as she regarded the scene aboard _Empress Marianne's_ flag bridge. While she was not trained to read a naval plot like the one displayed, she could at least infer some basic points of information. Anything more detailed was what the remarkably youthful looking Lieutenant (Senior Grade) Frederica Greenhill, whom would have been a captain in the army, was here for.

"No further word yet from the city?" Kallen asked.

Yang shook his head. "Beyond the initial notice that the reserves were being mobilized, nothing."

Kallen's lips thinned. The wheels had better not have started coming off already. And not just because technically her credibility was on the line, she was the principal advocate for supporting Yang's gambit on the Britannian side, but because if it did fail a lot of people were going to die.

"We're seeing activity amongst the air defense batteries," a rating reported. "Drones are being painted."

The batteries were doing more than that as the feed from two of the drones disappeared. The others however remained aloft and were edging ever closer to the city. If the defenders really intended to frustrate the fleet's approach, they would be trying a lot harder to down all of the drones to prevent them from acting as spotters for Eighth Fleet's guns. The Chinese had learned well enough to treat the Empire's new weapons with the respect their destructive power warranted.

"Admiral, burst transmission from the city, all open channels," another rating reported. "It's, garbled, it looks like someone is trying to jam their own internal comms."

Wolfgang glanced over at Kallen, whom directed her own gaze at Yang. The general returned her gaze and nodded.

"It has begun."

Not exactly the most confidence inspiring assertion, but it would have to do. Kallen turned back to Wolfgang.

"Bring us in, admiral."

If Wolfgang held any doubt as to his nominal superior's judgment, he did not reveal it in his bearing or tone. "Yes your highness. All ships, we are committed, I repeat, we are committed."

The destroyers were the first to start moving, all seven of them. For this operation Taskforce 80 had been granted all of the newly commissioned destroyers, and while their operational readiness was still wanting, the hope was that they were at least ready to carry out this feint. Of course some effort had been made to account for Murphy, which was why the newer ships were positioned such that any screw-ups on their part would be slightly less catastrophic for the rest of the taskforce.

The troop transports were huddled behind the carrier itself, protected by the ample point defenses of the massive vessels as well as the battleships. A mixture of anxiety and eagerness filled the troops aboard them. Having spent the past few months preparing, they were itching to finally get a chance to take to the field. Now that the taskforce was moving in, that chance was coming every nearer.

"We're seeing activity at the west gate," Lieutenant Greenhill said. "There are definitely indications of a firefight."

Kallen regarded the display along with Yang and their naval minder. The video feed from the drone was hazy, a limitation of both its radio bandwidth and camera resolution, but even so they could make out flashes that were obviously guns discharging. Their frequency was also increasing, suggesting the intensity of the fight was escalating.

"How long before we're in range?" Kallen asked.

"Another five minutes, your highness."

Kallen grimaced. The hope had been for Eighth Fleet to enter engagement range before Yang's partisans in the capital kicked things off. They were not quite that lucky, but that there was fighting at all indicated someone was making a move. Now they just needed to get there quickly enough to help, whomever they were supposed to help.

"Are the air defense batteries still painting us?" Kallen asked.

The lieutenant spent a moment looking at her console before nodding. "Yes your highness."

It was probably too much to ask for the defenders to completely disarm themselves and allow Britannian warships to close on their capital. And from the sheer number of batteries, the Chinese would almost certainly be able to down a few of Eighth Fleet's numbers, perhaps even the _Empress Marianne_ if they committed all of their shots to the task.

Alarms suddenly blared and Kallen wondered for a brief moment whether that was what was about to happen.

"Launch detected! Single battery, AA missiles vectoring towards the _Prince Lelouch_!"

Kallen frowned. That must have been at the very edge of the battery's effective range. For them to fire like that, without waiting for the ships to get closer so they could coordinate with the other batteries, either its commander was an idiot or something was very wrong.

"Detecting artillery battery firing! Target, hostile missile battery!"

Now that was even more surprising. Kallen watched as explosions ripped apart the battery that had just moments ago threatened them, however impotently. Now it was just a pile of twisted metal stained with blood.

"It seems your partisans are intent on seeing their duty through," Kallen remarked.

"They understand well that the soul of China is at stake," Yang said, his voice grave and determined.

And along with it the future of the world, both left unsaid. Having a code bearer like Yang as an ally would be very important in the days to come, never mind the man's intention of passing his code on to Kallen.

"Another burst from the city," the communications rating reported. "This, this one came in the clear-"

The Chinese officer that had been assisting with translation suddenly shot up and turned towards Yang.

"少将! 天子目前正遭受叛军的袭击!"

Yang's eyes flared and he bounded over to the radio station, seizing hold of the headset. Kallen, not understanding Chinese, could only begin to guess as to what elicited such a reaction from the general. The funny thing about Chinese and Japanese though, in addition to the usage of Chinese characters in both languages, there were a few instances of actual homophones. The annunciation might be different, but the sounds were similar enough that one could take educated guesses as to what a word meant. One particular word that kept cropping up was Tiānzǐ, which was similar enough to the Japanese Tenshi that Kallen could infer the meaning. That and Kallen had heard Yang refer to the Tiānzǐ to his fellow officers on more than one occasion, and there was only one person that could mean. And of course there was NEMO.

"What's happening with her majesty?" Kallen demanded as she followed Yang.

The general raised a hand, listening intently to the voice on the other end. Had Kallen not had NEMO providing her with a real time translation of the conversation, she likely would have been tapping her feet from sheer impatience. As it was her own expression was focused as she listened to the somewhat garbled transmission. Someone, obviously another of Yang's allies, had attempted to sneak the empress from the forbidden city. They had only partially succeeded and were now trying to fight their way from the outer city. That they were openly broadcasting the presence of the empress though, either this was a feint or things were really bad. As Yang put the headset down and Kallen met his eyes, it was becoming clear that it was the latter.

"Can we deploy troops to relieve them?" Kallen asked, both to Yang and Frederica and by extension Wolfgang.

"We still have no signal for where to put down troops, your highness," Frederica answered. "Until we do, we cannot land the transports."

That was only technically true. The fleet could attempt to create such a landing zone itself, but that might unsettle enough of the Chinese troops on the ground that their entire gambit would fail. Kallen was not about to let that happen.

"We can't land the transports, but what about something smaller?"

Wolfgang noticeably winced at that, likely contemplating what would happen to him if something were to happen to Kallen. But the admiral held his nerve and gave a short, choppy nod.

"We can put down a few Seasprites, and I can have Cobras escort you in."

"Then let's do it," Kallen said, making for the flight deck. Yang was right behind her.

"Shouldn't you be remaining here to coordinate the troops?" Kallen said with a slight smirk.

Yang returned it. "I could say the same to you, your highness."

Kallen snorted. And then noticed another officer behind them.

"Lieutenant? What are you doing?"

"I am your assigned naval liaison," Frederica said. "I will remain at my assigned station until otherwise relieved."

"Your assistance will be well appreciated," Yang said before Kallen could muster a response of her own.

Frederica favored the general with a smile of her own and nodded. They were all in this together, until the end.

* * *

"Please keep down, little sister."

Even in such circumstances Li Xingke could not shake the deference he showed to his sovereign. At the same time that respect did not stop him from physically keeping her hidden as they headed towards the rendezvous. The standard army vehicle they were riding in had only relatively thin armor and if Jiang was discovered they could easily be overwhelmed with even light weapons. Then again the cadre of guardsmen accompanying them would lay down their lives to forestall such an end. Whether they could prevent it was another matter entirely.

"We're approaching the point sir," the driver said.

Li Xingke nodded. The officers that commanded the company they were meeting with were all veterans of the Indian campaign and even included a few others rotated back from the Korean theater. None of them were especially fond of the eunuchs but their loyalty to China, and to the sovereign that ostensibly represented the nation, was unswerving. And while their numbers were still no guarantee of safety for the empress, it would considerably increase the odds of them surviving long enough to get out of the city.

Li Xingke's radio crackled. Or perhaps not.

"Major Li," a strained voice sounded. "You are hereby ordered to return to the Forbidden City immediately, by order of Councilors Cheng and Zhao."

The others all shot him pensive looks. It appeared that for the moment the eunuchs were not preparing to gun for them outright, but that would change very quickly. There was little point in lengthening the masquerade any longer, better to seize the initiative and try to throw their opponents off balance. Li Xingke held up the radio, but not to respond to the order.

"All units, execute contingency 99."

Another point of no return crossed. It was without a doubt that some of the imperial guardsmen were innocent of the corruption that permeated the court and were loyal to their empress. Excepting those currently accompanying Li Xingke and Jiang however, there was no way to be certain, and their blood would soon be on his hands.

"Captain Wong, we are approaching your position," Li Xingke continued on a different channel. "Weapons hold and be prepared for immediate withdraw from the city."

"Acknowledged major," came the response.

Not knowing whom Li Xingke was bringing with him, the good captain was likely wondering why his unit would be withdrawing when all the other royalist troops would be moving against the palace. Still the captain was a seasoned soldier and was prepared to accept Li Xingke's judgment. They soon came into sight of the company's troops, many in the process of boarding vehicles in accordance with Li Xingke's orders. The captain himself stepped forward to meet their own car. There was a noticeable tensing as the regulars noticed the guardsmen, but that was defused easily enough. Li Xingke stepped out, and turned about to guide Jiang down. Once she stood before them the major dropped to his knee, as did the guardsmen.

"Your majesty," he said, loudly enough for the other soldiers to hear.

After a brief moment, all of them likewise fell to one knee.

"We will see you to safety," Li Xingke continued, "even if we must lay down our lives in the process. This I promise, your majesty."

Jiang's expression winced at the mention of that possibility, not just of her own mortality but that of the men before her. Li Xingke was again reminded that at heart his empress was still a child, and a lonely one at that. But she was her father's daughter, and her mother's. Jiang reached out, placing her dainty hands upon Li Xingke's shoulders.

"I know this to be so, Brother Li. But I hope that such a need does not come to pass."

A child yes, but an empress. And one day she would be one in fact as well as in name. That all those gathered here firmly believed.

* * *

Xia staggered under the blow, his aging body screaming in protest at the mistreatment. Not that he was about to give his tormenters the satisfaction of doing so openly.

"What exactly did you think you would achieve?" Cheng said, his voice like prickly needles to the ear. "Do you honestly believe that your ploy will succeed?"

Xia rose slightly and met Cheng's gaze without flinching. "You certainly believe it, seeing as you feel the need to vent your frustrations by ordering your stooges to beat me."

Cheng's glower managed to somehow darken even further, the red of his face making him look like an overripe tomato. Xia allowed a smirk to cross his expression at the sight. The other eunuch gave a choppy nod and the butt of a rifle crashed against Xia's head. The pain stun, but in frankness Xia did not regret so provoking Cheng. The sorry excuse of a human being had had it coming for a long time.

"Pathetic," Cheng said. "After everything that you have done, everything that you have achieved, and you would throw it all away. For what? Sentimentality? Where was that sentimentality when the emperor passed away? I seem to recall you were quite enthusiastic in securing your own station."

"And being so convinced of my enthusiasm you let your guard down," Xia retorted. "You thought that I was as craven as you and Zhao. You might have even thought I was as stupid. But the only thing you and I share, my dear old friend, is patience. You are not the only one that can wait years for a plan to reach fruition. And unlike you, I am prepared to sacrifice myself to achieve that fruition."

Cheng regarded the other eunuch. By all rights it should have been a pathetic sight, the treasurer's clothes torn and stained with blood and dirt. He should have felt nothing but contempt, but Xia's eyes were utterly unwavering. It was as if he really did not fear what might happen to him, which considering some of the traditional punishments reserved for traitors indicated outright insanity, or absolute conviction. In some ways Cheng really would have preferred for Xia's delusions to be grounded in insanity. As unpredictable as that might be, Cheng knew from experience that conviction could create a far more implacable and dangerous foe. Xia was now providing another demonstration of that point and the result might well be catastrophic for Cheng personally.

"Enjoy what little time you have left, Xia," Cheng said, his reedy voice just managing a lower pitch. "I will see to it that you die knowing the ruination of your plans."

Xia actually smiled back at Cheng. It was not a pleasant expression.

"You dare not kill me now because you fear losing a bargaining chip when they come for you. You know that your control is slipping, Cheng. It will be you whom dies with the regrets of your life weighing upon you."

Cheng sneered at the other eunuch but found that he could not quite muster a retort. He spun about and left the cell. The guardsmen he had sent after Li Xingke and the empress might yet catch up with their quarry, but if they did not he needed to see to his own safety. As much as Cheng did not want to think about it, Xia was right that things would end badly for him if the traitors succeeded. Cheng had not made it to his present position by only ever leaving himself with one option, however, and though it galled him that Xia was right, keeping the other eunuch alive was indeed to keep certain doors open. Now though he needed to see to his other options, like-

A distant rumble interrupted Cheng's train of thought and brought him to a halt. As he listened more closely, he heard more of them and realized they were not so distant after all.

"Report!" he cried out.

The senior guardsman was listening into his radio and took a few moments to get a clear enough picture to answer Cheng's question. The eunuch's mood darkened with every passing second, but even so frustrated his patience proved sufficient to make him wait. Barely.

"Your excellency, we have reports of regulars with heavy weapons advancing upon the Forbidden City."

Another explosion sounded, adding emphasis to the words 'heavy weapons.' Cheng clenched his teeth. There was no time to waste, he needed to escape the city before the traitors breached the palace's walls.

* * *

The initial dash for the city limits had proceeded smoothly, especially with the other companies providing a handy distraction as they started bombarding the Forbidden City. Unfortunately a few guardsman loyal more to their pay than their duty had obviously set off in pursuit before the attacks began and were even now harrowing them. Even worse, whatever ethical failings they possessed did not extend to their skill as soldiers. The eunuchs might have valued loyalty a bit more than competency, but that did not mean their sycophants were incompetent.

Li Xingke let off another burst from his rifle but handily missed. That was not the point however, he just needed to keep the enemy from getting off a shot of their own. The soldier frantically working next to him finally managed to get the belt into the machinegun, slammed it shut, and performed the task that Li Xingke was trying to do. When performing suppressing fire, there was no substitute for the nearly thousand rounds a minute a machinegun could pump out. Well, there were, but none available to Li Xingke and his troops.

"Get moving sir!" one trooper yelled.

With a grunt Li Xingke complied, retreating back to the vehicles. Whether through luck or skill, or a combination of both, the guardsmen had managed to flank Li Xingke's company and were pressing hard. And from their liberal use of explosives, they had no intention of taking prisoners. The consequences of this callousness was not just limited to the soldiers dying about Li Xingke, the major could see the broken bodies of civilians whom failed to flee quickly enough when their hiding places were torn apart. While it was certainly true that the Federation's soldiers were not trained to place particular emphasis on avoiding collateral damage, the complete indifference of the guardsmen to their own people dying from their actions sickened Li Xingke. Sickened and enraged him.

"Captain, status," Li Xingke said as he pressed himself against the wall next to the officer.

"They've got anti-armor weapons," Wong replied grimly. "I suppose we should be lucky they don't seem to have any HE rockets to go with them. As it is, I've got most of a platoon completely chewed up trying to punch through."

"Any responses from our call?"

"Some, reinforcements are definitely on their way, but whether they'll get here in time…"

Li Xingke's expression also tightened. He took a deep breath.

"They'll get here. We just have to hold out until then."

Wong gave a curt nod. And then regarded Li Xingke thoughtfully.

"All that matters is her majesty. The longer she remains here, the greater the chance she will come to harm."

That much was obvious, what they could do about it less so. They were not completely encircled, but the traitor guardsmen were slowly creeping about to do just that.

"We've got them stalled along the western flank," Wong continued. "They're trying to work their way around south of us to cut us off from reinforcements. I can push a platoon through the north and get you and her majesty out that way. That'll take you closer to the palace, but you might be able to link up with groups hitting it."

Li Xingke nodded. It was certainly one of the less bad options available to them.

"And what of yourself?"

Wong's smile came with visible effort. "I will remain at my station and try to hold for as long as I can. The more guardsmen I can keep pinned down, the better the chance you will have."

The major grimaced. Wong's choice might well be the right one, but in all likelihood it could well mean the death of everyone left behind for the diversion. And yet, what other choice did any of them have?

"I will see her majesty to safety," Li Xingke stated firmly.

Wong nodded. And then his expression softened ever so slightly.

"Her majesty is just a little girl. Her life should not end like this, not before she has had a chance to actually live."

Li Xingke smiled at his comrade, at his friend. "She will not. That I swear."

That was all the time they had. Li Xingke hurried to where the empress was huddled away. The girl's eyes lit up at seeing him, searching for some reassurance in all this carnage and chaos. Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, Li Xingke picked her up. She felt so light compared to his weapon.

"Your majesty, we need to go."

Jiang's eyes widened. "But, but what about Brother Wong? And everyone else!"

The plaintive plea twisted Li Xingke's heart. "He, and the others, are where they need to be."

The girl's eyes widened but Li Xingke did not, could not give her time to protest. Tightening his hold over her he took off, the single platoon and squad of loyal guardsmen forming a protective cordon. The lead elements were already exchanging fire with the traitors and it would not take their opponents long to realize what was happening. They would not be given any time to act upon it however as a primal cry sounded. Even as Li Xingke and his detachment fled, another platoon charged forth into the lines of the enemy guardsmen. The challenge they bayed rose above even the din of bullets and bombs and Li Xingke dared hope that they would yet emerge victorious. Hope was all he could do for them however as he needed to focus on his own situation, his own mission.

The radio crackled, Li Xingke barely hearing it as they rang.

"Major Li, please respond!"

"Report," Li Xingke replied curtly.

"Britannian ships are approaching the city, both warships and troop transports! What do we do?"

Li Xingke grimaced. He knew that Yang had cut a deal with the Empire, but the exact terms of that deal remained secret for security reasons. He needed to make a decision now, whether to trust the general and the Empire with the fate of his nation. But now, did he have any other choice. In a way, he did. One could always decide one's death. Li Xingke looked down at the empress and saw a pair of scared eyes meeting his gaze. But he was not ready to die today. He spoke into the radio again.

"Make sure those ships and transports get through," he ordered. "The Britannian forces are here to help restore our sovereign to her rightful place."

"Understood major."

It could not have been easy for his compatriots to accept such an order, especially for those veterans that had faced Britannia in other theaters. But they were placing their trust in him, believing that he knew what he was doing. Just like Xia had, just like the empress was now. He would not fail them.

Screams sounded, these ones almost adjacent to him. Two more soldiers fell amongst the rearguard, signaling the vehemence of the pursuit. Whether Wong had been overrun outright or the traitor guardsmen had been able to slip through a detachment did not really matter, it was looking more and more like they would need to stand and fight. With all the chaos about them Li Xingke did not even notice the steady hum of helicopter blades spinning, not at first at least. By the time the noise was loud enough to demand his attention, other sounds were already starting to eclipse them.

* * *

The Seasprite had a distinctly different feel from the Blackhawk Kallen rode in previously, though whether someone without her sensitivity would notice was an open question. Still it was not as if Kallen was paying particular attention to the smoothness of the ride, her senses were however boosted enough that even without paying it her mind was unconsciously noting such details. Her conscious attention was focused on the battle unfolding all around her, as well as searching anyone that matched the physical description of the young Chinese empress. As it was when she did find a match, sighting the girl in question clutching tightly to a soldier that was trying to flee with her, Kallen immediately leveled her sniper rifle and opened fire. Not at the empress or her escorts of course, but at the soldiers pursuing them.

The commander of the pursuing company was in mid-shout when Kallen's bullet found him. His chest exploded in bloody fragments from the single .50 BMG round she fired. The traitor guardsmen had only a single moment to register the event before more shots followed, this time taking out the platoon commanders. As disciplined and skilled as these soldiers were, even they needed time to react to such disruption. Then there was the sheer shock value of seeing their officers cut down so efficiently and seemingly out of nowhere.

Kallen lowered the modified Browning M2 she was using to snipe. The thing was damn heavy relative to what she needed it for, but until the military could actually produce a light rifle capable of firing the .50 at the ranges she needed it would have to do. For now though she needed to coordinate the rest of her troops to make sure the Chinese empress was rescued.

"Priority package mile out, pursued by hostiles advancing north. Neutralize pursuers with extreme prejudice, restrict ordnance to non-explosives."

"Acknowledged your highness."

Two of the gunships veered off and positioned themselves immediately west of the skirmish. The next moment streaks of light flashed as they unloaded with their turrets. That amount of lead slamming into the ground was more than enough to force the surviving guardsmen to dive for cover. What few shots they managed in response fell well short of hitting the Cobras, much less actually endangering them. With the enemy suppressed, the Seasprites came in low enough for their respective detachments to disembark. The marine squads charged out, maneuvering the encircle the enemy troops even while Kallen, Yang, Frederica, and their escorts moved closer to the loyalists protecting the empress.

The wariness of the Chinese soldiers diminished quickly as they caught sight of Yang and the squad from the 13th and cheers sounded even as the battle continued. Still by this point the immediate danger was rapidly receding and with her geass Kallen would have ample warning if other hostiles neared enough to become threats. They had a bit of time at least to talk.

The Chinese soldiers stepped aside to let Yang and the others through, with a bit of reluctance with regard to Kallen and Frederica. Still the fact that the two Britannians were willing to entrust their safety to the Chinese soldiers Yang had brought with him seemed to offer a degree of assurance. The officer that came to greet them, with the empress clutching tightly to him, certainly seemed relieved at their sight. He came to respectful attention but as was proper refrained from any further courtesies that might mark Yang as a high priority target.

"General," he greeted. "It is good to see you."

"It is good to see you as well, Major Li," Yang said, and then knelt before the girl. "Your majesty, I am heartened to see you safe."

The soldiers that arrived with Yang did likewise, only Frederica and Kallen being the exception. The navy lieutenant did at least bow respectfully, while Kallen allowed a dip of her head. As a Knight of the Round, the only person whom she would pay homage to was her empress.

If the Chinese empress cared, or even noticed for that matter, she showed no signs of it. In fact as she finally let the major go it was clear her mind was on other matters entirely.

"Uncle Yang! We need to go save Uncle Xia! He's still back at the palace!"

From the expressions of some of the soldiers they were at least somewhat taken aback by their empress' directive. Not just because of what she wanted, but the somewhat familiar manner she referred to Yang.

"Our forces advance on the palace even now," Yang said as he rose. "You however must be taken to safety."

The empress shook her head.

"Your majesty," the major said softly. "Please."

The girl shook her head again, this time even more vehemently. "I don't want to leave! I don't want people to keep leaving me! Why do people keep leaving me!?"

As she watched Kallen was reminded that for all her august station the Chinese empress was still a young girl. One whose sheltered upbringing, as luxurious as it might have been, was still little more than a gilded prison.

Despite it by all rights violating all propriety, Yang reached out and took hold of the empress.

"We are not leaving you, your majesty. We have been with you, every step of the way even if we were not immediately by your side. What we do, we do for you."

The girl was obviously on the verge of tears. "Is this, is this what it means to be empress? To have other people dying for you?"

Kallen grimaced. She was not the only one. So that was what truly tore at the little girl. She had witnessed death and destruction for the first time in her memory, and seen people die with her very eyes, people whom did so for her sake. The shock that she must be enduring now, the pain and guilt.

"不, 陛下," Kallen found herself saying. "That is _not_ what it means to be empress."

The others looked over at her, a mixture of surprise and curiosity as they watched Kallen speak in near flawless Mandarin. NEMO was turning out to be even handier than Rai had insinuated.

The empress herself took a few moments to register that it was Kallen whom had answered her. Answered her, but not satisfied her.

"Then why are people dying?"

"Because," Kallen responded once more. "China, is a great nation. But she is stricken right now, stricken with a sickness that runs deep. That is why people are dying, people whom should not be dying. But China can be healed, your majesty to be made whole once more. To become a place where such death becomes as wrong as you want it to be. For that to happen though, _you_ must not be amongst those that die this day."

The empress, the little girl, continued to look at Kallen. A hint of pleading was in her eyes.

"But, what can I do?" she asked. "I'm just, me."

It said volumes of her upbringing that the emplress could be so humble, or feel so helpless. She was supposed to be China's sovereign, the child of heaven, and supreme ruler of the Middle Kingdom. Instead she had grown up without her parents, a virtual prisoner in the Forbidden Palace. She as not ready for such power, right now, but she might be in time.

"You are you." This time it was Li Xingke that answered the empress. "Right now that may not be enough, but that is why you must live, because the future is where you are needed."

"But I don't want a future where I am alone!" Jiang cried out. "Everyone is leaving me! Uncle Xia, Brother Wong, even you are speaking as if you will not be there with me!"

Li Xingke winced. Not just because there was a certain truth to those words, but also because the empress' loneliness had driven her to be so open to others. A loneliness that he himself was responsible for in part, as he had forced himself to remain somewhat aloof of her while stationed at the palace. He had convinced himself in the past that it was for her sake, but seeing the cost.

"I'll go."

The others all looked over at Kallen. The knight met the younger girl's gaze unflinchingly.

"I will go to the palace and find this Xia person for you." She then looked over at Yang. "You know I can do it."

Yang nodded. "Yes, I do." He turned back to the empress. "Kallen is a friend, one whom I have placed absolute faith in. If she says she will go and save Xia, I believe her."

That might have been putting it on a bit thick, there was always the possibility that whomever this Xia was might be murdered before she could even reach the place. Still, it would not do to worry the empress now and so Kallen offered a reassuring smile of her own.

"Councilor Xia helped us escape from the palace," the major said. "If the other eunuchs have discovered this, they will not have treated him gently. And yet, I think they may yet seek to use him as a bargaining chip."

So there was still a chance. Kallen nodded.

"I will be off."

As she turned to gather the marines however she was given reason to pause.

"Umm!"

Even before turning back Kallen knew the empress had pulled away from Li Xingke towards her.

"Yes your majesty?"

There was still a great deal of fear and worry in the girl's eyes, but a steady resolve was also asserting itself.

"Umm, thank you!"

To that Kallen was not alone in favoring the little girl with a smile.

"You are most welcome, your majesty."

* * *

Despite the risk the empress was ultimately loaded onto one of the Seasprites and the helicopter quickly made off to rendezvous with the other loyalists. With all of the anti-air batteries under loyalist control, the only effective dangers were whatever man portable anti-air weapons those units not declaring for Yang and Li Xingke might possess. That would soon become moot however as they approached the mustering zone the major's forces had prepared to receive reinforcements. With a secure landing zone the Britannian troop transports were finally able to set down even as the rest of Taskforce 80 hovered protectively over them. Their bays disgorged not the regiments of Eighth Army, but three divisions of Yang's 13th group army.

That was the other part of Yang's bargain, of the assistance that he had sought from Britannia. It was all well and good to have the Empire feint an attack upon the capital to scare the eunuchs into letting regulars within its limits, but that offered no guarantee of victory. The Forbidden City's walls were not for show and even with heavy weapons would still take some time to breach. With the soldiers of the 13th however, the weight of numbers and firepower made the conclusion of this battle foregone.

Getting the Empire's cooperation on this had been anything but on the other hand, and Kallen had had to be very, very persuasive to win Euphemia's backing for the gamble. Risking the transports, one of the Empire's major strategic advantages, was one thing. Adding to that risk by having the regiments they were transports be Chinese ones, Kallen could only wonder at the reaction of the war staff back in Pendragon when Euphemia informed them of that detail. The senior officers actually on this side of the Pacific had made their own happiness clear enough even while remaining otherwise differential to Kallen's standing. None of those officers knew the true prize being offered in exchange however, just that success in this gambit would see the Chinese Federation withdraw from the war and allow Britannia to subject Europe to its full and undivided attention. A great prize in and of itself, and even one that was worth risking the flying transports for. Weighed against a code however, such a prize was worth nearly any risk.

Still, even if the battle's conclusion was foregone, it was not as yet concluded. The responsibility of making it so fell upon the ranks and ranks of troops that now marched past their general and their empress. For many of the soldiers this was the first they had ever laid eyes upon their sovereign. A few carefully staged set pieces were the most the general public ever glimpsed of the young girl. The regality that she seemingly bore at such events were obviously manufactured, but now seeing her in plain sight, her clothes dirtied by the grime of battle, she somehow looked more fitting of her role. All the more real, in her person and in the danger that she had just been rescued from.

It was not just the empress herself, but the officer that she clung to and the soldiers that surrounded her protectively. Not just other regulars, but also imperial guardsmen that obviously had not foresworn themselves. There they all stood, bloodied, dirtied, yet still proudly on their feet. They had completed their charge, seeing the empress safely to this momentary haven. Now they would see to theirs, and restore to their nation a dignity and pride befitting its heritage.

End of Chapter 117

No I did not use Google Translate for the Chinese bits. Though Google Translate has actually gotten good enough that you could all go and use it to figure out what I wrote, those of you that can't read it natively. Interestingly the term 叛军 means literally troops that have betrayed, referring to those that historically have fought against whatever government is in power in China. Technically speaking seeing as Yang hasn't succeeded yet, his troops are the ones doing the betraying, but they obviously don't see themselves that way, especially considering they're not the ones shooting at the empress.

As indicated again, Kallen is demonstrating herself to be an extremely lethal soldier. The growing respect that she's getting from the regular forces is in many parts due to the rank and file witnessing her pulling off some rather insane stunts and them deciding they would rather be fighting alongside her than fighting against her. That and whom better to protect their empress than one of the best soldiers in the world. Anyway, the ranges that Kallen got the Chinese troops this time was lower than when she sniped the Inquisitio sentry, hence why this incident is not referenced in the snippets. That and I did not know I would have her repeating the feat in the future when I wrote said snippet. The actual range of her engagement this time was around 1.5km out. Still impressive, especially considering she's shooting from a helicopter, but well short of the 2.2km that Hathcock achieves and the ~2km of her previous shot.

It was always my intent that Knights of the Round do not bow to anyone except their liege, barring a few very specific exceptions. I don't know if I was quite as consistent with that as I should have been, there are so many moving pieces that I'm certain I've screwed it up at least once. The coronation ceremony for Euphemia, might, have been an exception, I'm honestly not sure if it should warrant one seeing as at that point their liege was dead, but they had not sworn new oaths yet. From henceforth though I'm going to try to be much more explicit.

Last couple of chapters have been tricky. On a personal level I enjoy putting together set pieces like the Tokyo Uprising, the Battle of Pendragon, etc. For some reason I was not able to come up with an equivalent for the seizure of the Forbidden City, things just didn't click. If I ever revisit this story these chapters would definitely see major revision if not outright rewrite. Hopefully the following arcs will fare better. Though I will note we are not quite done yet with the Chinese Federation, I'm expecting at least one more chapter if not two more to wrap up loose ends before things go balls up for Europe.

Next couple of chapters will likely be even more delayed than the current set. In the process of closing on my new residence and all the associated details that entails. Home shopping has proven more than a bit frustrating mainly because the properties I actually really wanted kept getting bought out before I could even arrange a showing, much less make an offer.

One of the other reasons this was delayed was a plotbunny for a Mass Effect AU got insistent enough that I had to get it out of my head. It's posted as _A Call to Duty_ , the prologue is up, and I'll likely get out at least chapter 1 before shelving it (hopefully) until I finish _A Cold Calculus_. I just really do not have the time to write two stories concurrently anymore. And _A Trail of Tears_ is currently waiting for CS3 to be released in Japan so that I can pick the brains of a few people on the XSEED forum for details.

Brushless motors turn at thousands if not tens of thousands of RPMs. That's far too fast to attempt to directly connect something to them. Gearboxes serve to allow you to step that down into more usable speeds. They also provide you with the ability to create a significant amount of torque, which is important for say keeping a robotic arm stationary even under load.

The use of biological weapons suffers the same problem as any hypothetical nukes, delivery systems. You can have the most lethal pathogen in the world, but unless you can get it to your target it's useless. As previously stated, no one has practical ballistic missile tech that are intercontinental in range. Britannia's air defense networks are also robust enough that penetrating it with bombers would be nontrivial, and there is also the fact that any pathogens you tried to deliver would need to be delivered in such a way that it won't just get immolated by the impact of whatever is delivering it. And if the Europeans tried to use it against imperial troops hitting their territories, they're more liable to kill as much of their own populations as they are enemy troops. Britannian troops, as with American troops, are inoculated for the most common potential biological agents.

Conversely the deadliness of weaponized pathogens is often overblown. It is really, really difficult to actually get a highly contagious and fatal version, and modern society has developed some pretty good procedures for quarantine. Bioweapons while horrific and dangerous are still not the sort of world ending or country ending weapons that fiction often portrays them to be, especially not at the tech level my world possesses.

It's easy enough to propose and promise mass devastation against an enemy. As with Hitler's vergeltungswaffen, actually making good on those promises is decidedly nontrivial. And if the Europeans did manage to use a bioweapon against the Britannian homeland, or from the perspective of the Britannian population, use another bioweapon, then the gloves really would come off. As devastating as the fighting will be, as destructive as it will be to Europe's cities, the Empire is at present not setting out to outright depopulate the continent, their intention is more akin to reducing the European nations to basically undeveloped status. That will see lots of people die, but the majority will die due to indirect causes from the loss of infrastructure, reduced productivity of agriculture, and things like that. Britannia itself is not going out of its way to put a bullet into every person it finds. That can and will change if the Europeans resort to deploying weapons of mass destruction indiscriminately. After all, if the Europeans have weaponized pathogens, you can bet Britannia does as well, and the Empire has a working delivery system in the form of Eighth Fleet.

Note also that for all practical matters the Europeans are not aware of Euphemia's intent. The terms of surrender that were last delivered to them shortly before her coronation, while heavily damaging, made no mention of what would happen if they refused. Another attempt will be made by the EU to come to terms after the Chinese Federation withdraws, but suffice it to say the terms are going to get much worse, which will cause the Europeans to balk again at capitulating. And so they'll drag on, until Britannia hits continental Europe, at which point the demands will escalate again when European diplomats approach them. By that time I expect some of the European nations will be willing to capitulate even when faced with the new demands. Others however won't, and that is all the excuse the Empire needs.


	119. Chapter 118

_While commonly referred to as the Holy Britannian Empire, the official name of the nation was Sanctum Imperium Britannianum. For a nation whose legendary origins are rooted in the defeat of Roman attempts to incorporate it, Latin is employed very widely within the Empire's various organs. This linguistic curiosity has been noted by many historians and anthropologists and significant effort has gone into analyzing why this is the case. The truth of the matter is in many ways quite mundane. While there is significant historical evidence that the Celtic tribes of old succeeded in repulsing Roman incursions into the British Isles, as always myth and legend does not offer a complete picture. The effort required to defeat the Romans considerably weakened the British peoples, leaving them unable to stem the next wave of migration that occurred in the 5_ _th_ _century as a result of the Hunnic invasion of Europe. The Germanic peoples that landed in Britain began the first stage of cultural assimilation, while the Gallic migrants brought with them some of the trappings of their Roman masters. Britain thus ended up as a melting pot of multiple European ethnic groups and by the time of the British crown's withdrawal to the American colonies no longer possessed a distinct, Celtic identity culturally._

 _This mixture was embodied by the Empress Euphemia herself, whom was predominantly of German descent through her father and mother, with a bit of French and effectively no identifiable Celtic lineage. The Princess Kallen was also of Germanic heritage from her father, while the Princess Millicent was the only one of the trio whom could definitively trace her roots back to the old kingdom._

 _Despite the otherwise tenuous historical connection, Britannia continued to use Latin for the official names for many organs of state. This continued even after its union with the Chinese Federation in the 23_ _rd_ _century and transformation into the Sanctum Imperium Terranum._

 _-Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I_

Chapter 118

Ubique, quo fas et gloria ducunt

With her geass Kallen had little trouble detecting any dangers in her path as she approached the palace. The marines accompanying her were of course unaware of this fact and seemed more than a bit impressed, if not outright bewildered, with how she kept spotting potential hostiles and either verifying their friendliness or guided them unerringly around. While the marines had been provided a briefing and some basic maps of the city, navigating the menagerie of nooks, crannies, and back alleys would have required far more for them to credibly attempt. Kallen however weaved through these streets as if she were a long time local.

Some obstacles could not be bypassed indirectly however, requiring that Kallen deal with them with lethal finality. These victories not only saw her closer to her goal physically, they also saw a growing number of Chinese soldiers rallying to her lead. Their initial hesitancy to obeying her orders was also rapidly fading, a combination of Yang confirming she was here to help, and did in fact hold the rank of brigadier general, as well as her obvious competency in directing them in defeating strongpoint after strongpoint manned by the high eunuchs' partisans.

As they approached another such strongpoint, technically the final one before they would breach the inner perimeter of the Forbidden City, the soldiers waited once more for Kallen's orders. The knight herself was using her geass to scan for any weaknesses to the gate, and predictably not finding any. Not surprisingly the secret tunnels that did exist within the palace did not lead directly to the public gates. Who would have thought. That left the only way through as actually going through, something that would be made just a bit easier by the combat engineers the Chinese loyalists had so thoughtfully positioned close to the city. It was as if they knew they would need their expertise to breach the walls protecting the palace.

"Sergeant Mayhew, take your squad, circle around the block, and wait for my signal. When you receive it, I want you to light up that guard post."

"The one with the machinegun mounted there, your highness?"

"That's the one."

The sergeant gave Kallen a toothy grin. "Roger that your highness."

For a man that was about to be at the receiving end of a stream of automatic fire the marine was remarkably chipper. The rest of the squad was equally unhesitating in trotting after him. Kallen allowed herself an amused smirk before turning to the Chinese soldiers.

"Corporal Zhou, once the tower is suppressed, you and your men need to make a hole for us in the gate," Kallen said, switching over to mandarin and relying on NEMO to translate.

"Understood colonel-commandant."

Of course the literal correctness of NEMO's translations sometimes left something to be desired. The first time Kallen was addressed by that rank she had done a doubletake trying to make sure it was actually her being addressed. Now though she simply nodded, accepting the confidence the Chinese soldiers were placing in her.

"Your highness, we are in position," Mayhew reported over the radio.

"Execute."

Confirmation arrived by way of shots sounding. Kallen gave a curt nod to the Chinese soldiers and they charged out. From her position Kallen leveled her rifle to cover them. The M16's effective range was upwards of eight hundred meters in the hands of a skilled marksman. With her geass Kallen could stretch that out to close to a kilometer and still reliably nail headshots. The traitor guardsmen that popped up to respond to the marines' diversionary fire found this out the hard way as Kallen fired three single shots, downing the same number of targets. The machinegun nest so neutralized, Kallen proceeded to pick off the other soldiers positioned along the top of the wall. None that drew her attention survived the experience and soon enough those that still lived were cowering behind the battlements, leaving the combat engineers to work completely unmolested.

"Charges set," the report came in.

"Detonate when ready," Kallen instructed.

"Ready in three, two, one, mark!"

The door disappeared in a flash of fire and smoke. A shower of powdery dust sprinkled the immediate area. Once everything had settled down, not only the gate but a good portion of the wall itself was gone. Kallen smiled approvingly.

"All units advance!"

The battalion or so of Chinese soldiers that were following her surged forward and poured through the gates, their cries echoing through the grounds in challenge to the guardsmen. The few enemy soldiers still standing stood little chance, not least because so many of their fellows had been drawn away in response to other attacks.

Kallen was right there with the troops, something which by all rights was utterly reckless and irresponsible considering her duties. She did not care and was one of the first through the breach. Her senses swept through the palace, picking up on enemy squads trying to muster a response to servants cowering in locked rooms hoping this would all just blow over. Little chance of that, though if they stayed where they were they might yet survive the day. They were not Kallen's concern however, her objective was a specific individual amongst the palace's residents. Well, as far as objectives that she had a specific interest in keeping alive.

Her quarry was very quickly located, not just because the physical description matched what Yang had given her and the debriefing provided by Xenos. No, the thing that truly made the person in question stand out was the, imaginative way in which he had been left restrained waiting for someone to stumble upon him.

 _NEMO, can you determine a way to disarm that bomb without killing the councilor?_

 _Yes your grace. I can walk you through the steps once you begin the process._

That was good. What little training Kallen had received in explosives as part of her armsman training was already telling her the bomb in question was a nasty piece of work, explicitly designed to make disarming it extremely difficult. She looked forward to putting a bullet in whichever sick bastard had decided to use it.

By now the palace guards were aware of the wall being breached. In European medieval warfare, such a practicable breach was the last instance in which the defenders would be given a chance to surrender. They were not in Europe however, and this was not the medieval era. The way that the Chinese soldiers seemed to be baying for their blood, Kallen was not sure quarter would have been offered anyway. That could become a problem if they got too trigger happy around Kallen's objective. Fortunately they were not the only ones Kallen had to rely upon.

"Sergeant, glad to see you decided to join the party," Kallen said as the marines caught up with her.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, your highness."

For all the frankness the marines were treating her, there was still that niggering bit of deference they insisted upon. That was perhaps inevitable considering the ingrained mentality towards Britannian nobility and royalty. Still the marines did not try to talk her out of advancing deeper, and they would soon prove handy indeed. Working her way through the mini-city, Kallen quickly reached the chamber of interest. Inside was tied down the person she had identified as Xia, at least provisionally. The man's face was pale and he was clutching something against his chest.

"You would be Councilor Xia Wang," Kallen said without preamble.

"I am he," Xia answered, a flicker of curiosity passing through his expression at hearing Chinese from the Caucasian looking woman. "I was not aware you spoke mandarin, Princess Kallen."

"My various talents are one reason her majesty keeps me around," Kallen said, kneeling by the man's side. "You have been stabbed."

Xia nodded with a wry smile. "A, parting gift from Cheng Zhong, as well as this, device. If I attempt to move it, I also remove the pressure keeping me from bleeding out."

"As well as set off the bomb," Kallen noted.

"Indeed," Xia said, with a hint of approval at Kallen's apparent insight.

"I can disarm it," Kallen said.

"That, will be difficult," the councilor said, indicating the binding that tied his hands to the bomb.

"Nothing worth doing isn't," Kallen said, drawing her knife.

Xia regarded her for a few moments before nodding. "I entrust my fate to your hands, your highness."

Kallen nodded. _Alright NEMO, how do I disconnect that bloody detonator?_

 _The trigger for the detonator is a break in the circuit connecting it to the button the councilor is pressing against his body. Your best option would be to disconnect the trigger itself by cutting the lowest red wire._

Obviously in an attempt to make the bomb harder to disarm, all of the internal wires were of the same color. Fortunately the bomb's designer had not counted on Kallen's preternatural abilities. The knight used her knife to pry off the cover to expose the interior. She then sliced through the wire NEMO indicated.

"Well that was easy."

Xia looked at her quizzically. "Are you, certain, that the bomb is disarmed?"

The knight then proceeded to cut off the binding that restrained Xia's hands.

"I die too if I'm wrong, no?"

The councilor arched an eyebrow but after a moment slowly, slowly, lifted the bomb. The crimson stain on his clothes quickly darkened further. The bomb itself however did not detonate. Xia let out a heavy sigh of relief before wincing from the pain.

"Sergeant," Kallen called out even as she cut through the rest of the rope tying Xia down. "Get the councilor patched up."

"Yes your highness," the marine said as he and another carefully maneuvered Xia to a more comfortable spot.

"The others," Xia began.

"Used the tunnel they were using you to block to escape," Kallen finished for him.

Xia chuckled. "Many talents indeed, your highness."

Kallen flashed a smile before proceeding to open said tunnel up. The hurried escape today was obviously the first time in a long time the place had been used, though there was surprisingly little dust in the corridor. Perhaps because it had previously been sealed tight enough to keep air out, seeing as there was still a staleness to the smell.

"Sergeant, one fireteam to keep the councilor safe, the other with me."

"Ma'am," the marine said, and proceeded to divide his troops. The sergeant of course followed after Kallen.

The other eunuchs were, not long gone, though they had tried to make the most of their head start well. At the same time seeing as they were traveling by foot and their obvious lack of fitness, they were not nearly as far ahead of Kallen as they needed to bell. Perhaps the designers of escape tunnel had been a bit too paranoid, putting the exit so far from the Forbidden City. Kallen broke into a quick trot, a pace the marines had no difficulties keeping up with. It took them barely twenty minutes before Kallen caught sight of the exit, as well as the bodies that were strewn about around it. All of them of the old councilors, at that. Now wasn't that interesting. Kallen set that thought aside until she was actually at the exit. No traps this time, all it took was a strong kick to get the hidden door open. The marines, not having had any warning what was coming, grimaced at the sight before them.

"What the Hel happened here? Umm, your pardon, highness."

"None needed," Kallen said as she surveyed the bodies more closely. "General Yang, can you hear me?"

"Barely," came a response nearly awash with static. "My men inform me you found and saved Councilor Xia before departing."

"I was chasing the other councilors," Kallen said, "and I've found, most of them."

"Ah," Yang replied. "I presume one is missing?"

"Quite," Kallen said, and proceeded to describe the features of those that lay dead at her feet.

"One's definitely missing," Yang said after she finished. "Cheng Zhong, the councilor in charge of China's internal security apparatus."

"Presumably letting him escape would be problematical," Kallen said.

"Indeed. Are you in a position to pursue further?"

"I'm going to need my helicopter again," Kallen said, relaying her present position. "Do you want him dead or alive?"

"Alive if possible, if only so we can properly hang him," Yang said. "Cheng has much to answer for. But were he to prove too difficult, none would shed any tears for him."

"Understood." Kallen closed the channel and glanced over at the others. "Feel up for some more hunting, boys?"

Mayhew cracked another grin. "Always, your highness. For a soldier you seem to know which way to hold a gun."

Kallen snorted. "And for navy equipment you marines seem to work pretty well on dry ground."

* * *

The sight that greeted Kallen when she stepped off the helicopter was a noticeably impatient Laura Arseid and a plainly exasperated Gino Weinberg. The knights in question were most definitely waiting for her and the young woman tried to keep her own expression blandly neutral as she approached them.

"Laura, Gino. I see you made it down."

Laura arched an eyebrow. "Your highness. Would it have been too much to ask for you to have waited until we were able to join you before harrowing off on some wild goose chase?"

Kallen glanced back at the helicopter where the trussed up Cheng was being unceremoniously hauled off. Wild goose chase was about right, though with her geass and NEMO's capabilities finding Cheng had not been too difficult. The guards accompanying the eunuch were not so numerous as to give Kallen any trouble either, so in most respects Laura should have had no reason to worry about the younger girl's safety. At the same time Kallen was prepared to admit that her running off like that did not make Laura's duties any easier. The way the older knight held herself, it was a remarkable facsimile of a mother scolding a naughty child.

"Sorry."

And Kallen was mirroring her by standing there fidgeting like a child caught red handed. Laura's expression did not soften, at least not right away. Finally the knight sighed, as if resigned to the fact that Kallen would get in trouble no matter how much she was scolded, and straightened.

"Well, now that we are here general, how may we be of assistance?"

Kallen smiled weakly. For Laura to revert to her military rank instead of her royal title indicated that she was, for the moment, forgiven for having left her fellow knights behind like that. Hopefully that forgiveness would extend to them not ratting her out to Euphemia, or prompting the empress to treat this as another teachable moment. Euphemia's lessons could be, almost insidious.

"General Yang requested that I meet with him once I returned," Kallen said, accepting Laura's kindness in moving on. "The two of you should probably also come with, seeing as he might wish to discuss matters of state."

To that Laura and Gino nodded. Kallen responded in kind and headed towards the palace's medical wing. With the Forbidden Palace secured, Yang had set up his command center there both because it did possess genuine command and control facilities but also for the symbolic value that came with possession of it. With the initial success of the coup, his faction now needed to legitimize their claim to power to avoid the country devolving into civil war. Having the empress in their protective custody helped, as did the deaths of the other eunuchs and Cheng's capture before the councilor could try to rally opposition. Now they needed to wait and see which way the rest of the country jumped.

Yang was not alone when they found him, he was seated next to the bed that was occupied by one Xia Wang, the only member of the high eunuchs that could claim any sort of authority at this point. And likely to be the only survivor outright in not too long. The general rose respectfully at Kallen's approach and when Xia moved to sit more upright the knight, and princess, held up a hand to forestall the motion.

"Medical conditions preempt any courtesies that I might be owed," Kallen said.

Xia smiled slightly and nodded. "You have my thanks again, your highness. For not just saving my life, but also the life of my empress and perhaps even China herself."

"I will accept the thanks for the first two," Kallen said. "It might be yet premature for the third." She looked over at Yang. "How are we doing?"

"Two thirds of the military have declared for us," Yang said. "I expect we will get much of the remaining third within the next week or so. Only a few units have openly come out in support of the high eunuchs, but with Cheng in custody their claim to legitimacy will not hold much weight."

"Good," Kallen said.

She had agreed to Yang's plan not just for the code after all, keeping China from falling into chaos, a chaos that would kill countless people and likely also spill over the borders, was almost as important a reason.

"The councilor and I have been discussing the terms of China's withdrawal from the war," Yang continued. "We felt it best to get that settled as quickly as possible."

Kallen nodded, aware that Laura and Gino both were observing the conversation intently. She and Yang had already come to an agreement about quite a few issues. India would be granted its independence, and Britannia would obtain unobstructed access to the Mongolian thought elevator for purposes of securing and studying it. In exchange the Empire would not demand any sort of indemnity or further territorial concessions, save for one.

"The general points that you and I have discussed, Xia also agrees are broadly acceptable. He also has a proposal regarding Singapore."

The knight, or rather princess in this case, turned her gaze over at the councilor. Singapore was indeed a sticking point, and not because Kallen herself particularly cared. Euphemia however seemed set on extracting some sort of concession over the city, a position that was more than a little confusing to her knight. Still in this case Kallen was prepared to follow her liege's wishes. Now she would see just how complicated that goal would be.

"Before I present my proposal, your highness, I just want to make clear that I understand the practical reality that China faces. Whatever our people's feelings, we would be lying to ourselves were we to claim that China was not losing the war. As such to be allowed to withdraw without further conflict with Britannia is already a concession on the Empire's part. I even understand that Britannia's domestic citizenry feel a need for a certain degree of vengeance, especially after what happened to your homeland's east coast. At the same time, as a councilor of China, I must also remain cognizant of how my fellow countrymen would feel about any arrangement that is arrived at with Britannia."

Kallen said nothing, indicating to the councilor that she would let Xia finish without interjection.

"India is lost to China, that only the most ardent nationalists could realistically argue against. I will not attempt to either. Singapore however, the situation has some differences. I recognize that Singapore is indeed presently under Britannian occupation, an occupation that the Empire's citizens would see as ample reason for their nation to be able to formalize its possession therein. But I would propose an alternative, one that I hope will convince you and your empress that it would bring longer term benefits to your Empire, even if it means a short term concession to China."

The knight cocked her head aside. This should prove interesting if nothing else.

"What I propose, your highness, is for China and Britannia to serve as joint suzerains to Singapore."

An eyebrow rose. This was indeed becoming interesting.

"Singapore would act as a, buffer, an intermediary, to our two nations, a place where peoples from both can meet and work together. Its security would be governed by both, and it would serve as a symbol of the benefits that would be achieved should our nations be at harmony."

Kallen spent several moments considering the nuances of Xia's proposal. There were a lot of details that would need to be worked out, not least getting Euphemia's agreement. And there was no way that having Singapore be answerable to two distinct sovereign governments would be as simple as Xia was making it sound.

"What exactly is this benefit that you are expecting the Empire to reap from such an arrangement?" Kallen asked.

"It would demonstrate that our two peoples can coexist," Xia answered. "Britannians and Chinese working and living side by side? In a city that sought to cater to the needs of both? It could serve as a model, for other ventures."

Gino and Laura both stiffened behind Kallen. The princess herself stood stock still as she made the inferences. Like Yang, Xia was also considering a future wherein Britannia's continued dominance would see it completely eclipse the other nations. It was not an admission of defeat, just a pragmatic admission that the nation that controls half the world's landmass and the resources that lay therein was a good friend to have, and maybe something more. In some ways the Chinese leaders were playing the really long game here. Kallen was almost curious if they knew what they were getting into trying to match wits with Euphemia. Seeing her and Yang across from each other at a negotiating table would certainly be, interesting.

"I will pass on the proposal to her majesty," Kallen said.

Yang and Xia nodded, and graciously did not attempt to press Kallen to also pass on any sort of endorsement. That probably was more indicative of their political acumen than outright courtesy on their part.

Before the conversation could continue however another woman strode into the room. Kallen momentarily wondered if C.C. was also here to browbeat her, but the expression on the other woman's face portended a different set of tidings.

"Something wrong?" Kallen asked.

C.C. glanced over at Kallen and Yang, and then at Xia. All involved got the message.

"Excuse us, your excellency," Yang said. "We will leave you to rest some more before coming up with more work to burden you with."

"How kind of you," Xia said with a knowing smile.

The others took their leave and C.C. led them to a private out of the way room. Kallen further confirmed that there was no one eavesdropping, after which the former witch conveyed the news she was bearing.

"The African thought elevator has been compromised. Suzaku has disabled the safeguards that previously locked it down."

Kallen inhaled sharply. "Hel."

* * *

It was a relatively quiet afternoon in Pendragon, and Euphemia and Milly were having a late lunch. The two young women's schedules were usually very packed and any slippage could see them miss the appointed time for meals. For Euphemia her minders were much more stringent about such a thing, concerns of her health were still very present, but even for the empress from time to time something absolutely demanded her attention and so required that other things be accommodated. Today was one such time, and by coincidence Milly had been similarly delayed, for the same reason actually, so the two enjoyed a meal together even as they continued discussing the topic that had so preoccupied them.

"Well I suppose it could be worse," Milly said somewhat tiredly. "At least that's another wetwork squad tracked down and, neutralized."

Permanently neutralized at that. It had not been Milly's intent to get drawn into the hunt for the rogue Inquisitio operatives. The untangling of her family's assets from the funds that those operatives used to draw upon however saw her become exposed to certain operational details to the point where it was hard for Milly not to further involve herself, especially if it might help bring these people to heel faster.

"And you are able to spend more time with Jusis," Euphemia said lightly.

Milly snorted, though she was more than prepared to concede the point. The, former noble scion was quite amicable as far as company went. Once one got past his guard he was remarkably sensitive, even kind. And Nina got along with him splendidly, which was also important.

"It would be easier to spend even more time with him if you didn't send him running all around the Empire," Milly responded. "Shouldn't the lord inquisitor's assistant be staying with the person he's supposed to assist?"

"In some respects, that is certainly true," Euphemia said. "But Jusis has turned into one of Brigadier Kessler's most able agents, and so he is often charged to act as the brigadier's eyes and ears whenever the latter cannot make a personal showing."

"And you're not worried in the least?"

Euphemia rolled her eyes. "Milly, if I were worried, I would have never put Jusis in a position that would allow him to recruit partisans of his own. And if he does end up marrying you and Nina, then he can well have Carolina back as a wedding gift."

Milly blinked. "Wait, what?"

"What what?"

The older girl wrinkled her nose. "You know exactly what what I'm talking about. What's this about giving Carolina back?"

"Milly, I currently have over half of the Empire's noble patents in my possession right now. Even ignoring the balance of power ramifications in the House of Lords, do you have any idea how much of an administrative demand that comes with?"

That, Milly had to acknowledge, was a good point. Her parents were busy as it was dealing with Michigan's affairs now that the province was her family's domain once more, and she knew that Cole's mother, Eve, was similarly preoccupied with Columbia's affairs. That was probably also why Euphemia had handed Virginia to the now Duke Rochester despite his appointment to her grandfather's cabinet. Still.

"That would end up putting two provinces into the hands of a single family," Milly pointed out. "Are you sure that's something you want to do?"

"That is only if you have a single child to serve as heir," Euphemia pointed out. "And knowing you, I somehow doubt that will be the case."

Milly spent several moments regarding Euphemia, whom was back to munching on her sandwich. The older girl finally settled on blowing a raspberry, which elicited the smirk the empress had previously been suppressing.

"Is that also why you're not worried about Cole and Kallen?" Milly said. "Because you expect Cole's sister to inherit the Duchy of Columbia?"

"I'm not worried about any of you," Euphemia said, "but in terms of the long term, yes, I expect that at least at the provincial level there will not be any consolidations."

"So does that mean you're not going to give Cole a province of his own?" Milly said with a teasing smile.

"No, a domain within the Japanese provinces should suffice," Euphemia said nonchalantly.

The smile dropped from Milly's face at that. The empress was being entirely serious.

"Aren't you, you know, planning a bit too ahead?" Milly queried.

"There is certainly the possibility that Cole may not survive the war," Euphemia said, and despite the calmness in her tone Milly could sense that such an outcome was something her empress very much wished to avoid on a personal level. "At the same time, the risks that he faces can be managed to minimize that possibility even without interfering with the duty he holds himself to." Euphemia met Milly's gaze. "And which he has no need to be informed of."

Milly got the hint. Euphemia was indeed pulling some strings to make sure that even though Cole could continue to serve, he would be kept relatively safe. That would undoubtedly piss the young man off to a certain extent, but what he did not know would not hurt or anger him. Hopefully. And in some ways Jusis was also enjoying similar patronage, seeing as Euphemia had elected to not send him with the rest of the Carolinian provincial guard overseas. Still, as with Cole, even managed risk was still risk. A thought occurred to Milly.

"Is that also why Rai is back here in Pendragon instead of following Kallen around."

"To an extent," Euphemia admitted, albeit somewhat reluctantly. "In Raibeart's case however, the decision was made jointly by myself and Kallen."

That saw Milly cock her head quizzically. "Kallen? Why would Kallen do that? Or is she also trying to play matchmaker."

"I do not believe so," Euphemia said thoughtfully. "I think there is something about Raibeart that Kallen knows and has elected not to share with me."

Milly's curiosity was well and truly piqued. "Really."

"I have elected to trust in her judgment," Euphemia said, smiling at the older girl's obvious disappointment, "and have also elected not to speculate as to what this information is. At the same time Kallen seems made no objections to my growing closeness to Raibeart, so I see no reason to hesitate either."

"Oh, so have you and he gotten busy yet?"

The smile on Milly's face was now wide enough to nearly split her face.

"Not as yet," Euphemia answered with surprising frankness, and then even pouted a bit. "The doctors are insisting I wait before any, strenuous physical activity."

The two girls looked at each other, and then both burst out into laughter.

"Oh gods, I can just imagine it, you talking about sex with your physician," Milly said. "That's, that's just, wow."

"My personal physician is a woman," Euphemia pointed out. "And as someone whom has worked with the imperial family for years, the issue of legacy has often been a topic that is broached."

"Still," Milly said before another burst of laughter escaped her.

Euphemia simply shook her head at the other girl's seeming lack of self-control. While waiting for Milly to regain said control she continued working away at lunch. Before that could occur however a knock sounded on the door to announce an intrusion. When the two looked over they saw it was Ruben himself that was entering.

"Apologies your majesty," Ruben said, and favored his granddaughter with a smile as well before his face adopted a more somber expression. "An envoy has arrived from the European Union and is requesting a meeting with you, personally."

An eyebrow arched upwards on Euphemia's face. Likewise on Milly's. China's withdrawal from the war was already an established fact by this point, but for the EU to respond this quickly suggested a nimbleness somewhat uncharacteristic of its bureaucracy. At the same time without China's support Europe had little chance of winning the war against Britannia, a point which was likely to have sharpened minds.

"Very well," Euphemia said, wiping her hands on the napkin. "Make preparations to receive him."

Ruben bowed slightly. "Yes your majesty."

* * *

The office that Euphemia was seated in was not one she used regularly. The absence of computer monitors and papers on the overly large desk made that obvious enough. Then there was the ridiculous size of the room itself, which might seem imposing but in the general case just meant a lot more walking to get from the door to the desk. The room still had its uses however, such as receiving persons whom the empress did not have reason or desire to meet in cozier settings.

The EU envoy was one such individual. And the fact that the man in question had been specifically presented as an EU envoy instead of as an envoy of one particular nation suggested he might actually speak for the Union as a whole instead of an individual state like the British foreign minister had. For their envoy the Europeans had dispatched Joseph Luns, the Dutch foreign minister. The Inquisitio's dossier on him noted that the man was a firm supporter of the EU as an institution, which was certainly a consideration in his selection. At the same time he was just the Dutch foreign minister, and whatever the Netherlands might have liked to think it was proportionally one of the smaller EU members, with the same proportionate amount of influence in the EU's policies. Or to put it another way, if the Netherlands did not like the direction the EU's other members took, it possessed few means of stopping them from unilaterally acting, whatever the letter and spirit of EU law might say.

The man that entered the office was smartly dressed with a neatly trimmed mustache. The furrow visible below his receded hairline made clear Luns knew just how difficult a task had been set before him, but the man still seemed determined to discharge his duty to the best of his personal ability. Euphemia could almost feel sorry for the man. But not enough to waver from her course.

When Luns stopped before Euphemia the man bowed respectfully. Euphemia returned the courtesy with a slight dip of her head.

"Your majesty, my thanks for agreeing to see me."

"Minister." And after a beat. "Please, be seated."

"Thank you your majesty."

Once Luns was seated Euphemia let the silence linger for a few seconds longer before addressing him.

"I understand that that you are here to convey a message from the European Union," she said. "Say your piece, and I ask that you be concise."

And not waste her time, in other words. Luns kept his expression masterfully neutral, he was if nothing else an experienced diplomat.

"Very well your majesty. The purpose of my visit is to see if Britannia would be amicable to a negotiated end to the current conflict, one that would see the dignities of our respective nations respected and serve as a foundation for lasting peace between our peoples."

In other words the Europeans still wanted to end this war without making the sort of concessions Britannia had previously demanded. Why they thought that would change with China withdrawing from the conflict Euphemia found hard to fathom. Perhaps it was something to do with democratically elected officials letting the fact that they happened to get more votes than their opponents go to their head and think anyone else needed to care a whit about what convenience or inconvenienced them.

"Whether the dignity of your people remains intact upon the conclusion of this war is irrelevant to me, Mr. Luns," Euphemia stated bluntly, "and to the Empire as a whole. My priority is seeing the account for the harm done to my people, my family, and my person be settled. If Europe wants peace, it must be prepared to meet the terms that I would set."

Luns' eyes flickered unhappily. He knew that several of the European governments considered the terms last delivered by Augustus Velaines, Euphemia's maternal uncle, to be unacceptable. The withdrawal of China, while painful, was still not enough to tilt some of those governments to swallowing the bitter pill that those concessions represented. Luns could also infer that Euphemia herself was aware of this, and that the empress' hardline approach was no bluff. The Empire would continue this war, despite the cost in blood and treasure, until such time as its terms were met, and that appeals to trying to reduce such costs would fall on deaf ears. Still it was not as if he had come here merely to have the same points repeated to him with nothing to show for it.

"Your majesty, I am sure you are aware that the European Union's decision to go to war against Britannia was motivated by fear that the Empire would eventually attempt to conquer our nations. Having seen the manner in which your government has treated with the Chinese Federation, I am at least personally hopeful that the Empire is not actually interested in the military conquest of Europe. If that is indeed the case, and if Britannia would be prepared to offer certain guarantees regarding respecting European sovereignty in the future, I believe that the terms the Empire is insisting upon, can actually be met."

Now that was an interesting tact to take, Euphemia had to admit. Of course it did hinge on Britannia not actually having territorial ambitions where Europe, or at least European dominion, was concerned.

"And what if the case was that Britannia now seeks outright territorial gains at the expensive of Europe?"

The actual temperature likely did not budge at all. And yet a chill seemed to settle within the room between the two.

"I think," Luns said, "your majesty, that I would consider very carefully as to what drives such a goal. Whether it is the need for a certain momentary satisfaction, or if there is an actual expectation that such gains would indeed be of benefit to the Empire in the long term. And whether those expectations are, realistic."

Luns obviously believed those gains would not be worth it, or at least he fervently wanted Euphemia to believe so. The problem for the Dutch foreign minister was that Euphemia knew, not just believed, but knew the expected costs and benefits of her course of action. She had calculated to a fine margin of error what they would be, and though the cost would be heavy, in time the benefits would indeed far outweigh them. It was not a cost that politicians whom were subject to the whim of populism could afford to stomach, but it was one that an empire could. And would.

"Mr. Luns. You have been remarkably frank with me, and for that you have my respect. As a demonstration of that respect, I will be equally forthright with you. The terms that Britannia will require be met for the conclusion of this war without further bloodshed have changed. They have changed because with the Chinese Federation's withdrawal, the full might of the Empire may now be turned towards Europe, and it is my belief that we would inevitably be able to dictate these and even greater terms from Europe's capitals anyway. As such the terms seek not to offer an olive branch, but to emphasize to your nations and peoples that you have lost this war. That this conflict's conclusion is not an amicable settlement between equals, but represents an acknowledgment that your continued survival is at Britannia's sufferance. If such an arrangement is incompatible with your nations' need for, dignity, then I am more than prepared to exact the full price that your dignity demands."

Luns' jaw tightened, in a mixture of anger but also immense worry.

"What, are these terms, your majesty?" the man forced himself to say.

Euphemia settled back into her own seat, clasping her hands in a relaxed poise.

"The terms are simple. The European Union is to pay Britannia an indemnity of one trillion pounds."

Luns outright choked at that. More the pity for him considering this was just the first item on the list.

"The EU is to withdraw from the Middle East and recognize Britannian sovereignty over the region. All European states are to renounce all claims to their respective colonial territories."

That one saw Luns' jaw drop. The first two items he had likely seen coming, even if the indemnity being demanded was twice that of the original number named by Augustus. The third was new however, and was one that would actually hurt the Netherlands as well seeing as it possessed several such territories in Africa. Then there were all the other nations with similar claims abroad, including Belgium, one of the Netherland's traditional allies. Getting agreement to the previous terms would already have been difficult enough, but this new term would make it near impossible. And Euphemia was still not done yet.

"And the nations that occupy the British Isles, such as Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland, are to surrender all sovereignty and accept incorporation into the Holy Britannian Empire."

No sound escaped Luns. No breath nor sigh nor cough. The man appeared to be in outright shock and a full minute passed before he even managed to blink. When Luns finally recovered, his motions suffered from a certain lingering stiffness.

"Your majesty," he managed. "Those are not terms for peace. They are an invitation for greater bloodshed."

"That they are, Mr. Luns," Euphemia said, surprising the man. "But the greater blood that will be shed will not be Britannian blood, but European."

End of Chapter 118

There, you all have the basic in-universe BS explanation for why Britannia uses Latin so much.

Kallen's power is, starting to become a gamebreaker. Still she can only be in one place at a time and until she actually gets a code she can still be killed. These preclude her going in and fixing every problem, even assuming her skillset is applicable to a particular problem. It just happened to be so this time around.

Note that not once does Kallen ever refer to the marines as soldiers. I'm told marines take offense to being so referred. Ahem. Kallen herself has predominantly worked in an army hierarchy and so has ingrained more of their culture.

And Euphemia delivers her terms. She's really not giving the Europeans any opportunity to get out of this with any shred of pride intact. And the fact of the matter is, the Europeans do not as a practical measure have any way of stopping Britannia. We'll see how high the body count gets.

Anyway, drop a line if you have questions or are otherwise enjoying it. With the next chapter we move into the semi-final arc of the story. And after that, I'll be FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE….to work on _A Trail of Tears_ and _A Call to Duty_. Blarg.


	120. Chapter 119

_When the Empress Euphemia's ultimatum was delivered to the European Union by the Netherland's foreign minister, Joseph Marie Antoine Hubert Luns, the reactions of the various governments ranged from incredulous to despair to outright fury. More than one government official made the fanciful suggestion that her majesty was perhaps not sound of mind or did not fully understand the ramifications of her position. By the time the Britannian war machine began its methodical march across Europe, it was far too late for these men and women to recognize their mistake, or the irrelevance of what Euphemia's state of mind was. Prior to this event however several European leaders publicly asserted their intent to continue the fight against Britannia, to preserve the ideal of liberal democracy that the EU represented. The most prominent and public of these announcements was made by Charles de Gaulle, the president of France, to the European parliament as the new year dawned. A translation of his speech follows._

" _It has oft been repeated that the war with Britannia is folly. That defeat at the Empire's hands is inevitable. With the withdrawal of the Chinese Federation, the chorus of these words have grown louder and louder. And yet must defeat be inevitable? Is there truly no hope? No! I say this as one whom has full knowledge of the facts. The singular unity of Britannia may seem imposing. May seem implacable. But we are not alone. We whom stand here this day represent the plural unity of Europe, of Africa, and even of Asia. We have met and matched Britannia in the field countless times already, and we can, we will, continue to do so. For the war we fight now is truly a world war, a war wherein the fate of the world will be decided. What future will our children have to look forward to? One where the heel of the Empire's jackboot is pressed upon their throats? Or one where the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity underpin a just and fruitful society? I know full well what future I wish for my children, and I will fight for it to my last breath. I would ask those whom would share such a future to join me, wholeheartedly, in this great struggle."_

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 119

Quod supplantandum, prius bene sciendum

Euphemia finished reading the translation of the speech the French president had delivered to the European parliament and set it aside. There was a slight stiffness to the words, but that was likely a consequence of its literal rendering into English. The original French likely flowed more smoothly, though having only a bare minimum understanding of the language Euphemia would not have been able to read an original transcript. Still it was useful to have at least some idea of what the European political leadership's public stance was. And now that she did know it, she moved onto the other matters demanding her attention.

And right on time the doors opened and the members of the imperial war staff entered. All stopped before Euphemia and bowed. At the nod she granted them in response they settled into seats around the conference table, the minimum of ceremony required out of the way.

"Your majesty," Marshal of the Empire Zechs Vander began, "with the withdrawal of the Chinese Federation from the conflict, preparations are now underway for our campaign against the European Union. There are three principal developments that we need to bring you up to speed with, as well as a proposed operation that entails a high risk, high reward proposition."

Euphemia nodded, all the prompting Zechs needed to continue.

"The first matter is the current situation in the Siberian theater. While Vladivostok itself has fallen, Russian forces continue to mass in their far east territories and the fighting has drawn in essentially the bulk of Sixth Army now that the ceasefire with the Chinese has allowed for its redeployment. The divisions originally earmarked to rotate through Eighth Army have also been transferred to the Siberian theater, and all indications are the fighting there will continue to tie down those forces already committed. In at least one respect this is to our advantage, as every Russian division we can tie down in Siberia is one less that can be dispatched to meet our forces in Europe proper. The downside is that even if we defeat Russia's field armies, their industrial heartland is still far to the rear and we would need to advance across all of Siberia to truly threaten them. Such an advance, while possible, would be highly unpalatable."

That Euphemia already understood well. As skilled as Britannia's quartermasters were, even they would find it difficult to support an advance across thousands of miles of wilderness. The Russians were unlikely to be so obliging as to leave the Trans-Siberian Railway intact for Britannian usage either, and that was still one railway versus the colossal needs of a modern mechanized force. On the other hand forcing the Russians to come meet the Empire would shift the logistical burden to them. To get the Russians to actually commit more forces would require Britannia to at least give the impression that they would advance. It was going to be a very tricky dance not to overextend their forces while also not giving the Russians the chance to amass a decisively powerful counterpunch.

"That being said, we expect at least some of the logistical burden to be met by the ramping up of manufacturing in Japan," Zechs said. "The Baron Stadtfeld has done a remarkable job mobilizing the area's population and businesses and directing them in meeting the war's needs. While it is not really my place, I do believe your majesty made a masterful choice in your selection of viceroy."

Euphemia allowed herself to smile at Zechs' praise. It really was not the man's place, but it spoke of their relative closeness that the marshal would not only say it but also say it in front of the rest of the war staff. And that Euphemia would let him say it like so. Of course Zechs was not just offering his approval to comfort Euphemia, he was also making explicit his support of her policy decisions, to her and the others attending.

"That about sums up the Siberian situation. In the short term we do not expect any major breakthroughs on the part of ourselves or the Russians, the fighting will be intense but within Britannia's means to support even with our other commitments." Zechs regarded his empress speculatively. "Unless the shift in China's diplomatic stance has yet to reach its conclusion?"

"The Chinese Federation's withdrawal from the war is near total," Euphemia said. "They will not be participating in any operations against their former allies."

Zechs nodded. "Understood your majesty. In that case I have the full analysis behind that conclusion with me, along with our numbers for those other commitments, and will leave them with your majesty for you to examine at your convenience."

The empress nodded again. She would indeed be reviewing them, personally at that, but Euphemia doubted she would reach any different conclusions. One thing about the Britannian war staff was that it took its responsibility to offer accurate and impartial conclusions seriously and it emphatically did not attempt to fudge numbers just to match whatever political agenda the Empire's leadership might possess. Such outright lying only undermined the military's credibility, something that the generals and admirals did not take for granted.

"Moving on, the next issue is our preparations to retake the Middle East and to seize an African beachhead. For the former General Johnson will provide the details."

Euphemia's gaze shifted to Harold Keith Johnson, the army chief of staff.

"Your majesty," he began. "Mobilization and training of the units earmarked for Third Army has been completed and we are already moving divisions across the Pacific. The intent is to use Perth as the initial jump off point, at least until the Singapore facilities have been sufficiently upgraded to handle the necessary traffic."

And there was where one of the qualifiers for 'near total' for China's withdrawal from the war came into play. Britannia's desire for Singapore was not just because of the port city's uses in the postwar environment, but also because it would serve as a very convenient transit point during the war itself. The Chinese had been unhappy with this particular stipulation, but on this point Euphemia had refused to budge, so during times of war Singapore could be employed by either of its suzerains for military purposes. This of course raised the curious question of what would happen if Britannia and China ever found itself at odds again in the future, but the entire point of Singapore's joint custody was based on the hope that that would not happen. That was in all likelihood a naïve presumption, but if Kallen's insinuations that Yang was seriously contemplating laying the groundwork for a future union between their two nations was correct, perhaps that was less naïve than at first glance. Whether unification was at all possible was a whole other matter entirely, one to be left for future consideration.

"European naval activity in the Indian Ocean has been tepid," Harold said, nodding over to his naval counterpart to indicate the level of confidence Euphemia could infer from the statement, "but the EU has actually been increasing its ground force levels in the Middle East. While the Germans lost a good chunk of their panzer hummels in their failed Korean intervention, they still have plenty of conventional armored units that can be committed. We expect that the bulk of the opposition we will face will be composed of those units, with units from a few smaller nations supplementing those numbers.

"A consequence of our control over the Indian Ocean is that we are actually capable of supplying our forces with traditional aquatic ships. The initial landing will almost certainly still require the Naglfar transports, but once we have a beachhead they can be diverted to other uses. This is however contingent on us being able to seize a port to unload the ships. We have several potential options, including a repeat of the original Area 18 campaign plan. There is a certain appeal to following the same path of advance even if we cannot expect to match the original pace of that advance. At the same time the war staff is cognizant that the changed circumstances in the Middle East might preclude adopting the previously tread path and are drafting contingencies for alternate approaches."

There was of course no way to guarantee the staff would be able to plan for all eventualities, but the contingencies that it did try to account for would serve at least a baseline to work from when such plans inevitably failed to survive contact with the enemy.

"The return of the Empire to the Middle East is presently designated Operation Sabine. The target of the initial landing is the port city of Muscat, the seizure of which will provide us with a port to supply our troops. In addition to this, the Seabees, ah, the Naval Construction Battalions," Harold clarified at Euphemia's quizzical expression, "have been preparing a set of portable harbors that we can deploy at suitable locations. These temporary structures will not be able to support all types of freighters, but they should provide at least an interim solution if Muscat is able to hold out or it takes longer to put its facilities back into operation than we would like."

Which meant if the concept worked, Britannia would be able to both land substantial reinforcements and keep them supplied. If the Empire could concentrate sufficient numbers, then it stood a substantial chance of smashing the European formations that would be arrayed against it.

"The projected naval fire support that will be available from Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Fleet should also be sufficient to provide local superiority for the initial beachhead," Harold said, again glancing over at the admiral to his left. "Presently our intelligence suggests our primary opposition will be the Russian Black Seas Fleet, while the other European naval powers seem intent on keeping their ships in reserve to oppose our African lands, which I will discuss next."

Harold waited a moment for Euphemia to nod, indicating she did not have any immediately questions, before proceeding.

"Presently Fifth Army is the force earmarked for the initial landing of Morocco, designated as Operation Torch. We expect this landing to be far more heavily contested by the European navies for reasons of proximity if nothing else. In light of this expected opposition, Admiral Mountbatten and the naval staff have advanced a proposal."

With that attention now fell on the earl.

"Your majesty," Louis began. "In preparation for the trans-Atlantic invasion of North Africa, the naval staff has performed a detailed analysis of what assets are available to the Europeans to resist a landing attempt. Several of the Western European nations are, if not exactly major maritime powers, still possessed of a credible number of modern combatants. We expect the bulk of the enemy combat strength to be concentrated in the German, Italian, Spanish, and French navies. While the combined elements of Second and Fourth Fleet, as well as whatever portion of Eighth Fleet might be available, should be sufficient to engage and defeat such opposition, our chances of victory would be significantly enhanced if we were able to defeat the various component navies before they had a chance to concentrate."

"And this would be possible?" Euphemia said.

"We believe it to be so, your majesty," Louis said, "with the proper employment of Eighth Fleet."

And therein lay the high-risk counterbalance to the high reward of neutralizing the bulk of Europe's naval strength. Losing Eighth Fleet would significantly limit Britannia's ability to employ the flying transports since its ships were the only ones able to provide the required escort. At the same time not risking Eighth Fleet kind of missed the whole reason the fleet was built in the first place.

"You wish to strike at the European naval bases," Euphemia surmised.

"Yes your majesty."

Euphemia leaned back into her seat, her eyes momentarily losing focus as the numbers flitted through her head.

"Ambitious, admiral. Explain to me how this gambit is to be justified."

"Your majesty, at present the European navies have remained distributed at their various national bases. Two of those bases are within striking range of Eighth Fleet without intruding too deeply into European territory, the Spanish base at Rota and the French base at Mers El Kébir."

Euphemia frowned thoughtfully. "The latest brief on the matter indicated the French have managed to commission twelve new ships since the destruction of the Toulon arsenal. Are they all being held at Mers El Kébir?"

"Yes your majesty," Louis confirmed. "The main French yards are at Brest, and a raid there would be welcome in its own way. The French however have decided to keep their remaining surface combatants at their Algerian base." Likely because they did not want a repeat of Toulon, Louis did not say aloud. "The number of effective combatants is lower than their total available ships due to their manning difficulties, but if we give them enough time they are likely to be able to find and train the necessary crews."

"And with the Spanish and French navies so neutralized, Italy would be in possession of the single largest contingent of surface combatants," Euphemia said.

"Yes, your majesty."

"Hmm, a shame Taranto is likely too far in to also be included."

The almost whimsical tone elicited smiles from all of the officers present. Their empress had spirit, that much was clear enough.

"How much of Eighth Fleet are you proposing be committed for this attack, admiral?"

The smiles disappeared as they got back to business.

"All of it, your majesty," Louis replied.

Euphemia again took a brief moment to consider the ramifications. Britannia had lost no further ships since the Battle of Chosin and the time since the Battle of Luoyang had allowed the newly commissioned destroyers to work up to a much greater level of readiness. That put the total count of ships to seventeen; eleven destroyers, four battleships, and two carriers. That might not seem like a lot, the portion of the French Force d'action navale lost at Toulon had been nearly double that, but the firepower those seventeen ships represented well eclipsed most of the potential surface opponents it might face. Those opponents were however not necessarily the only ones that would be present.

"Do you believe the two carrier wings will be sufficient to meet the air units that the Europeans are sure to deploy against Eighth Fleet?" Euphemia asked.

There was no doubt whatsoever that the Europeans would muster every plane they could to meet Eighth Fleet if it dared venture that deeply into their airspace. And as powerful as the fleet was, weight of numbers could still bring it down.

"That would depend on the speed with which the Europeans are able to react, your majesty," Louis said. "We estimate that it would take the Europeans would need approximately an hour to vector in enough aircraft to actually stand a chance of doing significant damage to Eighth Fleet. If they were willing to hit our ships with fewer planes they could cut that time down significantly, but that would permit us to defeat them separately in detail."

"And how far out beforehand would they be able to detect our ships?" Euphemia asked.

The empress had a point there, all of the officers knew. If the Europeans had enough forewarning, that hour would not be nearly as much of a window, if at all, that the admiral's previous remark suggested.

"The Europeans possess OTH, over the horizon, your majesty, radar technology that has a detection range of approximately three thousand miles," Louis responded.

Euphemia tried not to snort. At that sort of range the Europeans would know basically immediately the moment Eighth Fleet launched from the east coast. They would most certainly have their fighters ready to go. Before she could say something however Curtis LeMay, the air chief marshal, cleared his threat.

"If your majesty would pardon me, I might have a solution to that particular problem."

"By all means."

"Your majesty is aware that the air force employed a stealth bomber when deploying the atomic bomb against the Toulon arsenal. Well, we've continued work on the program and now have three prototypes fitted out for combat use. We could use those bombers to neutralize the OTH radar facility the Europeans have, significantly reducing the amount of forewarning they would get."

"Is that actually feasible?" Euphemia asked.

The question was directed at all of them, and this one Zechs took.

"The only OTH facility the Europeans possess is located at the French Cazauz Air Base, southwest of Bordeaux. The Project Hades prototypes likely could penetrate European airspace again, but the problem remains one of range. The Europeans are almost certainly going to pounce any tankers that we bring close to their airspace."

Curtis grimaced unhappily but did not try to contradict Zechs' assessment. Likely because the man knew his superior was correct.

"A shame that the prototypes cannot be launched from our carriers," Euphemia said lightly.

Her eyes however were fixed on the officers of the war staff, noting the speculation that was in their eyes. Zechs, Louis, and Harold all glanced over at Curtis.

"Is it possible?" Zechs asked.

Curtis grimaced again. "Maybe. Maybe they could be launched, if the carriers were up high enough. They sure as Hel won't be able to land though, pardon me, your majesty."

"Landing won't be necessary if we have tankers with Eighth Fleet protecting them," Louis said, his voice growing more enthused with every word. "I think we can do it, your majesty."

While Curtis' own expression was starting to match Louis' enthusiasm, Harold and Zechs remained thoughtfully composed. It seemed the marshal would be the level head Euphemia would need to keep the heads of her navy and air force reined in.

"I want a complete analysis of the feasibility," Euphemia said. "Losing one of these bombers in a manner that would allow the Europeans to examine it would be almost as bad as losing Eighth Fleet."

"We will see to it, your majesty," Zechs assured her.

"Good. Now, were there other matters to discuss?"

"Yes your majesty," Zechs said.

In truth there always would be, Euphemia knew. It was all about working through these matters in manageable chunks. Now to work through one more.

* * *

As a child Kallen had grown up in the concrete jungle of Tokyo. That did not mean that she failed to appreciate the majesty of nature, and even in the dead of winter there was a certain eerie beauty to the plains that surrounded the Mongolian thought elevator. As they approached the location on the helicopter, she had plenty of time to enjoy the view even as she chatted with Yang.

"So you're sure that whatever safeguards you put in place will keep Suzaku out from the Indian thought elevator?"

"I have spent a long time preparing for clashes with other code bearers, your highness," Yang replied. "The Central African thought elevator possessed only one layer of active defenses. The Indian and Mongolian thought elevators are possessed of considerably more layers, and more robust ones at that. The bearer that had laid claim to the Central African and Middle East thought elevators perished some time ago in a confrontation with another bearer."

Yang's gaze drifted towards C.C. but the woman did not deign to acknowledge the attention. Kallen raised an eyebrow. How exactly did code bearers fight? She supposed she would learn soon enough. The helicopter descended and within a few moments it was resting before the structure. Kallen's Blackhawk was not the only one, several others were right behind carrying parts of her battalion and elements of Loki Regiment. While she dealt with the interior of the thought elevator, they would be laying the foundations of a proper defensive perimeter around the site. The days of treating these structures as just archeological curiosities were well and truly over.

Besides Yang and C.C., Anya, Fie, Gino, and both Lauras would also be accompanying Kallen into the thought elevator. Some were there to make sure Kallen did not go off on another reckless adventure, others in pursuit of their own goals. Hopefully achievement of those goals would not be mutually exclusive. Kallen wanted to be able to trust them, but there was no point in taking foolish risks. Her geass was turned on to max sensitivity and she was following every motion around her, even though whatever Lelouch had done to his comrades offered them a bit of shielding from Kallen's power. Still with the other eyes around them it was still possible to know exactly where they were relative to her, and if they were preparing some-

The door had just closed behind them in the thought elevator when a blade was thrust through the air and nearly pierced Kallen's skull. The knight was just barely able to dodge, her katana ringing as it was drawn from its scabbard, and metal sounded as she brought it up to deflect. The heavyset man that was now before her grunted, apparently not bothered in the least by his failure to skewer her. From her geass Kallen could see the others all reach for their weapons, and stop when both Yang and C.C. raised a hand. Great. So this was some sort of test. Well, seeing as failure apparently amounted to death, she had best succeed.

The man she was fighting was fairly large, his eyes meeting hers with unflinching determination. The two slowly circled each other, looking for any sort of opening. There was a ferocity within the tensed muscles, an eagerness to leap forth but also a patience to not act too precipitously. Yet the man's eagerness seemed to eventually win out as he launched the next attack. Kallen was ready, parrying the thrust-except not as her opponent used sheer brute force to push through her guard. And then he was upon her, and Kallen reacted in pure instinct. Her leg swept upward and a distinct and very uncomfortable crack sounded. The man's eyes widened and he toppled over as all of the men present winced in sympathy. Kallen just stared blanking at him for several moments, sword still in hand. She kept it drawn, just in case.

"Temujin," Yang called out. "That is enough."

The man whose name was apparently Temujin slowly, very slowly, climbed back up. He scowled at Yang and then Kallen, and then gave the young woman a grudging smirk as he sheathed his sword. Kallen still waited a few moments more before doing likewise. Looking over at Yang, but not exactly taking her gaze off of Temujin, she frowned.

"Care to explain?"

"I had notified the thought elevators guardians that we would be coming," Yang said. "It seems Temujin decided to make use of the opportunity for some, exercise."

The smirk grew a bit wider on Temujin's face. As for Kallen the name Yang kept using kept tickling her memories. Several of her companions seemed to also recognize it. She knew she had heard it before somewhere, but it was just beyond her reach. She finally caved.

 _NEMO, does the name Temujin mean anything?_

 _Temujin is the name the historical figure Genghis Khan was born with._

Kallen joined the others in looking over at the bearded figure. This man was Genghis Khan? The Mongol warlord that had united the nomadic tribes and turned them into one of the largest empires in history?

"How?" Kallen managed. "Are you a code bearer too?"

Having another code bearer running around was bad enough. Having that code bearer be Genghis Khan however.

Temujin chuckled. When he spoke his words were utterly foreign to Kallen's ears. And yet she still understood them.

"Were I so, but my master was defeated by the Magician of Penglai before I could seize the boon. Now I am but a mere shadow, bound to do his bidding."

Kallen looked back over at Yang. "So there was another code bearer?"

"There were nine lineages originally," Yang said. "Or rather nine that survived whatever cataclysm destroyed the ancient civilization that birthed code and geass. Each was charged with minding one of the thought elevators, but over time the various bearers drifted from their original charge. Or perhaps their descendants did. Some, abandoned their duties. Others sought to fulfill some grand ambition that required them to seize control of all the thought elevators, and the codes associated with them."

"And Temujin's, master, was one of them?" Kallen asked. "Or were you the aggressor in this confrontation."

Yang chuckled dryly. "I assure you Kallen, I did not fire the first shot, so to speak. In fact Temujin's appearance as a geass wielder required that I intervene yet again after just having selected geass wielders to help China against the Jurchens. It was only later that I learned the Jurchens were but one of many pawns used by my opponent in his quest for global domination."

"Ambitious," Kallen remarked. "So who exactly was this opponent of yours, that he could set loose upon the world the Mongol hordes?"

How Temujin understood her Kallen did not know. That he did understand she did not doubt, especially with the way he smirked at her mention of those hordes.

"I doubt the name itself would mean anything to you," Yang said. "He called himself Tngri, the supreme god of the Mongolian pantheon. He had been active for close to a millennium prior to helping establish the Mongol Empire."

"An Empire that would have stretched the globe had the Magician not intervened."

Considering the Mongols had made it all the way to Europe before falling into infighting, they stretched quite far enough in Kallen's opinion. A thought occurred to her.

"This Tngri. Was he also responsible for Attila's rise?"

"He was," Yang said approvingly. "In fact Attila's campaign to conquer Europe was part of his effort to gain access to the London and Middle East thought elevators. And where Attila and the Huns failed, the Mongols nearly succeeded when they took Baghdad. Fortunately by the time that happened I had already neutralized Tngri, so he was not able to access the thought elevator located there."

Kallen chewed over all this information. "But did he gain control of the Indian thought elevator?"

"He did," Yang said. "And he also tried to use the Mongols to conquer Japan to gain access to the Kamine Island thought elevator."

Kallen nodded in understanding. And then frowned. "Does that mean, Penglai is Kamine?"

Yang smiled slightly. "Perceptive. And yes, that is so."

"But there's no mountain there," Kallen pointed out. "Well, not really a mountain there."

"Now why would I reveal to others the means to find my most prized possession?" Yang said.

That Kallen had to admit was a good point.

"Still that little bit of duplicity seems to have run its course, especially considering I lost control of the thought elevator a good eighteen years ago."

Kallen's eyes narrowed again as she regarded Yang. "What do you mean?"

Yang smirked again. "All in good time, your highness. For now though perhaps we should get back to your original question, regarding how Temujin is here despite having died so many centuries ago."

Kallen's gaze shifted to the Mongol before it returned to Yang. The general, or magician, or whatever he wanted to call himself, might find his loss of a thought elevator amusing, but Kallen was not prepared to be so nonchalant about it. Still she was prepared to humor him, for now.

"Alright, lay it on me."

"This way," Yang said as he stepped deeper into the chamber.

Kallen and the others followed, and quickly found themselves in the company of several other individuals beyond Temujin. All of them were Asiatic in features, and several were visibly armed, in one fashion or another. There stood another bearded, heavily built man, except leaning against his form was a massive poleaxe with a crescent curved blade at the top. And there, a much thinner figure, but still bearded, and cooling himself with a feather fan. Kallen felt as if she should be able to infer the identities of these individuals were she a more astute student of history. As it was she still needed to cheat.

 _NEMO, can you identify any of these persons?_

 _Guan Yu. Zhuge Liang. Yue Fei. Xin Qiji. Che-_

 _Alright, alright, that's enough,_ Kallen cut the AI off.

 _You did ask_ , NEMO responded blandly.

 _Yes. Yes I did_ , Kallen was more than prepared to admit.

And some of them were even names she recognized. Guan Yu of course, and the legendary Zhuge Liang. Two men whose actions helped preserve the Han dynasty, even if the succession was shifted to a different branch of the Liu family. She wondered what era those names she did not recognize came from. Perhaps from the time of the Mongols? This time Kallen refrained from asking NEMO.

"You already know that a geass wielder shares a connection with the code bearer that they formed a contract with," Yang began. "This connection also brings you into contact with C's world, and with the system that the thought elevators are a part of."

Kallen tilted her head quizzically. "I thought the thought elevators were just a connection to C's world?"

"It would be more accurate to say that the thought elevators make use of C's world," Yang said. "That they create a bridge to humanity's subconscious mind is an effect of this use, but not the prime cause or motivation."

"The thought elevators provided code bearers the ability to manipulate the physical world," Yang continued, holding out his hand. "They could use it to create." A wooden stick materialized and he clasped his hand about it. "Reshape." The stick shifted, turning into a sword with the hilt positioned correctly in Yang's grip. "And even destroy." The sword collapsed into what looked to be grains of sand, falling down upon the ground but disappearing before they actually hit. "To do all this however, one needs to be able to exactly describe from start to end the state of the matter one wants to manipulate. For anything more complex than, say, a lightshow." A ball of fire suddenly erupted in Yang's hand before quickly flashing out. "No single human mind is capable of such precise computations. That is what the thought elevator system is for, to supplement the necessary computational power to perform more complex calculations."

"So, the thought elevators are just, giant computers?" Kallen said somewhat dubiously.

Yang cracked another patient smile. "It took me quite some time to understand what the thought elevators were doing, but yes. They form part of a computer, one more advanced and more powerful than anything modern man has conceived of. And they make use of all humanity as the computational medium to perform these calculations."

Kallen heard every word Yang was saying. She was however not sure she understood them. The sheer magnitude of what the general was insinuating was just so, insane. So outside the scope of her own personal experiences. And yet was that not already true for the code and geass itself? Kallen looked over at the various historical figures gathered about.

"So what about them then?" she said, trying to settle on a topic that she hoped would be a bit smaller in scope, a bit easier to understand. "How are they here?"

"That goes back to the matter of the connection geass wielders possess," Yang said. "As I mentioned, geass wielders possess an indirect link to C's world via their code bearers, but also through the thought elevators their code bearer is synchronized with. The thought elevator system creates a, copy, of every piece of information that describes these geass wielders. The information is complete enough that one can, execute, I believe the term is, the data, and have an identical facsimile of those individuals."

It took a few moments for Kallen to parse the jargon. From the gasps that sounded from the others, they grasped the ramifications just a bit more quickly than her. Kallen was not far behind as she inhaled sharply.

"Are all geass wielders so, copied, by the thought elevators?"

Yang nodded.

Kallen looked over at Annie, Fie, and Laura. The way they met her gaze made clear they knew that she knew exactly what they were thinking. Lelouch was dead. But a copy of him might yet exist somewhere in the thought elevator.

"Is it possible for these, facsimiles, to exist outside the thought elevator?" Kallen asked.

"Not as far as I am aware of," Yang answered.

Kallen furrowed her brow as she looked back over at Yang. The less than unequivocal response was not assuring in the least. It also suggested that though Yang himself lacked the knowledge of how to manifest these facsimiles in the physical world, he possessed suspicions that it might well be possible.

 _NEMO, were the people of your time aware of these, copies?_

 _The understanding in my timeplane was that because they served as bridges into C's world, the thought elevators granted access to the mnemonic data of all humans. General Yang's remarks however indicate that there is something distinct about the mnemonics of geass wielders and code bearers._

"General Yang, a question," Laura the knight spoke up before Kallen could muster one of her own.

"By all means," Yang responded.

The knight dipped her head slightly. "You said that all geass wielders essentially have a copy of themselves in the thought elevators. Presumably that also applies to Kallen?"

A curse escaped Kallen's lips. Now why had she not thought of that. Her gaze was now affixed to Yang, waiting for an answer.

"There is presumably such a copy of her highness," Yang answered with remarkable sanguinity, "as there is a copy of myself. There however seems to be some sort of, lockout, I suppose is the best word for it, that precludes the ability to manifest a facsimile of a living geass wielder. I am not clear on the exact limitations therein, it is just something that I encountered when I, well, got curious and tried to activate my own copy."

Curiosity. That one trait of mankind that was both virtue and bane. Still Kallen could take some comfort in Yang's words and be confident that there was not another version of her running around. That would have been weird on so many levels, even ignoring the question of whether that version should be considered an actual person or not. She looked over at the historical figures. Like whether they should be as well.

Yang seemed to pick up on Kallen's disquiet and offered what was likely meant as a reassuring smile.

"The individuals you see before you, they can be considered people, but also at the same time not. Once their original versions passed away, the data that compose them became effectively, static. Despite the fact that they are standing here about you, the things that they nominally experience is no longer able to influence their thought processes. What they believed in at death, they believe even now in this strange afterlife. It is, not exactly any sort of life that could be recognized as living."

Meant to be, but Yang's words offered very little in the way of actual comfort. For now though it would have to suffice. Still that did leave one other immediate matter unresolved.

"Can any thought elevator bring up these, copies?" Kallen asked.

In other words, was it possible for a copy of Lelouch to be activated. If it was, then the whole arrangement with the former prince's compatriots might need to be heavily rethought. It already needed reconsideration just due to the existence of the copy. Or backup. Or whatever technical jargon was appropriate for this. Kallen was not an engineer, her job was usually to break things instead of making them.

"There is a degree of compartmentalization that happens with the thought elevators and the code bearers and geass wielders associated with them," Yang answered. "In the case of C.C. here, her thought elevator is the London one. I cannot remotely access the data associated with it without her permission. And though this Suzaku has disabled some of the safeguards, the ones regarding access permissions remain intact."

So Lelouch was still out of reach. For now. Kallen frowned.

"But wait, C.C.'s code was destroyed," she pointed out.

"That be so, but tis possible for one to open the lambent by hand," C.C. said.

"Direct access by another code bearer, assuming that bearer could overcome the various security measures, would do it," Yang elucidated. "Presumably it is how Suzaku was able to break into the Central African thought elevator as well, though based on what you have said his artificial code is not quite up to the task of accessing all of a thought elevator's capabilities."

Kallen nodded. "But what he can do is already bad enough."

The knight then turned to Lelouch's compatriots. After a moment she got straight to the point.

"Are you and the others going to attempt to bring Lelouch back."

Laura noticeably glowered at her but a hand on her shoulder restrained her before she could respond. That responsibility fell to Annie, the one whom had reached out.

"As General Yang has made clear, these, copies, are not the real thing. Furthermore while they may exist, that existence cannot be termed actually living. The best way for us to honor Lelouch and his dream is to keep any such copy on ice."

It was a measured response, and with their shielding Kallen could not instantaneously tell if Annie was lying. The look on Laura's face though seemed one of genuine outrage at Kallen's suggestion. And Fie was also giving her an annoyed look. In that respect at least Kallen needed to give Lelouch some credit, the companions he chose seemed to genuinely hold to their convictions, and his. It would have to do for now, but she would need to have a long talk with Raibeart when she returned to Pendragon.

"All of these, abilities," Kallen said, turning her attention back to Yang. "Or functions, I suppose. They all are potentially very powerful if used carefully. But they still don't answer the question of, what is this entire system actually for? There has to have been a purpose, to marshal the resources to create these fantastical things. What was that purpose?"

"I am afraid I do not know," Yang said frankly. "By the time I acquired my code, we bearers were already several generations removed from the original nine that were actual members of the civilization that built the system. If there was some grand purpose behind it all, it has been lost to the mist of time."

"Not exactly encouraging," Kallen said dryly, and then cocked her head aside. "Should not the code bearers that passed on also have, copies, of themselves in here? Could you not have found them?"

Yang actually chuckled at that one. "I assure you, your highness, I have tried. But just as geass bearers seem to stand out amongst the sea of memories within C's world, code bearers for some reason are invisible within it."

Kallen wrinkled her nose. "That doesn't make any sense. You and the other code bearers like you were geas wielders before you got your codes."

"Tell me, your highness. Did your geass work on C.C.?"

"Well, no," Kallen conceded.

"The situation with the code bearers might well be something similar. A, higher authority, precluding access to them. A, root user, in computer parlance."

"You seem rather familiar with technical jargon," Kallen said lightly.

Yang chuckled. "When I first learned about computation machines, I was struck by how similar conceptually they were to several aspects of the thought elevators. I took the time to become familiar with the technology."

Kallen rubbed her temples. She was not a computer illiterate or anything, but her familiarity with the things started and ended with using them for things like word processing and a bit of light searching for news. How those metal boxes did what they did was beyond her. Apparently she could no longer remain so ignorant.

"How much of the thought elevator's, functions, do you know?" Kallen asked, moving back to the matter at hand.

"Quite a bit," Yang said, "though I also know there are functions and abilities that I do not have access to. Or I at least do not know how to perform."

"But what you do know you'll be teaching me as part of our deal," Kallen said.

Yang regarded the young woman with an odd expression. After several moments of silence, and staring back at him, Kallen broke it.

"What?"

"You really do not know how to utilize the thought elevator's systems," he remarked.

"Should I?" Kallen responded. "I mean, C.C.'s been her usual helpful self in answering questions-"

The woman in question gave a snort.

"-and it's not like I've had anyone else to teach me this stuff."

Not entirely true, but seeing as NEMO had explicit orders to only intervene in cases where Kallen was about to really, really screw up, it amounted to about the same.

Yang clasped his hands behind himself, adopting a thoughtful pose.

"I suppose that is a fair enough point. But what need does a master of the art have for a teacher?"

"What in the world are you talking about?" Kallen said, impatience starting to creep into her voice.

The edge of Yang's lip quirked slightly into a bemused smirk. The man was likely enjoying himself a bit too much, but Kallen could also see a hint of concern in his eyes. A concern that he was letting her see.

"I mentioned earlier that though I was originally synchronized with the Kamine Island thought elevator, I lost control of it approximately eighteen years ago, give and take."

Kallen nodded, wondering where Yang was going with this.

"I returned to Kamine Island to investigate, of course, and to my surprise I was actually able to meet this usurper inside of the thought elevator. An usurper whom identified herself as Zero."

Herself. Kallen's eyes widened. Yang nodded.

"The person whom I met, your highness, was you."

End of Chapter 119

The English translation of de Gaulle's "Appeal of 18 June" doesn't really sell it. It was, kind of bland, to be honest. I don't know if French people consider the original version to be better. Euphemia at least didn't particularly find de Gaulle's statement in her universe very interesting. Or important.

And now we start seeing some of the divergences in China's history that are necessary to justify some of the things that are presented in the Code Geass canon. And which I am further altering to try to create a more consistent and coherent history.

One thing I want to remark on is Yang's ethnicity. Or more specifically, his lack of ethnicity. Yang is from a time when the modern day Asian ethnicities for all practical matters don't exist yet. He was also nomadic for a significant period of time, and the people that he is from basically no longer exist. By the time he started calling himself the Magician of Penglai, he had already a century or so wandering parts of Asia, mostly the eastern parts. So if one was completely accurate, Yang cannot be called Chinese. Or Japanese. Or anything really. The closest one can get is Asian. Or perhaps human.

That being said, Yang's struggles on behalf of China could fill entire books all by themselves. He helped found the Qin dynasty, and then helped the Han dynasty establish itself. He was the behind the scenes mover in the Three Kingdoms period that in this timeline saw the Han dynasty restored and he was also the one that ensured its continuation against the Jurchens and then the Mongols. Obviously in this timeline there were no Tang, Song, etc dynasties. Which goes to show just how good a job Yang has been doing in keeping the Liu imperial family going as an actually competent line of rulers. Which is one reason why Euphemia and Kallen both understand that they do not want to fuck with Yang and would much prefer him as an ally than an enemy. And are happy to have his support if he really has decided to shift his efforts over to merging China and Britannia in what time he has left. And because he won't be around for the long term, Yang is going to be very motivated to get things as right as he can this time around before he goes to his well earned rest.

Forgot to answer this last time around, but master draft is around 920K words. I expect to breach 1 million words outright even without author notes, so presumably those of you on tvtropes can save yourself the time and just add this story to the +1 million single story list for doorstoppers now. It's always entertaining to see how people represent the various trope examples from my story, and yes, I was indeed trolling all of you with the Lauras. I do miss the bit about Britannian army nurses being unflappable though, not entirely sure why that got removed. That being said, this story will emphatically NOT breach 2 million words. If I get anywhere close, something will have gone very, very wrong.

I've generally been very vague about what if any role religions like Christianity and Islam have had in my world history, beyond noting that Britain was actually not predominantly Christian. That hasn't been completely unintentional, mainly because the issue of religion hasn't actually warranted any further expansion in the story proper. I debated whether I wanted to stick the explanation into Yang's explanations this chapter, but decided that that would make the chapter run on longer than I cared for, so it will have to be part of Euphemia and Kallen's conversation next chapter. Reactions should be, interesting.

Nerve gas would be illegal under convention IV of the Hague Conventions and the Europeans are not that stupid as to try to use it when fighting on their own territory.

I'm not clear why it's believed that the Europeans would have the resources to level any cities that the Empire occupies. It's not like Britannia is sending its troops in without proper support. If the Empire's managed to occupy a city, they're going to have control of the airspace and the immediate surroundings, and the Europeans will have only so many bombers that they can throw at a modern air defense network before they literally run out of planes, especially since if the fighting is happening in Europe proper, the manufacturing sites for the European forces will be under pressure and slowly be crippled to the point of uselessness. There's also the issue that, again, they won't have atomic weapons, so they would need to rely on a lot of smaller bombs to do the job, which runs into the problem of creating enough of said bombs and actually getting them through to do enough damage. Never mind the civilian fatalities this would cause, whether from the bombings themselves or from the loss of shelter and infrastructure, and the fact that those civilian casualties would be European civilian casualties, I mean, what's the point? Europe literally physically can't make enough bombs and bullets to kill enough of the Empire's troops to get the Empire to stop. And trying to do scorched earth on your own civilians is more likely to make the European troops themselves mutiny. In general though, the logistics of carrying out a scorched earth stratagem, especially against an enemy that has a logistics train as efficient and effective as the Britannian military, is nontrivial, and near impossible if you're getting your ass handed to you on the field of battle. You would literally be getting killed too quickly, and using up too much of your munitions in actual battle, to add to the destruction that is already happening.

As an aside, Britannia is not a signatory of the Geneva or Hague Conventions. The Europeans are hoping fervently that the Empire will at least observe the terms of the conventions, and Britannia will, for the most part. The Empire has however been insinuating that the Europeans have themselves already violated convention IV of the Hague Conventions regarding attack/bombardment of undefended habitations with the detonation of the New York thought elevator and the devastation of the east coast (the French government has been strenuously denying any involvement by the SDECE not just to the Empire but also their European allies for this very reason, and you can rightly presume that at least some of those allies are not happy about this). That being the case, there is significant concern amongst the Europeans as to whether declaring a city open would spare it from attack. The Empire has elected to not clarify that point. If the Europeans commit further violations in the defense of their nations, well, Britannia has way more options as to how to reduce said nations into rubble than the Europeans do, so that calculus is very much at play.


	121. Chapter 120

_Despite their relative rarity, much greater attention has been paid by the general population to those few pitched battles fought between Britannian and European bipedal mechs. The Empire entered the Great War with a far larger number of these mechs, as well as a much longer institutional history of how to effectively employ them. The Europeans were definitely playing catchup and demonstrated on many occasions they were quick learners. During the first Middle East campaign the German Hummels proved challenging adversaries to not only Britannia's armored divisions but also the contingent of knightmares that had been left behind to assist with pacification. A combination of factors eventually forced Britannia's withdrawal, but many of the surviving soldiers took with them hard won lessons on how to deal with the new European mechs. These lessons would be applied with brutal efficiency at the Battle of Chosin and the following Far East campaign that resulted in the fall of Vladivostok._

 _At the same time as the Germans were actively deploying their Hummels, the French Dassault-Dunois industrial conglomerate was putting on the finishing touches to their Rafale mech. While the company has always denied it, it is generally agreed that the Rafale's development benefited significantly from engineering data stolen from Britannia's Camelot Institute. The Rafale would not be ready for deployment until two years after the war's commencement and would face off against its Britannian cousins for the first time in the second Middle East campaign. Perhaps ironically, the Rafale equipped units would be charged with facing the very person whom had broken the backs of the Hummel equipped German panzer divisions, Her Highness the Princess Kallen._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 120

De omni re scibili et quibusdam aliis

This would be the second time Kallen visited the Kamine Island thought elevator, the first being when C.C. went in and came back to Raibeart. Her son. Kallen grimaced. That notion still felt weird, not least because of whom the biological father was. She had refrained from asking NEMO if Rai had been naturally conceived. _That_ thought was enough to nearly make her throw up. Kallen pushed all that aside in her head. She was here to find answers, and see if there really was anything to Yang's claim that she had been the one to seize control of the thought elevator away from him. Assuming Yang was right about the time, it happened approximately ten months before her birth, at around the time she would have been conceived. Another train of thought that she did not really want to dwell on. Still the timing was probably not a coincidence.

And so after a short hop back to Tokyo, and an all too brief conversation with her mother and father to get some more specific details, and enduring Heinrich's bemused humor, Kallen was now back at the thought elevator with C.C., the other knights, Laura the second, and Annie. Fie had elected to remain in Tokyo, apparently having struck up a firm rapport with Renne and wanting to spend some time with the younger girl. That was probably a good thing, Renne needed some friends closer to her own age. And Tohdoh could also probably use the distraction Fie would provide while trying to get Iku to be willing to part with Renne. That had been an unexpected albeit relatively minor wrinkle to the whole arrangement. Kallen sighed. She was trying to distract herself from the complications regarding the code, the geass, the thought elevators, all these strange almost mystical things that were now suddenly part of her life. Things had been so much simpler back when she was a mere insurgent, when all she needed to worry about was the fate of her comrades in the resistance cell instead of the whole of humanity. But with power came responsibility, and she had already agreed to wield ever more of it. It was only right then that she bear the accompanying increase in responsibility as well.

As the party entered the thought elevator Kallen did not notice anything different than from the last time, or anything that set this thought elevator apart from the Mongolian one. Or even the New York one, at least regarding the main chamber. If there was something special about this thought elevator, beyond the fact that things kept coming back to it, she could not tell.

"Alright, I'm going to try to interface with the thought elevator," Kallen said. "Hopefully with NEMO I'll have more success than C.C. did last time."

The woman in question gave a snort. Attempts to access the thought elevator after she returned with Rai had ended in failure, even with the contraption Camelot had built. Or rather after the initial kick the device gave it was no longer necessary, it was just the thought elevator itself that was actively rejecting C.C.'s attempts to access its systems. And now Kallen got to try it for herself. Joy of joys.

Kallen reached out and watched as the previously flat stony surface lit up. The lights focused to present a holographic keyboard, in English. Above the surface a virtual window showed up with a command prompt.

"Really?"

"Seeing something?" Laura the knight asked from behind.

"Just wondering how it is that an ancient prehistoric civilization would know how to duplicate an English computer keyboard."

"It's German for us when we use it," Annie put in.

 _The interface maps to whatever its user's natural linguistic preference is,_ NEMO added.

 _Then shouldn't I be seeing a Japanese keyboard?_ Kallen mentally responded.

 _Is Japanese your natural linguistic preference?_ NEMO countered.

The answer to that should have been yes. As Kallen was learning, things were never that simple. Instead of answering she reached out and typed in a command.

login

A light swept past Kallen. It seemed that was how the thought elevator identified those that wanted to use it. The keyboard disappeared and in its place appeared, a chessboard and pieces. The white side faced Kallen.

"Are, all of you seeing this?" she asked.

"If what you see is a chessboard, then yes," Laura said. "What did you do?"

"I tried to manually log in like C.C. and Yang told me to, and this is what I got. Is this, the authentication mechanism?"

"Aye," C.C. said, her eyes narrowed. "Albeit one that does not bring to mind thee."

Kallen snorted. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Lelouch," Annie spoke up again. "Chess was his favorite game." Her expression tightened. "He would play with Reiner all the time."

Reiner, one of Lelouch's compatriots that died at the hands of the Directorate enforcer McBurn. The enforcer that Lelouch then went on to kill after partially awakening his code. Kallen looked down at the chessboard. This was getting convoluted. Euphemia had suggested that Zero was Lelouch based on the person's speech and treatment of her, while Monica claimed the Zero she met, and fought, was Kallen. Of course Lelouch himself then decided to show up as Zero in the real world when he murdered the Prince Adonis, which proceeded to throw all of them into confusion. Yang's claims did not help make the matter any clearer, and now they were presented with a motif that was associated with Lelouch. Just who, or what, was Zero? The simplest answer was that it was all subterfuge, that it was an identity used by multiple individuals, perhaps not even limited to Lelouch and this other Kallen people kept running into. Perhaps they would finally find out today.

Kallen reached out and picked up one of the white pawns, the one before the queen. There was a smooth coldness to the touch, and a weight as well. The piece felt real, it felt no different than, the piece that Kallen used when she played Euphemia all those months ago. The young woman frowned and looked back at the board. Assuming her memory was not failing her, the set before her was identical to the one from that day. Kallen set the piece down intentionally in an illegal position. The moment she took her hand off it the pawn disappeared. Three full seconds passed before it reappeared in its original spot.

"Huh."

"Figure something out?" Laura asked.

"Maybe."

Kallen picked up the pawn in front of the white king and set it two spaces in front, Euphemia's opening move. A moment later the black pawn opposite of her own disappeared, and reappeared before Kallen's white.

"Definitely," she amended, and maneuvered the white knight to capture the black pawn.

A second pawn advanced, positioned to counter-capture if Kallen actually followed through with her attack. Kallen responded by pushing forward the pawn before her queen, adding an additional threat to black's first pawn. Even as she watched black respond, setting up another pawn to guard its front, Kallen strained to remember the exact sequence of moves Euphemia had performed in their game. Her memory was good, but she did not possess a photographic one like the empress or Inoue. A mistake was inevitable, and when it happened Kallen let out a curse as all of the pieces disappeared. A chuckle sounded from beside her.

"Would you like to try?" Kallen said.

"Nay, I know well mine limits," C.C. responded cheekily.

"Some help you are," Kallen retorted, then frowned. "Is it my imagination, or did it take longer for the pieces to reset this time?"

The others responded with shrugs or shakes of their head. Apparently none of them had been paying close enough attention.

 _NEMO?_ Might as well make use of the AI in her head.

 _Five seconds elapsed this time before reset, your grace._

Kallen tilted her head. _Huh. I wonder why._

 _An increasing timeout is often used in security protocols to prevent brute forcing attempts._

The quizzical expression turned into a grimace. If this delay increased every time she screwed up, they could end up spending an entire day here.

 _NEMO, do you have any sort of record of the match?_

 _I only possess access to what impressions exist within your memory, your grace. Anything that you do not remember, I cannot reproduce._

 _Can you, I don't know, enhance that memory?_

Kallen could almost hear the dripping, not quite contempt, but something very close, in NEMO's curt response.

 _No, your grace._

The knight sighed. It looked like she needed to do this the hard way.

 _Can you at least record the moves I'm making now, so I don't repeat a mistake?_

 _Yes your grace._

Kallen swore NEMO sounded almost enthusiastic about the prospect of her screwing up. Yep, NEMO shared quite a bit with her apparent donor. She reached out and picked up the white pawn once more.

* * *

The expressions on the officers that emerged from the vehicles were stoic, determined, but also grim. The calculus of the war with Britannia had suffered another tectonic shift with the Chinese Federation's withdrawal, and the Empress Euphemia's ultimatum made very clear what the stakes were. The increased, or at least more evident, threat to their respective homelands had sharpened minds. And some faced a more direct threat than others.

"These bloody engineers better have something to show this time," General Richard O'Connor, the British member of European general staff, said with a scowl.

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, head of the staff, gave his friend a restraining pat on the shoulder. "Dassault-Dunois has assured me they've finally worked out the kinks to their mech's control system. Considering they've called so many representatives to witness the test, they know today has to be seen as a success."

"That may be so sir," Richard said, "but a successful demonstration is still not the same thing as a ready weapon." The man grimaced. "We are running out of time."

That Erwin more than agreed with, but the EU's options were limited. Unless the various governments were prepared to accept Britannia's demands, and there was about as much a chance of that as there was of Britannia suddenly becoming a democracy, the juggernaut that was the Empire's military might would soon be at Europe's shores. About the only good news to come out of the recent developments was that China was exiting the war wholesale instead of signing on with Britannia. As damaged as China was by the fighting, it still possessed massive reserves of manpower which had they been combined with Britannia's industrial prowess would have created an army that would have buried Europe. Instead the Empire would be forced to spend its own blood to do it. The German marshal was not especially comforted by this fact.

As the officers settled into the stands prepared for them, Christoph Dunois himself appeared before them. The company must be really confident if the chairman himself was here to help showcase their product. Once every was seated the man greeted them.

"Messieurs, I thank you for coming on this momentous day. For years Britannia has held a psychological and physical edge in the realm of warfare with their knightmare frames, their bipedal combat mechs. These mechs have afforded the Empire many advantages in the realm of war, an advantage they have ruthlessly exploited while subjugating ever more peoples and lands. As the guardian of democracy and republicanism, Europe has a duty to meet this challenge, and rise above it."

The Frenchman was certainly well versed in showmanship and salesmanship, Erwin was more than prepared to admit. But if Europe was to actually rise above this challenge, Dassault-Dunois needed to show more than flowery words.

"Krupp took the first step on this path," Christoph continued, "and their Panzer Hummel more than proved its worth in the campaign to liberate the Middle East."

Only to fall victim to the latest fruits of Britannia's Camelot Institute during the Battle of Chosin, and then face a further mauling against the Empire's Gloucesters in and around Vladivostok. At least part of that was down to the Empire developing countertactics against the German mechs, but there was no denying that a single company led by the Princess Kallen was responsible for routing an entire panzer division. The Frenchman was of course not so crass as to bring up those unfortunate details. Best to focus on the positives, least your audience start fearing your own products might suffer a similar fate.

"Today, Dassault-Dunois takes the next step forward. We bring you a truly genuine humanoid combat mech, equipped with not just bipedal locomotion, but also fully serviceable arms to allow for a wide range of motions and actions."

A distinct thumping sound was growing louder and louder. Erwin and the other officers all rose, looking about trying to catch a glimpse as to the source. Christoph's face nearly split in half in a smile.

"Messieurs, allow me to present the Dassault-Dunois Rafale!"

A quartet of orange and white colored mechs appeared from behind the makeshift wall, their bulky forms moving with remarkable smoothness as they lined up for inspection before the officers. While gasps and others sounded amongst them, Erwin applied a critical eye to the mechs. The entire design was distinctly less top heavy than their Britannian counterparts, the legs covered with several pieces of angled armor. That was probably just as well seeing as these tended to be the biggest weakness of bipedal platforms. The main body had a curved breastplate on the front, angled to better deflect hits, though Erwin doubted it could stop anything more than a glancing hit from an all-up anti-armor weapon. Even with the large piece of armor however proportionally the main body was small compared to its appendages. It was as if a child had managed to get ahold of his parents' gloves and boots and stuffed them so they would not sag. The head itself was relatively nondescript, though it had a pair of rabbit-ear like appendages that rotated about. Likely some sort of radio if Erwin had to guess.

The other point of interest lay in the weapons the four Rafale were equipped with. Each had a different one, hinting at the apparent versatility these mechs possessed. One hefted a large sniper like rifle, obviously intended for long range fire support. Another had a more conventional looking rifle, though with the caliber size it likely possessed some anti-armor capabilities as well if loaded with the right type of shell. The third was equipped with a missile cell, which technically would have left it without weapons after it was fired, save for the smaller pistol-like weapon attached to its side. Again this was all proportional, that pistol weapon was likely more than up to the task of trashing bunkers or punching through the vulnerable top or rear armor of conventional tanks. The last Rafale was almost certainly up to clearing out bunkers or trenches, assuming of course the enemy did not manage to puncture the tank on its back that fueled the flamethrower it hefted.

All in all the single platoon was equipped to handle most any ground opposition it might face. Airpower would still be a significant threat, but anyone that sent ground forces in without at least some air cover or the means to defend themselves was an idiot. At the same time, as smoothly as the Rafale had marched out to present themselves, Erwin wanted to see how well they would perform under less controlled conditions. He looked out at the testing grounds laid out. Something told him he might well get that opportunity.

As the chatter and even light applause died down Christoph beamed out at the audience in obvious pride. He was not done however.

"The Rafale represents the pinnacle of European engineering," the Frenchman proclaimed, "and it possesses capabilities that matches and in some ways even surpasses that of Britannia's knightmares."

As he spoke the four Rafales began rolling backwards, spinning about to face the testing grounds. The motion was quick and smooth, suggesting either Dassault-Dunois had found some very talented test pilots or they had gotten their control problems genuinely sorted out, finally.

"It is designed for the modern battlefield, where a wide variety of enemies will be met."

The AMX-30 tank on the testing ground roared to life and the sniper equipped Rafale advanced to meet it. Erwin doubted Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux would be particularly happy its product would serve as the punching bag to demonstrate the effectiveness of its competitor's latest attempt to get a foothold into the ground combat vehicle market. The tank ground to a halt and its turret started rotating to fire on the mech but the Rafale easily outpaced its turning speed, swinging in an arc to get behind the tank. Its treads started spinning again as the tank tried to turn in place, but the Rafale was simply too fast. Erwin mentally counted the seconds it took for the Rafale to start breaking before it came to a complete halt. The AMX likely never regained visual of the Rafale before it opened fire, its shell puncturing the rear armor and leaving the tank a smoldering mess.

Impressive, even if the entire thing was staged. And eerily reminiscent of the favored tactic of Britannia's Knightmare Corps when they encountered Europe's armored formations. But the German Hummel had already demonstrated the ability to turn Britannia's tactics against it, and was already being deployed. The French government would obviously purchase the Rafale regardless of whether it was actually better than the Hummel, but Erwin would need more personal convincing if he was to trust the mech to truly critical junctures.

"Based off of the combat data gained by our troops through their dedication and sacrifice, the Rafale has been adapted to be able to fight in a wide range of situations, including urban environments."

The rifle equipped Rafale now stepped forward, rolling up to a series of dummy structures made to look like the corner of a city block. It peered around the corner and machinegun fire splattered its position before it withdrew. Not the most convincing demonstration of the mech's armor, but the point was clear enough. And then the Rafale extended its rifle around the corner and fire off a burst of its own. The rifle was not capable of actual automatic fire, but it did put out its three rounds in a respectable span of time. Even more impressively, one of the shots actually found its mark. The other two also landed closely enough that the detonations would have gotten the machinegun nest in their blast radius.

"All of the weapons designed for the Rafale possess a datalink that complements the mech's own targeting systems, allowing for engagement of enemies even not in direct line of sight."

Now that was actually impressive, Erwin had to admit. And not just because the Rafale could peek out like that. An acknowledged weakness of the Hummel was that the cannons on its arms had a fairly limited traversal, requiring the mech to mostly face its target. That the Rafale did not need to do that was useful, but not revolutionarily so, that would have simply put them at parity with Britannia's knightmares. The notion that the Rafale could link up with other pieces of equipment though, that had interesting ramifications. If those links could provide a Rafale pilot with a better situational awareness of his surroundings, that would have a real and meaningful impact on his effectiveness.

"Of course, not all such systems need such sophistication. There exist plenty of tried and true solutions in Europe's arsenal, which the Rafale is more than capable of employing."

The flamethrower equipped Rafale now stepped forward and advanced upon a concrete bunker. Again machinegun fire splattered its frontal armor but non punctured even its fuel tank. Once the mech was in range, it spewed a jet of flames into the slits, turning the emplacement into a mini-hellhole. The pressure of the ignited flame was great enough to splash back through other slits, creating a ring of fire all around the position. The Rafale's pilot at least seemed aware of the potential danger and stayed far enough back that there was little risk of his mech, and more importantly his fuel tank, becoming engulfed.

By this point Dassault-Dunois had demonstrated three of the four loadouts it was showing today. Erwin wondered how exactly it would show off its missile variant. He did not need to wait long as the thrum and whine of helicopter blades became audible. The distinctive shape of a Mi-24 attack helicopter was soon visible, but that was as close as it got before the missile equipped Rafale braced itself and without further preamble from Christoph a loud boom sounded with the subsequent launch. The explosion that followed spoke for itself as a flaming fireball plunged to the ground and landed with a resounding crash. Christoph looked out at his audience, and smiled as applause and cheers rang out. As triumphant a finale as he could have asked for.

The German field marshal found himself joining in the applause, and even agreeing that the accolade was well earned. After months of delays, Dassault-Dunois really had delivered. They had delivered not just a weapon, but a platform around which to build the spearhead that would finally slay the Britannian dragon. As head of the general staff, and as a panzer man himself, Erwin was intimately familiar with both the strengths and weaknesses of Britannia's knightmares. Namely he knew well the general maneuverability characteristics of those war machines. Assuming his eyes were not deceiving him, the Rafale's start and stop times were a bit faster than what Britannia's Gloucesters were supposed to be capable of. And while the Empire's knightmares did have a small range of weapons they could be equipped with, their basic complement did not appear to be quite as flexible as the French platform. It held promise.

Britannia held qualitative edge on far too many fronts against Europe. And with its greater industrial capacity it could bring the quality of quantity to bear as well. For the EU to win they needed to defeat enough of Britannia's armies to force the Empire to reconsider its course of action. With the Rafale and Hummel, Erwin was growing more confident that such a feat was within Europe's means.

"Impressive," Richard said from next to the German.

The admission had a grudging air to it, but the British officer seemed to appreciate that the French weapon really was living up to its marketing. Today's demonstration certainly could not have been cheap, especially that bit with the Hind. True Dassault-Dunois might be trying to distract from any problems by splashing out like this, and it was curious that they would finally make a breakthrough after all those months of not being ready despite claiming they were on the verge.

Time to find out just how ready the Rafale was for the real world. Erwin proceeded down the stands to where Christoph was busy being congratulated by the various officers. As the German field marshal approached the others made way for him, curiosity alight in their eyes as they waited to see what the chief of the general staff's opinion was on the demonstration.

"Monsieur Dunois," Erwin greeted politely.

"Field marshal," Christoph responded in kind.

"An impressive demonstration," Erwin offered by way of opening.

The Frenchman's expression relaxed ever so slightly and he allowed himself a smile. "Your words are too kind, field marshal. And I behalf of Dassault-Dunois, I offer you our sincerest apologies for all the delays the project has suffered."

Playing the modesty card right off the bat. Erwin did not let it faze or distract him.

"How soon can Dassault-Dunois begin serial production?"

And got right to the point. Christoph's expression tightened for a brief moment again but the Frenchman was obviously expecting the question.

"We are already beginning low level production to proof the process for mass production," he answered. "Optimistically, that work will be done within the month, after which we can start converting assembly lines for the larger production run."

So Dassault-Dunois really did believe they had worked out all the kinks and were prepared to risk the possibility of having to refit hundreds if not thousands of Rafales if a problem was discovered after mass production began. Hopefully that would be good enough.

"We'll take as many as you can build," Rommel said.

Christoph blinked. And then the tension finally bled off from his face. The man beamed at the German man.

"We will see to it, field marshal."

The men were allowed perhaps a few more seconds to enjoy the moment of shared triumph before footsteps sounded. Looking over, Erwin frowned as he watched one of his staff members run up to him. The man came to a halt, saluted, and spluttered out the news.

"Sir, Britannian flying ships have been detected crossing the Atlantic."

Erwin's expression flattened into a scowl. It seemed the Empire would not be giving them any reprieve. Then so be it, he would do his duty and meet this challenge.

* * *

Suzaku watched as the European officers quickly hurried away. Something had happened, something not related to the field demonstration held today. By all indications the demonstration itself was a resounding success, with the European military leadership largely satisfied by the Rafale's capabilities. That was good. That meant the Europeans would be deploying their knightmare design to the front, and with something this new Dassault-Dunois would have to send techs and engineers to help with the inevitable teething problems.

And that would be his opening. When the company sent a batch to the Middle East, Suzaku would be going right along with the support team, under an assumed identity of course, and leverage that posting to get access to the Baghdad thought elevator. Perhaps he would even get a chance to meet the Empire on the field himself. A part of Suzaku was almost eager at such a prospect, to fall into the familiar role of just being a soldier. Things had been so much simpler back then, and he had been so much more naïve. He thought that if he did his best, his efforts would be acknowledged and he could change the world, little by little. Now it was clear that the world, and humanity, was sick. It needed to be cleansed, least the failings of man doom the world.

Suzaku turned his thoughts away from such musings as Christoph entered the observation room. The young man turned to greet his ostensible patron.

"Monsieur Dunois.

"Monsieur Kururugi," Christoph responded politely enough. "You have my thanks for all your hard work in seeing the Rafale to fruition."

Suzaku bowed his head humbly. "It was my pleasure to assist your company. We share many similar goals, after all."

Christoph's mouth tightened a bit. "Yes, that we do. I was not much of a father to Charlotte, but to have lost her to Britannia due to a service to France I was not even aware of…"

There was a genuine sense of regret in Christoph's words, that much Suzaku could tell. It was a shallow regret though, the man felt sad but the emotion was not a particular driving force. That helping France and Europe better fight the Empire would go some small way in also helping avenge his daughter was a, convenient convergence.

Suzaku nodded, conveying a suitable degree of empathy to the man before pressing on.

"The other preparations are proceeding accordingly then?"

"They are," Christoph assured him. "We'll need to make use of some cosmetics to hide your, eastern features, though. The government is being very, twitchy, about anyone from that region right now being given access to military facilities."

Suzaku kept his own expression flatly neutral. Such a reaction by the Europeans was perhaps inevitable, what with first Japan's enthusiastic embrace of its oppressors and then the Chinese Federation's withdrawal from the war. Once he succeeded however none of those petty divisions would matter. Humanity would be united into a singular whole, in purpose and perhaps even in being. Just as it should be.

* * *

In the end it ultimately took Kallen a total of six tries before she was able to reproduce the exact series of steps in the game she played with Euphemia. Each time she screwed up the time lengthened, and not in a linear fashion either. On the last mistake she made the wait time was ten minutes, with Lelouch's compatriots actually settling in for a nap while they waited. As annoying as that was Kallen could not exactly blame them. Even she was tempted to just kick back while they waited. In all likelihood her impatience might have led her to screw up again had NEMO not warned her. Now though she was onto the last move before she conceded. In retrospect she probably could have called the empress up and just asked her what moves led to her defeat. Euphemia probably remembered them exactly.

"This is it," Kallen said.

At that the droopiness in Annie's eyes disappeared while Laura shot up, her form alert and ready. The other knights also tensed a bit while C.C. remained her nonchalant self, albeit with a hint of curiosity in her eyes. Kallen reached out, picking up the last piece, set it down, and let it go. The board remained as it was, indicating she had not made a mistake. The black pieces also remained immobile, just as they were supposed to. For a moment nothing seemed to actually happen. And then Kallen noticed the figure seated opposite of her across the chessboard.

"WOAH!"

The other person wore a garishly tailored purple suit along with the bowl-like crowned helmet that Kallen had seen in photos and videos. If nothing else this person was at least dressed like Zero. Kallen glanced aside to see how the others were reacting, and gaped at the empty space about her. Her head spun about but that only confirmed what she already suspected. She was alone with this, person.

 _NEMO, what's going on?_

No answer came.

 _NEMO?_

It seemed wherever she was, even the AI was absent. That was more than a bit unsettling seeing as NEMO was physically in her head. Or at least the base of her brain.

The figure rose, and Kallen was out of time to do anything but focus on the here and now.

"Well, you certainly took long enough to solve the puzzle."

The voice was heavily modulated, making it impossible for Kallen to figure out gender much less identity. The snark was still readily audible in the tone. The knight scowled, in both irritation and impatience.

"Well excuse me for not being a chess prodigy with a photographic memory," she responded. "And how about we cut through the crap? Who the Hel are you, and what the Hel do you want?"

Zero chuckled. "I suppose that is blunt enough. Alright, since there is little point to continuing this charade."

And reached up, loosening the helmet's clasp. Zero pulled it off, and Kallen was faced with a mirror image of her own face. Albeit one that was smirking instead of frowning.

"You, look like me," Kallen said carefully. "But are you actually me?"

"Yes," the other Kallen stated. "I am you, in the sense that you and I are both the same entity." The smirk returned. "Is that clear enough?"

"Hel no," Kallen immediately responded. "If you are me, then how come I've never even heard of you? Or have any idea of all the things you've apparently been up to? In plain Japanese please, with none of the asking me questions in answer to mine."

The other Kallen chuckled. "You are getting quite good at crimping other people's wiggle room."

"And you can also spare me the sarcastic quips," Kallen amended.

Another chuckle sounded, but the other Kallen also adopted a thoughtful pose. "Why don't you have a seat. This could take a while."

Looking back Kallen saw that indeed a chair, much like the one her double was using, had appeared. Reaching back, she confirmed it was solid before sitting down. Once settled, she met the other's gaze once more.

"Anqi Sheng," the other began, "explained to you that geass wielders get their data copied into the thought elevator at such a detail that perfect simulacrums can be created from them. He also mentioned that though the data for code bearers is likely there, he could not access them to do the same."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. When her double declined to continue she provided the implicitly requested prompt.

"That's not an answer, that's a leading statement to try to get me to infer that you're a copy of my data."

"Quite right," the double said, cracking another smirk. "And the answer is, I am _not_ such a copy. I am the original."

"Original," Kallen said slowly and warily. "Aren't I the original?"

"Yes, you are. And since you are me, and I am you, we are the original."

Kallen felt a massive headache building up. "That still doesn't answer my questions. If we're the same person, and you're not just some copy of me, how come I had no idea about you?"

Another beat passed before the other Kallen began answering. It might have actually taken her that long to come up with an answer, or it might have taken her that long to suppress the temptation to answer with a question.

"The Magician's explanation regarding the thought elevator's connection is correct, but incomplete. C's world exists even without the thought elevators, and it is the combined gestalt of all mankind. Every human alive has a connection to it, but it is a subconscious, passive connection that they have no control over. The system of code and geass exploits this connection, turning it into an active one using the thought elevators. You are the conscious, active persona in the material world. I am the subconscious, passive persona in C's world."

"You seem very conscious and active to me," Kallen pointed out.

"Those are all relative terms," the other responded. "I have always been active, I am you after all, everything you do is in effect also something I do."

"Including talking to myself?"

The smirk returned. "If you want to think of that way, certainly."

"Was I always this sarcastic?" Kallen said as she arched an eyebrow.

"Yes, and you know it."

After a brief moment Kallen gave up on trying to come up with a defense. "Alright, so I was. So back to my other question. What do you want? What is your objective in doing all the things that you've done?"

Her double tapped her fingers on her arm, obviously considering how best to answer. She pursed her lips thoughtfully.

"I can explain it, but it will require a more complete understanding of C's world."

"Then lay it on me," Kallen said. "If you actually know what the Hel all this is, then I want to know." A slight growl sounded. "I'm sick and tired of half-answers and people trying to dumb things down when they don't even understand what's going on. You seem to actually know what all this insanity is. So, explain."

"Very well." The double actually leaned back a bit into her seat, apparently settling in for a long talk. "C's world is the sum and limit of man. You've heard this oft enough, and likely assumed it to be metaphorical. It is in fact very, very literal. Every human mind is in effect a manifestation of some portion of the gestalt that _is_ C's world. The two feed back on each other as well, the experiences and stimuli you experience in your life is propagated back to the gestalt, allowing it to grow and evolve. The gestalt thus becomes an accumulation of humanity's collective experiences, a whole greater than the sum of its parts."

Kallen nodded slowly. Abstractly the words made sense, but there were still many lingering questions.

"Why does this gestalt exist though?" she asked. "Is it something that naturally occurred, or is it artificial?"

"A product of evolution, or rather a byproduct of that which we call human consciousness," the double answered. And shrugged. "C's world itself may have always existed, and the human brain likely accidentally evolved to be able to tune into it. Since then, our mental acumen has been significantly enhanced thanks to our connection with it, likely one reason that Homo sapiens emerged as the dominant human species on Earth. At the same time, the gestalt itself grows and becomes more powerful with every human mind that connects to it. It's a, symbiotic relationship."

"But who's getting the better end of the deal?" Kallen pressed. "Whom is using whom?

The other Kallen frowned, a mixture of irritation and even anger. "Were you not listening? No one is using anyone. Without C's world humanity would revert to its baser intellectual levels. Without us, the gestalt would shrivel and collapse upon itself. Our connection is what defines us as human. We _are_ the gestalt, as much as it is _us_."

Kallen was mildly taken aback by the vehemence in her double's tone. It reminded her of, herself, when someone spoke to her condescendingly or insensitively.

"Alright," she said. "Alright, I'll accept that. So how does that explain, you?"

That at least her, other self, did not appear to take any offense at.

"As I said previously, you are synchronized with a fragment of the gestalt, which serves as the subconscious half to your conscious self. Under normal circumstances, this fragment does not do anything. It exists, it processes the stimuli you provide, and ultimately it acts as a safeguard to any damage to the gestalt should your conscious mind be shattered. For eons, humanity remained unaware of this connection, much less be able to attempt to turn the passive connection into an active one. Until of course the geass civilization came along."

Kallen leaned forward, her full attention focused on what her other self was saying. Finally, answers.

"Much as the first passive connection to C's world was likely an accident of evolution, the first active connection was also likely incidental and not intentional. That connection would however not be very strong, and the first peoples to gain it would not have understood just what they were doing either. These people were treated as monsters, messiahs, and everything in between. Soon there were enough of them however for a systematic organization to emerge. And for them to experiment with the power that access to C's world granted them. Eventually, their experiments led them to the creation of an empire fueled by their power. An empire that managed to stretch across the world."

The knight rubbed her chin. "There is almost no archeological evidence for such a civilization beyond the thought elevators themselves."

"I would hope not," the other responded. "Not much of that civilization survived after the ice age it caused wiped out the bulk of the human race."

Kallen's head dropped noticeably. Had her jaw not been so tightly clamped it probably would have been dangling by itself. After she finally managed to speak her jaw felt noticeably stiff with every word she uttered.

"According to Rai they were nearly wiped out by the Krell."

"Yes, they nearly were. And the ice age that was a product of their manipulation of the Earth's environment nearly finished the job. That humanity as a species still exists is a minor miracle. A great deal of effort was put into the safeguards that protect access to C's world now, safeguards that that ass Suzaku is tearing down without understanding a damn thing."

That last bit was delivered with more than vehemence or irritation, outright anger echoed behind those words.

"We think Suzaku is being possessed by a Krell," Kallen stated.

"He's not," her other immediately shot down. "What he is is an insane mind that's been overloaded by his connection to C's world with his artificial code though, so the distinction is kind of moot."

"Kind of-the entire point of the threat he represents was based on that assumption," Kallen replied incredulously. "And you say it doesn't matter?"

"It matters insomuch as what precautions you need to take to approach him," came what might well have been an overly blithe response. "He's still a danger that needs to be put down regardless."

That might have been true but Kallen still felt it was a bit, wrong, for her other self to treat the matter so casually.

"Alright, let's put that aside," Kallen said, "and get back to why you're different. Why you're not, passive, like other fragments of the gestalt."

"We're getting to that. You're certainly impatient, I did tell you there was a lot of background you would need to understand."

Kallen sighed and raised her hands. "Fine, fine, I'll stop pestering you. Just keep going."

After favoring her conscious self with another smirk Kallen's double did so. And yet her other self seemed to hesitate, as if not quite sure how to proceed. Kallen waited patiently.

"There's an important distinction that you should be aware of. While the gestalt represents the sum of man, that sum comes in the form of information. The memory that produced this information is transient, and is inevitably lost."

"I, don't quite follow," Kallen said.

"An example." Her double held out her hand, and a pie appeared. "I know the exact ingredients that go into making an apple pie. I know the exact steps needed to prepare the ingredients, and I know the exact temperatures to make it as perfectly crispy and juicy as possible. But I have no memory of ever making a pie." A knife appeared in the other hand. "Want a slice?"

Kallen blinked. "Umm, sure. Though, does that even do, anything?"

"Stimuli is stimuli," her double said as she cut into the still steaming pie. "You'll be able to taste it all the same, even if it does not actually impart any actual nutrients to your physical body."

As Kallen watched her double pick out a slice and set it on a newly appeared plate, she mulled the ramifications of what she was being told. The distinction between memory and information was actually pretty evident now with said example, but that it existed at all only added to her confusion.

"Euphemia said that she saw, flashes," Kallen said as she accepted the plate, which was also now accompanied by utensils, "of other people's memories, as well as her own, when she entered C's world."

"Because those people were still alive," her double explained, cutting out a slice for herself. "What she did was establish a temporary connection to them while within C's world. Those memories do not actually exist within the gestalt."

"I, suppose that makes sense."

She took a bite. It was in a word, delicious.

Her double nodded. "Because the memories are transient and fade away upon the death of the person, there's no, reference, for how to interpret the information. It's just, there, for lack of a better term. And without memories, there is nothing for a personality to form around. That's why, for all intents and purposes, the gestalt fragments that serve as the subconscious half of people don't have any awareness of their own. We just sort of, react to the stimuli all of you generate, offering hints and intuitions based off of the information that's present."

"Wouldn't that suggest as more knowledge is, accrued, human intuition should be getting better?"

It was a valid guess, and it might even warrant being treated as a hypothesis. Kallen's other quickly poked a hole in it however.

"Without the memory to serve as a reference, there's nothing that distinguishes good information from bad information. It's kind of a crapshoot which triggers first."

"Oh. Lovely." Kallen looked down at her slice of pie. "This is pretty good though."

There might have been a trace of sympathy in the smirk this time.

"That's because unlike the other gestalt fragments, I do possess memories that serve as references. Specifically, yours."

"And that, makes you different from the others," Kallen noted.

"Makes us different. You need to stop thinking of us as two distinct entities."

"Sorry, it's just, a bit weird, when talking with you like this."

Her other self shrugged. "That is understandable enough. Anyway, as to your next question of why we are different, why our gestalt fragment has access to memories, I think it's a sort of naturally occurring thing. Every once in a while, a person is born whose fragments are naturally possessed of the ability to retain memories instead of just the information in them. Then there's the fact that the thought elevator made a few tweaks as well."

Kallen cocked her head aside. "Oh?"

"Because the thought elevator has, access of sorts, to C's world, it is able to influence the gestalt. And as the Magician explained to you, the thought elevator system can be thought of as a highly advanced computer. It has been running all this time, and there were, are, background tasks that continue to execute. One of those tasks, for lack of a better term, was looking for a very specific set of characteristics in gestalt fragments that emerged when a new human mind was born, and then applying adjustments to them. Those adjustments made use of the thought elevator itself to supplement the naturally occurring memory retention ability we have."

Kallen frowned. "Okay, so that raises two other questions. The first is why does this, task, exist, and the second is, when I was just conceived I wouldn't have any useful memories for you to draw upon, so how did you seize control of a thought elevator from Yang?"

"My own personal belief is that the thought elevators are trying to induce the creation of more code bearers. Think of it as trying to make sure there were enough, candidates around so that it would always have a minder."

That, probably made sense, Kallen was prepared to concede.

"And my second question?"

"That wasn't me."

That was all her other self said, and after a few moments Kallen cleared her throat.

"Umm, excuse me?"

"I suppose I should say that wasn't us," the other, did not clarify, with a shrug.

Kallen stared at her other self for a few moments longer. "If it wasn't us, then who the Hel was it? General Yang claimed that he saw me, us, when he tried to take the thought elevator back. Are you saying he was lying?"

"Of course not," Kallen's double said, wrinkling her nose. "Shouldn't it be obvious? You're the one that's had the actual run-in with a time traveler."

Silence lingered between the two of them, only interrupted by Kallen's other self cutting into and finishing off the rest of her pie slice. After a few seconds passed Kallen herself let out a long string of expletives.

"Will those fuckers _ever_ stop screwing with my life!?"

"Probably not," her other responded, a wide grin plastered over her face even as she wiped her mouth with a napkin from, somewhere. "By the time I had enough memories from you to actually be cognizant, the thought elevator was already synchronized to us."

Kallen let out a sigh of exasperation and sank back into her own seat.

"How do I know you're telling the truth."

A simple question. The answer was however anything but. Kallen's other drummed her fingers again for a few moments. She then offered a hand. Kallen looked down at it.

"What, I take it and all is revealed to me?"

The other chuckled. "You and I, we are but two sides of the same coin. Joined as one, but never able to truly meet. Until now. What you have, you have always given to me. It's only right I do the same now that I have the chance."

Kallen frowned, not quite understanding what her other half meant.

"I offer you full access to the gestalt," the other elucidated. "The sum and limit of man."

Kallen's eyes widened, and her gaze fell down to the offered hand. If what the other said was true, if she believed her, then the very limit of all human knowledge would be at her fingertips. She reached out, gingerly.

"Know this however," her other said before she could actually take it. "If you accept the connection, you will be in possession of a code. Not just a pseudo-code, or a developing code, or whatever the others term what you have now. It will be fully developed, active, and there won't be any further two sides of the same coin thing. You and I, won't have a conscious versus subconscious."

The first bit Kallen understood well enough. This was earlier than she had intended, and to be frank it still scared the crap out of her that she would have a code. But it was a burden she had accepted. She would not back down now. Kallen took the hand, and her world exploded. She could see the Earth. She could see the sky. She could see the sun, and the planets. And she could see herself. Herself, and those that stood behind her. Behind her, and with her.

"What the FUCK!?"

End of Chapter 120

Holy hell that last section was hard to write. I had to keep all of the different bits of the conversation consistent, which was not straightforward what with all the different things that has happened. As I was writing this chapter I realized that there was no way Kallen would not go to the Kamine Island thought elevator to check out Yang's story, so things got juggled around a bit. Discussion about religion next chapter. Probably.

Other Kallen (or perhaps I should call her Shadow Kallen) is providing what she knows, but even she has specific limits to her information because of how C's world works, mainly because she hasn't had time to fully explore the gestalt and the thought elevator connected to it. There was also a little detail that Shadow Kallen, neglected to mention to Kallen before offering her the code. Kallen is obviously not amused.

The chapter was long enough as it is, so I'll use the author notes to clarify a few things. More will be revealed next chapter but I thought I should at least infodump a bit here. The gestalt, or C's world, is the unified subconscious domain of human thought. As Kallen's shadow explained, people normally are not aware of their connection to it, the closest they ever really get is sometimes a nudge of intuition or a shiver down their spine, stuff like that. Kallen, and a few others, however, were born with what one might call a pseudo-code naturally. Their gestalt fragment, for whatever reason, obtains a dual awareness because it is actually able to hold onto the memories that the conscious mind experiences. Normally those memories are distilled down to bits and pieces of information. Hot bad. Apples delicious. Apple pies more delicious. So since they already possess a stronger connection to C's world than regular humans, and haven't died from it outright, the artificial one that they get from a code or geass doesn't induce nearly as much strain as it would otherwise. It does still puts a lot of strain on the brain, Kallen did suffer a mild stroke, but without the existing connection that would have likely killed her outright.

The thought elevator, due to its ability to connect to C's world, actively scans for these gestalts and when it finds them, it basically tries to bolster them. Why it does this, is at present still unknown. To Kallen at least. I know why it's doing it, I'm just holding that back for now. As well as what exactly the thought elevators are. Anyway, even when these fragments grow enough that they possess an actual consciousness, they don't actually realize they're a distinct awareness from the conscious halves. For a long time Kallen's own fragment just kind of rolled with whatever she was doing. It was only really after Kallen got her geass that the subconscious portion was awoken to the fact that she could, if not exactly operate independently, manipulate things in parallel with Kallen's own actions. Some of her manipulations have been to the thought elevator system, and because of the way the thought elevators work, they have been confused with some of the temporal intrusions that have occurred. Or rather, the manipulation of the "physical information" performed by Shadow Kallen via the thought elevator is not distinguishable from the manipulation performed by other temporal planes. There's a reason for that which will be explored in future chapters. One additional thing to note is that the gestalts don't really form "memories" in the same sense as their conscious halves do. All they're capable of producing is information. So even though Shadow Kallen "knows" she did certain things, the emotional resonance associated with a memory of the thing isn't there. Any emotion that she feels about a certain action is derived from any references that she can build from the conscious mind's memories. That creates a certain, disconnect between Shadow Kallen's actions and Kallen herself, which will be causing Kallen a bit of weirdness later on.

Succinctly, there are what we could call three parties at play when it comes to the thought elevators. The first are the code bearers and geass wielders in the physical world. This includes people like V.V. whom are now out of action, and Yang and C.C. and of course Euphemia and Kallen. And Rai. And I guess Suzaku. There are the time travelers, or individuals whom have used the thought elevators to transmit information nonlinearly through time. In some respects they're the ones that kicked off this entire chain of events by setting the stage. The ramifications of their actions will still be felt in the coming chapters, but their active role is basically over. Finally we have the gestalts, whom could be considered genuine residents of C's world. Their actions are the ones that represent active intrusions upon the various real world characters, like C.C.'s anti-code and the shifting of Euphemia's geass connection. I'm pretty sure at this point you can all guess where that connection got shifted to. They've been the ones maneuvering people like Euphemia and C.C. and Kallen around to achieve a goal, a goal that Kallen is now aware of thanks to her basically merging with her gestalt. Don't worry, Kallen will be informing Euphemia of that goal next chapter.

Anyway, I recognize that this whole thing has been a bit convoluted, and at least part of that is due to the serial nature of this publication. Because I publish as I write, there's very little editing to smooth out the kinks and ensure a greater level of consistency. We're hopefully past the most confusing bit, and if any of you have questions feel free to ask. I'll answer as the need arises.

I've made no secret of the fact that Britannia is going to win the Great War. In fact I've made pretty emphatically clear that they will win it decisively, leaving Europe so economically ruined that it will likely take at least a generation for those nations to get back up to the quality of life they enjoyed prewar. Why they'll take that long will become evident as the war nears its end and all of you see the extent of the devastation and the terms Britannia finally imposes upon these nations. As a hint, they're worse than what Euphemia offered the Dutch foreign minister.

Contingent on this outcome is the fact that nothing Europe is capable of doing will be able to stop Britannia. The EU members cumulatively have less territory, a lower total population, and smaller industrial capacity. The only reason they'll be able to keep fighting for as long as they will is because the Russians are able to produce enough weapons and munitions to help keep the others fighting even as their own industries collapse. And not even the Russians will be able to keep doing that as they themselves come under more and more pressure.

This being the case, I utterly fail to see how the Europeans discarding the laws of war would in any way help their situation. Anything that they could contemplate doing to the Empire's forces, Britannia is capable of doing back to both the European military and also the civilian population. Use chemical weapons? Britannia has plenty of those as well and are actually close enough to use them on not only enemy troops but also enemy civilian centers. Don't take prisoners? Britannia is going to have far more European POWs proportionally and will not hesitate to retaliate. And the soldiers on the front aren't as a general rule going to be looking to die gloriously. As we saw in WWII, only a small percentage of the German military were fanatical enough to fight to the death with the purpose of trying to take as many of their enemies with them as they could. Even as Hitler ordered his forces to stand and fight to the death, substantial numbers were surrendering or fleeing or otherwise disobeying his orders. Any attempt by the Europeans to run up the body count is not going to stop or even really slow Britannia. All it'll do is get more of their own people killed for no reason, as we saw happen to Germany during WWII.

As an aside, there is an additional motive to Euphemia's actions beyond just her wanting some personal payback. The Britannians pushing the Europeans so hard is basically an indirect cull. Euphemia knows that the level of devastation will push some portion of the European population to want to fight back with whatever means they can, to use any weapon at hand. She is basically goading those people to do just that, because when they do try to fight back like that, they are giving the Britannian military an opportunity to kill them. And in the general case, the military will succeed in doing just that. And the more of those people she can kill, the ones that tend towards fanaticism, the fewer will remain in postwar Europe to influence the direction of reconstruction.

Just as a general remark, people whom leave questions and etc for previous chapters and have not yet caught up, I generally will not answer them since for the most part they've been answered in previous author notes. If questions still remain once you've caught up, raise them again and I'll deal with them then.


	122. Chapter 121

_Notwithstanding the more exotic weapons employed by the two sides, on the whole the conventional arms employed by Britannia and the Europeans were at effective parity. What variation that existed did not tend to offer any sort of decisive advantage one way or the other, especially as the combined arms tactics employed by both sides usually amortized the differences their individual components might have. A few notable exceptions did emerge however, with one of the more pronounced differences being the Russian T-72 tank proving markedly better than not only its European counterparts but also the Empire's own M60 tank. Equipped with a 125mm cannon, the T-72 was arguably the most lethal tank in the world at the time of its debut. Its armor was also sufficient to defeat the 105mm cannons mounted on most other tanks, providing a near perfect blend of offense and defense._

 _Britannia had already been aware of the potential disadvantage its own armored forces might face against their Russian opponents but efforts to develop a successor to the M60 would not be initiated until after the conclusion of the Great War. Furthermore the Empire was confident that the greater maneuverability of its knightmare frames would allow its forces to outflank Russian armored formations and offset their tactical advantages. In the urban fighting that occurred in Vladivostok, this was indeed the case. When fighting reached the Siberian plains however Britannia was faced with a much tougher challenge. The fighting eventually drew in significant portions of both Sixth and Eighth Army, which precluded their redeployment to the main European campaigns. At the same time the presence of such numbers of Britannian troops forced the Russians to commit the bulk of their forces to meeting this threat and similarly prevented them from reinforcing their continental allies. This was to prove most unfortunate when the Empire managed to break out into the European lowlands. It would become downright disastrous when Britannia demonstrated that the Caucasus Mountains were no barrier to its advance._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 121

Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae fuit

The flight back to Pendragon was long. And quiet. And a bit awkward. Probably because almost every other word coming out of Kallen's mouth was an expletive. Including a few in languages the girl shouldn't even know, unless NEMO was explicitly providing her with translations. Kallen's apparent inability to stop swearing was likely why she did not speak with her parents before departing Japan. That suggested she was still mostly sound of mind even if she refused to answer any of her companion's questions. Halfway through the flight any amusement at Kallen's conduct had been completely replaced with worry, for not just her fellow knights and C.C. but also Lelouch's companions.

Fortunately when Kallen was admitted into Euphemia's presence the knight was able to rein in her language. There was still a noticeable fulminating edge to her mood however. Euphemia frowned as Kallen took a seat. Meeting Kallen's eyes, it was as if the young woman was both here and not here. As if Euphemia had Kallen's full attention, and not. At the same time.

"Kallen, are you alright?"

Kallen looked over at Euphemia and also at Rai. The other knight was attending as the only other person whom had any understanding of the thought elevator, but not even he could have guessed just how, immense, the entire system was. NEMO had certainly been caught off guard and was still trying to catalogue the amount of information present.

"I'm not," Kallen responded frankly. "But that's neither here nor there." She took a deep breath. "Sorry. It's still a bit weird how I can partition my attention. I sometimes get a bit too caught up in, well, talking to myself. The novelty will wear off soon enough, hopefully."

"Talking to, yourself," Euphemia said carefully.

"I'll get to that." Kallen sank back into the chair. "The important bit is, I have a code, and I also have near total access to the thought elevator system."

Euphemia pursed her lips for a few moments. "Your original intent was to, have a family with Cole first."

Kallen smiled at her liege warmly. The empress could have immediately jumped to the ramifications of what Kallen's access meant for Britannia or the world. Instead she zoned in on the personal cost this access had demanded of Kallen. Euphemia could be cold, calculating, and even ruthless. But at heart she could still be kind, especially to those whom she loved. And strange as it might sound, Kallen had found herself amongst those privileged to receive that love.

"I have a few, options, in that regard, your majesty. Don't worry, I'll sort that out. And I'll give a howler if I need help."

Euphemia returned the smile. "We are in private, Kallen."

That was technically only half true, but Kallen was prepared to indulge her sovereign, and friend.

"Of course, Euphemia."

Euphemia nodded and after a moment spoke. "Now. What has happened."

And Kallen answered her. She gave Euphemia answers that the empress had not even realized had been asked for. Both Euphemia and Rai listened with equal intentness, the two considering and connecting in their own way the bigger picture Kallen's words painted. It was a terrifying picture, but also a fantastic one.

"That explains a great deal," Rai said after Kallen fell into a momentary break of silence. "We always knew there were countless yottabytes of data within the thought elevator, but we could never access any of it that was at rest. We could only get output if we provided input."

Euphemia glanced over at the knight.

"What?"

"Yottabytes?"

Rai shrugged. "It's the highest order of magnitude that the contemporary metric system has."

Euphemia chuckled. "We use the imperial system in the Empire, Raibeart."

"Well, I suppose Britannia does have other marks of a civilized society."

Kallen snorted. "Okay, can you two stop flirting until after I'm done?"

The two flashed smiles at her, though Rai's looked just a bit strained. Perhaps something to do with his still instinctive deference to her grace.

"So now that you have access to all this information, what do you intend to do with it?" Euphemia asked.

Kallen scratched her head. "I could spend years just trying to figure out what's actually in there. NEMO's been indexing it, and she claims she's going to actually start running out of discretionary storage soon."

"Really?" Rai said, sounding suitably impressed.

"The others did tell you I spent the plane ride over typing into a computer trying to get as much of the index out of my head as I could, right?" Kallen said. "Now I really wish we had that neural interface that NEMO could plug into."

"Would that be possible?" Euphemia asked.

Kallen shook her head. "We're at least fifty years away from being able to make one. It's near the top of my list of things to get the schematics out for."

"Oh? What is the top then?"

The knight grimaced. "There's a, chemical formulation that might help with treating Refrain addicts. I, or I suppose my subconscious half, started trying to put together something the moment I found out my mom was taking the drug. It's complicated though, and I'm not even sure I understand enough chemistry to properly describe it." An unhappy grunt sounded. "I'm getting another abject lesson on the point that information is not necessarily knowledge."

Euphemia nodded in understand. "Whatever resources you need, you shall have."

Kallen smiled slightly. "Thanks." And sighed. "But anyway, we should keep going. As I mentioned earlier, the thought elevators weren't made by the geass civilization. The founders of that civilization stumbled upon them and accessing them is what led to the first complete codes to emerge amongst their members, previous individuals only got as far as a pseudo-code, and a lot of those people went insane. That insanity is why there aren't too many code bearers whose, records, are maintained by the thought elevator. Their deteriorated mental state ends up corrupting their own data, and the thought elevator system purges the corrupted data."

"A lot," Euphemia repeated. "Based on what you previously said, it would seem nearly all of them did go insane."

"Well, the only ones that haven't gone insane are working with us now," Kallen said. "And there's also the way that code bearers fight, killing a code bearer is equivalent to destroying the data that describes them, both in the materium, C's world, and the thought elevator, repository, I guess is the best way to call it."

"And the reason there are only two, well, three now, genuine code bearers left, is because the others have all fallen?" Euphemia asked.

Kallen nodded. "Yeah, was just getting to that. Though we only have a partial picture for how some of those fights resolved."

"Even that is better than what we had previously."

"I suppose it is." Kallen took a deep breath. "Okay, I suppose I should start with the Asian campaign, since we have Yang as a direct witness to those events. Just keep in mind that this is a broad overview, the details will need to wait for another time."

The empress nodded in acknowledgment.

"Right. So, there were two other code bearers, one controlling the Mongol thought elevator and one controlling the Indian thought elevator. The Mongol code bearer was the one that kicked things off, the bearer wanted control of the other thought elevators and so tried to forge the nomadic tribes of the Asian steppes into the scythe with which to reap the world."

While an eyebrow rose on Euphemia's face Rai seemed strangely unperturbed by Kallen's poetic turn of phrase. The knight herself cracked a slight smile before continuing.

"The first attempt, with the Huns, failed when the Chinese, with some help from Yang, managed to turn back their legions. Yang was not even aware of the Mongol code bearer, he was just trying to keep the new Han state from collapsing under this external threat that showed up just as he was getting the dynasty running. The defeat of the Huns made their patron more careful, and the bearer spent the next couple of centuries building up and working to gradually weaken the Chinese. The next big move was the Jurchens, whom weakened the Chinese enough that Yang had to come out of retirement to prop them up. Though the Jurchens were able to push the Chinese south, several generals and officials that Yang granted geasses to turned the tide. They beat the Jurchens back and retook the northern half of China. And then that's when the Mongols hit."

Euphemia was obviously a student of history and dipped her head in acknowledgment of what that meant. Rai's own education had been considerably more compact and based on what Euphemia had said he was working hard to catch up, but there were still gaps. Still he remained attentive.

"The Mongols were, better equipped, let's say, than previous pawns. The bearer actually granted the geass to more of the tribal leaders, and also used the information gained from the Huns' trek to Europe to make a play for the European, Middle East, and African thought elevators. And yes, that's why the Mongols marched all the way to Europe as well. But anyway, back to Asia. The Mongols hit everyone, hard. The Jurchens that were still reeling from the ass kicking Yang's generals handed out were swept aside, and the hordes marched on the Chinese, the Indians, even the Arabs and Russians. After some of Yang's contractors ran into the Mongol contractors, he realized just how big a threat he was facing, and went into overdrive. He personally intervened in the Chinese court, rejigged much of its workings, and marshaled the largest army the ancient world had seen.

"In the meantime however the Mongols were able to make considerable progress on all their fronts. They were able to invade India and Japan both in search of the thought elevators, and in India they actually got to Delhi. Even worse, the Indian code bearer had failed to mobilize the Delhi Sultanate. Or rather, the bearer had failed to prepare them sufficiently against the brutality and ruthlessness the Mongols were capable of. The Delhi code bearer was captured, and the Mongol code bearer seized the code before dealing the killing blow. At the same time the Mongols had actually managed to reach Baghdad and take the city. According to Yang the code bearer intended to follow and take control of the thought elevator located there. That was about when the Chinese armies under Yang's command caught up and broke the Mongol hordes."

"No mean feat," Euphemia remarked softly.

Kallen nodded. "Agreed. But he wasn't exactly completely successful. Or rather Yang's objective was pretty limited. He just wanted to put down the Mongolian code bearer and end the threat to China, and technically Japan. Once that was achieved and he was certain the Mongols weren't going to try to come back, he stopped."

"Hence why the hordes still managed to ravage a good portion of Europe and the Middle East," Euphemia said.

"Yeah, I can't say I'm happy with his decision there, but I do at least understand it." She offered a slight shrug. "You can't save everyone, and you might well get more people killed trying."

The sympathy was evident on both their faces. After taking a deep breath Kallen continued.

"So that was Asia. The European, or rather I suppose European, African, and Middle Eastern situation, was similarly complicated. In fact, I think we're going to want to actively suppress the details, even ignoring the fact that code and geass are heavily classified anyway."

Euphemia cocked her head aside. "And why is that?"

Kallen pursed her lips. "Because Christianity and Islam as institutional religions are products of the conflict between the Middle East and European code bearers."

Euphemia sucked in a breath. She took a few moments to release it.

"Are you implying you have evidence that Jesus and Muhammed were, insincere?"

"I'm _not_ saying that," Kallen said. "Those particular branches of the Abrahamic religions emerged on their own, but their development into _institutionalized_ religions trace the conflict between the code bearers in that part of the world."

"Oh bloody Hel," Euphemia said, closing her eyes for a bit. "You are correct, we will likely need to keep this information suppressed lest we risk an all-out revolt amongst Britannian subjects that subscribe to those religions."

Kallen nodded. The Empire's Christian population, despite the official position of the government, was quite substantial. In was not quite an outright majority, and ironically that was at least partially because Japan's Buddhist-Shinto populace provided a very large addition to the non-Christian percentage. The Muslim components of the Empire were concentrated in the newer additions but their numbers, even ignoring the presently European occupied Middle East, were substantial. An uprising in Indonesia could certainly be suppressed, but it would be extremely bloody.

"So what exactly did happen with the two religions?" Euphemia asked after a brief pause.

"Well, Christianity emerged in the Middle East, and its spread through the Roman Empire was, encouraged, by the Baghdad code bearer. The Baghdad bearer got a big break when Constantine converted and the Romans looked prepared to return to England after Caesar's defeat. But it wasn't like the other two code bearers weren't aware of what was happening. The London code bearer left England and worked to undermine Christian unity. That didn't turn out to be that difficult, and the bearer's actions culminated in the Great Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches. By that time the Baghdad bearer could see that control over the European Christians was slipping and had shifted focus to mobilizing the Muslims and Arabs into a force that would be able to invade Europe and Africa. The first target was the Byzantine Empire, tidying up loose ends from the failed attempt to weaponize Christianity. Which of course ended up triggering the Crusades."

Euphemia nodded, following the chain of events without much difficulty.

"England did not participate at all in those campaigns," she said. "In fact the diversion of the French Catholics to the Middle East was a major boon to the Old Kingdom."

"Not just the French either," Kallen agreed. "With so much of Europe's resources diverted to supporting the Crusades, plans for forcibly converting Britain to Christianity were shelved since the continental powers presumed the islands' closer distance meant they could always get to it later." The knight shrugged. "That obviously did not work out."

"No it did not. And ultimately the time England was given to strengthen herself was what allowed her to launch the Hundred Years' War. Am I to presume then that the Crusades were launched by the London code bearer? Indirectly at least."

This time Kallen nodded. "The Baghdad code bearer was, having a bit of trouble organizing campaigns further west, and the London code bearer took the opportunity to hit back, hard. As you know, the Crusaders were able to take Jerusalem and much of Palestine in the First Crusade. The situation got bad enough for the Muslims that the Baghdad code bearer actually refrained from launching any sort of counterattack for quite some time. Instead the bearer went after the thought elevator in Central Africa. In that the bearer was more successful and managed to seize the associated code. Of course by the time the bearer's attention shifted back to Europe, the Mongols showed up, and even with the Mongol code bearer having been neutralized, they were still a potent force. The Baghdad code bearer was actually forced to flee to Jerusalem after Baghdad fell, which was really bad timing as a renewed French push managed to sack the city, even if they weren't able to hold it. Still, that was enough to allow the London code bearer to capture the Baghdad code bearer and strip the latter of the code. And the rest, well, is history."

Euphemia tilted her head aside, considering the general flow of events Kallen had described. Most of it lined up with the history that she had learned, and the empress was certain that her knight was leaving out a lot of details if for no other reason than time. She was also fairly certain Kallen's complete lack of description of the actual code bearers to be entirely intentional.

"The London code bearer," Euphemia finally said. "Was this C.C.?"

Kallen shook her head. "Her immediate predecessor. I think, what the London code bearer did, first helping drive the schism between the Latin and Orthodox Christians, then putting into motion the Crusades, after seeing all the death and destruction those actions caused, was what finally caused the bearer to decide to find someone else to take the code. And that someone else ended up being C.C."

"An escape, because a code bearer cannot commit suicide without relinquishing their code," Rai noted.

Kallen nodded again. "Because the thought elevator system won't let them. It needs, maintainers, so to speak. It grants effective immortality, but you don't get to, retire, without finding a replacement first."

"A point of clarification," Euphemia said. "You stated that several of the code bearers seized the code held by other bearers. What does that actually mean?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess that would be a bit confusing. Okay, so quick divergence. The code that most code bearers have? It's actually two separate things that we've been treating as one. The first is the active connection to C's world, a connection that is facilitated by the thought elevators. That's the one we generally mean when talking about codes. The second is a signature, or I suppose an actual code, that acts sort of like a key. Each thought elevator has a distinct key that provides you with, full privileges, I suppose is the best way of putting it, to that thought elevator's systems. If you don't have the correct code, you can still do some things with a thought elevator, but not everything.

"Now, the thing that the thought elevators don't want going away isn't actually the connection to C's world. Rather, they want to make sure that someone somewhere has a copy of the, key code. But because only someone with an active connection to C's world can possess a code, having the latter requires having the former. That's why in battles between code bearers, what the winning bearer is actually doing is seizing control of the key code. With that key, they're then able to use the originating thought elevator to sever the connection to C's world the other bearer possesses, which then makes that bearer mortal again, and thus killable."

"The Directorate's briefings on the code made no mention of this," Euphemia stated before looking at Rai. "Nor did your briefing."

"I was not aware of this detail," Rai responded. "I do not believe it was ever brought up in my briefings about my artificial code."

"Your timeplane was aware of there being some sort of additional component," Kallen said, "but they thought it was just an add-on of sorts. They never quite worked out that the key code is distinct from the connection code."

"And you manage to leapfrog a couple centuries of effort," Rai said with a dry smile.

"Well as I'm finding out I just happen to be very special," Kallen responded in kind.

Euphemia chuckled. "Alright, with that divergence out of the way, I presume you also know what happened to the American code bearers?"

At that Kallen's expression tightened. Euphemia frowned.

"Is something wrong?"

Kallen took a deep breath. "That bit, is why C.C. is not with us."

The empress and other knight said nothing and waited patiently for Kallen to elaborate.

"The, American code bearers were systematically hunted down," she said slowly, "by C.C. herself."

The frown deepened. "Was this action premeditated?"

"It, sort of was," Kallen said before taking another deep breath. "This, is going to be unpleasant to hear. And I do not ask this lightly. But, I need your word that you won't take your anger out on C.C."

That caused Euphemia to frown while Rai adopted a more thoughtful expression. From NEMO Kallen knew Rai had at least some inkling of C.C.'s past deeds, there were striking parallels across the timeplanes. It took a bit but Euphemia finally nodded.

"If you believe C.C. to deserve forgiveness for whatever she has done, I am prepared to trust your judgment. You have my word I will not seek to punish C.C."

Kallen nodded solemnly. "I wouldn't say she deserves forgiveness per se, Euphemia. But I think she's been hurt enough that we should-"

Before Kallen could continue her senses picked up motion outside the office and she turned about to look back. The others followed her gaze and after a few moments the intercom beeped.

"Apologies your majesty, but Captain Clermont is, insisting on seeing you."

The three occupants of the office exchanged looks. After a moment Kallen's head dipped ever so slightly.

"Send her in Rachel."

"Yes your majesty."

There was the distinct sound of disapproval in the secretary's tone, not of the empress but towards the woman so rude to intrude upon her majesty. If C.C. cared a whit about said disproval, she gave no indication of it as she entered the office.

"Did thee think I would need another to plead my case?"

No, all indications where she did not care in the least. Euphemia raised an eyebrow, not out of any irritation at C.C.'s flippancy, she was well used to the other woman's mannerism, but more in curiosity as to what C.C.'s supposed crime was.

"I have already given Kallen my word that I would not attempt to punish you for your past actions. Your case has been pled, there is no further pleading necessary."

"I would ask that thy mercy be withdrawn until thou hast the full measure of mine sins," C.C. stated with firm conviction.

The eyebrow stayed up even as Euphemia looked over at Kallen. The knight's lips thinned but she eventually nodded. Euphemia looked back over at C.C.

"Very well." Euphemia tilted her head to the seat next to Kallen. "Say your piece, and I shall reserve judgment until I have heard the entire tale."

C.C. accepted the invitation, settling in before speaking.

"I hast lived for centuries on end. In that time, the multitude of mine sins have grown manifold. Whatever gave impetus to those sins does not pardon them, whether malice or desperation were at the roots."

The others said nothing, letting C.C. continue her tale uninterrupted.

"You know already the time when mine Jean fell. What fury I felt towards her murderers was ephemeral, Jean had chosen the English as her enemy and they were not obliged to treat her any differently. The French however, those whom Jean had sacrificed for, they whom cast her aside when it be convenient. What love I might have held for my native land was burned away by such callousness. And so I trekked, with mine brothers and sisters, to return to the land from whence my curse came."

To England, and the London thought elevator.

"Therein at his majesty's court, I struck a bargain to lend mine skills to the kingdom in exchange for standing, albeit discreet. And from both was formed the Sterred Chambre."

That got Euphemia's attention. The Sterred Chambre, or Star Chamber, was the predecessor to the modern day Inquisitio and had been formally disbanded some three centuries prior. While the Chamber initially possessed a reputation for fairness and bringing to account those whose standings would have otherwise allowed them to escape justice. As its powers grew however so too did corruption take root within the institution.

"You helped form the Star Chamber," Euphemia said very carefully.

"That particular incarnation, aye," C.C. confirmed. "And twas I whom tore it asunder to make way for the Inquisitio."

Euphemia regarded C.C. levelly. "Does that mean you were also a lord inquisitor in the past?"

"Malleus was mine hammer," C.C. said with a decidedly unpleasant smile. "The Duchess of Bedivere has proven an, adequate inheritor."

The empress felt a slight shiver down her spine. "You could have fought back against V.V. And even won."

"Twas an option," C.C. agreed.

"But the cost. Did you consider it too high?"

"There was no need for mine hand to draw the sword," C.C. responded. "Charles and Marianne would have seen to that in time. Mine task was to see to mine charge."

Her charge being Lelouch, they all knew. Except something had thrown a big monkey wrench into that plan. Euphemia glanced over at Kallen but the knight's own eyes remained on C.C. Seeing no reaction, Euphemia's attention returned to C.C. as the woman continued speaking.

"England's kinds of course coveted the gift that was geass, but power such as that comes with cost. Their lines had not the strength to bear it, but that was a matter of blood and heritage and could be remedied, in time."

Euphemia's eyes flickered as she grasped the nuance of C.C.'s phrasing.

"A eugenics program," the empress stated. "You helped the English royals try to breed in the traits necessary to allow their descendants to use the geass."

"Aye. The blood of the ancients had thinned, but with effort twas possible to strengthen it once more." C.C. spared a passing glance over at Kallen. "And thus England granted shelter to many whom sought refuge from the vagaries of the mainland."

Like the Germans whom fled the Thirty Years' War, Kallen's paternal ancestors amongst them.

"One bloodline amongst many showed promise, that of von Britannia," C.C. continued. "The favor thus shown by the crown was, considerable."

It was hard to describe the expression on Euphemia's face. The empress did not look overtly angry, but there was a definite stiffness to her features. Nor could she be described as happy, that would have required quite the stretch of imagination. For now Euphemia was simply listening, and contemplating just how she should feel about these revelations.

"That the crown would pass to that line was more happenstance than intent, but it served to provide ample opportunity. With such station, many would welcome any attention paid, and the fruits of such unions could be, assessed, as to whether their branches should be culled."

That did elicit a very visible reaction on Euphemia's part, her eyes noticeably flaring at that last word.

"Those whom warranted such recourse were deemed, unfit due to lax temperament and unsound character," C.C. elaborated. "The line of Britannia has produced many a scion whose actions would have produced calamity had they been granted the throne, much less the power of a geass."

As true as that was, that did not make Euphemia any less unhappy. Still she stayed her tongue and waited for C.C. to finish.

"Generation after generation, the Britannia line grew ever closer to achieving the glories of ages past. Yet not all agreed that such a revival was desired, and some made their grievance known through martial means. The Empire's advance across Louisiana and New Spain was naught for just the wealth of land."

By which C.C. referred to not just the province of Louisiana but the territory that Britannia had wrested from the French, on the other side of which was the California thought elevator and presumably its attendant code bearer.

"What of the New York and Antarctic thought elevators?" Euphemia asked.

"The former had already been laid low," C.C. answered, "whereas the latter was an, accomplice."

So it seemed the western hemisphere code bearers were also systematically wiped out. Seeing no further queries from the empress C.C. proceeded onward.

"The generation of thy sire was a pinnacle of breeding, producing as it did thy father and his twin. Charles and Vivian was to have been the heirs to the legacy of code and geass, but the brutal upheaval caused by the slackness of their grandfather saw far too great a winnowing of the Britannias. To Charles was then set the task of restoring the vitality of the blood, and this he did, with scions that surpassed the, quality, of he and his brother. Scions such as yourself, your majesty, and the Prince Lelouch."

C.C. already had Euphemia's attention. Now she held the entirety of it.

"The Empress Marianne was of, an alternate lineage, one which mine charges took especial care therein. Her union with Charles was preordained, a crossing of lines which we hoped would bear particular fruit. In Lelouch our hopes were seemingly met, and even in Nunnally was seen great potential. Of other pairings we had seen potential, but twas more hope than reason to believe they might produce heirs of similar caliber. Schneizel and Cornelia bore many of the traits, but did not embody the fullness of their heritage. And then your majesty was born, and we began to wonder what the future might hold with two such fine, characters."

Euphemia had enough presence of mind to give a snort to the phrasing. C.C. responded with a mischievous smile.

"Some even wondered what the fruits of your union might produce."

The empress' face froze. And then blanched.

"That's disgusting," she snapped. "He's my brother!"

Kallen's composure nearly cracked. It took nearly all her effort to not glance over at Rai. The way things were going, she could never, ever tell Euphemia about his origins.

"Mayhap, but twould not be the first such union of lines."

Euphemia shook her head. "Just, just get on with it."

As bemused as C.C. was by the empress' seeming squeamishness about the subject she acquiesced. The smile disappeared from her face.

"While many of us rejoiced in the potential that lay within your generation, one in particular held only a spiteful jealously. V.V. had thought himself to be the pinnacle of the program. To be in danger of losing his place, methinks it drove him to take perilous steps. When he slew Marianne and wounded Nunnally, I knew where this would end, and so I ferreted both out of the court, taking Lelouch with me to claim his heritage. And the rest, your majesty knows as much as I."

That was not entirely true, but the salient points had been covered well enough in the past. Still it was remarkable the extent of secrets that C.C. had held back even after Rai's emergence and the events that followed. And she had finally come around to sharing it willingly, even insisting that any pardon Euphemia might be inclined to grant be decided after said sharing. If nothing else it was clear that C.C. did hold some convictions.

Euphemia stroked her chin, letting her mind work through all the ramifications of C.C.'s confession. Pieces of English, British, and Britannian history were making a lot more sense with the holes the other woman had filled in, but there was still one question that needed answering.

"Why did you do all this?" the empress asked.

C.C. cracked a wry smile. "Twas simple, your majesty. Five centuries is a very long time to live. You say farewell generation after generation. A time comes when you wish to be the one receiving them instead of imparting them."

So C.C. was indeed seeking an out, a way to offload her code. And she had the decency to at least try to give it to someone whom stood a better chance of weathering its effects than some random person picked up off the streets. Euphemia's eyes glanced ever so briefly at Kallen. Could the knight have also been a product of the breeding program? Even if an unintentional one? The empress squelched her curiosity for the moment. Satisfying it could wait. She needed to make a decision, or seeing as it was already made, convey it.

"I gave my word to Kallen already that I would forgo any retributions for your actions," Euphemia stated. "Even had I not, what you have done, it is not my place to judge you for them. At the same time, I cannot say I forgive them. Whether anyone can, I do not know. But your actions, even if some were mistaken, have led all of us here, and at every step of the way you remained with us. For that you will have my consideration."

It was slight, but Euphemia caught sight of the tension that left C.C.'s features. The woman had obviously felt some not inconsiderable pressure even after offloading all this. And while Euphemia could not grant her the forgiveness that she likely desired, to be granted a measure of clemency was still better than many other alternatives.

"If that will be all, your majesty?" C.C. asked.

Euphemia favored C.C. with a genuine smile and nodded. "Thank you for being forthright with us, C.C. Even if it is a bit belated."

C.C. gave a good humored snort, rose, and even bowed respectfully before taking her leave. Once the doors closed behind her Kallen let out a sigh of relief herself.

"Thank you, Euphemia. This, means a lot to me as well."

The empress nodded, and then cocked her head aside as a point occurred to her.

"Was C.C. in possession of the, key codes, for the American and Antarctic thought elevators?"

"Just the California one," Kallen said. "The Antarctic and New York key codes were in V.V.'s possession. In fact C.C. held the London, Central African, and Baghdad key codes as well."

"I see," Euphemia said thoughtfully. "In that case, does that mean the anti-code destroyed not just the connection to C's world, but also all those key codes as well?"

Kallen nodded. "Though in the case where a key code is actually lost, the thought elevators go into a kind of idle state waiting for someone with a code to get to them to, assume control. And Suzaku's artificial code is just good enough that that's what the London and Central African thought elevators let him do, even if it's not good enough for him to actually use the more advanced features."

"Yes, you mentioned Suzaku previously," Euphemia said. "He is not possessed by a Krell?"

"No, he is not."

The empress and Rai also let out sighs of relief even though they had heard this already. Having it confirmed was still a comfort.

"Thank the gods," Euphemia said.

Kallen nodded in agreement. Though that did mean the reason for dropping the atomic bomb on Toulon had also been invalidated. Granted the act had achieved other objectives, and it was not like Suzaku was not a threat anymore. He was just not quite as dangerous a threat as they had feared. Not quite.

"How do you know Suzaku is not controlled by a Krell?" Rai still asked however.

"I can, see the connection he has to C's world," Kallen said, "and in the process I can sort of peek into his head. Sort of, I can't exactly read his thoughts or anything, but I can read his, well, data, well enough that I can tell it's all him. There's no xeno, err, alien, element combined with him."

Rai rubbed his chin. "If you can do that, could you, modify his data?"

At that Euphemia actually looked at the young man with some alarm before shifting her gaze to Kallen.

"Can you?" the empress repeated.

Kallen shook her head. "The safeguards put into place to make it harder to, edit, the materium's data are still in place, despite Suzaku's mucking around. And even if I could, we still don't fully understand what it means to do these edits. The geass civilization managed to trigger an ice age with their carelessness, and I would prefer not to repeat such mistakes."

"Agreed," Euphemia said. "And seeing as the threat Suzaku represents is, more manageable than we originally presumed, we do not need to take any undue risks."

"Speaking of which," Kallen said, "how are we on our conventional approaches?"

"Have you not been keeping up with the briefings?" Euphemia said with a bemused look.

"I've been, busy," Kallen tried.

"Well, I suppose that is true enough," the empress demonstrated her benevolence. "Eighth Fleet has completed their sortie against Brest, and the strike against Cazauz Air Base also achieved its primary objective."

Kallen stared blankly at her liege. After a moment Euphemia sighed.

"You really do need to keep on top of your briefs."

"I know, I know," Kallen said. "It's just, I had to get a lot of stuff out of my head before I could even concentrate."

"Well, there is that," Euphemia conceded. "As regarding the strikes I mentioned, they are part of the preparations for a landing in North Africa. The Europeans still have substantial naval assets whose neutralization would make Torch easier."

"Ah, hence the attack on Brest," Kallen said.

At the quizzical look from her empress Kallen elaborated.

"That's France's main naval shipyard, right? Hitting them there should make things harder for their navy to maintain their fleet."

"In a sense," Euphemia said with an approving smile. "The objective was not to actually neutralize Brest, however. That was merely a diversion. The goal was to destroy the over-the-horizon radar installation at Cazauz. That facility allowed the Europeans to detect the approach of air units from all the way across the Atlantic."

"I see," Kallen nodded thoughtfully. "And without it, they'll have a lot less warning the next time Eighth Fleet comes calling." And then furrowed her brow. "We launched an attack on France's biggest shipyard as a diversion?"

"We did inflict some damage on its facilities," Euphemia said. "Though I expect the French will be able to resume work within at most a few weeks."

"If you say so," Kallen said with a somewhat playful smile before her expression became more somber. "Torch will in theory open up the way to the Central African thought elevator. What about the Baghdad thought elevator?"

"That would be Operation Sabine," Euphemia said, "and we are still marshaling forces for it. At this point our operational tempo is coming down to logistics and scheduling. We will want Eighth Fleet available to support both landings, but its ships need turnover and refits after a certain point. There is also the matter of getting the other assets into position, a non-trivial task in either case."

"True enough," Kallen agreed.

"That all being said, do you intend to remain in Pendragon while preparations are underway?" Euphemia asked.

Kallen shook her head. "I think I'll hop back over to Japan. That's where the battalion is getting refitted anyway, and I have a few things I'd like to take care of over there. Unless you have something you want me in Pendragon for?"

"Not presently," Euphemia said. "Depending on how the hunt goes for the remaining Hereticus wetwork teams, your assistance might be useful, but we can deal with that should the matter actually arise."

"Alright." Kallen rose. "In that case, might I be excused? I haven't really gotten any sleep since going into the Kamine Island thought elevator."

At that Euphemia raised an eyebrow. "Do take care of your health, Kallen. Immortal does not mean invulnerable."

Kallen chuckled wryly. "Oh, I know that all too well. Then, a good evening Euphemia, Rai."

As Kallen started to turn a flicker of concern crossed Euphemia's expression.

"Kallen."

The knight stopped and turned back to face her liege. "Yes?"

"Inside C's world. Is there, anyone else, that possesses the same, characteristics, as your gestalt fragments?"

Kallen's expression remained stoically neutral. Not even her eyes revealed any hesitation or doubt.

"No, your majesty."

Euphemia continued regarding Kallen as a silence lingered between them. The answer that she had received was from her knight, not her friend. The empress wondered what that meant. After a long moment she finally nodded.

"That will be all, Kallen. My thanks."

Kallen dipped her head respectfully and took her leave. As the door closed behind her a distinct, masculine voice echoed inside her head.

 _You did not tell the truth there._

 _FUCK. OFF._

Japan had changed considerably since the start of the Great War. The steady flow of soldiers first for the Korean operation and now the Siberian theater saw billions of pounds poured in by the government to ensure adequate housing and food was available for all the transients. All that money meant a lot of work for the resident population, Britannian and Japanese both, and even with rationing a measurable improvement in the Japanese people's standard of living was becoming evident. Of course even with all the money being poured in the army apparently still found it difficult to prepare good food, which was why those units lucky enough to be stationed in Tokyo or one of the other major cities took every opportunity to eat off base. The really lucky ones were even able to enjoy a proper homecooked meal.

"Wow, so you weren't lying when you said you knew how to cook," Jean remarked.

"That's 'you know how to cook, sir,'" Cole replied with a cheeky grin.

The other diners all chuckled as they basked in the afterglow of a nice hot meal. The labor behind the evening's fruits was not solely from Cole, Hannah, the Kraft family's resident maid, and Nora, Cole's dear sister, had helped as well. And if one was tended towards generosity, the guests had also chipped in. Even if said chipping in was quite reminiscent of KP duty, what with the chopping, washing, and other preparation of ingredients that needed to be done before the actual cooks could get to work on them.

"But man, who whadda thought cabbage and potatoes could be so tasty?" Sasha exuded. "Me mom could make a good scouse, but this was something else!"

From beneath the table a bark sounded in agreement.

"Careful Cole," Jean said teasingly. "If the princess hadn't snagged you already, I think potato girl here would gobble you right up."

"Are ya still going on about that?" Sasha said with cheeks puffed out. "No wonder yer still single, got no sense o' tact."

The others burst out laughing again.

"She's got you there Jean," Cole said. "And to think I was worried about you ever meeting my sister, what with the foot you've always got stuck in your mouth."

"Har, har, laugh it all up," Jean said, though his own face was plastered with a grin. "And who am I to try to court a future duchess? Some of us know our places, Lord Cole."

"I don't know what you're talking about, my girlfriend is simply the daughter of a humble baron. Though she is back in the capital right now."

The grins all around made pretty evident no one was buying the 'simply' bit but it was all in good fun.

"Do you think you'll be able to spend some time with her before your next deployment?" Nora asked her brother.

"Maybe," Cole said. "I received a message from Kallen that she'll be returning to Japan soon, and the division will be spending a bit more time refitting."

"Any idea where we'll be shipped off to next?" Jean said, the humor he previously felt evaporating. "Please tell me it's not Siberia."

To that Cole actually shook his head. "No, I don't think so. We're not getting any shipments of winter clothing at least." He glanced over at the newest member of their little group of comrades. "Right Armin?"

Lieutenant Armin Arlert, a junior quartermaster within the 25th infantry division, nodded in response.

"We actually just got the first batch of new combat gear," he said. "They were desert pattern."

"Desert huh," Jean said thoughtfully. "So we getting sent to the Middle East? Or maybe North Africa?"

"Either would fit," Cole said. "Though seeing as we're refitting in Japan instead of back in the homelands, I'm betting Middle East."

"Wonder if the heat'd be better than the cold," Connie said.

"Actually that's something of a misconception about deserts," Armin said. "They aren't just hot, deserts suffer from extremes in both directions. While it might be above a hundred during the day, it can get well below freezing at night."

"Well that sounds just lovely," Jean groused. "Maybe I should have volunteered for that special training like Eren did, bugger is probably enjoying himself back in the capital."

Both Cole and Armin gave bemused smiles at that. Fate might have been putting it a bit too strongly, but it was a very strange set of coincidences that saw Armin, Mikasa, and Eren come back into contact with one another. In fact Cole had not even been aware that Eren and Mikasa were childhood friends before helping Armin get in touch with the latter. And what Armin told them about what happened during the invasion of Japan cast Eren's seeming anti-Japanese sentiment under a very different light. The guy had still been something of an ass, but considering the reason of his anger there was at least hope that he could change for the better, especially with the two friends he had thought lost in the aftermath of the Britannian concession riots turning up alive and well.

"Well if Milly really has taken him as an armsman, what you should be feeling is pity, not envy," Cole said. "She's, got a sense of humor."

"Seeing as you survived it can't be that bad," Jean said with a smirk. "And look at you, on friendly terms with both princesses."

"Right, friendly," Cole said dryly. "When the head girl of your school is a hyperactive and easily bored teenage girl with a penchant for pranks, those close to her are less friends than potential victims."

"Heh, really?" Jean said with a nervous chuckle.

"Oh Milly isn't that bad," Nora said. "She was always well behaved when I was at Ashford."

"You weren't there when she was head of the student council," Cole pointed out. "And she knew better than to mess with the student council before she got into its ranks herself."

Armin looked over at the older girl. "You were part of the council?"

"Just a secretary," Nora said with a gentle smile. "I had no interest in seeking the nomination."

"Not that you would have had any difficulty winning," Cole said. "I recall at least one of the teachers suggesting you try running."

"But of course, seeing as your sister is a proper lady," Jean said, nodding respectfully to Nora even as he flashed a cheeky smirk at Cole.

"Careful Jean," Cole said jokingly. "It wouldn't be too hard for Armin to bobble the paperwork and see your squad get nothing but K-rations."

Sasha and Connie both stuck their tongues out at Cole for that one.

"Hah, Armin's too diligent to be that sneaky or nasty," Jean countered. "And why would he anyway?"

"All is fair in love and war," Cole said with a grin.

That caused Jean to look at Armin, whom flushed ever so slightly, and Nora, whose cheeks reddened a slightly lighter shade but was also smiling.

"Wow Armin," Jean said with genuine admiration. "You've got some balls. Uh, pardon the language." He then shot a mildly annoyed look at Cole. "Is there anything you won't do to ruin my love life?"

"But you being single is a running joke, Jean," Cole mock protested. "If you ever did get hitched, whom would we poke fun at?"

"Oh you're going to pay for that one," Jean chuckled.

Cole returned the grin before taking note of the time on the grandfather clock.

"Ah, we should be heading back to base. Got an early start tomorrow morning."

"In the middle of winter?" Nora said sympathetically.

"Duty calls and all that," Cole said as everyone rose. Reaching out he gave his sister a hug. "It was good to see you again, Nora. Let Mom and Dad know I'm doing fine."

"You could just write letters yourself," Nora pointed out as she returned the embrace.

"I do, but for some reason Mom doesn't seem to believe me."

"I wonder why," Nora said dryly, then smiled at Armin. "Take care of yourself as well, Armin. And if your grandfather needs anything, just let me know."

"Thank you very much, Nora," Armin responded with one of her own. "And thank you for your generosity."

The others also conveyed their gratitude for the food and hospitality before they departed and piled into the Humvee parked outside.

"So what was that about your grandfather?" Jean asked once they were buckled in.

"That's whom I was sent to live with after, my parents passed away," Armin said. "He's retired now, but he used to have a small farm in Columbia. A bit of luck there, I suppose, the provincial government of Columbia was very supportive of smaller family farmers like him."

"Not like the southern nobles, you mean?" Jean said. "Yeah, I get you. It's why my folks moved to Hokkaido, they wanted to strike out on their own, but the landholders down south are all about squeezing out competition with their plantations. Umm, present company excepting of course."

Cole chuckled as he started up the vehicle. "My mother's family might have been major landholders, but they organized their farms as cooperatives between the multiple families that actually worked the land. That way risk could be spread out to some degree and people had support they could rely on if one of them ran into difficulty."

"That actually sounds like what some of the families were setting up in Hokkaido," Jean remarked.

"Yeah, my family's doing that," Sasha put in.

"Mine too," said Connie.

"Well, my mother did spend quite a few years working in the agricultural sector here in Japan," Cole said with a slight smile. "Hokkaido is north enough that it can't grow the kind of cash crops that plantation-style farming finds most profitable. They were just getting a diary industry actually going when the war started and her majesty initiated the land reclamation program."

He then pulled out onto the roads and turned towards the base.

"Yeah, heard about that from my folks," Jean said. "Lotta people were feeling, nervous, about Japanese people coming back and reclaiming the land. Some were afraid they might try to lay claim to their old property."

"That was something her majesty accounted for," Cole said. "Well, tried to account for. It's likely impossible to come up with a solution that would please everyone, but she's at least tried to be fair about people getting compensation for lost lands."

"I hear ya," Jean said. "Still, we're all neighbors now. We need to not be at each other's throats all the time."

One could say the same about the war as well. Cole simply chose not to.

End of Chapter 121

I feel like I'm getting the expository chapters out much faster than the ones with action. I suppose it's because I want this information out of my head so I can stop thinking about it. Next chapter will likely have the same sort of timeskip that led up to the invasion of Korea, since most of the preparatory work that I wanted to show for the North Africa and Middle East incursions are basically complete.

Just a general note, Kallen is using terms like London code bearer or Baghdad code bearer out of convenience. She's intentionally not bringing up names or titles. Kallen also is only providing the broad strokes. She's refraining from going into too much detail since the history bit is more just to satisfy Euphemia's curiosity than providing information that will inform future policy. They do have more immediate matters to deal with after all.

C.C., was very powerful before the schism between her and V.V. In some respects she was still powerful even afterward, the resources that she tapped while on the run were things that she had used the Britannian state institutions to set up over the course of centuries. That she got captured by Clovis was a bit of bad luck, for very few people actually would be able to recognize C.C. personally and so would not know that in theory she holds a rather high rank. Anyway, now you all have more explanations about her overall meddling with the Britannian imperial family.

I always knew I wanted Armin to have a role in the story, but I kept putting off introducing him as I couldn't quite work out what he would do. An idea has occurred to me however and so in he goes. Hopefully he'll have enough time to develop for the role I want him to play.

At least some of the questions raised have been answered by this chapter. I will note that Yang did not possess a conscious gestalt fragment. He was just lucky enough that his geass didn't kill him before developing into a code. C.C. similarly was also "lucky" in that respect. And V.V.

It's always been possible for a code bearer to have two or more "key codes" for lack of a better word. Both Kallen and Yang expected that Kallen's own code would have already fully emerged by the time she received Yang's.

The last scene at the end of the last chapter was sort of to indicate the greater "sight" that Kallen now possesses with access to C's world, basically the ability to "see" more of the world around her. And also offer a hint as to the full scope of the thought elevator system. Remember, the Sword of Akasha is located on a Jovian moon.

Err, okay. I think I'll stop laying out all the ways that Europe is screwed, both before and after the armistice, as well as why the armistice precludes any chance of it developing into something that could genuinely threaten Britannia again. Saying anything more would constitute spoilers that I don't want to reveal yet. I will just make a remark that the idea that Europe would somehow emerge as some sort of united military superstate after the war is, fantastical.

Actually, I will say one thing. Imperial Japan is a very good example to use. Its military broke basically every law of war in their conflict against the allies, killing and brutalizing both military prisoners and civilians. Its economy was effectively run into the ground with all of the resources (and they didn't have much resources to begin with) being diverted to military uses, resulting in their own populations suffering heavily. Its soldiers and officers were driven by zeal and fanaticism in their conduct, believing that they could overcome their enemies through will. And then they were faced with the industrial capacity of the United States. Spirit met cold hard steel, and steel won.


	123. Chapter 122

_Operation Catapult, the Imperial Britannian Navy's daring raid on the Spanish naval base of Rota and the French-Algerian naval base of Mers-el-Kébir, was emblematic of the strategic reach that the Britannian Eighth Fleet provided to the Empire. In preparation for the strike Eighth Fleet had already staged a diversionary attack on the French naval shipyard at Brest, inflicting a fair amount of damage. Simultaneously Britannia once again employed the Project Hades stealth bomber prototypes, this time carrying conventional bombs, to destroy the over-the-horizon radar installation at the Cazauz Air Base outside of Bordeaux. Destruction of the facility drastically decreased the ability of the Europeans to receive early warning of air units crossing the Atlantic, thus also drastically decreasing the amount of time their forces would have to scramble a response. The Europeans presumed the attack was in preparation for the expected North African landing. In this they were not wrong, what they underestimated was the lengths the Empire would go to in order to achieve a more decisive advantage in the balance of forces._

 _Losses on both sides were heavy. The Europeans deployed nearly the entirety of their air defense squadrons stationed in Western Europe in their effort to down Eighth Fleet. In the process over five squadrons worth of fighters were destroyed outright. Imperial forces suffered approximately 50% losses to the two carrier wings attached to Eighth Fleet. More serious losses came in the form of the three destroyers the Europeans were able to bring down through sheer concentrated firepower, but the remains were thoroughly destroyed by Eighth Fleet's own guns to ensure there would be nothing useful for the Europeans to examine._

 _Losses of European naval assets at Rota and Mers-el-Kébir were near total. While the Spanish ships were still preparing to sail when Eighth Fleet hit Rota, the French Navy was actually able to deploy a significant portion of its assets to meet Eighth Fleet in action. Unfortunately for the French the Empire again demonstrated the tactical advantages its railguns offered it in any conventional surface action and Eighth Fleet completed the destruction of the French Navy begun with the bombing of Toulon._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 122

Non quis sed quid

Euphemia had a lot of brothers and sisters to choose from when it came to naming the newest additions to Eighth Fleet. Some were a bit less deserving of the honor considering their reputations and actions during life. Kallen could have done without having the _Prince Lelouch_ or the _Prince Clovis_ be the ships providing her with fire support. And one could only hope that the _Prince Adonis_ would prove more effective in its role than the person whose memory it was named after. Others had a great deal more to live up to considering whom they were namesakes of, like the _Prince Odysseus_ or the _Prince Schneizel_. And then there was the _Rean Schwarzer_.

The sixth _Logres-_ class battleship, its addition to Eighth Fleet more than made up for the losses suffered during Operation Catapult from a firepower perspective. On a point defense front the fleet would have to make due until more flying destroyers were commissioned, which would not be much longer now with multiple shipyards around the Empire tooled up and laying them down. For now though the six battleships hovering above the beachhead would be ample for protecting the troops below.

 _There have been instances where I was actually helpful, you know._

Kallen bit her tongue as her anger spiked. She refrained from verbalizing it however, internally or externally. Silence in this case was indeed golden and Kallen was intent on not breaking her silent treatment already. Instead she glanced over at the other officers present aboard the battleship's command and control center.

In addition to being the sixth ship of her class, the _Rean Schwarzer_ came with one additional modification that set her apart from her predecessors. Experience from the Korean and Siberian landings had made clear that the ground commander needed better communications capabilities than just whatever could be rigged up in one of the flying transports, never mind the fact that using a transport that way pretty much precluded also using it for its actual task of flying troops around. As such the _Rean Schwarzer's_ design had been modified to include a dedicated control center that would give the landing's commanding general a much better picture of what was going on. From the way one General Andreas Darlton was regarding the monitors and issuing a steady stream of orders, it was working.

The decision to pull Andreas from Eighth Army and place him in command of Third Army had been made shortly after the conclusion of the Chinese campaign. What remained of the Eighth was busy helping Sixth Army face off against the Russians, but it was determined that the Middle East campaign warranted Andreas' attention more. Considering the importance of seizing the Bahgdad thought elevator, it was a determination that Kallen completely agreed with. Her own presence in the command center was in some ways pretty superfluous, but observing the general in action did serve as something of a learning experience.

The actual execution of Operation Sabine had been both complicated and made easier by Operation Torch. After the very thorough thrashing of the European naval and aerial assets on the western part of the continent the Britannian war staff had determined that Eighth Fleet's ships would not be necessary to provide escort for the landing operation. That duty fell to the combined might of Second and Fourth Fleet and the over three hundred planes embarked upon the four carriers that formed the core of the fleet. Add to that the hundred plus other ships ranging from cruisers to destroyers to submarines and even tenders and the meager force of frigates that the smaller European nations could muster looked distinctly inadequate.

More than looked, something that the captains commanding those ships could themselves recognize. Alongside that recognition also came a bout of sanity, as those same captains elected not to commit suicide by trying to actively challenge the Britannian fleets. The German U-boat captains on the other hand seemed to think they needed to at least try, and try they did. One thing that could be said about the Germans, they could be a very determined people, and they really knew a thing or two about building quiet submarines. A few managed to break through the fleet's screen and try making runs on the more strategically valuable targets. A few sunk wrecks marked their successes, and failures. That a few managed to break through also meant others did not, and Britannia's captains were also well versed in seamanship, both above and below the waves.

On the plus side for the Empire, the bulk of its fleet and all of its carriers remained intact and were busily pounding away at the European forces in support of Fifth Army. On the minus, all of the flying transports had been pressed into helping maintain the Moroccan beachhead. By the time Britannia could rely solely on regular maritime freighters to supply its troops, the flying transports had been through enough to require refits and repairs themselves even though Eighth Fleet's ships had already gone through the yards and were ready to go. Of course the delay had given Groom Lake time to get the _Rean Schwarzer_ ready for deployment, so on balance it might not have been a bad thing.

"Sir, 7th division has entered Muscat's city limits," an officer reported to Andreas. "German units are pulling back deeper into the city, but there's a large concentration of enemy troops remaining at the port itself."

Andreas nodded. "Once 4th mechanized has finished disembarking, they are to join the 7th and secure that port."

Sending two entire divisions to secure a target might have seemed excessive, but the soldiers were going to have to traverse the city itself before reaching their destination, and there were simply too many opportunities for them to get ambushed along the way. At least moving in such strength they were more likely to beat off any attacks. Still, it would be hard going even with the attached knightmare battalions acting as spearheads. And since Britannia intended to stay this time, Andreas had specific orders to not level the entire city in the process of taking it.

Kallen looked over at the tactical projection again. It showed quite a large number of European units converging, or trying to, upon the Britannian beachhead. The downside of the delay was to permit the EU to shift more reinforcements to the Middle East, which they had done despite the demands of the North African theater. The bulk of the European forces were German, likely intent on avenging their losses in the Far East campaign. The second largest contribution came from the Turks, with a smattering of other nations providing smaller numbers of troops. All of that was now determined to prevent Britannia from reconquering the Middle East. Whether that determination was enough, well, the aerial battles offered a good measuring stick in that regard.

Aerial sorties were happening on an hourly basis as the Luftwaffe probed the airspace even as the carriers of Third, Seventh, and Eighth Fleet launched and recovered their own jets. The Europeans were also seeking other means to counter Eighth Fleet's ships, and one barrage of cruise missiles had already been launched against them even before the first transport put down. The slowly approaching artillery batteries was probably another such attempt, save for the fact that the very ships they sought to threaten outranged them by far and were not inclined to let them close in enough to actually be a threat.

The slightest of tremors rippled through the ship as its guns thundered again. Kallen doubted too many people would have felt it in the command center, the dampening from the gun mounts were supposed to be quite good. She had something of an unfair advantage in that respect. Setting that aside, Kallen noted the marker that disappeared. Another battery of guns that were now just twisted metal. Twisted, burning metal that she could even see.

"General, enemy artillery batteries are halting their advance approximately 25 miles out."

"Well outside the maximum range of their guns," Andreas noted.

But well within the range of Eighth Fleet's guns, even at their present altitude. Another complication for the Europeans trying to support their ground forces.

"Do you believe that is as far as they'll be willing to advance?" Kallen asked the general.

For all the raw data she had gained access to thanks to her now active connection to C's world, Kallen was finding that her gestalt fragment had not been lying about the difference between knowledge and information. She could see reasons for either course of action, but she could not intuit which the enemy might choose.

"For the moment, that is where they will halt," Andreas answered. "They know from the losses of their past attempts how far out we intend our interdiction to reach. Until they can figure out a way to either distract Eighth Fleet or overwhelm its defenses, they will not waste more troops learning what they already know."

"And what do you think they will try next against Eighth Fleet?" Kallen asked.

Andreas crossed his arms. "The main effective weapon in the European arsenal would be their long-range cruise missiles. Those can be fired from outside the current range of our railguns, so they are at less risk of counterfire."

"Didn't they already try that?" Kallen pointed out.

"That they did," Andreas acknowledged. "But just because the attempt did not work that time does not mean they have anything that has any greater chance now. It has already been demonstrated amply that sheer weight of fire can bring down our ships. The question is how quickly the Germans will be able to muster the necessary numbers for another attempt."

Not soon, would have been Kallen's gut reaction, but then again intelligence was spotty on just how many missiles the Europeans had managed to stockpile for the Middle East and how many might have been diverted after Operation Torch was kicked off.

"Would you say we are still on schedule for me going groundside?" Kallen asked the general.

Andreas regarded the princess with an arched eyebrow. Kallen returned the look.

"Something wrong, general."

"No your highness," the man responded with a measured tone. "It is just, I am reminded of another time when I was asked a similar question."

Kallen's own expression remained blankly neutral. She knew well whom Andreas must be thinking of, and when such an exchange had likely taken place. In fairness Kallen could admit that there were certain similarities to. As much as Kallen understood how much the general respected the late Princess Cornelia, and how him comparing the two of them was intended as a compliment, Kallen herself could not help but feel somewhat ambivalent. Cornelia had been a firm belief in Britannian racial supremacy after all, even if she had acquiesced to her sister's policy of integration in Japan. Still she should not demean the late princess' memory.

"Let us hope then that I am nearly as much a charm for victory as she was," Kallen said simply.

The slightest of smiles touched Andreas' lips. "You may falter, your highness. But I have yet to see you fall."

With that the general's attention returned to the battle below. Kallen did likewise. If she was to truly warrant Andreas' praise, there was much yet for her to learn. And much for her to not screw up.

 _I could help with that._

Kallen did not dignify that with a response.

* * *

The 25th was not one of the first to hit solid ground. Nor were they among the second. For some reason or another that Cole preferred not to think about, his division was part of the third wave to put down on the shores of Oman. Now that they were deployed however there was a lot of gear to get disembarked and ready to go.

"That's the last of the APCs sir," Armin reported.

"About time," Cole said, though his irritation was hardly directed at his friend and subordinate. "Any longer and Major Sulla might have come down herself to find out what was going wrong."

Armin gave a dry smile at that. Everyone in the support battalion knew better than to disappoint the major, especially after she had decided you were deserving enough of her trust to be handed responsibility of something important. And seeing as getting the APCs prepped would directly impact how soon the 25th could join the fray, allowing any slippage in the schedule Sulla had set would certainly warrant her disappointment.

"Sometimes I think she would be happier in command of a line battalion sir," Armin remarked.

"Don't let her hear you say that," Cole cautioned playfully as he himself disembarked from the freighter. "She might actually ask for a transfer, and I'd prefer not to risk getting a crap replacement."

"Maybe they'd just promote you to take her place."

Cole nearly tripped at that. "Oh gods Armin, do not _ever_ say that aloud again. I really do not need the brass getting that idea into their heads."

Armin chuckled. "Sorry sir. But look at it from my perspective, I'd get to keep you as my boss."

"Don't make me make you regret thinking that," Cole muttered under his breath even as he could not quite keep a smirk off his face.

The 25th was slated to support the drive further north, reinforcing those division that were already advancing towards the city of Al Ain. That city was a major transit nexus connecting to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the former being of some strategic importance due to its port. Seizing it would give the Empire a place to land supplies and reinforcements on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz, which would help shorten the line of supply for the troops that would be marching on Doha.

The Empire was effectively retracing the Princess Cornelia's campaign trail, something that would be readily obvious to their opponents. The question was whether those opponents could do anything about it. Cole was not exactly privy to more detailed strategic information than the other officers in the support battalion but the briefs available to him did indicate that the Europeans did not have any major naval assets within the Persian Gulf. The strait itself could become a major bottleneck if the Europeans were able to install enough guns and missiles, and keep the Empire from blowing them up at the first opportunity.

Beyond that the question boiled down to how well the army would do against their European counterparts. That was not something Cole could guess at with a great degree of confidence. As a Britannian soldier he believed that in the long run the Empire would prevail. Cole was however perfectly prepared to admit that he might be just a tad biased there, though perhaps not in the way his fellow soldiers might be. It was hard to imagine a Britannia led by the Empress Euphemia being defeated, or troops following the Princess Kallen being defeated. He had witnessed those two personally persevere under extreme pressures on all too many occasions to doubt otherwise.

"Captain Kraft."

Both Cole and Armin came to an abrupt halt and snapped crisp salutes.

"Major Sulla," Cole responded. "What can I do for you?"

"I was about to come down and see what the holdup on the APCs were, but it seems that's been resolved."

"Yes ma'am," Cole said, thanking whatever gods might deign to accept his gratitude that the major had not done so a mere ten minutes earlier. "Captain Larson assures me they're ready for deployment and the first units should be picking up Charlie Company now."

"Good, cause another matter's come up that would suit your talents more than minding a bunch of grease monkeys while they got our vehicles ready."

Cole cracked a slight smile but refrained from any witty remarks of his own. The major was obviously not done yet.

"The 25th is being split up to pursue two objectives," Sulla continued as expected. "Two of the regiments will be continuing northwest towards Abu Dhabi as originally planned. The other two will however be joining a push southward towards the city of Salalah."

It took Cole only a moment to recall the city in question. It was some distance away, further even than Abu Dhabi. The city also had a port facing the Arabian Sea however, which would make it a useful intermediary step along the way to the Red Sea. Sulla nodded, obviously picking up on Cole's train of thought.

"The intent, as I'm sure you've figured out captain, is to carry on all the way to at least Al Mukalla to close off the Gulf of Aden. Once that region is secured, the Europeans will have no way of getting naval assets out from the Mediterranean or the Red Sea to harass our supply ships."

"And with our line of communications secure, we can advance on two fronts and force the Europeans to divide their attention," Cole completed the thought for her.

Sulla's smile grew wider. "Succinctly stated, captain." The smile disappeared. "I will be accompanying the Abu Dhabi contingent. I am assigning you to command the support element for the regiments headed to Salalah."

It was probably a good thing Cole was not smiling either, as it saved his face the effort of flattening out.

"Me, ma'am?"

"You've proven yourself more than capable of handling the workload, captain," Sulla said, "and you have the seniority for it. If I have to pick one of my subordinates to send on an independent assignment, I'd rather pick one that's proven to have a level head."

Said head lowered perhaps half an inch in acknowledgment. "I'll endeavor not to disappoint, major."

"See that you don't." Sulla held out a packet of documents to Cole. "Those are the units that you will be responsible for. Good luck, captain."

Cole accepted the packet and clicked his boots together respectfully. Once the major left he looked down at the papers somewhat numbly.

"Umm, am I going with you sir?" Armin asked.

"A good question." Cole rifled through the papers for a few moments. "Yes, yes you are. C'mon, we better get to it." He flipped through more pages as he started walking. "We've got a lot of work to do." More pages. "A lot."

"We sure the major isn't trying to slot you into her position?" Armin asked playfully.

Cole groaned. "Gods above and below Armin, if that does happen, I _will_ make you regret every single wisecrack about it." A thought occurred to him. "Maybe I'll just have you switch uniforms with me and let you run the show. People can barely tell us apart as it is."

The smile disappeared from Armin's expression even as one cropped up on Cole's face. Perhaps the two of them shared more than just their looks, their respective senses of humor also seemed to have striking parallels.

* * *

"What do you mean the deployment has been canceled?" Suzaku said coldly.

"In light of the Empire's successes in North Africa, the government has decided that they would prefer all Rafale units be deployed there instead of the Middle East," Christoph Dunois responded with considerable greater calmness in his tone than the Japanese youth. "As a consequence, Dassault-Dunois no longer has any justification to deploy a technical assistance team to the Middle East, especially one with actual Rafales."

"That was not part of our deal," Suzaku growled. "Our agreement was that I would help your company get the Rafales working, and in exchange you would use your resources to help me get to the places I need to go."

"And I have every intention of honoring it," Christoph responded, still in that cool and even calculating demeanor. "The problem however is that you wish to deploy a Rafale with you to Baghdad. That is no trivial request, one does not simply fly a weapon of war like that overseas at a whim. Before the Britannians landed troops we could at least interest the Germans in joint exercises with their Hummels, to test out doctrine and how our respective mechs might best support each other. Now however, both of us are far too busy fighting actual battles in our respective theaters to entertain such diversions."

"Why not?"

The Frenchman stared blankly at Suzaku for a few moments as if unable to understand what the younger man was asking. In fact truthfully he did not.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You're one of the largest defense contractors in Europe," Suzaku persisted. "Shouldn't the Germans be happy to be receiving equipment from you?"

Christoph's expression was still one of incomprehension, but the point of incomprehension was now shifted. Could the Japanese youth standing before him be that naïve regarding military logistics? The Frenchman was forced to remind himself that Suzaku had been a fairly low-ranking soldier within Britannia's ranks, whatever his association with the Camelot Institute.

"Dassault-Dunois may be a major defense contractor, but the majority of our contracts are with the French national army and the French component of the combined European army," Christoph tried to explain. "While we supply some equipment to the Wehrmacht, we have not received any orders for the Rafale from them, and as I previously mentioned the field demonstration was canceled by the Germans. Considering the complexity of the situation in the Middle East, they will not look kindly upon my company still showing up with a combat mech, a large support team, and asking that they find somewhere to house all of that."

Suzaku's displeasure was evident, but it was becoming evident to the young man that his unhappiness would matter little to the German military, or really to Christoph himself. Suzaku was starting to realize that people's words really did not mean anything. Even a written agreement was barely worth the paper that was signed if the other side was intent on dodging their obligations, much as the Frenchman was obviously intending. Too bad Suzaku had no intention of letting that happen.

"Monsieur Dunois," Suzaku said, focusing his attention on the man even as the almost familiar throbbing of his left eye began. "You _can_ figure out a way to get me and a Rafale to Baghdad. Do it."

"What-what are you," Christoph began even as a mild pressure began building up in his head.

The Frenchman massaged his temple even as he found himself unable to tear away from Suzaku's gaze.

"Speak to whomever you need to," Suzaku continued. "Pay whomever you need to, but you _will_ get me to Baghdad with the tools I need. Am I clear?"

Christoph opened his mouth, expecting to put the impertinent youth in his place. Who was he to demand such things, even after the assistance he had lent Dassault-Dunois? Then there was the simple impracticality of the matter. The Germans were not going to take kindly to his company trying to shoehorn through a demonstration or test that they simply did not have the time to oversee, especially in the middle of an active warzone. Some things might be physically possible, but that was not the same thing as feasible.

"Yes."

Only a single word left Christoph's lips instead of the stream he had expected. The Frenchman blinked, confusion more than anything else filling his conscious thought.

"Good," Suzaku said. "Now get to it."

"Yes," Christoph heard himself say again even as his body moved, his hand reaching for his phone.

The Frenchman had only a single moment to feel a swelling of horror within him. And then all was but a void as his thoughts became as one.

* * *

Rai stood in a ready stance at the center of the gym, the much bulkier Alexander Louis Armstrong directly across from him. The disparity in size might have seemed outright comical. The expression on Armstrong's face made clear the newly minted captain was not prepared to underestimate his foe. A few friendly wagers of rounds at the bar were being traded and one Sergeant Major Maes Hughes was happily helping collect everyone's bets. Said joviality took a momentary dive when Euphemia herself entered the room. She regarded the hat full of slips, a quick glance over at Rai and Armstrong, then took the pen and one of the blank slips Maes was holding in his other hand. Whatever her majesty scribbled onto her slip no one could quite make out before she folded it and dropped it into the hat. A palpable tension soon suffused the guardsmen present.

If Rai himself was at all nervous to the empress' presence he showed no signs of it. In fact he did not even show any indication that he was aware Euphemia was now watching. Instead the fullness of his attention remained centered on Armstrong, and the captain likewise kept his focus on Rai. The two had been like that for close to three minutes with neither budging an inch. Armstrong was easily the best hand-to-hand specialist amongst Euphemia's royal guard when she was a mere princess. Even now there was only a mere handful of guardsmen that could stand toe-to-toe against the man. At first glance Rai would not have been expected to be counted amongst them. That there was even any betting, friendly of course, indicated otherwise.

The one to make the first move was again Armstrong. The larger man was always bristling with vigor ready to leap into action. The captain certainly understood the importance of patience, but the roiling blood urging him forth was apparently too much in this instance. For a man of such muscular girth Armstrong moved with shocking speed. He closed the distance between himself and Rai in the blink of an eye, front arm already extending to deliver a jab. The motion sailed straight and true, until suddenly Armstrong's body lurched downward following the motion of his arm. Twisting further, Rai spun about using Armstrong's own side as a shield. Completing his turn, the young man landed a solid kick against the captain's back and sent Armstrong crashing into the floor.

Or would have, except the captain managed to use his arms to bounce and perform a flip to land back on his feet. Even that was simply a prelude to Armstrong's counterattack as he launched a powerful kick at Rai as he himself landed. The sheer disparity in size was in Armstrong's favor as though Rai managed to block the attack he could not get enough traction on the ground to keep from sliding back.

Armstrong leaned forward as his leg came down, using the motion to launch another punch. This one Rai simply sidestepped instead of deflecting, and did the same for the next two jabs. Armstrong carried through the motion of the last punch, using the momentum to spin about and throw a backfist at Rai. The young man ducked, taking advantage of Armstrong's open guard to get a blow in at his side. The captain was not caught unawares by the maneuver however, and slammed his elbow down to catch Rai in the back.

Such a blow should have ended the fight. Rai on the other hand seemingly bounced as he hit the floor before flipping up, his legs locking onto Armstrong's arm and shoulder. The motion of his body swinging upward, twisting Armstrong's arm in the process, forced the captain to lean over lest said arm get dislocated outright. That was still not enough to save Armstrong from getting planted into the ground face first as Rai twisted about and drove his own elbow into the captain's back. With Rai literally riding him, Armstrong had neither the freedom nor the flexibility to catch himself. A thud would have been inadequate to describe the captain's impact. Smack would probably do.

As the two combatants untangled themselves a single pair of hands began clapping. The applause was soon joined by the others, for whom dared not to when the empress herself was so celebrating the bout? Armstrong and Rai exchanged handshakes before turning to face their audience. Only then did the captain apparently realize the august personage amongst their number. The way his cheeks reddened ever so slightly made him all the more endearing in Euphemia's opinion. A shame Rai declined to demonstrate sheepishness under such circumstances. It would have made him cuter in Euphemia's opinion.

"Well fought," the empress said nonetheless.

"Thank you your majesty," Armstrong's voice boomed.

"Thank you, your majesty," Rai said with considerably greater reserve.

Euphemia favored him with a patient look. Not cute at all. She looked over at Hughes.

"Sergeant, I believe you can sort through the payouts now?"

"Umm, yes your majesty!" Maes said as he looked down at the hat with considerably less enthusiasm.

Reaching in, making sure to pick out the empress' bet since that was what she obviously intended, the sergeant major wondered just how out of pocket everyone would be. Surely the empress had bet on her (unofficial) boyfriend. As he opened the slip, his jaw dropped.

"Sergeant Major?" Euphemia prompted after a few moments.

"Umm, yes ma'am," Maes stuttered. "Umm, her majesty bet, the option to get palace meals instead of rations for lunch, for all guardsmen present, for one month if her majesty lost."

A few murmurs sounded at that. That would have been a nice treat had the empress actually lost.

"Her majesty bet on Captain Armstrong," Maes concluded.

All intermittent noise died out. A cough might have sounded. Rai raised an eyebrow.

"You bet against me, your majesty?"

"Can't have you becoming too complacent, Raibeart," Euphemia responded with a playful smile.

That elicited an equally bemused smirk from Rai himself. "Did your majesty require something of me?"

"I did, though it is not a matter of immediate urgency," Euphemia responded, the humor disappearing from her expression. "Take the time to freshen up and change, Raibeart. You and I have a matter to discuss."

Rai bowed slightly in acknowledgment of the implicit order. "As you will, your majesty."

Ten minutes later, Rai was walking beside Euphemia in the standard duty dress of the guard instead of workout clothes.

"The Empire's forces are making steady progress against the Europeans in the African and Middle East theaters," Euphemia said. "Estimates put them within striking distance of the Baghdad thought elevator within the next two months."

Rai nodded. "Her gr-highness has all the information she needs to take control of that thought elevator. And with her, increased capabilities, she should even be able to strip Suzaku of his access code should the need arise."

The smile on Euphemia's face returned, briefly, at the way Rai still needed to consciously recall what Kallen's address should be here and now. The other girl's status as a duchess was deeply ingrained in Rai and it would yet be some time before he could instinctively think of her as a princess. But it was that very duchess that Euphemia found need to inquire about.

"Raibeart, you previously said that the Lelouch and Kallen you knew were very close personally. Does that mean they were romantically involved?"

Rai gave Euphemia a somewhat quizzical look. The empress could be remarkably forthright about these things. No shrinking violet was she.

"They were, your majesty," Rai eventually answered.

Euphemia nodded slowly as she fell into a thoughtful silence. Rai did not press her and simply continued at her side as the empress contemplated whatever weighed upon her.

"Did they have any children?" she asked next.

That question seemed to take Rai by surprise as this time he fell silent for several moments thinking over an answer.

"Not as far as I am aware, your majesty," he finally replied.

"I see."

Again the two walked in relative silence, the only sound the click of their shoes upon the hardwood floor of the hallway. And again the silence only lasted so long.

"Raibeart, how much do you remember your parents?"

Rai raised an eyebrow but humored his liege.

"Very well, your majesty. My mother and father raised me themselves as best they could, considering the circumstances. In fact for much of my childhood I accompanied my mother whenever she was working. There was, to be frank, no one else to look after me."

"I see," Euphemia said again.

"Are you suggesting that the Lord Lelouch and Her Grace were my biological parents?" Rai queried after Euphemia did not say anything further.

No one could accuse Rai of being stupid or slow. The young man's natural intelligence had been tempered into cunning over the years in which he fought in the war against the krell and the leading questions Euphemia asked were too obvious to suggest anything else.

Euphemia pursed her lips. "Kallen has been treating you with a certain consideration ever since NEMO was installed within her. At first I thought that consideration was due to my personal attachment to you, but now I think there is more to it."

Rai pondered the possibility. "NEMO might have known about such a parentage and been restricted from telling me. Certain portions of her database were locked out to me. Her highness however might well be indistinguishable from her grace, which would allow her to override NEMO's lockouts."

"Did you ever have any reason to believe that biologically you were not related to the parents whom raised you?"

Coming from anyone else such a question might have been considered remarkably tactless. Rai knew Euphemia well enough, and closely enough, to know she was not being insensitive on the matter. There were real ramifications depending on the resolution of the root question after all, and so Rai spent a few moments carefully going over his childhood memories.

"I have no recollection of any photos of my mother being pregnant. Then again she had a tendency to dislike being in the limelight herself despite her line of work. There are several photos of me as a baby in their care, so assuming I was an adoptee they received me when I was very young."

Euphemia nodded. "I am sorry if you find it difficult to remember all this, Raibeart."

"I miss my family," Rai said frankly. "But I choose to remember my love for them, and their love for me. Their absence, while I regret, does not diminish that love."

The empress gave Rai a bright, almost joyous smile. Not once had she doubted that Rai was deserving of her devotion, or of Rai's return of his own. There were times though when her decision saw further affirmation.

Rai glanced over at the empress and continued. "Do you believe her highness is keeping information from you?"

"Almost certainly," Euphemia said, her mouth straightening, "but I trust Kallen's judgment. After thrusting responsibility for the code upon her, it would be folly of me to doubt her loyalty. And as for your parentage, if my suspicions are correct, she might have had the best of intentions."

"Because biologically I would be your nephew?"

"There is that," Euphemia agreed before flashing a playful smile. "Primitive as the medical sciences might seem to someone like you, we do understand the dangers of inbreeding."

Rai smiled back, though his answer remained on topic. "Presumably her highness is aware as well, and yet she seems to be trying to encourage us instead of setting us apart."

"Yes, yes she is," Euphemia agreed. "That is more than a little curious."

"Well, perhaps I should make mention that confirmation of your suspicions would only change the distance of my relation."

Euphemia blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"My father, despite his last name, is descended from the union between Her Grace the Duchess Stadtfeld," Rai explained, "and His Imperial Highness the Prince Lelouch. Before they disappeared from public view, they established a large and prosperous lineage, of whom I am the latest, or I suppose the last, thereof."

Euphemia regarded Rai, a gentle warmth conveyed in her eyes.

"Not the last, Raibeart," she said firmly.

At that Rai allowed a slight, almost sheepish smile. Forthright, his liege certainly was.

"Anyway, her grace herself eventually told me of my father's relation to herself and the Lord Lelouch," he continued. "Apparently this is done for all members of the extended Britannia-Stadtfeld clan whom are deemed of worthy character. My own induction was apparently rushed due to the gravity of the war, but I remember feeling, proud. To be of such lineage."

"A pride you have every right to feel," Euphemia assured him as Rai trailed off there. "What you have achieved, what you have survived. It is a testament as much to your own abilities as it is the lineage which birthed you."

Rai graced Euphemia with another smile. "My thanks, your majesty." And then turned back to the matter at hand. "Are you going to ask her?"

It was fairly obvious whom the her in question was. And the question itself was an excellent one. It was however not one that Euphemia could yet muster an answer for.

End of Chapter 122

Well I'm sure that's going to have consequences.

Keep in mind that the version of Lelouch and Kallen that Rai knew are very much distinct individuals. In that timeline Lelouch did not go full scored earth mode and try to kill Kallen on multiple occasions, so them hooking up was far more probable.

Shorter chapter than usual, I didn't feel like dragging out the scenes. The developments that I wanted to show happen have happened.

We're actually advancing a bit more quickly to the final confrontation between Kallen and Suzaku than I had expected. Which to be frank is a good thing. I need this story done so that I can move on. Bloody ME story ideas spilling into my head.

Hmm. I don't know whether it's something I should be impressed with, but literally the minute after I post a new chapter, the number of views it receives starts going up.

Kallen is learning. Under Andreas' tutelage, she might well turn into a highly competent general, in time, and be actually deserving of her official rank.

One additional detail that I think I should share with all of you is that the connection to C's world that the codes we've been dealing with thus far are all artificial in a sense. The codes provide this connection via support by the thought elevators. This holds true for both the "natural" codes that C.C., V.V., and Yang possessed as well as the "artificial" ones that Rai, Monica, and Suzaku have. Now on the basis that there are "artificial connections," one might presume that it is possible for a human mind to possess a "natural connection" to C's world that does not need a thought elevator to act as a mediator/supporter. That is what Kallen now has, though no one is yet aware of this distinction or its ramifications in-story yet.

That being said, there is a recognition that what Kallen is is something special. What everyone thinks Kallen is is basically what C.C. had been trying to achieve via several centuries of selective breeding of the Britannia line, someone naturally attuned to C's world and thus able to more easily accept a code. That Kallen ended up with just the right combination of genes to let her pull that off is making C.C. feel just a bit aggrieved about all the effort she and the Directorate have put in, though there are suspicions that at least on her father's side Kallen might have benefited from some distaff line that the Directorate lost track of or had stopped actively interfering with.

One of the consequences of making Hughes an NCO in the Japan arc is that making him a commissioned officer is more complex than just naming him a lieutenant. There are of course ways for an NCO to rise to commissioned rank, but there needs to be a reason for him to do so. His natural advancement path is otherwise distinctly different.

Suzaku is becoming more than a bit unhinged. He's not normally that stupid, but one must keep in mind that his experiences with logistics and whatnot were extremely limited. Every other time he's deployed, someone else was handling the juggling of supplies and weapons. And the time he spent with Camelot, where Cécile was good enough to basically get everything they needed, and Schneizel's patronage meant they could mostly do whatever Lloyd wanted, means his experience is even more skewed. With how messed up his mind has become as a consequence of the artificial code, he's resorting to ever greater extremes to get what he wants. And that's starting to have consequences on the European war effort. About the only power Suzaku doesn't directly screw over (whether it's his fault or not is a somewhat moot point) is the Chinese Federation, and that's only because he doesn't get as far as the Asian thought elevators. So he's a bit more deserving of being considered a traitor worldwide.

I suppose it's rather interesting watching a reader catch up. Less interesting is when a reader keeps trying to apply the broken logic and incoherence of canon to the world that I've crafted, despite countless author notes stating that every deviation is intentional on my part. I have openly stated multiple times that the Code Geass canon is outright broken in several places and that this story seeks to fix them. I do not seek to reaffirm the canon. I do not seek to validate it. I consider it a point of pride that I've managed to excise so many of its problems in my rendition. And considering the number of people actively enjoying the greater realism, it's fairly clear I'm not alone in having problems with the canon. I do appreciate the way my review count got pushed up to 900+ though I suppose.

One thing that I will state is that the main characters as written are based on my understanding of their basic personalities. They are intended to identifiably be the characters that were seen in canon. Only in a few instances do I tweak them noticeably such that they deviate, and I offer in-story justifications for those deviations. If a reader has difficulties identifying them as such, I would actually charge that that's the fault of the second season going completely off the rails with the characters and reducing them from believable personas to walking caricatures. Their decision making process pretty much became random as the writers made them do things in order to justify certain plot points instead of building plot points around how the characters would credibly have decided to do.

Rivalz and Shirley are going to university at present and don't have much of a role to play at this point. Their main tie to the story is via Kallen and Milly, and neither of those two have been spending much time in Tokyo. I also haven't had the time or need to do any slice of life scenes since we just went through a couple of plot advancement chapters. Rivalz was also pretty much removed from the line of fire after Euphemia granted him a personal exemption from conscription.

Yes and no, the people from Rai's timeline almost had the tech that would have allowed them to create an actual artificial code had they grasped some of the nuances that Kallen's how explained. They were however fighting a war of extinction, so whether they could have diverted the resources to do so is another matter entirely. There's also the issue that even with Kallen's explanation they for all practical purposes still don't know what the thought elevators are actually for. They know some of what they can do, but they don't know why they were built to do those things. That's still incoming and should get revealed at around the time when Kallen puts down Suzaku for good.

And the Europeans are going to get the resources to somehow catch up with Britannia, how? I mean, it's not like they can just will oil and iron and etc into existence. And food. I hear food's important to keep your population levels steady or growing, North Korea being an abject example of what happens when you don't dedicate enough resources to it and instead blow it all on a military that can't actually successfully defend you and which will only succeed in running up a medium (not even a large, you don't get into large until you're in hundreds of millions considering there are over 7 billion people around) body count before the country it's supposed to be defending is turned into a parking lot. Britannia in the postwar environment is going to outright control at least half of the world's landmass. From other bits of the story it's already evident that the Europeans are going to lose direct control of their African colonies, so for all practical matters they'll have to rely on internal resources or whatever the Empire or China or India or etc are willing to sell them. And in the meantime it's not like Britannia won't also be pushing its tech and military as hard as possible. We are talking about an Empire governed by Euphemia and her descendants, and Kallen will be around in the long run to make sure they don't forget what got their ancestress on the throne. I mean, sure, the Europeans will eventually recover to a level comparable to where they were pre-war. By which point they won't be facing the Holy Britannian Empire, but the Holy Terran Empire.


	124. Chapter 123

_Though Project Jörmungandr's completion would be nearly two centuries after her passing, the conceptual studies that eventually led to it were begun during the reign of the Empress Euphemia. Exactly why her majesty chose to embark on this endeavor remains unclear, though the potential economic and strategic ramifications are obvious. So too was the immense cost. Much of the technology necessary to construct the trio of space elevators simply did not exist during the lifetime of the Empress Euphemia, but her majesty set about the research and development programs that would eventually create them._

 _The most obvious challenge was developing a material strong enough to withstand the stresses that came from the centripetal force keeping the elevator up. This particular obstacle was felled shortly before her majesty's passing when the Ashford Foundation developed a new composite material with even greater strength than carbon nanotubes, providing the raw materials from which a tether could be built. Other problems were more mundane, including how to fund the construction of the elevators. Despite Britannia's immense wealth, even the Empire found the projected price tag for Jörmungandr daunting._

 _When work finally began, Jörmungandr had transformed from a purely Britannian endeavor to one with international partners. Of the three orbital elevators that would be built, the Chinese and Indians agreed to help fund a substantial portion of the one that would be anchored in the Indian Ocean in exchange for ownership stakes and preferential access to the elevator's services. Britannia would still need to fund the construction of the other two elevators, but even being able to share the burden of one drastically shifted the financial projections. When the year 2250 came about, all three elevators were linked together by the Jörmungandr geostationary ring, completing a system that would provide not only relatively inexpensive access to Earth's orbit but also tremendous amounts of power from the Bifröst solar energy system installed therein._

 _Despite a few inquiries of interest from the European nations none were permitted to participate in Jörmungandr's construction or gain any sort of controlling interest in the project's fruits, though they were permitted to purchase services from the completed system. Documents that were declassified in the years following Jörmungandr's completion indicate that a specific directive had been laid down by the Empress Euphemia barring such direct participation, a directive that her descendants elected to respect._

 _-Of Blood and Iron: The Reign of Euphemia I_

Chapter 123

Non facias malum ut inde fiat bonum

As one of the largest cities in the Middle East Federation, Baghdad possessed a modern and well-appointed airport that was surprisingly still mostly intact. Retreating MEF forces had done some damage in a vain attempt to deny its usage to the Britannians, but the Empire's engineering corps took little time to repair said damage and put the place back into operation as a transit point for supplies. Civilian flights were even starting to resume before the Great War broke out. When it came time for the Britannians to withdraw, they had not bothered trying to destroy the airport, not least because actually taking an airstrip out of commission was decidedly nontrivial. Makeshift repairs could always be done quickly enough to put an airstrip back into operation with a minimum of delay, and the Empire's forces had more pressing needs for their munitions at that point.

The Europeans thus duly commandeered the airport upon their occupation of Baghdad, and though they were nominally here as liberators, few doubted just who were calling the shots in the city. Since the Empire's landing of troops at Muscat, the pace of operations at the airport had reached new heights as planes laden with supplies flowed through on their way to the front. Not all such planes were destined for further afield than Baghdad, as some arrived with supplies earmarked for the city's garrison. Even so the plane flagged as having been dispatched by the Dassault-Dunois company stood out as an oddity, especially considering the official purpose for its arrival was no longer valid.

"I say again, Dassault 024, your flight plan does not have the requisite clearance," the air traffic controller said. "Baghdad International is currently restricted airspace, do not attempt approach."

Static hissed from the radio for a moment before a response came from the pilot.

"Baghdad control, this is Dassault 024. I have a full load on this flight and my orders were for a direct transit from Bordeaux to Baghdad, no diversions. I do not have the fuel for a return trip."

The controller glanced over at the duty officer, whom frowned. The Dassault-Dunois flight had called in a flight plan under the codename of Rafale, which while extant, was supposed to have been scrubbed. It was not inconceivable that the cancellation had been lost in the shuffle on the other side, or that an update that Rafale was on again had simply not reached them. Not inconceivable, but the chances of other were slim. Still the vector of approach was right for a direct flight from Bordeaux and all of the authentication codes were valid. If this was some sort of Britannian ploy to infiltrate Baghdad, it felt overly elaborate for no discernable gain. The Empire could have just bombed them after all.

"Clear them for landing, strip 2," the duty officer said. "Keep them on their plane until we have a team go over it though."

The controller nodded before speaking into the radio again. "Dassault 024, you have been authorized to land. Proceed to landing strip 2. Crew and passengers are to remain onboard until a security team has vetted the plane."

"Understood control, Dassault 024 making final approach."

The Dassault-Dunois plane coming in was a large one, one of the strategic lift jets that could be used to transport even tanks. The only other planes in the world that were comparable were Britannia's Galaxy or Russian Ruslan transports. The original orders attached to Rafale indicated that Dassault-Dunois had intended to transport a new bipedal mech for evaluation and testing with the German panzer hummels already in the Middle East. Since Britannia's invasion of Africa and the Middle East, those weapons had been pressed into service by the French Army as they fought to stem the Empire's advance across North Africa. That being the case, it seemed odd that Dassault-Dunois would be sending a few here when the French military likely wanted every unit they could get their hands on for actual combat deployment.

The squad of soldiers sent to investigate the unexpected arrival were alert but calm. Their orders were to verify the integrity of the French transport plane, but like their superiors none of them were expecting any Britannian subterfuge just yet, what with the fighting still two thousand kilometers to the southeast. The way the plane's crew obligingly popped open the ramp and let them aboard only served to punctuate the relative mundanity of the inspection. In fact nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary until a youth with Asiatic features stepped out.

Something about the young man immediately unnerved the German soldiers and more than one instinctively raised his weapon. And then their movements came to an unnatural halt as all of them met Suzaku's gaze.

"There is no need for such caution," Suzaku stated in Japanese. "I am here to help you resist the Empire's aggression. And free you from the burdens your leaders would impose upon you."

Despite the Germans not understanding a word he said, the soldiers were still able to feel the Japanese youth's intent. And not just feel, but believe. One by one their forms relaxed and weapons were lowered. All of them stared blankly at Suzaku, the dimmest of lights still in their eyes. Before long that too would disappear and all would see with a singular vision for a singular purpose, just as it should be. Suzaku smiled.

* * *

"Field Marshal," the intercom sounded, "General Mellado is here to see you, he says the matter is urgent.

Rommel looked with, a frown creasing his face. Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado was the member of the general staff charged with seeing to the logistics of the EU's armed forces, a critical task in modern warfare. It was also one that Rommel was loathe to meddle in himself, the man knew he did not have a good head for it. Mellado was also aware of his superior's deficiency in the field, and yet he was still coming to Rommel with a problem. This did not bode well.

"Send him in," the German responded.

"Apologies for disturbing you sir," Manuel said without preamble the moment he was through the door, "but a problem has arisen in Baghdad."

Rommel uttered a curse under his breath but otherwise gave a curt nod for his subordinate to continue.

"The city is a transit point for supplies flowing further south to the forces actively engaging the Britannians," Manuel said, "but over the past day or so more and more supplies have become held up in Baghdad. When my staff contacted the local commanders, they received an extremely odd response. According to the officers, they have need of the supplies to defend the city. Or more specifically, its thought elevator."

Rommel's eyes flared at that bit. "Oh hell."

"Then you know something of this, sir?" Manuel asked, sounding almost hopeful.

"I know the possible causes for this behavior," the German said darkly, "and none of it is sanctioned."

The hope from Manuel's face disappeared to be replaced by not just worry but also consternation.

"Then what is going on sir?"

"A rogue agent," Rommel said darkly. "If I recall correctly we have only two regiments stationed at the city itself."

Manuel nodded. "That's the permanent garrison, but we have multiple other units moving through the city as well sir."

"We will have to assume any that have not left the city yet have been compromised," Rommel stated.

The Spaniard's eyes widened. "Compromised, by what sir? By whom?"

Rommel grimaced. There was no easy way to explain this to his subordinate, not without Manuel thinking that he was going senile or insane.

"There are, rogue elements within our militaries, that are taking a far more hardline approach to the fight against Britannia," Rommel said instead. "Soldiers and officers whom believe Britannia's claim about how a thought elevator devastated the American east coast, and whom further believe the remaining thought elevators might be used against Britannia."

"Dios mío," Manuel slipped into his native tongue.

"Reroute our logistic network around Baghdad, do whatever you need to do, but we can't afford to lose any more of our supplies to the renegades."

The Spaniard nodded grimly. "Yes sir. But, what should we do about the rogue units then?"

"Contingencies were prepared for such a situation," Rommel said. "We have a few specialized units that might yet be able to contain this. They will however need to transit to Baghdad."

Manuel nodded in understanding. "I will make sure the requisite transportation and supplies are made available."

"Good," Rommel said, and dismissed his subordinate with a nod. Once the doors closed he reached for his phone. "Get me Colonel Fiedler. Inform him I need to see him in my office immediately."

Immediately turned out to be two hours later, for which Rommel did not entirely blame the colonel. Traffic in Paris could be gnarled in the best of times, and even with rationing instituted there were quite a few vehicles traversing the city's roads. Considering the scowl on Rommel's face one could be forgiven to think the general did blame one Heinz Fiedler for the delay. Heinz however was sharp enough to not make that mistake.

"Field marshal," the colonel greeted politely as he came to attention.

"Sit," Rommel said curtly in response.

Heinz obeyed and waited for the field marshal to speak.

"We've received reports from Baghdad that suggests Suzaku Kururugi is in the city," Rommel obliged without further preamble. "He has compromised the regiments stationed in the city and is likely tinkering with the thought elevator."

Heinz frowned. "That is, unfortunate."

"It is more than that, colonel," Rommel said icily. "If Suzaku is able to turn his, abilities, against the native population as well, he could turn every man, woman, and child into irregulars to stop us from neutralizing him."

Such a thought, while disturbing, did not faze Heinz. Oh the sheer numbers would be problematic just due to the amount of munitions they would need to expend to cut them down, but in terms of combat effectiveness they would be little more than cannon fodder. The regular German regiments would however be more of a challenge.

"I only have a short regiment under my command sir," Heinz stated. "I might not have the manpower or firepower to crack the city, unless you're prepared to authorize razing it to the ground with airstrikes."

"Believe me, I'm tempted," Rommel said. "But you and I both know I can't order it."

That was true enough. As much operational flexibility the military might have wrested from their civilian masters, the EU's armed forces were ultimately still answerable to those very same officials. Ordering the indiscriminate destruction of an entire city was just not going to happen, not least because few European units would be willing to obey such a directive. And one of the ones that could, as Heinz pointed out, did not have the resources to pull it off. But there were others.

"The information that you received about Kururugi's abilities," Rommel said. "They were provided by sources within the Empire."

Heinz nodded, already following the field marshal's train of thought. "They were, sir."

"The Britannians seem to also be aware of the threat Kururugi represents," Rommel continued. "How do you think they would, respond, if they were to learn of his presence in Baghdad."

"I think, sir, that they would be much less concerned about collateral damage than our nations' public opinions would require of us," Heinz stated frankly.

Rommel nodded. "My thoughts exactly. Do you still have a communications channel to your sources?"

"I do, sir."

"Then make use of it," Rommel said. "And prepare your jaegers for deployment. I want you in position to at least verify the situation in Baghdad, regardless of what Britannia does."

Heinz clicked his heels together. "At once, field marshal."

* * *

While the majority of Lelouch's team were accompanying Kallen on campaign, Bertolt had remained back in Pendragon. There were a couple of reasons for this, ranging from his prosthetic leg rendering him unfit for combat to acting as a sort of guarantee that the others would behave, though no one was crass enough to say so aloud. One benefit of his remaining behind however was that it allowed Bertolt to monitor the lines of communications that still remained to their European assets. Those lines had already been used several times to exchange information about Suzaku, his movements and his dangers. Now they were used once more for that purpose.

"Shit."

The others seated around the makeshift conference room all shared Kallen's sentiment. News of Suzaku's presence in Baghdad had reached them barely half an hour beforehand and what little detail that accompanied it was disturbing, to say the least.

"What level of confidence do we have on this information?" Andreas asked.

As the commanding officer of Third Army, and a trusted confidante of the empress, the general was here to help formulate whatever response was deemed necessary to neutralize Suzaku. At the same time the more sensitive details about the code and geass were still withheld from Andreas, so the general's skepticism was not unwarranted, even ignoring the fact that it was provided by some of the very same people he was charged with defeating in battle.

"High," Kallen answered. "Dame Kruszewski has signed off on it, in addition to Rai and her majesty. Indications are he's trying to do, something, with the thought elevator." The young woman grimaced. "We're not entirely sure what though."

And that was enough for the general as he nodded. The matter so settled, his mind immediately turned to the practicalities of the challenge set before him.

"How large a force are you intending to deploy, your highness?" he asked.

Kallen looked over at C.C. and Annie. Neither women's expressions could be termed confident.

"Based on the intel, only a small number of individuals would be able to enter the city, much less approach the thought elevator, safely," Kallen stated. "Myself and my specialist teams, and Rai said he was going to bring another team that he believes should be able to resist whatever Suzaku is doing. We're looking at a platoon sized unit at best."

The more senior officers present all raised eyebrows, not just due to the small number Kallen was suggesting she could take with her but also at the much larger number that would be opposing them.

"There are over a million people in Baghdad," Andreas said for all of them. "In addition to the European regiments."

Kallen took a deep breath. "We may not have a choice. The number of people that would be able to resist whatever Suzaku is doing is extremely limited."

All of the officers present had been briefed, in at least general terms, of what Suzaku was capable of. Kallen and her own unit knew much more, of course, but even their information was patchy. It was clear based off of the intel that Nidhoggr had provided via Annie and Laura that Suzaku possessed at least a crude variant of the ability Lelouch's geass granted him. While those Lelouch placed under his compulsion could suffer from a severe lack of initiative should he not take care in how he implanted his influence, Suzaku's victims seemed to be rendered effectively comatose once the Japanese youth's attention left them. What remained as yet unclear was however the range his abilities extended and just how many minds he could influence at once. Without that information, they had little choice but to err on the side of caution.

Annie cleared her throat. The others all looked over at the German girl.

"We have the jaeger corps," she said. "Fie and Bertolt could get in contact with Zephyr and Nord, and I can put them in contact with Nidhoggr. That would give us a regiment sized force to work with."

While the senior Britannian officers were not entirely clear on what these corps were, what they could immediately infer was sounding some alarms on their part.

"Whom would these corps answer to?" Andreas asked.

Annie returned Andrea's gaze flatly. "Myself, Fie, and Bertolt." And answered with equal frankness.

Unhappy turned into something else entirely on the part of the Britannian officers. Even Kallen had to admit a certain wariness with the proposal.

"While I have had no reason to doubt you have been anything but helpful as part of her highness' detachment," Andreas said, "you will understand why I and my fellow officers cannot countenance such an arrangement, specialist."

Annie was however not perturbed in the least. "What alternative would you propose then, general? We must get to the thought elevator, and Kallen isn't going to do it without a lot more help than what she has now."

The reference to Kallen without the customary courtesy caused a few of the older officers to frown. Kallen herself did not care, but there were more important things to deal with right now than the correctness of how she was addressed.

"That may be so," Andreas responded, equally undaunted, "but the reinforcements you are proposing would hardly be sufficient either. Her highness' task requires that she fight her way through a hostile urban environment, a situation that traditionally favors the defender even when they are outnumbered. In this case, if we are to assume the worst and the entire city is actively resisting, a single regiment would be cut to pieces well before they were able to reach their objective."

The general had a very valid point himself, which Annie could not help but concede. Nonetheless amidst this plethora of problems a solution had yet to be revealed.

"We don't necessarily know Suzaku will have affected the entire population," Kallen tried. "If we could get enough of the civilians to flee, he wouldn't have those people available to use as pawns."

The others adopted thoughtful expressions at the possibility. There was however one very obvious wrinkle to it.

"What happens if that same warning prompts Suzaku to try slipping away?" Gino asked. "We know he's there, right now. If we issue a threat against Baghdad, we would need to provide at least a few days to allow for a meaningful exodus. He could use that time to escape."

Seeing as the alternative was trying to kill over a million people without any warning, that was almost preferable. But they had already seen Suzaku slip away once, and the number of people that they might need to confront the next time could be even greater. And it was not as if they could just slaughter all of those people wholesale anyway.

"Your highness," Andreas spoke up after a few moments of silence. "My understanding is that the threat represented by Kururugi's access to the thought elevator is, extreme. And that equally extreme measures are warranted to neutralize him. Is that correct?"

Kallen nodded unhappily. This entire situation with Suzaku was a mess, had they managed to nail him at the New York thought elevator none of this would even be necessary and she could have sat out the rest of the war after the conclusion of the China campaign. Now she was in the Middle East trying to figure out how to fight her way past an entire city full of innocent people but whom had been turned into puppets by the insane Japanese youth. There were no good solutions to this situation, regardless of what they did a lot of people were going to end up, at best, dead.

"That being the case," Andreas continued, "the Empire does have a directive that might well be warranted."

The Japanese girl tilted her head in mild confusion. The way several other officers, her friend Laura included, inhaled sharply, saw her own wariness rise.

"What, exactly, are you proposing, general?" Kallen asked.

"I am recommending that we execute a Bravo Delta Zulu on the city of Baghdad, your highness," Andreas stated, meeting Kallen's gaze unflinchingly.

Andreas had only to utter the first word of the code before Kallen recognized where he was leading. A Bravo Delta Zulu was a tactical directive that called for the complete slaughter of every living person within the designated target area. It was not a directive that was commonly utilized, in fact now that Kallen was actually calling it to mind she could only remember a single instance of Britannia ever performing it. That one instance however had seen countless acres of the Amazon Rainforest reduced to ash as the Empire thoroughly and methodically hunted down and killed every member of the left-wing insurgency that had erupted in Area 6. The official death toll, one which even the Empire's most ardent detractors had to admit likely included the civilians unfortunate enough to be caught within the designated zone, had been pegged at close to a hundred thousand. Were it not for the sheer shock that she was experiencing, Kallen would have been kicking herself for thinking that the situation was one where the question of could they depopulate a region instead of would they.

"Are you serious, general," Kallen hissed.

Andreas nodded. "Your highness, the threat analysis that I have been provided, incomplete as it is, indicates that such measures are warranted. You are proposing to enter a hostile city with at best a regiment sized force without any further means of leveling the odds. As the senior ranking officer here, I cannot stand by and not suggest alternatives considering the stakes."

The man conveyed his point with an almost dispassionate tone. Kallen however could hear every subtle inflection, every creak and strain in control in Andreas' voice as he tried to remain objective in his assessment. As angry as she was at the general for even suggesting it, she could not deny that Andreas was himself extremely troubled by his proposal. Even worse, Kallen could actually see the validity of the cold logic behind it, the calculus that made this course of action the favorable, perhaps even the right choice. She felt sick to her stomach at that.

Kallen took a few moments to try to rein in her anger. Her breathing became noticeably heavier. When she spoke again, the girl could not quite be considered to have succeeded.

"Do we have the capacity to execute a Bravo Delta Zulu?" she asked, her words soft yet still perfectly understandable.

It was a legitimate question, much as Andreas suggesting a Bravo Delta Zulu at all was also perfectly legitimate in light of the circumstances. The directive required a lot of ordnance to execute, especially on an entire city. Britannian forces just might have the necessary munitions available locally to pull it off, but that would also have consequences all on its own. The senior officers exchanged another set of looks.

"Not in our current inventory," Wolfgang was the one that answered. "A Bravo Delta Zulu is principally executed by the air force or navy's bombing wings. None of the carrier wings present however have the requisite ordnance. The air force could however fly them in within a day or so, three on the outside."

Kallen rubbed her hands together, trying to work off some of her nervous tension.

"What, exactly, would a Base Delta Zulu entail. Specifics, please. No generalities."

All eyes fell upon Andreas. It probably did not help that Kallen's own gaze had already zeroed in on the general. Andreas however did not flinch from the question and gave Kallen the answer she asked for, though certainly not the one she wanted.

"Britannia has operational contingencies for executing a Bravo Delta Zulu for regions as small as a town or outpost all the way up to a major metropolitan area," Andreas answered with an almost frightening levelness. "For a city the size of Baghdad, it would require saturation bombardment with incendiary weapons to produce a firestorm effect. Those civilians that do not immediately perish from the flames would almost certainly suffocate from lack of oxygen."

Something cracked, causing Andreas to pause momentarily. All eyes shifted over to Kallen and a noticeable split could be seen by her on the conference table. The young woman's eyes were, sharp. And cold. And yet inflamed with a burning anger that those whom met her gaze were torn between an instinctive urge to flee from and an irrational fear of looking away.

"Over a million people," Kallen said darkly. "A million innocent people caught up in this mess because we didn't stop Suzaku in New York. Because I didn't kill him in Tokyo."

Andreas' jaw tightened. "Your highness, you cannot blame yourself for this."

Kallen's eyes flared and her mouth opened as if she were about to explode. But the young woman managed to rein her anger in. It was instead in great sorrow that she responded.

"I am the one that has to make the call, general," Kallen said. "You may have suggested a Bravo Delta Zero, but I'm the one that is convinced of the necessity. All those people are going to die at my order. And there is absolutely nothing I can do to change that, because we cannot risk Suzaku escaping again, and we cannot afford to fail in securing the thought elevator."

The gazes that settled upon Kallen were ones of immense sympathy, from the flag officers to Laura and the other knights to even Lelouch's compatriots. There was no way to sugarcoat what was about to happen, no way to downplay it as anything but mass murder. But that was what the purpose of the Bravo Delta Zero directive was, the wholesale murder of every living person within the target zone. Fear that the Empire might do something similar in Japan had been what stayed the Japanese Liberation Front's hand for so many years until Lelouch manipulated it into launching the Battle of Tokyo. Had Euphemia perished or no deal been concluded between herself and Kallen, the Princess Cornelia might well have done just that to exact her vengeance. Now Kallen was finding herself being forced to contemplate doing the same thing to peoples equally innocent but whom had the great misfortune to be caught between herself and Suzaku.

Kallen closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If there ever was a time where she _would_ be willing to accept _his_ help, now was it. Surely there must be a way to avoid murdering over a million innocent people. Surely there was some ace that had yet to be revealed that would let her avoid staining her hands so. Nothing. Only silence answered her pleas.

 _The one time_ , Kallen mentally ranged. _The_ one _time that I give you to prove yourself for the better._

Still nothing. She was out of choices. Kallen's eyes opened, the doubt and hesitation gone. Replacing them was an implacable will, but one tinged with the greatest sorrow.

"General Darlton," Kallen said formally. "On my authority as Heir Secundus and the Knight of Seven, I hereby authorize the execution of Base Delta Zulu upon the city of Baghdad."

Andreas bowed his head solemnly. "It will be done, your highness."

* * *

Cole was feeling more than a bit bewildered at the moment. The original orders sending him and parts of the 25th southwest towards the city of Salalah had been rescinded, with the new ones pulling them back to Muscat and joining several others for some sort of special operation. And by others, it looked like units from multiple divisions were being pulled in for this. Regiments from three other infantry divisions were working together, and the entire 2nd cavalry division was standing by.

And then there was the short battalion commanded by the Princess Kallen, aka Cole's wife, though mercifully somehow no one in the military seemed to have gotten wind of this particular fact. As far as Cole could figure out Kallen and her forces would also be accompanying the regular forces, but she would not necessarily be the one issuing the orders once they hit the ground. That responsibility apparently fell to Major-General Jeremiah Gottwald, 2nd cavalry's commanding officer.

In fairness that actually did make sense, as skilled a soldier as Kallen had proven herself to be, and whatever her formal rank, the young woman did not have the training or experience to command large field formations. Even if she needed to personally be present at a particular battle, it would be better for all involved if Kallen focused on whatever her direct objective was and left the coordination of the wider battle to more experienced flag officers. Of course a part of Cole could not help but worry, not just because of the personal danger Kallen would be in, but also of whatever was prompting her participation on this mission. Knowing what he did about his wife's abilities and her general importance, things must have really gone awry for her to be coming along.

"Captain!"

Cole came to a halt to give the other soldier a chance to catch up.

"New orders from the brass sir," the soldier said, coming to a halt and snapping a salute before presenting the folder.

Cole returned the motion and dismissed the soldier before flipping the folder open. There weren't too many pages and he scanned through them with relative ease. Even as he read his thoughts raced ahead as it put together the bits and pieces. The five plus regiments were all going to be shipped out via flying transports, which suggested a certain urgency in reaching their target. What that target was remained as yet unclear, though based on the other orders issued thus far Cole was fairly certain it was still in the Middle East. In fact there was only one target that would warrant both so many regular troops and Kallen's presence, the thought elevator in Baghdad.

That constituted a deep strike far behind enemy lines, which while the flying transports made possible, was still far from easy. There was also the question of what they would do if things went pear-shaped on them and they ended up stuck behind enemy lines. A city like Baghdad would in theory have enough opportunities for foraging food and fuel, but munitions would be trickier to co-opt. Even if they could commandeer European equipment, that was not going to be a very reliable supply source. For that matter counting on being able to locally source food, water, and fuel that deep behind enemy lines also required a degree of optimism that was in ever shrinking supply in Cole's mindset. He was a quartermaster, it was his job to make sure the soldiers he was responsible for had the food and weapons they needed to fight effectively.

The gears in Cole's head turned. He was becoming ever more familiar with the flying transports, their load limits as well as the best ways to shift cargo using them. His orders were specific about how many troops the 25th would be deploying as part of the operation as well as which transport they would be allocated. Based off of those, he also knew how much slack there was atop all of the regiment's troops, equipment, and standard complement of supplies. Cole closed the folder. Time for him to get to work.

A few minutes later in the quartermaster offices. "You want _what_!?"

* * *

The Britannian Imperial Corps of Engineers had a long and storied tradition, from the times of building siege works in the old kingdom to more modern military structures in the current war. The airstrip that they had thrown up in the few short weeks since the seizure of Muscat was abuzz day and night, supporting air operations in the region and further north. That space had been found to accommodate the four squadrons of B-52 Stratofortresses that had suddenly been routed to the theater was no mean feat. Two more were still en route and the engineers were using the short time before their arrival to put down more pavement and throw up more structures.

The aircrews of the squadrons were uncharacteristically subdued, exhibiting none of the usual bravado expected of those whom flew the Empire's warplanes. In fact those other servicemen whom approached them found their compatriots to be tightlipped, almost moody. None of them would discuss why they had been deployed or what their bombers were carrying. Seeing as the majority of these crews had been responsible for the herbicide campaign against China's farmlands, one would have thought a change of pace would have been welcomed. That it was not hinted at an equally disturbing mission awaiting them.

Exactly what that mission was no one outside of the assigned crews had any inkling. That it was likely important was however not doubted, especially considering whom else had accompanied the bombers. The other reason the airstrip was feeling rather crowded was due to the four C-5 Galaxies that had arrived with the bombers. One bore the Knight of Eleven Sir Raibeart Koller and his personal knightmare, the latest iteration of the Lancelot line of developmental knightmares. Aboard the other three was an entirely new model, pre-production versions of the Vincent, a design that sought to produce a mass production knightmare employing technologies and systems first proofed in the Lancelots.

Actual serial production was at least a year away, but enough had been built to allow for acceptance trials to be run on the designs. Thus far the performance of the Vincents was proving to be a generational leap compared to even the Gloucesters that had finally been fully rolled out. The Empire was thus unlikely to attempt to replace its entire complement of knightmares wholesale, but the trickle of the newer machines that it expected to see would be more than ample to serve as spear points at tactically opportune moments.

The six Vincents shipped over today were intended to replace the Gloucesters that the other two knightmare platoons under Kallen's command used. Combined with the time needed to coordinate all of the other movements, Tohdoh and the others had only two days to familiarize themselves with the new machines before deployment. That was cutting it very, very close, but they might well have need of the edge the newer machines would provide in the coming days. The details relating therein was the topic of the conversation Kallen and Rai were thusly engaged in.

"I understand well it was not an easy decision, your grace, but that does not mean it is not the right one."

Kallen scowled. "There _isn't_ a right decision here, Rai, only a less bad decision. I'm still going to be responsible for the deaths of over a million people, just because we can't _risk_ Suzaku escaping or using them as pawns. The danger he represents might be worth it, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm ordering the death of innocents, and I sure as HEL don't need you to try to sugarcoat it!"

Rai remained silent as Kallen spoke, allowing the other knight to vent her understandable frustration and anger. He was by no means a fool and despite the brutal world he had grown up in, or perhaps because of it, he knew what to say next.

"I am sorry, your grace. You are indeed correct, there is nothing right about what we are about to do. The regret that you feel should not be disparaged by suggesting otherwise."

Kallen glared at Rai as he spoke, but with each passing word the intensity of her gaze softened. Finally she let out a sigh and shook her head.

"Sorry, Rai. You didn't deserve that."

Rai nodded, accepting the apology. Kallen took another deep breath.

"So. Those jaeger corps of Lelouch's. Can we trust them?"

Seeing as her emotions were at least momentarily in check, the knight wasted no time getting to the matter at hand.

"Within limits, your grace," Rai said. "At this point nothing they possess would be able to kill you, and should they betray you we could just drop another large bomb atop your position to neutralize them."

Kallen let out a slight growl at that. Just because she was immortal did not mean getting blown up did not still hurt, as C.C. and Yang had made clear to her on more than one occasion. Still, Raid did have a point there.

"Alright, in that case what can you tell me about these jaegers?" Kallen asked. "What exactly are they hunters of?"

"Code bearers and geass wielders," Rai answered. "The jaegers were to be Lord Lelouch's trump in the case where he ran into a situation where an opponent possessing such powers could not be neutralized via other means, such as a bomb."

Kallen frowned. "Code bearers?"

"There are ways to at least temporarily restrain a code bearer, as was done to C.C. by the Prince Clovis," Rai explained. "Actually neutralizing one would have however been Lord Lelouch's responsibility. With his, passing, the jaegers have no fallback."

Kallen was not quite so sure of that. If nothing else Lelouch had proven to be a very devious opponent, one whom always seemed to have another trick up his sleeve even when you thought he was done. She did not verbalize this thought however and so Rai continued.

"The jaegers are composed of discharged soldiers past their prime, most of them in their mid to late thirties. While they may not be as fit as the regular rank and file of the standing armies, they have the advantage of experience, and motivation."

Kallen cocked her head aside quizzically.

"All of them have families, your grace."

Her expression twisted into a scowl again. "That son of a bitch."

"That decision was a deliberate one, your grace," Rai stated. "The Lord Lelouch selected these individuals on the basis of competency and conviction. Each of them is convinced that code and geass represent genuine threats to their loved ones, and so will not hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to neutralize the."

"And you expect them to not try and stab me in the back, why?" Kallen asked, sounding just mildly incredulous.

"I fully expect them to, your grace," Rai said, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Kallen. "Hence why I will be waiting with the other detachments outside the city limits. Once you have neutralized Suzaku, we will move in. A single regiment will not be able to stand against us if they attempt to do you harm."

"Still not reassuring, Rai," Kallen said.

Rai shrugged. "At this point we have little choice, your grace. Suzaku must be neutralized, and seeing as he will likely be in the thought elevator when Baghdad is bombed, we need numbers to assault the elevator, especially if he manages to access any of its defenses."

There certainly was that consideration. Kallen sighed yet again.

"Alright. You're right, we need their help. And worrying about them trying to backstab me won't change things." Kallen frowned. "Though, to be frank, I really don't want to kill any of them."

"I feel much the same, your grace," Rai admitted. "Nonetheless, the assault on the Baghdad thought elevator is going to present them with an opportunity they have lacked since entering Britannian custody. We might not be able to convince them to not take it."

"No, we might not be able to," Kallen said thoughtfully.

Rai tilted his head. "Your grace?"

Kallen was however not listening anymore. Or rather, even though she listened, she was not paying any attention. Instead her focus was directed, elsewhere.

 _You know you can hear me. You've been trying to get a response from me enough times. Well, you blew me off last time, but I'd like to think you're not that much of an ass. And that you do care about your surrogate family. So say something._

A few moments passed and Kallen felt a flicker of anger rise with the continued silence. And then.

 _You have a proposal._

Kallen likely did not even realize a smile had crossed her face, or that Rai bore witness to her shifting expressions. She likely would not have cared either. She had work to do.

* * *

As the time drew near for the Empress Euphemia's scheduled speech, people across the world prepared to tune in to hear her. The majority of the Empire's subjects did so out of expectation that her majesty wished to convey to them a matter of great import. Those outside the Empire held similar expectations, but with a greater mixture of hope and fear mixed in. Perhaps not surprisingly it was the Europeans whom awaited the speech with the greatest anticipation, and anxiety. Would her majesty demonstrate she was capable of being reasonable? Or would this be a portent of even greater tragedy?

TV channels worldwide soon switched over to the feed being streamed from Pendragon. Seated behind a large formal desk, Euphemia held herself with regal poise as she faced the camera.

"Sons and daughters of Britannia," Euphemia began, and the slightest of quirks touched the edge of her lips. "And others whom deign to listen to Our words."

Yet the smirk did not reach her eyes. That much was somehow clear despite the relative quality of the broadcast.

"On this day, We speak to you on a most grave matter. Many remember the tragedy that struck Britannia on that fateful day, when the destruction of the New York thought elevator saw the eastern portions of the homelands ravaged. The investigations that followed have already revealed the culprits responsible for this act, a French SDECE team led by one Lelouch Lamperouge, a distant relative of my own dear brother whom dared to masquerade as the son of the Empress Marianne."

Hope was now a rather distant thought amongst the European audience. If this was the opening of the empress' speech, it was unlikely in the extreme that it would presage anything pleasant for their nations.

"Agent Lamperouge did not act alone however, for in addition to his fellow intelligence operatives he was also aided by collaborators from within Britannia's ranks. Many of these persons have already answered for their crimes."

Such as the Dukes Albarea and Cayenne, the former having finally been hung after the conclusion of his trial.

"Others may yet earn a qualified clemency."

Like the surviving soldiers of the Carolinian and Virginian provincial guards, and one Jusis Albarea.

"Yet still others have remained beyond the reach of imperial justice."

Like Lelouch's European masters, or so the audience presumed.

"Once such individual has been discovered in the city of Baghdad."

Or not.

"Suzaku Kururugi had once pledged his fealty to crown and country," Euphemia declared. "Only to enact a betrayal against Our person not once, but twice."

Reactions to the name varied wildly, with many watching having no idea whom the empress was talking about. In Japan however, and amongst a selection of other individuals, that name meant a great deal.

"He attempted to see to Our death during the Tokyo Uprising, by assisting the Japanese Liberation Front's attack upon the Keio University Memorial Hospital, wherein We had been granted refuge."

Shock, but also anger. That was what swept across many of the Japanese watchers as they pieced together what Euphemia was talking about. And also shame, in that one of their own had tried to harm the one member of the imperial family whom had unequivocally tried to do right by them, even after what happened at the Kawaguchi resort and then Keio.

"Though he should have died that day, Kururugi survived and was taken into custody by the Ordo Hereticus," Euphemia continued, with a slight modification of detail. "It was in their custody that Agent Lamperouge discovered him, and freed him to further assist in his schemes. And it was those schemes that saw Kururugi fight alongside the SDECE to enact the destruction of the New York thought elevator."

And commit the second act of betrayal against Britannia, and against Euphemia.

"Of those whom participated in the New York operation, Kururugi was the only survivor."

Also not true, but again the details could never be shared. And it was also true enough as far as the current matter was concerned.

"He is also the only person left of those whom know how to initiate the destruction of a thought elevator."

Even the most carefully constructed lies could be picked apart. Euphemia was not likely to have to worry about that however, simply because no one whom actually knew the truth, or were in a position to have the information to disprove her, would be coming forward to try to expose it.

"Intelligence obtained by the Ordo Xenos has indicated that since his escape, Kururugi has visited the London and Central African thought elevators, and is now physically present at the Baghdad thought elevator. What he intends, We cannot be certain. What is certain in Our mind however is that he _must be stopped_."

The speech was taking a direction few could have predicted. None dared stop watching until the end.

"In light of the damage that can be done with a thought elevator, and the unacceptable risk of Kururugi escaping should he be granted sufficient warning, Our generals have proposed and We have granted leave for the execution of a Bravo Delta Zulu upon the city of Baghdad."

Alarm was too insufficient a word for what was going through the heads of many in the audience. Shock, despair, even desperation were pale shadows for the whirlwind of emotions sweeping the world, not least in the city so condemned.

"Extreme though this measure may be, the fate that We have consigned the people of Baghdad to would be no different than were Kururugi to succeed in his aims with the thought elevator that lay therein. We will not shirk from bearing the weight of those deaths. And We will not waver from seeing the necessary price be paid, to end once and for all the threat that faces Our people."

Thousands of miles away, on the other side of the planet really, the squadrons of B-52 Stratofortresses reached the city of Baghdad. Their bay doors opened.

End of Chapter 123

Things, are not getting easier for Kallen. And I remember when some of you were suggesting that the main characters were succeeding too much. Well, yes, they are still succeeding. But the cost. By the time the war ends, Kallen will have become very scarred emotionally from all of the choices she will have made. But she will endure, and she will find glimpses of happiness in her time with her family and friends. And she will never forget the price that she paid for all of it.

This chapter was fairly difficult to write, not least because I needed to structure Kallen actually deciding to authorize a Bravo Delta Zulu very carefully. I needed to make sure that all the information that Kallen has, all of you, my readers, also has. That actually took a couple of passes wherein I tweaked dialogue, added new paragraphs, and generally reworked the meeting with the generals to make sure all of the information was clearly conveyed. One thing that absolutely needed to come through was that this was not an easy decision for Kallen. She's making it because she feels backed into a corner, because even if Suzaku is not possessed by a krell, he could still do enormous damage to humanity if he keeps tinkering with the thought elevators. If he manages to blow just the three under his current control, that would pretty much render that part of the planet close to uninhabitable, at which point the death toll will be in the billions instead of just the millions.

With regard to the whole BDZ concept, while General Craig mentioned the possibility of using it all those chapters back in that strategic conference, I should clarify that he wasn't suggesting his troops carry it out as a calculated decision. He was making clear to Schneizel and the other flag officers that if an active revolt occurred, his only means of putting it down would have been to kill as much of the opposition as possible, with little distinction between combatants and noncombatants. The consequence of that would have been effectively a Bravo Delta Zulu. An actual BDZ itself is more complicated, since it refers to a planned application of specific weapons to maximize fatalities against the other side. Different types of bombs are good for different kinds of situations. Depending on the target, it might be more economical or effective to use high explosive bombs instead of incendiary, or to use chemical weapons instead of explosives, so on and so forth. Andreas has already mentioned what approach would likely be taken against Baghdad. We'll see how it actually plays out next chapter.

Cole also isn't dumb, and at this point he's been told enough that he can put two and two together. And he's really coming into his own as a competent junior officer.

The Vincents will likely be the last new mech that I'll be introducing in the story proper. And even its introduction is going to be limited. The mere notion that the world powers in Code Geass are able to refresh their entire inventory of mechs in a time period of about two years is, umm, yeah, let's just say there's problems with that. In my version the Vincents will see fairly limited deployment, think of them kind of like the Pershings in WWII, though they will see a fair bit more action than the Pershings did. By the time the Empire is actually ready to begin mass production the war will likely have ended, at which point they'll revert to a lower pace of manufacturing to replace the Gloucesters at a much more leisurely rate. Knightmares are expensive after all, and there's no reason to spend all that money replacing what are still very new machines as far as the Gloucesters are concerned.

Development of the Vincents have actually been going on for a while, though the iteration that we're seeing now only really started ramping up around chapter 60-something, after Alisa dropped by Japan to arrange a deal with Kallen and Rakshata. While there, she also negotiated a deal with Camelot, giving Reinford access to some of the tech Lloyd had been developing. The Vincet is therefore not exactly a Lancelot-lite, though it does incorporate a few features from Camelot's designs. For reasons of expense if nothing else they are however not equipped with VARIS rifles as standard issue, though the pre-production models Tohdoh and the others received do have stepped down versions of the railgun.

Since we are actually approaching the endgame, I thought I would begin revealing some of the things that Euphemia and her descendants work on. Jörmungandr is arguably one of the less, overtly threatening projects Britannia ends up putting into space, though it was definitely one of the most expensive. Think in the trillions of pounds. That bit at the end is also an example of one of Euphemia's kick the dog moments regarding the Europeans even after the conclusion of hostilities. Some of you might find that to be overly vindictive, but there is a rhyme and reason to her actions.

The three orbital elevators are tethered not to land but to the ocean floors. One is as stated in the Indian Ocean, west of Sumatra, another is in the middle of the Pacific, next to nothing really, and a third is in the Atlantic, off the coast of Brazil. Massive artificial ports are basically built around the tethers, allowing for cargo ships to dock to either offload things going up into orbit or to get things coming down. There's also obviously a military component to these ports to protect them.

The actual material that serves as the tether is best described as a sort of fluidic alloy. I wouldn't call it a liquid metal, if only because metals already demonstrate characteristics of liquids from a material sciences perspective. Anyway. The point is, this fluidic alloy has the interesting property that it is extremely flexible and its flexibility can be controlled by running an electrical current through it. The electromagnetic field generated by this current causes the bonds that hold the alloy together to tighten closer together or relax without ever breaking outright (unless under really, really substantial stress), and is strong enough to provide the tensile strength necessary to actually connect something from orbit down to the planet's surface, something that not even carbon nanotubes are likely to be able to do. A key component of this alloy is sakuradite, having a room temperature superconductor is helpful like that. In addition, float systems also serve to help offset some of the strain in strategic places. So yes, the space elevators were bloody expensive to build. Think in the trillions of pounds each. But the economic benefit that they bring? Orders of magnitude greater.

One of them is the Bifröst energy system, which is basically an absolutely staggering number of high efficiency solar panels mounted on an artificial ring at geostationary orbit. And because they're enough outside Earth's atmosphere to get the full benefit of the solar radiation, they produce way more power than ground based panels can. The system provides pretty much most of the domestic energy needs of the Empire, India, and China. Each nation still of course has a few fusion plants and the like to act as baseline backups, but they have for the most part stopped relying on fossil fuels for energy purposes. Oil is still useful for other petrochemical products of course, just not for fuel.

I'm not going to deny that Gundam 00's orbital system did not enter my mind while I was conceiving Jörmungandr. That all being said, the idea of a network of orbital elevators connected by a ring that then serves as a platform for other things is not exactly a new idea and certainly did not originate in 00. In other words, don't take this as any indication that my timeline is somehow intended to morph into the 00 universe. It is most emphatically not.

I'm sure some of you may be inclined to point out that having space elevators do come with some practical problems even assuming a material is found that is strong enough to withstand the stresses. Collisions with satellites is one such complication. This is ultimately less of a problem than some of you might presume, the rationale being something that will be explained in a future snippet. Suffice it to say, the methods the Empire goes through to ensure random satellites don't collide with its orbital infrastructure will be, rather draconian.

I'll intersperse snippets about other future projects in later chapters. Maybe Mjölnir next, though I would be surprised if you all haven't guessed what that is yet. The reference is not subtle.

As clever as it might be for me to have the Terran Empire in my ME story be the same Terran Empire that Britannia goes on to found, no, that is not what I'm doing. There's just a few too many disparities between the two universes for even me to successfully bridge, even ignoring the foreshadowing that I've done that is completely contradictory to the ME timeline. Though sakuradite as a sort of eezo-lite would explain how humanity got anti-grav in the 1960s. There is such a thing as a writer trying to be too clever. Also, no sequel. There's a high probability that this will be the only story I ever bother writing for Code Geass. I don't really have that many more ideas I want to bother exploring within that universe, and no, a story about Lelouch as an imperial prince doesn't really evoke much interest in me.

The ultimatums being delivered to the Europeans have changed as time goes on, intentionally so. The first set was delivered right before Euphemia became empress and demanded basically a massive indemnity and the withdrawal of European forces from the Middle East. The next was delivered as the Chinese Federation withdrew from the war, when the Europeans came calling again, hoping to get terms comparable to the Chinese. Instead they were told if Europe wanted the war to end, the indemnity had doubled, they still needed to withdraw from the Middle East, and the real kicker, Ireland and Britain would have to accept incorporation into the Empire on Britannia's terms. That last one was pretty much intended to guarantee the EU would reject it. There'll be another ultimatum delivered just before the Empire kicks off its invasion of continental Europe, the details of which will be revealed when we get there. After that, if the Europeans still reject the demands, then the next set of terms will likely be dictated to them from their occupied capitals, or at least that is Euphemia's intent. It should be noted that none of the ultimatums delivered were intended to help shorten the war. They were issued with the goal of ensuring Britannian supremacy in the postwar environment, the only question on the table was not whether Britannia would succeed, but how much of Europe would be left.

The usage of the atomic bomb at Toulon was a very targeted case intended to try to kill Suzaku. Rai has filled Euphemia and the others in on the effects of lingering radiation from such weapons, and that is one reason Euphemia has elected to not use further atomic bombs. The other reason is that she, and the rest of the Empire, is pretty confident that Britannia can win the war using conventional arms, even if more people get killed in the process. But exacting a higher blood cost might not be a bad thing if it sates the bloodlust that the Empire's citizens are feeling after losing millions of their fellows to the devastation that struck the east coast with the destruction of the New York thought elevator.

Hmm. Listing all of the problems in the Code Geass canon would be a rather long task, since I would need to also explain in at least some detail why those things are problems. By the time I'm done with this story, I may well be too burned out to put in that kind of effort, especially if _A Call to Duty_ is picking up steam.

Rean was killed by the geass command the krell-possessed Lelouch issued against all of his blood relatives. And as Rean was one of Charles' illegitimate sons, he fell victim to said command. Right now Laura is the one riding around in Rean's old Lancelot, though it's been repainted.


	125. Chapter 124

_When the Great War reached the Middle East once more, European forces were able to put up a dogged fight against Britannia's advance. Most analysts and historians agree that despite the Empire securing a beachhead at Muscat the Europeans should have been able to hold the line for months despite the presence of Eighth Fleet. That the European position unraveled the way it did comes down to two unexpected developments involving the city of Baghdad._

 _The first was the sudden reappearance of Suzaku Kururugi, whom somehow managed to convince the local forces there to assist him in some mad scheme to utilize the Baghdad thought elevator as a weapon against the Britannian forces. The immediate consequence of this was a sudden and unexpected diversion of the supplies flowing through the city. While the European forces fighting further south were not in any immediate danger of running out of supplies, the disruption this diversion brought to their overall logistical situation should not be understated._

 _The European general staff sought to reassert its control over the Baghdad garrison but surviving records indicate the local officers ignored their orders. The situation became dire enough that the Europeans actually deployed troops to forcibly retake the city from their erstwhile comrades._

 _Simultaneous to this development, the Empire also became aware of oddities with the Baghdad garrison. More saliently for the Empire, the possibility that the Europeans might once again utilize a thought elevator against them was enough to prompt swift and decisive action, the second development that would sound a death knell for European efforts to hold the Middle East. The Princess Kallen proceeded to lead a lightning raid with elements from multiple divisions supported by the entirety of Eighth Fleet against the city. There she would face her old adversary Suzaku Kururugi once more. This time the conclusion of their encounter would indeed be final._

 _-In Blackest Night: The Great War_

Chapter 124

Omnes vulnerant, postuma necat

The maximum payload of the B-52 Stratofortresses currently operated by Britannia was a little under seventy thousand pounds. The CBU-55 fuel air explosive cluster bomb weighed approximately 750 pounds, meaning each bomber could carrier about 90, give or take. The standard bomber squadron in the Imperial Britannian Air Force had 24 planes plus 3 reserves organized into three flights of 8 that could be rotated as needed to maintain the desired operational tempo. For this operation the four squadrons carrying it out were fielding all of their active aircraft, making for a total of 96 planes collectively carrying over eight thousand bombs.

The effective range of the CBU-55 was approximately 4 acres, which set the upper destructive capacity of the bombers to somewhere around 52 square miles. The actual zone of destruction was actually expected to be higher so as to not waste ordnance by exhausting the local air needed to fuel the flames. It would not be by much, but the estimates were that at least two thirds of the city would be razed. That that was short of the total annihilation that Britannia's Bravo Delta Zulu was supposed to exact would be little comfort to those whom might yet live through this day.

Preliminary strikes had already been carried out by the navy's squadrons, neutralizing the few anti-air batteries scattered about the city's perimeter. Baghdad International was itself the subject of a concentrated preparatory attack seeking to disrupt the local command and control network. The garrison put up a dogged fight, but the sheer numbers and weight of fire saw to the futility of their efforts. Even worse for them, no air support beyond those planes already at Baghdad was forthcoming, and the single squadron of jets could not stem the slaughter before meeting their own demise.

With the airspace above Baghdad so secured, there was nothing left that could stop the bombers from their mission of annihilation. And nothing did as their bay doors opened. The bombs came tumbling out in synchronized order, the crews following their assigned patterns unerringly. As each bomb detonated, fireballs swept down from the sky and engulfed everything in their paths. Buildings, trees, even people were immolated and rendered unto ash. Those outside of the immediate radius of destruction were not spared however as the flames consumed all of the oxygen readily available. Soot and smoke clogged their lungs until one by one every living thing nearby keeled over. This was however far from the greatest horror of the day. The greatest horror lay in the sights and sounds that those still living endured as the gaze of death fell just short of them.

The bombing of Baghdad was not total. It could have been, Britannia had moved sufficient munitions to Muscat to complete the city's destruction. The purpose of this massacre was not to simply murder civilians however, which was why the Bravo Delta Zulu was modified ever so slightly so that at least some parts of the population might survive. Whether that constituted mercy was not entirely clear cut, but there would have been enough death already. If there was some chance to reduce that at all, Kallen was prepared to seize it no matter what.

And ultimately there were survivors. Many survivors at that. The bombing had been centered on the immediate vicinity of the thought elevator, extended out as far as what their best guess of Suzaku's mental domination range was plus some margin for error. Even so when all this was over estimates would place the number dead at over half a million, and an estimate it would remain as there was simply not enough remains to identify all those whom perished.

* * *

The thought elevator had of course remained unscathed despite the firestorm that raged about it. Even had its entrances been open to allow the flames inside they would have done no damage, the data fortification that permeated the structure was capable of shrugging off almost mankind might attempt to throw at it. Of course had the flames reached inside, they might well have taken care of the small problem that prompted such extremis in the first place.

Suzaku braced himself against the stony console, not that he physically needed its support. The interior of the thought elevator was deathly quiet and the stillness was an unnatural contrast with the chaos without. Mentally was another matter. While he still did not understand the means by which his mind had expanded, that the thoughts and emotions of others were open for him to read meant even within the thought elevator he was bombarded with the despair, fear, and all too momentary, or perhaps mercifully brief, flashes of pain as people died outside. A part of him was still in shock that Britannia would so callously murder all these people, and if those faint impressions were true, just to get at him. Another part only drew further determination from this atrocity. The Empire had a lot to answer for, as did those whom stood at its helm.

The dying was passing, or rather those close enough for him to feel their deaths were consumed by the flames. All that remained were echoes of their screams, or at least the echoes in Suzaku's mind. He tried to push it all aside. The attack, the slaughter, was only a prelude. Britannia would not have killed so many people if they did not intend to swoop in and seize the thought elevator itself. Suzaku looked down at the console. He had spent some time learning how to work their systems while in central Africa, and he had been intending to spend some more time here in Baghdad before making an attempt for the thought elevators that were in Britannian or Britannian-friendly territory. Euphemia and Kallen were some of the few people whom seemed to actually understand their significance and would take steps accordingly. To overcome whatever measures might be in place he needed an advantage beyond waiting for the Europeans to win the war, which he was honest enough to admit was growing less likely with every passing day.

The thought elevators under his control might have provided that edge, had he the time to learn their secrets. Some progress had been made on that, for one he now knew just what he had faced in the African thought elevator. Other feats were as yet beyond his reach, and it seemed that he was out of time. The Empire was coming, and Suzaku did not doubt its forces would seek his death in order to claim its prize. He was not yet ready, certainly not if he sought assured success. But maybe what he did know was enough and the fates would deign to grant him victory in his quest to save mankind. Suzaku reached out and placed a hand on the stone console. The chamber lit up.

* * *

"Oh fucking Hel."

The expletive was entirely appropriate considering the sight the Britannian forces beheld. They had needed to wait for the fires to burn out enough to approach and in that time the singular tower that previously stood had unfolded to produce a massive shifting spherical construct at its peak.

"That's, unexpected," Rai said.

Kallen raised an eyebrow. For all the young man's steadfast determination, he could be remarkably lowkey in his demeanor.

"This isn't the first time that Suzaku's done something we thought he couldn't," Kallen stated frankly. "I think it's well past time that we stop underestimating him."

Rai's lips thinned. "A valid enough point, your grace. What do you recommend then?"

This time it was Kallen's turn to adopt a pensive expression. "We stick with the plan. If Suzaku really has managed to get control of more of the thought elevator's systems, we're going to need the manpower that the jaeger corps represent."

As well as the other ace up her sleeve. Kallen could almost taste the anticipation of the latter.

"Very well your grace," Rai said with a nod before dropping back into his knightmare.

Kallen did likewise and the cockpit closed up. Hers and Rai's were the only knightmares on actual approach to the thought elevator, the rest of her short battalion holding back outside the city limits to avoid falling under Suzaku's influence. Lelouch's compatriots were riding along in an armored vehicle behind, while the jaegers were approaching from the opposite direction. Annie had assured her that there was an understanding with the jaegers, an assurance that the other Britannian officers found far from sufficient. In this case however Kallen's opinion was the only one that mattered, or at least hers and Euphemia's, and the empress had sent an explicit message along with Rai affirming her confidence in her first knight. Now they would find out if that confidence was warranted. They were approaching the jaegers.

Lelouch's imprint upon these soldiers was not as deep as that of his core team and Kallen could actually get a faint impression from them with her geass boosted by her code. Still it would likely be enough to prevent Suzaku from hijacking them from C's world, or at the very least their failsafe should trigger and kill them before he would succeed. The fallen prince was ruthlessly thorough if nothing else. And yet as Kallen had learned, he also took responsibility for his actions. All of these soldiers had family that they would leave behind if they fell, yes, but Lelouch had made sure that funds were set aside to see to their care should that happen. As far as Kallen was concerned he was still a monster, these little acts of sentimental practicality did not change that fact. In some respects it saddened Kallen that Lelouch had set his mind to such destructive means and ends. Had he been on their side, what might he have achieved? Surprisingly no defense echoed in her mind.

"Coming up on the jaegers, your grace," Rai said somewhat needlessly.

"I see them," Kallen assured him.

The rendezvous point had been set at the base of the thought elevator, so they were well and truly in its shadows now. Strangely enough whatever mechanism by which the upper dimensional structures were being rotated about above them did not completely occlude light. Even more strangely the points on the ground that were alight were fixed even with the structure itself seemingly shifting. Kallen was starting to actually grasp the math that explained this phenomenon, but it still made her head hurt. Euphemia probably would not have any trouble intuitively understanding it.

Quite a few weapons were trained on her knightmare, but fingers were well back from the triggers. No one was preparing to shoot her out of hand, yet. Kallen and Rai slowed and allowed the armored car to overtake them. It came to a halt before the jaeger lines and the others peeked out. The jaegers relaxed, a hair, and some even seemed happy to see the youths. Annie exchanged a few words of German with them, which Kallen had little trouble hearing and understanding.

"Colonel, are we ready to advance?"

"Yes, Fraulein. We are prepared to execute contingency measures against the thought elevator."

Annie nodded. "Good. We will follow the Princess Kallen's lead. At present she is one of the few people with administrative access to the thought elevator systems. If she is neutralized, we will have few options for completing our mission."

"Understood Fraulein."

The German colonel looked up at the red knightmare and offered a respectful nod. Kallen tilted her mech slightly to reciprocate, though she was not feeling that courteous towards the man. Nidhoggr had been responsible for rounding up the Japanese refugees for internment after all, a process that had not been bloodless. Time would tell if the Finnish corps gave her similar reason for disquiet. Kallen grimaced. She was going to be alive for a very long time. She would need to learn to temper her emotions and refrain from fixating on grudges. That would be unhealthy for her, and for the world.

"Your highness," Annie's voice sounded over the radio. "We're ready to move."

Kallen took a deep breath. It was time, in more ways than one. Her cockpit popped open and Kallen slid down. She was already kitted up in full combat gear, which had made her knightmare just a tad cozy. She toggled her radio.

"Mic check."

Acknowledgments came back. Step one was complete. Now onto step two. Kallen looked out at the assembled officers.

"There wasn't a lot of time to pass on detailed information through your regular line of communication," she said, "so I'm going to give all of you a brief on what we expect to find inside now."

A few nods here and there. Good, they were prepared to listen to her. And perhaps even believe her.

"All of you were already briefed that the full extent of the thought elevator exists in higher dimensions, and that when those structures are dragged out into our three dimensional plane, they take on the form of a hypercube. Since my last foray into a, projected, thought elevator, we've learned a few things. Namely that corners have a couple of interesting characteristics in there."

More and more curious expressions stared back at her.

"You all know how with squares, when you line them up so they're square with each other, their corners touch," Kallen tried to explain. "Well, think of each of those squares as a room, and the only way in or out is via the corners. So in a two dimensional plane, at each corner you have four ways to go, three other boxes plus the square you were in before. That all make sense?"

Heads nodded. No one looked confused yet, in fact quite a few seemed to already have figured out where this was leading.

"The analogy extends into 3D space," Kallen nonetheless continued. "In a 3D space, the meeting point of the lines is no longer the convergence of four squares, it is the convergence of eight cubes, with each cube representing a direction. This idea is further extended with each dimension, all the way up to the ten dimensions that the thought elevator's structure occupies. And the number of the convergence represents the number of, directions, that you can take at a corner inside the thought elevator."

Kallen had to admit, the jaegers were taking this a lot better than she had when Rai first attempted to explain the way a thought elevator was structured to her. Even now she still got a mild headache thinking about it, not to mention trying to understand how one could even navigate through it. Fortunately there were ways to do that. Unfortunately those ways tended to be math heavy and less than intuitive.

"There are consequences to this characteristic," Kallen said. "And not just from a pathfinding perspective. Probably the second biggest issue is these corners offer multiple directions from which you can be ambushed, because until you are at the corner, you cannot see what lies in the other directions."

That was a concrete danger that all of them understood. It also insinuated at another point.

"Your highness," one of the three colonels spoke up.

Kallen regarded the man, identifying him as the Swiss colonel in command of Zephyr. She nodded for him to continue.

"You believe then that this, Kururugi, has managed to secret some of his pawns within the thought elevator?" he asked in that clipped English prevalent to many whose native tongue was German.

"It's not just whether Suzaku has any surviving Wehrmacht with him in there," Kallen responded. "If he's managed to figure out enough of the thought elevator's systems, he might be able to activate the personas stored within."

That one drew blank looks from the jaegers. Kallen glanced over at Annie, whom shrugged. Apparently that detail had not been forwarded to the corps, leaving it to the knight to explain.

"This is a simple version," Kallen began, "but everyone that has a geass, the thought elevator is able to basically make a detailed copy of their minds, memories, and thought patterns. Using that copy, a code bearer can actually create a simicry of that person. They can't exist outside of the thought elevator, but inside, they can serve as a line of defense."

Already Kallen could see the wheels turning in the heads of the jaegers. One raised his hand, apparently deciding to get this out of the way now.

"Can these simicry be killed?"

"If you do enough damage to them, they can be temporarily neutralized," Kallen said. "Killing them would require deleting them from the thought elevator's systems, which would require access to its controls, which we can only get to after having gotten past the defenses."

So in theory yes, in practice they would need to get used to seeing the same face lots of times and shooting them. None of the jaegers seemed terribly perturbed about that, any concern on their expressions more for practical concerns like ammunition expenditure. Consummate professionals, these jaegers were. And if Kallen could just manage to avoid facing them as enemies in the future, the knight would consider that a win all by itself.

"Are there any other questions?" Kallen asked.

The jaeger officers exchanged looks and shakes of heads rippled through their ranks. The Swiss colonel however had one of his own.

"Regarding Kururugi, your highness," he said. "Just to be certain, there will be no attempt to take him alive."

Kallen's expression hardened. "Shoot to kill, and shoot again to make sure. Even if we all perish in the process, Suzaku does not live past this battle."

Heads dipped all around, the jaegers seemingly convinced of Kallen's conviction.

"Jawohl, Fraulein Ritter," the colonel said.

Kallen could not quite keep a smirk from touching her lips. "It's technically Frau, but you could be excused for not knowing that."

* * *

Cole was, in a rather odd position. Or rather yet another odd position. The scramble to organize an expeditionary force to Baghdad had seen components of several divisions stitched together, with only 2nd cavalry having been able to bring along its support elements in any organized fashion. As a consequence, while he was most certainly not the senior ranking quartermaster, he was a senior quartermaster, despite his very real lack of actual seniority. Beggars can't be choosers however, which explained why Cole had been handed several responsibilities nonetheless. It had probably come as a relief to the major actually in command of the expedition's logistics that Cole was actually quite good at his job and had discharged those responsibilities competently. At the same time once it was discovered that Cole was both smart and energetic, he was handed even more work. It appeared that another saying was equally true, the reward for a good job is another job.

That was then how Cole found himself as the ranking officer of the vehicle depot that was being hurriedly put together. He was of course not there to actually manage the mechanics that would keep the vehicles going, no, he was there to make sure requests for vehicles were fulfilled in as efficient a manner as possible as the Britannian troops moved to secure the city's perimeter. That task was made much easier by the simple fact that basically none of the surviving civilians dared approach the Britannian forces. Cole did not blame them, in fact he felt a more than palpable sense of horror at what the Empire had done. Word had come down that the Bravo Delta Zulu had been authorized by the empress herself, and Cole knew enough about code and geass that he could even understand why Euphemia, and Kallen, had resorted to such extremes. Nonetheless he still felt sick at the devastation and carnage, just as he knew Kallen must have felt the same way. When this was over he would make time to be there for her, and help her maintain the sense of humanity that would ensure she would never become desensitized to doing what must be done.

Now however he needed to focus on his duties, the fulfillment of which entailed him being tied into the command channel on his radio. Being so tied in Cole was able to get a much clearer picture of the tactical situation along with getting updates much more quickly than the rank and file, such as this one.

"Wehrmacht units sighted on approach to city," the radio crackled. "Estimate minimum of battalion strength, likely regiment."

A flurry of follow-up queries and responses flooded the channel for a minute or so before an authoritative voice announced his decision.

"2nd cavalry will move to intercept," Jeremiah stated. "Remaining forces continue with entrenchment."

With the issue nominally handled, Cole returned his attention to his immediate surroundings only for his radio to sound again.

"Captain Kraft, report to Major Byron immediately."

Trying not to sigh Cole let Armin know where he was headed and marched over to the makeshift command center. Once inside he came to attention and saluted.

"Major, reporting as ordered."

"Captain," the major reciprocated the courtesy. "I know you're just getting the motor pool organized, but I've got another job for you. With the Europeans approaching, General Gottwald has activated one of our contingencies."

Despite the frantic pace of activity about them, Cole could still make out, quite clearly at that, the sound of engines starting to rumble. He raised an eyebrow and the major cracked a smile.

"Yes, those are the bulldozers starting up." The smile disappeared. "It looks like we'll be here for the long haul, captain. That means making sure we have a proper supply line. The air freighters have the lift capacity to fulfill our needs, assuming they're not diverted to other operations. When they are we need to have an alternate means of supply ready to go."

Seeing as they were in the middle of enemy territory, that supply line would still have to be via air. And if the flying transports could not be counted on in perpetuity, that meant falling back on conventional aircraft, aircraft that needed actual landing strips.

"What do you need from me sir?" Cole asked.

"A battalion is already working to secure Baghdad International," the major said. "Once they sound the all clear, I want you to lead the team that'll get it up and running again. Coordinate with the engineers to get what repairs are necessary done, and be prepared to receive supplies ASAP."

Cole nodded. "Understood sir. Then by your leave."

His new task was going to be interesting, that much Cole already knew. The first part of it he was not likely to do much of anything, the engineers were the ones that would assess the battle damage and tell him how long it would take to get the airfield operational again. His job was then to designate priority, what needed to be repaired first in order to accommodate the flow of supplies that would be coming and where those supplies would be put.

As it turned out securing the airport ended up taking little time. The initial airstrike had killed a good portion of the German soldiers, both those at the airport and those caught in the city itself. Another chunk got themselves killed trying to fight the landings head on, exhibiting what any competent tactician could only have termed suicidal stupidity or suicidal desperation. The small group that was left had demonstrated a far greater sense of self-preservation and promptly surrendered when the Britannian forces reached the airport.

Cole hopped off the Humvee as it rolled to a stop and surveyed the damage. There was a lot of it, the airstrikes having taken out anything that looked to be of importance. That meant the air control tower was now a pile of rubble, and the various hangers the Wehrmacht had commandeered for its own use were mostly collapsed. The most time-consuming bit would be to just clear all the debris away. Once that was done, the engineers should have little trouble erecting new structures.

"Captain Kraft?"

Cole turned about to see another captain approaching, one that actually looked like he had earned his rank instead of being bumped up for political and personal reasons.

"Captain Anders," Cole responded respectfully.

"Captain, my company has been assigned responsibility for setting up another C&C node here. Point us to where we'll be the least in your way and we'll get started."

It was starting to sound like the higher ups intended to use the airport as more than just a supply depot.

"How much gear are we talking about captain?" Cole asked.

"We'll be the fallback uplink for communications and radar," Anders said. "Would have been nice if the navy had left the air control tower standing, but since they didn't we just need a high point for our antennas and probably a couple hundred square feet for the rest of the gear."

Cole's thoughts raced ahead as he considered his options. The airport only really had two airstrips, with three terminals to service planes and passengers. Two of those terminals did not look structurally sound even from the cursory look as he drove by. It was starting to look like that third terminal would be getting a bit crowded.

"The hangers on the southwest side are trashed," Cole said aloud. "Along with most of the office structures. We can stick your antennas up atop Terminal C and give you the top floor. If anything spills over, it's going to have to go outside."

"We'll make do," Anders said.

Cole was sure they would, and that the good captain would be as sneaky as possible when time came to try to move down a floor. Which was why Cole was going to make sure that entire floor would be filled with people they could not displace. He pulled out his radio.

"Captain Celeste?"

The army nurse was prompt in responding.

"This is Celeste."

"This is Captain Kraft," Cole identified himself. "I've got a floor ready for you at Baghdad International once you're ready to shift over the field hospital."

"Ah, my thanks captain, I'll let you know once we're on our way, Celeste clear."

That one task taken care of, Cole headed over to speak with the engineering officer. There was plenty of work yet to be done.

* * *

The jaegers were living up to their reputation, Kallen was finding out. They moved efficiently through the maze of the thought elevator's corridors, following the knight's instructions at every intersection. Thus far none of them had gotten lost or taken a wrong turn, which was rather impressive considering the numbers filtering through. They were doing their best to keep concentrated, with large groups advancing to secure the anchors and another led by Kallen and Rai headed for the central core. The remaining jaegers maintained a perimeter outside, setting up a kill box that would hopefully take down Suzaku if he tried to escape.

So far there were no indications of the Japanese youth trying to slink away. Nor were there any signs of the simicries that Kallen feared might be employed against them. That was only a matter of time however. Cries sounded over the radio. And that time was now.

"This is Xeno, hostiles engaged," came a report accompanied by the bark of gunfire.

Kallen's remote vision was already zeroed in on them. And through them, she could make out the hostiles in question. Hood figures, whom seemed able to blend into the shadows. Not perfectly, but close enough that they would be hard to spot before it was too late and they jumped out to stab you with those blades hidden up their sleeves. More than one jaeger was bleeding out on the floor from their attacks. The skirmish was not completely one-sided however. Kallen watched as another assassin sprung forth to impale his victim. Instead the jaeger managed to sidestep and drive his bayonet into the simicry. A quick burst riddled the assassin with lead, causing him to stagger. That was enough for the jaeger to open up the distance and a hail of gunfire from his comrades ripped through his assailant.

That was enough to finally bring down the simicry as the form literally disintegrated into nothingness. Kallen however was already playing back the initial engagement in her head, noting the telltale signs that revealed the ambusher's presence before he made his move.

"There's a discontinuity between the pictographs on the wall and their camouflage," she said into the radio. "If you notice something odd, shining a light on it should cause the distortion to be revealed."

"Acknowledged."

That was of course no guarantee, as vigilant as the jaegers were not even they were perfect. Kallen on the other hand did not miss anything, her code and geass giving her effectively omniscient perception wherever there were people whose senses she could tap into. She slowed to a brisk walk, the others following suit. Raising her rifle, the knight emptied a clip at the wall ahead of them. The would-be ambusher reeled back, which only invited more gunfire from those accompanying Kallen. Soon enough he too crumbled into nothingness.

Kallen lowered her rifle and looked up a bit. "You're going to have to do better than that, Suzaku!"

Rai grimaced. "Taunting him might not be the most sound idea, your grace."

"What he said," Fie agreed from behind.

"Maybe not, but I'd rather he loose his temper and jump us early than have us wait for the other shoe to drop," Kallen said.

"I'm pretty certain Murphy was known back in this time period," Rai muttered under his breath.

Kallen cracked a wry smile of her own as she popped in another magazine. These simicry were tough, and if there were enough of them they really would run her and the jaegers out of ammo. They were however already halfway to the core, and were only starting to run into opposition. Unless Suzaku ramped up the strength of his responses exponentially, Kallen was pretty confident they could get to him. Putting him down would still be a challenge, of that she did not doubt.

The knight frowned slightly. With her being able to see what the jaegers could, she could also make out awaiting dangers. Not only that, she could make out of the jaegers themselves had noticed the threats by whether their senses were focused on them or not.

"Major Leonidas, one hundred meters ahead on the left, two ambushers."

Kallen continued rattling out sightings for the other teams even as she pressed forward on her front. In the process, she counted at least ten distinct assassins lying in wait, and multiple repeats. That at least gave an upper bound of how it took the simicries to be reconstituted, though for all she knew that could well be instantaneous and they were simply deployed further back in an attempt to exploit their stealth abilities.

As omniscient as Kallen's powers were proving, they were still not omnipresent. As such she needed the jaegers themselves to catch sight of a threat, even if the jaegers themselves did not realize what they were seeing, before Kallen could herself identify them. As such while Kallen could war jaegers of threats they might have missed, she could not offer forewarning for any threats that had yet to emerge, like now.

The shimmering in the air was plainly evident to everyone, meaning their responses were as immediate as human reaction times allowed. The sword that thrust forth seemingly from thin air was met by the jaeger's bayonet, but the wielder seemed to possess preternatural strength and shoved the rifle aside with casual ease. Body armor that might have stopped at least a few rounds proved a poor measure against the thick steel blade. The attacker was too close for the jaegers to fire without hitting their comrade, but seeing as he was good as dead already pragmatism won out and they let loose.

At least some of the shots peppered their comrade, but by spreading out the jaegers were able to get clear lines of fire on at least some angles. Amidst the flashes of their rifles Kallen caught glimpses of an aged figure with a neat white beard. Whatever his appearances however the man had little trouble throwing the dead jaeger at the others and continuing his charge even under the barrage of gunfire. He reached one more jaeger and cleaved right through the rifle before slamming another hidden blade through his armor. Still there was a limit to even this attacker's abilities as weight of fire again overwhelmed the simicry and reduced him to nothing.

 _NEMO, who the Hel was that?_ Kallen queried the AI.

 _Correlating physical appearance and skills with the available data I can access from C's world suggests that figure was Hassan-e Sabbah, the Old Man of the Mountain. He was a famous-_

 _-Muslim leader that founded an order referred to as assassins. Yeah, okay, I think I got that bit._

 _So it seems._

The AI seemed slightly miffed that Kallen's thoughts had raced ahead to pull the data herself. Kallen conveyed the mental equivalent of a wry smile to NEMO even as her physical expression remained focused.

 _Okay, so Suzaku has probably been throwing assassins at us. Any ideas on how we can stop him?_

A few seconds actually passed, which for the AI indicated quite a bit of thinky time.

 _I might be able to use your code's higher clearance level to initiate a purge of the data that the simicries are created from, your grace._

Kallen frowned, this time both mentally and physically. In the past she might have asked NEMO for clarification or confirmation for what the AI was suggesting. Now though she understood with crystal clarity. The thought elevators held copies of every last detail about the geass wielders contracted with a code bearer. That was the data that these simicries were created from. Deleting that data would thus be the same as deleting the last remnant of those persons, their memories and thought patterns. It was not murder, the people from whom this data was copied from were long dead. And yet it felt akin to it. The destruction of a priceless record of where humanity had been as a species.

 _Could you create a backup before wiping the version in the thought elevator?_

 _No your grace. I do not have the spare storage capacity to hold that much data, neither do we have access to the bandwidth necessary to transmit such a copy to one of the thought elevators under your control, at least not before we seize control of this one as well._

Kallen grimaced. She had a choice. She could get more of the jaegers killed trying to preserve the data. Or she could remove one of Suzaku's weapons, which would probably force the Japanese youth to resort to other means to try to stop her and the jaegers. In the end it was not a hard call to make.

 _Delete the data, NEMO._

 _Initiating purge._

Kallen felt a slight tingle as NEMO did whatever she needed to do via her code. There was no way to immediately know if NEMO's attempt had worked, the only way to find out was to see if more of these assassins showed up. For the next few minutes of their advance the thought elevator's corridors were empty of any more manifestations. Even so Kallen remained alert, on the off chance that Suzaku was trying to get them to lower their guard. The young man had not demonstrated much in the way of finesse in the past, but he was obvious changed after what Lelouch and then the Directorate did to him.

Suddenly darkness overtook them. Literal, total darkness. Cries of surprise sounded but fortunately no one opened fire. Instead flashlights clicked and the hallway was bathed in narrow beams of light.

"Status check," Annie said into the radio.

Technically Kallen could have provided any necessary assurances, but she did not interrupt the flow of reports that came back in. There was a burst of consternation when the lights cut out, but discipline had held amongst the jaegers.

"He must be getting desperate," Fie remarked.

"Maybe," Kallen allowed. "But none of you are able to see in the dark like me. This is going to put all of you at a disadvantage if we get attacked again."

Suddenly Fie was marching past Kallen, with nary a hesitant step.

"Says you," the German girl quipped.

Kallen raised an eyebrow, not that anyone would notice. The way Fie moved suggested that she had no difficulty adjusting to the lowlight conditions. Not just her, Laura and Annie's motions were similarly certain and fluid.

"Your highness, our rifles are equipped with Vampirs," one of the jaegers said. "If you really can see in the dark, then it would be better if we turned off our lights and relied on those instead."

Kallen recalled the large bulky sights mounted on the German assault rifles. She had not paid them much attention, but hearing what they were it was evident the jaeger corps were extremely well equipped. Night vision equipment was not exactly uncommon within Britannian ranks, but the sheer size of the army's expansion meant there had been a bottleneck in providing them as standard issue. The knight idly wondered what other toys they had brought alone.

"Do it," Kallen agreed, and once more the corridor was bathed in darkness.

As they continued, it became readily apparent that none of the German girls were at all exaggerating their own ability to see in the dark. They had taken point, with Kallen right behind, and their advance remained as quick and sure as before.

"How are you three able to see?" Kallen finally asked.

A brief silence separated question from answer.

"Lelouch's geass provided us more than an imprint of his thoughts," Annie finally said. "It also created a sort of link between our minds and his, and each other. Much as your geass allows you to tap into the senses of other people, our individual senses complement each other whenever we're close by."

That, did explain some things, Kallen mused. Not just in how deadly each of them were as warriors, but also in the way they tended to stick close together. Remarkable how little she still knew about Lelouch's compatriots. Kallen glanced over at Rai, whom was similarly unaffected by the darkness.

"And what about you?"

"Cybernetic implants in my eyes," Rai said. "I can see in quite a few different spectrums as the need arises."

"Sometimes I forget which century you're from," Kallen muttered.

Either Rai did not interpret Kallen's mark as a jest or he did not find any humor in it. No one else made any further quips and so Kallen simply focused on the task at hand even as she kept an eye on the other detachments. They had resolved the sudden darkness as efficiently as her own force and were arriving at the anchors. No sign of Suzaku at any of those locations, which meant he was waiting for them in the core. Or planning on trying to jump them in the dark.

 _Your grace, we are approaching the antechamber to the core._

They would find out soon enough. Kallen recalled, dimly, passing through a similar chamber in the New York thought elevator. And that passing through involved her at a dead run to get to the actual core after having sighted the krell appearing. She had nearly died that day, against an opponent wielding powers that were actually at her fingertips now that she too possessed a code. This time her opponent was nowhere as fearsome, yet still frightening nonetheless. She had not seen Suzaku since New York, did not know what he had become. Was he a monster? Probably. Would she kill him? Almost certainly. Did she pity him? Most definitely. In a way Suzaku had been right, it was possible for different peoples to join hands and work together. Sometimes one hand would grip too tightly, other times both would become too loose. But together was the way forward. He just would not be one of those whose hands were so joined.

Kallen came to a stop at the entrance into the core. She could see, even in the pitch darkness, Suzaku standing at the center. The artificial code he possessed served not to hide him, but act as a shining beacon announcing his presence. Exposing his mind.

"Your orders, your grace?" Rai asked.

"Jaegers are to remain here," Kallen responded. "Set up demolition charges at every entrance you can get to. If we fall, make sure Suzaku does not leave this place alive."

"Understood, your highness," the Swiss colonel said, a hint of respect in his tone.

Kallen glanced at the German girls. All of them nodded, weapons held at the ready.

"Follow my lead," Kallen stated.

Another nod, though a flicker of irritation crossed Laura's expression. She wanted Suzaku dead, wholeheartedly and with a flaming passion. But she too acceded to Kallen's order, for now.

The knight turned back toward the entrance, and took a step in. Then another. The others followed, no one yet succumbing to the temptation to open fire. Suzaku did not seem to pay them any mind, his body motionless in the center. Kallen knew from experience however that the stone panels surrounding him were within easy reach of his position, and if he did reach out to try anything she would be forced to stop him. But he did not. Instead when Suzaku finally did move, it was a deliberate motion that turned his body about. Even in the darkness, theirs eyes somehow met, and Kallen could see the swirling madness that tore at his very mind.

"Hello Kallen," Suzaku greeted.

The others waited for Kallen to decide what to do. She took a mere moment to do so.

"Goodbye, Suzaku."

End of Chapter 124

This chapter was actually done yesterday, but when I went to upload the site decided to die. Anyway.

A little bit of Cole doing his job. Important to establish that he really is good at his job and more deserving of his current rank than he sometimes thinks. That being said, there are actually a couple of mindsets that I wanted to convey in the story. Having protagonists always be overly humble and be constantly worried about whether they truly deserve their positions or ranks or etc is one of the more annoying traits authors sometimes heap on their characters, in my opinion at least. While a few of my characters do dwell on that concern, Kallen in particular, others take their newfound duties and titles more in stride. Euphemia is one of them. She most certainly did not want to be empress, but now that she is, she's not going to be spending much time whining or worrying or the like. She has the throne, and she will discharge the duties that come with it to the best of her ability. Whether she thinks she herself is fit or not is moot, it is hers and worrying about it will not make her more qualified to hold it.

This is of course not to say characters should be overconfident either, it's all about striking a balance. Case in point, Laura Arseid. She went from a senior grade lieutenant just barely out of the academy to officially a brigadier general in one leap. Now Laura knows for a fact that she is not ready to exercise the full range of authority her rank confers upon her, she's not stupid. But at the same time those duties that she must perform as a Knight of the Round, she will do to the utmost of her ability.

The thing about the code and geass is, they really are game breaking powers. Without some limits, whether self-imposed or due to side effects, one can do a lot of damage with them. Kallen is demonstrating now just how lethal that ability is, and laying the foundation for why future generations regard her as one of the deadliest warriors of her era.

The problem of course with Kallen being so overpowered is in a one-on-one confrontation, she will win. There's not even really any question of that anymore. Even a hundred to one, even without her code, it would be at best something like even odds. With her code, and once she gets the hang of how to properly employ it, you're going to need something stronger than a nuke to even slow her down. That is the ramification of what a code and geass truly would have against mere mortal opponents.

Because she is so powerful however, I have to be very careful of how to use her. In practical terms, Kallen really could tank entire armies now, and even if she can't quite win the war all on her own, she could do a lot of damage to the remaining European forces. But to do that would also reveal her powers to the world, and for obvious reasons neither she nor Euphemia want to do that. Furthermore, neither of them expect Kallen to need to intervene directly to ensure Britannia's victory. Hence why the plan for Kallen is once the issue with Suzaku is dealt with, she'll go back to Japan and probably sit out the rest of the war. Her martial prowess has already been amply demonstrated over the course of the Asian campaign, and her direct participation in the Baghdad operation will cement public opinion of her as someone not afraid to get stuck in. That'll be enough to win her general acceptance by the average Britannian citizen, and also serve as sufficient deterrent to anyone with ambitions for the throne. After all, to get there, you need to go through Kallen, and if nothing else no one is going to doubt that Kallen can and will kill anyone that attempts to threaten her or her loved ones.

As a general note, as we approach the story's conclusion, the scope of the story has become more and more narrow. When we started out there were at least three or four concurrent subplots all weaved together, and even at the halfway point there tended to be at least one additional subplot that was threaded around the main storyline. At this point we pretty much have concluded all of those, and the unresolved plot points are all effectively sequenced for resolution within the main storyline. The consequence of this is, for better or worse, there are few events for me to craft scenes for. Or rather, the necessity for additional scenes beyond those depicting the main storyline has basically evaporated. At this point me trying to add more scenes are going to feel more like padding than truly integrated parts of the storyline, because all the groundwork that would have justified those scenes were basically left out in prior chapters. That's a consequence of me getting a bit exhausted with this story and trying to avoid getting too bored before I finish.

What this ultimately means is I expect the chapters that come after the Battle of Baghdad to feel somewhat rough. The necessary groundwork simply was not sufficiently prepared before I got to this point, and in any remaster I would likely add in at least two or so chapters of additional content sprinkled about to better set the stage. I'm going to do my best to make sure the transition doesn't seem too abrupt, but there will be a transition, and I am not going to pretend it won't feel sudden.

Not sure when I'll be getting the next chapter out. _A Call to Duty_ has another chapter that's itching to get out of my head, and I have a few other ideas that I probably need to also put down before I can focus enough. We'll see.

Let's see, responses to reviews. Kallen and Cole got married back at the end of chapter 115. So, no, that wasn't a mistake when Cole referred to Kallen as his wife.

Surprised I'm not getting more comments about the space elevators, considering people have been asking about how things turn out since, I don't even know how long ago.


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